Map exactly how customers happen in your business — from first awareness to closed sale — so you can see where to optimize, what to cut, and what to fix.
Most teams ask the wrong question about growth: "How do we get more customers?" The better question is: "How do customers actually happen?" That shift from acquisition tactics to customer process mapping changes everything. You move from chasing volume to understanding the exact sequence of events that must occur for someone to become a customer — and then you can optimize each step.
This playbook guides you through a hands-on method pioneered by Ryan Deiss. You'll start with your business's biggest growth asset (a flagship product or service), map it as a flowchart, then identify where you're losing people, where you're duplicating effort, and where you have untapped potential.
The three examples in this playbook (Mommy Fit, Steam Rocket Software, and Community Dental) show how dramatically different growth engines look depending on your business model. But the method is universal: identify the path, expose gaps, align the team, then iterate.
Before you touch a whiteboard, you need to know what you're working with. Answer these six questions honestly. Don't answer what you wish you had — answer what you actually have and use today.
| Question | Example Answer (Acme Inc Accounting) |
|---|---|
| 1. What are you selling? Core flagship + any upsells you currently offer |
Flagship: Bookkeeping services for small 1099 contractors. Upsell: Tax filing prep. |
| 2. How do qualified prospects find your brand? Channels you're actually using (not wish-list) |
LinkedIn outreach, Google Ads ("bookkeeper for contractors"), referrals from tax accountant partners. |
| 3. How do you leverage content and follow-up? Email, blog, podcast, lead magnets, retargeting |
Weekly email newsletter on contractor tax tips. LinkedIn articles. Google Ads retargeting. |
| 4. What lead magnets do you have? Free tools, guides, checklists that capture email |
"2024 Contractor Tax Deduction Checklist" (PDF, email gate). "Solo Income Tax Worksheet" (spreadsheet). |
| 5. How do prospects micro-commit? Calendar or wallet — webinar, demo, consultation, trial signup |
Free 15-minute bookkeeping consultation call. Scheduled via Calendly. |
| 5. What are your aha moments? The "Tesla launch" moment when they realize value |
First bookkeeping report showing tax-deductible expenses they'd missed. Client says "Oh wow, I qualify for X deduction." |
Write out your answers to all six questions. Use one paragraph or bullet list per question. Be specific—names of tools, actual channels you use, real products you sell. This becomes the reference document for Phase 2.
You can't map everything at once. If you try, you'll end up with a diagram so tangled it's useless. Pick one flagship product or service, and map the path for someone discovering it through one primary channel.
1. Core Product/Service. Which offering brings in the most revenue or shows the most promise? For Acme Inc, it's bookkeeping services. That's what you'll map. (Upsells come later in the flow.)
2. Triggering Event. How do prospects first hear about you? For each channel you identified in Phase 1, write it as a separate starting point. Someone finds you through Google Ads = one triggering event. Someone finds you through a referral = another. In Phase 3, you may end up mapping multiple channels separately, or you may find they converge quickly into the same path.
3. Ending Event. When is the customer "acquired"? Is it when they sign the contract? When they make the first payment? When they receive the first shipment or service? Be precise. For Acme Inc, it's when the first bookkeeping engagement starts (money in, work begins). For a SaaS product with a free trial, it might be when they convert from trial to paid. For consulting, it's when the project kickoff happens.
Write a one-line description for each: your core product, your triggering event(s), and your ending event. Example: "Bookkeeping services. Triggered by Google Ads ('bookkeeper contractors'). Ends when first engagement starts and first invoice is sent."
Core product: IT managed services (MSP) contracts.
Triggering events: Facebook ads + Instagram ads (both run the same landing page).
Ending event: First service agreement signed and onboarding begins.
They also run webinars as a nurture step (after the landing page) but before the demo. The flow is: Ads → Webinar → Demo Request → Sales Call → Close.
This is where the real work happens. You'll need a whiteboard (or Miro board), sticky notes, and a marker. The goal: brainstorm every single task, decision point, and data input that happens between your triggering event and your ending event. Then connect them with arrows.
Terminus (Pill)
Start or end of process
Square (Task)
An action or step
Diamond (Decision)
A fork or condition
Parallelogram (Data)
Input or information
Arrow (Flow)
Connection direction
Loop/Cycle
Repeat until condition
Step 1: Start with sticky notes for triggering events. Write each channel (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Referral, etc.) on its own pill-shaped sticky note and place them at the left side of your whiteboard. These are your starting points.
Step 2: Ask "Then what?" repeatedly. After someone clicks a Facebook ad, what happens next? They land on a page. Sticky note: "Landing Page" (square). Then what? They see an opt-in form. But—it depends. Some people fill it out, others don't. Diamond: "Form Completed?" If yes → email sequence starts. If no → retargeting starts. Keep asking "Then what?" and adding sticky notes until you reach your ending event (sale closed).
Step 3: When you hear "it depends," use a decision diamond. "It depends" is the biggest clue that you've found a fork in the path. Did they buy? Decision. Did they show up to the demo? Decision. Did they have prior objections? Decision. Each diamond produces two paths (or more).
