← The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral Economics
The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral Economics
571. Why Your Brand Isn't the Hero: Finding Your True Role
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Hey there, Melina here. Really quick. Before we get into the episode, I want to let you know about something exciting happening right now. If you enjoy learning about behavioral economics and are ready to start connecting more of the dots, I've got a class for you. The Advanced Concepts of Behavioral Economics course, which is part of the certificate program in Applied Behavioral Economics via Texas A M University, is enrolling now. Over 10 weeks, we look at how behavioral science concepts start working together in the real world. Each week we explore behavioral economics through a different lens. Things like context, clarity, confidence and choice so you can start successfully applying the science in your everyday work. The class kicks off on April 10th. It's fully virtual and you're going to be learning alongside a cohort of curious brainy professionals from around the world, including optional live office hours with me along the way. To learn more and claim your spot, go to the brainy business.com class. Again, that's the Brainy Business class. To learn more and claim your spot. You don't want to wait another year on this one. I can't wait to see you in class. And when you're ready, let's start the show. Welcome to episode 571 of the Brainy Business Understanding the Psychology of why People Buy. Today's episode is about why you're not the hero and unlocking your true role in the customer's journey. Ready? Let's get started.
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You are listening to the Brainy Business Podcast where we dig into the psychology of why people buy and help you incorporate behavioral economics into your business, making it more brain friendly. Now, here's your host, Melina Palmer.
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Hello. Hello everyone. My name is Melina Palmer and I want to welcome you to the Brainy Business Podcast. We've talked about storytelling in various ways on the show for years in how it matters to brand experience, marketing, advertising, leadership, sales in giving presentations, and more. I've interviewed lots of experts and shared some of my own thoughts on this subject, including how and why framing is so important, the use of metaphor, and understanding the brain chemicals involved in the process, like when you want to build anticipation or have some natural bonding and trust built, and way more. Other fascinating stuff. Can you tell I love this topic? Storytelling does so much for us in life and business. It really is an essential skill and thankfully it doesn't mean you have to start working on your first novel to take advantage of all the value it can provide. In today's episode, I'm going to share a key way that I've been using storytelling with brands and businesses of all sizes, including some key insights you can use to start applying this to your business immediately, most specifically to pricing and sales really quickly. Before we get into the episode, I want to be sure you know that there are links in the show, notes for my top related past episodes and books, ways to get in touch, and more. There's also a free cheat sheet that goes along with this episode called you're not the Hero, which can be found at the brainy business.com/hero, so be sure to get that as well. All those links and everything are waiting for you within the app you're listening to and@the brainybusiness.com 571 now let's talk about your brand's role and why you aren't the hero. Recently, storytelling has been popping up all over the place in business. The Wall Street Journal had an article in December of 2025 about how companies are desperately seeking storytellers. LinkedIn has showcased new titles and lots of posts topic and I found it particularly entertaining or validating. Since I've been talking about this for years, I'm glad that it is becoming more mainstream and this current interest made it feel like a good opportunity to share a bit of the work I've been doing with clients to actually implement this. Because knowing you should do something and knowing how to do it are two very different things. And while there are many ways to use storytelling in business, the focus of our conversation and application today is is around brand alignment, pricing and sales. The first thing I want to share is why stories matter so much on a human level. As mentioned, there are lots of other episodes about this on the podcast, so I'm not going to get super deep into all the details, but it is an important place to start, so I want to give some of the highlights. Research has shown that stories help us humans to do all sorts of things, including connect, remember, perceive, value, decide, and act. Would you agree that all those things matter for selling in business? So let's do a quick breakdown on each and share why they're important. First, I want to talk about connection. Stories help us to connect with people, products, brands and more. When you feel connected to someone or something, there are specific chemical processes that take place in the brain. Dr. Paul Zak has done amazing research on this and has been a guest on the show talking about it before. That connection could result in oxytocin or serotonin or dopamine or a mix of all those things and more, but they're all chemicals the brain likes and tries to obtain. They can also result in building bonds of trust that make a difference