#2: The Secret to Finding Hidden Profit Drivers in Your Company
This week, I covered the customer journey.
Everyone has a different version of this, but over the years I have developed my own version that I now use in my own brand and with all my clients. Here are the steps:
1. Awareness
2. Engagement
3. Enrollment
4. Activation
5. Expansion
6. Advocacy
I also discussed the term empathy marketing. This is walking in your customer’s shoes to better understand their needs and wants. The best type of selling/marketing is helping.
By helping your clients navigate through their customer journey, you will create joy in your life and work on your business instead of living in it.
What is the secret to scaling with joy? It’s simple- making more profit with less stress. To find out how to make more profit and work less, visit https://tenprofitdrivers.com. Yes, it’s possible to grow your company without adding on complicated programs, products or divisions. These are the same simplified growth methods that I have used over and over with my own private consulting clients and national brands, in info products, retail e-commerce, and service.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:00):
This is the Scale with Joy show, episode two on profit drivers in the customer's journey.
(00:09):
Welcome to the Scale with Joy show, a podcast about scaling your company while living your most purposeful life. Because here's the thing: there are no rules to say you can't grow a massively profitable empire and have joy in the everyday. My name is Laura Meyer and let's get started.
(00:34):
Hello, hello, and welcome back to the very third episode of the Scale with Joy podcast. So, last week I really challenged you to think about what is it that you really want. What is it that you want most for your life, and how can you create a business to fit into that ideal lifestyle? So, now we're going to go a little bit deeper as I promised on what it means to go all in with what you already have without having to create anything new, without having to bring on new programs, products, divisions, lots of staff or new staff that isn't a replication of what you've done in the past. So, as we really look at this, it often comes down to the customer journey and many people talk about the customer journey, some people teach it. I have my own version of it that I've used in my work with helping national brands expand from twenty locations to hundreds of locations.
(01:39):
In the work that I've used, influencers that you know and love, and help them really figure out how they could go all in on their customer journey. With this tool, it really starts with what I would call empathy marketing. So maybe you've heard of this a little bit here and there, but here's the thing: we have more channels, content and technology to reach potential customers than ever before. And then the flip side of that is that connecting and building trust with those buyers has never been harder. In this age of fake news and not really ever totally knowing the source of information that you see online; this is getting even more challenging. And so when we focus on our ideal customer and emotional motivators better, we can just really understand in a deeper way how to help them at each step of the journey. And so empathy-based marketing is really about walking in your customer's shoes to understand their experience and how we can better help them get what they want.
(02:42):
This not only makes your business a whole lot easier to run, but it gives you deep joy because you are really being there for the people that you're meant to serve. So what does this even look like? It looks like empathizing with your customer's feelings and their problems and going into their world to understand, going behind the data, going behind the metrics and just helping them solve a specific problem and getting very intentional about each step that it would take to solve that problem. You're always looking for ways that you can help make your customer's lives better by providing them with what they want by first understanding them and what motivates them. By giving your ideal customer content and expertise that helps them gain clarity and trust you more before they even get into a buying decision. For those of you who have teams, this is particularly useful because it empowers your employees, especially those who directly touched the customers with the resources, training and tools to really present a unified brand.
(03:47):
And here's the thing about marketing and sales: the best marketing and selling feels like helping- because it is. And when we start with empathy-based marketing, we can look at all the steps of the customer journey and really began to learn where we're likely leaving money on the table. So when we think about each of the steps of the customer journey as I see them, and there's many different versions, like I said, this happens to be mine. The first stage is awareness. And this is where you create connection with your best fit customer and communicate the emotional benefits of working together. The biggest mistake that companies make at this stage is they lead with functional benefits, and as I like to say, people buy the destination, they don't buy the airplane. When you're buying a course online, are you asking "oh, I don't know, is it in Kajabi or is it in any type of other delivery platform? What type of platform is the course then?" No, of course not. You're most interested in the transformation that that program provides, which starts with awareness and it always leads with emotional benefits.
(04:52):
Then we look at engagement and usually that is just asking people to go into a next level conversation with an introductory offer that communicates the value proposition from your points of differentiation and helps you really lead them through a story that they get to be part of. A lot of times what happens is if there isn't a good introductory offer or a good what they might call lead magnet. In the marketing world, a lot of times when you get down the road to activation, you either don't have the right type of person in front of you, or they are hesitant to commit because they didn't enter into your customer journey for the right reasons to begin with. And then as you get into enrollment, this is where you're helping the guest understand the value of long-term investment and this is where typically you get into the functional benefits of how your programs and services work. As I like to say, people make decisions based on emotional benefits, but they then justify those decisions on the functional benefits.
