Why People Don’t Remember Your Message | FOCB Feat. Dawn Gayge

A lot of business owners struggle with the same problem:

People hear what they do…
but still can’t remember it later.

In this episode of From Overlooked to Consistently Booked, Meaghan Chitwood sits down with Dawn Gayge of Tracer Strategy Marketing to talk about why clear, memorable messaging matters so much in referral-based business growth.

Because if people can’t picture:

who you help
what problem you solve
or what makes you different

…they won’t know when to refer you.

In this conversation, Dawn shares:

why vague messaging creates confusion
how specificity makes you memorable
why stories work better than generic descriptions
how testimonials can instantly improve your messaging
and why discipline and repetition matter in networking

One of the biggest takeaways:

People remember what they can picture.

Dawn also shares a great example from BNI member Rory Doyle and how simple, consistent messaging around “business owners still using physical keys” made his referrals dramatically easier.

This episode is packed with practical ideas for:

improving your weekly presentations
clarifying your referral asks
creating stronger word-of-mouth
and becoming easier to talk about

Because referrals don’t happen when people are confused.

They happen when people instantly “get it.”

Want to grow your business through referrals and relationships?
Visit a BNI chapter near you:
https://northern.bnialabama.com/en-US/index

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

I'm Megan Shitwood and welcome back to From Overlooked to Consistently Booked. I help sales professionals and business owners build strong, effective referral networks so they don't have to chase business because it comes to them. Each week we break down what actually makes people refer you, trust you, and talk about you. This week we are talking about how to identify your perfect person and communicate that effectively with your target market with Don Gagey of Tracer Strategy Marketing. Welcome back. Thanks. All right. So let's talk about trying to get people to identify their perfect person and explain that to their referral partners so that we can help them better. Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Gotcha. Yeah. So I find that sometimes the best way to walk through this teaching is to say what doesn't work. A clear example of really what's not working. And then go into an example of what is successful and does work and gets the results that we want. Perfect. So I will not reveal the identity of this person. They are a good human, but definitely not doing themselves the right service to attract the right people. They simply say, I want to work with cool people. My definition of cool people or your definition of cool people. That's right. I have no idea. I don't know what that means. I'm not from here, so what is a cool person in Alabama versus what is a cool person in Massachusetts? I don't I don't know what that means here. There's no translation. Like, but but but yes, I do. It's in there it that lives wholly in everybody's own mind because when I say cool person, you still probably had a mental picture in your head of somebody you think is cool. I have an image of somebody in my head. I think Maverick from Top Gun is the coolest of the coolest of the coolest one cool cat in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

I to be honest, I just went blank because I'm like, why what does that mean? And when I'm confused, I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

But what does it mean in the context, right? Yeah of B and I. Like that, I can't I don't know who he's looking for. Yeah. Okay. So what is a a good, pristine example of this? And I love another person who does this successfully and gets like the MVP award every week for best, like, we got it. He nailed it, and we remember it. And you hear many of these every week, and you can remember this person's. Yeah. And it's Rory Doyle of Savvy AV Audio and Video. I literally hear his voice in my head saying it. So, first, he practices repetition. He wasn't there one time. His sub came in, she wasn't prepared. She leaned over, I'm like, I don't know what to say. I'm like, I got you. He says it this way on repeat with this intonation, and this is what he's looking for. And she's like, Wow. I said, That's not on me. That's on Rory because he shows up a consistently, he's super clear, he practices every single morning on his drive what he's gonna ask for. So recently he's been asking specifically for doesn't matter if you even know what Rory does, but you know who he's looking for, business owners and commercial properties that are still using actual keys. Like a key to put in a door. Yep. He wants to talk to them because what he provides is the alternative to that. You never need to use a key again with the systems that he's gonna install for you. You can track your employees check-in, check-out. You can understand who's in their off hours. If there's a break-in in the middle of the night, we're gonna track like bam.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Very visual, very clear.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

He gave that presentation this week, seven weeks ago, three months ago, and we all remember it. Yeah, because you can picture it. Yeah, and he take by the way, props are helpful, not necessary, but he takes an actual clicky and he drops it and he clings it on the desk, and it's like memorable. I mean, no one wants to follow Rory in our world because he nails it every time, and everybody's like, oh god, I have to follow Rory because I'm it's never gonna be as good as his.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

