#67: The Real Reason Your Business Isn't Growing

The StoryBrand Podcast

StoryBrand.com

Business, Marketing

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most businesses are losing sales in the first few seconds, not because the offer is weak or the product is bad, but because the message feels like work. When people have to stop and decode your language, they don't lean in. They leave. And if confusion is costing you customers before the conversation even starts, how do you fix it fast?

In this week's episode, Donald Miller explains why confusion is the real reason businesses stall and how zero cognitive load messaging helps customers buy. He breaks down the "curse of knowledge," why people say "I'll think about it," and the 3 questions your messaging must answer in seconds. This episode gives you a simple framework to clarify your message so customers engage, trust you, and take action.

Connect with Donald Miller on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/donaldmiller/

https://www.facebook.com/donaldmillerwords

http://StoryBrand.com

Make your marketing and messaging work with the StoryBrand framework—and you can do that with the updated version of the book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0, now available! https://buildingastorybrand.com/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=&utm_term=cb&utm_content=SB_Framework

Transcript

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0:00.0	The real reason most businesses fail is not because they don't have a good product.
0:04.6	It's not because people don't want the product.
0:06.2	It's not because product is too expensive.
0:08.2	It is because your message is confusing.
0:11.9	Unclear messages are interpreted as potential danger and something to avoid.
0:17.4	The very idea of me having to overanalyze or think about something that isn't about my
0:23.6	survival is in itself a threat. So that's why today I'm going to uncover three simple things
0:28.5	that you can do to get customers to buy from you by using language that answers specific questions.
0:33.9	And that translates, by the way, directly into action.
0:42.5	You're listening to the Storybrand podcast based on Donald Miller's bestselling book,
0:49.2	Building a Story Brand. The Story Brand framework is made up of seven key elements. All of them anchored in one powerful idea. Your customer is the hero, and you are their guide. Each week on the podcast,
0:56.4	you'll get exactly what you need to craft clear messaging that connects with more customers
1:00.6	and grows your business. Now let's dive in with your host, Donald Miller.
1:10.5	You're listening to this podcast, you know exactly why I think the real reason most businesses fail.
1:15.0	It is because your message is confusing.
1:18.3	And every once in a while, I just want to come back to that idea on this podcast and give you another view of it,
1:23.8	give you another understanding of it, and give you practical tools that you can use
1:27.7	to make sure you are not confusing your customers. Listen, this is the hardest thing to do. I always say
1:33.3	that, you know, clarifying your message is something I can do for every company except my own.
1:38.7	It's hard for me to do it for story brand because I'm just so close to it. It's called the
1:43.2	curse of knowledge. That's a phrase that Leila Fever uses in his book, The Art of Explanation. He talks about the fact that you're so close to your product that you're cursed with knowledge that your customer doesn't have and you're projecting that knowledge onto the customer. And so you're talking over their heads. That's one thing. You're talking over the heads. The next thing that we do that kills our businesses is we try to sound smart or sophisticated.
2:04.9	This is almost always a mistake to try to sound smart and sophisticated. Whenever, you know,
	...

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