How to market your business: The Problem with Prospects
In this episode of Marc Haine Live, Marc Haine tackles a common but under‑discussed challenge for small‑business owners: prospects – the people who never walk through the door. He argues that prospects are a major liability and breaks them down into four distinct categories: (1) those who don’t know they have a problem and don’t know a solution exists; (2) those who recognize a problem but are unaware of any solution; (3) those who know a solution exists but don’t know the business offers it; and (4) those who know the business offers a solution but don’t realize they have the problem. For each group, Marc explains the psychological barrier, provides vivid examples (electrologists, gutter‑cleaning, casino restaurant), and outlines the type of “medium” (media, messaging, assessments) needed to move prospects to the next stage. He stresses the importance of creating awareness, differentiating the brand, and using mixed‑media marketing (TV ads, billboards, Google Ads, websites, surveys) strategically to address each prospect type. The episode also touches on ego‑driven blind spots that keep the fourth group from self‑identifying problems, suggesting self‑assessment tools and surveys as a way to surface hidden needs. Throughout, Marc intersperses calls to action – subscribing, sharing, booking a free 30‑minute consult, and promoting his book “Lights! Camera! Action!” – while reinforcing his service‑expert brand. The overall takeaway is a practical checklist for entrepreneurs to audit their marketing strategy against the four prospect categories and deliberately design tactics that convert unaware or reluctant prospects into customers.
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We've all heard the adage, build it and they will come. If you're a business owner and you're a business owner or a manager, you will know that really time and time again, you've looked at that saying going, my goodness! That is a bunch of horse poopy. As a business owner or a manager, one of your biggest liabilities that you have are those people that you never actually get to meet. They are your prospects. Today, I'd like to uncover the 4 different kinds of prospects that you're dealing with in your business and talk about what their needs are and what you need to do to fulfill, to attract, and get them through your door. And that's coming up next on Marc Haine Live. Welcome to this episode. This is where small business owners and entrepreneurs pick up core skill sets to help them create the jaw-dropping, show-stopping experience that their customers and employees deserve. I am your host, Service Expert and Master of Experiences Marc Haine. And today, I'd like to chat a little bit about one area of the business that is a challenge but nobody really ever talks about. We'll be talking about the problem with prospects. And we'll get to that in just a moment. First off, I just want to say I am so glad that you're here with me today. I know that your time and attention is a valuable resource. And I'm glad that you chose spending it here with me. I hope I do likewise and reciprocate that value. with what we talk about today. If this is your very first episode, why don't you go ahead and subscribe to this podcast? By doing so, you will get first dibs in picking up new information each and every week. Subscribing to this podcast is your way of being able to stay up to date with everything that I bring you, with all the experts and all the different topics that I bring you that is Relative to your information. And while you're at it, feel free to share this episode with somebody that you think might find it valuable. Time and again, as business owners, we don't understand why we don't have more customers. I've worked with a lot of small business owners who are just saying, I don't know what we're doing wrong. I just don't know why we don't have customers. We invest heavily in making sure that we have the product or the service that meets the needs of our market. And we constantly push to get the business known. And the people who use our business, we want to make sure that they are absolutely satisfied with everything that we do. So, why don't we get more people through the doors? And that could be metaphorically or otherwise. If you're an online business, that is a metaphorical door. So today, I'd like to know from you our Question of the Day. What do you know about your business's prospects? I don't necessarily mean the ones that you know of, the ones that come through the door. But the ones that you've never done business with? I'd love to hear some of your experiences. Why don't you go ahead and share this episode on your favorite platform and hashtag the post #ExperienceLeadership. I'd love for you to be part of this conversation. You know, when I moved to Alberta back in 1999, I worked as the Food and Beverage Director for a casino in actually the biggest mall in the world at the time. Aside from serving casino patrons, I knew that there were thousands of people inside the mall who had never knew. They never knew that we had such a fabulous restaurant and such a fabulous food offering.
Excuse me.
