In this episode of The Scalable Expert Podcast, Tara explores the difference between teaching your expertise and preparing customers to actually use it.

One of the biggest mistakes experts make is trying to showcase their methodology too early - teaching frameworks, sharing processes, and delivering expertise before a customer is fully prepared to step into transformation. But the customer journey doesn’t start with your methodology. It starts with readiness.

Tara breaks down “the experience before the expertise” - the intentional customer experience that helps people recognize the problem they need to solve, understand why it matters now, and prepare themselves for the starting line of your Signature Framework.

Because your expertise is not just meant to deliver the transformation. It should also help you identify what your customers need before they are ready for transformation.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why most experts overteach too early in the customer journey
• The real purpose of your pre-training, webinar, challenge, or event
• How to prepare customers to step into transformation
• Why clarity matters more than showcasing your methodology
• The difference between teaching expertise and creating readiness
• How to use your expertise to guide customers to the starting line
• Why customers don’t argue with their own data
• The role customer readiness plays in a scalable business model

If you’ve ever felt like your audience understands what you do but still isn’t moving forward, this episode will help you rethink how you guide people into your Signature Framework and prepare them for the transformation you provide.

Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome to The Scalable Expert Podcast

01:06 – The experience before the expertise

02:06 – Preparing customers for the starting line

03:02 – Why experts overteach too early

03:39 – The marathon training analogy

04:33 – The retirement webinar example

05:12 – Helping customers recognize the problem now

06:02 – Why pre-training is not about teaching your methodology

06:48 – Using data to create customer clarity

08:00 – The three questions every customer is asking

09:31 – Why the sale shouldn’t feel mysterious

10:00 – Stop teaching too much too early

11:16 – Creating readiness before transformation

12:08 – Final thoughts and closing

🎯 Ready to build a scalable business around your expertise instead of your calendar?

Learn more about The Scalable Expert™ and the Infinite Scale Method™ at Tara Bryan Official

Most expert business owners hit a ceiling that has nothing to do with their expertise.

The revenue stalls. The calendar fills.

And every strategy they've tried; adding new offers, more marketing, a bigger team adds complexity without changing the results.

That's a structural problem.

And this podcast is about the specific model that solves it.

I'm Tara Bryan, creator of the Infinite Scale Method™ and host of The Scalable Expert.

Each week I break down exactly how established expert business owners package their methodology, build a Signature Pathway, and create a business that scales without them in every session.

No hustle culture. No generic growth advice. Just the structural work that separates an expert business that's dependent on you from one that runs because of you.

If you're earning $100K–$1M and wondering why nothing you've tried has compounded this show is for you.

Want to learn more?

Take the free Scalable Expert Audit™, 10 questions, instant results, your structural gap identified in 5-7 minutes.

New episodes every week.

If this episode was useful...

Share it with one expert business owner who's hit the same ceiling.

A review on Apple Podcasts helps more of the right people find the show and takes less than two minutes.

→ Leave a review: Apple Podcasts

→ Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Website

Mentioned in this episode:

https://taralbryan.com/step/15-learn-to-scale-call

Hey, everybody.

2

Welcome to season three of The

Scalable Expert Podcast, the show for

3

established expert business owners

who are maxed out on time and ready to

4

find the scalable impact of their work.

5

I'm your host, Tara Bryan, founder

of The Scalable Expert and creator

6

of the INFINITE SCALE™ Method.

7

If you've built a business around

your expertise but feel stuck

8

in the time for money trap, this

podcast is your path forward.

9

Each week, I'll share stories and

strategies and shifts to help you

10

step into a new scalable business

model by declaring your authority,

11

packaging your expert framework, and

streamlining your offers and systems

12

to ultimately become a Scalable Expert.

13

Because it's not about working

harder, it's about building smarter.

14

All you need is one signature expert

framework, and you can deliver an infinite

15

amount of ways to be able to scale your

business, your impact, and your income.

16

All right.

17

Let's get started.

18

Hey everybody.

19

Welcome to today's podcast.

20

I am thrilled that you're here.

21

Hey, in this podcast I'm gonna talk

about the pre-buying experience

22

as part of the customer journey.

23

So one of the things that I'm always

reminded of every single time I listen

24

to a pre-sales experience, whatever

that looks like, is putting yourself

25

in your customer's shoes and where

they are in the customer journey.

