The Social Media Takeaway - Louise McDonnell

Storytelling Secrets That Drive Sales and Build Trust with Lisa Bloom

• Season 1 • Episode 62

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In this episode of The Social Media Takeaway, I chat with Lisa Bloom, professional storyteller, coach, and author of three bestsellers, including Seven Stories That Sell.

Lisa has helped thousands of business owners use storytelling to build trust, stand out, and drive more sales. We explore how telling the right stories in the right way makes selling easier and more authentic.

You’ll learn:
 ✅ The 7 types of stories that help you sell
 ✅ How to use personal stories to build trust and connection
 ✅ How to test your story so it resonates with the right audience
 ✅ Why storytelling is a key differentiator in an AI-driven world
 ✅ How to use AI as a support tool, not a replacement, for your voice

If you want your marketing and sales to feel more human and more effective, you’ll get lots of ideas from this conversation.

SHOW CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:33 Lisa Bloom’s Books and Storytelling Journey
03:45 The Power of Authentic Stories
07:16 Seven Stories That Sell
09:13 Storytelling in Business and Personal Connection
12:00 Testing and Tailoring Your Story
18:31 Leveraging AI in Storytelling
20:23 Final Takeaways

Connect with Lisa:
LinkedIn

Lisa is running a free Story Selling Workshop at three different times, between June 11-13, and I think it’ll be brilliant.

If you’re tired of writing posts, running webinars, or pitching on calls and feel like it’s not landing...this workshop is for you!

SIGN UP HERE!


If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to my podcast because more like this is on the way!

If you'd like to book a call to see how I can support you head over to my website here. www.sellonsocialmedia.academy/hello

My 2025 Social Media Content Planner & Guide is now available! Packed with 400 content prompts, expert tips, and $377 worth of free resources to help you save time and get results in 2025.

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Louise McDonnell:

So today I am delighted to be joined by Lisa Bloom. So Lisa is a professional storyteller, accredited coach, author, mentor, and leadership expert. She's the author of three bestsellers, Cinderella and the Coach, the Power of Storytelling for Coaching Success the Story Advantage and Seven Stories that Sell, and she's also the creator of that sells Mastery and the Certified Story Coach programs. You're very welcome to the show, Lisa.

Lisa Bloom:

Thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here.

Louise McDonnell:

I have to say, I'm really intrigued about your books. So tell us a little bit about the books to start with.

Lisa Bloom:

Sure. So Cinderella and the Coach was my first book. In a sense, putting a stake in the ground this is what I do, storytelling, coaching, the integration of the two. And it's all about how to use storytelling as a coaching tool. And at that time when I wrote it, which is like more than 10 years ago, it was very much about here's how you expand your toolbox as a coach and really use this very powerful approach for just being a better coach, being coaching at a whole different level. And it was very much aligned with my Story coach certification program at that time. And then the third book is seven stories that sell. And that's very specific because people say, okay, so I know I need stories for social media and I know I need stories for, I need my origin story and I need stories for speaking. How does that actually translate into getting clients? And so when I boiled it down, I realized there are many stories that are very important and very useful for your business. But there are these seven stories that sell that are key. And when you have those stories, when you figure them out, then it's much, much easier to. Not just get sales, but also just feel really confident in the way you speak about what you do. So it doesn't feel like you have to be salesy. It doesn't feel like you're always selling. In fact, it feels like you're never selling, but you're making sales.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah. I suppose it relates a little bit to what I do as well in that I'm almost saying to people that they don't go deep enough with their messaging and especially when they're talking about how they differentiate themselves from others, coaches, consultants, businesses in general. Part of my coaching business when I start working with someone what I constantly seem to say to people is, there has to be more than that. There has to be go back, go deeper. Do you find that people have nearly forgotten, the reason why they do what they do and that's so much part of their story?

Lisa Bloom:

Yeah. I think so. And I think it's also they've been told like it's not necessarily their fault. Like they've been told, for example, with story, they'll be tell, you need your business story as if there's only one story, and that's the one they have to use for everything. And I don't believe that. I believe we have many stories. And yes, figuring out like why is it that you do what you do, how does it connect to you? Why does it matter? Who are the people you serve? All of these are different stories and they're all very important stories. And I agree, like the deeper you go with this, the more you're going to differentiate yourself because there are many people who do what you do no matter what you do. There's many people who do what you do, and if there isn't, either it's not viable or there will be people, you're just at a cutting edge and it there will be more people. So you always have to differentiate and nobody has the exact same story as you. Nobody has your story and nobody can tell it better than you.

