Why Coaches Who Pitch Lose to Coaches Who Tell Stories (And the Framework That Explains Why)

A few years ago, someone I trusted looked at me sternly in the eyes and she said, "Hui Hui, you're so shy, introverted, you can't speak well, and you don't even have a social media following. Who are you to coach others?" And the worst part is I believed her at that time, and I went quiet for months, almost giving up before I even started my coaching business. Hey, my name is Hui Hui, and I'm that quiet introverted Asian from Singapore who started my coaching business from scratch, and in the last 4 and a half years, grew it to over 500 clients in over 30 countries and generated close to $7 million in the last 4.5 years. And to go from choking in my Facebook Live to standing on stage with Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi in front of 800,000 people, this is not the part that grew my business. The most critical part of my business is I learned to tell my story. Because this is what nobody tells you. People will not remember the bullet points on your PowerPoint slides. Neither will they remember all the contents framework that you teach in your presentation. What they'll remember is your story. I want to be able to share with you a framework that I've created to tell your story that all of my clients love, and they use it to tell their own stories. And this story will help you sell better than any pitch that you have created, and it will help you connect with your audience and help you to build a raving fan community if you tell it well as well. Now let's dive in. Let's start with why this works. Because once you understand why storytelling is so important, you will never sell the same way again. When you pitch, you're talking to someone's head very logically and you're listing the features, you're listing the steps, the logic, and the head is skeptical. The head is always looking for objections. People will fold their arms, they'll look for reasons to say no to you. When you tell your story, you're bringing people from the head into their heart. And the heart is where everyone makes their buying decision, even logical buyers. So we decide with emotion and then we use logic to justify that emotion. Please write this down. People don't buy your information, they buy you first as a coach. And the fastest way for someone to get to know you, connect with you, and trust you is by you sharing your story. A pitch makes someone want to evaluate you, but a story makes someone understand and feel you. And people do not buy from the coach that they evaluate the highest. They buy from the coach that they feel knows them, that they can connect with, has the same values as them, and understands where they have been or understand the struggle that they are in. Your story is how they come to know you long before they ever work with you. So if this is landing for you and you have not subscribed to my channel yet, make sure you hit the subscribe button and leave a comment there and let me know whether you have created your origin story yet. I'd love to read every single comment. And every comment that you leave, the Facebook algorithm will show this video to even more heart-centered coaches just like you. And together, all of us will be able to share our stories and connect with more people and change more lives in the world. Most coaches, they get this part wrong. When they finally do tell their story, they tell the highlight reel, the good things, the awards, the results, the stage, the big numbers. And they think that that is what makes people respect them. But the thing is this, the highlight reel, it does not connect with people. It impresses people, but being impressed is different from connection. Impressing people keeps people away at a distance from you. So what actually connects with your audience is your struggle, where you used to be, your before story, the moment when it felt impossible, the moment when you were down at your lowest point. That is where they connect with you. And when you share your lowest point honestly, and sometimes with a little bit of emotion or raw emotion because it's still a little bit raw for you, and that's okay, something powerful actually happens. They see themselves in you because you have been there and now you are here. They see that transformation that they can get to as well. And that's why your story is powerful. If you're just showing them where you are right now, it's not powerful enough. You've got to show them where you were at your lowest point, and that transformation is the one that changes them and connects them with you. This is the part, the struggle part, that most of you, you want to hide, but this is the most valuable part of your story, the struggle that you survive in order for you to get to where you are here. How do you tell a story that will land for your audience? I've created a framework called the STORY framework, S-T-O-R-Y, and I've taught this to hundreds of our clients, right? And everyone loves using this very, very simple framework to tell their story. So let me show you what this is. S stands for scene. Set the scene and paint the picture in their mind. You want to be as specific as possible. What do you see? What do you hear? Who's in front of you? What's in the room? What do you taste? What does it smell like? Activate the senses for them and be as specific as possible to paint that picture. Where were you? What was happening? And paint it so vividly that it plays like a movie in their mind. Okay, so that's number 1, scene. The second one is Tension, T for tension. The hard part, the doubt, the lowest point. What were you thinking about? The fears that you were facing, the mistakes, the struggles. If there's no tension, there's no story. Every bestselling movie has a tension point. People do not connect with your success, they connect with your struggle. So you gotta have that tension part first. O, which is the third one, is one moment. One moment when things change for you. Whether it's a choice that you made, Whether it's a realization that you had, whether it's a conversation, something that someone said to you that flipped the switch for you. One moment of realization, that one moment when things change. This is the bridge from your story to their life because this is where they're listening for that transformation point. And R, what is R? R stands for Revelation. What is the lesson? The lesson or the truth or the wisdom that you gain from this experience, the one that applies to them at this moment too. Y stands for your turn. This is where you bounce it back to the audience. This is where you bounce it back to the audience. You give them one small action that they can take after they integrate this lesson that you have just shared with them. This is what separates an average coach from a great coach. A normal average coach just tells a nice story, but a great coach gives them the opportunity to integrate the lesson. Remember, tell the moments, not the entire sequence of the story. The biggest mistake that you can make is to tell your story in sequential order, and that makes it boring. Just pluck out the scene, the tension, the one moment where it changes, and what is that lesson, the revelation that you got, and give it back to them so that they can integrate that lesson. So let me show you all 5 of this, how it works. So I've got a story that I've told many times about my dad on the second day after I started my coaching business. Scene. The very first one, scene. It was day 2 of my coaching business. At 7 AM, my phone rang. It was my mom. And on the phone, she told me my dad was hospitalized and it wasn't looking good. Tension. He has just lost 10 kilos in the last 2 months. When I rushed to the hospital and I saw him, I was shocked. His face was gaunt, was thin, and he looked weak. It did not look good at all. And it was only the second day of my coaching business. At that moment, I was thinking to myself, do I have to quit my coaching business on the second day, stop and take care of my dad in the hospital? 