Potential training, consulting, and coaching clients don’t care about your story until you’ve demonstrated that you truly understand theirs.

Don’t believe me? Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. When you’re looking for help solving a problem, whose story are you most interested in?

Last week, I shared a quick overview of how to create a strategic narrative from the ground up.

Today, we’ll dig into the first part of that framework…

Characters/Setting/Challenge (Current State)

I look at hundreds of training, consulting, and coaching home pages and LinkedIn profiles every month.

The most common messaging mistake I see: The trainer/consultant/coach makes themself the hero of the story.

It’s all about them and their passion, purpose, experience, background, certifications, and accomplishments.

But what do prospective clients actually care about? What are they thinking about when they land on your website? What are their mental filters calibrated to notice? What WON’T they automatically ignore?

A message that’s all about THEIR specific problems, challenges, goals, desires, and needs.

If your messaging isn’t focused on them and their story, they’ll either ignore it altogether or just think, “Enough about you, trainer/consultant/coach. What about me? Do you understand my world, my struggles, my challenges, my desires, my goals, my vision?”

Yes, you’ll want to share your story—but only once it’s actually relevant to their problem. Your credentials aren’t the point. Everything about you and your personal brand should be geared toward demonstrating exactly HOW you’re able to help them get what they want.

That’s why the first part of our strategic narrative—Characters/Setting/Challenge (Current State)—places the initial focus on the client by describing the challenges they face from their own POV.

Ask yourself:

• What does your ideal client’s world look like?
• What do they want to accomplish?
• What are the specific problems they need to solve to achieve what they want?