I Saved My Client's Biz With A Dollar I Stole From A Kindergartner

In 24 hours their calendar went from easier to fill than a politician’s pockets.. to emptier than the 2024 Hurricane Helene relief fund..

My client’s team reached out in desperate need for help.

We had just built a sales team and they were scaling.

But something terrible happened.

Google throttled them on YouTube.

We added YouTube because we don’t like to put 7-8 figure revenue in the hands of one single platform.

These platforms don’t care about you.

They care about buyers staying on the site and making money.

If you’re new to my content, My name is Lance C. Greenberg.

I’ve helped 100’s of business owners and their teams.

It can happen in a flash to any business.

One day, you’re the King of the ad auction.. 

The next, you wake up in the middle of the night because you have a bunch of people to pay, and your sales are on the decline.

Before I decide what to do about their issue,

I pause.

In a blink, I’m transported back to a time where I discover the most powerful advertising tool ever.

A tried and true method that has been used 100’s of years to get people to remember important info, persuade, and get them to take action.

It’s 2010 and I’m struggling to raise kids as a single parent.

Cheap hotdogs with cheese, free gas station ketchup packets and bread is on the menu for lunch.

But there’s a problem.

We have no bread and I’m broke.

So I do whatever I have to..

And I take my daughter’s tooth ferry money from her piggy bank.

It’s for her first tooth.

It doesn’t take long for her to discover that the money is gone and ask where it is.

Holding back tears, I can’t tell her.

I’m so heartbroken that I pick up my old guitar and sing my heart out about it.

I take my song beyond these dusty dingy hotel walls and perform at a show.

A weeping crowd member rushes the stage with a wad of twenty dollar bills in their hand to give me.

Promoters are paying me and my band to play this song.

My audience relives the pain of being broke and without, and it pays for diapers, food and our hotel room.

The lyrics in part of the song:

“I’m buying a loaf of bread with the money my daughter got for her first tooth, it hurts when she asks where it’s at but I just can’t tell her the truth.”

It’s 2013.. And I think I make my living selling personal training and gym memberships..

But I actually make my money, and turn my life around completely by storytelling to strangers.

I share my back injury story, my weight loss story, and gym member stories with complete strangers on street corners, in retail stores, at gas stations, and even outside of buffets.

This led to the growth of a successful ad agency and advisory business.

I told stories, advertised, and sold my way out of poverty and into prosperity— for over a decade at the time of writing this.

My most successful ad campaigns of all time have always told stories.

After a brief pause, I respond to my client..

We’re going to tell this story in an ad.

And so we do.

I wrote an ad right then and there on this live call in front of the entire company.

It was about how Google throttled us for being a Christian brand..

How Christians are suppressed... 

How the enemy definitely doesn’t want them to start a business or become financially wealthy…

I quoted Google saying that “Christianity is damaging” on the call (yes that’s what they really said).

It doesn’t matter if you agree with any of these things, or anyone else for that matter.

I said all the things they were thinking and felt already.

Do you know what your audience is griping about behind closed doors on Reddit forums or social media posts?

If not, you might want to have someone on your team go look.

I shared his story about his ups and downs, the prayer he said that changed everything and how he built multiple successful businesses on his journey, and I tied in the offer.

We launched it on Facebook and launched a more cryptic version on Google.

I don’t have a screenshot handy with revenue and sales.

So for the sake of avoiding red tape, here’s what I can tell you:

We ran this ad for 2+ years.

Now, Imagine what it might cost to hire someone like me.

Think about what kind of budget my clients would have for advertising to hire a person like me, and for it to be worth my while and theirs.  

If you were in this situation, would you run an ad for 2+ years, dumping thousands of dollars into it on two different platforms if it didn’t yield a tremendous return?

You do the math on that.

Every month, I receive calls from frustrated business owners, founders, and CMOs complaining that their ads are costing too much.

When I look at their ad library, 99% of the time, I don’t see them using any kind of story framework used except an occasional testimonial.

It’s not their fault either.

Growing up, we were forced to write stories and essays, graded by a teacher who was paid to like our writing only if it met certain criteria.

Guess what that criteria is?

Hint: It ain’t conversions and sales

So most advertising gurus suck at telling stories and don’t teach telling them in a way that actually converts, or they stay away from it completely.

Telling stories in copy gives you an unfair advantage.

Here’s an acronym I want you to remember and share with your team to explain why you must use story copy:

S.ensory Activation

Research shows that storytelling activates sensory centers.

Stories engage multiple parts of the brain, allowing audiences to "experience" the emotions, sights, and sounds of your narrative, making your message stick.

The brain doesn’t know the difference between that experience and the real thing.

The key is sharing a story that relates to their pain points and leads them to the solution.

T.ransportation

Stories immerse audiences, lowering their defenses and making them more receptive to your message.

This psychological immersion leads to greater trust and emotional investment.

Notice I immersed you into several layers of my story.

You experienced failure, pain, and success.

O.xytocin Release 

Emotionally charged stories foster trust and connection. 

Research shows that oxytocin increases empathy, driving loyalty and long-term engagement, creating “mental tags” which leads to retention and brand recall.

Stories are much easier to remember than “facts.”

I could have broken down a bunch of facts about stories and why you should do it but unlikely you’d remember; instead, I told you a story.

Y.ield Decision-Making

Emotions drive decisions more than logic.

Neuroscientists agree that emotional engagement is critical for decision-making, making storytelling a powerful tool for inspiring action and boosting conversions.

When I talk about waking up at night due to stress of low sales and an empty calendar, you may know what that feels like.

The emotions of pain and gain in my story, tied to using the method I’m sharing, have a high probability of inspiring you to take action.

In business..

You will always have ad platforms and marketing channels taking your money without any care if you succeed or not.

You will always have a competitor copying you.

You will always have vendors over-promising and under-delivering in some area of your business.

You will always have employees falling short, letting you down, and needing replaced.

But a Hook-Story-Offer ad will keep on working 24.7 for a very long time.

Your competitors can’t steal it, and your audience will love it so much that ad platforms will reward you for keeping their buyers engaged and converting on their platform.

Your sales reps will absolutely love you when their prospects show up to calls remembering the ad, the content, and your story.

And most of all you will impact a lot more lives.

Until next time..

Keep shining your light.

-Lance C. Greenberg