PROBLEM: I understand the problem, but I don't fully understand what it's like to experience it.
To find a profitable problem to solve, you must understand what it is like to experience the problem
STEP 3: DEVELOPING EMPATHY
I would make Step 4 the bridge between the desired outcome and the actual design of the offer.
The key distinction is:
Step 3 = Where does the customer want to get to?
Step 4 = What has to happen to get them there?
Step 5 = What will I actually offer to help them get there?
So I would write it like this:
Step 4 — Map The Transformation
The Problem We’re Solving
“I know the outcome my customer wants, but I don’t know how to map the journey that gets them there.”
In Step 3, you defined the customer’s desired outcome.
You now know:
Where the customer wants to go.
But a desirable outcome isn’t a transformation by itself.
If your customer is currently struggling with a problem and wants a meaningful result, something has to happen between those two points.
They may need to:
change a behaviour
learn something
make a decision
overcome an obstacle
complete a series of actions
adopt a new process
build a capability
change how they approach the problem
Your job now is to understand the sequence of change.
The EVUNN Mindset Shift
From “What Am I Selling?” → “What Transformation Must Happen?”
Experts often jump straight from:
“My customer has this problem.”
to:
“I’ll sell them six coaching sessions.”
or:
“I’ll create a course.”
But that starts with your delivery format.
EVUNN takes a different approach.
First ask:
“What has to change for this customer to achieve the outcome?”
Then:
“What does the customer need to do, learn, decide, stop, start or accomplish along the way?”
Only after you understand that journey should you decide how your expertise should be packaged and delivered.
What Is A Transformation Journey?
A transformation journey maps the movement from:
Current State → Desired State
But don’t simply list your service modules.
For example, this is not a transformation roadmap:
Module 1 → Module 2 → Module 3 → Module 4
That’s your curriculum.
Instead, map what changes for the customer:
Unclear about what to sell
↓
Identifies a specific customer problem
↓
Develops a relevant solution
↓
Builds confidence in the solution
↓
Creates a compelling offer
↓
Gets the offer into the market
↓
Achieves the desired outcome
The journey should describe customer progress, not simply what you teach or deliver.
Your EVUNN Action
Map The Customer’s Transformation
Start with the Customer Outcome you defined in Step 3.
Then work backwards and forwards to understand what has to happen.
1. Define The Starting Point
Where is the customer today?
Describe their actual situation.
Avoid vague statements like:
“They need help.”
Instead:
“They rely almost entirely on referrals and don’t have a consistent way to generate qualified leads.”
2. Define The Desired State
Take the outcome from Step 3.
What does the customer’s situation look like when the desired outcome has been achieved?
3. Identify The Major Obstacles
Ask:
“What is preventing the customer from getting there already?”
List the major barriers.
These could be:
knowledge gaps
skill gaps
uncertainty
lack of resources
behavioural barriers
poor processes
wrong assumptions
decision-making problems
4. Identify The Necessary Changes
For each obstacle, ask:
“What needs to change for this obstacle to be overcome?”
This is where the transformation starts becoming actionable.
5. Identify The Milestones
What meaningful progress points should the customer reach along the journey?
For example:
Current State
↓
Problem Clearly Defined
↓
Solution Chosen
↓
New Capability Developed
↓
New Behaviour Adopted
↓
Desired Outcome Achieved
The milestones will depend entirely on the problem and outcome you’re working with.
6. Identify The Customer’s Required Actions
Ask:
“What does the customer actually have to do?”
This is important for expertise-based businesses.
Your customer isn’t transformed simply because you teach them something.
They may need to:
make decisions
implement a process
talk to customers
practise a skill
change a behaviour
create something
test something
adopt a new system
Your transformation roadmap should make this visible.
7. Identify Where Your Expertise Creates Value
Now bring your expertise into the journey.
Ask:
“Where can my expertise help the customer move from one milestone to the next?”
This is where your solution begins to become a real transformation mechanism.
The Transformation Roadmap
Your completed roadmap should look something like:
Current State
Where the customer is now.
↓
Obstacle 1
What is preventing progress?
↓
Milestone 1
What needs to change?
↓
Obstacle 2
What prevents the next step?
↓
Milestone 2
↓
Obstacle 3
↓
Milestone 3
↓
Desired Outcome
Where the customer wants to arrive.
The number of stages should not be predetermined.
Don’t force every business into a five-step or seven-step transformation.
The customer journey determines the structure.
A Critical Distinction
Transformation ≠ Delivery
This is particularly important for your audience.
Suppose you’re a consultant.
You might deliver:
4 consulting sessions.
That’s your delivery structure.
The transformation might be:
Unclear strategy → clear strategic priorities → validated direction → execution plan.
Your four sessions should be designed around that transformation, not the other way around.
Likewise, a coach might deliver:
12 coaching sessions.
But the customer transformation might be:
Lack of confidence → clear decision → new behaviour → measurable result.
