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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
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liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
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or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
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W FOURCY Radio.
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Welcome to Powerful Business Strategies, where you will find out
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that everything you have ever learned about growing your business
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is wrong. Finally, a show where you'll learn the right
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way to grow your business by learning business and financial
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strategies that your competition isn't doing. And now here is
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your host resident of Next Step CFO Michael Barbarita, and
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joining Michael for today's show as an executive moderator is
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Chooky Obia.
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Welcome to Powerful Business Strategies. Well, the reason why you
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don't hear that energized voice that usually starts the show
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of chuky Obio welcoming you to the show is because
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Chuki's wife and Chuk recently had their first baby, Chelsea
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as a dais Obio two and was welcome to the world.
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So congratulations to Chuk and his wife. And Chuki will
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be on leave for a while so in the meantime,
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my name is Michael baber Rita, President of Next Step CFO,
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and next Step CFO is a fractional CFO and strategic
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implementation for business owners. Hire us to double and triple
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their profit to implementing business and financial strategies that their
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competition isn't doing. And our vision is to ensure overwhelmed
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business owners achieve the time, freedom, and consistent profits to
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build a legacy and the life they desire. Our mission
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is dedicated to guiding small business owners to leveraging their time,
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exploding their profits, and building a meaningful legacy. This show
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powerful business strategies and our book of the same name
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is a step towards accomplishing that vision and mission, and
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Chooky and I are both affiliated with a number of
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different organizations. Schucky currently serves as the managing director of
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business Development for Vetter Price, which is a global business
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focused law firm, and in addition to that, Chuky and
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I collaborate to moderate business roundtables around the country and
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around the world and document those insights as part of
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our book Powerful Business Strategies. But please note that the
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views expressed on this show are our personal views based
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on our own successful experiences. So here's something I'd like
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to share that I've announced before. If you have a
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business problem that you would like us to answer, or
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a business question or a strategy that you'd like to
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ask us about, please email us at ask at NEXTSTEPCFO
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dot net. Doesn't matter what the business problem is or
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the question, and we'll answer it, will answer it for you.
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There are a couple of things that we do ask though.
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Number one, please state whether it is something that we
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can answer on the air or if it's confidential, and
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of course if it's confidential, we will put it on
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the air. And number two, please provide your phone number
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because business problems can be complex and we might need
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more context or clarity. That email address again is ask
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at NeXTSTEP CFO dot net, and I want to point
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out that we've had a couple but they requested confidentiality,
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which of course we will always honor. You know, every
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morning across the country, business owners like you wake up
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carrying the weight of coultless decisions, endless responsibilities, and sometimes
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overwhelming pressure. You carry the dreams of your family, the
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livelihoods of your employees, and the trust for your cus
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of your customers all on your shoulders. Some days it
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feels like you're climbing a mountain that just keeps getting deeper.
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Competition gets tougher, the margins get tighter, and the challenges
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keep coming. But here's what I want you to remember.
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You're not just a business owner. You're a problem solver,
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a dream builder, and a value creator. Every successful business
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owner I've ever worked with has faced moments where they've
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questioned everything. But what separates those who break through from
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those who break down isn't just talented resources. It's their
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willingness to think differently when everyone else is taking the same. Today,
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we're going to show you how to turn your biggest
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challenges into your greatest opportunities, because sometimes the very thing,
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the very things that feel like they're holding you back,
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are actually setting you up for a breakthrough. Son't remember,
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the tough times don't last, but tough business owners do.
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And let's turn those one hundred thousand dollars mistakes into
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million dollar opportunities every great success story. That's what someone
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who refused to accept the status quo. As business owners,
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we often think our biggest risks come from taking action,
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you know, like launching that new product, or expanding new markets,
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or raising our prices. But the truth is the most
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expensive mistakes in business come from standing sale, from doing
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the things that the way they've always been done. Today
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going to challenge you, going to challenge everything you think
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and you know about running your business. Why well, because
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the cost of staying comfortable could be costing you one
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hundred grand or more each year. So get ready to
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start thinking differently and to act boldly. Today's show might
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might make some of you uncomfortable, because we're going to
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talk about mistakes that could be costing your business six
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figures are more each year. You know. Just last month,
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I was working with a client in the trades who
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was doing everything by the book, following all the traditional
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business advice, working harder than ever, and yet they were
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leaving over one hundred thousand dollars on the table simply
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because they were making what most people would consider normal
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business decisions. So let me share something that I've shared
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before and is actually the premise of the show, ninety
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five percent of business and financial strategies used today are
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identical to your competitors. They don't work. Think about that.
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If you're doing the same things as everyone else in
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your industry, you're essentially competing solely on the only option
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that the customer has to differentiate you, and that is price.
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And competing on price, as we all know and said
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many times, is a race to the body. Say, we're
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going to uncover three critical mistakes that are silently draining
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money from your business. But here's what makes this show different.
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Not just going to point out the problems, but for
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each mistake, we're going to give you specific, actionable strategies
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that you can implement immediately to turn these costly errors
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into profit opportunities. And the mistakes will uncover today aren't
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just theory. These are real issues. We've encountered with hundreds
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of these issues, with hundreds of business owners across dozens
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of industries, from contractors to manufacturers, from service providers to retailers.
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These mistakes, they're all universal. But here's the good news,
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they're also completely fixable. What's exciting is that when you
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correct these mistakes, you're not just saving money, You're actually
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creating new opportunities for growth, and your competition isn't even aware.
