Your Competitive Edge: Why Stories Win

Your Competitive Edge: Why Stories Win

What separates great professionals from everyone else in a crowded market? According to Vanessa Stoykov, it’s not just expertise—it’s the ability to connect.

In this episode, Vanessa explores why storytelling, trust and authentic communication have become the ultimate competitive advantage. From turning complex ideas into meaningful conversations to building lasting client relationships, she shares practical insights on how to stand out, create impact and communicate your value in a way people remember.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hi, Outsourcins, and welcome to the Inside Outsource Podcast. Proudly brought to you by Outsource Financial. I'm your host, Janil Gibson, and I'm excited to be bringing you these conversations designed to support, inspire, and elevate you in your brokering journey. And now we've got Vanessa Stoykov, a financial educator, storyteller, and founder of the Evolution Media Group. And she's focused on helping people and organizations communicate money and value more effectively through storytelling and behavioural insight. Thank you so much for joining me, Vanessa. Tell me a little bit about your background.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

I grew up a country girl in a small town called Gunnadar, rural New South Wales, where my dad worked in the mines there, and my mum stayed home and looked after us. Had a very idyllic childhood, went to uni, did journalism, applied for Equestrian Weekly, Truckin' Weekly, and Investor Weekly, and ended up getting Investor Weekly, writing about institutional investing, and really fell in love with the industry. These people are so smart. I was so fascinated by it. The first year of my life was spent going, but the hell are they talking about? This is pre-internet, right? I was just shorthanding everything they were saying and writing it out. And they're like, well, you really get this. I'm like, not at all. But I'm super good at shorthand. But then came to the conclusion, once we started to understand it, I thought, wow, if real people could understand what these geniuses are saying, so many more people have access to making good financial decisions. I set up my own firm, Evolution Media Group, at 26. I had 14 grand saved up. I spent 10 of that on the launch party. And you can kind of go, yeah, it makes sense that this woman specializes in having money conversations, right? Because I'm not a financial planner or a broker or an accountant. I'm a journalist by trade, but really I'm a storyteller. And what I like to do is open up conversations about money with people, authentic ones, we usually don't have because there's a lot of taboos around talking about money.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, there absolutely is, and especially in today's environment. When you talk about competitive edge, what would you suggest will could be a main edge for our brokers out there in the industry?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, look, I just showed the research today to show that financial capability is declining in this country. So people's understanding of how things work and what best decisions to make for them is at a new low. It's fallen over the last four years, which means there's a huge opportunity for brokers to be educating people. Now, these changes in the budget, whilst huge and, you know, will cause some pain for brokers, there's no doubt in my mind, also a massive opportunity to become a great communicator and a great explainer. Because no one knows what the hell's going on. Should I keep my property? Should I not? Like what, you know, like everyone's asking the question. And brokers are really on the front lines. So anything they can do to refine their narrative, to what is their story, what are their thoughts on all this. But what really people want is a sense of safety. I've got this, I know what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Yeah, and have that trusted advisor to support them through those decisions. Exactly. And you're such a massive part of that storytelling because you've got decades of telling stories about financial education. What would you suggest are the the four key areas that our brokers should focus on when they're telling their story?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, well, breaking it down. Obviously, I talked today about the backstory. Like, so who are they? Why are they doing this? What's their story? Where'd they grow up? I mean, an advisor uh came up to me after the speech, actually, and she said, someone said to her, Oh, when did you get off the boat? And she said, I didn't come on a boat, I came on a plane. And then they laughed, and that broke the art. Really, having an interesting way into telling your own story is a very valuable asset. That's number one. If you can't tell your story in a really clear, interesting, short, I stress short, you know, make it concise and make it interesting and make it memorable because you want people to remember you.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I think it was saying there was seven seconds of that engagement level and it goes down to three seconds in the new generation, Generation Alpha, is down to three seconds of attention and you've got to catch them in that particular time frame. So great framing that backstory and what what's next? What's the next part of the story?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Well, then you've got to have a hook, right? So you've got to know your backstory and you know when to use it. You're not trotting out your backstory at everything, but it's something that you've got in your arsenal, your toolkit that you can keep with you and that you spread through a lot of channels, not just talking about it, but putting it on your website, putting it through social to demonstrate your values, then you've got to have a hook. Who gives a damn? You know, like so how do you get people to care? Yeah, why should I choose you? Exactly, which is why tabloids do a great job of dragging people's attention to a story. And I think brokers have got to think like a tabloid.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