We were absolutely passionate about the food that we served. We took a lot of pride in what we did and the level of service that we had. And yet, nobody ever knew Unless you were a casino patron, nobody knew that we had this absolutely fantastic food. So, that was our huge problem. People who did not gamble did not come into the casino. So, we went to work to analyze our prospects. The ones who did not know that we existed or would never step into a casino for a meal. Boy, I could tell you it was so easy to blame them, right? I can't get more customers because— and then you justify something, or you justify the failure. No one is going to eat in a casino if they don't gamble. And so, we kind of business owners, we kind of make up all these different scenarios of why we're slow on a particular day. I was joking with an operator the other day about the weather. And how we blame the weather for everything. And so, it's like, oh, it's so quiet in here because it's raining outside. Nobody wants to go out in the rain. Oh, it's quiet in here because it's sunny outside and everybody wants to stay outdoors. Or, oh my goodness, it's a snowstorm. Nobody wants to come in during a snowstorm. Or, it's too darn cold. Nobody wants to— So, we always have a way of being able to justify why we're cold. Oh, we're quiet because, oh, there is a darts game on TV. And I'm sure most of our people like to watch darts. It's like watching paint dry, isn't it? Sorry to all the dart lovers. But by delving into the needs and perceptions of our prospects, we do have the ability to turn that around. We have the ability to take a look at it from the perspective of what's keeping people from knowing who we are. In a past episode, I mentioned that there were precious few people who truly knew their customers. There's surveys all over the place about how well we actually do know our customers. We think we do. But the reality is that we don't. But when it comes to our prospects, our awareness goes straight out the window. Like, I mean, it's even worse when it comes down to prospect. We very rarely talk about it. We very rarely talk about the people who don't come into our businesses. So today, I've broken down the prospects into 4 different and distinct categories. And we'll get to that right after this.
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And welcome back! I believe that we have 4 distinct types of prospects in our business, each with unique needs and obstacles. Some of them are going to be— you're going to go, oh yeah, of course I know that. But in others, it's like, wow, I never even gave it the thought. The first is those who don't know they have a problem, nor do they know a solution exists. The second is those that know they have a problem but don't know that the solution exists. And the third is those who know that they have a problem They know a solution exists but they don't know that you are the solution. And the 4th one is those who know that you provide the solution but they don't think they have a problem. So, let's delve into each one. Okay, we'll tear them apart a little bit and create some understanding around them. And then from there, we can go into— and then, once you're armed with this information, you're then able to strategize what you need to do to overcome them. And so, it can become a little bit of a checklist for you when you put your marketing strategy together. So, let's go ahead and delve into the first one, which is those who don't know they have a problem nor do they know a solution exists. Now, it seems kind of, you know, if you look into that, it seems kind of silly. They don't know they have a problem nor do they know the problem exists. If they don't know they have a problem, Why would they know a problem exists? Anyway, I recently spoke at a conference for electrologists. And as I was doing my in-depth research, which I do for all my speaking clients, I found out that there are a bunch of people who studiously pluck unsightly hairs on a regular basis. They do it weekly, even daily. And in their minds, it's not a problem. For them, it's a fact of life because this is all they know. People getting up in the morning and they look in the mirror. They see that unsightly hair and they take a pair of tweezers and they pluck it. And this is all they know. And so, because this is all they know and it's for them, it's a fact of life, they don't even look for solutions. They don't even make it aware that, hey, maybe this is a problem. And so, they're not even looking for the solution. The same could be said for a gutter cleaning company, right? Somebody who every day, every year they go, oh, I know it's a fact of life that every fall before the snow comes, I need to climb up on the ladder with my trusty trowel and a pair of gloves to clear out all the debris. I've done it every year now for the last 30 years. It's a fact of life. Or is it? So, as the business owner, we need a medium to be able to highlight the problem, letting people know that, hey, wait a minute. Did you know that this was a problem? At this point, if you're able to get that awareness happening, the prospect may then evolve to the next type, to the Well, they could evolve to the third type of prospect. But at a minimum, they will evolve to the second type, which is those that know they have a problem but they don't know a solution exists. At the core, people have become fed up with the status quo when they hit this level. The it's just a fact of life now gets old. For them, the routine they are experiencing has now become a problem. So, the fact that the person's been plucking for ages and not realizing that this was a problem, they come across an article. They come across a consultant. They come across somebody who tells them, tells them, why do you keep doing that? Because that's the problem. And once they have that aha moment, they now come into this next phase where now it's like, okay, well now I know I have a problem. But I mean, there's nothing I can do about it because I've been doing this and there's nothing I could do about it. For the person cleaning the gutter, it could be that they get too old to start climbing the ladder, or they can't keep up with the unsightly hairs, or their car is making funny noises. It's once they define this need as being a problem, that's the point at which they hit this next level. They'll complain to their spouses, friends, and colleagues about how hard done by they are. You know, my life sucks. I have this problem. Gosh, I really hate it. But that's really as far as they take it. So here they are now knowing they have a problem. But they don't know that the solution exists. And so, as a business owner, We need a medium to highlight that they no longer have to live this way, that there is a solution. This is where the TV commercials can really come in as a benefit. You know, the, are you tired of risking your life climbing ladders to clear out your gutters or pointing out that ugly chin hair to your wife? Yeah, probably not such a good idea to do that. But they go through to introducing the ACME We Can Solve All Your Problems service. So now, the prospect has definitely evolved into the next category. And the next category are those who know they have a problem. And now, they're aware that there are solutions that exist for their problem. But they don't know that you have the solution. Because of the TV commercial, they may have found the Acme We Can Solve Your Problem service. But they haven't found you. And we all know that you are so much better than the Acme We Can Solve Your Problem service. So much better. We know it. But this is the big chore. Getting the prospects to find you. As a business owner, you need a medium to instantly stand out as being the solution to their problem. This is the phase that they will actually be looking for the solution when it comes to it. I hope this makes sense. This is a really quick episode because I think this is just something that needs to be discussed and pushed forward. So, I hope this is making sense to you that the first First ones are your prospects who don't know they have a problem. They don't know a solution exists. The next one is they have a problem but they don't know a solution exists. And then, the third one is they have a problem. They know a solution exists. They just don't know about you. And then, we get into the fourth category. And we'll get to that right after this.