Step 4: Connect with arrows and label decision paths. Arrows show direction. Label each path leaving a diamond: "Yes," "No," "Maybe," etc. This makes the process unambiguous for your team.
A whiteboard (or digital canvas) covered with sticky notes showing:
Mistake 1: Forgetting decision diamonds. "Do they have a budget?" "Is it Q1 or Q4?" "Have they bought from us before?" These conditions create forks. If you skip them, your map will miss critical paths.
Mistake 2: Conflating roles with tasks. "Sales calls sales" is a role, not a task. "Sales schedules discovery call" is a task. Write tasks. Roles come in the stakeholder review.
Mistake 3: Skipping the small stuff. "Send invoice," "customer sets up payment method," "confirmation email goes out" — these feel minor, but they're part of your engine. Include them.
You built the map solo. Now bring in the people who actually execute it. Show them the whiteboard and ask one question: "What are you doing that isn't on this flowchart?"
Three things will surface:
1. Pleasant surprises. Someone will point to a task on the map and say "Oh, we don't actually do that anymore" or "That's working way better than I thought." These are wins you didn't know you had.
2. Orphan activities. "Oh, I spend three hours every week on X, but I don't think it connects to anything on here." Orphan activities are work that's disconnected from your engine. Either integrate them into the flow, or kill them. If something's not connected to customer acquisition, ask: Why are we doing it?
3. Sub-processes and hidden loops. A task on the map might hide a dozen micro-tasks. "Schedule demo" actually means: check calendar availability, send three email options, follow up if no response, add to CRM, and send prep materials. When you zoom in, you'll find loops (follow-ups that repeat until someone responds).
A reviewed and updated flowchart that reflects what your team actually does. Note: You're not changing your process yet—you're just making it visible. The goal is accuracy, not improvement (yet).
Your whiteboard is valuable but temporary. Move it into a digital flowcharting tool so you can share it, modify it, and use it as a reference document for the next 12 months.
Whimsical is the easiest — it has built-in flowchart shapes and a clean interface. Start there if you're new to flowcharting.
Lucidchart (free tier) offers more customization and integrations. It's heavier than Whimsical but more powerful if your process is complex.
Miro if your team is already using it for collaboration. It's less flowchart-optimized but works fine for a process map.
Spend 30 minutes recreating your whiteboard map in one of these tools. Use the same shapes (pill for start/end, square for task, diamond for decision). Label everything clearly. Take a screenshot and share it with your team in Slack or email.
Once you can see the whole flow digitally, look for:
Dead ends. Are there paths that lead nowhere? If someone says "no" to a decision diamond, do they get a follow-up sequence, or do they fall off your radar? Dead ends = lost potential.
Slow steps. Which steps take the longest or convert the least? "Demo scheduling takes 5 emails" or "Demo-to-close is 60 days"? These are optimization targets.
Disconnected efforts. Are you sending nurture emails to people who didn't opt in? Are you retargeting ads to people you've already called? Disconnects create friction and waste spend.
Now pick your three highest-leverage improvements. Don't overhaul everything—just identify the three changes that will have the most impact with the least effort.
Example 1: Fill a dead end. If 20% of demos don't convert to proposals, add a "send proposal" task. Instead of hoping, automate it. That's a win.
Example 2: Speed up a bottleneck. If scheduling a demo takes 5 back-and-forth emails, implement a Calendly link. One click. That's a win.
Example 3: Connect a loop. If you're running retargeting ads to people who've already scheduled a demo, pause those ads and instead send them prep materials. That's a win.
Mommy Fit
Channels: FB/IG/Google Ads → 7-day email challenge (lead magnet) → offer links in emails → sales page → one-time purchase + upsell (monthly plan) → fulfill (workout app access).
Quick win: Add SMS reminder before day 3 of challenge (increase completion rate from 60% to 75%).
Steam Rocket Software
Channels: FB/IG Ads → weekly webinar registration → webinar attendance (micro-commit) → apply form → sales demo → close call → onboarding.
Quick win: Add a "no-show" follow-up for webinar registrants who don't attend (capture 10% of missed attendees as demos).
Community Dental
Channels: FB/IG/Google/Radio Ads → landing page or inbound call → book appointment → teeth whitening service → upsell (aligner plan) → welcome kit + retention.
Quick win: Add automated SMS appointment reminders (reduce no-shows from 12% to 5%).
A digital flowchart of your growth engine + a one-page summary listing your 3 quick wins. Example:
For each quick win, identify one metric you'll track: conversion rate (%), cycle time (days), email open rate (%), demo-to-close (%), or cost per acquisition ($). Pick the metric that changes if your change works. Set a baseline now (before the change), implement the change, then measure 30 days later.
You now have a clear, team-validated map of your growth engine. You know where prospects come in, where they drop off, and where you're duplicating effort. Over the next 90 days, implement your three quick wins in order of impact, measure the results, and repeat. Every quarter, revisit this map. As your business changes, so will your growth engine.
Remember: Optimization happens when you add more sticky notes—but you don't know where to add them until you first know the ones you're working with. Visualize to optimize.