How do you like grab that attention, keep the attention? You were talking about what is that moral of the story? Can you expand about you had some fabulous little stories around that? How do we ensure that the moral comes through? Because a lot of us really, when we're thinking about our backstories, may not focus on, okay, what's the moral of the story? How do you feel that moral of the story is really starts to create that extra level of engagement?

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah, and and look, you you said it well because what you want people to do is go, I get what you're telling me. I get it. I'm picking up what you're putting down. Exactly. And sometimes we're so busy telling details and everything else and responding to them that what are we putting down? The one thing. What is the moral to this? What are why are we here? And if you keep that in mind, the moral comes up to the top. It's not buried down below. What do you want to say? What is the meaning behind this? And a lot of the time we don't stop and think enough. And I remind people that AI has given us the opportunity to think more. People go, that's counterintuitive. It's doing all the thinking for us. Yes, it's doing a lot of the doing. But if you spend time thinking about how do I become a better storyteller, how do I bring the moral of what I'm teaching to the forefront? How do I get a good hook at the start so people can capture that? I mean, you're going to have a better business, a more successful business. If you can train your staff in that skill, they're going to be really valuable.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

I love the way you refer it to you are the architect of your own story. You are the creator. And AI just helps that and expands that. But you are the architect. And I think it's really important in relation to that. You refer to it as the cautionary tale. You were talking about romance novels that I always think when's the penny going to drop? When's that twist gonna happen? When's that dreadful moment that I can, we all know that they're gonna come back from? Why is it so important to be so authentic when you're talking around that cautionary tale?

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, look, because that's how we learn, right? People learn from other people's mistakes. You know how don't tell your kids what to do, show them what to do. And it's the same thing of show people what not to do. So the cautionary tale has to be true. It doesn't have to name names, but they have to be real things that have happened. The people go, oh, so if I do this, I can avoid that. You know, so again, it's a learning. You're either dragging people to learning by giving them carrots to go, you can get where you want to go. Here's how you want to go. I've here's your path, I've got it. Or you can go, here's all the people that didn't get there because these are the things they did. So don't be like them is the path.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

How do you feel authentic listening plays a part in bringing that all together? Why is it so important for our brokers to really listen to what their clients are saying, to really skew the story to what is going to resonate within? Have you got any thoughts in relation to that?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

I think active listening is a well-underrated skill. Being a good listener is incredibly attractive in a world where everybody wants to be heard. But the thing about listening to people is that you can notice cues. Like even as you're talking now and I'm listening to you, I'm watching your face, I'm watching your expressions, I'm watching, you know, are you really engaged in this or are you thinking about something else? Like, but you know, you can tell a lot about a where a person's at by listening and watching and observing.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I've often said it's actually what is unsaid that is louder than what is said.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

100%. And and the man in the red parker who asked the questions at the end was saying, you know, people are trauma dumping on him all the time. But it's sort of true, right? People want to be heard and there's stuff going on and they want to tell someone. And so just being able to listen and be that person who's got that moment with them. I mean, they're the things people remember. What do they say? You know, people aren't remembering what you told them, they're remembering how you made them feel. An interesting story to show the power of storytelling, driving behavior, behaviors that we either want or don't want, is that Harvard analyzed speeding tickets issued over the seven releases of Fast and the Furious one to seven. So you got some data to look at and found that in the two weeks after each movie release, they saw a general increase in speeding tickets, 40% increase. You know, a huge part of that was dangerous driving. 80% of the 40% were doing double the speed limit.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

And the even bigger kicker was that 90% of them were within two kilometers of the cinema.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