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Welcome back! We are uncovering the 4 different categories of prospects that you have inside your business. As you can probably tell, I am super passionate about this topic. It is actually one of the chapters in my book. And to, you know, I love to model what I've been talking about as well. The whole awareness of problems and solutions. So, because I'd like to model that, I'd like to just put this out there for you that if you belong to an association or a company that you feel could use this information and maybe you would like to workshop what this maybe looks like for your business, please go ahead and drop me a line and let's connect. I'd be more interested in uncovering this for you. So, the 4th category is probably the toughest. And that is those who know that you provide the solution but they don't know they have the problem. And this is really one of the toughest ones because it has a lot to do with ego, I find. For instance, you can know that I do customer experience and service training of intact teams and do strategic planning facilitation. You could know that. You can also know that I am a dynamic and entertaining speaker, if I do say so myself, that can help motivate your team to excellence. But if you don't know that you have a problem, then all that is for nothing. It doesn't matter that you know it. It doesn't matter that I might be able to provide solutions for you. It's just, it doesn't matter. And so, being able to overcome that chasm of being able to understand that becomes the challenge. I have to say that almost every single time I do a session on personal leadership, interpersonal communication, customer service, and so on, I inevitably have the staff saying to me, gosh Marc! Because they're very polite. They say, gosh Marc! I wish my boss was here for this. Or, man, my boss really needs to hear this. And I would say easily 9 out of 10 sessions where the managers are not involved in the training, I get that time and time again. But when I invite the managers to the staff training, I almost always get, oh no, oh no, I want my staff trained. I'm a manager. I don't need it. So, we need a medium for the prospect to be able to self-identify. Some means by which they can take an assessment to vet themselves to say, oh gosh, I think I have a problem. It's such a big challenge. And this is why I say it's more ego-based, the 4th one, because people sometimes don't have that self-awareness. And for me, it's like all those surveys that people used to do in Cosmopolitan, right? They would say, do this survey to find out how happy your marriage is. And people would do it and go, oh my God! My marriage sucks. Right? They don't know they have a problem until they have some way to be able to meter it and go against and measure against it. And so, that is a challenge. So, part of your business strategy might be finding some medium. How can I get my customers to self-vet themselves? for my business. Overcoming these 4 categories of prospects can be very challenging. The medium, or the mediums I should say, can be as varied as leveraging standard media versus non-conventional media, right? You can go and put out billboards and TV advertising and radio advertising and so on. You could put out lawn signs, whatever that looks like, to putting up a really great website, paying for Google Ads, doing all the different things. But part of the challenge is you have to do this with a strategy in mind to be able to create that awareness, right? Most likely, your strategy to create the awareness of what you have to offer to your prospect will be in mixed mediums. You'll pick different things and different ways of being able to do it. The key here is to open up those awarenesses. When you develop your marketing strategy, it's going to be essential that you take a look at these 4 and say, how is my marketing strategy affecting these different 4 categories? And if you find that there's something missing, well now, you are in a perfect position to be able to move people into that and be able to create a strategy that you can use to attract those prospects. I hope this has been helpful for you. Like I said, very quick episode. If you have any questions about today's topic or you'd like to maybe brainstorm some aspect of your business, feel free to reach out to me. You can click the calendar link that's in the show notes and book a complimentary 30 minutes with me. Anybody who knows me knows that I live to serve. It's as simple as that. I just want to make sure that we take Really good care of you. If you enjoyed this episode, or if you'd like to see more of what I have to offer in my channel, please go ahead and subscribe to the podcast. This is your way of being able to get whenever I bring you first dibs and stuff. And Anna, it's so nice to see you. I see Anna's on the call. Thank you, Anna, for joining me. But I hope you have a great week. My name is Marc Haine. Thank you, Marc. I hope that you stay safe, stay healthy, and you dare to be the exception.
