If it feels like your clients are taking longer to say yes, you’re not imagining it. Buyer journeys are longer, trust is harder to build, and people are more discerning than ever. Let’s break down four simple but powerful shifts that will help you shorten your buyer journey and move people from interested to ready faster.
If you want to identify exactly where your buyer journey is slowing down, start with the Business Growth Quiz to get clarity on your next move.
There’s a moment in every business where you start to notice it.
People are watching. They’re engaging. They’re liking. They’re asking questions.
But they’re not buying. Not right away, at least.
And what used to feel like a quick decision now feels like it’s stretching out for weeks… sometimes months.
I’ve been seeing this everywhere. And if you’re honest, you probably have too.
Maybe you’re thinking:
“Why is this taking so long?”
“Am I doing something wrong?”
“Why aren’t they just deciding?”
But here’s the truth. The way people buy has changed.
Why Buyer Journeys Are Taking Longer Right Now
Today’s buyers are not moving from awareness to decision overnight.
They are moving through stages:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Consideration
- Decision
And that process can take months.
Some buyer journeys are stretching from six months to a year depending on the offer and level of trust required.
But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck waiting. There are ways to shorten that timeline.
What Actually Speeds Up the Buyer Journey
At its core, buyers need one thing: An easier way to make decisions.
And everything we’re about to walk through supports that.
1. Stop Relying on Content Alone
Content is powerful.
It attracts.
It builds awareness.
It starts conversations.
But it’s not enough on its own.
Especially if it’s only:
- Written posts
- Static content
- Surface-level messaging
Because people don’t just want information anymore. They want connection.
They want to see you. Hear you. Experience how you think.
Relying only on written content slows down trust, which slows down decisions.
What to Do Instead
- Add face-to-camera content
- Use longer-form platforms like podcasts or email
- Share your voice, perspective, and process
Because trust builds faster when people can feel who you are.
2. Give People a Way to Experience You
This is where things start to move faster. Because trust is built through experience, not just exposure.
Someone can follow you for months… But one real interaction can shift everything.
Ways to Create Experience
- Host live Q&A sessions
- Offer short strategy sessions or audits
- Create a private podcast or deeper content space
- Use video responses or Loom-style feedback
- Attend or host in-person events
Even one conversation can move someone multiple stages through your pipeline.
That’s how you collapse time.
3. Make Your Next Step Obvious
Confusion kills conversions.
The moment someone doesn’t know what to do next…
They stop. They hesitate. They overthink. They leave.
And most people won’t ask for clarification. They’ll just move on.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
- Too many links
- Too many offers
- Unclear instructions
- Complicated funnels
Even small friction points can slow everything down.
What to Do Instead
Be specific.
- “Book this call”
- “Download this resource”
- “Reply to this email”
Clarity removes hesitation and speeds up decisions.
4. Get Focused on What Actually Works
This is the most overlooked piece.
If you are:
- Marketing everywhere
- Selling multiple offers
- Speaking to multiple audiences
You are slowing your buyer journey. Because your message becomes diluted. Your audience becomes confused. And your energy becomes scattered.
What Focus Actually Does
- Speeds up trust
- Strengthens positioning
- Attracts the right people faster
When you focus your strategy, you naturally shorten the path from awareness to decision.
How Do You Know If Your Buyer Journey Is Too Long?
- People engage but don’t convert
- You have long gaps between inquiry and sale
- Leads need a lot of nurturing before deciding
- You feel like you’re constantly “warming people up”
- You’re doing more convincing than guiding
The Hidden Problem: You’re Talking to the Wrong Stage
This is the part most people miss. You might be trying to convince people who aren’t ready.
Instead of speaking directly to the people who already know they need help.
The fastest conversions come from people who are already problem-aware and solution-seeking.
Your job is not to convince them they have a problem. It’s to show them you are the solution.
The Shift That Changes Everything
Shortening your buyer journey is not about pushing harder.
It’s about removing friction.
- Build trust faster
- Create real experiences
- Make decisions easier
- Stay focused on what works
Because when those pieces are in place… People don’t need months to decide. They just need clarity.
