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Much has changed in the world of B2B fintech sales enablement since the pandemic. We’ve seen an increase in remote selling along with new challenges ushered in by emerging technologies. On the other hand, we’ve also seen rapid advancements in technology that streamlines sales enablement. These changes have made it easier for companies to grow quickly by getting marketing, sales, and processes on the same page.
While sales enablement challenges persist and evolve due to remote work environments and organizational complexities, the fundamentals remain. At its core, sales enablement sits at the intersection of sales and marketing with the overarching goal of closing more sales. It includes resources, tools, and information that help your sales team sell more and sell better. And it should include storytelling. We’ll explore some of the challenges of B2B fintech sales enablement and discuss how storytelling can help close the gap.
Challenges of B2B Fintech Sales Enablement Abound
Sales enablement teams are settling into a groove in the post-pandemic world. Remote selling is nothing new and a plethora of new technology has made it easier than ever to connect with and sell to people. Yet the B2B fintech space faces nuanced challenges that may surpass technological fixes.
For one, B2B fintech solutions typically involve complex technical concepts and jargon that can be difficult for sales teams to understand and explain to potential customers – even sophisticated ones. Even sharp sales teams with deep knowledge of the fintech industry may have a hard time effectively communicating value to potential customers.
Beyond that, many financial institutions and businesses may be hesitant to adopt new technologies and solutions, and sales teams may face resistance when trying to sell fintech products and services.
Add in long sales cycles and sales can become a tricky proposition. The sales process for fintech solutions can be long and complex, requiring sales teams to engage in multiple rounds of negotiations and discussions with potential customers. In other words, there’s plenty of time and space for the key message to get lost.
Toss in intense competition and complex buying processes with multiple stakeholders and the sales process starts to get even murkier. The good news is that sales enablement tools have become more sophisticated. The bad news is that technology is no match for the trust hurdle that B2B fintechs must overcome alongside communicating a solution’s value proposition.
When it comes to B2B fintech sales enablement, what is the best path forward?
Storytelling Can Help B2B Fintechs Over Hurdles
B2B fintech sales enablement stories can be powerful tools to highlight your solution’s value in an engaging, aspirational way. But what do these stories look like? How do you make them memorable? How do you drive an audience to action?
Let’s dive in.
Build the Foundation
For starters, you need to have clearly defined goals you hope to achieve with your story. You should understand the core message, the target audience, and the primary pain points and goals. Next, think about how your story can address each of those items. How do you want your audience to feel when they hear your story? What should they feel compelled to do? Map out these elements before crafting your message to ensure your story is aligned with sales goals.
Create the Framework
After you have the fundamentals in place, it’s time to start crafting your story. It should be clear and articulate and built as a narrative to include:
1. Exposition – Give your audience the necessary background to prime them for the rest of the story. This should include the Who, Where, and When.
2. Rising action – Start to ramp up the conflict by explaining the conflict or challenge that needs to be solved. This builds tension for the audience.
3. Climax – This is the point of maximum tension in the story and should compel your audience to realize they must take action.
4. Falling action – This is a great place to convey hypotheticals. What are the potential paths the protagonist (your audience) can take and the hypothetical outcomes of each? Consider what the “wrong” action looks like and the potential consequences before leading to the potential resolution your solution offers.
5. Resolution – This is how the story ends and hopefully, how your audience’s problems and challenges are solved. This presents the outcomes your solution offers in a way that forges a connection with your audience and inspires an emotional reaction.
Use a Healthy Dose of Emotion
One of the biggest gaps in B2B sales is the use of emotion to foster connection and inspire action. Yes, facts and logic are critical components of effective selling – but they fall flat without an appeal to the emotional side of your audience. Let empathy be your guiding light to better connect with your audience. Leverage vivid descriptions, metaphors, and anecdotes to add a dash of emotion to facts and figures.
Personalize & Tailor Your Story
A story is not one-size-fits-all. The way you tell your story will depend on several factors, including the prospective customer, the channels on which you tell the story, and the media you use to tell it. Video may make sense for social channels, while presentations will take on a life of their own. Allow your story to morph and transform as appropriate for each circumstance.
Benefits of Storytelling for B2B Fintech Sales Enablement
Storytelling can play a significant role in solving the challenges of B2B fintech sales enablement. Stories can simplify the complex by providing educational and informative content that explains the technical aspects of the solution in simple and easy-to-understand language.
Stories also bridge the gap caused by resistance to change. Sharing customer success stories, case studies, and other anecdotes demonstrates how other organizations have successfully adopted the solution and benefited from it. These stories inspire confidence and build trust and credibility.
Stories also cut through the thick of things and get right to the heart of the matter. While there’s no guarantee that stories can trim the length of B2B fintech sales cycles, they may make it easier for the audience to stay connected to your brand throughout discussions with various stakeholders.
And there’s no doubt that stories can set you apart from the competition. Many organizations are missing the boat when it comes to fostering an emotional connection with their audiences. Embracing storytelling ensures that you don’t make this mistake. It also allows you to differentiate your solution from your competitors’ offerings while showcasing your unique value proposition.
Finally, storytelling has been proven to support the critical trust element that fintechs rely on to forge relationships with prospective customers.
Storytelling offers a breadth of benefits for B2B fintech sales enablement. Not only can stories educate, inform, and build trust with potential customers, they can foster the necessary emotional connection for sales teams to succeed.
