Susan Payton on Selling Through Story

Susan Payton, author of the international bestseller "The Business of Stories" and host of "The Business of Stories" podcast, joins Joe Gregory to break down how business owners can use storytelling to sell more — without feeling salesy. Susan shares the real reason she wrote her book (hint: it wasn't for clout), the framework she uses with clients (personal story → business story → customer story → why → people → value → sweet spot), and why the common marketing advice "don't make it about you" is dead wrong. You'll learn: - Why hiding yourself from your marketing actually hurts trust - The "hero and guide" framework for telling stories that convert - How to find the story behind the story (the real message) - What happened when Susan got flown business class to speak in Barcelona — all because of her book - Her simple 3-step starting point for anyone thinking about writing a business book Chapters 0:00 Intro: Meet Susan Payton 0:46 Why Susan wrote her book — the real story 2:07 The exhaustion of one-to-one client work 4:26 The moment Lucy pushed her to write a book 6:21 Writing the book for "Marion" — designing for one reader 8:45 The Venn diagram: personal, business, customer story 9:44 How the book became a podcast, course, and group program 10:10 Why "don't talk about yourself" is bad advice 12:04 The dating analogy: why hiding yourself is "creepy" 16:00 Story prompts in action — Joe's real results 18:11 "This is magic" — a client's first LinkedIn story gets her a client in 2 days 19:16 What makes a story actually useful (not just inspiring) 20:27 The hero and the guide — the Star Wars framework 26:26 Susan's full storytelling framework, step by step 26:33 Step 1: Personal story 27:14 Step 2: Business story 27:52 Step 3: Customer story 28:30 Step 4 & 5: Your two "whys" (personal why vs. bigger why) 29:33 Step 6: Your people (niching down) 31:12 Step 7: Your value 31:49 Step 8: The sweet spot — where it all connects 33:37 Pinch-me moments from the book 35:00 From fear of public speaking to being flown to Barcelona 38:00 Susan's advice for anyone thinking about writing a book 40:03 Where to find Susan and get the free book