What to Do Next
Take a look at your current buyer journey.
Ask yourself:
- Where are people getting stuck?
- Where is there confusion?
- Where can I make this easier?
Then choose one area to simplify.
Not everything. Just one.
And if you want help identifying exactly where your buyer journey is slowing down and how to fix it, book a CEO Strategy Call. We’ll map your pipeline, find the gaps, and create a plan to help you convert faster.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Business Growth Quiz
- Book a CEO Strategy Call
- Focused Visionary Accelerator
- Lead and Conversion Tracker
Full Episode Transcript
Hello, hello. Welcome back to the real truth about business. Today we are diving into the topic around shortening your buyer journey. Now I know there is a lot of conversation out there happening around buyer discernment being higher than it ever has been that buyer journeys are a little bit longer. Maybe you’re seeing it, maybe you’re experiencing it, but there are a few small things that you could be doing in your business that will have potential to speed up your buyer
journey that are some, some are big, some are small, but they will make a difference in actually increasing your conversion rate in the sense of like how quickly somebody goes from lead to client, especially if they are a hot lead. So that’s what I want to talk about today. We are diving in. I’ve got four key points for you. So
If you have a notebook in front of you, grab it. If you’re listening while you’re walking or doing all the things, make sure that you come back to this and think about it. but yeah, let’s dive in. All right. Welcome back. first and foremost, I need to remind you that back pocket insights. The private podcast is now completely free for you to subscribe to and listen to. So back pocket insights is my private podcast that I have had for over a year. are 70 plus episodes there and they are more.
they are definitely shorter. So what you can expect from that is they are like little short snippets, very much like voice memos that I send back and forth to my clients and WhatsApp. So if you want more of that strategist in your back pocket, if you want to hear my voice more often, you now can do that by opting in to back pocket insights. It’s a free, completely free. The private podcast is free. And then if you want to attend the monthly mastermind, there is an option for that as well.
So don’t forget to opt into the private podcast before I forget to tell you. All right, so let’s talk about client journey, okay? And how can we move it and get people to convert faster, right? Because, I am a huge, you know I have been talking about the different stages in your pipeline and that people are not moving from awareness to decision.
immediately that they are taking their time, that they are moving from like, I’m aware of you, I’m interested in learning more about you, I’m considering working with you, and I’m ready to make a decision, right? Those are kind of the pipeline stages that almost every buyer is going through. And most people are not jumping from that I’m aware of you to I’m ready to make a decision about working with you in one fell swoop. Okay. And so that that buyer journey from I’m aware of you to I’m ready to make a decision sometimes
right now is taking upwards of six months to a year for some people. But there are ways that you can shorten it and that’s what I want to talk about today. So number one, one of the biggest things that I see is that too many people are relying on content alone. Now, I know that there’s content creators out there. There are other business strategists out there. I am working on increasing my content game myself.
So I do believe that content will attract. I do absolutely believe that. I know it to be true as a buyer on the other side of the coin, I am definitely attracted to people through their content. I do consume content on a regular basis. However, not everybody consumes content, right? Number one. And if we are being honest, the content that I am talking about that a lot of people are consuming is that kind of face to camera content.
Okay, they want to see your face. They want to experience your vibe. They want to have a chance to really like get a tone for who you are, what you stand for, what your beliefs are, right? Like how you approach things, the way your brain thinks. And so you can do that in carousel posts and reels with B-roll with just, you know, words over the top of them. But with the way Byrd
the buyer journey is a little bit slower, that is going to be a long game. So if you are relying solely on written content, short form written content, I would highly recommend you add either some type of face to camera content of some sort, whether that’s showing up on your stories, whether that’s sharing reels, whether that’s doing events, that’s what I’m gonna talk about here in a minute, or, know.
