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Your business problem may not be a business problem.
The Estherpreneur Podcast examines what most business conversations miss: the condition of the builder behind the business.
Hosted by Edna Harding, Christ-Centered Business Architect and CEO of Favor & Wealth, this show helps founders identify what is actually limiting growth—strategy, structure, sales, leadership, capacity, identity, stewardship, or spiritual misalignment.
We question business advice that produces growth without wisdom, visibility without capacity, revenue without stewardship, and success at the expense of the person carrying it.
Expect biblical truth, practical business strategy, uncomfortable questions, and conversations about sales, money, leadership, spiritual warfare, emotional maturity, and building in obedience to God.
Because sometimes you don't need another strategy.
You need to identify what is actually out of order.
“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.” — Proverbs 24:3
Estherpreneur.com | FavorandWealth.com | EsthersOil.org
Edna Harding [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Estrepreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week we discuss biblical and practical tips to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and Wealth, where we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light.
Edna Harding [00:00:40]:
Well, hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Estherpreneur Podcast. My name is Edna Harding. In this podcast, we are going to talk about all things business and life God's way. What I love about this podcast is we talk about timeless wisdom and timely methods. So in Season 12 so far, we have discussed a lot of timeless wisdom, but lately the Lord has been telling me to share a bunch of timely methods. So if you didn't listen, if this is your first time listening, listen to the previous 2 episodes because those are actually like what I would call consulting advice that will help you grow your business in a practical way. Obviously, all of the podcast episodes includes timeless wisdom and timely methods, but these past 2 ones I've been very, very practical to help you because I truly believe that God wants to accelerate his people right now.
Edna Harding [00:01:35]:
And you all need wisdom, and God is using me to be one of the vessels to instill wisdom in you so that you can be able to build the thing that God wants you to build. Before we begin, I'm just going to start off with prayer. Father God, I just pray, oh Lord, that as I release your word today, oh God, as I release the insight you have given me, I pray, oh God, that as they put these strategies these into action, oh God, that they will see tangible fruits. Holy Spirit, we welcome you in this conversation. We pray, oh God, that you will penetrate deep down into the spirits of your people and set them free, Lord, once and for all, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. All right, so today's episode, we're going to talk about understanding your audience's motivation. Why do people actually buy? Okay, we talked about the mind of the buyer, but then we're also now going to go into another layer, which is why do people buy? Okay.
Edna Harding [00:02:34]:
So many entrepreneurs believe people buy because of the offer. They think the reason someone says yes is because the program is good or the price is right or the timing works, but that's not actually the main reason people buy. Buy because of what motivates them. Okay. So two people can look exactly the same, look at and look at exactly the same offer and respond completely different. So one person will immediately say yes and another hesitates. Is anybody married in the house? Okay, my husband and I are completely the opposite. For me, I make decisions right away.
Edna Harding [00:03:12]:
He doesn't. He takes forever to make a decision. I love you, honey, but I remember— oh my gosh, this funny story— we went to, um, when we were both still single, we're both still dating, I was looking for a washer, he was looking for a dryer, maybe it was the opposite. Both our washer and dryers broke. Okay, well, one of them. Like, it was weird. I had the washer, he had a dryer. And anyway, long story short, we weren't married yet.
Edna Harding [00:03:33]:
He took— he looked at 5 different places to find a dryer, and I just went to one place and I bought a washer. Okay, that's the difference between me and him. The same thing with your buyers. Okay, you have— there's two— you're talking to different individuals. And this is the key, right? I don't care what kind of gurus tell you, there isn't only one method to close the sale. Okay, this is why I love focusing on personality types, not only just from the salesperson, different personality tests that they have, but also different personality types of your audience. Okay. So when I talk about me, when I do sales training, sales consulting, I don't just talk about like generic stuff.
