SALES TOOLKIT
©2021 Craig Wortmann All Sales Engine & Craig Wortmann materials and intellectual property are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced,
distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast in whole or in part without obtaining prior written permission from Craig Wortmann. Inquiries to: [email protected]
The purpose of this Sales Tool is to equip you with a template to capture, disll, and tell the right story at the right me for the right reasons.
But don’t over-think this...these are not meant to be “memoir-worthy” stories. They are simply stories you need to help people see more, feel
more and understand more about you, your company and your soluons.
The disllaon of your story happens in three phases.
FIRST PHASE:
Determine the situaon(s) in which you plan to tell your story (i.e. an interview, a team-meeng, a customer call). Then dene the job-to-be-
done of the story, the business arc (i.e. to share relevant experience, to create momentum for an idea, to build trust).
From there, idenfy the 5 C’s of your story.
See example with our Sara Blakley story.
FIRST PHASE - EXAMPLE
SITUATION Teaching salespeople
JOB Inspire and movate them to develop grit
STORY CANVAS
CHARACTER
The main character(s) of
this story
CHARACTER
Sara Blakely
CONTEXT
Sets scene
Establishes why audience
should care
Creates engagement
CONTEXT
Was going to a party
1998 founded company
Wore panty hose
Didn’t want socks
Sold fax machines
CONFLICT
Establishes a problem
Highlights tension
Communicates urgency
CONFLICT
Cold calls
Doors slammed
Mills in North Carolina
Run by men who didn’t get it
No female patent lawyers
CLIMAX
Generates a-ha moment
Pinpoints uniqueness
Fuels optimism
CLIMAX
Kept just showing up
Never lost enthusiasm
Daughters convinced Dad
Got the call
CLOSURE
Summarizes lessons learned
Highlights call to action
Creates enlistment
CLOSURE
Waves of rejection
Mindset, knowledge, skill &
discipline
Resilience
Grit
CONTEXT
CHARACTER
CONFLICT
CLIMAX
CLOSURE
SALES TOOLKIT
©2021 Craig Wortmann All Sales Engine & Craig Wortmann materials and intellectual property are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced,
distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast in whole or in part without obtaining prior written permission from Craig Wortmann. Inquiries to: [email protected]
SECOND PHASE
Using the dened elements of your story, write the full narrave of the story, as you would tell it today. Label your 5 C’s as you write them out.
This serves as “capture” and you will be able to remember the story one month from today.
THIRD PHASE
Take a crical eye to your story and examine it through several lenses.
• First, What do you need this story to do? Ask yourself; “What job is this story doing for me, and how can I include only the details I need for
THAT job?” Oen, this will cause you to take 20-50% of the details out, leaving only what you need.
• Second, pracce telling your story out loud. This will also serve to tell you what is truly crical to ensuring the story is doing its job. Cut out
more extraneous details.
• Third, how do you want your audience to feel when you are telling this story. Make sure your story supports the hoped-for feeling and cut
anything that would dilute the emoonal message.
• Fourth, write the story again, with the non-essenal details removed. It should result in a more crisp version of the story that is sll
compelling enough to do the intended job.
• Fih, name the story. This makes it easier to recall and idenfy as a tool in your sales toolkit.
SECOND PHASE
Sara Blakely
Back in 1998, Sara Blakely was geng ready to go to a party, and she had selected a pair of cream-colored pants. And she wanted to wear a pair of her panythose underneath
her pants to get the slimming eect that the hose would give her. But she also wanted bare feet for her look. So what did she do? She simply cut the feet o of the
pantyhose, and a billion dollar idea was born.
And I mean billion. In 2012, Blakely was named the world’s youngest, self-made female billionaire by Forbes magazine. To this day, she sll owns 100% of the company that’s
made her famous. In the seven years that led up to her breakthrough idea, Sara Blakely had been selling fax machines. She didn’t even get any leads...she just had four zip
codes that she could sell to, and her boss gave her a phone book as her only sales tool. [CONTEXT]
As Blakely herself says; “I would wake up in the morning and drive around cold-calling from eight unl ve. Most doors were slammed in my face. I saw my business card
ripped up at least once a week, and I even had a few police escorts out of buildings. It wasn’t long before I grew immune to the word ‘no’ and even found my situaon amusing.”
But if she thought that was a challenge early on, it was nothing like the challenge she faced with Spanx. See, most of the mills capable of making the product were in North
Carolina. And who runs those mills? Men. Men who found it impossible to understand this simple, powerful idea. Men who failed to see her genius. She even tried to nd
a female patent lawyer in the state of Georgia...just one...and failed. [CONFLICT]
But Blakely just kept pushing. She would not take no for an answer. As Blakely herself said; “No one would take my calls.” But over months, Sara Blakely just kept calling, and
even showing up. Unl one day, three daughters of a mill owner in North Carolina insisted that their Dad talk to her, and a prototype, a brand, a company, and a billionaire
were made (not born). Why did this guy call her back? Blakely says; “My enthusiasm and my condence in how good this idea was going to be stuck with him.” This same
enthusiasm got her into her rst retailer channels, as she would literally show up and try to sell Spanx in the stores unl they caught on. And how did she drive inial sales?