Louise McDonnell:

It's so true. I love what you've said there, that so many people that do what you do, or if not, there will be, and so what you need to do is to separate yourself and nobody else has you on their team, you are the only person . If you go to your social media and there's no sign of you, there's no pictures of you, there's no videos of you, there's no stories of you, there's nothing of you. Then that's a social media presence, which is never going to deliver because. It's just gonna be too generic and too kind of nothing. So I love the fact that like we're talking about story and you're 10 years down the line with it. But I think story has never being as more relevant as it is right now that's what's selling on social media at the moment is stories. So give you any perspective on why you think it's come to the forefront right now.

Lisa Bloom:

Yeah, I think there's also a little bit of differentiation there, or a little bit of like we need to dig even deeper than that. I don't think it's just story sell. Stories have always sold since the beginning of time. Story stories have always sold. I think what's changed or changing is that authentic stories sell and stories where people are willing to actually be the real deal. And I think one of the reasons that it's happening now more than ever is because so much of what we believe to be true is no longer true or no longer trustworthy. And so many of the whether it's the establishments or the organizations or the, just the things we assumed, yes, we can trust the banking system. We can trust the government, we can trust the church, we can trust, like all these things that were these established. The establishment, I guess to a certain extent, but also people like everybody has always known that, the car salesman, maybe you can't trust them. But other than that, you should be able to trust people. And I think certainly in the last decade, a lot of that trust has broken down. And now in this era we're in of fake news. We don't know what on earth we can trust and we don't know what on earth we can believe. But when somebody tells an authentic story, you can't really fake authenticity. And you sense authenticity in you, it's in your body, it's in your awareness, it's in just this sense of it. And so when somebody tells you. An authentic story. You believe it and you begin and it builds trust. And that is what people crave. Like this sense of, oh, that person's for real, that person's, a decent person and I can listen to what they're saying and I can believe them and they're not gonna sell me some crazy idea that's not going to work. And so I think that's part of why people are looking for stories. But the other thing is that stories really help you make meaning if you think about it, and even in the days where you would listen to a fairytale or a folktale. And my background, my professional background is in professional storytelling. So I've spent a lot of time learning and telling stories that are folktales and fairytales and all kinds of stories. And even in them, I. They're helping us make meaning of the world. And if you go back to the beginning of time when people would tell stories in the tribes or around the fireplaces, it was in order to help the next generation understand who they were and where they came from. And to this day, I think we understand who we are in the world by virtue of the stories that are being told to us are the stories that we're picking up. And again this, trying to figure out who we are and what is the meaning of things is more vital than ever in this time of such confusion and such. Just, challenges really that we're living through where I think in the last five years alone, we've had so much so many challenges and so many difficult things from COVID through war, through, political, divisiveness and to be able to actually hear that kind of pure sound of authentic story is just very calming. And from a business perspective, it helps build trust in a way that very few things do. So I think that's why people are looking for it.

Louise McDonnell:

I think. And actually, and to add to that as well, I think like in this world, which is so full of AI generated content, a genuine story like what makes you stand out from any AI tool? Is your story, because that's a unique, story from a unique individual with and that can't be made up. So I think, again, that adds to it. Okay, so I'm also, I'm intrigued by the seven stories that sell. And I know there's probably a lot of people that are tuning into this that would like to hear more about that. So these are seven different types of stories that you can use a template. Tell us more about them.

Lisa Bloom:

An example of the stories of the seven stories Is that the story of you, like how do you talk about yourself? Who are you? And that sounds very ordinary and doesn't sound very difficult. So what I encourage people to do in the story of you is to figure out like, what was that moment where something shifted and you thought, wow. That's really something. I'm onto something here and therefore I help people build phenomenal social media campaigns, or I help people create really powerful stories so that they can sell and they can feel comfortable in their business and so on.

Louise McDonnell:

Is there any one example that you can give us of somebody who's taken one of your templates and applied it and had like really great success with it?

Lisa Bloom:

I think of one person who was actually part of my selling through story program and she started telling them more on her Facebook posts. Actually. She was quite busy with Facebook, and she found that firstly, more people were responding, more people were looking to meet with her, and she had more, kind of enrollment conversations. But the other thing was that she found that just whenever she had an opportunity, there was one specific time where she said that she went to a networking event and instead of doing the usual, you have your two minute introduction, she started by telling a story. And she had five or six people come up to her at the end because of the story, because I wanted to talk to her about that story. And she closed, I think one client that day, and then another client a couple of weeks later who was at that meeting. And so she came back and she was like. So excited because she's I'm made back more than I invested in the program. And that was like one time so that she was super excited. That's what happens. I can tell you a specific one. So I was asked to meet with a CEO of a company because he wanted coaching on stage presence. So how to speak and how to use story in your speaking and stage presence and leadership presence are very related. So that's what they wanted coaching for. And so I remember, I went to speak to him and I first opened up part of storytelling is actually story listening, so I encouraged him to tell me all about himself. And then at the end of it, he said to me okay, what's it about and what does it cost? When he finished, that's what he said. So what do we do and what does it cost? So I said to him actually, can I tell you a little bit about my story? And he's oh yeah, of course. So then I told him parts of my experience that related exactly to what he'd shared. So I talked to him about the travel I'd done and the clients I'd worked with overseas because he was very into travel and I actually had some experience with photography, so I shared that story as well. And so I handpicked the stories that would most easily match his kind of the profile that he'd shared with me. And at the end of it, he was like, okay, I'm sold. When can we start? And I was like, oh, cool, great. And he's can we start this week? And I said yeah. I think we might need a purchase order or something. He's oh yeah, we'll take care of that. Let's make the date. No question of price, no question of anything else. It was just like, let's do this. And that's happened to me. That was one specific time, but that's happened to me many times as a result of being able to tell that right story at the right time.

