“Good salespeople tell stories that inform prospects; great salespeople tell stories that persuade prospects.” – Gerhard Gschwandtner, publisher of Selling Power Stories relax a buyer’s skepticism while activating the part of their brain where trust is formed and connections are forged. Neuroscientists have determined that people don’t make decisions based solely on logic; in fact, emotions play the dominant role in most decision-making processes… even business decisions. The human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor, but business (long the realm of numbers, analysis and cold, hard facts) has shied away from storytelling. Imagine you’re trying to communicate the resilience of a high-priced data storage array designed to protect critical information. You could list all of the stats about the machine’s durability, or you might tell the story (of how the array survived an earthquake even though the building collapsed around it. When the array was powered up, the critical information was safe and accessible. Which is more compelling – stats or story? I’m sure you've noticed that everything online is getting more visual. Why is that? Photos, charts, graphs, illustrations, infographics, animations and motion graphics – all, if used correctly, can simplify complex messages and make abstract concepts concrete. Sirius Decisions’ research shows that (for the third year running) the number one issue preventing B2B sales quota achievement is the inability of Sales teams to effectively communicate the value of their complex product or service. But how do you develop visuals that attract attention without distracting from your messages? Your visuals should both attract and communicate. Synthesizing both written and visual elements is crucial for B2B messaging. Visual elements should never be an afterthought. From the beginning of the message development process, you should be thinking about how best to