or adding in something longer form where you can dive deeper. So if that’s more of your email marketing where you’re getting really hyper specific on something, maybe it’s a, you know, a free lead magnet that’s really of high value. Again, you’ve got to do something where they can experience you. People do not trust just written words on a screen anymore. Okay. Too many people have gotten burned by that. That takes a very long time to convert. So if you are hiding behind your content,
and you are not showing your face, you are not letting people hear your voice, I highly recommend that you start finding a platform that you can do that. Now, you guys know I love hanging out on threads. Part of why I love hanging out on threads is because I don’t have to do a lot of video content. However, I’m shifting that, so stay tuned for that. But I do love threads because I can just pop something in there quick. However, I have this. I have this podcast, right? So this is…
My next point is give people a new chance to experience you. I’ve been talking about this a lot. We are living in what they are calling the trust economy. Trust is built through experience. I call it an experience economy. How can people experience you? So even all of these coaches and providers and business owners that you are seeing that are like really killing it with their content and drawing people in, they are still giving people a chance to experience them.
Every single one of them I know, whether it’s low ticket, high ticket, really high ticket, they all have these experiences, whether that’s a free telegram community, they’re doing Instagram stories where they’re interacting with people. This podcast, you know, a podcast where I tell people all the time, go listen to my podcast, you’re gonna love me or hate me at the end of it, right? Like you’re gonna love the way my brain thinks or you’re gonna be like, this is not for me, right? This is not my jam, this is not how I like to operate, this is, yeah, right? Or it’s gonna be like, yes,
please, this is exactly who I need, this is exactly what I need in my life, right? So again, it’s also where these conversion events come in, very, very handy, whether that’s an open Q &A, doing little behind the scenes audits, even these, what I’m finding to be extremely beneficial right now are like some type of loom or video recording where, so it’s totally asynchronous and you’re giving them a chance to see your face on video in…
in your zone of genius. So I did it in a, I’ve done these 5k mapping sessions where they send me some information and then I reply back with a video of like a plan that is working really well. Again, it’s giving people a chance to experience me. It’s extremely low lift. Okay. You’ve got to give people a chance to really under like experience what it’s like to work with you, right? Give them a little bit of the how show them the way you think.
again, I’m in a telegram chat with somebody else that I am finding it very helpful. She drops a lot of audio content in there. I have the private podcast. Again, I mentioned that earlier in this episode, like you want to experience kind of my coaching style. I’m going to, there’s episodes in there that are literally direct snippets of my coaching halls and my strategy session. So like get in there and listen to it again. It’s a way for people to experience me. It’s a way for them to.
build a relationship with me, my email marketing, my Sunday morning brew, that’s another way that I build relationships and give people a chance to experience me because I’m always sharing something personal. I’m attaching it to a story, right? So again, in-person events too, I, in-person events are to me going to be the fastest way for you to collapse that client journey.
because at an in-person event, you can have a conversation that moves somebody from aware, I just found out you existed, to interested in learning more, to considering working with you. You can move people three steps in your pipeline in one conversation in person. It just hits different, okay? So get out there and get in person with people. Do what you can, whether that’s something local in your area or if that’s traveling to an event every quarter or something of that sort.
Get in person with people. I’m telling you, like it converts faster. I just spoke at an event and I did a talk. There was a lot of people in the room that I didn’t know. They didn’t know me before I walked into that room. I didn’t know them. And one of them converted within 10 days, not even like a 10 day cycle. I think it was less than a week because we had conversations. She said to me, tell me a little bit more. The way you explain that in your talk was so helpful.
I had another person say like, my God, that 10 minute conversation has just helped me solve something that I’ve been dealing with for four months. Right? So again, like you can get deep, you can get granular, you can build that relationship very quickly in person. And that takes a little bit longer online, even if you’re doing virtual coffee chats or anything of that sort. virtual coffee chats, as far as I’m concerned, have still been one of my tried and true strategies that have always worked for that reason, because I can really dive in and
Let people experience me and have a conversation with me very quickly. Okay, so let people experience you. The other thing, the third thing on my list here is making sure that your pipeline is very clear, right? Confusion stops people. The second somebody is confused about what they should do next, they get overwhelmed, they’re out. Very few people will ask further details.
