Boost your sales game with Steven Bartlett's Laws of Business and Life: The Story

Winston Churchill once said, “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”. But what if you could succeed without so much failure in the first place? Steven Bartlett, entrepreneur, influencer, and thought leader, is reshaping the way we approach business and life by sharing his steps to success. This is the second blog in a series of four in which we’re exploring the wisdom Bartlett shares through his 33 laws outlined in his recent book ‘The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life’ - if you missed the first set of laws, you can catch up on our breakdown of Bartlett’s first pillar here.

Through this blog series, we will explore how Bartlett’s principles can guide you to revolutionise your sales strategy, boost your personal growth, and help you navigate the intricate world of business with confidence. Whether you're a seasoned sales professional or freshly appointed into your first sales team, Bartlett's 33 laws can help you navigate the challenges and opportunities that await.

Who is Steven Bartlett?

Born in 1992 in Botswana to a Nigerian mother and a British father, Steven Bartlett's background was almost a tale of two halves. His mother, who had left school at the age of seven, was illiterate, while his father was a highly educated structural engineer. Bartlett's family relocated to England during his toddler years where he faced challenges in his own educational journey, being expelled from school due to poor attendance and later dropping out of his university education too.

Despite a turbulent start, Bartlett has since enjoyed his fair share of successes and has excelled in a number of roles. He currently serves in various capacities, including being a founder, entrepreneur, public speaker, investor, author, and the host of the UK's leading podcast, 'The Diary of a CEO.' Interestingly, despite facing rejection during auditions for Dragon’s Den, where he sought to appear as an entrepreneur, Bartlett defied the odds. He is now the youngest-ever Dragon to sit on the panel, a feat he accomplished in the show's 19th series.

Bartlett's podcast, and book, feature in-depth interviews with some of the globe's most impactful experts and leaders. Though his audience is as vast as it is diverse, spanning from budding entrepreneurs and creators to seasoned business leaders and high-net-worth individuals, the invaluable lessons he shares, alongside the teachings of his interviewees, extend their significance to anyone working toward new levels of success.

Pillar 2: The Story

Bartlett breaks his book into four pillars: The Self, The Story, The Philosophy, and The Team. In this article, we’ll focus on the second pillar. The Story is the pillar focused on the stories and storytelling elements that influence us and recognises the human element to storytelling and framing. Bartlett starts out by stating that everything that stands in the way of success is human. That is to say, no matter how much data, evidence, science, or mathematics you consult or provide, nothing will have as much sway over your human customers than a truly great, emotive story. In fact, Bartlett so strongly believes this that he says stories “are the single most powerful weapon any leader can arm themselves with – they are the currency of humanity”.

So, we can understand that storytelling is key to winning customers over to your cause and Bartlett’s second set of 9 laws outline the importance of The Story for revenue teams. But how can implementing these laws help boost your revenue team’s performance?  Here are the next 9 lessons that sales professionals can take from laws 10-18:

Useless absurdity will define you more than useful practicalities:

The first law of this pillar focuses on capitalising on brand messaging without dedicated budget. For Bartlett himself, as a young CEO he made a choice – what seemed like an ill-advised choice – that paid off dividends. Having just secured $300,000 investment from his biggest client and moved his team to a new, huge office, Bartlett then blew $13,000 on a big blue slide, connecting his mezzanine floor to the ground floor and depositing people into a matching ball pit. He had no sales team, and he confesses that his team hardly even used the slide. However, the slide’s effectiveness was as a marketing message — it told the world that his company was a young, innovative, creative, and disruptive business. Even without a sales team, that big blue slide became a marketing tool on its own and graced the pages of many a newspaper, magazine, and blog. It created an ethos for Bartlett’s team, and company as a whole, that others were fascinated by and gravitated towards.

Think of Tesla, world-renowned home of innovative and eye-wateringly priced ’super cars’. Now think of what you know about Tesla cars. I bet it wasn’t a list of practical, useful things these cars do or have, was it? More likely, a veritable feast of weird and wacky Tesla features popped to mind, such as dog mode, caraoke, or perhaps even rainbow or Santa mode. Bartlett points out that a company’s public story is very rarely defined by the useful things they do and sometimes not even by the main features of the flagship products. However, the useless absurdity that companies come out with are far more likely to be what’s remembered, and will be what your brand name is associated with. For Tesla, these absurd features generate far more conversation, more articles, and more headlines, than any of their useful features.

