Crafting a Signature Story for Business Growth

The Agents of Change Podcast, with Kris Jones and Rich Brooks

Rich: She was mentored by the author of Building a Story Brand, Donald Miller himself, and has over 20 years of experience and clients like Nike and Adidas under her belt. That has fueled her passion to help coaches and service providers replace all of their marketing with a single story so that they can multiply their revenue and focus on what they do best today.

We’re going to be looking at how you can create a signature story that will help your business grow with Kris Jones. Kris, welcome to the podcast.

Kris: Hey there, Rich. I’m happy to be here.

Rich: So tell me a little bit about this concept of the signature story. And why do you feel that it’s so important for entrepreneurs and business owners to develop one?

Kris: Your signature story really focuses on… the goal of it is to really connect with your ideal audience, and it’s the most effective way to do that. Your signature story is actually a narrative. That you craft that invites your potential clients or customers into a story with you a story where they play the hero, they play the character of the hero, and you play the character of the guide.

So you are not even the central character of your own story. Your clients are. And when they interact with your brand or business, and they get a sense and a feeling that they’re important, that they matter, that they’re a priority to you, it’s a really different way of interacting with a brand and it feels really good.

Like when they come across you online or go to your website and they are invited into this narrative with you, it really feels like you get them. They feel like, oh my gosh, they’re in my head. They really understand me. And not only that, I really matter to them. Not only that, I’m not alone in this struggle. And not only that, if they can articulate my struggle this well, they must be the best ones to solve it.

So it is the most, after 23 years of being in the marketing industry, using story is the most effective way to build trust and to establish a connection and resonance with a potential client. Better than any other approach that I’ve found. So that’s why I focus on that with all my clients because story is the thing that will truly move the needle for their business in the quickest way.

Rich: So ‘story’ is an interesting word because we’ve all been told how important it is. But I know that there’s probably a lot of people listening who are just like, “I’m not a born storyteller, I can’t do this.” I’m sure you’ve heard that, Kris, so many times before. What do you say when somebody tells you that?

Kris: I’m going to let everybody off the hook. Because like I said before, your story isn’t even about you, so it doesn’t matter what your background is. It doesn’t matter where you came from, what your roots are. What matters to your potential clients is that you can tell a story that really shows them that they matter. And that you can tell a story that really shows your empathy for your potential clients, and also your authority.

They don’t really care all that much about the founder’s story. What they care about is, can you solve my problem? And if you can show in your story, if you can show that authority that you know how to solve this problem for them and that you really care, you’ve got the heart for them, that’s really what your story is all about.

Rich: So walk me through what you do with your clients. Because I hear what you’re saying, but whether or not I’m the hero of the story or the guide of the story if I don’t feel comfortable telling stories. I’ve never been able to tell stories at parties, I’ve never been great at networking. It still may feel intimidating. So when you’re working with your clients, what are some of the steps you take them through to help them develop this signature story?

Kris: Yeah. So first off, your story doesn’t have to be this big, long, drawn out thing. Really, I think of story as ingredients. There’s components to every story. And when you have all those ingredients together, you’re telling a really clear and compelling story, but it doesn’t have to be sequential from beginning to end all the way through. So in fact, the more you can combine these ingredients together and share them in bite-sized chunks, the easier it is for the listeners brain to digest them.

It might be helpful if I share with you what are those ingredients and how do we put them together? How do I create these components for each of my clients? Every story you’ve ever heard, every movie you’ve ever been to, every book you’ve ever read, always begins with a character that has a problem. We call this character the hero. And as I said before, your customers or your clients are always the hero in this story. They’re out and about, they’re stuck with this problem, they don’t know how to solve the problem. If they could, they would have done it already. So they’re out and about on the internet asking their network. They’re looking for a guide.

And so about a third of the way through the story, a guide enters them. And that is you as the business owner, or you as the solopreneur, you are always the guide. You’re always the Yoda or the Mr. Miyagi. And you step into the story, and you give them a very clear and simple plan.

It’s typically a three-step plan. And people tend to overlook this, or they don’t have this on their website, or they don’t incorporate this in their story. But the plan is really a critical part of the story because the plan breaks it down for them into three simple steps. And when they read this plan, they think to themselves, “Oh my gosh, finding success solving my problem It’s not as overwhelming and impossible as I’ve been thinking it would be. In fact, I can do this step one, two, three, I can do this.” And when they have that thought in their brain, they become inspired to take action. They’re reminded, okay, this is possible.

And then they click on your call to action. So as the guide, you step in, you give them a plan. The plan calls them to action. The call to action is the whole point. That’s the whole reason we have a website. That’s how we know our website is working is people are clicking on the call to action. So this plan that you’ve provided for them calls them to action. They click on that call to action, and we pull them through this story through what I call stakes.