when it comes to selling. You've probably heard that people buy from those who they know like and trust, right? Well, stories that help people connect are a big key to that. And while they can be about stories you share, they definitely don't have to be and shouldn't always be. They can be about how you integrate within a story, but more on that later in the episode. Now, what about remembering? Why does it matter that people remember you, your brand and whatever you're selling? Well, for one thing, if they don't remember it, they likely aren't going to take action on whatever they're supposed to do next. People also typically don't make decisions in a vacuum. They may have a partner if you're selling to individuals or co workers or bosses or whatnot, if you're selling into a business. And those people they need to get some buy in from. If that person asks, well, why should we choose them and not this other brand? And they can't remember what they liked about you or why it's the best fit for them or what got them excited, they're not very likely to be able to articulate that well to the person they need to convince to help to take the next step. When you can share the story in a way that they connect with and can remember vividly so they feel passionate when they recall it for themselves or for the other person or people they need to convince, it can make all the difference in the world. If they aren't invested enough to remember in the moment, or get too bored or distracted or overwhelmed by unhelpful information, it's definitely not going to help you close the deal. Think about pitching or sharing to a group. Whether you're asking for budget or trying to get an internal team to sign off on a project, or pitching to a team of investors. How often are these kinds of presentations filled with lots of charts and way too many words that are too small and just too much information that isn't compelling to anyone as the presenter? It can actually be the easiest way to share. Just put it all out there and hope they're going to find what they need. But people don't remember data like that and it certainly doesn't compel them to take action. In one study, students were asked to give short, persuasive speeches. Some shared stats and others shared stories. Only 5% remembered the stats when they were shared, but 63% remembered the story. The person you're presenting to doesn't need to know and Remember everything. Whether they're a customer or internal person you're communicating with, they need to feel the emotional connection and remember the right things to get them to take the next action. And storytelling is great for that. All right, so that is connection, remembering and taking action. Next we're going to talk about decision making. This area has some amazing research by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, which found that when people had damage to a scientist specific area of the brain, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, but still had a totally normal IQ and memory, and they could explain logic perfectly well and analyze pros and cons, it turns out they could not make any decisions at all. Even super tiny decisions like whether to file papers alphabetically or by date or choosing a restaurant or a time to meet, or even choosing between two pens. And they would agonize for hours and not make progress. When this area of the brain, which is related to emotion, was damaged, they were no longer able to make decisions. In business, people like to say things like, well, this is a logical decision, let's keep the emotions out of it, shall we? But this research shows that emotion isn't an enemy to decision making. In reality, it's required for decision making and the best way to get people to feel emotion. You guessed it, stories. So the last one is about perceiving value, also, you know, really important in sales. I love to use the example of the Significant Objects project. In this case, the researchers bought 100 objects at garage sales and flea markets and they paid a total of $128.74 for all of them. Just about $1.29 each. You might call them junk. But what they wanted to do was to see if stories mattered or made a difference in the way people valued these items. So they had authors write stories about each one and they listed all hundred of them on ebay to see if the exact same items would sell for more when they had a story attached to them. And they didn't just make back their 130ish dollars or even double that or triple, they sold those same hundred items for a total of $3,612.51. Now, if that doesn't make a case for storytelling and sales, I don't know what does. So now that you've heard all that background, I'm guessing you fell into one of two categories. First is to think awesome. I'm convinced now what the other would be. Well, yeah, I've been pretty on board with the idea that stories matter, but there's a reason I didn't go into fiction writing as a career. I have no idea where I would even start with this. In either of those cases, the end result is I get that it matters. I may even be on board with why it matters. But how in the world am I supposed to use that in my work? Especially if you don't consider yourself to be a great storyteller, this can feel pretty daunting. Like, where would you even start? Well, I've got good news for you. You don't have to finish your novel or screenplay before you can start using storytelling in your work. And you don't even have to take a creative writing class if you don't want to. I've worked with brands for years on incorporating this into their business, and I'm going to give you the blueprint