Edna Harding [00:04:15]:
I personalize it to the sales rep or to the entrepreneur, to the CEO, whoever's selling the product or service. And then I also personalize it to their target audience, the kind, the typical personality type that they may have for that type of business. Okay. So, Let's get back to what we talked about earlier. So two people can look at the same exact offer and respond completely different. And, you know, the difference is not the offer. The difference is their motivation. So if you don't understand what motivates your audience, your marketing will always feel harder than it needs to be.
Edna Harding [00:04:51]:
So let's start with this simple truth. First of all, people don't buy products. Okay, they don't buy products. And they don't buy people either. I know they hear, you hear this a lot, a lot of marketing gurus saying they don't buy their products, okay? They don't, you know, they buy people. No, that's not true, okay? Because how many of you guys are really good friends with a sales rep? They're really awesome. They're really kind. They're really nice.
Edna Harding [00:05:15]:
You don't hate them, but you still don't buy from them. So I'm sorry, that's a lie, okay? That's not true. What people do is they buy progress towards something they value, and different people value different things, okay? So there was research around founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals, and they have identified 13 core motivations that drive work, okay, and career decisions, and this also includes decisions on what they purchase, right? So understanding these motivations can completely change how you communicate. So let's walk through some common ones, and I want you guys to think about your product and service and ask yourself, does this product or service help them do this? Okay. So the first is what I call financial gain, and financial gain is basically when people are strongly motivated by money. They want their work to produce significant financial results. Okay. And when someone with this motivation is evaluating your offer, they're asking a simple question.
Edna Harding [00:06:23]:
Okay. Will this help me increase my income? Okay. And if your messaging never speaks to results, growth, or opportunity, you will lose these buyers. Okay. So ask yourself, is the majority of your audience, and that's the thing is you want to understand. So for me, for example, I was talking to a client and I was asking this person, well, what is it if you, if, if like the perfect environment for yourself, for your business, what would it look like? And this person said, I only want to work a short amount of time and I still want to make, I want to make a lot of money. And so my point is you ask specific questions to find out what motivates them. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:07:04]:
All right. And then, so once I found out what motivates this person, then I just start talking about content and, and basically conversations that focuses on results, focuses on growth, focuses on opportunity, because I know this person wants financial results. But also the second motivation that this person has is autonomy. There are people who want freedom. They want control over their time. They want control over the decisions and how they work. And this audience is drawn to what? Independence, ownership, flexibility. And so when you know this person that you're talking to is into that, you need to talk about that in your messaging, which is why I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all type of conversation.
Edna Harding [00:07:47]:
Okay. Obviously the goal for any type of cold outreach is to generate a one-on-one conversation. Okay. And it really starts with actually having a conversation, right? A conversation doesn't sound like you selling them something when you don't even know them, right? That is the worst thing you could do, right? I remember when I— so funny— when I started dating my husband, and he'll tell you this, I, I was so like boss mode. Like I was just so driven. I wanted to be top sales, all this stuff. And we were on a date and I started selling him some engineered, like, basically maintenance systems for the government, for the helicopter. And I was asking him all these things, and I didn't realize that I was doing that.
Edna Harding [00:08:27]:
And he told me, like, years later, hey, you know, you're trying to sell me something. I was like, I did? I was like, I don't remember that. But the point is, like, have the conversation so you could find out what motivates that person. Okay, so the first one we talked about was what? Income. The second one was freedom. The third motivation is security. And these are really for people who are motivated by stability. They want predictable income.
Edna Harding [00:08:53]:
They want reliable systems and they want reduced risk. And these are the folks that are the analyticals typically. Okay. So for them, the appeal of your offer may be safety, maybe structure, and definitely clarity. Okay. Is this helping anybody? I hope this is. Okay. Another powerful motivation is recognition.
Edna Harding [00:09:14]:
And these individuals are motivated by appreciation, by acknowledgement. They want their efforts to be seen and valued. So when they buy something, they're often drawn to opportunities that allow them to grow their visibility or reputation. Some people are into that. Some people are a little vain, and that's okay. That's who they are, okay? Then there are also people who are motivated by intellectual challenge. So these are the learners, okay? They want to master new skills. They want to solve interesting problems.
