I recently attended the first annual meeting of the national Coalition to Transform Advanced Illness Care (C-TAC). Most striking was this: amidst the high-level discussion about healthcare systems changes, public engagement and policy improvements, the over-riding theme was stories. The personal stories from the speakers and panelists about the death of a loved one.

Even the 3 U.S. Senators who spoke (both republican and democratic) began with how their personal stories motivated them to want to improve national policy on this issue. The stories were both of “good deaths” and “bad deaths.”

Everyone has these stories, whether about the death of a parent, a grandparent, a close friend. Which is why you should consider using their power when it comes to your clients’ health care directives and advance care planning. You can elicit their stories, but you can also share your own.

Telling your personal story to clients and prospects can be a good way to:

• Explain what healthcare directives are for

• Convey why it’s important to families to document one’s wishes and talk about them

• Create an emotional connection with clients and prospects

While it may not be appropriate to reveal to clients what sort of estate planning vehicles and decisions your own parents or grandparents made and what happened when they died, you can probably share what happened when they were hospitalized, whether their medical wishes were followed, and whether they were even known.

For some examples of how you might succinctly tell your own story about the death of a loved one, see The Conversation Project. It contains the stories of a number of leaders in medicine, clergy, and the media who came together to share their own stories about the deaths of their own loved ones. Founded by former syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, this initiative helps people create a comfortable, safe way to talk about their goals for living with and dying from advancing illness

The Conversation Project also has great suggestions on how clients can start their own conversation with loved ones about their health care wishes and how to guide it. Tell them to read the “opening lines” suggestions from The Conversation Project. Tell them to use its guides for when and where they might like to have this conversation. Tell them they have to do it. Sooner or later, their adult children will thank you.

Randi J. Siegel,MBA, is the President of DocuBank(docubank.com), the largest advance directives registry in the U.S., which ensures that the emergency information and healthcare directives of its 200,000 enrollees are immediately available 24/7/365. Working with estate planning professionals since 1997, Randi frequently speaks at national estate planning conferences and has appeared on radio and television as an authority on registries. A member of the International Society of Advance Care Planning, she is active in health policy and health education related to advance care planning and advance directives and serves as Pennsylvania liaison to the National Healthcare Decisions Day initiative. Randi is an ongoing contributor to the Academy blog.

Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com

Once upon a time, there was a Law Firm that wanted to grow. It was a good Law Firm, following the rules and regulations set forth by the regulatory agencies, providing quality client service and hiring only the best and brightest talent. It was a relatively young firm, but it dreamed of being recognized as one of the very best. It fantasized about becoming the leading provider of estate planning services. It envisioned multiple offices throughout the country. More than anything else, it wanted to grow.

What did the good little Law Firm do? It began telling stories, sharing educational and informative content in an engaging and interesting way. It began to highlight its services, benefits and people through storytelling. It began marketing by identifying with its target market, its prospects, its clients and its referral sources through relevant prose and attractive visuals. The Law Firm began to demonstrate its greatness through storytelling, and, little by little, began to grow. Soon, it was opening new offices, attracting better clients, expanding its service offerings and bringing in more qualified leads. The little Law Firm was very happy.

What is the moral of this brief story?

A good story can help you sell, whether your product is a gadget, an idea or a professional service. Why? As human beings, our brains process information better when it comes in the form of a story, whether auditory or visual. We are literally hard wired to react to stories more than any other form of information gathering. Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience research indicates that our brains respond to certain triggers either favorably or unfavorably. Occasionally, there is a minimal response either way, which indicates a complete lack of interest or engagement in the trigger. (If your marketing is eliciting zero response, keep reading!)

What does this have to do with marketing or selling?

Harvard University began studying the impact marketing strategies have on our brains (and therefore our reactions) back in 1990. While the term “neuromarketing” wasn’t actually coined until 2002 (by Ale Smidts), Harvard psychologists began experimenting to determine if they could effectively manipulate information to generate a specific reaction. The meme, originally coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, was the foundation for neuromarketing research. A meme replicates information and influences a decision maker within 2.6 seconds.

Dah Dah Dah DUM

Do you recognize that tune? The first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony are collectively a cultural meme, just as advertising slogans such as “Where’s The Beef?” and “Just Do It” are marketing memes. Memes are used (and recycled) in marketing all the time. When Puss in Boots was launching in theaters, DreamWorks ran an ad featuring Puss that was based on the Old Spice commercial series “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”. Classic meme (watch the Puss in Boots commercial).

Since the dawn of neuromarketing, companies such as Google, CBS and Frito-Lay have used neuromarketing research to measure consumer response to products and promotions. Apparently, we cannot make a decision solely based on facts and logic. For professional service providers, this may come as a shock. It goes against the paradigm we have held dear for years. Facts, figures, statistics and logic: those are the keys to persuasion, right? Not really.

Use stories to entertain, inform and persuade

According to neuroscientists, most of our cognitive activity (i.e., what we think) occurs on a sub-conscious level, well beyond the reach of our active awareness. Highly emotional content tends to have the most positive reaction, activating oxytocin, producing feelings of empathy and helping us bond with one another. Oxytocin ensures that we bond, rather than merely eliciting pleasure for the sake of it. Bonding has been imperative to our survival as a species and is certainly critical to marketing and selling.

“Buy this product and it will do this” and “hire us because we’re the best” won’t sufficiently engage your prospects or create that essential bond. Facts are boring. They generate zero response on a biological level. You need to use stories to draw prospects in, titillate them, educate them, inform them and persuade them.

A story can potentially carry the entire sale for you, provided it has these six characteristics of highly persuasive stories (courtesy of the Neuromarketing blog for marketing and sales):

1. Impactful delivery.
2. Vivid imagery
3. Realism and understandability
4. Structure
5. Context and surroundings
6.  The proper audience

What story do you have to tell that will help you increase prospect engagement and boost sales? In my next post, I’ll review five types of stories that will help you sell more services.

Becca Fieler is an Online Marketing Specialist for BizActions, a Thomson Reuters Business, serving as a strategic partner in the planning and implementation of electronic communication and marketing initiatives. She develops and oversees comprehensive programs that present marketing strategies and solutions to diverse audiences, including attorneys, accountants, banks and credit unions, human resource companies and other professional service providers.

Academy Guest Blogger
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com