here in this episode. As a reminder, don't forget about the you're not the hero cheat sheet I mentioned at the beginning of the episode. It's waiting for you at the brainy business.comhero and now that you have your handy dandy cheat sheet ready to go, let's get into it. For many of you listening, it won't be the first time you've heard someone say your brand isn't the hero, your customer is. And if that's new to you, awesome. Happy to help. The problem I found with others who share this idea is they tend to sort of stop there. They say, you know, the customer's the hero and you aren't. Or they may say, the customer's the hero and you're like a guide. But the problem is that in a hero's journey, there are some very specific things the hero encounters along the way. Three of them are supporting them in accomplishing their ultimate goal, and they all do very different things. The hero needs all three, but they are never the same entity. So why would a vague role for your brand make it any easier for someone to work with you? Before we get into the three roles we recommend our clients choose between, I'll tell you a bit about the Hero's journey. Even if you don't know the steps by heart, you definitely know this story because we humans love and are wired for it. While there isn't an exact number or percentage, it's generally accepted that 60 to 70% of all stories we encounter roughly follow the hero's journey. Books, tv, movies, video games, you name it. Somewhere between half and almost three quarters of them basically have the same experience over and over and over again. Familiarity, bias for the win so that Experience is essentially this. The hero starts in some sort of ordinary world, their status quo, and is called to adventure, a problem to overcome. They initially refuse, perhaps loss aversion playing a factor here, until a mentor appears and inspires them to leave the comfort of their ordinary world. And they finally accept the journey they need to undergo. Once the hero is on the journey, they don't do it alone. Along the way, they acquire helpers, allies who support them, travel with them, and help them along the way. This is what we would call the sidekick. That sidekick is incredibly important because they make the journey easier. They provide support and help the hero keep going when things inevitably get difficult. At some point in the story, the hero is given a special tool or a weapon, something that will allow them to actually defeat the problem they're facing. In some stories, it's a physical item. In others, it's a piece of technology, a new skill, a secret, a map, a plan, a method. This is the thing that will allow them to vanquish that eventual enemy. The big one at the end, and we call it the sword. Throughout the story, the hero is going to face various challenges, obstacles, and setbacks. These usually are preparing them for a big test or major conflict that they're going to have to overcome. A big battle, a final examination, a championship game, a big presentation, a key moment that really matters. They would never have been able to accomplish it on their own, especially as whoever they were at the beginning. But because they now have the guidance from the mentor, support from the sidekick, and the right tool, their sword, they are able to succeed. They solve the problem, defeat the villain, save the day, and return to their ordinary world. But they're different now. They've been transformed into a stronger, wiser, and more capable version of themselves than when they started. Perhaps they're now the them they were always meant to be. And that is the hero's journey in a nutshell. Ordinary world, a problem, a mentor, a sidekick, a sword. Trials and setbacks leading to a big challenge where they defeat that ultimate foe, followed by their transformation and return. Once you start looking at it, you see it everywhere. And more importantly for our conversation today, every business should play one of these roles in their customer's hero story. And that's how you can integrate into a storytelling mindset without having to go write a story. But the question is, are you going to be the mentor, the sidekick, or the sword? So let's talk about what this actually means for your business and how it connects directly to your brand experience, pricing, and sales. Each of these roles mentor, sidekick and sword creates value in a different way. They solve different types of problems for the hero and because they create value differently, they should be positioned, messaged and priced differently. As with so many things I share from the brainy business and on the show, one of the biggest, biggest mistakes brands make is trying to be more than one of these at the same time. When you try to be everything and live in that gray area, customers don't understand what you actually do for them, why you cost what you cost, or why they should choose you. It creates unnecessary cognitive load and friction that makes it harder to get excited about working with you. That means they don't buy or it takes a lot more time and effort to get them to buy, making it more expensive for everyone involved all around, not optimal so how do you choose your role? The first thing to know is that there is not a best role. There isn't a simple rule by industry or tenure or way that things have to be. The goal is to get out of the gray and commit to one role that most accurately reflects how you help your customers succeed. Note that this can either be how you have been doing this already up until this point, or it might be how you intend to do so in the future. If you're doing rebranding or looking