Hands Down, Stories Sell: How a Hand Model Taught Me the Power of Storytelling

In the last Be Intentionally Visible Newsletter: Those ‘Ordinary’ Stories? They’re Your Greatest Visibility Asset. We discussed why our stories are important and how to share them. The conversation kept going in the comments. Stop by and join in.

Here, I’ll share the story of when I discovered the power of storytelling and how I learned to incorporate it into my content.

Stories, The Backstory

A few years into my business, I welcomed a new client; she was a top hand model. She had launched a line of luxury anti-ageing hand care products and needed help with… everything. Yes, cue the Seinfeld references.

Seinfeld | George Costanza Hand Model

I was game. I had left my secure law firm job in 2006 to start an online business. This was around 2009, and there were not many of us at the time. We had very few resources to figure out how to create an online business. This client was a godsend. I would be able to try all of the fun things I was learning around social media and building/maintaining WordPress websites, learn new skills such as SEO, and remember that I had been doing PR for years.

My First PR Success Story

My hand model, as I affectionately call her, had landed some excellent PR, she was in all the top beauty magazines, won prestigious awards, and even had a 4-page spread in More Magazine.

The PR firm she was working with did a fantastic job, but it was very expensive, and her products were not selling because, after they were featured, they were not shared online beyond a single mention; the opportunities faded quickly.

I was already handling everything else, so I took over the PR as well and pulled together her media wins. I started sharing them on social media, conducted research to find relevant keywords and hashtags, and began understanding her audience in an entirely new way.

On the PR side, I began connecting with beauty bloggers who had dedicated followings, and they featured her in engaging stories.

Another strategy I employed was to track the hashtag #dryhands on social media, using Hootsuite. This landed me directly into conversations that were already happening. People were complaining about their dry hands, and we listened, we reached out and offered them a generous discount to try our products. We started making sales daily, and after about 8 months, we sold more than $ 100,000 of her products. We kept our campaigns targeted, and our budget was pretty much non-existent. I was starting to see that #thisstuffworks

About Those Stories

OK, getting back on track. One of the reasons that this was so successful was that we had a document. It was about 20 pages of ‘Hand Quips,’ which included her thoughts on hands, her products, being a hand model, and the dangers your hands face every day. You get the idea.

We built this list together. She started with what she could remember, and I listened to old interviews and watched replays of her on late-night cable TV shows, adding to the list. Once we had established this, we both continued to add and use the hand quips throughout the content we co-created.

I still use this process, all these years later; it is much easier with AI, but the concept remains unchanged. I also teach people to do this, and it’s incredible to watch as people remember parts of their work they had totally forgotten about.

Gathering your stories and using them as part of your articles, interviews, website, communications, and sales changes EVERYTHING. You are more connected to your own story; it’s easier to know what to write about. People feel connected to you, and trust, credibility, and relationships are built.

What Happened to the Hand Model?

I can hear you asking that question. She is doing fine. We worked together for several years, and then she was noticed, which led to her business being acquired by another company. She sold her products in several rounds of showcases on HSN, actually selling out twice. Then things fizzled out as lower-priced options began to emerge on the market. Her products were the first dedicated skin care line for hands.

Today, she is a private yoga instructor and coaches hand and parts models.

I still have a bottle of her hand cream on my desk, it’s a reminder of how much I learned during that time, and to always gather and use stories. Another valuable lesson… be an early adopter, find the gaps, and show up.

Your Turn

Your Story Collection Challenge: Take 15 minutes this week to start your own version of a “Hand Quips” document. What are the stories, phrases, or insights you consistently share about your work? Ask a colleague or client what stories of yours have stuck with them. You might be surprised at what they remember!

Share one story you uncover in the comments on LinkedIn – I’d love to see the hidden gems in your experience that could become part of your visibility strategy.