Wade Sugiyama Introduction

STOP talking about yourself.

Even customer-first messaging can quietly drift back to being about the company. And people tune out.

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↗Notice the drift

↗ Recenter the story

↗ Show up as a guide

Wade Sugiyama Speaking

When the story drifts, people tune out.

It’s not because teams don’t care about their customers. But when you’re close to the work, it’s easy to miss when the message quietly shifts back to being about the company—and customers stop leaning in.

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The conversation starts moving again

Make the story about them

Don’t make your company the hero, be the guide instead. Make your customers the hero of the story and they will want to listen.

MAKE IT INSTANTLY CLEAR

The confused mind says no. If your message can’t be understood quickly and clearly, you will lose their attention and lose sales.

Wade Sugiyama Teaching

Make them say, “Tell me more”

Empathy and understanding is the key to getting customers to lean in, and it’s how you earn the right to tell them more.

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getting started is easy

01. Spot the drift

See where your message has quietly shifted back to the company.

02. recenter the story

Refocus the message around what your customer is navigating and their path forward.

03. See what changes

When the story is clear and customer-led, people lean in.

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Most teams don’t wake up trying to make it about themselves

When you’re close to the work, the message usually sounds clear to you. But customers experience it differently — they feel when the story starts drifting and tune out before you ever get to the solution.

It’s not because teams don’t care about their customers. This shows up most often in customer-first, relationship-driven teams who are deeply invested and too close to see when the story quietly shifts back to the company.

That’s where I come in. I help teams notice the drift sooner, recenter the story around the customer, and show up as a guide — not the hero.

I’m a StoryBrand Certified Guide with over 20 years of experience helping teams regain momentum across global brands and relationship-driven organizations.

client & Collaborator Testimonials

Testimonial

“Wade professionally led fun discovery workshops to help us identify needs, then helped to build strategies to deliver against customer needs and our business goals. He has an amazing ability to bring fresh new thinking, and his contributions led to passionate customers and incredible performance results. He also provided ongoing industry insights and detailed post campaign analysis to inform future strategies to keep us on the innovative edge. Wade always shows up as a team player and friend, is enthusiastic and full of energy and creativity; I truly admire his collaborative spirit with me, my team, and everyone at Starbucks!!!”

KEVIN RIFFLE

Group Manager, Games and Mass Offers, Marketing at Starbucks

“Wade has a system for honing in on the most important messaging you can be putting out to your potential customers. While you're in the weeds building a product, it's so easy to think our widget factory makes twice the widgets in half the time! But you need Wade to help you understand that your customers don't care about that, they have their own aspirations and worries. They want to be the most reliable widget polisher in town, or they want to avoid an embarrassing widget failures like they had last year. Messaging is better built around those things.”

CHRIS COYIER

Co-Founder at CodePen

“Wade was great to work with while finalizing my company's brand script. I had an idea of the direction I wanted to go towards, but Wade really helped me take it to the next level. He was great at making sure I understood each step, and amazing at offering other suggestions and helping me really capture the total essence of what I was trying to say. The process was painless, and I left feeling more and more sure in my ability to relay my message effectively and efficiently after each session. I have the upmost confidence now that our brand script is great and have Wade and his expertise to thank for that.”

CODIE CARTWRIGHT

Co-Owner & Inventor at Secret Swig

“I am thrilled to wholeheartedly recommend Wade Sugiyama and his new company, Guide The Hero. Having had the pleasure of working alongside Wade at Merkle for over five years, I witnessed firsthand his exceptional talent in helping major brands like Starbucks, KFC, and Samsung create groundbreaking loyalty programs that drive outstanding brand outcomes.

Wade's expertise lies in empowering sales and marketing teams to craft compelling stories that maximize their chances of success. His remarkable ability to transform complex ideas into engaging and persuasive narratives consistently gives teams the edge they need during their most critical moments. With Wade, you can be confident that your team will be equipped with the strategic storytelling prowess to achieve exceptional results.”

JAMES RIESS

Senior Vice President General Manager, Loyalty & Messaging at Merkle

“Wade is the ultimate partner. He is an expert collaborator and supercommunicator who consistently brings a thoughtful, fresh and focused perspective. He elevates the level of work and, in doing so, lifts up everyone around him, changing the expectation and giving confidence to clients and colleagues alike to step up and shine in their areas of expertise. Not only did he create these incredible peak moments for our clients by planning and executing insightful and valuable workshops that allowed them to better communicate with their customers, offering thought provoking ways to solve their most pressing challenges, or even bringing sweet treats to every meeting, he also infused every interaction with colleagues with the same level of joy, passion, optimism and focus. He's on an endless search for new sources of inspiration, which guarantees that his thinking is fresh and innovative, hyper-relevant to his target audience. He's an absolute gem of a human being, and a trustworthy and valuable business partner - he really shows up for people.”

LISE GOECKNER

Vice President, Group Account Director at Merkle

See the Blind Spots → Agree on How to Apply It → Prove it Somewhere Real → Don’t Drift Back

These packages reflect that progression.

Standard Packages

  • Customer-First Messaging Reset

    Most teams don’t realize their messaging has drifted—because from the inside, it feels clear. This package is designed to surface that blind spot. Together, we’ll examine how your story is currently being told, identify where it unintentionally centers on the company, and create a set of customer-focused SoundBites you can use immediately. This reset gives your team a clearer way to talk about what you do, spot issues faster, and guide customers without over-explaining or competing for the spotlight.

    Most engagements begin with this package.

  • Customer-First Strategy Session

    This full-day strategy session helps teams move from understanding the idea of customer-first messaging to using it consistently. Together, we’ll examine where your current messaging starts to drift, clarify what “good” actually looks like, and create shared language your team can rely on when decisions need to be made quickly. The outcome is clearer judgment, fewer debates, and a more confident way to guide customers.

  • 60-day Messaging Pilot

    This 60-day pilot helps teams put a customer-first approach into practice without committing to a full rollout. We’ll identify a specific moment, channel, or initiative where messaging matters most, apply the principles you’ve already aligned on, and observe what changes when the customer is clearly at the center of the story. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s proof. Teams leave with real-world learning, clearer confidence, and a better sense of where this approach can have the biggest impact.

  • Customer-First Advisory

    This advisory engagement is designed for teams who’ve already seen the impact of a customer-first approach and want to sustain it as complexity increases. We work together to spot drift early, pressure-test key decisions, and keep messaging grounded in the customer’s story as priorities, teams, and timelines shift. This isn’t ongoing execution or overflow support — it’s a strategic partnership focused on maintaining clarity, consistency, and sound judgment over time.

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