How to Use Metaphors in Sales

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Welcome back to Inbound Sales Journey, episode number 109. This week, Ryan and I are going to be diving into the power of metaphors. Basically how, when, and some examples why. We've used analogies and metaphors in the sales process to help connect. And that's the whole moral of the story here, is you're just trying to find a way to connect with your prospect and that's metaphor, analogy stories, all of those are super powerful tools in communication in general and especially in sales. So we're going to dive into that today. Ryan, do you have any go to metaphors or analogies that come out most commonly in the sales process for you?

I do.

I actually use one very frequently when talking about game plans.

Construction.

It does.

Nice.

So before I jump, jump into it real quick just so people understand like the reason that we're talking about metaphors, I feel like a lot of people would be like a sales podcast on metaphors. Like, where are they going with this? But I want you to think about.

Sales is a metaphor for life.

Sales.

Okay, I'll let you. I'll let you go now. I keep interrupting.

I'm on a roll here.

Sales is typically a lot about education and a lot of times it seems.

To be education about new concepts and ideas.

And so being a good communicator, not just in connecting with people, but explaining.

Ideas and concepts is really important and a really important skill set of someone who's in a sales profession.

And when I've struggled sometimes to explain things to people, whether it's more like technical stuff when it comes to a website or ideas like a game plan, which I'm going to go through that metaphor here in a second. I found it really helpful to just try to relate what people already know through the use of a metaphor to what I'm trying to explain to them and where. I really like found this helpful even this morning Grade driving up to Hermitage here to do a little podcast and I was listening to a episode of Tim Ferriss on cryptocurrencies and they got pretty in detail on the process of cryptocurrencies and all the concepts and some of the things there that I find really interesting, but I mean, they're pretty hard to grasp, but they use so many metaphors that really help me understand a lot of those concepts. And I was thinking about, like, from a sales perspective, just the power of that. And what I found is this. So when I started selling game plans with Guavabox, I was learning the process myself and then trying to take that and communicate it to people. I was honestly finding it a little bit difficult at first. So what I try to do is think of what's a better way to communicate what we're doing with these game plans in a way that at a high level is going to make better sense to our prospects. And I've had other agencies who have.

Gone through the game plan training and started selling game plans ask the same thing, like, how have you found the.

Best way to explain the value of this to someone?

And so I've shared this metaphor with them, and hopefully it'll be helpful whether it's you're selling game plans or strategy documents or whatever it is. But just as an example, I always tell the prospects I'm on the call with that. I have a background in new home construction, so when I think of a game plan, I immediately think of a game plan in a marketing setting is very similar to a blueprint. When you're building a new home. And a lot of people have gone through the process of being buying houses, maybe not always building it, but they get the concept of a blueprint. And so what it does is it helps them understand. I explained that if you go to build a new home, which is if you think about your marketing plan as this new home that you're going to build, the very first thing, and arguably the most important thing to get right in the beginning is that blueprint. Because the blueprints are the foundation. They're what this house is going to be modeled after. So if things are wrong, it's really going to have a devastating impact on the home in general, which you're spending a lot of money on a home, just like people are investing a lot of money into their marketing practices that you really want to get this blueprint right. So the. The game plan for us is the blueprint in setting up the foundation for success moving forward. And that's why, just from a value standpoint, comprehending it, that's why it's so important that we do a game plan. And that's why we, as an agency have decided that we're never gonna just.

Start blogging or we're never just gonna.

Start creating content for the sake of creating content and until we do a game plan first. So if people aren't interested in a game plan, they're not going to be a good fit for working with us.

Because that's the last thing we want to do. So that's how I use probably one of my more powerful analogies and something.

That really helps people understand why a game plan is so important, why it's.

So important to start there.

Yeah, I think somehow I knew that that analogy or metaphor was going to come out here on the podcast. You realize we're going to get a whole bunch of comments about what the difference is between analogies and metaphors, right?

Simois. With simois like and as. As well.

They're all the same.

It's like third grade.

Yeah, I know. We should. We should be better at this. We're just gonna listen. It's all comparing stuff, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean we'll say they're all the.

Same for the same.

Let's go ahead and say it like this. Your website and your marketing is like the classroom and the sales call is like the one on one tutoring. The time when you personalize the big instruction to the. The student, in this case, AKA your prospect.

Are you giving metaphor to describe metaphors?

I sure am going very meta for the sake of. See what I did there.

Wow.

For the sake of making this work. And your job is to understand. Now, obviously if you can personalize these analogies even more by understanding what industry or what background the person you're speaking with has, then that's awesome. But you got to make sure it works. So I know, Ryan, you've stuck with. Obviously not everyone you're talking to has built a house or has really has that much of an idea. But by sticking to one that's relatively universal and that you're comfortable with and that you have. Right. It's probably a little less dangerous than trying to. I know I've probably gotten a little carried away before and trying to personalize something too. And I've certainly heard people get really carried away and trying to personalize things for my context or for someone else's context, and that can get a little dangerous. But I think the moral of the story here is you need to be using these people. Connect. All that people are trying to do is relate to especially new ideas or new concepts, which even if it's something that they know how a website works. They don't know how your process works yet. So if you can draw a parallel to them or for them to something that they've experienced or are familiar with, and especially if that's something tactile and in the physical realm that they can touch, people relate to that so well. So if it's something that touches one of those senses or multiple senses, something that they can feel or smell or see out in the physical world, people generally relate to those types of analogies and metaphors better than something more abstract. So the overall lesson here is think about this. Understand how it applies to your prospects, to the industries that you serve, to your own personal experience and background. Because we're also way more confident, typically when we're talking about our own personal background. So for you, Ryan, talking about construction, that having been an industry that you've worked in, you have a good story and a compelling reason why that would be the analogy that you draw. So that's kind of all I have initially on that. Ryan, do you have anything else you you wanted to share on the metaphor side of things here before we wrap up?

No, I think just understanding the value.

Of using metaphors to communicate your process.

And ideas is super important. It's not too you don't want to stretch it out too long and try.

To explain, you know, your whole process with it, but just to prove the.

Value of what you're yeah, don't give.

A 2000 word analogy to explain a simple concept. Make sure that you keep them simple and relatable.

Yeah, well, I think we'll end it there, Gray. And speaking of metaphors, we're going to talk a little bit about a sales metaphor in the next episode, so I.

Won'T give too much away beyond that.

Get excited for next week.

Until then, good luck selling thank you.

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