The Psychology of a $1M Customer Journey

Read time: 5 minutes

The mistakes are always the same…

Collectively, myself and the team at Introvert Agency have over 30 years of experience in digital marketing and sales. Yet it doesn’t matter how many years pass, we continue to meet business owners making the same mistakes month after month, year after year, decade after decade.

The biggest mistake we’ve come across?

Failure to prioritise growth.

Now, before you think to yourself?“I always prioritise growth, I don’t need to read this”...

I want you to understand what growth?isn’t.

You see,?growth is not:

• Generating leads;
• Making sales;
• Raising profits;
• Getting more emails on your list; or
• Adding personnel to your team.

Yes, those things are the benefits of growth… but they’re not growth per se.

Okay, so what is growth?

The problem in 95% of B2B brands we’ve worked with can be summed up in a single sentence…

The failure to acknowledge and understand how human psychology impacts purchasing decisions.?

You see, until you add human psychology to marketing and sales, you’ll struggle to achieve consistent business growth.

Simply put; Growth = Marketing/Sales Techniques x Human Psychology.

But I’m an entrepreneur, not a psychologist!?

That’s ok. You do not need a psychology degree to understand this. All you need is an understanding of your customer journey (If you have one, great. If you don’t, keep reading and we’ll help you out).

Growth (a.k.a. Marketing & sales techniques x human psychology) is fundamental to business success because it is literally how you move your clients through every stage of the customer journey…

From awareness (“never heard of you before”) >?

To purchase (“I’m ready to buy”) >

And advocacy (“you have to work with these people”).

How do you achieve growth (a.k.a. Move people through your customer journey)?

Introducing relationship-based marketing: The #1 driver of sustainable business growth?

At Introvert Agency, relationship-based marketing is at the core of our execution.?

The old saying?‘people don’t buy from businesses, they buy from people?is very sage advice.?

We’ve implemented relationship optimisation into our agency, and we've discovered, everything else we do in our business works better as a result.?

Fact is, we’ve learned that relationship-based marketing is the key to doing anything well in business, providing you apply it in the right way.

I’m going to show you exactly how you can implement relationship-based marketing in your organisation later in this email, but first, let’s deepen your understanding of the concept?

How to apply relationship-based marketing to get a customer to go from "Who the hell are you" to "I can't stop talking about how good you are".

A Thread of thoughts from over 10+ years of sales & marketing experience:

• The way most business owners think about marketing is broken. The Facebook ad, growth hacking generation is partly to blame here.

• Timeless principles & strategies win over tactical grabs. Tactics represent short-term thinking. Strategies represent playing the long game. You shouldn’t be focused on each individual battle; aim to win the war.?

• First, you need to find your ideal client. Identify the right place so they actually take the action you want. (e.g. LinkedIn connection request sent).

• You capture attention by being different, by having a message that stands out. Avoid sounding like your competition at all costs. (i.e. say something personal about them).?

• Once you’ve got attention you have to build trust (I.e. Make it clear you’re not trying to sell. Yet).?

• Trust is not built by telling people to trust you. It’s by helping them unconditionally, thus leveraging. Here you leverage the principle of reciprocity.

• For someone to get to know you it takes trust AND a core understanding of what you do.

• You find the best way to do this is to add value. Show don’t tell. The best solution is to solve their biggest problem for Free (This would be called a lead magnet).?

• Each interaction you have with a prospect should further your positive relationships with them (and not leave them you feeling a sense of buyers remorse). Relationships win. Always.

• For relationships & positive feelings to develop in an efficient manner, it takes an understanding of human psychology & the natural flow of the human brain.

• You can’t just shove your messages in front of people & expect them to listen.

• To get them to take action you have to ease them in. The best way to do this is first to capture attention (e.g. Interesting LinkedIn message with a connection request).?

• Here’s a simple guide to your first conversation:?
• >> Use your first opportunity to speak with someone to understand (this is the secret of the world’s greatest salespeople).?
• >> Once you understand, focus on adding value so that their decision is a no-brainer (this might be your core product, but it might also be an action plan using your free stuff).?
• >> Set an action plan for them with a due date where you will follow up to see how they went at solving their problem (Even better if the problem you solve makes some money is this is an easy justification to move to paying more with you).
• >> Follow Up. Keep in touch with them as they solve this problem. Build a real relationship.?

• Whatever your next solution is, clearly show how you provide 10x the value of what you charge.

• Break down people's main barriers (e.g. guarantees for delivering your result. Show them ROI for your price - get creative).

• If you get an objection then you either didn’t demonstrate how you overcome this early enough OR you didn’t give them a reason to see your value:
• E.g. price - it’s not justified to spend the money.?
• What If I said by spending $10000 I could Make you $100K and you trusted me/ saw the clear demonstrated roadmap Of exactly how I would do it, then it should be a no-brainer for you to spend 10K right?

• Don’t give anyone a reason not to trust you. Have testimonials. Be genuine. Understand why people might have resistance. If something feels uncomfortable, it's because it is. Ask why they're hesitant. Sometimes calling out the elephant in the room is the absolute best thing you can do!!?

• If someone’s situation genuinely permits them from working with you at this time, get creative. Tweak your offering to suit them and they will buy. If they still don’t buy, your product-market fit is off.

• Objections are a chance to respond to real market demands & do something better (that actually fits what people want)

• Someone saying YES should always be a no-brainer.

• If you don’t get amazing results for people, then you should be tweaking things so that you do!

• Every client you work with should be saying. Wow! That was amazing, I’ll tell everyone about you. Make sure you collect the proof of that advocacy.

• Relationships first… always.

Take Action?

Well, that was a lot to take in.?

Hopefully, it helped you to begin thinking critically about why (and where) there might be some friction along the journey for your customers.?

Now the characteristics of relationship-based marketing mare fresh in your mind,?it’s the best time to map out your customer journey?(or assess your current customer journey if you do).

Step 1:?Open your current customer journey OR if you don’t have one,?use this template.

Step 2:?Do your best to complete every section, moving from left to right, just as your customers would. Don’t skim over this either—go into as much detail as possible it will pay dividends down the track.

Step 3:?Once you’re done, tap reply and send it back to me. I’ll take a look to ensure you’re on the right track, or let you know if you aren’t.

Troubleshooting the customer journey

Now, this process isn’t easy. Honestly, it shouldn’t be. It’s designed to make you think deeply about your target audience, possibly deeper than you’ve ever gone before.

That said, this is far & away the most valuable investment of time a business owner can make in order to achieve massive growth.?

So, if you’re struggling to complete the customer journey or you’re unsure about anything, grab some time to chat with me?HERE?and I’ll walk you through it.