Absolutely. With the actual Demand-Side Sales contents, I would rewrite Step 2 so the book teaches the perspective, while the EVUNN toolkit turns that perspective into an executable Buying Situation Profile.

Step 2 — Define the Customer’s Buying Situation

The Problem We’re Solving

“I know who my best-fit customer is, but I don’t understand what makes them decide it’s time to solve their problem.”

A person can have a problem for months or even years without buying anything to solve it.

Something has to change.

They may experience a new responsibility, a failed attempt, an unexpected consequence, a deadline, a growing frustration or a new opportunity.

At some point, their current situation becomes difficult enough that they begin looking for a different way forward.

That moment is important.

Because your customer doesn’t simply buy because a problem exists.

They buy when they become motivated to make progress.

So your job in this step is to understand:

What is happening in the customer’s world that creates a reason to seek a solution?

The EVUNN Mindset Shift

From “My customer has a problem” → “My customer is trying to make progress.”

As an expert, it is easy to look at your customer through the lens of your expertise.

You see:

“They need consulting.”

“They need training.”

“They need a better system.”

“They need coaching.”

But your customer doesn’t experience their world as a service category.

They experience a situation.

They are trying to accomplish something.

They are struggling with something.

They are trying different ways of dealing with it.

And eventually, they may decide:

“I need to do something differently.”

That is the perspective you need to understand.

📖 Recommended Book

Demand-Side Sales

Authors: Bob Moesta & Greg Engle

The Big Idea

Customers are trying to make progress from their current situation to a better one.

Demand-side thinking asks you to understand the customer’s world from their perspective, rather than beginning with what you want to sell.

Instead of asking:

“What service do I provide?”

ask:

“What progress is this customer trying to make, and what is happening that makes change important now?”

This is particularly valuable for an expertise-based business because your expertise can easily make you focus on your solution before understanding the customer’s motivation to change.

What Business Problem Does This Book Solve?

“I know my customer has a problem, but I don’t understand why they decide to do something about it.”

This book helps you understand the difference between:

A problem existing

and

Demand for a solution emerging.

That distinction is critical.

Someone can know they have a problem and still do nothing.

Your objective is to understand what happens between:

“I have this problem.”

and:

“I need to find a solution.”

Should I Read It Now?

YES.

This is the primary book for Step 2.

But don’t read it as a conventional sales book.

You are reading it to develop the ability to see the customer’s situation from the demand side.

As you read, keep asking:

“What makes this customer move from tolerating their current situation to actively seeking change?”

Which Chapters Matter Most?

You do not need to read the entire book before completing this step.

Chapter 1 — Two Perspectives on the World: Supply and Demand

ESSENTIAL

This establishes the fundamental shift between the supplier’s perspective and the customer’s perspective.

Pay particular attention to how demand looks different when you stop asking:

“What am I selling?”

and start asking:

“What is the customer trying to accomplish?”

Chapter 3 — Solving the Customer’s Struggle

ESSENTIAL

This is directly relevant to the EVUNN framework.

Focus on understanding:

• The customer’s current situation

• What they are struggling with

• Why their current approach isn’t sufficient

• What they are trying to change

Your goal is to understand the struggle behind the purchase.

Chapter 4 — Seeing the World Through the Customer’s Eyes

ESSENTIAL

This chapter reinforces the perspective you need throughout the EVUNN roadmap:

Don’t interpret the customer’s problem entirely through your own expertise.

Try to understand what the situation looks and feels like from the customer’s side.

Chapter 7 — Moving from Pushing Products to Creating Pull for Progress

ESSENTIAL

This helps connect customer motivation to demand.

The important lesson for EVUNN is:

Don’t push your solution onto a customer who isn’t ready for change. Understand the progress they are already trying to make.

Read Selectively

Chapter 2 — The Frameworks for Demand-Side Selling

Read this for the author’s broader framework.

You don’t need to master the entire sales methodology at this stage.

Take what helps you understand customer demand and move on.

Chapter 5 — Mapping Demand-Side Buying to Supply-Side Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success

Read selectively.

It provides useful context for how customer demand connects with the business’s response.

However, the marketing and sales applications become more relevant later in the EVUNN roadmap.

What Should I Skip For Now?

Chapter 6 — Connecting the Dots Between Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support

Skip for now.

It is more concerned with connecting demand-side thinking across organizational functions.

That isn’t the immediate problem you’re solving.

You can return to it later.

Conclusion / Appendix

Optional.

Don’t let them slow down execution.

Your EVUNN Action

Build Your Customer’s Buying Situation

Return to the Best-Fit Customer Profile you created in Step 1.