Edna Harding [00:09:46]:
They want to expand their knowledge. So if your offers promises growth and mastery, they will pay attention. Now, if you listen to all of these, I'm like, mind you, I know I'm going to go over 13, but I want you to really think yourself, and you probably need to listen to this episode multiple times. Um, you really need to think yourself, okay, if, if, if my product, for example, is challenging people intellectually, you probably need to focus on a target audience that cares about an intellectual challenge. You're not going to care about You shouldn't target people who are not interested in learning something new and just want everything to be the same. Do you understand how much time this saves? Once you understand your product offering, what it does for people, and then you find people who are motivated by the outcome of the product you are selling. I hope you guys are hearing me. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:10:40]:
And if you don't understand, please, please, please join my Business Unlimited program. We could go in depth. You could hire me one-on-one. I don't care, but get the help you need. Okay. Stop trying to fix this. The one where you're like trying to fix it yourself. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:10:55]:
Hire an expert. Hire me to help you do this. We'll knock it out and we'll identify, give you a clear strategy and a clear next step so that you can move behind, past that hurdle. All right. So then another motivation is lifestyle. Okay. Some people want their work to support a certain way of living. So they value time with family, they value travel, they value flexibility.
Edna Harding [00:11:17]:
Responsibility, and then they also value personal freedom. And so your offer becomes attractive when it aligns with the life they want to build. So these are people who are motivated by, like, influence. These individuals want to lead, they want to guide, they want to impact others, they want to shape decisions and drive change. Okay, and so these are— these should be offers that position them as leaders or expand their influence. So that it's compelling to them. Does that make sense? So these, I would say, are probably like your celebrities. These are people, influencers, maybe authors, speakers, those who care about their personal brand.
Edna Harding [00:11:56]:
Okay. So in order for you to find these people and sell these people, you need to ensure that your product is somehow increasing their lifestyle. Okay. Their way of living. Okay. Their perception, right? Like, I remember one of my mentors a while, long time ago, he— I was learning from him. He said, it's all about presentation. If you're, if you are targeting the rich folks, you have to present yourself in a way that you're exclusive, that you're not easily accessible.
Edna Harding [00:12:26]:
Like they care about that perception, right? Like, okay, this is going to make my lifestyle so like seductive and so forth. Right. And so my point is like, you have to cater to that person who cares about those things. All right, let's go on. Okay. Then some people are deeply motivated by altruism. So they want their work to improve the lives of others. They want impact.
Edna Harding [00:12:49]:
And when you show your offer helps them serve people better, they become interested. Now here's the most important part. Okay. That I want you guys to get. Your audience is rarely motivated by only one thing. Most of the time your people, and mind you, there's 13 of them. So the other one's affiliation. By the way, guys, the book is called The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by Noam Wasserman.
Edna Harding [00:13:20]:
So this comes from an associate professor of Harvard Business School. This is a great book to look into. Okay, so the first thing is affiliation, and then, mind you, I'm going to go over this real quickly, and I'm going to go back to what we were saying earlier, because I just— knowing my audience, I know there are some of you who want to know Well, you only went over 5. I want to know all 13. Okay, so here we go. The first one is affiliation. These are people who want to feel a sense of belonging and their colleagues that they enjoy, who is just as important as what to them. Okay, then we talked about altruism, autonomy, we talked about that, financial gain, we talked about that already, intellectual challenge.
Edna Harding [00:14:02]:
So I want to work with— oh yeah, we talked about that as well. These are people who pushes you, who wants to be pushed to solve problems and master intriguing new skills. Okay, we talked about lifestyle. Here's another one: managing people. They want to be responsible and direct other people and employees. There's also positioning. They think long-term and value people and opportunities that position them for their next move. Okay, some people are motivated by power and influence.
