Where did all the stories go? I’ve got stories for days…..
You’ve got to know your product and be able to teach it,
“If you want to master something, teach it.” – Richard Feynman. There are always opportunities internally to teach, and learn. All you need to do is ask. Go ask!
SE’s should be using the tool all the time. Building, testing and PRACTICING.. Unfortunately though, most SE’s don’t really use their product in the same way their customers will. Most of us end up being professional demoers …who can tell a story…but might not have any experience with, or understanding what our customers actually do. But that’s okay! …All great story tellers steal stories!
I’ve always gone to the implementation and support teams. THEY know how customers really use the tool. They understand the pain points, the problems solved (the problems still not solved), what features they love (and why), what features they ended up not using (and why). Real world examples of success, from the people on the front lines that hear more bad news then good. This is where the GOLD is. This is how you ramp up FAST. Learn these stories, pull the stories out of them by going over every single field and asking “What does this do? Does anyone use it? (and why, and why, and why and always why?????????) “The why” is what you need to build a story. It tells you what to focus on and what to avoid. And maybe even a story or two about why that feature your competitor loves to talk about doesn’t really solve the problem;)
Now you just need to learn the tool and hopefully it works too:)
Don’t forget to practice. I practice by saying it all out loud to myself, but do what works best for you.
And remember
Features and functions are boring. Tell stories!!!!
thanks for listening to stories with Chris
PS:
“if there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it”
If you work in implementation or support and want to be an SE, reach out to your sales team. Offer to train, answer questions, tell stories, and ask if there is anything you can do to help. There’s always things you can do to help. Let them know you’re interested in becoming an SE. Ask to see some recordings, and if you can sit it on any live demos. Practice and copy the demos they give. Add your own stories and ask a SE if you can do a mock demo for them to get their feedback. Take that advice, and keep practicing.