Back on the level of most of us mere mortals, there is a tendency for people to lean away from absurdity, because they don’t understand it or believe in it. Bartlett suggests that appointed CEOs are typically more risk-adverse than company founders, who are more likely to believe in and act on the power of absurdity. But whether you’re a CEO, a founder, perhaps a team leader, or even ’just’ a sales rep, what you do and say conveys a message about who you are, or what you aren’t. In today’s saturated marketplace, normality is ignored — it’s too polite, too vanilla. Absurdity, standing out from the crowd, and being different are far more likely to draw interest, and ultimately that’ll be what sells, not the number of boring certificates on the wall, or the number of airbags in your run-of-the-mill car.

Avoid wallpaper at all costs:

Bartlett’s eleventh law highlights the dangers of being too bland. Building on his previous law, Bartlett warns of the mundane, that which leaves you cold and fails to draw an emotional response. Habituation is a neurological device that helps us to focus on what matters, while tuning out things our brain doesn’t need to focus on. How many of you have walked, perhaps even driven, to work and not remembered the journey? You have likely been busy thinking about other things, solving other issues, or planning for a busy day ahead, and somehow the details of how you got to your destination are just missing. Similarly, Bartlett suggests that repeating a word too many times has the same effect; it becomes simply a sound and the word itself loses its meaning to you.

The wallpaper effect was something Bartlett had first had experience of. Noticing patterns within his podcast stats, he soon realised that the episodes for which there was an image with a neutral face (i.e. wallpaper) were getting significantly less clicks than those which displayed an animated face. But, while boring wallpaper images and phrases rate poorly for clicks and grabbing your audience's attention, Bartlett also warns that over-use of less mundane things can also become wallpaper as the audience becomes desensitised to it. The mere exposure effect highlights the idea of an optimal level of exposure: something has been seen enough that it’s recognised, but not so much that it is forgettable.

In sales, particularly in outreach, there is a huge opportunity to capitalise on here. By using unexpected, unsaturated messaging, you are far more likely to be successful in catching your audience’s attention and holding it. You need to evoke an emotional response in your audience for them to remember you, to be intrigued by you, and for them to want to interact with you.

“Great marketing is uncomfortable. It springs a dormant brain into a neurological frenzy.”

Rather like marmite, whether your audience loves or hates what you’re doing and saying, it doesn’t necessarily matter. As long as you are evoking an emotion in them, one way or another, you can beat your audience’s habituation filter and become memorable in the process.

You must piss people off:

This is another law that builds on those previously mentioned in this pillar. Hate is a powerful and motivating emotion, and according to Bartlett, is often a signal that you’re saying the right things. He argues that you must be prepared to piss off 80% of your audience to really spark interest in the remaining 20%. Fail at achieving this, and you’re simply landing in the space of mediocrity.

While it’s true you don’t need everyone to like you — and indeed, you never will have everyone liking you — you do need people to feel something about you. You need some people to love you. It’s worth noting that emotional hooks do have a lifespan though, so what has won people over to you one year, won’t necessarily work year on year. We see this in Christmas TV adverts. John Lewis in particular is well known for tugging on the heartstrings. However, over recent years, they have drawn this attention from their audience through a range of storylines that feature anything from dogs playing on trampolines, to animated woodland creatures, to a lonely old man in the moon, and even a socially awkward, easily excitable dragon. While all of these adverts were a success in creating that warm nostalgia that people have come to expect, they used a mix of humour and thought-provoking social situations to capture their audience’s attention.

Triggering an emotional response is essential to grab attention and an approach that attracts 20% of your audience while enraging 80% can be more valuable than having 100% of that audience feeling indifferent about you or your brand. For salespeople, there is an opportunity here to break away from the mould and try something new. Perhaps a meme, a funny video, or a voice message, might just provide the fresh tone that garners you new interest from a prospect. It doesn’t have to work for everyone, as long as it’s working for some of them.

“Indifference is the least profitable outcome.”

Shoot your psychological moonshots first:

The term psychological moonshot, coined by Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland, refers to, as Bartlett puts it, “a relatively small investment that drastically improves the perception of something.” Bartlett explains how his hairdresser revealed to him, his end of trim routine; how he always walks around his client, assessing the cut from all angles, then, grabs his scissors, and goes back in for one last snip before pronouncing his job done. The one time he forgot to do this for Bartlett, he noted that the cut felt rushed, like it wasn’t as good of a job as normal, even though it was the exact same cut, and took the same time as usual. The end of trim routine, that precious additional minute of surveying and a falsified extra snip at the end, had created a sense of precision, of thoroughness, and of quality. Without those final moments, the cut was devalued, and sub-par to his hairdresser’s normal standard.

