In episode 675, Rob Walling interviews Stephen Steers, author of "Superpower Storytelling." They discuss Stephen’s experience in selling and teaching startups how to sell better. They cover Stephen’s storytelling “AREA” framework and the concept of the problem stack. They also talk about when founders should consider delegating sales, the importance of documenting successful sales processes, and using humor in the sales process.

Episode Sponsor:

Find your perfect developer or a team at Lemon.io/startups

The competition for incredible engineers and developers has never been more fierce. Lemon.io helps you cut through the noise and find great talent through its network of engineers in Europe and Latin America.

They take care of the vetting, interviewing, and testing of candidates to make sure that you are working with someone who can hit the ground running.

When it comes to hiring, the time it takes to write your job description, list the position, review resumes, schedule interviews, and make an offer can take weeks, if not months. With Lemon.io, you can cut down on a lot of that time by tapping into their wide network of developers who can get started in as early as a week.

And for subscribers of Startups For the Rest of Us, you can get 15% off your first 4 week contract with a developer by visiting lemon.io/startups

Topics we cover:

1:36 – Start Small, Stay Small
3:21 – Stephen’s book, Superpower Storytelling, and how to tell the story of you and your company
4:30 – Why is storytelling important for startups
7:47 – A valuable background in sales consulting
10:35 – The AREA mental framework
13:21 – The “problem stack”
18:42 – When to outsource sales in your organization
22:37 – The four reasons that businesses buy, consultative selling
28:01 – Using humor to your advantage when selling or as a founder

Links from the Show:

Stephen Steers | LinkedIn
Steers Sales Consulting
Superpower Storytelling by Stephen Steers
Start Small, Stay Small by Rob Walling
Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Taki Moore (@takimoore) | Twitter
Scott Sambucci (@scottsambucci) | Twitter

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Google

"mean girls" always win

The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited

The Selena–Justin–Hailey triangle and backlash

The AI-powered Podcast Player