Louise McDonnell:

So it's listening to the other person and then making them see that I'm the same as you. Is it? Is that what you were doing?

Lisa Bloom:

Firstly listening so that the person feels really heard, because often we're not the same as them, but like to find those points of contact because any story is going to be interesting. On the condition that it's relevant to the listener or relevant to the audience. And if you're telling a story that's just not relevant, no matter how compelling the story is, it's not gonna work from a business perspective. So you're always looking to understand your audience or understand that potential client so that you can tell the story that's gonna really speak to them. That's a key part of storytelling for business is to understand and in the same way, I mean it's a key part of marketing in general, understand your audience. If you don't understand your audience, you really can't appeal to them. And so story even more when you understand the audience and you can tell a story that is super relevant for them, then suddenly they feel connected. It doesn't have to be that we've had the same experiences. It doesn't have to be that we're the same person, but it does mean that I understand where they're coming from and like part of in that, in the case of that CEO, part of what I shared with him was the work I'd done with other CEOs, so he knew. Like I get him, I get the organization he's working for. I understand. It was a technical organization. I'd worked with tech companies before, so I told stories that were just super relevant for him so that he could say, oh yeah she gets it. She knows, she understands. There's something here.

Louise McDonnell:

Okay. For somebody who's tuning in here that has to do a pitch or get on stage or tell us, and they want to use storytelling apart from downloading and buying your books and all that, which I highly recommend, but how do you test if the story that you have in your head or the story you know is the right one, how would you test it?

Lisa Bloom:

I think it's a really good question actually. I think the first thing you have to do is go through the process of like really understanding who the audience is and if you can actually, especially if it's a speaking engagement, I. I would definitely test it in a test audience. So for example, if I have high profile speaking engagements and I'm really haven't spoken to that kind of audience before, I'll often try it out in other places. So I'll go to a local networking group and I'll ask them to listen to it, or I'll go to clients or friends and I'll say, Hey, I'm gonna be talking to such and such, and this is what I'm. This is what I'm gonna share. Can I share it with you first? So I'll actually test it out beforehand. And also some of it does come with experience, like you have to try things and some things land and something land less well, so you have to try things a little bit. But I do think that once you know your audience and you know the things that concern them and the things that worry them and the things that can help them, if you can tell a personal story that shares. Something that relates to that concern and that worry and the potential for transforming that's going to resonate for people . And the worry or the concern that people often have is how much of this do I tell? Or, a lot happened around that event, should I tell all of it? And I always say you don't have to be true to your personal experience of what happened in every moment of the day that this thing happened. You have to be really cognizant of what is relevant for the audience. And what do they need to hear in order to have the experience you want them to experience? So for example, if I'm doing a speaking event, one of the things I do almost immediately at the beginning of any event before introductions, I don't even introduce myself, is I'll tell 'em a fairytale. And some people will say, fairytale, why are you telling a fairytale? And the reason I tell a fairytale very often is because I want people to remember the feeling of being told a story. And so when I go into a corporate environment or a stage of 600 people, and they're all different levels of expertise and their brilliance, and I start off on saying, so there's this tiny island, halfway between Scotland and Ireland, and people fought for generations to whom it belonged. And then one boy had this idea, let's bring a boatload of snakes to the island. To the island, and if they will leave them there. And if they survive, we'll know It must be long to Scotland because in Scotland there are snakes, but if they don't survive, it must belong to Ireland because of course Ireland has no snakes.'cause St. Patrick got rid of them. But that's a different story. We'll tell another time. So they brought these, and I'll start like this, and everybody's just suddenly thrown into this world of a story and they're like, what happened to the little boy and the snakes? And you suddenly they're in it. And they're excited and they're open and they're listening, and then you can say, oh, and by the way, my name is Lisa Bloom and I'm this and that. And then they're listening and they wanna hear the next one. They're waiting for the next story. But

Louise McDonnell:

I just wanna know what happened at the island.

