Tell P-S-R Stories E. MichaelShays CMC Perhaps the oldest and greatest communications tool of mankind is storytelling. Stories have per¬petuated the fabric of civilizations, families, and religions. Stories inform, teach, entertain, per¬suade, and bind together peoples. They also sell.
Instead of responding to a client’s need with verbal assurances of competence and experi¬ence (some clients call them protestations of competence and experience), one professional colleague answers with, “Let me tell you a story.” He then tells the client of a similar problem another company had, the solution that was applied, and the results attained. The story always is simple, direct, and credible. It’s easy to listen to, easy to understand, and the point is always made: This person knows the problem, has met it before, and got results.
Don’t answer a question with “yes” or “no” when you can tell a story. Develop a series of “P-S-R” (problem, solution, result) stories based on experience. Each story should be no more than 90 seconds long, and when the client asks a question, your response should be: “Let me tell you a story.” Obviously, the story should illustrate the solution of a similar problem.
Some people are better storytellers than others. But anyone can be a reasonably good storyteller with practice, and even a story told without narrative flair is usually more effective than raw verbal assurances that the professional can do what the client needs. In the beginning P-S-R stories take preparation and rehearsal, but after a while they become a natural and enjoyable part of the professional’s repertoire.
A prospect was charged with coming up with a better performance evaluation system. I told them this P-S-R story: “I once had a client that felt that their annual performance evaluation program was not working. I found that it wasn’t working because the employees were not motivated by the performance criteria set up by management. They didn’t think it was relevant to what they were doing. [Problem] So we pulled together a focus group of the eight highest achievers in the organization, had them define relevant criteria and challenged them to describe benchmarks for each level of performance. We did not simply revert to a scale of 1-5 or poor to excellent. It took only two days off site. [Solution] The result was a system their peers had faith in, one that gave them objective benchmarks instead of subjective judgments, and which won enthusiastic approval by both management and the staff. [Result]”
The prospect we told this P-S-R story to became a good and repeat client.
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E. MICHAEL SHAYS CMC (ems@emsnetwork.com) is President of EMS Network, International, an association of senior consultants helping clients faced with conflict, transition, stagnation, and management dilemmas.
Tell PSR Stories - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Shays's Website.
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Michael Shays
(Visit Michael's Website)
Michael Shays is a senior management
consultant, public speaker, facilitator
and mediator. He has coached executives in
24 countries in six continents to resolve
conflict, manage transitions, and develop
breakthrough solutions to tough problems.
He has helped over 500 clients, including
AT&T, IBM, KPMG and, Hewlett-Packard, and
the CEOs of smaller companies.
After seven years with the operations
improvement firm, Bruce Payne &
Associates, he passed examination as a
Certified Management Consultant and was
recruited by Coopers & Lybrand as a direct
entry Partner. BDO Seidman recruited
Michael 14 years later to be the National
Director of Management Consulting and
Chairman of BDO’s International Management
Consulting Committee. He left BDO in 1990
to open his own firm, EMS Network
International, with strategic partners in
four continents. See www.emsnetwork
.com.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of
Management Consultants USA and a recipient
of their Lifetime Achievement Award. He
has served as Chairman of IMC USA, the
International Council of Management
Consulting Institutes, and the Journal of
Management Consulting. He an active member
of the Center for Breakthrough Thinking.
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