Graham Cochrane (00:04.13)
Why are people saying no to your offer? Even if your offer is genuinely amazing. It's not your price, it's not your funnel, it's probably not even your product or your offer itself. The real reason is that they didn't connect with your story. Because people don't buy when you pitch, they buy when they feel something. And if you're not telling your story, or not telling it the right way,
in your webinar, in your emails, in your content, you are losing the sale before you ever make the offer. So in today's episode, I'm gonna show you how to tell your story so that people are ready to buy before you ever even pitch.
Graham Cochrane (01:09.454)
The funny thing is about story.
Graham Cochrane (01:27.97)
Now the funny thing about story is that for years, I used to think storytelling was irrelevant to selling and certainly to teaching and content and everything I did. I assumed wrongly that people wanted the information, both from the free side, if I was teaching a tutorial, how to do something, and on the sales...
pitch, whether it the sales page or a webinar, I assumed they wanted all the information to see how valuable this offer was going to be to then make the decision to buy something. I assumed wrongly that people buy logically. Now I had heard that people buy emotionally, then they justify their purchase after the fact with logic, meaning they buy the F-150 truck because they just want a cool truck, but afterwards they justify that it'll hold its value, that it's one of the
longest lasting trucks on the road, the hybrid version you got or the electric version gets great gas mileage, whatever, but that's not really the reason they bought it. They bought it because they pictured themselves, get this, men and women buy big trucks or whatever, fill in the blank, whatever it is, because they picture themselves in that truck and how awesome it will feel and how people will look at them and how they'll feel about themselves. They bought because they just wanted the truck. So.
It took me a long time to realize that this is how people buy, why people buy, and then connecting my story to that. I never thought that my story mattered. In fact, I thought if I told my story, I was just wasting people's time. And people just wanted me get to the point, get to the point. If you have something to show me, show me the thing. Why should I care about your story? And so I was trying to oblige to that narrative. I made it up. I don't think anyone ever told me that.
but I thought I was doing them a favor by cutting my story, cutting all the fluff and just getting right to the tactic. And I'll show you the thing or right to the sales pitch. Here's the thing. Here's why it's awesome. Here's why you should buy it. I've been on a journey. A lot of this has transformed in my life as I've done more public speaking, crafting keynotes, speaking from stages, learning how to connect with an audience, especially if you want to sell something at the back end. But even if you just want that person to actually get this,
Graham Cochrane (03:48.12)
take action and transform their lives. Because you're always selling something. Maybe it's not something that they can buy with money, but you're selling an idea. You're selling a new way of thinking or being or showing up in the world. You're selling a vision of a better future. And you know people buy it, A, if it's something to sell, physically they pull out their wallet and buy it. Or if it's an idea, they take action. Like I've given a TEDx talk. I'm selling the idea
to the audience to make a change in their life. And if they do this change, this is gonna be the benefit. I'm trying to sell. What's amazing about the TEDx journey, that was my first foray into this. I hired a whole coaching group that specializes in helping you craft your TEDx talk and then land your TEDx talk with a TEDx event organizers. And their talk template for the 12 minute, 15 minute, 18 minute, 10 minute TED talk.
is like 70 to 80 % storytelling. I was like, who's gonna care? But they're like, trust me, we've given dozens and dozens and dozens of TED Talks. Like this is what the best TED Talks do. And I learned a lot from that experience. And then hiring speaking coaches and like all kinds of, I've been deep diving this the last three or four years. I've learned a lot. I've learned that Graham sold a lot of stuff on the internet by just.
a lot of goodwill and giving people results for free first and then having good offers, but I realized I was missing out on so many more sales and I was missing out on so many more higher ticket sales or whatever, or longer contract sales or better client sales by not telling my story. So two thoughts and then I'm gonna walk you through a simple storytelling template that you can use. And you can think about using these for your webinars, if you do a challenge, if you do a master class, if you're...
On social media, you just do a shorter version of this. you're telling a story in a YouTube video or a podcast and you want them to take an action at the end of that, you can use this everywhere. You can use this on a one-on-one sales call as well. The number one reason this is important is that people only buy for one reason. Because they feel like it. It's the only reason people buy anything, because they feel like it. That's why we can't manipulate, that's why we can't convince. That's never what we're doing in selling. It doesn't work.
Graham Cochrane (06:10.786)
People are gonna buy or they're not gonna buy it because they feel like it. Now our job is to set the table, create the environment in such a way that they can come to the natural conclusion and the feeling of this is for me, I want this, I'm going to choose this. Does it make sense? Can't force someone to choose it. Your offer is an invitation. You can't force someone to come to your birthday party that you invited them to. All you can do is send them an invitation and they have to decide to come or not.
can't force someone to come to your wedding. All you can do is send them a wedding invitation and set the table in such a way that they can decide on their own to come. The same is with your offer. But here's the problem is that if you think you're gonna sell them with your pitch, you're missing the point. You've already lost them. You've already lost them. People only buy when they feel something. And when do they feel something? When you tell a story.
why we love books, why we love movies, sometimes really good storytelling in a song.