26

So, a lot of times before your

customer purchases, right, they're

27

looking to make a buying decision.

28

Do they want to work with you?

29

Do they believe that you have

the authority to be able to

30

help them go from where they are

today to where they want to go.

31

Right?

32

So those are the things

that they're thinking of.

33

You have an experience where you

are showing your customer, you know,

34

kind of who you are and what you're

about, and helping them sort of have

35

a micro win, is really the first step

to them coming into your experience.

36

And so when you're thinking about

what that looks like, whether it's a

37

webinar, a training, a challenge, a

whatever, doesn't matter what it is,

38

is that your goal is to prepare them to

be ready to step into your experience.

39

So if the transformation of your

experience is to take them from point

40

A to point B as it should be, right, as

you're, putting them into your offer, the

41

question becomes like, what is it that

they need here in order to naturally end

42

up going yes, this is the problem I have,

and I want to use my time, my resources,

43

and my energy to be able to solve it now.

44

Right?

45

So the question becomes, what is this?

46

What is it that you need to do

here to prepare them to walk in

47

and say, yes, this is the problem

I have and I wanna solve it now.

48

And this is the part I think that

a lot of people don't get right.

49

They wanna talk about their experience.

50

They wanna talk about even their,

their pathway and their methodology

51

and something kind of, interesting

about what's going on in the

52

marketplace or whatever, right?

53

But they lose that ability to

prepare their potential customer

54

to make a buying decision.

55

And it's not just buy my thing.

56

And it's not just like, here are the,

here are the things like, i'm gonna give

57

you a taste for what my experience is.

58

It's truly like how do we get

them to the starting line and

59

have them be prepared, right?

60

If I'm gonna run a marathon,

in order for me to get to that

61

starting line, I have to be training

before that starting line, right?

62

There are things I have to do to prepare

myself to be able to run a marathon.

63

If I want to learn how to drive a

car, right, there are things that I

64

need to do before I get my license.

65

So all of those things, like what are the

things that your people have to prepare

66

in order to step into your experience so

they could start to solve their problem?

67

That is what the pre-training

or the pre-event, or whatever

68

you wanna call it, is, right?

69

It is the precursor

that gets them prepared.

70

One of my favorite, all time favorite,

webinars that I've ever been on was

71

from a, a group and they were, their

whole thing is how to have cash flowing

72

assets instead of waiting for retirement.

73

And so the webinar was all around what

age, based on where you are today, what

74

age are you going to be able to retire?

75

That preparation and finding out, like at

that starting line, the starting line was

76

like, you're not gonna retire until you're

130 years old at the rate you're going.

77

That prepared people to be like,

I wanna make that change, right?

78

This problem I want to solve now because I

don't wanna retire when I'm 130 years old.

79

That prepped them for the starting

line, which made it a really simple way

80

to get to that sale because they had

prepped them for that starting line.

81

So when you think about your thing, what

is the thing that needs to happen for them

82

to be so clear that they have a problem

and they want to solve the problem now.

83

That becomes your pre-training

experience that allows you to

84

sell them into your primary offer.

85

So I challenge you to really map

that out, maybe put that in ai.

86

What is the thing that's happening in

the journey before they have really

87

declared that they have a problem.

88

Because the goal of that is to have them

identify they have a problem and that you

89

are the best person to help them solve

that problem as quickly as possible,

90

and that they wanna make a commitment

to solve it now and not six months from

91

now, a year from now, or what, whatever.

92

That is the whole goal.

93

So when you show up and you're training,

you are not training people on anything

94

within your methodology necessarily.

95

You are training them on how do they

get primed that, that, that they have

96

that problem that they want to solve?

97

Again, when you are focused on your

ideal customer, your ideal customer

98

has something that's happening here and

they need to articulate that problem.

99

When you think about that webinar that

I was talking about, the whole webinar

100

was just doing the math to find out

what, literally your retirement age is.

101

People don't argue with their own data.

102

How do you have somebody, you know, get

the data to say, yep, this is a problem I

103

have and this is how I want to solve it.

104

For one of my clients, she is has an

experience where she is, the problem

105

people have is that they're not

doing what they, know they should be

106

doing because they're, they've got

all sorts of excuses or all sorts

107

of other things going on, right?

108

And so her, her experience

helps them solve that, right?

109

It helps them give them the proper

skills so they're focused on the right

110

things in order to reach their goals.