So And it's it, but he practices it. He does, he thinks about it, he thinks he's intentional and intentional about what yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Yeah, and there's a discipline. So here's the deal. I know this isn't gonna sound fair. If you're presenting and you're showing up and you're wanting to get the business and make the money, you gotta have discipline and you have to put in your reps, and you have to know that you know that you know who you're looking for. It's not worth it otherwise. How are you gonna ever make money?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah. The thing what you just said struck me because we Sean and I just recently had a buying experience where it was we believed this there's only one person who could provide this, what we needed in in Huntsville. Okay, and so we had to be patient, right? And we had to hang with them, right? Three phone calls. I'll call you back, didn't get a call back, I'll I'll set up a meeting with you, didn't set up a meeting with you. Sean comes to me and says, I don't think this person has a clue what they're doing. And I said, Explain what's the scenario, and he did. And I said, No, they're just a business owner who hasn't figured out how to track the commitments that they're making on a consistent basis. Very fair. Right? And so I was like, that's what's going on. That and he met with the person and was like, yep, he's really young in his career. And he was like, You are right. Nailed it. But it is it is getting it is getting discipline. I mean, it's almost like, let's go away from who's your perfect person all the way back to where do you have to start to be successful? And it is really the discipline around business, your marketing, your messaging, all of those kinds of things as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah, it's true. And it's it's hard. It's hard to hear this. I mean, let's be real. Like, you just want to do the thing you want to go to market. You don't want to do all the other stuff, and you know, fair, but unfortunately, it's not serving you. So, what can we do to help people find their way into the Rory moment? Yeah, I'll just call it that. Yeah, yes. Um, and he's a humble guy, so if he were in the room, he'd be like blushing and all sheepish. Um he gets it, and by the way, he's the most unsuspecting person you would think who would get it. He because he is so humble and he's just doing the work because he cares about keeping people safe. So let's start there. Why are you doing what you're doing in your business? Yeah. You know that there's either some embodied experience that you had personally or somebody it affected, or and it doesn't have to be super dramatic, by the way, guys. It's just a thing you know there's a need for. Yep. So speak to that person at all times. And if you're not speaking directly to them and you're in the context of BI, tell your people who are your greatest sales team in that room for 35 seconds to 60 seconds who they are. What do they look like? It doesn't have to be fancy. You don't have to be a marketer. You're just, I need a person who really struggles with the fact that they don't want any more phone calls in the middle of the night because someone lost their key.

unknown 7:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Or having to change the locks. That's the thing because somebody lost their key. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Right? But very expensive. But not many people lose their phone. So Rory's thing is you can access anything with the phone. Yeah. Or I think there is a key card. I'm not the expert, but that was the principle behind it, right? Yeah. Security, safety, access.

unknown 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I'm looking for people who are sick of losing their keys, who own a business, or having employees who honestly lose their keys. It's not even casting shade onto anyone. It's just, it happens. Like it's hard to keep track of our lives, never mind a key anymore. So if he speaks naturally to that, which he does, and again, yes, he practices. And again, yes, he has a commute because he comes from far away. I think he comes from Coleman. Wow. Yeah. And to, you know, so um he has some time, but it's he's built in the reps and he's committed to doing it with discipline because it matters to him. He is the owner operator. If not him, then who? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Well, and the other thing that I pictured as you were talking about him is he's picking the here's the key, but he's got all these stories because of all the people he's helped. So it's not even a I have to be brilliant at marketing, I just have to tell the story of the last person I helped. And that story can be the one that that triggers who else I can help in the future as well.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Yeah. And so here's the deal: here's the secret magic bullet. They don't really exist, but this will work in a clutch every time. Always have a testimonial in your back pocket. Always pull a good review. If you have nothing else and you're really stuck, read from the language of the people you've served that have given you great feedback and let their words tell your story. And they and then describe who they were, right? So this was an old woman, a widow who needed a thing. We have a lot of wonderfully generous people in our chapter who their target market is actually a segment is widows. And they're like, they just needed someone to show up and do the thing because their husband wasn't around anymore. Yep. And we showed up and did the thing. That works. 100%. Keep it simple. Make it easy and give a story. If you had a worst case scenario, or break glass in case of emergency, is tell a say a testimony. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Well, and you you just made it so much simpler than what is marketing.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, no, that's such a big question. I yeah, I've been doing this for 25 years. I don't know even what to tell you anymore about what is marketing. I started out my career, the internet had just been around for a hot minute. Email started. Banner ads were just coming into the world. They were just being born. We were still running full four-color print ads in the New York Times when I was in my early stage of my career. I've seen a lot happen. One thing remains the same. You really just have to keep it simple and know your audience. Know who really needs your thing. Solve the pain, and the rest is up to you on the delivery.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Well, that is pretty much the mic drop. So, Dawn, thank you so much for giving us so much wisdom around this. I feel like we've just simplified the topic that I think people have just a really, really hard time with. But just sitting down and doing it and thinking about who is that person and what do they want. I mean, if you can nail that, problem solved, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I think you're most of the way there. In in the football world of language here in the South, you're at the 80-yard line. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Perfect. Well, thank you so much. And just remember, referrals don't come from chasing, they come from connecting. And when you build the right network, business follows. If this was helpful, subscribe for more conversations like this. And if you're ready to grow through referrals, check out a BI chapter near you by going to BNI.com. And I'll see you next time.