And that stat just blew my mind. It's around the story driving the behavior. Since the beginning of time. And you make that reference about having that resonance with music. And often, you know, they often say in psychology, you know, music is that one differentiator that can draw you back to a core memory in an instant. Now, I know when I'm delivering my content, it's around, you know, creating that refrain, that that repeated statement, you know, people don't remember what you say, they remember how you feel. Do you think like a tagline or something that can resonate and they can use as a bit of a refrain? I like to use the Barack Obama one, yes we can. You know, because it resonated. And and that's what people kind of think about when they think about, okay, Barack, yes, we can. And it really propelled and pushed a whole revolution of thought and mind shift, because, you know, yes, we can. Do you feel that in branding and and differentiating yourself from your competitors in the market, do you how do I articulate what I stand for in a repeated way without sounding like make America Great Again?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

You know what? I'd say let Claude do the work on this one. Great. If you go into Claude AI and put in a few deets around you, even your backstory. So who am I? Grew up like this. This is the market I'm serving. This is my ideal client. I'm looking for people of this age, this sort of debt, this, you know, know who you want, tell it, and then say, give me five elevator pictures for my business based on this information. Give me 20 taglines, give me five social media posts for Facebook, give me a TikTok real script and just start see where it goes. It'll give you so many options, and then you'll go, I don't mind that one. And if you don't like any of them, but there's one that's better than others, you could say, I like four the best. It's tease that out, you know. So give me more options around that. Because you are the architect of your story. That's it. And it's like drilling you using AI is so fun because you can keep refining the message. Yeah, I like what you say about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

AI will keep going until it gets it right. $4.2 trillion worth of intergenerational wealth transfer by 2050. How do you see that transition coming through? What do we need to do in order to help them understand what they're getting themselves into?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

I guess what I call it is the ability to have the conversation with next gen. So it might be a funny reel that you send and go talk to your kids about this because you know, a 21-year-old's more interested in a reel than a brochure. So what's a brochure, Mom? Yeah, but you I mean, humor is a great way in. People like a laugh. And we share social media a lot because it's funny. So can you add humor into it to bring up a topic? But they had a headline that was like, family prepares to rip itself apart as pop carks it with a four-bedroom brick. You know, then having something where you can go into a family and say it's the someone who's the executor of the will and go, look at this funny story. This is talking about all the tensions that could happen. Let's have an open and honest discussion, or let's set up a Teams call or a Zoom meeting, all of us, and talk about it and everyone get it out in the open. The minute money conversations are had in private and pull one aside, and this is how family tensions start. Like I talk a lot about the explosive nature of pushing the uncomfortable conversations to the forefront. And that's no one wants to do that. I don't even want to do that. And I do it for a living. I'm doing it with my own family at the moment. And I'm like, I'm not enjoying this because it's never a feel-good when you're talking about age care and estate planning and all those things. They're not fun times.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

No, but it's so absolutely necessary to have that clarity when it's moving forward. Oh, I'm dealing with that myself in my own family. So I completely understand. Some other great things that you touched on within your presentation was around the keys to be the best professional. Can you give us some insights in relation to those four key parts and in relation to, yeah, how how do I be the best professional?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Well, um, certainly tell stories that really reveal your values. Who are you? What do you stand for? And then integrate that into the way you communicate so people remember that about you, builds trust. Trust is a big one in our game. Also, tell stories where people are at. We might be interested in something, but nobody else gives a damn. Like if they're talking about inheritance, go talk about inheritance. That's what people want to talk about. Understanding that you have to be in the conversation they're already having.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

And that's why listening is so important when you're looking to, okay, well, which way do I go next? How do I become that trusted advisor? Exactly. And that's where, of course, you need to be listening to what's going on for to be able to get and take out that information.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

The third one we've already talked about, which is creating conversations that can be intergenerational. You know, can you talk to your kids, your adult children, your grandchildren, your aging parents? You know, there's so many subsets. I mean, I wrote a book, The Five Conversations About Money, to radically change your life. And they're all around how you deal with your siblings, how you deal with your partner. You know, they're all important conversations and the way you go about them.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

