You deliver facts – but what story does your customer pass on?

The annual meeting with the buyer is going well. On the table: specifications, certificates, catch areas, sizes and delivery commitments. Everything is complete, everything is correct. Then the buyer leans back and asks: “And why should the shopper in the store reach for your product of all things?”

No spec sheet answers that question. People don’t buy facts. They buy stories.

In B2B, too, a person makes the final purchase

Many companies in the industry see storytelling as something for consumer brands. In business with retailers, wholesalers and foodservice, the assumption goes, numbers decide: price, quality, availability. That is true – but only for the first half of the journey.

Your customer doesn’t buy in order to own, but in order to sell on. They need an argument for the fish counter, the shelf or the menu. A story of your own is therefore the best sales argument you can give your B2B customer. It helps them sell your product on to consumers – who don’t buy facts.

Reason 1: A story makes the complex simple

A fish nobody knows stays on the shelf. Not because it’s bad, but because there are too many questions: What does it taste like? Does it have bones? What do I do with it? A label with a Latin name and a catch area answers none of them.

This is exactly where a story comes in. The fisherman who likes to eat this fish simply pan-fried with a little butter says more in one sentence than any product description. For your customer, that is not a detail but a sentence their staff can pass on at the counter – and one that lowers the barrier to buying.

Reason 2: A story shows the benefit

Listing features is easy. Showing what changes because of them is more powerful. A good story tells what problem someone had and how it was solved: the head chef who saves prep time with portioned products, the family who gets a fish dish on the table in twenty minutes on a weeknight.

For your customer, your product is then not an item with a number, but a solution they can offer their own customers.

Reason 3: A story sets you apart

“Tradition for generations”, “highest quality”, “made with passion” – these claims are not wrong. But they are interchangeable, because almost every competitor uses them too. If you advertise with the same words, you end up being judged on the same criterion: price.

A convincing story shows what a company stands for and what it does differently. Who fishes, where, with what attitude, and why exactly this way? Nobody else can tell that story – and that is precisely what makes your product unmistakable for the retailer.

What reaches the consumer

At the end of the chain, the story works twice over. An emotional brand story attracts more attention, stays in the memory longer and strengthens identification with what is on offer. These are effects that rational arguments and facts alone cannot achieve.

Facts remain important. They carry the story and make it credible. But they don’t replace it. Four questions help you find your own story:

1. What problem does your product solve – for your customer and for their customers?
2. What do you do differently from the competition, and why?
3. What sentence should the sales assistant at the counter be able to say about your product?
4. How do you pass the story on: in sales meetings, on the packaging, at the point of sale, in materials for your customer?

Answer these questions and you give your customer not just the goods, but also the reason to buy them.

Facts convince the buyer. Stories sell the product.

How we work at Blue Council

This is exactly where we come in. We analyse brand and product, work out what really sets your company apart, and turn it into a story that carries through the whole chain – from the buying meeting to the shelf. So that your customer doesn’t just list your product, but sells it too.