to change your approach, don't build out the role based on current or past materials or messages. But if you've been pretty consistent and you have a feeling, you just want to like narrow down and keep doing more of the same, but in a more focused way, amazing look at what you've already been doing. Either way, once you've chosen something, the most important thing to do is to then commit to it. So everything you do reinforces your role in the hero's story. And remember, the hero needs all three of these things along the journey, but one entity shouldn't be more than one. Yoda doesn't go on adventures with Luke or give him all the answers. Robin doesn't talk to Batman like he's a mentor half the time and defer to him as the sidekick the rest of the time. Either of those scenarios would be totally out of character and suspicious and confusing to the hero, slowing them down. So as I break each of these roles down with more of a business perspective, I want you to consider how your role choice will impact the way you think about all sorts of business decisions. Yeah, it's messaging, of course, but also what you would invest in as a company, how you build your products and services, where you show up the images you use how you inspire your team members, and so much more. All right, let's talk a little more specifically about our three role types. First, we have the mentor. The mentor is the one who motivates the hero when they get stuck and need a little nudge. The mentor gives the hero a sense of purpose that can light a spark of intrinsic motivation. This gives the hero that confidence to step into the unknown and start to believe in a big, better version of themselves or the world around them. A mentor can help the hero make better decisions and take the right actions, but they don't do the journey for them and they aren't there with them a lot of the time. They also have a tendency to know the whole story from the beginning, but they don't tell the hero everything up front that would scare them and they might opt to just stay in their cozy home if they knew all the perils and trials that face them. This is part of the wisdom of the mentor to only share what needs to be shared at the right moments. Knowing when to assist, when to let them fail and feel frustrated so they can grow, and when they're going to need an extra glimmer of hope. The hero may vent at or about the mentor sometimes, but they're usually very happy to see them. They love and highly value the insights from the mentor when they get them, and that can continue, continue to fuel and motivate the hero even when the mentor is gone. Yet again, Mentor brands can come in any industry or format, but for the sake of an example, a lot of influencers can fit in this category with their personal brands. Personal trainers could easily fit into this category, or other coaches and strategic consulting firms. Again, this is not to say that everyone in this category should be one of these, or that someone who's doing this type of work has to be in this category, or that anything I didn't mention shouldn't be here. Diversification is useful in business, so being the only one in your industry who fills a different role can be really useful. I'm just giving these examples to help you start to see some general ways this can show up and I'm going to do some combined examples later on in the episode, but for now let's move on to our next role. The sidekick is the one who goes on the journey with the hero. They don't just give advice and send them on their way. They are there in the day to day, helping, supporting, assisting, making the journey a little easier and a little less lonely. The sidekick might not set the direction and they aren't the magical solution to the problem. But they're incredibly important because they help the hero keep moving forward when things get hard. They help carry the load. They fill in gaps. They provide encouragement and often some comic relief. And they help the hero actually do the work that needs to be done. Sidekicks are often practical, reliable, and consistent. They are the ones who show up again and again and again. They help the hero implement the plan, practice the skill, build the thing, or keep everything running smoothly. If the mentor says, here's what you should do, the sidekick says, great, I'll help you do it, and I've already got snacks. They're in the trenches with the hero. They see the messy middle, and they don't judge the low points. They help problem solve in real time. They celebrate the wins and help pick the hero back up when something doesn't work. Because of this, sidekick brands often build very strong relationships with their customers. The hero interacts with them frequently. There's often a lot of trust built over time because the sidekick keeps showing up and helping over and over. Essentially, you want your brand to be the habit when you're the sidekick. The hero may not know what they need, but they know who to call. No matter what. The hero may not always think of the sidekick as the brilliant strategist or the magical solution, but they know they couldn't have done it without them and appreciate that they're always there to celebrate together without stealing the spotlight. In business, sidekick brands often show up as the people or companies who help you implement, execute, maintain, or support. This could be agencies, bookkeepers, virtual assistants, software implementers, marketing teams, IT support, designers, printers or project managers, people who help you actually do the thing. Again, this doesn't mean everyone in those industries has to or should be