How to Attract Premium Clients With the ONE Thing AI Can Never Replicate (Storytelling in Business) [ep. #08]

Your Story Is the One Thing AI Can't Replicate

If you listened to last week's episode on AI, if not, go back and dive into that one, you will know that I am pragmatic about AI. Use the tools and let them handle what they are good at. But AI also makes a case for really thinking about how we want to build our personal brand and that case is stronger than ever right now.

Because when everyone has access to the same tools, the same outputs and the same polished content, the thing that cannot be replicated is one, the data that you have access to, which was in last week's episode, and two, you. So today we are talking about a key aspect that only you can own, which is your brand story but not in the way that you have probably thought about it before.

Why Personal Brand Does Not Mean Personal Exposure

Before we get into how to tell stories that actually convert at a premium level, I want to talk about something that I think a lot of established women feel. It is not even about a level of business. I think it is something I personally have always felt a push and pull with, which is how much of your personal brand and your storytelling in business needs to be built in a public arena.

My view before we go into storytelling is that it does not need to be everything. I have built several successful businesses and a successful career before I came into running my own businesses and I have never shared my whole story online. I do not share my whole life and I do not see that as inauthentic. When I show up I am 100% me.

But being 100% me also includes being 100% clear on what I share and what I do not. That is not a limitation in my storytelling in marketing. That is my storytelling. I am choosing what represents me. I was thinking about how this can work in a really authentic way because I feel completely authentic in what I do, what I share and what I do not share. But I think it is hard and I hear this from clients. It is hard to decide how much you want to share and what you do not.

She Never Films Certain Rooms in Her House. Here's Why That Matters for Your Brand

I was with a group of female entrepreneurs at the end of last year and there was one who was super successful. She owns a multi seven figure business. She has an influencer style business so she is a content creator and she has four very young children.

Two of her children are a really similar age to my own boys and we were talking about what comes along with that level of visibility. She said something that really stuck with me and made my own view of what to share and what not to share really land. She said that there are certain rooms in her house that she never films. They are purely for her family. I think the kitchen was one of them.

And there are also days that she never records. Sundays are purely family days, no exceptions. She is still visible on those days because she has content scheduled but her boundaries are in place. I think about that example when I think about content and story and that personal brand does not mean personal exposure.

The shift we are seeing with AI coming through and with this move towards people looking for more personal connection does not mean that you have to be more open or share things you are not comfortable with. It is about being more intentional. Moving from personal connection to personal truth, which means feeling completely congruent with what you put out there and what you do not.

So if you have been holding back on storytelling in business because you do not want to overshare or because vulnerability as a marketing angle does not sit right with you, I am with you. That instinct is what feels true for you. What we are going to look at in today's episode is how to make the story you do choose to tell actually work for you and how to attract clients by being more intentional.

It is not about having to share everything. But it is about being really clear on why you are sharing parts of your story and how to make those parts powerfully come through. You will be able to download the prompts from this episode so you do not need to worry about taking notes as we go through. I will tell you where to get those prompts at the end of this episode.

Why Most Storytelling Advice Gets You Likes but Not Sales

Let's look at why most advice around storytelling in sales does not result in actual sales. Most of the storytelling advice out there is designed to make you relatable. Share your life, be vulnerable, let people see the real you and then they will connect. Eventually they will buy from you. And it does work. It works for certain types of businesses as well. I would say more so if you are selling at a lower ticket price point. This can be a way of bringing people into your world when you are working at volume.

It works to a point. You post something personal and you get a surge of engagement. People commenting "oh my God, me too" or "this is so inspiring." Maybe a family member you forgot follows you pops up and likes the post. You know that auntie you forgot was even a friend of yours on Facebook. That is relatability. And relatability creates peers. People who like you, people who feel connected to you, people who see common ground.

Your Premium Clients Don't Need to Like You

But it breaks at the premium level. When somebody is about to invest 10, 20 or 50 thousand pounds, whatever the amount, they do not just need to like you. In fact they do not need to like you at all. They need to feel like you get them. They need to feel like you have been where they are and you are where they want to be.

