Are you attracting the wrong clients? Find a new hero for your story.

Entrepreneurs don’t have time for clients who won’t succeed no matter what they do. Develop your story with a hero who resembles your ideal clients — and get clear on what that might look like.

Image by Docusign on Unsplash.

In Episode 47 of the Strategic Storytelling podcast, I talked about how heroes choose the best guide for their journey.

To recap, in classic hero’s journey stories, the guide just appears. Luke Skywalker got Yoda. Cinderella got the godmother.

But when clients look for a guide, they’ll have many options to choose from. A modern Cinderella won’t have to settle for the godmother who set a midnight deadline: a competitor will let her stay out till 3 AM.

The hero’s journey story needs a new step: The hero chooses the guide.

There’s actually another missing piece: “Make sure the guide can help the hero.”

A few years ago, a client invited me to write copy for a program that sounded good. When we dug deeper, it became obvious that the client lacked the experience to carry out the program and the credentials to win the confidence in that particular market. We revised the program and targeted a new audience.

My client was resonating with a success story I was sharing at the time. What she didn’t realize — and I didn’t explain — was that she couldn't be the hero of that story. She needed a different story. In this case, I could help her find the new story.

But sometimes there’s no way you can help. That’s why it can be helpful to add a qualifier to your persuasive stories. You want prospective clients to imagine themselves as the hero…but only if they’re right for the part.

You can choose heroes who are most likely to benefit from your services. This step can take some time. Most of us aren’t sure how to define our best clients when we start.

One business coach spells out her requirements in a way that shows she truly understands her market:

“I only work with clients who really need to make a living from their business. If you don’t absolutely need the income, you probably won’t be willing to work hard enough to follow my…