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The Hidden Friction in the Buyer’s Journey: Time, Attention, and Commitment
Episode 41112th March 2026 • The Scalable Expert • Tara Bryan
00:00:00 00:08:43

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Shownotes

Most people assume buyers hesitate because of price or because they “need more info.”

But there’s a quieter reason why warm leads stall - the real commitment isn’t money… it’s time, attention, and focus.

In this episode, you’ll hear a real-time look at the buyer’s journey from the inside: what’s happening mentally right before someone clicks “buy,” and why “this looks great” still doesn’t always become “I’m in.”

You’ll learn:

The difference between the customer journey and the buyer’s journey

What buyers are actually deciding right before purchase

Why “I want this” can still lead to “not right now”

How to strengthen follow-up messaging when leads are already interested

🎧 Listen and then ask yourself: Are you selling the offer… or helping buyers commit to prioritizing the problem right now?

Chapters

00:00 – Customer journey vs. buyer’s journey (and why buyer psychology matters)

01:13 – A real-time buying decision: ready to click “buy”… but pausing

01:52 – The key insight: it’s often not price or deliverables

02:38 – The real friction: committing attention to the work

03:48 – Capacity + timing: “Do I want this to be my focus right now?”

04:34 – What marketing can do better: follow-up that strengthens the decision

06:03 – Quick audit: where your funnel should address buyer psychology

06:29 – Wrap-up + share/rate the show

Want to keep learning? Check out our most recent free resources and offers here!

New episodes weekly - subscribe so you don’t miss the next one, and share this episode with a friend who’s selling something right now!

#BuyerJourney #BuyerPsychology #MarketingStrategy #SalesMessaging #LeadNurture #BusinessGrowth #ScalableExpert

About Me:

Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results.

I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business.

Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.

To learn more:

Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com

Here are two ways we can help you create, grow and scale your business:

1. Want to package your expertise or become a Scalable Expert? Take our free quick assessment to see how close you are to creating a scalable business.

The Scalable Expert Assessment

2. ALREADY HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS & READY TO INFINITELY SCALE?

Schedule a 30 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.

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Mentioned in this episode:

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

Transcripts

Tara Bryan:

Hey everybody.

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Welcome to season three of the

Scalable Expert™ Podcast, the show

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for established expert business owners

who are maxed out on time and ready to

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find the scalable impact of their work.

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I'm your host, Tara Bryan, founder

of The Scalable Expert™, and creator

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of the Infinite Scale Method™.

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If you've built a business around

your expertise, but feel stuck

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in the time-for-money trap, this

podcast is your path forward.

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Each week, I'll share stories and

strategies and shifts to help you

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step into a new, scalable business

model by declaring your authority,

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packaging your expert framework, and

streamlining your offers and systems

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to ultimately become a scalable

expert, because it's not about working

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harder, it's about building smarter.

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All you need is one signature

expert framework and you can

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deliver an infinite amount of ways

to be able to scale your business.

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Alright, let's get started.

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Hey there everybody.

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Welcome to today's episode.

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I am thrilled that you are here.

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Hey, one of the things that I talk a lot

about as part of the Scalable Business

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Academy and other programs that we have

is the customer journey and how important

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it is to really dial in your customer

journey along your signature methodology

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so that you are supporting your customers

every single stage that they're in as

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they're going through a journey with

you, both the buying decision journey,

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as well as a delivery journey, right?

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What's happening as they're going

through your, signature experience or

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whatever else it is that you're doing.

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And so you've probably heard me talk

about this before 'cause it's something

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that I'm super passionate about.

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One of the things I don't talk as

much about is the buyer's journey.

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And so I am in the middle of a sales

process right now where I am making a

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decision as to which sort of program

or experience I wanna join and so

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I wanna talk a little bit about the

psychology of the buying experience,

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just because I think it's fascinating

when you're going through it and

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teaching about it at the same time.

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So one of the things that I had an aha

about as I'm looking to join this high

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level program from someone that I've

been following for a long time, so I

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haven't worked with her personally,

but I have been, involved in different

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things that she's been doing, so I'm

in the middle of this buying decision

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and so it's interesting 'cause I find

myself like, the form's all filled out,

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i'm ready to click submit and then I

stop and I'm like, okay, wait a minute,

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like why am I making this decision?