It elicits feeling and that's what human beings are is we are beings and we're feeling people. We're not rational people. We like to think we are. We have a rational component and it matters. And some people tend to be more rationally minded than others and some people tend to be more empathetic or empaths or feelers than others. But at the end of the day, we're all human. The human nature has always been the same, will always be the same. Stories.
sell because stories elicit feelings and we only buy when we feel something. So remember that. And then number two, you want to tell that story at the opening of whatever you do, but how you tell that story matters. Your opening story is not about you.
Graham Cochrane (07:59.736)
Hear me, your open story is not about you as much as it's about them seeing themselves in your story. So yes, your story is about you. You tell a story about yourself.
Graham Cochrane (08:15.32)
But the story's goal isn't to just tell them a story about yourself. The story should be set up in such a way that they see themselves in your story. And the masters at this do this so well. It sounds like they're just telling a story about what happened to them when they were at the beach last summer. But halfway through the story, you're like, you're feeling what they felt because it's relatable to you. It's not an accident. It's a crafted story, not meant to manipulate. It's just they're like, well, what's the...
What's the best story I could tell? In what way that would get people to feel the things that they would need to feel in order to say or to become, excuse me, the person they need to become to say yes to my offer when I make it at the end of the talk or the webinar, even if that offer is a free offer or a call to action to make a change in their life. Again, we're always selling something. We're either selling an offer, a product, or selling an idea, but everything is sales. You're having to get someone to go from here
to believing something different so they make a different action, right? If you truly care about people, you want them to take different actions in their life, whether it's for pay or for free, it's the same thing. You want them to take action. So let me just give you six things you need in your story. And there's a lot of ways to tell a great story that sets up your offer. But if you think about it this way, if you have like a 45 minute webinar or a 60 minute keynote, like the first five to 10 minutes where you tell your story, that's where I think you're gonna sell over half the people in the room.
They're going to be sold. Like it doesn't even matter what you teach. Doesn't matter what the offer is. They're already sold on you because of your story and the rest of the people they'll get there by the time you get to the offer. But you will have planted the seeds so deep at the beginning with your story that the table is set in such a way that they can say yes to your offer. And the great thing about this when you do this right, you don't have to try hard when you get to the pitch. The invitation, it's as simple and as innocuous as saying
hey, I've presented something really awesome for you today, would you like to see it? I think you're really gonna love it. And you just share what transformation it gives them, what payoff it gives them. And it's like, it's just like the waiter, the three magic words, would you like, would you like this? And they are at a place already where they can say, yes, I would like that. Which I love, because I don't like hard selling. If you don't like hard selling, then tell this story, okay? So, first part of the story is,
Graham Cochrane (10:37.514)
My friend Katie Casada, she's a brilliant storytelling coach. You should check out her stuff. We both spoke at a John Maxwell event. was actually my, my friend Tyler's event. John Maxwell was there. We were all in a room together with John and Tyler afterwards. Jake Thompson was there. Really cool event. But Katie went on right before me and she was telling her a bunch of stuff about storytelling. But the three C's of storytelling, I love it, is, and I'm stealing this from you, Katie, but I'm giving you all the credit. Context, conflict,
conclusion, right? Every good story needs those three things, needs some context, needs a conflict, and it needs a conclusion. So at a high level, you need those three things in a story for it to be an actual story. But let's start with the context. The first part of your story when it comes to selling is the context. Where were you? What just happened? What were you thinking? If you can answer those questions, like pick a place, a moment in time, where were you? I was in the kitchen the other day.
What just happened? The phone rang and I answered it. And it was the doctor saying, your son's been in an accident. You need to come to the hospital right now. That's what just happened. What were you thinking? And I thought to myself, oh my gosh, I was afraid this was going to happen. Or I never could believe this was going to happen. Like in 15 seconds, you can set the context that Katie talks about. Where were you?
The where were you matters because now they can picture themselves. You say I was in my kitchen, I was in my car, I was watching TV. They start to picture their kitchen, they picture their car, they picture their living room watching their TV. So now they can see themselves in your story, right? So it's so simple. Where were you? What just happened? This gives them some context. And what were you thinking? So what just happened is the external part of the story.
