The Step Change Blog

Meeting a customer need is the baseline. It keeps you in the game — but it won’t guarantee you win it.

You can deliver exactly what you promised and still see customers drift away. Not because you’re doing anything wrong, but because there are other, quieter needs shaping their decisions and they’re going unmet.

And here’s the kicker: more than 90% of unhappy customers never complain. They don’t tell you what’s missing. They just leave, often for a competitor who spotted the gap first.

That’s the silent churn — the invisible drain on revenue and loyalty. If you want to stay ahead, you need to look past the obvious needs you’re already meeting and spot the opportunities your competitors haven’t.

Here’s how to find them.

Insight: Many established businesses miss growth opportunities hiding in plain sight — unmet customer needs in their niche that competitors are failing to address.

Data: Poor customer experiences cost businesses up to $3.8 trillion globally. (Decisions Studio)

What’s the step change: Learn where competitors are dropping the ball, and create add-ons, services, or experiences that customers didn’t even realise they were missing… until you delivered them. 

Not all opportunities are created equal. You will find that some are worth saying yes to — they advance your business and your career growth. But saying yes all the time can be unhealthy.

Where do marketing budgets go to die? In spreadsheets? Maybe. Boardrooms? Bingo.

Not because the idea’s bad. But because the story behind the spend doesn’t stack up.

So how do you build a case that wins hearts, minds, and money without setting fire to your budget?

At the Outsmart vs Outspend Masterclass, marketing and growth heavyweights Ashton Bishop, Marc Johnstone, Matthew Bywater, and Sam Musgrave dropped five moves that separate the growth-savvy from the budget-burners.

Steal them. Use them. Scale smarter.

How many emails do you get in a day? Did you get a notification just now? And is that a pop-up on the corner of your screen?

With so much competing for our attention, it’s no wonder our brains lean on quick mental shortcuts just to make it through the day. Otherwise, it’s impossible to sift through the flood, simplify decisions, and manage cognitive overload.

For businesses, this chaotic landscape is both a puzzle and a goldmine. How do you cut through the noise and truly connect with people?

In this exclusive interview with influence pioneer, author, and psychologist Dr Robert Cialdini, we unpack “Pre-Suasion” and how it reshapes the way businesses captivate, engage, and earn trust.

Watch the full interview and get candid with “Pre-Suasion” and “Influence” author Dr Robert Cialdini here.

Let’s face it— we’re in a marketing battleground. Your business is only one of the hundreds or even thousands competing for your customer’s attention. If your goal is to win the war for attention, you need to differentiate yourself in a way that actually matters to your customers.

While this sounds obvious, it’s not. All too often, businesses assume they understand what is important for their customers.

It’s easy to think that marketing and sales are completely different functions of a business. But both share a common denominator of engaging customers and integrating the value you offer into their lives. 

That said, every business needs customers. Not just any customer, though — but ones you can serve and who can get behind your product or service offering. When done right, sales-informed marketing can be a catalyst in delivering more qualified customers and optimising a customer journey that makes them stay and buy more. But with the nuances of sales and marketing, how do you know which aspects are relevant to the other? This is where the Funnel Metrics tool comes in.

Insight: When marketing and sales come together, they deliver the right customers suitable for businesses to thrive.

Data: Organisations with a service level agreement (SLA) between marketing and sales are three times as likely to be effective. (Hubspot)

Key Action Point: Utilise the Funnel Metrics to master the key pieces of information needed to align marketing with sales efforts and deliver more qualified customers.

WATCH: Let Step Change CEO Ashton Bishop walk you through the Funnel Metrics tool.

Online stores are heightening the competitive space for brick-and-mortar retailers. What was once solely a problem for book stores is now becoming a problem even for giant big-box companies: people are buying all of their products online.

People, especially the younger generations, are finding less of a need to go to a physical store because they can shop from the comforts of their own home. This is a big problem for retail stores — or a great opportunity to deliver a superior customer experience.  

If great strategic thinkers like Anita Roddick, Jean Nidetch, and Mother Teresa would run your business, how would they transform your customers into raving fans?