3, one moment, and I made a decision right there and then. My family always comes first. And so in the next 30 days while my dad was hospitalized, I decided that even though I'm taking care of him, I'm still going to take the little scraps of time. I'm still going to take the little pockets of time to work on my coaching business as well. So I took whatever scraps of paper that I could find while I'm in the hospital while he's going for his test to write out my coaching program. That coaching program eventually made me my very first million dollars. Four, revelation. What I learned is this: the reason that you tell yourself you can't is the exact reason why you must. The reason that I told myself that because my dad is hospitalized has become the exact reason why I must succeed in my coaching business, because I don't want my dad to be disappointed. I want him to be proud of me. Even though I lost my retail business, I know I know that my parents are very worried about me and they think that I might do something drastic, but I want to show them that I can make a comeback. I want to show them that they can be proud of me and I'm going to grow my coaching business so fast, it's going to turn around and that will put a smile on my dad's face. That was my goal. The reason why you can't is the reason why you must. I made that my big why. 5, your turn. So if I can start my business from a hospital room, then what is the excuse that's stopping you from starting yours? Today. Do you feel that? The 5 parts, the scene that you can see in your mind, the tension that you can feel, the clear moment where I made that decision, a lesson that is really not about me, but it's about them, and a turn, an action that moves them to act. This is the story framework in action. And there is more than just telling a story. The real power comes when you build an entire band of stories. So a different story for every moment that you need, for every objection that you meet, for every limiting belief that your audience will have, so that you can help someone change their beliefs, change their perception, and you can help someone make a decision, or one that actually explains how you came up with your method. That is a much deeper topic for another day. So for now, master telling one story first using this story framework, and you will already be ahead of a lot of coaches out there. And if you're still here with me, I know you're serious about growing your business to 6 and 7 figures. We've got an upcoming challenge. It's a 5-day challenge where I'll show you exactly how to create high-ticket offers and how to grow your business to 6 figures and beyond. The link is in the description below. I look forward to seeing you in the challenge. Now let's get back to the video. I know what some of you are thinking. My life is pretty boring and I don't know what stories I can tell. You know what? I am very quiet. I never thought that I'm an interesting person. But let me tell you something that might change how you see yourself. The best storytellers, they're not the loudest people in the room. They are the ones who are the most observant. And quiet people, we notice everything. All those years that I spent watching people instead of just talking, feeling what other people were not saying, just observing, being in the background, and really being able to tap into their feelings, that gave me the advantage that a lot of people do not have. Because a great story is not about massive big arm movements. It's not about having a loud voice. It is not about being charismatic either. It's about telling your truth simply, authentically, truthfully, transparently, and being able to share that struggle and the transformation to the success with feelings and with specific details. And that feeling is something that people can feel, and that's how they connect with you. Don't hold back on telling your story with your feelings and adding in the specific details, it will become the very thing that will land for your audience. So where can you use this story? You can use this everywhere. At the start of your content, when you meet a stranger, at the start of your masterclass or your event, or when you're introducing yourself, right? So that the room can connect with you before you start teaching. On a sales call, when someone says that they have a limiting belief or they are scared or they are being held back by a fear, You can share your story on how you overcome that in order for you to be able to help them overcome theirs as well, to break their limiting belief. And so you can put your story also on your landing pages. You can put it inside your emails, right? You can definitely share it with your clients because it will inspire them to move forward. There are many ways that you can tell your story. And the more you tell your story, the more you're able to connect with your audience and your clients. You do not need load a lot of stories. Start with one first. And once you master this framework, then go on to create 3 to 5 other stories inside your story bank. So this week, I want you to do just one thing. Pick your one story, the real one, the one that resonates with you. Okay, the one that has the struggle inside and probably the one that you're still hesitating to tell. Write down the 5 parts of this story framework. The scene, the tension, the one moment, the revelation, and your turn. And then tell it on the video, on a post, on a sales call. Imperfectly is perfectly fine. Okay, just tell it anyway, because the more you practice, the better you're going to get at this. The world does not need a more polished version of your story. It does not need a polished version of you. What it needs is you being authentic and you telling your story as it is so that they can see themselves transformed just like you did, from your struggle to your success. So if you love this video, we have got an entire playlist in this channel that teaches you how to go from zero to making over six figures in your coaching business. Go to that playlist and also click on this next video to get your business to the next level. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next week.