And here’s a great example of this. So I just had a client who went to an event. She set up a QR code. I didn’t realize that she had done it this way where she set up the QR code for them to scan to book a call with her. And she had it scan. The QR code was like a link to book a call, but it scanned and went to her email. Like they were opting into her email list. And then once they opted into the email list, then she was emailing them the link to the calendar. Now,
She understands why this was a friction point, but again, that was confusion, right? You’re telling me to book a call, but now I gotta get on your email list and now I’m out, right? So again, are you giving people an out just by simply creating confusion for them? Is it very clear what you’re asking them to do? I just gave you guys a very clear next step. Go download and subscribe to Backpocket Insights. That is a very clear next step.
All right. It’s, it’s very, there’s no question about what it is to do, right? You’re listening to this podcast. You want to dive a little bit deeper, go listen to the back pocket insights, right? You’re going to be able to get in my email that way. Cause I send an email every single week, right? If you’re having a conversation with somebody. So at this event that I was having this conversation with this woman, she was saying, tell me a little bit more. think I want to workshop this with you. think I need your help strategizing this event strategy. was like, absolutely. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to get an email with a.
link to a 90 minute session. Go book that 90 minute session. It’s going to come directly to your email tomorrow. So when I saw her or when I was following up with her, I said, you should have gotten the email by now. Let me know if you don’t have the link, but I want to make sure that you get the link to schedule that session. Again, very clear. You want to strategize this? Here’s how we do this. Book XYZ session, right? That would be another very clear next step for all of you listening. If you’re saying like, I don’t know how to
shorten my buyer journey. I want to increase my revenue by $5,000 a month every month on reoccurring revenue. Okay, great. You want to look at it? Let’s look at where that is not happening. We can do that in a revenue intervention session. The link is in the show notes, right? Again, very clear next steps. Do not make people work for it, okay? And then also don’t give people too many options. I am all for giving people different entry points.
Okay. I am the queen of having different entry points. I am the queen of having multiple calls to action inside of all of these episodes. I do it because again, it’s like everybody’s at a different point. And so, and because with podcasting, you don’t know where people are at. I do like to give multiple calls to action, but they’re very clear in what I’m asking you to do next. Right? If you want to take this a step further, here’s how you can do this. All right. If you are having a conversation with somebody and you’re saying to them, I’m going to send you some options.
Right, and you just send them a document with a bunch of options. Their brain is going, I don’t know what one to pick, I just want you to tell me, but you’re not telling them what one you think is best. Remember, they’re coming to you as the expert, they are relying on you to tell them what is going to get them the best results and what is the best fit for them. So I would be very, very careful in making sure that you’re not giving too many options and you’re not promoting too many things where people don’t know. What do I actually, what,
What services is she offering? Which one is the best fit for me? Right? Like that gets very, very confusing. And that brings me to my last point of get focused, right? If you want to increase and speed up your buyer journey, you’ve got to get focused on that. And you’ve got to get super clear on your plan. You’ve got to know exactly what’s working. You’ve got to know exactly where to spend your time. You got to know exactly what marketing you need to be putting your efforts into. You need to know exactly what client you’re trying to attract.
Right? You cannot be all over the place. When you’re all over the place, you’re going to have a longer buyer journey. And there may be seasons in your business where being all over the place is beneficial because you’re trying to collect data and you’re trying to see what’s resonating and all of that. But if you are in a season where you’re trying to speed up the awareness to decision,
then you’ve got to get super clear on your pipeline. You’ve got to get super clear on your focus and you need to know exactly what that looks like and where you need to be spending your time. Okay. These are the things that are going to speed up your, the buyer’s journey because at the end of the day, buyers speeding it up, what they need is a easy way to make decisions, right? That’s what this comes down to is that people need an easy way to make decisions. Okay. So how can you make it easy for them to make a decision?
