How to Go from Story Telling to Story Selling – In Just 7 Minutes with Cathy Goodwin

Resources/Links:

• Want to learn what can really motivate your clients to buy your offers? Click here: cathygoodwin.com/baggage

Summary

Are you struggling with marketing and selling your services? Do you want to know how you can sell through storytelling?

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can be used to sell anything. However, it’s always a big mistake to revolve stories around yourself or share your origin story. Your audience wants to know how YOU can help them and WHY should they pick you through those stories. Market what you do, not who you are.

Cathy Goodwin helps service-based small businesses and solopreneurs attract their ideal clients with their unique selling story.

Listen to Cathy as she talks about how you can craft the perfect story for your clients that will not only tell but also sell! She also dives a little bit deeper into the world of marketing and shares what should be the essence of your story that baits your clients into availing what you have to offer.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:52 – Cathy’s ideal client: My ideal client is a service-based business owner, small business only. Solopreneurs are ideal for me. They are professionals, and they supply a service.
• 02:25 – The problem she helps solve: They have to be not just any higher, they have to be the right clients. And a lot of people today in the service business are offering something that their clients don’t understand.
• 03:16 – The symptoms of the problem: Some things are that they are not getting a response to their content. They have a website. They have a sales letter. They have landing pages, and they’re just not getting across what they offer, and how they’re unique.
• 04:21 – Clients’ common mistakes before consulting Cathy: The people I work with tend to be experienced. They’re usually not beginners. They’re at that next level. But what’s happened is they get so caught up in what THEY do and tell THEIR story.
• 06:13 – Cathy’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): What I always tell a client is let’s look at three success stories. Three ways you work with clients, and you are successful.
• 07:09 – Cathy’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Want to learn what can really motivate your clients to buy your offers? Click here: cathygoodwin.com/baggage
• 08:07 – Q: What is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they want to tell a story? A: It’s just a three-set. It’s a story where they feel they should tell. They should bear their soul.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Find your client's backstory. What is going through their minds when they come to you? And then, your story answers their story.” -Cathy Goodwin Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a really warm welcome to Marketing the Invisible. I’m Tom Poland beaming out to you from the Sunshine Coast in Australia, joined today by Cathy Goodwin. Cathy, a very warm good day from Down Under. Where are you joining us from?

Cathy Goodwin 00:23
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US.

Tom Poland 00:26
Philly’s kind of, like, I’ve never been there when I look at the map, it’s like one of those big cities that have got everything and are connected to all these other big cities as well. I mean, you’re an hour and a half from just about everywhere, right?

Cathy Goodwin 00:38
We are afraid between New York and Washington. Yes.

Tom Poland 00:41
Yeah. And I’ve got to speak to someone that lives in Philly for any number of years, just loves living there for the richness and diversity of the culture. So it’s on my bucket list– Philly. So, Cathy, enough of geography, I guess. We’ll get on to the interview. For those of you who don’t know Cathy, she helps service-based small businesses and solopreneurs attract their ideal clients with their unique selling story. And this whole specialty that Cathy has is not only a much more fun way to do your marketing, for you, it’s also a heck of a lot more fun for your audiences. And it also does all sorts of things in terms of cutting through the reticular activating system, so that you get noticed, you get attention, activating the amygdala, so that people actually take action because it shifts people’s emotions. And I’m not telling you, Cathy, anything you don’t know, it’s just for the audience. So, folks, you have your ears on, okay? Because this stuff is of so much value on so many different levels. It’s really worth diving a little deeper than just the seven minutes we’ve got. So we are going to give you a full resource a little bit later. So Cathy, let’s rock and roll! Our seven minutes start now. Question number one is who is your ideal client?

Cathy Goodwin 01:52
My ideal client is a service-based business owner, small business only. Solopreneurs are ideal for me. They are professionals, and they supply a service. I have worked with a couple of retailers, but mostly services. And their objective is to get more clients.

Tom Poland 02:11
Right, and then going from storytelling to story selling, so that’s our title, is the way we’re going to do that. So tell us about the problem you solve then. What specifically? It’s getting more clients, I guess, but is there anything you want to add to that?

Cathy Goodwin 02:25
Sure, they have to be not just any higher, they have to be the right clients. And a lot of people today in the service business are offering something that their clients don’t understand. So one of the reasons we tell stories is because it’s a way to explain what you do, how you’re unique, and how you do it in a way that is not super salesy or obnoxious.

Tom Poland 02:48
Right. I mean, if you look at half the planet being sold on stories, you just look at what Christ did and Muhammad Buddha. There are at least 4 billion people who follow them because they’ve told some pretty good stories and some pretty good metaphors and analogies as well. So we know works. What would you say are the typical symptoms- this is question three- of someone who needs what you’ve got? So what’s going on in their business where they go, “Okay, this isn’t working”?