The idea behind this law is that it’s cheaper to invest in perception than it is to invest in reality. A few seconds of perceived ‘extras’ can offer extra value to the customer and, ultimately, can secure you repeat trade, tips, or even referrals. Bartlett explores how Uber recognised this principle and launched an in-house team, ‘Uber Labs’, focused on reducing customers’ psychological friction. They discovered five factors that can impact a customer’s satisfaction: the peak-end rule, idleness aversion, operational transparency, uncertainty anxiety, and goal-gradient effect.

1. The peak-end rule: this is a cognitive bias that describes how people remember an event. We judge an event by how we felt at its peak and at its end. This applies to both good and bad events, and is why Uber drivers are trained to be exceptionally kind to you at the end of the ride. Similarly, in the sales process, even if your outreach ends with a no, make sure you leave your communication on a polite, friendly, and helpful note – it allows a positive level for you to reach back out on in the future.
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2. Idleness aversion: people who are busy are happier than those who are idle. Uber Labs recognised that if they could keep their customers busy or entertained while they waited, they were less likely to cancel their Ubers, and are more likely to be content while they wait, so they added a moving car on a map to give their customers something to watch to help them avoid idleness. Keeping your customer busy can improve customer happiness, retention and conversion, so leave your prospects with something to look up, read about, or try out while you go and find the answers they’re waiting for.
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3. Operational transparency: Uber found the lack of transparency to be poison to customer experience. Uncertainty causes the customer or prospect to feel sceptical and can even lead customers to be distrustful and disloyal to a brand. Uber decided to explain each step of the process during the wait, including explanations around expected arrival time, providing a breakdown of how the fare was calculated, and justifying estimates for everything. Within revenue teams, there is often a sense of mystery as deals and packages can take weeks to put together before being put out to the prospect. By keeping open communication, and explaining the process your team is going through, why there might be stumbling blocks or hold-ups, you can help maintain a trusting relationship with your client.
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4. Uncertainty anxiety: a lack of operational transparency causes uncertainty anxiety. For clients, who perhaps were taking a leap of faith in the first place, suddenly being left in the dark, not having the situation explained to them, or waiting to hear back from reps for days or weeks on end, is a sure way to get a devastating case of cold feet. Dominos recognised this principle in their customers and created the pizza-tracker, a 5-step process, to address this. For their customers, it meant they had a clear understanding of the process and where in that process they were. It is less stressful for customers to know there is a problem or delay, than it is for them to be left in uncertainty, not knowing what is happening, why there have been hold-ups, or where in the process they are exactly.
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5. Goal-gradient effect: this refers to the effect of people intrinsically speeding up the nearer to the ‘finish line’ they get. For Uber, designing a map that shows the customer just how close the car is to arriving at the pick-up and drop-off points helped to satisfy their natural inclination for things to speed along towards the end of their journey. For sales reps, it is also worth noting that this too will be the reaction prospects have: when they know the end of the process is close, they’ll want to jump straight to it. Ensure there are no final stumbling blocks that could cause last-minute issues to keep your prospect on target, and in a positive mindset.

Psychological moonshots allow brands to create huge perceived value with tiny, often free, superficial changes. For Uber, they didn’t really change their service, but provided the psychological comfort-blanket that allowed their customers to remain happy and loyal to their services. They have successfully created the illusion of added value and in so doing, secured a growing stake in the market of increasingly loyal customers.

Friction can create value:

Perhaps the law that is most grating with our pre-existing expectations, Bartlett’s fourteenth law explores the phenomenon of some customers wanting your product more when the experience is worse. The theory here comes down to psychological expectation, so, depending on the customer’s expectation of a product, they will be more readily pleased with a lesser experience if they believe that is part of the benefit of the product. To explain this theory, Bartlett refers to the energy drink RedBull. The well-known slogan, “RedBull gives you wings”, is both part of the problem and solution here. The drink, arguably, tastes awful, but this actually works to RedBull’s advantage. Customers acknowledge the drink doesn’t taste good, but, believing that it is packed full of strong chemicals that make the drink deliver on the promised energy that will help them fly through the day, accept the drink as it is. The expectation is not that it will taste good, but that it will give them energy to get them through the next few hours. Conversely, health food brands have reported findings that suggest recipe changes to make their products taste better have in fact led to a fall in sales. Because the products now taste so good, consumers struggle to believe they can still be a healthy option, and so stop trusting the brand.