And what were you thinking is the internal context of the story. Okay. You can say that just a few seconds. Then you need to, part two of your story needs to get to identifying the problem or the challenge you are facing. Now this is so important. The problem or the story you tell is all built around the offer you're going to sell. The story you tell is built on the offer you're going to sell. So the story you tell needs to set up a problem that you had or challenge that you faced
Graham Cochrane (13:05.336)
that is likely a problem that they now currently have or a challenge they now are currently facing. This is pretty obvious, but does this make sense?
So when I tell my story of being in my spare bedroom, staring at my laptop, trying to figure out a way to make money, because I just lost my second job in 10 months and we were on food stamps and I had a new baby, a new mortgage and a wife. And I was thinking to myself, I don't know anything about starting a business. How am I ever going to make enough money to take care of my family? That's like the first part. They can picture themselves going through something similar. Then when I share the problem or the challenge, that's what the problem was. Like, I don't know how to start a business.
I don't know how to make money online. If I'm trying to sell an offer that helps them start a business to make money online, that's likely the challenge, the problem they're facing. That's probably why they're watching this video or on this webinar or at this challenge.
So now they think, wow, Graham's just like me. He had the same problem I have. And they're realizing this in real time. So you identify the problem or challenge you were facing. Next, you identify the desire or dream that you had, which is likely the desire or the dream that they now have. All I wanted was to be able to have enough money where I wasn't stressed about the bills, enough time to be with my wife and my new baby.
And I wanted flexibility and autonomy to do the work I wanted to do when I wanted to do it, where I wanted to do it. I wasn't going back to a desk job at a nine to five. That's the desire I had. Right? Describe their desire. Describe their dream. You're 60 seconds into the story at this point and you've already, they can picture themselves in the story and they're like, yeah, dude, I had this. I have the same problem he had. Wow, he's had the same problem as me.
Graham Cochrane (14:56.612)
that's exactly what I desire. That's exactly what I want. Now they're so connected. Like the walls are going down. The guard that's up like, is he gonna sell me something? It's already going down because now they're lost in a story. And now there's a connection between us because they're like, hey, Graham's just like me. He's been where I've been. He wanted what I want. Fourth thing, share your transformation journey. Okay? Your transformation journey.
Every hero goes through a transformation journey. Donald Miller's book, Building a Story Brand, is so profound and so simple and so brilliant, but he looks at storytelling arcs over thousands of years in every story we've ever had, every movie, every book, every myth, everything. He looks at the of the hero's journey, the storytelling, and he identifies the seven elements of every good story and he maps them to selling. He realizes, dude,
your sales process just needs to have these seven pieces of it. It's a brilliant book. You should read it. Building Story brand, Donald Miller. I've had him on the podcast, brilliant guy, gem of a person. But this is so important. People need to see that you are just like them, but you did something that they actually intuitively know that they're going to need to do, which is you took action. You stepped out, you left the planet Tatooine,
and you went out to the big larger world, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to try to figure out what's the Rebel Alliance, can we go destroy Darth Vader, right? You left for Privet Drive in the Dursleys with Hagrid and you went to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry and realized that you're a wizard, Harry, and you became a wizard. You went on this journey of like, don't even, all these people grew up in wizard families, I don't even know I was a wizard till just yesterday, I don't know any about magic. You left.
your place where you were metaphorically, emotionally, situationally, and you went on a journey to figure this out. You didn't want to stay stuck. You figured something out. I mean, that's how you got the results that you got. Whether you went on a health journey, you went on a relationship journey, you went on a financial journey, you went on a music journey. Like my first business was teaching musicians how to record better music. I was so frustrated with how bad my recording sounded. I had all the equipment.
Graham Cochrane (17:18.306)
And I thought I knew how to use it, but it wasn't sounding good. And I didn't know it was gonna be that complicated. And that was frustrating to me because it felt like it was a barrier to what I wanted. My dream was to have professional sounding recordings that I was proud of. And so I went on a journey to figure this stuff out. And I played with it and I read every magazine and I watched every video and I ended up going to college to learn this stuff. And I got better and I got better and eventually.
I got so good that people thought my music sounded good and then I got so good that people started to hire me to record their music.
Graham Cochrane (17:51.564)
I would tell that story for that audience, for the business audience, I would tell the story of like figuring out my avatar and creating content, doing my first course and realizing what actually sells and for two reasons. One, to show them that if you want transformation, you gotta go on a journey.
Two, I've been on that journey. So I actually have gone through all the ups and downs, bumps and bruises. I've actually found out the path. Everyone's looking for a mentor, someone who's found a path to where they want to go, who can then take them down that well-worn path. And so when they've seen that you've gone through the path yourself, that instills more confidence and belief in you. So share your transformation story. What steps did you take? And this is real brief. I mean, if you have a lot more time, you share more details. If you only have like 60 seconds, share a 60 second version,
What steps did you take?