Cathy Goodwin 03:16
Yeah, well, some things are that they are not getting a response to their content. They have a website. They have a sales letter. They have landing pages, and they’re just not getting across what they offer, and how they’re unique. A lot of times they come because their clients are confused. And also they have trouble creating content. Because for some people, that’s a major barrier. And stories help you create content more efficiently.

Tom Poland 03:43
That’s so true. And so many of our clients have just struggled with the words and struggle with how do I get my message across and yet, it could all be encapsulated beautifully in the right story. So they’re not getting runs on the board, but they’re doing some marketing. They’re just not getting noticed, not getting cut, not getting new clients coming regularly. We’re talking about by and large service providers, people that operate at reasonably intellectual, cerebral levels. They’re growth orientated. They’re smart people, generally. They’re working hard. So they’re going to be trying stuff. So question four is what would you say are some of the common mistakes that people make when they’re trying to get new clients on board before they find your solution?

Cathy Goodwin 04:21
Right. Well, as you said, they are smart. And the people I work with tend to be experienced. They’re usually not beginners. They’re at that next level. But what’s happened is they get so caught up in what THEY do and tell THEIR story. So you look at their website and their website is all about them. You look at the sales letter, it’s all about them, what they do, and what they offer. Or they told the wrong story. A lot of times they’ll tell the story about them, about how they suffered and how they went through. One person was talking about how they slept in a church basement on a bare mattress for two years, and that is not usually an ideal story. Or they say how they started the business, an origin story because a lot of guides will tell you, “Talk about how you got here.” And most of the time, that is not the story that you wanted to tell. They are told to tell stories, but they picked the wrong story, which bad actually turns off their client. Or they don’t tell a story. They don’t have a story in their mind about their clients. So they’re just talking about themselves.

Tom Poland 05:24
Folks, you’re listening to the voice of an expert. And I know this is true, I couldn’t have articulated all that the way you have Kathy. But when I hear you say it, there are so many light bulbs going off. And suddenly references to work that I’ve done with particular clients is they’re not building that relevance, are they, in their story. It’s a story that’s maybe near and dear to their heart. Maybe it’s a story transformation. But how I went from sleeping on the mattress in the basement of a church to where I am today may not be relevant to people who aren’t sleeping on a mattress in the basement of a church, particularly if they’re Jewish or Buddhist or something. Anyway, that’s a little tongue-in-cheek. But let’s move on to question five because we have two and a half minutes left. I want to flip it. What would you say is a top tip, or a valuable free action someone could take? It’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might just start them a step in the right direction.

Cathy Goodwin 06:13
Well, the first thing you want to do is, what I always tell a client is let’s look at three success stories. Three ways you work with clients, and you are successful. And we’ll use that as a basis to identify what you do well, and what you do best and go from there. And the second thing you do is I’m going to be talking briefly about a free resource people can get, most important thing you can do is find your client’s backstory. What is going through their minds when they come to you? What is the elephant in the room? And then your story answers their story.

Tom Poland 06:46
Gotcha. Right. So their backstory might be, “I’ve done all this marketing. I’ve tried these things. I’ve done all these courses” and your client’s backstories and none of it work. So you would fashion a story based on those stories. Gotcha! Excellent. Top tip. Thank you. We’re 90 seconds left, two questions to go. One valuable free resource. Where can people find out more and download some cool stuff from you?

Cathy Goodwin 07:09
Well, I have a free publication, a free ebook, called identifying where your client is while entering the conversation in the client’s mind. And I call it Cathy Goodwin Mining at cathygoodwin.com/baggage. And that’s because you want to know what the client’s baggage is. What’s the elephant in the room? What did they bring you with them that they don’t want to talk about? And once you know that, you can tell a great story and reach them.

Tom Poland 07:36
Terrific! Folks, that’s cathygoodwin.com/baggage as to what you’re going to check in at the airport. A surprising way to discover what really motivates your target market. It’s midnight. Do you know what’s keeping your client awake?

Cathy Goodwin 07:53
Exactly, yes!

Tom Poland 07:54
It’s clear to me that you know a lot about psychology, a lot about marketing, and a lot about articulating messages as well. But we’ve only got 33 seconds left. What’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Cathy Goodwin 08:07
What is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they want to tell a story?

Tom Poland 08:12
I’m all ears! What is it?

Cathy Goodwin 08:15
It’s just a three-set. It’s a story where they feel they should tell. They should bear their soul. They should be vulnerable. “I wish no one had ever said that.” They wanted to share their worst mistake and talk about themselves. Instead, forget all that get and read my ebook and tell the client’s story.

Tom Poland 08:36
Cathy Goodwin, I really appreciate not just your time, but the depth of your insights based on what I can only imagine must be decades of experience. Folks, go get it at cathygoodwin.com/baggage. And once again, Cathy, thanks for your time.

Tom Poland 08:29
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.