Consider flight, hotel, or insurance aggregator sites. Research showed that when they sped up the search time and provided results faster, that it didn’t really lead to an increase in sales. However, after artificially increasing this search time, and now displaying all the sites they’re searching as they do so, these websites found an increase in sales and improved retention. By creating the perception that these search aggregators are doing a really thorough job (well they must be, if they’re searching all those sites, right?), customers stopped feeling the need to go and check elsewhere, thus resulting in increased sales right there on the original aggregator visited.

What is important is to remember that sometimes making things easier or better isn’t necessarily the route to a psychological moonshot. Sometimes, to create perceived value, you actually have to do the opposite. Understanding that humans aren’t logical, but irrational and unreasonable, will allow you the freedom to move away from the habit of always looking for opportunities to improve something. In sales, reps tend to want to solve every problem the prospect throws their way. However, by focusing on the key issue, and ignoring some of the side-noise that can be so distracting, reps can better serve their prosects without having to deliver the moon and more.

The frame matters more than the picture:

This law focuses on the idea that the way a product is projected to customers can dramatically change the way its value is perceived. We all do this on some level, when it comes to gift giving: frequently we’ll use a gift bag, or present an item in a box, because it makes the gift look better, more expensive, more special. The same principle can be applied when it comes to store merchandising. Bartlett uses Apple as an example of this, commenting on how it uses the idea of framing to present its stores more as art galleries with high value pieces displayed clearly, well lit, and each in its own area, rather than an overcrowded electronics shop.

Apple, by displaying just a few items on their shop floors, create a sense of scarcity – a form of framing that dictates demand. This idea is based on the perceived value of a product increasing when there appears to be a limited supply of that product. They also tap into our subconscious recognition that shop floor-space costs money. By only having a few items on display, each given its own area and space around it, we recognise that the item in question is so valuable that it is worth the money that space costs, to set it off.

Sales teams can take a lesson here too. Bartlett reflects how he “advised a large global B2B company to ban the job title ’salesperson’, to stop using the term ’sales’ and replace it with a ’partnerships’ team.” Following this change, the company in question saw a dramatic increase in the response rate to their emails and their sales rose by nearly a third. By reframing the role of sales into partnerships, prospects and customers will reframe their perspective of that role. The word “partner” suggests a person is on your team, as opposed to “sales” which people understand to mean someone pestering you about spending money on something. Framing isn’t about lying or deception — you are not trying to trick your prospects — but it is about knowing how to set your product or service out and how to present it to the public using facts, while underlining the value of such a product.

Use Goldilocks to your advantage:

The idea of presenting three options to a client is a common one in sales. Bartlett himself recalls the process of house-hunting and reflects how his estate agent showed him a range of properties, even ones that didn’t meet many or any of his criteria. By viewing these properties (one seeming to be an excessive luxury, another insufficient and lower quality, and one in the middle), he was forced to recognise more pros in the middle property. When we understand that value is dictated by opinion, it allows us a route to deliver value based on the specific needs of a client or prospect. Using the Goldilocks effect means that the middle option we must present to our prospects here will deliver what is the best option for that client, offering a good quality, cost efficient, a safe-bet solution.

Never show people just one option. Like Goldilocks, people like to consider the possibilities, explore different options, and make an informed decision from their own conclusions. To only present one solution is to force that prospect down an uncomfortable route, avoiding scope for their naturally inquisitive nature to learn and explore, and hindering their ability to come to a fully considered answer. People make value judgements based on context, so sales teams ought to consider offering a range of options including economy, standard, and premium solutions. This allows prospects free choice while also creating a context of different values to the offerings. It is the ‘other’ two options that help inform a customer’s value of the third, middle option.

Let them try and they will buy:

This law outlines how and why the easiest way to get someone to love something is to let them try it before they commit to a purchase. Bartlett references the endowment effect, which causes people to over-value an object simply because they own it, regardless of its objective value. The theory behind this law is that if people feel like they own something, or have spent time pretending or imagining they do, they are more likely to make that a reality and commit to a purchase.