Right? Some of that is in, again, like we talked about doing more face to camera, making sure that people can see your face, can hear your voice, giving a way for people to experience you. think it’s a great way to do like a conversion event or again, like I said, get out and in person with people, make sure your pipeline step is clear. Okay. If someone is consuming your content, then what if they are showing up to a conversion event, then what if they are
considering it and you’ve sent them a proposal or you’ve sent them a link to buy and they have it then what right like if they’ve asked for more information about one of your offers how do they say what is their next step is it to book a call with you is it to apply for a spot is it to just pay their invoice right like be very clear and then also get super focused okay get super focused in where you need to be spending your time and energy
All right, that is what’s going to speed up your buyer journey. I know you guys are all looking for some magic pill probably, and you were hoping that I was going to say, if you just do this one thing, it will make everything so much easier. I don’t really feel like there is any one thing. The one thing I do know is that you can’t, you have to work with those that are ready, right? Honestly, if you are in this like convincing energy, that is going to be a very long buyer journey because you cannot convert somebody that is not ready. You just can’t.
Right? So you’re going to feel like you’re dragging them along. You’re going to feel like they need a lot of hand holding. You’re going to feel like you’re, need to do a lot of convincing. It’s going to take you out of the, your authority. It’s going to take you out of your position of like, this is who I am. This is how you can work with me. Right? You’re going to move and you’re going to be kind of just like babysitting. You can nurture people and you can keep the door open with, while simultaneously just continuing to move and speak to the people that are ready to hire you.
Okay, because the ones that are ready, they are problem aware. They know they have a problem and they are looking for a solution. They just don’t know that you are the solution, right? So how can you show them that you are the solution to the problem they are already aware of, okay? When you are in convincing energy, you are trying to convince people of a problem that they are not aware of, right? They don’t realize it’s a problem for them yet. And that is a much different buyer journey, right?
start speaking to the ones that already know they need you or they already know they’re ready to hire. They just don’t know who to hire. They don’t know who the right person is. Okay. And you do that by getting super focused on where you’re spending your time, where your last clients came in from, where your marketing is converting the best, right? That’s going to speed up your buyer journey in itself because you’re working with the people that are already ready. Okay. So that’s what you’re working on today.
I want you to ask yourself really like, if you want to reflect on this a little bit deeper, you can reflect on it by asking yourself like, where, where is there confusion or stuck points in your client journey? Right? When we’re talking about like, how does somebody move from, just became aware of you to I want to, I’m interested in learning more about you. I’m considering actually send me your offer. And now I want to make a decision. Where is there a stuck point? Where is there a gap? Where do you feel like people are going to fall through? Okay.
And then really look at how am I giving people a chance to experience me? Are you giving people a chance to experience you? Maybe you’re not, maybe you think you are, but maybe you’re not, right? Can they experience you by being a guest on other podcasts? Like that’s another great way for people to experience you. All right. And then what is a next step that is a very clear next step, right? How can you make it so granular that it is like, they don’t even need to think about it because it’s just do this type of thing.
Like get that clear with it. All right. There’s, that’s what you’re working on today. If you’re listening to this and you’re kind of realizing that your buyer journey is longer than it needs to be, this is the work that we do in, in the focus visionary. This is what I work with my clients on in the focus visionary accelerator. So if you want to talk about that, you absolutely let’s book a CEO strategy call. That’s a great starting point, right? I’m just giving you that. Here’s your starting point.
You may not be ready to convert into the focus visionary accelerator yet, because you just became aware of me. But if you’re interested in learning more, here’s your next step. It’s a CEO strategy call. This is a completely free call, literally no obligation, but we’re going to look at it. You can talk. can talk about where in your buyer journey, you feel like things are slowing down. And then we can, we’ll come up with an action step inside of that call. You absolutely will walk away with an action step in that call. And then we’ll also talk about whether or not it makes sense for you to.
move into a different offer with a little bit more support. Okay. So I gave you that. just modeled that for you right inside of here. So if you are feeling like your buyer journey is a little bit longer, use something like that. Go back and listen to that, record it, do what you need to do, but model after that of being very clear in what you want people to do and what actions you want them to take. All right. I love you. I believe in you and I will talk to you soon.
