Five Signs That You're Confusing Your Customers And How To Fix It

Is your business confusing to people? This might seem like a silly question, but a lot of small business owners go about fixing the symptoms of a business problem without considering how confusing their message or positioning is. And honestly, most entrepreneurs are so deep in the weeds of their business that it’s nearly impossible to know if their business is coming across as focused and clear.

As an expert at what you do, you might look at your messaging or positioning and think to yourself that it all makes perfect sense because you are the expert. But your customers might not be so sure.

Here are 5 ways to know if you are confusing your customers...

1) People aren’t responding to your content...at all.

If your content isn’t getting a lot of actual engagement and conversation, it’s because people don’t fully understand what you are talking about or the concept isn’t 100% clear. Whether you’re writing, sharing videos, appearing on podcasts, or speaking, your message and content should spark a conversation and have people relate to what you are saying. If not, it might be because they just don’t get it and if they don’t get your message, they most likely don’t understand your value as a whole.

2) You have to explain your business over and over in detail.

Do you sweat every time someone asks you what you do? Does it take you a LONG time to explain your business? Maybe it’s a little (or a lot) unclear. You should be able to explain what your business is and who it’s for in one sentence. If it requires anything more than that, you’re confusing the people you want to help and they are not understanding how you can help them.

3) You aren’t able to easily describe the specific result you deliver.

The result you deliver always acts as the window into the soul of your business. While a client might like you and love the idea of you, they won’t buy unless they CLEARLY understand the ONE COMPELLING RESULT that you can deliver for them. Don’t confuse this with the product or service that you sell. Your clients don’t care about your perfectly named products or services. A confused mind never buys so if your customers are confused or unclear about the result you promise to deliver, that is most likely a huge reason why your clients may not be lining up to work with you.

4) You have a LOT of offers that seem to work for a lot of people.

You should really only have ONE CORE OFFER for a select niche market. If you have too many offers for too many people, it’s because you haven’t quite decided who exactly you want to work with and how you want to help them. While it might make sense to try and help as many people as possible, you’ll only make life harder for yourself when it comes to creating, marketing, selling, delivering and supporting your clients around each offer that you have. There are only so many hours in a day and as a small business owner you must always be asking yourself, "Am I aligning my time, resources, and energy in the best possible way to create the business, impact, and life that I want to have?"

5) You are selling to everyone.

It can’t be overstated enough. It’s far easier to build a business when you become highly relevant for ONE SPECIFIC AUDIENCE. Who do you think has an easier time of it? The designer who takes on any project he can get? Or the one who is focused on designing labels for craft beer companies? The later has a far easier time knowing exactly where to go to find quality leads. And assuming they are good at what they do, the designer that’s focused on serving a specific market will be able to charge at least 3X for their specialized knowledge and expertise for the micro-niche that they serve.

Those are 5 ways to know that your business isn’t positioned as clear as it should be for 2019. What to do? Well, that's a bit of a loaded question but I always think it’s best to focus on obeying the ‘Rule of One.’

Are you obeying the rule of one?

The ‘Rule of One’ is pretty straight forward. It’s simple but not easy. It will probably cause you to do some much needed inquiry into your business and how you’re showing up for your clients.

The ‘Rule of One’ requires that you answer all 4 of these questions:

• What is the ONE RESULT you love to create for people?
• What is the ONE AUDIENCE you love helping?
• What is the ONE PRODUCT or SERVICE that you can build your business around?
• What is the ONE PROMISE you can deliver on?

If you can answer those 4 questions, you’ll be light years ahead of your competition and you will no longer be confusing to your clients. In fact, you’ll own your market and be on your way to being a big fish in a small pond.

The first thing we do in the Council of Visionary Business Builders is help you get 100% clear on how to position your business, magnify your message, and begin generating a steady flow of leads for your business using the ‘Rule of One.’

If you resonate even 1% with this, book a short conversation with me to see if the Council would be a good fit for you. Or, APPLY for a spot in the 2019 cohort that starts on January 11th, 2019.

Live bravely,

Michael