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And this is about turning problems into profit centers. So
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grab that petted paper because you're about to discover why
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everything I've ever learned about growing your business is wrong,
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and more importantly, what to do about it. And if
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you're driving, remember you can get the recording at Powerful
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Business Strategies dot com. So let's dive into the first
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major mistake costing businesses one hundred grand or more, and
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that is not being able to speak your customer's language.
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You know, this might sound simple, but it's far more
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complex and far more costly than most realized. There's a
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startling fact most business owners think they know their customers,
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but they're actually marketing to themselves. They create messages that
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would convince themselves to buy, not messages that resonate with
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their actual target market. So let me give you a
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real example. We had a client in the professional services
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industry who was targeting business owners between ages forty to
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forty nine, and they were using messaging focused on the
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solutions and cutting edge technology. But when we actually studied
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their target demographic, we discovered business owners in this age group,
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we're staying up at night worried about innovation. Their primary
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concerns were time, time management, money, and health. This misalignment
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between messaging and customer concerns was costing them dozens of
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potential clients each year, and with an average client value
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of five thousand, this single mistake was caused that I'm
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well over one hundred grand annually. So let's break this
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down further. Your customer's language changes dramatically based on the
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their age and life stage. A thirty year old entrepreneur
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has a completely different concern than a fifty year old
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business owner. The younger entrepreneur might be focused on proving
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themselves and scaling quickly, while the older business owner is
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thinking about legacy in stability. Here's what's critical to understand.
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Your customers don't buy your product or service. They buy
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what they believe that product or service will do for
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them and solve their problem. And what they believe it
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will do for them is deeply connected to their current
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life stage and the current challenges that they're going through.
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And this is where our conversion formula becomes critical. So
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instead of what your customers want, you need to identify
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their specific pain points based on their age and life stage.
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Understand what keeps them up at night, know what they're
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getting criticized for at home, Understand their business aspirations, and
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speak directly to these concerns in their language, not yours.
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The mistake isn't just missing these points, it's assuming you
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know well. It's assuming you know them without proper doing
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the proper research. Because every time you put out marketing
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that doesn't resonate with your target audience or their actual
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concerns or their issues and problems, you're just wasting your
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money and you're actively pushing potential clients away from you.
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So the solution is it just about changing your marketing message.
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It's about fundamentally shifting how you think about customer communication.
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Need to create what we call customer communication matrix that
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aligns with different age groups and their specific concerns. For instance,
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if you are targeting forty to forty nine year olds,
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your messaging should focus on work life balance solutions, time
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optimization strategies, health and wellness, integration, and legacy building opportunities.
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And this isn't just theory. We've seen businesses double and
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triple their conversion rates simply by aligning their messaging with
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their customers actual concerns. I have a question from a listener, Michael.
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You mentioned the customer communication matrix. Can you give me
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a specific example of how a business owner could start
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building this today? That's a great question. Well, the fastest
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way to start, I think, is by interviewing five to
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ten of your best current customers. Ask them these specific questions,
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what kept you up at night before finding our solution,
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what finally made you decide to work with us? And
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what words or phrases really resonate with you in the
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discussions that we've had. And their answer is will form
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the foundation of your matrix, and you'll often find their
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language is very different from what you've been using in
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your marketing. But here's where most businesses make, even a
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cost of a mistake. They stop at just understand their
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customers language. The real power comes in using this understanding
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to create what we call trigger points in all your communications.
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So let me explain what I mean by trigger points.
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When we studied businesses that were successfully converting prospects into customers,
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we found it it wasn't just about speaking the right language,
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it was about hitting specific emotional triggers at the right
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time in the customer journey. For example, let's let's look
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let's look at how this plays out in different age groups.
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So for business owners in the thirties, the trigger points
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often revolve around fear of missing opportunities, desire to prove themselves,
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need for rapid growth, concern about making the right long
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term decisions. And those in their forties, the triggers shift
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to work life balance, concerns, legacy building, maximizing efficiency, and
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return on investment. And for those fifty enough, the triggers
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become stability and security, succession planning, building lasting value, and
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creating systems that work without their constant involvement. And here's
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were that one hundred thousand dollars mistake just compounds. Most
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businesses use a one size fits all approach in their
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marketing and sales process. They might have great copy, they
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might have beautiful design and even compelling offers, but if
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they're not hitting the right trigger points for their specific audience,
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they're leaving enormous amounts of money on the table. So
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let me share a case study. It is a business
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consultant who was targeting all business owners with the same
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message about increasing profitability and when they segmented their message
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based on age groups and trigger points. Their results were staggering.
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For clients in their thirties, they focused on proven systems
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to scale faster. For clients in their forties, they emphasized
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working smarter, not harder. For the fifty plus group, they
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highlighted business sustainable value and the result is that conversions
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actually tripled in just ninety days, with an average client
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value of thirty six thousand. This single change added over
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two hundred grand of their annual revenue. And it's not
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just about marketing. This understanding needs to permeate every aspect
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of your business. How you structure your offers, how you
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conduct sales conversations, how you deliver your services, how you
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handle follow up, even how you ask for referrals. And
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each of these touch points needs to align with your
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customer's language and trigger points, or you're going to create
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a disconnect that costs your money at every single step. So,
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so your listener is asking, can you explain how a
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business owner would identify these trigger points for this specific industry? Well,
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start with what I call the pain point pyramid. So
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interview your last, say ten customers and ask them to
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rank their top three concerns before they bought from you.
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Then ask them what specific words or phrases resonated the
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most during the buying process, and you'll start to see
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patents emerge that reveal your actual industry specific trigger points.
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And the key is to look for emotional drivers, not
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just logical ones. So here's another question, Well, what about