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What is, what is my goal of making this

decision and what am I hoping to achieve,

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or accomplish, by making this decision?

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So I keep stopping as I get there because

I really need to think about this.

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And one of the things that, was an

aha moment for me, and hopefully this

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helps you as you're thinking about the

psychology of like why people are making

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a decision or not a decision on your

signature program that you're selling

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or your signature experience, is that

a lot of times it's not the price.

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A lot of times it's not all

the things that you're offering

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are not offering, right?

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To be honest, when I'm looking

at this offer, I'm like, yeah,

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it's pretty standard, right?

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It's got all the parts and pieces of it.

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I look at access.

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That's one of the biggest

things that I look at.

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And so again, standard offer, isn't

really anything magical about it, price

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point is solid, not really anything

that I am concerned about, in fact,

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it's a little bit less expensive

than I would anticipate spending for

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the type of offer that she's giving.

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But, what the biggest thing is for me

is whether or not I want to pay to be

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paying attention to what it is that

she's going to be helping me with.

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So it's not about her necessarily, it's

not about the offer, it's about am I

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willing to devote and commit to working on

this thing that, I will be working on as

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part of being a member of her experience.

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And that is, I think, the psychology of

making a decision that we don't always

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look at when we're thinking about our

buyer and why they're making a decision

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or why they're not making a decision.

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So for me, I'm like, do I

have time to devote to making

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this a focus in my business?

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Do I have the, interest, and the

capacity, to be able to focus on this?

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Because, it's not so much how am

I gonna go through her experience?

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How am I going to participate

or not participate?

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What is the financial aspect of it?

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It's really is this where I wanna be

putting my time and attention right now?

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Because when you commit to an experience,

when your buyer commits to your

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experience, you are asking them to make

a commitment to their time and attention.

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And so even though what she's offering

is something I know I desperately

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need to be focused on in my business,

it is, do I have the capacity?

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Do I have the interest in having that

be the focal point of my business right

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now, or do I want to wait and have

that be a focus of my business later?

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And so quite frankly, that is the biggest

decision making point for me in terms

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of, pulling the trigger on this offer.

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So it's not so much about all of the

mechanics, it's really is this something

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that I need to be focused on now?

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Or can I wait and do this later?

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I've got 4 million other things to do.

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Is this the thing that needs to

rise to the top on my priority list?

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Or is it something that I can

shuffle in later in the year?

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So think about just this small

piece of buyer psychology as

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you're building your offer.

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One of the things that would make this

a more compelling sort of decision point

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for me where I'd be like, oh, okay, this

is obvious, is in the follow up, right?

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Reminding me why now is the time I

need to be working on this, and not

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six months from now or a year from

now, or some other point in time.

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And it's not so much about the urgency

of if you don't do this, you're

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not gonna get this thing, although

sometimes that's a nice little

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nugget in there to be like, oh, the

top 20 people get this bonus thing.

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That's nice, but it's

really about why now?

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Why do I need to have this in my business?

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Not why do I need to take your training

or your program or your experience?

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It's why do I have to

have this in my business?

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What is happening in the market

right now, which makes this

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something that's important.

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What's the opportunity cost?

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If I don't do it now,

here are the consequences.

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Here's what's gonna happen

if I don't do it, right?

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Looking at those pieces

makes a huge difference.

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So talking about market forces, talking

about different things that are going on,

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which you know, you may miss out on if

you don't capitalize on the opportunity

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to make that change in your business.

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Not to take the program, not

to take the experience, not to

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join the whatever, whatever.

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How is it impacting

that person's end goal?

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So hopefully this helps you.

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Just even thinking if you are trying

to sell something right now, do you

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have that piece of buyer psychology

in your, marketing materials, in your

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training, presentation in your funnel,

whatever you're doing, however you're

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selling, do you have that piece?

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What's in it for them to make a buying

decision now, versus whatever other kind

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of buying decision that they can make?

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So if you love this episode, just this

short, sweet episode, make sure you send

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it off to a colleague, give us a rating

so we can continue to publish awesome

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content for you, as you continue to

listen to the Scalable Expert Podcast.

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Alright, until next time, scale

your business, not your calendar.

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