And that is a different thing entirely. Relatability says "we are the same." Affinity says "I trust that you can take me somewhere." I am going to focus on affinity in this episode because affinity is what the biggest brands in the world focus on and we rarely talk about it in business.

Affinity is when you create an emotional connection where people do not just like your values, they start to identify with them. They see your brand story as an extension of who they are or who they are becoming.

The Strategic Shift from Where "Should I Buy?" to "Which Offer Is Right for Me?"

If we think about it in terms of buying behaviour. If I already have an affinity with a brand because I connect with what they stand for, how they think and the way that they approach things, my decision is not whether to buy. It is which thing to buy.

The trust is already there. The emotional connection is already there. I just need to find the right offer at the right time. For me that is what we want to build with storytelling in marketing. It is not just "oh, she's amazing, I relate to her." It is "she thinks the way I want to think. She has built what I want to build. I want to be in her world. I want to understand and I want to get behind the scenes."

So the question is not "how do I tell my story?" It is "how do I tell stories that build affinity, not just relatability?"

The "Sitting on a Beach" Post Is Killing Your Authority With Premium Clients

Let's look at how that happens. Where most storytelling goes wrong, and once you see this you will start to notice it everywhere, is this... The standard approach is to tell a story, make it personal and tag your offer at the end. "I remember sitting on the beach feeling so free. This is what I want for you. Come inside my programme."

I do not come at this with judgement at all. I have done it. We have all done it. But when you hear that, do you feel connected to it or do you just like the sound of it?

Because we can like it and nod along to it but does it move something in you? Liking the sound of something means you resonate with it. You think it is nice. But affinity means that you see yourself in it. You feel like you could place yourself in that story. And that is when the connection goes into sales and into conversion. That is how you create content that converts.

Start With Your Offer, Not Your Story

Here is where we are going to reverse it. Instead of starting with your story and attaching your offer, I want you to start with your offer and connect your story back into it.

When you look at your offer, start with the transformation. What does your client actually get when they work with you? Not the features, not the six weeks of calls and access to templates. What will they be able to do? Who will they be? What will they have?

Be specific. "More confident in business" is way too high level. They need to be able to picture it. I say to my clients that I want you to approach this as though you are describing the transformation and I am going to be able to go and create a TV scene from it. I would be able to stage this from what you are telling me because I can imagine it in such a sensory way.

Write out five to ten examples of what someone can do and who they will be after working with you. Then look at what themes come through from that.

When You Finally Stop Saying Yes to Every Project

For example, if you are a business strategist, let's take my niche, and your client is finally able to turn down projects that do not align because she knows exactly where her revenue is coming from for the next six months, then the theme there might be certainty or sovereignty. She is not scrambling for cash. She is not letting any client walk through the door. She is discerning.

Then once you have your themes, find the moments in your own experience where you have lived that theme. Now, these moments do not need to be dramatic. I do not have a rags to riches story. I do not have the lowest of the lows. I have been through hard times and I have been through challenges like everybody has. But I do not have a "there was this epiphany and suddenly everything fell into place" story.

That is okay. They do not need to be dramatic. The most powerful story points are often small. It is a conversation. It is a decision. It is a Tuesday afternoon where something changed.

‘A Tuesday Afternoon Where Something Changed’ Can Sell Better Than a ‘Rags to Riches’ Story

When you have those story points that show your theme, then you connect it. You lead with a transformation that your client wants. You bring in your experience of that same theme. And your offer becomes a natural resolution. It is not something you are just bolting on at the end.

This is the difference between storytelling in business that gets likes and storytelling that gets enquiries, that gets DMs and that gets people saying "I don't know exactly how we are going to work together, but I know that I need to work with you."

Because you are starting by thinking about how the story will be received. So many people tell stories. Stories are not powerful because of you telling them. They are powerful because of how they are received and how they make the person listening feel something different.

Receivership, not showmanship. That is what we want to do with stories, attract clients who are the right fit. In your download at the end of this episode you will have examples of how to take the themes of your story into a post.