Now move from:

“Who is this customer?”

to:

“What is happening when this customer becomes ready to act?”

1. Describe the Current Situation

Ask:

What is happening in this customer’s world before they start looking for a solution?

Describe their actual circumstances.

What are they doing?

How are they currently dealing with the problem?

What are they tolerating?

What isn’t working?

2. Identify What Changes

Ask:

What changes or happens that makes their current situation harder to accept?

Look for events such as:

• A new responsibility

• Business growth

• A failed attempt

• A deadline

• A performance problem

• A financial consequence

• A major transition

• A new opportunity

• Increasing customer complaints

• Increasing workload

• A change in circumstances

You are looking for the event or change that increases the pressure to act.

3. Identify the Customer’s Struggle

Ask:

What becomes difficult for the customer?

Describe the struggle from their perspective, not yours.

Instead of:

“They need strategic consulting.”

write:

“They don’t know which growth opportunity to pursue and are worried about wasting limited resources.”

The second statement describes their experience.

4. Identify the Progress They Want

Ask:

What are they trying to accomplish?

What would they like to be different?

What are they trying to achieve, avoid, change or become?

Remember:

Your service is not the customer’s desired outcome.

The customer may buy consulting.

But they may actually want:

“Confidence that they’re making the right strategic decision.”

5. Identify What They Try Before Buying

Ask:

“What do they do before they seek a solution like mine?”

They might:

• Search online

• Ask colleagues

• Watch videos

• Read books

• Use AI

• Try to solve it themselves

• Hire internally

• Use an existing tool

• Ask a friend

• Ignore the problem

Don’t judge these behaviours.

You are trying to understand the customer’s path toward change.

6. Identify the Trigger

Now ask:

“What happens that makes them start looking for a solution?”

Be specific.

Avoid:

“When they want to improve.”

Instead:

“When their business grows to the point where they can no longer manage client delivery manually and customer complaints begin increasing.”

The more specific the situation, the more useful the insight.

7. Identify the Reason to Change

Ask:

“Why can’t they simply continue doing what they’ve been doing?”

This is different from the trigger.

The trigger may create awareness.

The struggle creates pressure.

The desired progress creates motivation.

But the customer eventually reaches a point where they think:

“The way I’m doing this isn’t working anymore.”

Capture that moment.

Build Your Buying Situation Story

Now connect the pieces:

Current Situation

↓

Change / Trigger

↓

Customer Struggle

↓

Desired Progress

↓

Existing Attempts

↓

Reason to Change

↓

Buying Situation

You are creating a story of how demand emerges.

🧠 EVUNN Mindset Checkpoint

Are you trying to convince instead of understand?

At this stage, you may feel tempted to prove that your offer is needed.

Watch for thoughts such as:

“I already know what they need.”

“I just need to explain my solution better.”

“They should understand the value.”

Stop.

Your job at this stage is not to convince.

It is to understand.

Optional reading

The Mom Test — Rob Fitzpatrick

Use this checkpoint if you notice that you are:

• Leading customers toward answers you want

• Asking hypothetical questions

• Looking for validation instead of truth

• Treating compliments as evidence

• Avoiding difficult customer conversations

This is optional.

Do not interrupt your execution flow unless you actually encounter this resistance.

🔓 EVUNN Execution Toolkit

Buyer Situation Mapper

Don’t guess why customers become ready to buy.

Use the EVUNN Buyer Situation Mapper to map the customer’s current situation, trigger, struggle, desired progress, existing attempts and reason for change so you can identify when and why demand for your solution emerges.

→ 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

Your Step 2 Output

By the end of this step, you should have a:

BUYING SITUATION PROFILE

Containing:

Current Situation
↓
Trigger / Change
↓
Customer Struggle
↓
Desired Progress
↓
Existing Attempts
↓
Reason to Change
↓

Buying Situation

This becomes the input for Step 3.

What You Should Now Know

You started Phase 3 knowing:

Who your best-fit customer is.

You now understand:

What causes that customer to become motivated to seek a solution.

That gives you two critical pieces of the market picture:

WHO

Your Best-Fit Customer

WHEN

Their Buying Situation

But there is still another question.

When they decide:

“I need to solve this.”

they have choices.

They can do nothing.

They can do it themselves.

They can use an existing solution.

They can hire someone else.

They can choose your offer.

So the next question is:

“What would my customer choose instead of my offer?”

NEXT: STEP 3 — IDENTIFY THE ALTERNATIVES

What is my customer comparing my offer against?