a sidekick, but there's some common examples where that role may naturally fit. The key trait of the sidekick is they're there with the hero, helping them move forward, step by step, throughout the journey, day in and day out. And while sidekicks may not always get the glory in the story, the hero would almost certainly fail without them. They are often the difference between a plan that sounds good and a plan that actually happens. And finally, we have the sword. The sword is the tool the hero uses to face the ultimate challenge. It's the product, the technology, the system, the knowledge, the method, the thought thing that gives the hero new capabilities. The mentor may provide the wisdom, and the sidekick may provide the support, but the sword is what the hero uses when it's time to actually do the thing. In many stories, the sword is a literal item. Excalibur, a magic wand, special armor, a secret map, a powerful ring. And in others, it's a piece of knowledge or unlocking a power or belief in themselves. In business, we can think of the sword as the product or service that helps the hero move faster, perform better, look better, save time, make money, reduce risk, or do something they simply couldn't do on their own, and certainly not as easily as they do now. The sword doesn't replace the hero, it doesn't guide them, and it doesn't walk beside them every day. Even if they use it regularly, it empowers them to tackle their challenges. It gives them capability, leverage, and helps them take action so they get results. Sword brands often scale more easily than the other roles. Because the product can be used by many people. The sword works whether the mentor's in the room or not, and whether the sidekick is helping or not. Once the hero has the sword, they can use it over and over again. Because of that, sword brands often focus heavily on on the product itself, the features, the performance, the results, and the transformation the tool helps create. But this is also where I like to give a word of caution. Because many companies want to say they're the sword, it sounds powerful and important, but in stories, the sword is special, it's unique and not easily replaceable. If you say you're the sword, but in reality you're a commodity or otherwise easily swapped out for another option, customers won't believe you, and when they don't believe you, they don't buy. So if you're going to position yourself as the sword, you have to really be able to answer the question, what makes you Excalibur instead of just a really nice kitchen knife? Because swords are paid for what they can do. They're paid for the capability they provide, the results they help create, and the advantage they give the hero that they can't get anywhere else. In business, sword brands often show up as software tools, products, equipment, templates, frameworks, or systems. The thing the customer uses to get the result. Again, it doesn't mean every product has to be a sword, but when you are the sword, your job is to make the hero more capable. The mentor tells the hero what to do, sidekick helps the hero do it day by day, and the sword is what the hero uses to actually take action. If you haven't already, take a moment to jot down which one of these you think your brand should be. You don't have to stick with it forever, but good to get a kind of A gut reaction, maybe a couple notes. Feel free to hit pause. I'll be here when you get back. Now that you have a bit of background on each of the roles, I want to give you an example to help make this clearer. Let's look at the difference between McKinsey, Accenture and and Salesforce. From the outside, all three help businesses grow and improve performance. So it might seem like they're all doing the same type of work, but in the customer story, they're actually playing different roles. And an important note here, the role clarity isn't about everything a company can ever do. Many large companies do multiple things. This is about what role they're known for and chosen for in that customer's mind, the lead role that they are best known for. In that way, a company like McKinsey is primarily known as the company you hire to tell you what to do. They're brought in to provide guidance, insight, strategy, and direction. They help answer questions like what should we do? What's going wrong? What's the right path forward? Or should we enter this market? They're paid for their thinking expertise and their ability to see a big picture and chart the path. That's what a mentor does in the story. They provide wisdom, guidance, and maybe a plan. A company like Accenture is much more often known as the company hire to help you actually do it. They build the systems, install the software, run the projects, train the teams, and help execute the strategy. Remember, if the mentor says, here's the plan, sidekick says, great, we'll help you make it happen. They're paid for doing for that execution and being alongside the client and helping them move forward step by step, maybe even anticipating. They're the one who's there every single day. And that's what the sidekick does in the story. They don't just give advice. They go on the journey with the hero and help along the way. Finally, you have a company like Salesforce, which is primarily the sword. Salesforce is the tool, the technology that allows the company to manage customer relationships, track sales, automate marketing, and do things they couldn't do nearly as easily on their own. So the mentor helps decide what to do, sidekick helps you do it, and the sword is the tool the hero uses to take action. And this distinction really matters