While we're on that topic, Vanessa, how do I go about obtaining that? Where can I go to get those the books? Uh, well, I'll just Google it.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

The my name, the Amazon has it. My website, Vanessa Stoykov.com, has a page on books you can go. And I've got two books out at the moment that people can buy online or on audio book there in audio as well. But I think it's just about people actually thinking that it's really important to be the encourager of difficult conversations and be open to listening to difficult conversations. And because when it comes to money, it's complex and it's emotional. And there's going to be so much money come about by people dying and inheriting and anger and resentment. And, you know, I am the lucky lady that gets, you know, I go to Pilates and all the girls are telling me stories of what's happening in their families, you know, because everyone knows I'm a collector of stories because I write about it all the time. And there's something happening everywhere all the time. Someone's going through something when it comes to dealing with family and money and everything that's happening. So the more we can open that up and as brokers encourage those conversations and be a place where there's no judgment and there's certainly education, I think that's a very good business strategy.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Our motto, education is empowerment, and it's so true and really underpins exactly what you were just talking about there. If you could give brokers one tip to take that first step, what would you suggest?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I think you've got to start with your backstory. If you you need to work on that, like and people are it's just an interesting project, right? Is yourself. It's like, come on, you're worth it. The L'Oreal thing, you are worth it. Look at your own backstory. Why do you do what you do, how it can reveal your values? Because everything starts from that. It all starts from you. And being able to tell that and write that and video that and audio that in a concise and interesting way is very valuable.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Often I hear that it comes down to the fear factor. I've recorded it so many times, I just don't want to post on the socials. So have you got anything that helps you in shifting that mindset from, you know, a sphere of self-doubt into a mindset of just giving it a go? Like what would you suggest that next step be? How could I overcome my own self-doubt and fear?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yeah, it's hard, right? It's hard to be vulnerable and put yourself out there. So I'm not saying it's easy. I read a post on social the other day that said, if I followed you around for a week, would you convince me that you were really committed to achieving your goals? And I was like, that's powerful. I really started to be like, oh, dude, uh, I really better pump up my activity on this Wednesday. But the sort of little sayings you can have that hold yourself accountable, but also a lot of the time, I hate to say it, but people don't give a damn. Put yourself out there. You think everyone's watching and judging, they're just scrolling, you know, but you're part of the conversation then. You're in the game. Yeah. And a lot of the time putting content out there, I reckon there's a good 18 months before you see any sort of decent response, like, which is soul destroying. When you're putting stuff out, if it's a newsletter or whatever weekly, and no one's looking or no one's liking it, or and you think, Well, you, why am I doing this? But and A, people don't like things as much on social media anymore unless it's celebrity driven. So don't be offended by that. Keep going, even if it feels like you're throwing it into the ether, it will build up a narrative for you over time. Yeah. And people will remember, just keep putting it out there.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

And we were just talking to one of our fellow um members just recently who he's prevalent across social media. And, you know, I've often talk about, like you said, people remember the way you make them feel. And once you can get to that, I am your trusted advisor, when you have a financial decision, come to me. Let's talk about it. And it doesn't matter what it looks like, I'm here to help your dreams come true in whatever that looks like for you. Vanessa, I just want to say thank you so much. It has been absolutely inspirational for you to speak about your own personal story and how our members can use their own stories to actually move them forward and to really create that trusted environment where people do want to start talking and engaging.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Yeah, get it out there. Thanks for having me. Uh, it's been great and I've enjoyed talking. There's some great member stories. You know, I've really been enjoyed hearing them. But yep, everyone get vulnerable, start thinking about what motivates you, have a bit of a session with Claude and chat and start to understand how AI can help you. Uh yeah, and and go forth and help as many people as you can, because boy, do we need it.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Thank you so much for your time today. Jump on to vanessestoikhoff.com and uh have a look at those resources. Be absolutely brilliant for everyone. And that's a wrap on today's episode of the Inside Outsource Podcast. We hope today's conversation has given you valuable insight, fresh perspectives, and ideas that you can take straight back into your business. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure you follow the podcast and share it with your network. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you with us again next time.