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WHY YOUR PROSPECTS CHOOSE YOUR COMPETITOR (Even When You’re Better) 🤔
June 2025
Read time: 6 minutes, 45 seconds
One of the most frustrating aspects of being an entrepreneur is when a prospect chooses a less qualified (and sometimes more expensive) competitor over your business. A few years ago I decided to do some research and figure out why this happens. During that research I discovered the strategy is called “7-11-4,” and it’s based on decades of psychology research about how people really make decisions when money is on the line. 💸 Big businesses use this strategy all the time but mostly small businesses completely ignore it, which is a huge mistake. After reading this article you’ll understand why this strategy can bring your business to a whole new level. THE 7-11-4 STRATEGY: WHY SOME BUSINESSES WIN WITHOUT BEING BETTER 🔄 Research shows: To build the kind of deep trust that drives purchasing decisions and referrals, prospects typically need: • 7 hours of meaningful exposure to you and your content 📚 • 11 distinct touchpoints or interactions with your brand 📞 • 4 different contexts where they encounter you (print, email, social, video, etc.) 🌐 When you systematically deliver this combination, something powerful happens in your prospects’ brains. You stop being evaluated and start being trusted. You stop competing on price and start being the obvious choice. 🧠 When I implemented this strategy, this is what we saw at Newsletter Pro.
• 43% increase in sales opportunities 📊 • 31% improvement in close rates 🤝 • More than double the referral rate from new customers 📣 One law firm we work with implemented this strategy and saw a 51% increase in prospects scheduling appointments and a 36% improvement in close rates. Not because they became better lawyers, but because they became more familiar and trusted. ✨ THE MASSIVE MONEY YOU’RE LEAVING ON THE TABLE 💸 Here’s the part that should make you sick to your stomach: Most businesses focus only on the 1%–5% of prospects who are ready to buy right now, ignoring everyone else. 😬 Continued on Page 2 ...
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Think about your own business. How many prospects have you connected with who didn’t buy immediately? What happened to them? If you’re like most businesses, you either forgot about them completely or added them to a generic email list that blasts promotional messages until they unsubscribe. Meanwhile, your competitors who understand relationship building are systematically nurturing those same prospects over months, accumulating the seven hours of exposure and 11 touchpoints across four different media needed to win their trust and in turn their business. 🕐
• Whether to use you again for their next project 🔁 • Whether to refer you to their network 📢 • Whether to expand their relationship with your business 💼 • Whether to stay loyal when a competitor approaches them 🔐 If you disappear between transactions, you’re essentially resetting their trust back to zero. After six months of not hearing from you, your odds of getting the next sale are almost the same as a competitor they’ve never done business with. They forget why they chose you in the first place. They become open to alternatives. 😶 The numbers prove it: Customers who rate an experience 5/5 stars are more than twice as likely to buy again, and 80% of satisfied consumers will spend more. But satisfaction doesn’t come from a single great transaction. It comes from an ongoing relationship. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TRUST BUILDING 🧠 The strategy works because of something psychologists call “processing fluency” — your brain’s tendency to prefer things that are easy to think about and feel familiar. But here’s what I’ve discovered after analyzing hundreds of successful implementations: Trust doesn’t build linearly. It builds in phases, and understanding these phases is the key to engineering predictable results. 📊 Phase 1: Recognition (Hours 0–2) Your prospect’s brain is still categorizing you as “unknown.” Their amygdala — the brain’s alarm system — is literally on alert. This is why cold calls feel so intrusive. You’re triggering a threat response. 🚨 Phase 2: Familiarity (Hours 2–4) Something shifts. Your name starts to feel familiar. When prospects see your newsletter or social post, their brain doesn’t have to work as hard to process who you are. You’ve moved from “stranger” to “acquaintance.” 🙂 This is where most businesses stop. They think familiarity equals trust. It doesn’t. ⛔
When those prospects are finally ready to buy, guess who gets the call? 📞 BUT THIS ISN’T JUST ABOUT PROSPECTS 😮 Here’s where most businesses make their second fatal mistake: They think relationship building ends when someone becomes a customer. WRONG. Your existing customers are making decisions about you all the time:
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Building Relationships to Help Small Businesses Succeed.