And stakes just mean we’re really going to communicate with them that by solving this problem, they’re going to find success. But also, by clicking on this call to action, it’s going to help them avoid failure. Our brains are even more driven to avoid failure than we are to find success. So we always want to have one of these ingredients in the story, be reminding them that we’re going to help them avoid failure. Failure could happen. We’re going to help you avoid it.

So the components of story are the character or the hero, the problem that they have, the guide as the secondary character in the story. The guide gives them a plan. The plan is another component. The call to action is another component. And then stakes are another component, meaning success and failure. When you have all those components together on a page or inside of a conversation, you’re telling a really clear and compelling story that your potential clients really resonate with and they’re inspired to take action and want to take that next step to work with you.

Rich: Awesome. And can you give us an example of a particularly powerful signature story that maybe you’ve worked with one of your clients on so we can get a sense of how this all comes together?

Kris: Yeah. I’ve worked with so many clients over the years. I work with a lot of coaches and consultants. There’s one that comes to mind. Her name’s Andrea, and she works with women who are navigating infidelity, and she steps in a really critical time. These women are often, they don’t know if they should move forward with the relationship, if they should cut their losses and leave the relationship. And so she comes in and she makes them the central character in her story. And she, the header of her website is, “I help women navigating infidelity know what they’re going to do next.” It’s something along those lines. So then when they land on her website, they know immediately what she does, who she helps, and what she wants them to do next.

Which is really the most important thing we can do up in that header section is just answer those three questions. What do you do? How’s it going to make my life better? What do you want me to do next? And prior to working with me, she had up there, “Hi, I’m Andrea. I’m a coach. I’ve been doing this work for three years” or however long, and so it just was about her.

Rich: It was me, me, me, and it was meandering, it sounds like. And instead, you helped her flip that script.

Kris: A hundred percent. And what happened was her people started really resonating with her website. They started joining her program. They started booking calls with her.

But what was really cool is that the way she navigated her sales calls completely changed as well. And I think that’s a strategic byproduct of this work of when you get really clear about the problem you solve, who you’re really helping and your role in this. The way you talk about your business in every area of your business changes. And she used to dread her sales calls, and she was closing, I think, like 20%, which isn’t actually all that bad at all.

But after she got clarity with our work together, she was able to really feel confident on the inside. Her inner world changed because she really knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the power of the work that she was doing. And she began to look at her sales calls as just, “Hey, I’m going to show you how I can help you.” It’s not, I’m trying to sell you, or I’m trying to get you to join. I’m just going to show you how I can help you. And that shift, and then she would even pull up her website – which I recommend my clients do all the time – pull up your website when you’re on a sales call so that language that we’ve carefully crafted is right there for you. And what are the benefits of this? So what are the problems that you’re potentially navigating right now? And yeah, her closed rate actually went up to 95%. So for every10 calls she got on, nine and a half of them turned into clients, which was extraordinary.

And that doesn’t happen with all my clients, but that’s a really good example of how once you get clear with the way you’re outward facing, the way you show up online outwardly absolutely informs the way you show up for yourself inwardly as well.

Rich: It also sounds like you helped her shift to that guide position as well. So when she got on those sales calls, they were no longer sales calls. She was just there to guide that person through, whether she got the sale or not. So suddenly, it was so much easier for her actually to close those sales.

Kris: That’s the most important thing that we did. We shifted her role in her story.

Rich: Yeah, that was definitely critical.

So I’m thinking about this, and obviously there’s a lot of ways to tell a story. There are long stories or short stories. We obviously have multiple channels when we’re in the digital world. And of course, there’s also channels outside of the digital world.

How do we take this one signature story and tell it in multiple places on our website, through social media, through email and so on, without it feeling redundant or without it feeling forced into different positions or forced into different channels?

Kris: That’s such a good question. So your signature story, it contains all those different components that I just walked you through. But, it works a lot like an accordion. So your signature story on a podcast or on your website, it might be longer, might be at the wider version of the accordion. And then also what I do for my clients is I write a video script using their signature story. That’s going to be more in the middle range length.

And then we’ve got your one liner or your Instagram profiles, which have to be like more of the condensed version of the story. So your story really expands and contracts depending on where it’s living. And this is a beautiful thing, because as business owners, we’re wearing all kinds of hats. And anytime you can just simplify your life and if you can simplify your marketing, all the better. And because it’s varying in length, the story is the same, but it feels a little bit different because the length of it is changing and where it’s appearing is different.

So the beautiful thing is, I call it the lazy man’s marketing approach. Because you don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel over and over again. And yes, people think, okay, is this redundant or are people going to wonder why you keep saying the same thing over and over again. Dude, like enough already. But people need to hear things like eight times before they can actually commit it to memory. So it really does pay like it’s less effort for sure. It’s more consistent and cohesive across all your platforms.

And then what happens is as a business, one of our biggest challenges is being memorable, becoming memorable. And this approach allows people to really begin to remember you. And so when they have the problem or when the problem comes up in their life that you solve, you are the first person that they think of.

