Episode #514 – Mike Adams, John Livesay, and Kyle Gray
Meet
Mike Adams
Mike Adams, is the author of the bestselling book Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell (2018), Mike lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he leads the sales storytelling practice for Anecdote International and consults to a client base as diverse and international as his own sales career.
John Livesay
John Livesay, aka The Pitch Whisperer, is a sales keynote speaker who shows companies’ sales teams how to turn mundane case studies into compelling case stories so they win more new business. From John’s award-winning career at Conde Nast, he shares the lessons he learned that turn sales teams into revenue rockstars. His TEDx talk: Be The Lifeguard of Your Own Life has over 1,000,000 views.
Kyle Gray
Kyle Gray is a world-class presentation coach, story strategist and author who helps coaches, startups and executives use storytelling to better communicate their unique value, and improve sales with their audience. He combines timeless storytelling with cutting-edge marketing to ensure you’ve got the right story to tell while presenting, on a sales call or in conversation, both online and offline.
Our Mission Is To Change The Negative Perception Of Sales People
Our Vision Is A World Where Selling Is A Profession To Be Proud Of
Sales isn’t just about products, features, or numbers, it’s all about forging genuine human connections. The best way to do this is by mastering the craft of storytelling. In this episode, I speak to some phenomenal sales experts, Mike Adams, John Livesay, and Kyle Gray, who share their favorite storytelling do’s and don’ts, and their personal strategies for winning business and building trust. Listen in as they share their wisdom and practical tips to help you refine your own sales storytelling.
Outline of This Episode
- [00:00] Importance of knowing what a story is and isn’t
- [02:20] Making your story relevant
- [04:28] Turning monologues into dialogues
- [11:02] Make stories clear, concise, and compelling
- [17:42] Tips for engaging storytelling
- [18:05] Help listeners feel emotionally invested
- [20:10] Finding power in personal stories
Story Structure, Relevance, and Creating Dialogue
Successful storytelling in sales begins with truly understanding what a story is—and what it isn’t. A real story involves a sequence of events, set in time and place, revolving around relatable characters. Mike warns that many confuse storytelling with simply relaying information or data, which fails to connect. Relevance is crucial: stories should directly relate to the prospect’s current situation, making anecdotes about yourself or clients with similar challenges especially resonant. Use story sharing to foster deeper connections, uncover real needs, and help you craft tailor-made solutions. Practice, relevance checks, and skillful story-listening questions (like, “Can you give me an example?”) are his keys for storytelling that converts.
Be Clear, Be Concise, Be Compelling
John keeps his advice refreshingly simple and potent: make your story clear, concise, and compelling. He warns that confusion, excessive detail, or bland storytelling all make a prospect tune out. Instead of drowning listeners in facts and figures, he urges salespeople to focus on emotional engagement—making us care about the character at the heart of the story. His secret to memorable stories is to craft them so they’re easily repeatable and carry a strong emotional core. To illustrate, he shares a real-world account of how reframing a clinical product demo into a drama-filled, patient-saving story led to skyrocketing sales for a healthcare company. A story that places your audience into the action will always outsell a technical pitch.
Make Every Word Count
Speak in the present tense—even about past events—to draw listeners in. When listing details or examples, stick to threes for impact and brevity, keeping stories tight and memorable. Make your storytelling conversational, bringing in dialogue rather than dry narration (think: “Bob said, ‘Can you help?’” instead of just stating facts). Kyle cautions against being long-winded, dwelling too much on pain points, or over-teaching—focus instead on providing “the minimum dose” for your listener to take action. His favorite story illustrates how owning your personal journey can turn vulnerability into confidence, empowering both you and your prospect. The first person you need to convince is yourself—master your own story, and everything else falls into place.
Connect with Mike Adams
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