It’s On My Heart: the Story

It’s On My Heart: the Story

Jim Hinshaw
Contributing Writer
Improvement Professional, President & Sales

Just heard an excellent sermon on story telling, how stories can help sell our cause, products, or even point of view.  It dealt with Nehemiah, how he sold the King on letting him go help rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by battles.  He not only got the King to let him go for several weeks, he asked for and received letters to get him through hostile territory safely, and a letter requesting lumber for the rebuild.  So how does this apply today?

Creating a story is the best way to present your case, to sell your ideas to others.  It has several elements, a plan, not something to be thrown together in a few minutes.  You don’t wing a story, you detail it out.

First element: A goal.  What are your audience’s needs, wants, what do you wish to accomplish with your story?  What concept do you want to highlight, to share?

Number two: grab their attention.  Every successful story has a “wow” moment, where the audience is in your shoes.  They not only understand what you are sharing, they have lived it in many cases.

Prove your point: show what happened to you, what you learned, how it applies today, how it can apply to them.  Not enough to have a great story, it must be transferrable to the audience, so they see themselves using the concept in their lives.

Engage: you can engage the audience many ways.  Some use humor, sadness, children, animals, things we have all gone through or will someday.  Almost any of life’s emotional moments can be used.

Empower: show how the concept you are sharing can help the audience with their lives.  Help them get past a tough moment, help them sell more, help them save for a rainy day, solve whatever problem they are facing.

So how does this work in my life?  First, my goal is to help improve sales and profits for my audience.  Many of you have heard my story about Pixie and Popcorn.  Pixie was our beloved Staffordshire Terrier who was part of our lives for 14 years.  We had a friend who is a vet visiting, she was petting Pixie when she stopped and said uhoh!  You don’t want to hear uhoh from either your dentist or your vet, it means things may cause you some pain and money.  I asked, why do you say uhoh.  She said I feel a tumor.  I said, maybe not a tumor, maybe a strained muscle.  She said I am a vet, it is a tumor.  My wife said what do we do next?   Bring her down for a full workup, said the vet.  I had no idea what a full workup is, but it only took a couple of days to find out.  It meant an MRI, blood work, x-rays, all sorts of things that cost a lot of money.

Turns out she was full of cancer.  I said we’ll just have to put her down.  May said, the vet said she could give her some pain meds, so she is not in pain, may get another year.  So we started giving her pain shots.  One every two weeks, then one per week, then two a week.  In Dec, Pixie could not get up and down the stairs.  I told May (again), I will take her on the final trip.  May said NO, the vet is coming to our home.  So we had the vet make a house call.  It was as good as something like that can be.   She came, we said goodbye, she went to sleep.  May and I sat on the sofa bawling our eyes out, saying “never again, never again”.  In 45 days we thought, Noah (our Doberman) needs a new play partner.  So we went to a Lab breeder, brought home a beautiful yellow lab.

We took her to the same vet to get those shots, health check up, all the things you do with a new dog to help them become part of the family.

So my point: we took the new puppy to the same person who we had paid a lot of money trying to keep our old dog alive, paid her to put our old dog down, now paying for the new dog.  Why?

Because she is a trusted advisor.  We listen and do what she says even when it costs us money, even if she gives us bad news.

You, as a sales rep, needs to become the trusted advisor.  Here are some ways to do that…

So that is my story, how I start many meetings today.  First, with a story about a dog.  I ask: how many of you have a dog or a cat that you had to put down?  Show of hands.  Gets the audience engaged.  I even say, you know where this is going, but I have a happy ending (a new puppy, everyone loves a new puppy!).

Most people can relate to a family member passing, these animals become part of us.  And when we look at ourselves as a trusted advisor, it changes how we act, how we react.

I have dozens of stories, most are about my family or my job, but they all follow the same pattern.  Realize what you are trying to accomplish, get the audience engaged,  show a technique that will help them solve a problem, ask them to move forward and change behavior.

Enough for this month, thanks for listening, have to go take my dogs for a walk!  Here is Noah and Halo, a Russian Wolfhound!


Jim has worked in the hvac industry for decades.  He ran the Trane 
office in Phx for years, became president of a large mechanical contractor, bought a small residential contractor, and joined a friend
as VP of sales for a large residential service and replacement contractor in Phx.

In 1999 he started his own hvac consulting business, branching out to the solar industry from 2005-2011.  In 2011 he joined the Everrest team as Western division manager, helping dealers and distributors improve sales and profits.  He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he gets to see his genius grandson on a regular basis.  Life is good!