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Phase 3: Trust Formation (Hours 4–7) This is where the magic happens. Your prospect’s brain has formed enough neural pathways associated with your brand that you feel like part of their world. When they think about their problem, your business naturally comes to mind. 🎯 Not because of any single brilliant marketing message, but because of accumulated exposure. Phase 4: Preference (Hour 7+) Once you cross the seven-hour threshold, something remarkable happens. Your prospect doesn’t just know you — they prefer you. ✅ Even if a competitor offers a similar service at a lower price, the brain favors what’s familiar. 🏅 THE MULTI-CONTEXT ADVANTAGE 💻 But here’s the key insight most businesses miss: Familiarity isn’t just about frequency. It’s about context diversity. 🧩 When prospects encounter you in multiple contexts — reading your newsletter, seeing a social media post, watching a video, getting an email — their brains encode stronger, more robust memories. Each context activates different neural pathways, creating what researchers call “contextual richness.” 📱
Consumers who are exposed to multiple channels spend between 3-4 times more than those who are only exposed to one channel.
The data backs this up: Multi-channel campaigns are 37% more effective than single channel campaigns. But when you hit four-plus contexts, the results compound exponentially. Companies that use three or more channels in their marketing strategies see a 250% higher engagement rate on average. 💪 This is why the most successful businesses don’t just show up frequently. They show up frequently across multiple channels. 🚀 THE CONTENT MULTIPLIER METHOD: MAKING IT MANAGEABLE ✅ Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Shaun, this sounds great, but I barely have time to send a few emails a month. How am I supposed to manage 11 touchpoints across four channels?” 🤔 Great question. And it’s exactly why most businesses fail at this — they try to create unique content for every channel. That’s not just exhausting; it’s impossible to sustain. The solution? What I call the “Content Multiplier Method.” Here’s how it works: Every month, you create ONE substantial piece of content. Typically, a 1,000 +/- word article in your newsletter. Done correctly, this one article can turn into numerous additional pieces of content. 📩 • Pull out the key lesson for an email ✉️ • Create a social media post with the main insight 📲 • Create a 60-second video hitting the highlights 🎥 • Turn the lesson into a downloadable checklist 📋
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Building Relationships to Help Small Businesses Succeed.
208.297.5700
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One article becomes 4–11 touchpoints across four channels. The core message is the same, but the formats are different, compounding the familiarity effect. ✔️ HOW TO SYSTEMATICALLY BUILD 7-11-4 RELATIONSHIPS 🤜🤛 The beauty of this strategy is that it’s completely systematic. You don’t need to be naturally charismatic or have a huge marketing budget. You just need to be strategic about accumulating touchpoints over time. ⌛ One of the most frustrating aspects of being an entrepreneur is when a prospect chooses a less qualified (and sometimes more expensive) competitor over your business. Here’s how the math works: Monthly Newsletter: 20 minutes reading time × 12 issues per year = 4 hours 📰 Email Newsletters: 5 minutes × 26 emails = 2 hours & 10 minutes 📧 Social Media Content: 1 minute × 30 posts = 30 minutes 📱 Video Messages: 60 seconds × 10 videos = 6 minutes 🎥 Podcast/Audio Content: 30 minutes × 6 episodes = 3 hours 🎙️ Total: 9 hours and 43 minutes spread out over a few months, with 84 touchpoints across five contexts. That is just the tip of the iceberg on what can be done. 📍 Scale that across 6–12 months and you easily hit the 7-11-4 targets. But here’s the key: Every single touchpoint needs to provide value. You’re not accumulating touchpoints for the sake of it. You’re building a relationship. ❤️ And relationships built on value compound. Consumers who are exposed to multiple channels
spend between 3–4 times more than those who are only exposed to one channel. When you combine that with meaningful content, the multiplier effect is even stronger. 🏋️ ♂️ THE COMPOUND EFFECT OF CONSISTENT PRESENCE 🧮 This isn’t a quick-fix strategy. It’s a compound- interest strategy. Businesses that commit to systematic relationship building typically see: • Months 1–3: Increased engagement and response rates 📈 • Months 4–6: Higher close rates and shorter sales cycles 💵 • Months 7–12: Significant referral growth and premium pricing acceptance 🌟 • Year 2+: Market leadership positioning and predictable growth 🏆 The businesses that stick with it for a full year often see their referral rates double and their close rates improve by 30% or more. Not because they became better at what they do, but because they became a trusted advisor and stayed top-of-mind with The 7-11-4 strategy works because it aligns with fundamental human psychology. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. They refer to businesses that are top-of-mind. They stay loyal to companies that maintain relationships. 🗣️ But building these relationships takes time. The seven hours of exposure don’t happen overnight. The 11 touchpoints need to be spread out. The familiarity that drives preference accumulates slowly but compounds dramatically month in and month out. ⏱️ prospects and customers. 🤩 YOUR NEXT STEPS ✍
–Shaun
P.S. Need help with creating content for your 7-11-4 strategy? Do you have questions about what content would work for your niche? Call (208) 297-5700 to schedule a call with a Pro today. 📅
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