(05:50):
Then as we are moving them along the path and they continue on the journey, they begin to feel better and better about doing business together as you establish trust. Later on in the journey, you can help your ideal guest feel like they're part of a meaningful brand community as they begin to expand what's possible, which again, some salespeople might call upsells, but I like to call expansion. And then in the final stages in advocacy, this is where you're empowering your customer and to really give them the tools and resources to share with other people on what's possible if they engage with your brand as they refer friends and family. So in these six stages, awareness, engagement, enrollment, activation, expansion and advocacy, your ideal customer is thinking and feeling things that a lot of times we don't consider until we really look at it.
(06:44):
So in the awareness stage, your ideal customer is skeptical. They're being marketed to all day long. The most recent report that I read is that customers are hearing an average of, guess for a second, 3,000 marketing messages a day. So what they're thinking is, I get marketed to all day long. I don't understand what this is about. What's so great about {insert your company or brand} and how do I know that I'll look good, love the plan, get the benefits? Then, as they move into engagement, as they say to themselves, okay, I kind of get how this is different or how it's so great and I'm willing to just get into a next level conversation. I'm still kind of skeptical, like I'm just going to try this out. I'm just going to give them my email address. I'm just going to come to the intro class because I just want to see if I'm going to look good, love the plan, get the benefits, and I'm not sure, and this is where people can get stuck in a cycle of indecision where they just keep talking themselves into trying something out and then talking themselves out of it because there's nothing really compelling that'll move them to enrollment.
(07:50):
With enrollment, maybe they're going to purchase your core offer once, but they're just doing it to reach an immediate need and really in the back of their mind, they're wondering, is this as good as I thought it was going to be? With activation, they're still getting deeper into your core product, but they're thinking to themselves, this is still kind of unfamiliar. I'm just not sure how long I'm going to use this and what can I really expect moving forward? Did they just sell me into something or are they going to be taking good care of me long term? And if you're anything like me, many times you've been sold into something only to be left a little bit disappointed about what happens after the sale takes place. So, this is where you can really level up your company.
(08:33):
This is where you can encourage people to be all in because when they're all in, when they're in that expansion stage, they're thinking to themselves, "This is so great, I love it. I'm a customer and fan for life and I'm so proud to be associated with this brand and whatever they asked me to do, I'll do it. I'll go ahead and buy that next item on the ascension ladder. I'll go ahead and renew my membership. I will, you know, use the top-level program that they offer."
(09:03):
This is where your lifetime customer value really shows up. And again, this is typically in the later stages of the customer journey where profitability hangs out. It's rarely in the beginning stages of new customer acquisition, yet, that's where most people spend a majority of their time, is trying to get that next lead. Whereas, where, again, you're going to see your margins shift is actually in the back half of the customer journey.
(09:30):
So when your ideal client is an advocacy, they love what's happening and they're just so thrilled about it. They're so thrilled to have found you. They're telling other people about it at every opportunity. And so, what I really want to share with you is that when you approach it this way, when you develop tools at each step of the customer journey and really scale your company, using it as a brand strategy, that again is where you see the ultimate opportunity for profitability. So I'll admit, my approach is a little bit different than the norm. It's really not about some new strategy, some new shiny idea, but it's looking at the customer journey and analyzing what's already working in your business.
(10:18):
And when I look at why and where entrepreneurs struggle, it really comes down to one thing, overwhelm. It's the newest, shiniest idea that maybe somebody just kind of gave to us in passing and said that's what we should do. And when we can instead focus our energy on just one thing in the customer journey to create a single breakthrough. That's where I see a huge difference with little effort. And here's the best part and that's why I love the topic of joy: When you do this, you'll actually simply enjoy the experience of being an entrepreneur more. It can give you just more time for reflection, time to step away, work on the business instead of in it, and take just some time for yourself. That may have a lot to do with what you decided that you wanted the most, when I challenged you with that question in the last episode.
(11:15):
So again, this isn't really fixing about what isn't broken, but paying more attention to how you take your energy and effort into what is working, what is already working well, but could be implemented better to see your profits accelerate. So, when I'm really starting with a client, one of the first things I do is I write down each of these six phases of the customer journey and take a deep look at what am I asking people to do. Am I intentional about moving them from one phase to the next? Does it feel like a seamless transition or is it very jarring and disjointed?
(11:53):
And if you're really wanting to do this in your own business, that's exactly what I would recommend. I really believe that this is the single best way to scale your company with joy. And I'm just so excited for you to try this out in your own business. When you do, do me a favor and let me know. You can find me on Instagram @Lauraemeyer on Facebook @JoyBrandCreative. I check both inboxes and I'd love to hear from you.
(12:23):
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The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.