By calling old friends from 3rd and 4th grade and asking them to go and buy Spanx and then paying them back!! [CLIMAX]
What enabled Sara Blakely to power through wave upon wave of rejecon? Mindset, knowledge, skill, discipline and habit. She had a mindset of resilience...even joy...at being
turned away selling fax machines. She had the knowledge to communicate the benets of her soluon...quickly and concisely, and the skill to engage any kind of person in
conversaon, and the discipline and grit to knock on door aer door aer door. And she turned all of this into habit, trying again and again unl she got what she wanted.
Unl she was 10 mes beer than she started. [CLOSURE]
A Slim Billion (Row: Grit/Column: Legend)
Back in 1998, Sara Blakely was geng ready to go to a party, and she had selected a pair of cream-colored pants. And she wanted to wear a pair of her panythose underneath
her pants to get the slimming eect that the hose would give her. But she also wanted bare feet for her look. So what did she do? She simply cut the feet o of the
pantyhose, and a billion dollar idea was born.
In the seven years that led up to her breakthrough idea, Sara Blakely had been selling fax machines. She didn’t even get any leads...she just had four zip codes that she could
sell to, and her boss gave her a phone book as her only sales tool. [CONTEXT]
As Blakely herself says; “I would wake up in the morning and drive around cold-calling from eight unl ve. It wasn’t long before I grew immune to the word ‘no’ and even
found my situaon amusing.”
But if she thought that was a sales challenge, it was nothing like the challenge she faced with Spanx. The men who ran the mills to make the product found it impossible to
understand her simple, powerful idea. [CONFLICT]
But she kept pushing. She would not take no for an answer. Shejust kept calling, and showing up. One day, three daughters of a mill owner in North Carolina insisted that
their Dad talk to her, and a prototype, a brand, a company, and a billionaire were made (not born). [CLIMAX]
What enabled Sara Blakely to power through wave upon wave of rejecon? Mindset, knowledge, skill, discipline and habit. She had a mindset of resilience...even joy...at being
turned away selling fax machines and now Spanx. In a word...she had grit. [CLOSURE]
STORY CANVAS
SALES TOOLKIT
©2021 Craig Wortmann All Sales Engine & Craig Wortmann materials and intellectual property are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced,
distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast in whole or in part without obtaining prior written permission from Craig Wortmann. Inquiries to: [email protected]
CLIMAX
The purpose of this Sales Tool is to equip you with a template to capture, disll, and tell the right story at the right me for the right reasons.
But don’t over-think this...these are not meant to be “memoir-worthy” stories. They are simply stories you need to help people see more, feel
more and understand more about you, your company and your soluons.
The disllaon of your story happens in three phases.
FIRST PHASE:
Determine the situaon(s) in which you plan to tell your story (i.e. an interview, a team-meeng, a customer call). Then dene the job-to-be-
done of the story, the business arc (i.e. to share relevant experience, to create momentum for an idea, to build trust).
From there, idenfy the 5 C’s of your story.
SITUATION:
JOB:
STORY CANVAS
CHARACTER
The main character(s) of
this story
CHARACTER
CONTEXT
Sets scene
Establishes why audience
should care
Creates engagement
CONTEXT
CONFLICT
Establishes a problem
Highlights tension
Communicates urgency
CONFLICT
CLIMAX
Generates a-ha moment
Pinpoints uniqueness
Fuels optimism
CLOSURE
Summarizes lessons learned
Highlights call to action
Creates enlistment
CLOSURE
CONTEXT
CHARACTER
CONFLICT
CLIMAX
CLOSURE
SALES TOOLKIT
©2021 Craig Wortmann All Sales Engine & Craig Wortmann materials and intellectual property are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced,
distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast in whole or in part without obtaining prior written permission from Craig Wortmann. Inquiries to: [email protected]
SECOND PHASE
Using the dened elements of your story, write the full narrave of the story, as you would tell it today. Label your 5 C’s as you write them out.
This serves as “capture” and you will be able to remember the story one month from today.
STORY CANVAS
THIRD PHASE
Take a crical eye to your story and examine it through several lenses.
• First, What do you need this story to do? Ask yourself; “What job is this story doing for me, and how can I include only the details I need for
THAT job?” Oen, this will cause you to take 20-50% of the details out, leaving only what you need.
• Second, pracce telling your story out loud. This will also serve to tell you what is truly crical to ensuring the story is doing its job. Cut out
more extraneous details.
• Third, how do you want your audience to feel when you are telling this story. Make sure your story supports the hoped-for feeling and cut
anything that would dilute the emoonal message.
• Fourth, write the story again, with the non-essenal details removed. It should result in a more crisp version of the story that is sll
compelling enough to do the intended job.
• Fih, name the story. This makes it easier to recall and idenfy as a tool in your sales toolkit.