When I asked Melanie Duncan what she thought separated 6-figure businesses from being 7-figure businesses, she said:
“When you have a seven-figure business, you are not just in love with your products, you are not just in love with your services, you are in love with your customers, because to have a seven-figure business, you’re serving your customers or you’re serving your clients in more lateral directions.”
I would like to give this a big ol’ HELL YES.
And, it’s the key to one of my favorite business design hacks: The Customer Journey.
Are you in love with your customers?
Now, I know you: you love your work. You love the service you offer or the product you’ve created. You love the ideas you get to play with on a daily basis and the conversations you get to have.
And… I know you love your customers too.
But, your customer love probably isn’t what’s driving your business development. That’s how you miss opportunities to design your business to earn magnitudes more.
Instead, all your cool ideas are driven by your passion for the work you do and the concepts you get to play with.
I know this because I’ve been there too.
I’ve been in love with a new idea. I’ve been obsessed with why my customers need it. And… I’ve often been foggy on why they would ever care about it.
As a result, those ideas were hard to communicate, even harder to sell, and ultimately, winded up in the waste basket of my business.
When you fall in love with your customers and get obsessed with their needs, you see a different way to design your business–one that makes it much easier to design a business that can generate the 6 or 7-figure revenue you’re looking for.
Here’s how to use The Customer Journey to get started:
First, determine when and why your best customers start looking for something like what you do.
Usually, this starts with a Google search: Natural ways to boost my energy, How to get divorced and stay friends, How to start a business, Why aren’t I getting promoted, etc… Don’t overthink it. If you need to, ask your best customers what they were googling when they started down the path they’re on.
This gives you the context for their motivation to buy. Not your motivation for them to buy. Their motivation for them to buy.
Next, figure out where your customers ultimately want to end up.
This is usually a brand new identity they’re looking to assume: Highly productive mom, Independent woman, Confident business owner, High-powered executive, etc…
Your customers want to know you’re taking them in the right direction. Using a clear goal is a great way to rally them and help them know they’re in the right place. Every offer you make can point back to this ultimate goal and that helps keep your business focused in the mind of your customer.
Finally, consider what frustrations, goals, and questions come up for your customer on his journey from initial Google search to ultimate goal.
As your customer learns more, experiences more, and creates changes, his frustrations, goals, and questions will change. After all, when you learn something new, it often just sparks a new question, right?
These are your opportunities. A business that’s designed to produce more revenue guides customers through these changes. It anticipates what customers need next and provides it.
Sometimes that’s with another offer, sometimes it’s with content marketing, sometimes it’s with an affiliate offer, and sometimes it’s just with goodwill. But the business is always there, providing an answer or easing a frustration.
The business becomes a partner for the customer on her journey.
That’s what Melanie means when she says a 7-figure business is serving the customer in more “lateral directions.” Your high-producing business is on the journey, meeting customer needs before they come up.
Give it a try. Plot out your Customer Journey and see what opportunities you spot for redesigning your business to earn more.
And, if you missed this week’s episode of Profit. Power. Pursuit., click here to listen to my conversation with Melanie Duncan or read the transcript.