And on that journey, there comes a point, this is part five of the story, where you have an epiphany moment. Right? Russell Brunson calls it the epiphany.
My friend Colin Boyd, who's world class at this, he calls it arriving at your core premise.
Graham Cochrane (19:04.034)
My friend Pete Vargas calls it, this is where you share your I believe statement. Like you had an epiphany, you went through this journey, you figured out like a better way, you had an epiphany, you arrived at this premise and you have this I believe statement. And that's why I believe X, Y and Z. Dieting isn't the way to losing weight.
Strength training is. That's why I believe date nights aren't the key to restoring your marriage. Soul gazing is. And it's actually a real thing by the way. If you've ever soul gazed, you know what you're talking about. Or what I'm talking about. you haven't, sounds crazy. I think you literally, you and your spouse stare at each other unclothed and you can't break eye contact.
I think Shay and I would just laugh at each other. Anyway, sorry, had to move on. Whatever your like epiphany was, which is gonna be your unique method or your unique like flag in the ground. This is what I believe, right? To achieve the dream they want. Cause everyone's got a different method, a different premise, a different approach to getting that dream. And that's okay. This is where you get to put in your angle. They don't, they haven't come to this realization yet, but you share
and you plant the seeds of your premise, your epiphany, your big realization, this becomes your solution. This became your solution in your story and hint it's gonna be their solution and it should tie into your offer.
Right? should, it should, this is why you have to craft it a little bit, but it's not going to be hard. Your offer is likely built around an aha, a premise, an epiphany that you've had. That's probably why you teach what you teach and why you teach and what you teach and the way you teach. But you got to reveal that epiphany, that premise, that I believe statement, that stake in the ground, flag in the ground revelation back in your story. So you're not selling them on it for them. You're selling, you're just sharing how you came to that realization. This is making sense?
Graham Cochrane (21:10.766)
Okay, epiphany is really, really big. That ties into your offer. And then number six, you begin to describe the payoffs of that solution, of that revelation you had.
once I figured out how to track my ideal avatar with the right YouTube videos and effortlessly put the right high ticket offer in front of them, I started to do not just six figures a year, but six figures a month. And I didn't have to do sales calls. didn't have to do like, I was, had more time. I was making more money. I was working with better clients. I was having more fun. I was getting better transformation for them, better client testimonials. I'm just sharing some of the payoffs I have from my
higher ticket offer is the way I run my business so that if the right person would go, I want those payoffs, right? The payoffs you had and the payoffs you share in your story are, you guessed it, the payoffs they want, the results they want.
Are you seeing how powerful this is? In just five to 10 minutes, you're not teaching, you're not selling, you're not even convincing. You're just sharing your journey. And in those five to 10 minutes, you have moved them from over here, like, I don't know about this guy, to almost to the finish line of like, dude, if I could have a similar story to his.
or to hers, my life would be better. They feel it in their heart.
Graham Cochrane (22:47.202)
and now they're ready to receive whatever you teach them in your webinar or your training. And when you get to the offer or the pitch, it will land so much differently because you have tilled the soil of their soul, of their heart by being a human. What a concept that the way to sell to a human is just to be a human and share your human experience.
takes all the pressure off, makes you much less icky to work with, and it actually brings people to say yes to your offer much easier. So, your job is to write your story. You write it once, you can share this on podcasts, you can share this on webinars, you can share this on your content, you can share this when you're a guest on somebody else's podcast, you can share this when you speak on a stage, you speak on a summit.
Like just craft your story in such a way that it always ties up to the main offer that you have or the main transformation you give. And you just need these six elements. The context. Where were you? What just happened? What were you thinking? The problem. What was the problem or challenge you were facing? What was the desire or the dream you had? Share your transformation journey and story. What were the steps you took?
And then what was the epiphany or revelation or big aha that you landed on, your core premise that you now believe, your I believe statement and describe the payoffs or results that you got from that transformation journey. You set that stage, everything else becomes easier, my friend.
If you're watching on YouTube, just leave me a comment and say the word story so that I know that you got to the end and then tell me what your biggest takeaway was from that storytelling framework or from the whole episode. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you know, find me on Instagram. It's the only place I really hang out online. Follow me there, message me and let me know you listen to this episode and let me know that you're going to implement the storytelling framework into your next presentation.
Graham Cochrane (24:55.776)
Sales call, video or podcast interview when you go on some of those podcasts. It's so simple. Get your story built. Practice sharing it. It'll make you feel human. It'll take all the pressure off and watch when you get to your offer or your invitation, just how much more powerful it will be when you make that invitation. All right, my friend, have a great rest of your week and I'll see you on an episode real soon.
