06/11/2026
Yesterday I found a hole in my client's million-dollar marketing funnel. It wasn't where anyone expected.
I did a deep analysis, looking for what was wrong. The scary part was that nothing looked wrong at firstā¦
It was all thereā¦
> Emails.
> Texts.
> Follow-ups.
> Appointment reminders.
The whole sprawling digital octopus was all present and accounted for.
Note: This company isn't small.
They've got an internal marketing team.
ā Smart people.
ā Good people.
People who undoubtedly own expensive coffee-making equipment.
And as I worked my way through sequence after sequence after sequence...
I noticed something strange.
Something missing.
Like discovering every car in a dealership has been built without steering wheels.
- The vehicles are there.
- The engines are there.
- The seats are there.
But one important piece is mysteriously absent...
And the missing piece is costing them appointments.
Leads. And sales..
And revenue.
Potentially enough money to purchase a small island or at least a reasonably sized jet ski.
Here's what was missing:
A reason.
Yep.
That's it.
A reason.
The sequences kept asking prospects to take the next step...
Without clearly explaining exactly WHY the prospect should care.
Which reminded me of something I teach inside my coaching program.
A concept I call the DNS.
The Desirable Next Step. āØ
Each phase of your marketing has this.
Every email. Ad. Video.
Every sales conversation and every piece of content.
There's always a next step you'd ideally like someone to take.
Maybe it's:
š ŗ Click
š ŗ Subscribe.
š ŗ Book a call.
š ŗ Watch a video.
š ŗ Request a quote.
š ŗ Reply to an email.
Whatever it is⦠and wherever it is...
That's your DNS.
And here's where most small business owners and entrepreneurs accidentally wander into a swamp...
They become obsessed with what THEY want.
Desperately shouting:
šÆ Fill out the form.
šÆ Please click the button.
šÆ For the love of God BUY!!
Meanwhile the prospect is sitting there with approximately 47,000 other things competing for their attention.
ā
Text messages from their mother and surprise p**p accidents from their pets.
ā
Slack notifications from their boss and complaining coworkers.
ā
Instagram DMs & TikTok trends.
ā
Email and the News.
ā
Children. Spouses...
The sudden realization they forgot to move the laundry into the dryer.
The modern human lives inside a pinball machine.
We live in a noisy world trying to distract us.
Attention ricochets everywhere.
So when your prospect receives your email asking them to book a call or add-to-cart...
You know what they're probably NOT doing?
Carefully recalling all the reasons they became interested in your business three weeks ago.
Or even a day agoā¦
They're busy.
Distracted.
Human.
Which means every time you ask someone to take the DNS...
You need to answer one question:
"Why should they do that?"
Not from your perspective.
From theirs.
What do they get for taking that next step?
What problem gets solved? What uncertainty gets removed?
What becomes easier? What becomes clearer? What becomes possible?
Because people generally do things for one of three reasons:
1) They have to.
2) They simply want to.
3) They can clearly see how it benefits them.
And if your marketing fails to communicate one of those things...
You're essentially asking strangers to take action for no apparent
reason.
Which, historically speaking, has never been a profitable strategy. š
So the next time you're writing an email...
Creating content...
Building a funnel...
Sending a text message...
Running an ad...
Ask yourself: What's the DNS?
And have I made the promise of value painfully obvious?
Because when people can clearly see why the next step benefits THEM...
The next step suddenly becomes a lot easier to take.
I hope this helped you. š©µ
Up and to the right, my friend.
Up, and to the right. š