when it comes to pricing and sales, because mentors are typically paid for their brain, for that expertise and insight. Sidekicks are typically paid for their hands, the work they do, the support they provide, and swords are paid for for what they can do. The tool, the product, the technology, that gives the hero new capabilities. When those roles are clear, pricing makes more sense, marketing makes more sense, and customers understand why they should choose you. But when a company tries to act like one role and price like another, things start to get confusing, both for the business and for the customer. Before we move on, I do want to note that large companies often have multiple divisions that can play different roles in the customer story. And that's okay. Using the example I just gave, Salesforce is primarily a sword, that software tool, but they also have implementation partners and internal teams that can play the sidekick role and help to install and run the system. McKinsey might have an implementation arm, right, that helps them to do those other aspects where you don't have to move to Accenture or something along those lines. Right. Large companies like this can span multiple roles because they have different departments, products and services that are clearly defined and positioned. And often they're run as separate companies within the larger company. So for small and mid sized businesses, it's usually best to pick one primary role and be very consistent with it. You can absolutely offer multiple services, but if you're going to play more than one role, it's important to clearly define which role you're playing in each role offer and how it shows up in the customer journey and where that handoff happens. And really I would only recommend doing that if you're going to position them as separate product lines or sub brands. So it's very clear to the customer who you are in that moment. If you're just using it as kind of an excuse to live in the gray and not make a decision, I don't recommend it. If you were going to lean in and say this, sub company A is the mentor and we also have sub company B that is the sidekick to help implement on sub company C, which is this sword and we're gonna live all three of them. You know, more power to you to really fill all those roles. But they should be all done separately. And in that case it's just like triple the work. Because when you do try to be the mentor and sidekick and Sword all the same time, in the same offer with the same messaging and pricing structure, customers don't understand what you do, why you're different, or why you're charging your prices and they just get confused and it makes it hard to buy from you. So owning one and really owning it, starting there is what I will always, always recommend. Now that I'm off of my soapbox, let's move on to the next step, which is once you understand the role you're going to play in your customer story, mentor, sidekick or sword. We have another layer that we add to the process, and this is where pricing, positioning and sales really, really start to click into place. Because it's not just about the role you play, it's about how you're positioned within that role. If you've already read my book the Truth About Pricing, you're familiar with this, but the core question is, is your brand positioned as quality or value? And now I know from talking about this a lot over the years, you're probably thinking those both sound good. I want to be both of those things, so I intentionally chose positive words for each because both options are good, they can be very profitable and are needed in the market. However, the models are not the same. And just like with the brand role, trying to be both at the same time is where a lot of businesses get into trouble. I do have a full episode about quality versus Value here on the Brainy Business Podcast, and as I said, it has dedicated space in my book the Truth About Pricing, so I'm not going to go too in depth on it today, but here are the highlights so you understand the basis of the decision and how it layers in with your brand role. And yes, it is included on that hero cheat sheet@the brainybusiness.com Hero quality brands often set higher prices than their competition, which can be due to a variety of factors. If you sell products, they may be made with higher quality materials or be sustainably sourced. If you sell services, your team may have expertise or special certifications that others don't, making you worth the additional investment. You might invest in innovative methods or research and development that helps you and your customers stand out. Luxury brands would also fall into this category. Quality brands typically focus on making a higher margin on fewer sales. They can absolutely talk about the value they provide, but discounting is not usually part of the strategy and should be used sparingly because protecting the brand perception has to come first. And in that way, when it comes to your specific pricing, quality businesses should typically use whole numbers like 500 instead of 497 because rounded down prices signal a deal which is more aligned with value brands. And now, before you decide that quality is for you or not, let's talk about the other side with value businesses. A value business is typically less expensive than their competition. They are a bargain, a deal, a great value for the money they invest in efficiencies that can be passed along to their customers, members and clients while they don't have to sell only on quantity, they're more likely to have smaller margins and sell by volume. Value brands can still sell quality items. They don't have to be cheap or low quality. But the decisions the brand makes behind the scenes are about getting better deals for the customer and making things exciting, accessible and practical. They run more sales, discounts and promotions, and these are a bigger part of their overall strategy. And they reflect bargain pricing with numbers that are rounded down like 4. 