Again, this is a concept Apple has down to a T. By offering customers an unlimited time to play with their products (all of which are powered up, connected to the internet, and loaded with apps), they allow the potential customer the opportunity to feel what it would be like to own that product and use it as they normally would. They are empowering their customers to find the solution that suits them best with no pushiness from the Apple employees. Apple take this one step further too, to great effect. Apple employees are trained not to touch the devices on display, without the customer’s permission – further adding to the feeling for the customer that they already own it, that is their phone, iPad, etc.

Touching or using a product also increases a customer’s perceived value of that product. Studies show that the longer a customer experiences a product, the greater their willingness to buy it. For sales teams, the lesson here is to avoid just telling your prospect how great something is; instead, let them try it out, allow them to feel like they already own it. Car salespeople use test-drives for this very reason – when your client can imagine owning it, has felt what it’s like to be in the driving seat, benefiting from all it has to offer, they often won’t want to give it back.

Fight for the first five seconds:

At face value this is perhaps another alien concept, but this law is based on findings that success is often dictated by just the first five seconds of your messaging about something. Our individual in-built habituation filters mean that we will either tune in and give attention or decide that something is wallpaper and tune out in the first five seconds of us listening or reading about something. This law is not about only fighting for the first five seconds but is about highlighting how important those first five seconds are. It’s no good to have the second half of your story or messaging being full of edge-of-your-seat suspense and excitement – because you will have already lost your audience's attention long ago. You must break through all the noise surrounding your customer or prospect and make your first five seconds of contact with them count. Jolt them out of their comfort zone, their ambivalence, their own little world, and make them pay attention.

For revenue teams, the message here is to ensure you are telling a story that demands attention. You need to deliver a captivating, punchy opening to your messaging that evokes an immediate reaction. In the first five seconds of any video, advert, or article, you must deliver a hook that will bypass your audience's wallpaper filter. You need to challenge them to listen, challenge them on their preconceived ideas and understanding. Bartlett advises not to waste time introducing yourself or explaining yourself: this becomes like elevator music and will have your audience tuning out before you’ve started getting them to tune in. He goes on to explain that in your storytelling, you should aim to cater to your most uninterested customer first; if you can capture their attention, then you shouldn’t have any trouble engaging those already curious about your offering. As a society we are increasingly distracted, so to keep your customer’s attention you must say something worth holding their attention.

The first five seconds create a window for you to get to the most compelling point that you can. By drawing out a reaction as fast as possible you will not only secure a spot as memorable, but it will save you the hard work of having to change your prospect’s opinion of you once they’ve already decided they can’t be bothered or simply aren’t interested.

“Attention might just be the most generous gift anyone can give you”.

Key points

Bartlett's exploration of the second pillar, The Story, provides valuable insights for revenue teams in the tech industry. The power of storytelling cannot be overstated, as it is the key to connecting with human customers on a profound level. The set of laws (10-18) outlined in this article offers practical lessons for sales professionals:

• Embrace the power of unconventional, memorable elements in your brand messaging. Stand out from the crowd, as it's the absurd features that often leave a lasting impression.
• Monotony and blandness can lead to habituation, making your message fade into the background. Create engaging and unexpected content to break through the noise and capture attention.
• Don't be afraid to evoke strong emotions, even if it means upsetting some. Stirring reactions, whether positive or negative, is more impactful than being forgotten in a sea of indifference.
• Invest in the perception of your product or service, recognising that sometimes it's more effective to enhance perceived value through small, psychological adjustments rather than substantial changes.
• Challenge the conventional understanding that a smoother experience is always better. Understand the psychology behind how certain customers may want a product more when the experience is perceived as worse.
• How you present your product dramatically influences its perceived value. Utilise framing techniques to enhance the perceived value of your offerings.
• Presenting three options allows customers to make a more informed decision based on their preferences. The middle option often appears as the most appealing compromise because of the perceived value of the other two options.
• Allowing customers to experience your product firsthand increases its perceived value, making them more likely to commit to a purchase.
• Recognise the importance of capturing attention in the initial moments of interaction. Craft a compelling opening that demands immediate attention and sets the stage for a memorable story.

In today’s world, which is saturated with information and data, storytelling holds a fresh appeal to customers. By applying these storytelling principles, revenue teams can elevate their performance, driving customer engagement, loyalty, and, ultimately, boosting sales. As we continue to navigate the evolving landscape of the tech industry, human connection is essential and harnessing the power of narrative will remain a potent tool for success.

Interested in improving your sales technique on a practical level too? Get in touch for a demo of the Selligence platform and see how else you can start improving you processes to set yourself up for success.