Your Customers Don't Care About Your Business

Let's start with a truth that might sting a little: your customers don't care about your business history, your process, or really anything about your business at all. What they care about is whether you can solve their problem.

Imagine a talented home builder losing a potential client because when asked about their services, they launched into a detailed explanation of their 20 years of experience, their building process, and their company history. Meanwhile, the client just wanted to know if this builder could create their dream home within their budget and timeline.

To be clear: we're not talking about being pushy or manipulative. We're talking about clearly communicating how your expertise benefits your customers. It's about making it easy for people to understand exactly how you can help them.

This is where most businesses go wrong, and it's costing them more than they realize.

The Reality Check: How You Actually Buy

Think about the last few significant purchases you made. Did you spend time reading about the company's history? Did you care about their internal processes? Or did you focus on one simple question: "Can they solve my problem?"

When you hired a plumber, you didn't care about their training program – you cared about whether they could fix your leak. When you bought a new laptop, you weren't interested in the company's organizational structure – you wanted to know if it could handle your workload. When you chose a restaurant, you didn't research their kitchen workflow – you wanted to know if they could give you a great meal in a pleasant atmosphere.

The Clarity Crisis: Why Businesses Make It Hard to Buy

This disconnect between how we buy and how we sell creates what I call the Clarity Crisis, and it manifests in three critical ways:

1. The Communication Barrier

Business owners often have too much institutional knowledge – they know their business so intimately that they forget what it's like to be on the outside looking in. Take an auto repair shop owner who jumps straight into technical diagnostics without first acknowledging the customer's immediate concern: "Will my car be safe to drive home today?" They're over-explaining things customers don't care about while under-explaining what they do care about.

2. The Structural Roadblock

Unclear thinking doesn't just affect marketing messages – it infects how businesses structure their offerings. Consider a local landscaper who only offers full-service yearly contracts. They're missing out on customers who might start with basic lawn maintenance and gradually add services as trust builds. By not creating different entry points for different customer needs, they're unintentionally limiting their growth.

3. The Expertise Trap

The more expert you become in your field, the harder it can be to communicate clearly with beginners. A custom furniture maker might focus on explaining their joinery techniques and wood selection process, while customers simply want to know if the piece will fit their space, match their decor, and last for generations. You forget what it's like not to know what you know, creating a paradox where increased expertise actually makes it harder to attract new customers.

Understanding Lead and Lag Measures

Think of it this way: lag measures are the results you want (like revenue and profit), while lead measures are the things you can do today that will create those results tomorrow.

When businesses struggle with growth, they often focus solely on lag measures – staring at their revenue numbers, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs. But by the time you see these numbers, that performance is already in the past. The real opportunity lies in lead measures – the daily actions and approaches that drive future success.

Clear communication is a lead measure – it's something you can control and improve today. When you make it easy for customers to understand:

• What problem you solve
• How you solve it
• What working with you looks like
• What they need to do next

You remove the barriers between your expertise and their needs.

The Solution: Clarity at Every Level

So how do you put this into practice? Let's look at a real-world example of how to structure your offerings and communication for maximum clarity and impact.

Let's look at how a home builder could structure their offerings to create clear entry points for different customer needs:

1. Entry Level: Free home building guide and consultation
   • Clear Value: "Get expert insights on building your dream home, including cost estimates and timeline planning"
   • Clear Next Step: "Download our guide and schedule your free consultation"
2. Mid Level: Design and planning services
   • Clear Value: "Get professional design plans and detailed budgeting before committing to full construction"
   • Clear Next Step: "Book your initial design meeting - includes site visit and preliminary sketches"
3. High Level: Full custom home build
   • Clear Value: "Transform your vision into reality with our proven building process and quality craftsmanship"
   • Clear Next Step: "View our portfolio and schedule a project discussion"

Each level has its own clear value proposition and obvious next step. There's no confusion about what's being offered or how to move forward.

The Path Forward

Start by examining your own business communication through your customer's eyes:

1. Look at your website, marketing materials, and service offerings
2. For each element, ask: "Would this matter to me if I were the customer?"
3. Ruthlessly eliminate anything that doesn't directly address customer needs
4. Make sure every offering has a clear value proposition and obvious next step

Here's the truth: clear communication isn't just about better marketing – it's about better business. It's a lead measure you can improve today that will drive the revenue growth you want tomorrow.

Remember, your expertise, process, and history only matter to customers when they clearly connect to solving their problems. The most successful businesses aren't always the ones with the most experience or the best services – they're the ones that make it easiest for customers to understand exactly how they can help.

Start today by examining your communication through your customers' eyes. Are you making it clear exactly how you can help? Or are you accidentally creating barriers with unnecessary complexity? The simpler and clearer you can make this connection, the faster your business will grow.