Lisa Bloom:

The island, what actually happened with the island was that when they came back, there were no snakes. And so they realized that the island was Irish and it's Rathlin Island which you might know from Northern Ireland, but the story I actually tell is not about Lan Island or about the snakes. It's about this little boy and he goes off on an adventure and he ends up, having some meeting with these fairy folk and all this stuff, and it is this wonderful story that I tell. But the point is, why do I tell this story at that moment is because I want people to remember the experience of story because that experience opens up something really wonderful for people. Now, if I want to go into an environment where I want them to let's say I want to build credibility, I might say, when I was doing a speaking event in. Madrid such and such. And I'll tell a story about something that happened in Madrid and they're like, oh, wow. She's an international speaker. Oh, that's interesting. And so it just depends. It's understanding what is the thing you want the person or the people or the audience to experience, and how can I bring a personal experience into that? So they have the experience, they have the emotions, they have the understanding they get the credibility, and then you have them in the palm of your hand. You can do anything because you created this connection and they trust you.

Louise McDonnell:

And I suppose, I know we're talking about this from speaking from the stage, but anyone listening in here, I want you to think about it in the context of how you create content for your social media, or even it's your lead manix or your blog, your what, even sales conversations, whatever it may be. Yeah. That is, it's so important and it's so interesting. So tell us just a little bit more about the seven stories itself. This is your free guide.

Lisa Bloom:

I have a book as I call it, like the book. But I also have a PDF on the seven stories that sell, that we're gonna be releasing at the beginning of June for a program that's coming up. I'm very excited about getting that into people's hands. And essentially it's just really digging into your understanding of how you wanna show up in your business from a story perspective, but also understanding, who are the people you're trying to speak to? And there are some unexpected stories in the seven stories, like one of the seven stories is the story of failure to be able to talk about a time that things went wrong.'Cause failure is something, again, it's all about building trust. It's all about building connection. And if you, in your social media, you are trying to, create this connection with people. Sometimes you wanna share the things that didn't work because everybody's experiencing the things that don't work. And so I, I'll often share with people about how I had this huge launch and, had put a lot of time and effort into it and it just didn't work. You can be successful and still have those kind of failures, and you can turn that around. I think it's a really powerful story. So one of the seven stories is the story of failure.

Louise McDonnell:

It sounds really interesting. I know for sure I can't wait to see that download. Check out your books and your programs. I have to say, it's so relevant right now. It's so relevant and in this AI world, I think story and those stories are actually going to be more important than ever before. So it's definitely something I think everybody should tune into. So where do you hang out then, Lisa? Where do people find you?

Lisa Bloom:

Yeah, so anything Story coach. So in social media, it's all Story coach. My website is story coach.com and mostly LinkedIn, a little bit of Facebook. And that's an Instagram a little bit. I just wanna, can I just relate to one of the things you said Yeah. About ai? Because I think AI is an amazing tool to help you with story. So it's not just, okay, we need to differentiate that we're real and we're not AI. Because when you try and just use an AI story, it's not that interesting. But if you use it to help you. Do the background to it or create structure around it or create a plan. For example. So like one of the things you can do is you can say, okay, I want to write a story for my blog, or I want to write a story for LinkedIn. This is my audience. This is whatever. Give me 10 subjects, for example, you can just plan out your content so beautifully with AI and then bring yourself. And that's the thing, and I'm sure you teach this because I could just get that sense from you. If you, if people are doing stuff rote, if they're doing stuff based on somebody else's template the content will be there, but it won't be interesting and it won't be compelling and it won't differentiate you. But if you take the structures or the templates and then you bring your story and you bring yourself, and you bring your personal experience, because our personal experiences are very specific to us. They're not the same as everybody else's, but they connect with everybody else's. I just I'm not anti AI at all. I use AI a lot, but, you have to bring that flavor of you. You gotta bring who you are into what you do through story.

Louise McDonnell:

And so am I. Like, AI is part of everything we do, but what I say to people is that you use AI to make you 10 times more productive and 10 times better, but it's you that drives it and it's not the AI and sometimes the problem is when people go and they just let AI create me seven Instagram posts or create me 10 in LinkedIn posts, and that will be rubbish. But you're right, if you use it. To say, okay, I want to tell a story. Here's the story, but now I want you to start in the most compelling way. Now I want you, how, what's the applause moment? What's this? What's that? Yeah. Then you're using it in a really smart way. So yeah, completely. I think we're on the same page all the time, Lisa. But yeah, so look at, again, thank you so much for coming on, and thank you, sir for sharing all your expertise. I found it absolutely so interesting and I look forward to connecting with you and checking out all your books and programs.

Lisa Bloom:

Thank you so much.