Welcome to Issue 64 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to tell a better story to build better brands. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.)

Hello Reader,

Of all the people I expected to have a philosophical conversation with this week, my hot tub guy wasn’t one of them.

I hate admitting that I have a hot tub. It makes me feel pretentious and bougie. And what I hate even more is admitting that I have a hot tub guy because I can’t be bothered enough at this point in my life to figure out how to take care of it myself. (I’ve tried several times and it always ends up green.)

But for the purposes of this story, I have to let you in on my shame. And the truth is that I sleep better when I have a good soak before bedtime.

I found Charles, my newest hot tub guy, from a quick Google search. He had excellent reviews.

He arrived promptly at 10 a.m. on the day we had scheduled with more equipment than anyone who’s ever come before him.

While I just wanted to show him the back and let him get to work while I got to my meetings, he wanted to chat. In order to do the best job possible, he told me, he needed to know about my ownership history, past experiences, temperature preferences, and frequency of use. He even wanted to know my sensitivity to chlorine and bromine so that he could customize the chemical balance to my liking.

Damn, I thought. This guy really knows his hot tubs. And he actually seems to care.

And so, because I’m always curious to know what drives anyone to start a business and become obsessed with a thing, I asked him: “What got you so into hot tubs?”

An hour later, our conversation covered the promise, possibility, freedom and flexibility of working for yourself, the unparalleled joy doing things with your hands, the delight of meeting new people and encountering new perspectives, and the realization that as we truly mature, we learn how to measure success on our own terms.

In other words, it's not that he's into hot tubs as much as he's into building a business that solves a problem for people, while allowing him to feel free and connected.

I could relate.

Before parting ways, I wanted to know what Charles attributed his thriving and fulfilling little business to.

“It’s simple—just be a people-person,” he said. “You know, build relationships.”

A Good Reminder

I do know. And I agree.

While we don't all have the ease (or want or need) to strike up a deep, meaningful conversation with every potential customer or client we meet, we do all have the capacity to care.

After our chat, Charles thanked me for looking him in the eye and having a conversation. It made him feel seen and respected, he said.

Not every client gives him that kind of time or attention—it's just purely transactional, and that feels bad. Sometimes it makes him feel nothing, he added. But when it happens a lot, it makes him feel dispensable.

Charles said he doesn’t ever want to make a customer feel that way. And he doesn’t hang on to clients who make him feel that way, either.

What he understands is that being chosen has less to do with what you offer and everything to do with making people feel like they matter.

And when someone or something—whether it’s a client or an individual service provider or a big business—makes you feel like you’re just an indispensable customer or follower, you lose that trust and loyalty.

The challenge is that the more we try to scale, automate, and reach more people, the easier it becomes to lose that feeling.

So how do we create that relatability and relationship building when we're not interacting face to face?

That’s where storytelling comes in.

A Good Approach

Stories are how you make someone feel seen before you’ve met them. It’s how you show them you understand what they want, what they’re struggling with, and who they’re trying to become.

At the highest level—the brand narrative level—the story is in service to the customer whose trying to improve themselves or their life in some way, shape or form.

The most successful brands understand this.

They know that people don’t buy the boat—they buy the story about the lifestyle that boat represents.
They don’t buy the business course—they buy the story of who they'll become because of it.
They don’t buy into the membership community—the buy into the story about the company they keep.

If you want to use storytelling to build your brand, you have to start with the story you need people to believe about themselves.

Even Charles, perhaps subconsciously, did this for me. He made me feel like I'm not bougie for not taking care of my hot tub by myself, but instead busy and good at prioritizing my time and resources.

The story I'm telling myself right now is that I’m not lazy—I’m efficient. (At least, this is the story I want to believe.)

Then, by letting me in on his process and meticulous approach to customize the experience for me, he showed me not just how good he is, but how much he cares. He made me feel like he has my best interest at heart.

And in doing so, he struck that credibility balance of warmth + competence perfectly.

By telling these stories, letting people in on process, and asking the right questions, we can make the whole exchange of trading a service or product for money feel more human.

And that, I believe, is our greatest competitive advantage.

A Good Takeaway

Admittedly, being “a people person” online when you’re not having that two-way conversation is much harder.

You have to share more of yourself than feels comfortable. You have to articulate not just what you do, but how much you care over and over and over again.

But, because we're all in the business of building relationships, we have to stop broadcasting and start asking:

• Where am I treating my audience like an audience instead of a person?
• What does my customer actually want or need to feel, and am I speaking to that?
• Where am I defaulting to information when I could be creating connection?
• What am I leaving out that would help someone feel seen?

In the end, what Charles understands—and what so many of us forget—is that people don’t remember the service. They remember how you made them feel.

And in a world that feels increasingly automated, that might be the most valuable thing you can offer.

A Few Good Resources

1. Can’t believe I’ve never seen this video on the shape of all great narratives. It's perfect.
2. While I believe using AI to write your stories strips the humanity right out, there are excellent ways to use to help you do your research. Here’s an excellent one from former journalist Kaleigh Moore.

Hope you have a good one,
Renee