Edna Harding [00:14:31]:
They want to talk about, you know, making important decisions that will affect a lot of people and things. There's some people who are motivated by prestige, so they desire that high recognition and respects, usually through some sort of an affiliation with an organization. Some people value recognition. They want the opportunity to win praise and be appreciated for their hard work. Then we talked about security earlier, where they want predictable income, benefits, and future work. And then last but not least, a variety. They like to mix tasks and do activities that are enjoyable. So some people like to not do— so I have a client right now, who she doesn't like doing all one thing, like she gets bored.
Edna Harding [00:15:15]:
And so she likes doing numerous things. She doesn't like a lot of structure. She likes more a lot of creativity, right? And so what I love about my program is I know this. I know that all my entrepreneurs are different. They have different personality types. And the fact that I have done this Business Unlimited program with hundreds of people, I've learned what works, what doesn't work. I could kind of see just from the experience that I've had over these 12 years, like what motivates individuals, and I customize and I personalize my program to these individuals so that they will stay motivated and they will finish the program. Okay, and now for those of you guys who just heard all 13, you're welcome, I did that for you guys.
Edna Harding [00:15:56]:
Okay, so let's back to what I was saying. Most people have 2 or 3 motivations that drive their decisions, and this is why the same message does not resonate with everyone. So some people will hear freedom, others will hear impact, others will hear opportunity, and each of them will respond on differently. And that is why understanding your audience matters so much. One of the things that I like to do whenever I do speak at events is I speak with the host, and if it's— I'm the one hosting the event, I send like a questionnaire when they register, and I ask preliminary questions on what stage of business they are, what are their questions. You could ask preliminary questions so that when you're speaking to your audience, And when you're speaking to your, your like potential prospect one-on-one, you have an idea on how to speak to them. So you could cater your sales talk to what their most pressing need is, right? What they're looking for. Do you understand? And like, for example, finding out what frustrates them.
Edna Harding [00:16:59]:
And because when you understand what frustrates them, then you can ensure that when you're speaking to them, you're able to speak things, speak in a way that doesn't frustrate them. You're gonna be able to speak in a way that is the opposite of frustrating them, which is basically pleasing them and making sure that they feel heard, they feel seen, they feel understood, they feel safe. Okay? So when you finally understand what motivates your audience, your messaging then becomes clearer. You stop describing only what your offer does, but you start speaking to why it matters. So instead of saying this program teaches business strategy, you might say something like, well, this program helps you build a business that supports the life you want, a life where you can travel all the time and not have to worry about money, not have to worry about, you know, residual income, not have to worry about bills ever again. Or this program equips you to grow your influence and serve people at a higher level. This program gives you the systems that create a predictable income. So that's for me, that's one of the things I use is gives you the systems that you need to create predictable revenue.
Edna Harding [00:18:16]:
And this is actually very aligned with biblical wisdom. Okay. You're like, what? What does that have to do with biblical wisdom? Well, let me tell you, my friends, because Proverbs 16:23 says the heart of the wise makes your speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to your lips. Wise communication considers the heart of the listener. It speaks to in a way that connects with the people's values, right? The people's values. So it's not manipulation. It's what I call understanding. Jesus did it constantly.
Edna Harding [00:18:49]:
Okay, so when he spoke to fishermen, he spoke about nets. When he spoke to farmers, he spoke about seeds. When he spoke to leaders, he spoke about stewardship. Do you guys understand? Do you guys see that? He understood the motivations and language of the people he was speaking to, and that is the invitation for us as well. So here's something I want you guys to do this week. Think about your best clients, okay? Your best clients. Ask yourself 3 questions. What motivates them most? Okay.