99 or 4, 97 instead of 500, because those prices signal that deal and help the customer feel like they've made a smart choice. And now remember, neither quality or value is better. But again, you do have to make a choice because you have different strategies and approaches for either one. So if you take a moment now and decide which one you think you want to be, quality or value again, either based on what you have done in the past or what you want to do moving forward, choose that. When you combine the two dimensions, your role and your positioning, you get a much clearer picture of who your business is to the hero and in that journey and how to message and show up. Because a quality mentor would be different from a value Mentor, a quality sidekick different from a value sidekick. Or you could also be, of course, a quality sword or a value sword if you're keeping track. That means we have six options to choose from and we're stopping there, don't worry. But when you can choose that, you know there are going to be different words you would use. There's different imagery, there's different approaches for each of these and it can help you really own what your role is. I do want to give you a really practical example that we can relate to to help kind of drive this home. When you think about something the hero is needing help with. Right. So we're going to go with hair. Let's say the hero in our story wants some really great hair. They tend to have that. So that's our goal here. If you were a brand that was going to support them, you could show up as a quality mentor. Might be a high end stylist who's helping the hero completely rethink their look and guides the transformation. They're giving fairy godmother vibes for sure. A value mentor might be someone on YouTube or TikTok providing inspiration and possibly teaching people how to style their hair at home. That's accessible guidance at scale. They probably have a membership group or something where you can get extra special tips and things like that. Great access to someone that you couldn't get otherwise. A quality sidekick could be a stylist the hero sees regularly, who knows them, keeps notes on their color formula, adjusts the cut over time, helps them maintain their look, gives advice as their life changes. It's really relationship based, personalized and high touch. Our hero would always ask them before switching products or getting bangs. Value Sidekick might be the favorite dry shampoo. It's always there for our hero when they need it, even on the go. A quality sword might be a high end tool like a Dyson Airwrap that lets them do something at home they couldn't easily do otherwise, but you definitely pay for it. And a value sword might be a box of hair color or a regular curling iron. Affordable, practical, gets the job done that you still couldn't do reliably or easily without that thing. All six of these can help the hero reach their same identity goal, but they would frame their messaging very differently, they would price differently, they would train their internal teams differently, invest in their products or services differently, have different levels of scarcity or availability. You get the idea. When this is done properly, the hero can instantly tell what the brand does, how it lines up with their goals or doesn't, and then make a decision of how to move forward. This level of clarity makes it so the right people find you and you don't waste time with people who aren't a fit for you. Remember, not everyone is a fit for everyone. And that's okay. When your heroes can find you easier and on their own and those who aren't your heroes can move along without wasting anyone's time, that's a huge win. And I'm hoping as we've been going through the episode today, you can start to see in these examples how businesses tend to get into trouble. That hurting mentality coming into play when we see other businesses doing things that look or seem good. Feels like we should be doing that too. If we decided to be a quality business. So we won't do sales, but then it's the end of the year and everyone's doing a Black Friday sale so we decide to do one at the last minute. No good. Or if you want to be a mentor and you build products and services that are about inspiration and expert strategy, but then message about how you're a partner that's always there for them no matter what they need, but you aren't built for that. It's going to result in some angry customers and really frustrated team members. And of course as you get into the nuance of that quality sword versus Value sword Or sidekick or mentor. You can see how this gets even more critical to get right and why the vague advice of just don't be the hero doesn't work well enough. The human brain is complex and people have a lot going on. There are a lot of other things people can do besides work with or buy from you. And if you feel fuzzy or confusing because the messaging and signals don't match, they're likely gonna move on or forget or get distracted and never return. Remember all those tips I gave about the importance of stories at the beginning of the episode. These storytelling tips in understanding your role and the value position of your brand's character in the hero's journey