The 2 Stories Every Business Needs (and Most People Only Have One)

Let's take it up a level now into your overall brand story. There are two levels of story that you need in any business. There are many more but these are the two core stories I will always tell my clients to have in place.

The first is your brand story and the second is what I call your story steps.

Your brand story is the one that you will tell over and over again on your website, on your sales pages and on your podcast. You should get bored of it. That is a good sign. It means that you are creating memorability.

Nobody Cares About Your Timeline. Lead With the Mission Instead

Most people build their brand story from circumstances. What happened to them or the timeline. My example would be I left corporate, I had kids, I started a business, I pivoted and I ended up here. It would sound a lot more interesting than that but that is basically my circumstances and all of that is true for me.

But it does not give people a thread to hold onto. It is based on circumstances that take us in different directions. People are listening going "that's cool, but what does that mean for me? Where's the common thread I could hook onto?"

The common line is you. Not what happened, but what you took from it. So instead of leading from circumstances, lead with your mission. What is your work about today? If you already had a million pounds or dollars in the bank, why would you still do this work?

Then work back through the key stages of your story. Instead of what happened to you, focus on what you learnt, what shifted and what you carried forward. When you do this, you are sharing your values, not your timeline. Your clients will see a deeper side of you. That is what makes your brand story a positioning tool, not just a CV.

The Story Step: The Connection Point Your Offers Are Missing

The second is your story steps. These are different. These are connection points between your lived experiences and your specific offers. They are the smaller moments that link a theme in your story to a transformation your client wants.

Every time I develop a new offer or I am going out to sell an offer, I get very clear on what my story step is that I am using in my storytelling in sales for that offer. That is the most powerful form of embodiment.

The most powerful form of trust is when people not only understand the certainty of how your offer will help them through your methodology but when they understand that you have lived it. You need a specific story step that links into your offer. That will become a key way of selling that offer.

"Show Don't Tell" Means Something Different When You're Selling at a Premium Level

Now, with both of these, the key thing is show, don't tell. But that has a specific meaning when you are working at a premium level and trying to attract clients who invest at higher price points.

Your story is not just about making people feel something. It is not just about emotional connection. You will probably hear the phrase "people buy from emotion, not from logic." Well, it is not strictly true. There are many different buy types at any price point, but especially when you are selling to premium clients, those buy types come through more.

So we cannot just think "well, when I share from an emotional place and people connect with me, that is when they are going to buy from me." No. They have to see how you think. They have to feel it. They are not just buying a transformation. They are buying your lens. They are buying how you see them.

So when I say show, don't tell, I mean that your stories need to evidence your thinking, not just your journey. This is storytelling in marketing that actually positions you.

Stop Telling People You're Premium. Let Your Story Prove It

There is a difference between me saying "I help women build premium businesses" and telling a story that shows how I see a specific problem differently to everyone else in this industry. The first one is a claim. My story that shows my lens is the proof.

The way I describe this when you are approaching any storytelling in business is that your client has to see themselves as the main character. You are the director.

When you are telling a story, the question is not "what do I want them to know about me?" It is "what do I want them to see as possible for themselves?" Because your clients are not buying a product or a service. They are buying a better version of themselves. At this premium level, they are buying the belief that you can see something they cannot see yet. Your story is how you show that and how you prove that.

Your Clients Don't Need a Cheerleader

This is also why the "I did it and so can you" style of storytelling in sales falls flat at a premium level. Because your premium clients are not looking for a cheerleader. They do not need to be motivated. They are looking for someone who understands the specific complexity of where they are. Show them that you understand it through the story, not after it.

If There's One Thing You Take From This Episode

If there is one thing I want you to take from today, stories sell when you focus more on the change you want to show is possible for your client and less on the story you want to tell. Your story will keep changing. The version you told today does not need to be the final version. But it does need to be intentional.

And remember, own it. Personal truth does not mean personal exposure. You get to choose what represents you. The choice is your positioning.

Download the prompts for this episode. They will walk you through building your brand story, identifying your story steps and getting clear on your boundaries of what you do want to share and what you do not.

That is the most aligned and authentic way you will be able to show up and connect with your ideal clients using storytelling that feels true to who you are.