Edna Harding [00:19:19]:
Is it freedom? Is it impact? Is it money, right? Is it recognition? Right? Is it growth? What are they really hoping their work will give them? What are they really hoping working with you will give them? And how can you— can your message connect more clearly with that motivation? Because what happens is when your message aligns to what people deeply care about, something powerful happens. Okay? Your marketing then stops feeling like persuasion and it starts feeling like This resonates with me. Okay. People will then recognize themselves in what you say. And then that recognition is often the first step towards a yes. Okay. I want to give you 3 simple steps you can take this week. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:20:08]:
You want to ask yourself these questions for the people you already have. Why did they originally say yes? What did they hope would change in their life or business? What did they value most about working with you? Because when you understand what drove their decision, you can then speak into those motivations more intentionally in your marketing. Because for example, some people are motivated by freedom, some people are motivated by impact, others are motivated by financial growth. You'll notice patterns. So for one thing I've learned from my previous client was that they want just one or two things for them to do. They don't want to do like 50 things. 'cause they get overwhelmed. They just want one or two things.
Edna Harding [00:20:51]:
Okay. It makes it feasible, especially if they're already stressed out. Okay. Number 2, listen to the language your audience uses. Your audience is constantly telling you what matters to them. So you have to listen and you have to pay attention to the words people use in conversations and comments and emails or discovery calls. Pay attention to them. This is why I love recording discovery calls.
Edna Harding [00:21:15]:
Because it helps you understand, kind of look back like, okay, I could have done that better, or I could have said that better, or this worked, that worked, you know. And I also learned from those that did work, like, what did I do differently, right? Do they talk about feeling overwhelmed and wanting simplicity? Do they talk about wanting more time with their family? Do they talk about wanting their work to make a bigger impact? Because those words Reveal motivation. Again, find those best clients and ask those questions and find people who have the same motivation and then close them like the way you did the first ones, right? Because when, when you mirror the language your audience already uses, your message then becomes instantly more relatable, right? Okay. And the third tip for us is you want to adjust your messaging so that it reflects different motivation. Because once you understand what drives your audience, you could then now experiment— experiment— experiment with how you present your offer. So you could be selling one program, but then you could speak about it from different motivational angles. So for example, to someone motivated by lifestyle, you could emphasize freedom and flexibility. To someone motivated by financial gain, you might emphasize growth and opportunity.
Edna Harding [00:22:36]:
And to someone motivated by, you know, impact, you could emphasize how their will serve others. It's the same offer, but different motivations, which is why you want people to tell you what they're motivated by. And if you don't know, just pay attention, listen to their conversations. They don't have to tell you, just listen and you could tell them. So I could tell you that one of my clients loves spending time with their grandkids. You know, they love making their customers happy. And the third, their reputation. Those things are important to them.
Edna Harding [00:23:07]:
So I want to ensure that everything I do, like, creates, adds value to their values, right? It, it helps them reach those values or those goals even more. All right. I know I said a lot and you might, like I said, you might listen to this a couple of times, but just understanding what motivates them, understanding how to speak that so that it addresses those things that motivates them. This is truly going to help you grow your business, help you close more business, help you connect with your audience even more. And just remember guys that Everything we need, it's already been given to us. All we have to do is receive it and have access. I ask God for wisdom and access to that wisdom that's instilled in us, because he will never give you anything you can't handle. So I don't know if you guys are having any deals right now that you need help negotiating, you need help brainstorming.
Edna Harding [00:24:01]:
One of the things that I offer is I offer a VIP day, or what I call my Show Me What You Got. So if you just have— if you just want to talk with me, for half a day or one day and strategize over something. You don't have to do anything long-term. You could do something short-term and be able to get the results you need and want. All right, guys. Well, my friends, I hope this bless you, help this encourage you, and I'll talk to you guys next time. Take care. Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur.
Edna Harding [00:24:30]:
Make sure to visit our website, favorandwealth.com, for more information on our services. While you're at it, if you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes, or if you simply tell a friend about the show, that would help me out too. Also check out my book, The Ugly Side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share 7 of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.