make it easier for your customer, that hero, to remember, to perceive value, to connect, to make decisions and take action, hopefully with you. And you don't even have to go write a story about it. You can just embody and emulate this character and actually give this advice a lot. It might make sense for your brand to pick an actual character you can visualize, to emulate who you are. It might be someone you make up, but it could be that if you're a sidekick and you decide to go with Robin, you could have images around the office and actually ask, would Robin do this? Or is this more of a Yoda thing? Yeah, I know I'm mixing franchises, but if it works for you to identify with these characters in that way, great, right? The thing you're trying to accomplish. Think of it like this. People may not be confused about whether or not they need help, but they may be confused about what kind of help you actually are. So when your role and position are clear and aligned, when you know you're Robin and you're showing up and thinking about being Robin, it becomes much easier for people to understand what you do and why it matters for them. And they can get more excited and selling just becomes easier. And everything clicks along the way when you have those touchstone points that you can come back to all across the organization. So then you can use that as you look over, say, your pitch deck or your website copy, or the template language that your sales team is using, or product development meetings, or for your advertisements, or the call center experience, or the program for the new chatbot. There are countless other areas of application, and you can literally say, you know, I don't think a value sidekick would say that. We should say this instead. Or, let's not forget we're a quality sword. Let's use whole numbers in our prices. After all, Excalibur doesn't go on sale, whatever it is. Right. I love those imagery based pieces that we can tie in because it helps make it a little bit lighter but also really lines up well with existing stories that are in your team's brain. Right. We're just using stories all over the place, which is really great. Now I know I shared a lot in the episode and I'm guessing this might be one maybe you want to bookmark, go back and listen to again. And I also want to make sure you don't forget about getting your copy of the you're not the hero cheat sheet. I built that out to go along with the episode and help you start identifying your role of mentor, sidekick or sword and whether you want to be positioned as quality or value. So you can begin aligning your messaging, your offers and your pricing in a way that makes sense to the brain of that hero customer. I'm so proud of this cheat sheet. It's like I said, it's built on stuff I've been doing with customers for years and that I do with my actual clients. So I'm so excited to share it with you and I can't wait to hear what you think of it. Go get yours at the brainy business.comhero and of course if you want some help with applying this into your business, including my support in choosing the right role and value position for your business, as well as then starting to properly apply it to your brand experience, pricing, pitch decks, website and more, I would love to work with you and yes, I've done this work with brands of all sizes from global corporations to solopreneurs. So if you're even just a bit interested, let's talk and see if it's a fit for you. Simply Visit the brainy business.com contact to set up a time for us to connect. You can also email Melina atthebrainybusiness.com if that's an easier way to start the conversation. I can't wait to hear from and start working with you and as we close out the show, I would love to hear about what stood out for you from this episode. Like I said, I've been doing this work with companies for years and talks and keynotes always get great feedback. I would love to hear what stood out for you, the follow up questions you have, and anything else really. I'm considering doing a lot more content around this idea in the future because there's a lot of interesting stuff I can share to help people implement this stuff and I absolutely love doing it. I'm guessing that was pretty obvious through this episode. So if there's something you would like to see, maybe case studies of different brands that outline which role and value position they are and what it might look like if they were something else, or carousels or videos on various applications, or really anything, I'd love to hear about it and see what I might be able to make happen to help you on your hero's Journey. Whatever it is, come share it with me on social media. You're gonna find the show as the brainy biz pretty much everywhere and I am Molina Palmer on the LinkedIn. And as a reminder, there are links in the show notes for everything, including my top related past episodes and books, ways to get in touch, and more. It's all waiting for you in the app you're listening to and atthe brainy business.com571 and just like that, episode 571 on why you're not the hero and your role in the customer's journey is done. Join me now next time for another brainy episode of the Brainy Business Podcast. It's going to be a lot of fun. You don't want to miss it. Until then, thanks again for listening and learning with me, and remember to be thoughtful.
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Thank you for listening to the Brainy Business Podcast. Molina offers virtual strategy sessions, workshops and other services to help businesses be more brain friendly. For more free resources, visit thebrainybusiness.com.