Do your potential customers know exactly what it takes to do business with you?

Before you answer, take a minute to ask yourself these three questions:

• Does my website clearly display the first step for purchasing from me within the first three seconds with the clarity of a toddler asking for Teddy Grahams?

• Can every person who answers our phones clearly articulate the sales process and our price range to a potential customer?

• Do we have WRITTEN and EASILY AVAILABLE packages, rate sheets, or an estimating tool?

If you answered a sheepish, "Not really", to any of these three questions then you're missing the one thing every company needs in place for sales to be consistently strong:

A Clearly Defined Ask ™

Your ask might be simple. For example, a yoga studio could offer a class pack or a sample week.

Or, your CDA could be complex like mine. Those who sell high-ticket or long commitment products and services typically have more complex asks. For example, real estate agents and financial advisors might make five to fifty small asks before gaining the business.

Whether your CDA (Clearly Defined Ask ™ ) is a one-time simple ask or more complex, it must be well-defined and clear to everyone around you in order for your sales to be consistent and repeatable.

You might be able to sell someone with an unclear ask, but no one around you will be able to do it successfully. And, your time is limited. If you're relying on your ability to speak to someone to make a sale, you're in for trouble.

Next week, I'm going to share the steps to figuring out your potential customers' buyer's journey with you. The first step on this journey is figuring out your company's most critical Clearly Defined Ask ™ .

The other day I was talking to a friend about how much the Harry Potter books matter to me. I literally grew up with those books. The first one came out when I was in 6th grade. At 21, I stood in line at midnight, hugely pregnant with my first child, to buy the final book. For right around a decade, through all my pre-teen and teenage development, Harry, Hermoine, and Ron were growing up right alongside me.

J.K. Rowling took me (and most of my generation) on a journey like no other. Every adventure, obstacle, and milestone meant something to us on a level far deeper than any other of the 1500+ of books I've read in my life.

Novelists know the power of taking your reader on an emotionally-charged journey.

Great marketers know it too.

In fact, I bet you're in the middle of a buyer's journey with one of your favorite brands right now and don't even know it.

When we're on a grand adventure with a brand, we don't know we're being sold anything.

If you've ever been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, you've seen this in action. This elaborate and magical place is perhaps the greatest immersive sales experience ever created. When you spend time in Diagon Alley, every step is brimming with both magic and places to swipe your credit card. The magic of a journey through Harry Potter's world is only possible with intense planning. Every step of your walk through that corner of the park is carefully planned out, curated, and continuously polished for your pleasure.

An experience that feels like memorable magic to the customer may happen once by accident. But, repeating it thousands of times over only happens with careful planning.

Last week we talked about figuring out your CDA, the Clearly Defined Ask ™, that makes it clear what you are selling. The next step is to sit down and document how you walk beside your potential buyer as they move towards that ask.

Documenting your primary persona's buyer's journey is critical to making good marketing decisions. You will never have consistency in your lead generation until the stops, obstacles, and adventures on this path are clearly understood. The buyer's journey is the foundational piece of every company's marketing system.

What does your magical adventure look like to a potential customer?

In episode 32 of Small Stage, Big Impact we discuss:

• [1:58] What a CDA is, and why it is essential for an effective marketing strategy
• [2:58] The requirements for an effective CDA that can be duplicated by your sales team and let you focus on being the business owner
• [5:19] The first step to figuring out the buyer's journey so that your marketing is consistent and effective
• [7:23] That the best buyer's journeys are a bit magical, as you don't even realize you're being sold anything
• [9:04] The second step to figuring out the buyer's journey for a more compelling marketing strategy

Resources mentioned by Renia in the episode:

• Don't miss any of our Summer Strategy Sessions