Same thing if somebody in their network is looking for somebody that solves the problem you solve. You come to mind first, because you’ve been beating the same damn drum over and over again until it’s really absorbed in people’s cellular memories.

Rich: All right. Now you mentioned these video scripts that you help your clients write or that you write for your clients, and that’s a key part of the process. What elements do you prioritize for the shorter form storytelling to help increase conversions?

Kris: Yeah, there’s really in the script, it’s a little bit different than the core components that I walked you through, just slightly. We always begin that script with the aspirational identities.

So who do your clients want to become? Or another way to ask this question is, how would they want people to describe them as? So we enter in with that. We always start with empathy. Because as the guide, your job is to show up with empathy and authority. So we lead with empathy, and then we move into the aspirational identity.

And then it really does just follow the format of story. So it’s, the problem is this, and that can leave you feeling this way. And philosophical statement around what you believe is true. That there’s a better way, essentially, that it shouldn’t be so hard.

And then you move into some authority. That’s why I’ve spent the last 20 years doing this work, and I’ve made it my mission to help so and so – teachers like you or therapists like you – and then achieve that success, achieve that ultimate benefit that’s at the end of the story.

And then I always like to add in, because when people come to your website, one of the things they’re asking is, how are you different from everybody else? Most markets are just pretty saturated. And so in that script, I include a whole section about here’s what makes my approach unique. And then I go through that, too. So it’s a little bit nuanced, but it still follows that same story flow.

Rich: Okay. Now you’ve mentioned you work with a lot of coaches. How do you think that a signature story differs between somebody who might be working on their own, like a coach or a consultant, versus someone who’s leading a company? So if we’re the owner of a company like I am, am I telling my story or am I telling flyte new media’s story?

Kris: You’re telling your company’s story. So whether it’s you as the owner of the company or the company, people want to know there’s a human behind this company. So if it were you, and I work with a lot of small businesses that have multiple employees or small teams, but I always put my client or the founder or the owner as the spokesman for the business. So I would put you at the forefront and you would be speaking in first person to the reader.

Rich: Okay. That makes sense. That’s helpful. Now I’m sure because I’ve been in business for 27 years and I’ve met many entrepreneurs throughout my experience, that some of them are going to want to be the hero, no matter what. So what do you do when you run into somebody who wants to make themselves a hero of the story? What is the shift that you need to convince them of so that they realize that they’ll be so much more successful as the guide in this case and not as the hero?

Kris: That is one of the best questions I’ve ever received. I love it. Basically, it’s really a matter of education. I think part of my work is all about writing, and another I think equal part of my work is really about educating my clients and helping them really understand the why behind everything that I’ve written and the strategy of why it works. Because at the end of the day, as a business owner or solopreneur, we just want our marketing to be effective. So whatever it takes to become effective, they’re usually open and willing to.

And even if they’re attached to being that hero character, what I find is super helpful, and honest to God, with all the people I’ve worked with, I’ve never had a problem or had anyone push back. Because I share with them, there’s only room for one hero in every story. And so when you are the hero of your own story, you kick your potential clients out of that narrative with you. You literally kick them out. So they don’t feel, they can’t imagine themselves working with you. They don’t feel a connection with you. But the thing that really drives the point home is that we don’t want to be the hero, because the hero is the weakest character in the story. We don’t know if that hero is going to find success or if they’re going to fail.

And that’s why we go to a movie and we put our butts in that theater seat and we don’t get up and leave until the very end of the movie. It’s because we don’t know if that hero is going to succeed or not. Are they going to fail? And we are fully engaged until we find out. So that’s why we don’t want to be the hero of the story. We want to be the strongest character in the story. We want to be the Yoda. We want to be the Mr. Miyagi. We want to be Hamish in Hunger Games because that character knows what they’re doing, and they know how to guide that hero to success and they don’t need to even brag or boast. They just have to show up with empathy and understanding, a big heart, and the experience to solve the problem.

Rich: Awesome. Great stuff. I know that you’ve got a free gift for some of our listeners to help them learn and communicate their own value and write truly compelling copy in only five minutes. That’s at reddoordesigns.com/free-resources. That is going to be in the show notes.

Kris, if people are interested in learning more or working with you, where can we send them?

Kris: The best place to find me is at reddoordesigns.com. That’s R E D D O O R D E S I G N S dot com. And when you go there, you’ll see a blue button that says, ‘book a money-making messaging call with me’. And you and I are going to take 40 minutes to look at your story and look at your website, see how you’re showing up online. And I’m going to identify the areas that need to be tuned up, and give you reassurance for the areas that you’re doing great. And you’ll learn a lot. It’s a free call so I would encourage everybody to book one of those calls.

Rich: Sounds great. Kris, thank you so much for coming by today. I really appreciate it.

Kris: Thank you for having me.