If you want to increase your sales, learn how to tell stories in the consultation room.

If there's a truism in your medical spa it is the money is made in the consultation room, and the ability to tell stories about successful outcomes, happy patients, and life changing results is how it's done.

Stories trigger our emotions and allow us to create a "shared experience" that psychologically aligns the listener with the speaker and removes what are common blocking mechanisms around what is 'logical'. In telling a story, credibility is not even an issue. According to Geoffrey Berwind, a storytelling consultant

The use of stories, properly conveyed, is actually how we prefer to receive communications. When leaders learn how to meld the use of stories with the left-brain data-based information they also need to convey … well, this becomes irresistible. Their influence and engagement becomes more powerful, and real change occurs because people are moved to action.

Researches also reveal that regardless of the content of the ad, those which tell stories become relatively more successful. In the issue of The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Quesenberry and research partner Michael Coolsen found that the structure of the advertisement predicted its success, regardless of its content.

A study made by the University of Massachusetts Medical School found that more people were convinced to change their behavior to reduce the risk of hypertension after the storytelling approach was used.

In a research done by neuroeconomist Paul Zak, it was found that our brains allow us to focus in tense moments of the story because of the release of the stress hormone Cortisol. Also, empathy and the promotion of connection is felt because of the release of the feel-good chemical Oxytocin.

In an experiment, Zak asked study participants to donate money to a stranger after they were asked to watch and emotionally charged movie about a son and his father. It was revealed that people were more likely to give more monetary contribution to a complete stranger. Stories, especially those that capture the attention of the audiences, allow people to move and act.

Several researches were already made to show how storytelling can affect and motivate people to do something, or change their behavioral patterns. Marketing and brand managers capitalize on this information as a way to advertise their product. As a marketing strategy, storytelling boils down to using the right metaphors and structures and then generating a story that is remembered and attributed to a brand.

Speakers for TED talks use narratives and powerful stories and imagery to share their message. Even Steve Jobs himself uses images and one-line concepts to support verbal storytelling.

As executive coach Harrison Monarth puts it:

Storytelling may seem like an old-fashioned tool, today — and it is. That’s exactly what makes it so powerful. Life happens in the narratives we tell one another. A story can go where quantitative analysis is denied admission: our hearts. Data can persuade people, but it doesn’t inspire them to act; to do that, you need to wrap your vision in a story that fires the imagination and stirs the soul.

References:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rodgerdeanduncan/2014/01/04/tap-the-power-of-storytelling/ https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-irresistible-power-of-storytelling-as-a-strategic-business-tool/