Key Takeaways
- The Trap: Talking about your awards, your years in business, and your features makes people tune out. It’s noise.
- The Shift: The "Client Hero" method. Make the episode about their struggle and how they overcame it (with your help).
- The Format: A "Mini-Documentary" filmed at Voxel Labs that feels like a Netflix special, not a testimonial.
The Voice of the South Bay (Part 2)
The Client Hero Journey: How to Brag Without Bragging
By Edwin Duterte & Jennifer Wolfe
Founders, The Donn Allan Experience
Previously in Part 1: We helped you tell your "Origin Story." Now, people know who you are. But they still have one burning question: "Are you actually any good at what you do?" Today, in Part 2, we teach you how to answer that question without sounding like an ego-maniac.
The "Guy at the Party" Problem
We all know "That Guy" at the party. He corners you by the punch bowl. He talks for 20 minutes about his car, his promotion, and his bench press record. You nod politely while looking for the nearest exit.
Most business marketing is "That Guy."
"We are the #1 Rated!"
"We have 20 years of experience!"
"Look at our awards!"
Your customer doesn't care. They don't care about your glory; they care about their survival.
The Question That Solves Sales Anxiety:
"How do I prove I'm good without sounding arrogant?"
The Voxel Answer: You don't talk about yourself. You interview the person you saved.
Case Study: The Hermosa Surf Shaper
Let’s look at a Custom Surfboard Shaper in Hermosa Beach.
The Old Way (The Brag): A video of the shaper holding a board saying, "I use the best foam blanks and I shape better than anyone in the South Bay." (Boring. Arrogant.)
The Voxel Way (The Hero Journey): The shaper invites a client, "Mike," to Voxel Micro Video Labs.
The video isn't about the board. It’s about Mike.
- The Problem: Mike talks about how he kept wiping out on steep drops at the breakwall. He was frustrated. He almost quit surfing.
- The Guide: He talks about how the Shaper watched him surf, analyzed his stance, and tweaked the rail design just for him.
- The Victory: Mike describes the feeling of finally catching the barrel of his life on the new board.
The Shaper doesn't have to say "I'm good." Mike just proved it. The Shaper isn't the hero; he is Yoda. Mike is Luke Skywalker.
Why This Works: The "Mirror Neuron" Effect
Jennifer (The Therapist) loves this part. When a potential customer watches Mike talk about his frustration, their "Mirror Neurons" fire. They feel his pain. They identify with him.
When Mike describes the victory, they feel the relief.
By the end of the video, they aren't buying a surfboard; they are buying the hope that they can catch that barrel too.
Production Value Matters Here
A testimonial filmed on a shaky iPhone looks like a hostage video. It looks cheap.
But when you film this conversation at Voxel—with cinema cameras, soft lighting, and crisp audio—it looks like a Mini-Documentary. It honors the client. It elevates the story from a "review" to a "film."
You can then take this 30-minute interview and slice it into:
- A 60-second "Trailer" for Instagram.
- A 3-minute "Case Study" for your website (The Sticky Trap!).
- A full audio episode for Spotify.
Up Next in Episode 3: You’ve told your story (Ep 1). You’ve told your client’s story (Ep 2). But what if you sell something... boring? Like insurance or tax prep? In the next post, we discuss "The Educational Deep Dive" and how to make complex topics fascinating.
Let your clients do the selling.
Record Your "Hero Journey" at Voxel