The delivery format comes later.
Your Step 4 Deliverable
By the end of this step, you should have a:
Customer Transformation Roadmap
Containing:
1. Current State
Where the customer starts.
2. Desired State
Where they want to end.
3. Major Obstacles
What prevents progress.
4. Transformation Milestones
What needs to change along the way.
5. Customer Actions
What the customer must do.
6. Your Intervention Points
Where your expertise can help.
7. Evidence of Progress
How you’ll know the customer is moving forward.
Your Phase 2 Master Offer Blueprint
You now have:
Validated Problem
↓
Most Promising Solution
↓
Problem–Solution Fit
↓
Customer Outcome
↓
Customer Transformation Roadmap
This is a major milestone.
You now understand not only what you’re solving, but also what transformation your eventual offer needs to help create.
🔓 EVUNN Execution Toolkit
Transformation Roadmap Journey
Turn the customer’s current situation and desired outcome into a clear journey of transformation.
The EVUNN Transformation Roadmap Journey helps you identify the obstacles, milestones, customer actions and points where your expertise can create meaningful progress.
→ Unlock The Toolkit
One Payment. All Stage 1 Toolkits. Yours For Life.
No monthly subscription. No recurring fees. Just the tools you need to execute.
→ Unlock All Stage 1 Execution Toolkits
What Should I Learn Next?
You now know:
The problem → the solution → the fit → the outcome → the transformation.
But you still haven’t defined exactly what you’re going to sell.
The next step is where you turn the transformation into a concrete offer.
Step 5 — Design The Offer
The question we’re now trying to answer:
“What exactly should I offer to help this customer achieve this transformation?”
Now your expertise, solution and transformation journey come together to form the foundation of your actual offer.
To understand their experience, use Book 3. Title: Practical Empathy
Author: Indi Young
Time Investment: 5+ hours (Audiobook)
Listen to Audiobook with Audible free trial |Buy at the Bookshop
The Big Idea from Practical Empathy
Empathy helps you move beyond assumptions and develop a deeper understanding of how people experience problems, situations, what they do, and what matters to them.
For an expert, this is a critical shift. Your expertise tells you what you think the problem is. Empathy helps you understand the problem from their perspective.
What Does this Book Help you Achieve?
Practical Empathy helps you:
Listen without immediately interpreting
Understand people’s experiences more deeply
Separate what people actually say from your assumptions
Make sense of what you hear
Identify patterns across people’s experiences
Use those insights to improve what you create
The goal isn’t to become better at selling.
It’s to become better at understanding.
Should I Read it Now?
YES.
You’ve already explored:
Step 1: What problems might exist?
Step 2: Why might people want to solve them?
Now you need to understand: What is this experience actually like for the person living through it?
Which Chapters Matter Most for me Now?
Chapter 2: Empathy Brings Balance (Essential)
Understand what empathy actually means and why it matters when making decisions about customers.
Chapter 3: Put Empathy to Work (Essential)
Learn how empathy can become part of how you investigate and understand problems.
Chapter 4: A New Way to Listen (Essential)
This is one of the most important chapters for this stage.
Learn to listen to someone’s experience without immediately jumping to solutions, advice or conclusions.
Chapter 5: Make Sense of What You Heard (Essential)
Find out how to process and deepen your understanding of what people tell you.
Chapter 6: Apply Empathy to What You Create (Essential)
Understand how patterns in people’s experiences can influence what you eventually create.
Chapter 1: Business Is Out of Balance (Read this chapter for context only)
It explains why relying only on numbers and analytical thinking can leave important parts of the customer experience invisible.
Skip Chapters 7–9 for now
They focus more heavily on applying empathy within workplaces and organizations.
Listen to Audiobook with Audible free trial | Buy at the Bookshop
Your Step 3 Outcome
By the end of this step, you should have:
A deeper understanding of the experience behind each problem of the 3 problems generated in step 1
A clearer distinction between what you know and what you’re assuming
Initial insight into what people think, feel and do
A better understanding of their frustrations and desired outcomes
A list of questions you still need to investigate with real people
Notice what hasn’t happened yet:
You haven’t validated the problems yet. That’s intentional.
You’ve developed empathy, but empathy based on your own reflection is still not enough.
The next step takes you deeper.
Ready to Put Empathy into Practice?
Ready to Put Empathy into Practice?Reading about empathy is not the same as practising it.
The EVUNN Customer Empathy Toolkit gives you a structured way to examine the problem from the customer’s perspective and separate evidence from assumptions.
One Payment. For All EVUNN Stage 1 toolkits.
What Should I Learn Next?
You now have a better understanding of the customer’s experience.
But there’s another question:
What are they actually trying to accomplish?
A customer may describe a problem, but the problem itself isn’t always the real objective.
They may be trying to make progress toward something bigger.
Step 4: Jobs-to-Be-Done
You’ll move from: Understanding their experience to understanding the progress they’re actually trying to make.
