Free guide

If They Don’t Get It, They Don’t Buy.

The One-Page Messaging Fix for Your Business.

Notice that the title doesn’t say “if they don’t like it.” It says get it. Most businesses lose customers before anyone forms an opinion about them, good or bad, because the customer never understood what was being offered in the first place. If you’ve ever explained what you do in person and watched someone’s face light up, and then watched your website get nothing like that reaction, this is the problem.

This guide fixes it in two steps. First, a five-second test you can run today on anything you’ve published. Then seven questions, answered one at a time, that add up to your whole message on a single page, including the one sentence that says what you do.

The five-second test. A stranger looks at your homepage for five seconds and has to answer three questions. The guide tells you what the three questions are and how to run the test with someone you know.
Seven questions, one page each: who you help, what they want, what’s in their way, what you do about it in one sentence, your proof, their next step, and what life looks like after. For every question you’ll see a weak answer, a better one, and a clear one, written for a made-up bookkeeper named Dana, so you see the pattern before you write your own.
A true story about a friend of mine, a financial advisor whose headline was three words. We changed it to one clear sentence and nothing else, and 28 percent more people booked a first meeting with him.
The one-page message sheet, filled in for Dana and blank for you, and then how to turn that one page into your headline, your bio, an email opener, and what you say out loud when someone asks what you do.
A 22-page PDF you download and keep. It takes about twenty minutes to read. It is not an automated audit or a private review; it’s the version you run yourself.

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Tell me your first name and where to send it, and the PDF opens right away.

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Open it now and run the five-second test on page 6 before you change anything. A copy is on its way to your inbox too.

Download the PDF Start with the five-second test

Cover of the guide: If They Don’t Get It, They Don’t Buy.

What is inside

A test, seven questions, and one page.

Here is the path the guide walks you down. None of it requires marketing experience. It requires honest answers, and the guide shows you what an honest, clear answer looks like at every step before asking for yours.

TEST

The five-second test.

Show your homepage to someone who doesn’t know your business, and give them five seconds. Then ask them three things: What does this business offer? How would it make my life better? What am I supposed to do next? If they can’t answer all three, a real visitor wouldn’t either, and that’s where they leave.

Q 01 to 03

Who you help, what they want, and what’s in the way.

The first three questions are about your customer, not you. You’ll pick one kind of person and describe them the way they’d describe themselves. You’ll write down what they’d say they want on a first phone call. And you’ll name the problem standing in their way, including how it feels to live with it, because that feeling is what they’re really hoping you can take away.

Q 04

What you do about it, in one sentence.

This is the center of the guide. You’ll write one sentence that says what you do, who you do it for, and what they get. It sounds simple, and it’s the hardest question of the seven, because you know too much about your own business. The guide shows you Dana’s weak sentence, her better one, and her clear one, so you can feel the difference before you write yours. If yours needs a second sentence to make sense, it isn’t finished yet.

Q 05 to 07

Your proof, their next step, and what changes for them.

The last three questions finish the story. One piece of proof that you can do what you say, and what counts as proof if your industry has rules about testimonials. One clear action you want them to take. And a picture of life after working with you, described as a specific moment they can see themselves in, not a list of benefits.

SHEET

Your whole message on one page.

Your seven answers go onto a single sheet. You’ll see Dana’s finished sheet first, then get a blank one for yours. From then on, everything you write comes from that page: the guide shows you how the same seven answers become your homepage headline, your bio, the opening line of an email, and what you say when someone asks what you do.

See it on the page

Every question shows a weak answer, a better one, and a clear one.

Telling you to “be clear” isn’t much help. Showing you three answers to the same question, side by side, from not clear to clear, is. That’s how every question in the guide works. Dana, the bookkeeper in the examples, is made up. The financial advisor and my own story are real, and I’ll always tell you which is which.

Interior page from the guide: Question 4, with three labeled answers from a made-up bookkeeper, from not clear to clear.

Page 12: Question 4, the one sentence that says what you do. Dana’s three answers, each one labeled, so you can see what changes from the weak one to the clear one, and then write your own underneath.

The finished one-page message from the guide, filled in for a made-up bookkeeper: seven questions and her seven answers.

Page 17: Dana’s finished one-page message, all seven answers on one sheet. The next page is a blank one for you. Print it, fill it in, and write everything else from it.

Who it is for

Written for owners whose business is better than their message.

I wrote this for the owner who is good at the work and knows it, but has never been able to say what they do in a way that lands as well in writing as it does across a table. Here’s an honest look at who it helps and who it won’t.

Useful if:

You have customers, revenue, and a message that takes a whole conversation to explain. People get it eventually, but only after you’ve talked for a while.
You keep losing to competitors you know you’re better than, and you suspect it’s because they said it more plainly, not because they do better work.
You want one sentence you can say out loud, post online, and put at the top of your homepage. Not a rebrand, not a new logo, not a mood board.

Probably not the right fit if:

You’re still deciding what to sell. The guide assumes a business that already works, and helps you explain it. It can’t help you invent it.
You’d rather have someone else read your homepage and hand you the sentence. That exists, and it’s the Clarity Audit. This guide is the version you run yourself.
You want a guarantee. A clearer message removes one big reason people leave, but who sees it, what you sell, and what you charge still matter. I won’t promise you sales, and you should be careful of anyone who does.

Questions

What to expect.

Is this a branding exercise?

No. Branding exercises tend to produce a set of values and a color palette. This produces words you can use tomorrow. It’s seven questions with honest answers, and the answers become your headline, your bio, and what you say when someone asks what you do. You don’t need a designer, and you don’t need to change your name or your logo.

Will it guarantee more customers?

No, and I want to be honest about that up front. The guide removes one specific reason people leave: they didn’t understand you. That’s a big reason, and fixing it makes everything else you do work better. But who sees your message, what you sell, your prices, and how you follow up all still matter, and no guide can fix those for you.

Does it work for regulated industries?

Yes. The real story in the guide is about a financial advisor, and financial services is about as regulated as it gets. When the guide reaches the question about proof, it includes a note on what you can use instead of client results or testimonials when your industry has rules about those things. Clear language about who you help and what they get is allowed everywhere.

What happens with my email address?

Two things. I send you the guide, and I add you to my marketing lessons, which are short emails about the same kind of fixes you’ll find in the guide. You’ll get a few over the first couple of weeks, then about one a week. Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and one click stops all of it. I never sell or share your address.