111

And so the, the pre-training

is that they haven't been able

112

to do that on their own, right?

113

They haven't been able

to solve that problem.

114

Either they don't know what the problem

is, they haven't defined it, they've

115

got 42 million of them, or they just,

they don't know that they need to

116

just focus on one thing and drive

that forward through this methodology

117

in order to get to the outcome.

118

So the question becomes what do they

need here in order to be prepared to

119

walk in and make a decision to say,

this is a problem I have right now and

120

this is how I want to, and this is why

I wanna devote my time to it today.

121

I think I mentioned in a prior podcast

that I made a buying decision around

122

an experience that I was joining and

I had to make a decision, is this

123

a problem I wanna solve right now?

124

And is this problem enough for me to

be able to put my attention on it?

125

And lastly, is this person

the right person for me to

126

spend my time with, right?

127

Do they have a methodology that

helps me go from point A to point

128

B in the fastest way possible?

129

So those are the questions

that your people are asking.

130

This pre-session is meant

to get them to that point.

131

But they're not gonna argue

with their own data so you've

132

gotta dial in what is the data?

133

Right?

134

When I was looking at it, it

was like, okay, I wanna have a

135

certain number of leads coming

into my business every single day.

136

Do I have that right now?

137

Go do the math.

138

Go look at it.

139

Nope, I don't have that.

140

This is what I need.

141

This is the problem I have, and if

I don't solve this problem today,

142

then this is what's gonna happen.

143

That was the conversation going

on with this pre-training.

144

And then I was like, okay,

so yes, I have this problem.

145

This is the problem I am trying to solve.

146

Do I wanna solve it right now or do

I wanna solve it some other time?

147

Yep.

148

I wanna solve it right now.

149

Then the third question becomes, does

this person have a methodology, a

150

pathway for me that helps me do it

faster than I can do it on my own?

151

Do I trust this person?

152

Is this person the person

who is the right fit for me?

153

That is third in terms

of thinking through this.

154

So your job in your pre-training is

to answer all three of those so that

155

they're starting on the starting

line and ready to move forward.

156

The sale shouldn't be a big deal if you've

set up their pre journey appropriately.

157

What that takes is that you understand

who they are, what they're dealing

158

with, and how to prepare them to

step up to that starting line.

159

If I wanna run a marathon, I do

not want somebody to pre-train me

160

on how to sit on the couch, right?

161

I want them to be training me

on how to run a marathon, right?

162

What are the things that

I need to be doing, right?

163

I need to believe that

I can run a marathon.

164

Once I hit that starting point of

being able to train for the marathon,

165

I need to believe I can do it.

166

I need to believe that there's a, I

need some help with that, there's a

167

problem in there and that somebody

can give me the path, right?

168

That's the pre-training.

169

So when you have a tendency, and we all

do it as experts, is we wanna teach,

170

we wanna give them our methodology.

171

We wanna give them the quick win

around how we've helped people or a

172

little slice of how we can help people.

173

And we go into the weeds and we do all the

different things around our methodology

174

and our frameworks and all of the

things that's actually not serving you.

175

What's serving you is preparing them

to step up to that start line and

176

know they have a problem, so clearly

articulating the problem, belief

177

that they can do it, and the need

to do it within a specific timeline.

178

If all of those things, all of

those boxes are checked, then you

179

know that they're going to buy.

180

It shouldn't be a question, right?

181

So often people are like, well, I

don't know if they're gonna show up.

182

I don't know if I'm gonna convert.

183

I don't know what's gonna happen.

184

And if you're designing it correctly

and you're designing the experience in

185

a way that lock steps somebody through

the pre-buying experience then the

186

buying experience shouldn't be a mystery.

187

It shouldn't be hoping that

people are gonna show up because

188

you've set them up for success.

189

You've set them up to just

continue the path forward.

190

It's a different way of thinking about

that, um, that sort of, sales event,

191

if you wanna call it, that marketing

event in the front of the sale and

192

really starting to dial in what is

it that your people need in order to

193

be prepared for that starting line.

194

So hopefully this serves you.

195

If you love this episode, give

it a, like, give it a rating,

196

send it off to your friends.

197

Definitely reach out to us if

you wanna talk more about this,

198

would love to connect and hear

how you're liking the podcast.

199

Alright, until next week.