The Customer Journey: From “Who Are You?” to “Where Do I Sign?”

When you start a business after years in corporate, there’s something you quickly discover: being brilliant at what you do doesn’t automatically mean people will buy from you.

You might have 20 or 30 years of experience and understand your industry inside out. That gives you an incredible foundation for a consulting or service-based business, but potential clients still need to discover who you are, understand what you offer and develop confidence in your ability to help them.

That process is the customer journey, and understanding it can make marketing your new business a whole lot easier.

Stage One: “Who Are You?”

Every customer journey has to start somewhere.

Someone might see your LinkedIn post, hear your name from a colleague, meet you at an event or discover one of your articles through Google. At this point, they probably know very little about you and aren’t ready to buy.

For corporate escapees, this can require a mindset shift. Inside a large organisation, the company brand creates credibility around you. When you start your own business, you need to begin building that recognition for yourself.

Content, networking, referrals, events and social media all give the right people opportunities to discover you. Your first goal is simply to get onto their radar.

Stage Two: “Okay, Tell Me More”

Once someone knows you exist, curiosity can begin.

They might visit your website after seeing a LinkedIn post, read one of your blogs or watch a video. They could disappear for three months before encountering your business again and coming back for another look.

This is where Andrew Ford’s pinball analogy comes in.

Customers rarely travel through marketing in a perfectly predictable sequence. Instead, they bounce between different touchpoints, picking up information and developing familiarity along the way.

Your website might be one destination, LinkedIn another. Blogs, videos, webinars, testimonials, newsletters and events can all become additional places for customers to explore. The more useful touchpoints you create, the more opportunities someone has to get to know your business.

Stage Three: “Do I Trust You?”

Once someone starts paying attention, they begin looking for reasons to trust your expertise.

They want to see that you understand their problem, have relevant experience and can genuinely help them. For corporate escapees, this is where years of professional experience become incredibly valuable. Your stories, lessons, industry knowledge and real-world examples can all demonstrate what you know.

The important part is communicating that knowledge in ways your customers want to consume it.

Andrew gives the example of Carol Benton, who built a business writing tenders. When he suggested creating videos, she questioned why someone selling writing services would need video content.

The answer came back to the customer. Someone hiring a professional writer might actually prefer learning through video because writing isn’t their strength.

That’s why Andrew encourages businesses to consider both the medium customers use, such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, email or a website, and the mode they prefer, such as written content, video, audio or images.

Different touch points give different customers a way to build trust that suits them.

Stage Four: “I Think You Could Help Me”

Eventually, those interactions start adding up.

Someone who originally knew nothing about you may now recognise your name, understand what you do and have confidence in your expertise. They might have read a few articles, visited your website, watched a video and heard good things about you from someone they trust.

Now you need to give them an easy next step.

That might be completing a scorecard, attending a webinar, downloading a resource or having an initial conversation. The right option depends on your business, but the principle is the same: make it easy for someone who is interested to move closer.

BYOB looks at this journey through cold, warm and hot phases before conversion. Understanding these stages also helps you diagnose where customers are getting stuck. If people are discovering your business but going no further, they may need another useful experience with your brand before they’re ready to take action.

Stage Five: “Where Do I Sign?”

Eventually, someone becomes a paying client. For a new business owner, that’s an exciting moment because it proves someone is prepared to exchange money for your expertise.

The sale also gives you something incredibly useful: information.

Andrew describes revenue as a lagging indicator. Looking at what happened earlier in the customer journey helps you understand what contributed to that result.

If plenty of people discover your business but few explore further, your positioning or content may need work. If people regularly engage with your expertise but rarely enquire, perhaps the next step isn’t clear enough. Looking at the entire journey gives you something practical to improve.

Build a Journey Worth Following

Your customers probably won’t experience your marketing exactly as you planned it. Someone might find you through LinkedIn and then visit your website. Another person could meet you at an event, disappear for months and eventually return through Google. Someone else may read every article you’ve written before they feel comfortable getting in touch.

That’s okay. Give people enough valuable touch points to discover your expertise, learn from you and gradually develop confidence in what you offer.

For corporate escapees, this is especially important. You already have the experience and knowledge. Your customer journey gives other people a chance to discover its value.

Take a look at your own marketing and ask yourself: if someone discovered you for the first time today, where could they go next? What could they learn? What would help them trust you? And when they were ready to take action, would they know what to do?

Answer those questions well, and you’ll have a much clearer path from “Who are you?” to “Where do I sign?”

Want to learn more about building your personal brand and turning your expertise into a business? Explore Andrew Ford’s insights and resources on his personal website linked here:https://www.andrewford.com.au/