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Home/Podcast/Why Your Leads Dry Up (And What to Fix First)
Episode #9

Why Your Leads Dry Up (And What to Fix First)

Leads dry up because you chase tactics built for problems you don't have yet. Start by mapping the exact moments your customers think about your solution.

May 13, 202613 min

Key takeaways

  • Identify your category entry points before investing in any lead tactic: ask new customers exactly when they first thought about your type of solution.
  • Map the situation, not the solution: your potential customer thinks about the problem first and your category second, so describe the situation in your content.
  • Use those trigger moments to structure your website and content, not your service features.
  • Talking about your expertise out loud, in video or conversation, sharpens your message faster than writing alone because it forces real-time clarity.
  • Free lead tactics work when the foundation is solid. Without a clear category entry point, no funnel closes the gap.
  • Timestamps

    00:00Why lead advice fails before you're ready for it
    01:07The viral giveaway problem: video review pages
    03:27The real problem: missing the fundamentals
    05:12The plumber example: how buying decisions actually start
    06:36Category entry points: the question to ask every new customer
    08:46Byron Sharp and how to use category entry points in content
    10:13Why language is the most important missing piece
    11:48Why repetition sharpens your message over time

    Read the blog article

    Why Do My Leads Dry Up? The Category Entry Point Answer

    Show notes

    Why lead tactics fail before the fundamentals are in place

    Most viral lead advice promotes solutions that work at a specific stage of business growth. Video review pages, assessment funnels and free PDF giveaways are real assets, but they solve problems you may not have yet. In this episode, Paul Veth explains why chasing those tactics creates noise instead of leads, and what to do first.

    Category entry points: the actual starting point

    Category entry points are the specific situations in which a potential customer's mind moves toward your type of solution. Paul credits the framework to Byron Sharp. The plumber example makes it concrete: when a pipe leaks at 6pm with a full house, no one thinks about brand preference, they think "I need a plumber." Your job is to know your equivalent of that leaking pipe.

    How to find your category entry points

    • Ask new customers: at what moment did you think about our kind of solution?
    • Identify where customers are physically or mentally at that moment.
    • Map those locations and situations as potential partnership or content opportunities.
    • Build your website structure and content around those trigger moments, not around your service features.

    Why talking about it sharpens the message

    Paul makes the case that articulating your category entry points out loud, in video, in conversation, over and over, is how the message gets sharper. Not sharper for the sake of polish, but sharper because it connects faster with the right person at the right moment.

    What this means for your marketing

    Before you run an assessment page or build a review funnel, you need the language. That means knowing what situation triggers the thought of your solution, being able to describe that situation in your customer's words, and showing up consistently in content that reflects those moments. Everything else is optimization on top of that foundation.

    Topics

    category entry pointslead generation fundamentalsByron Sharp marketingwhy leads dry upexpert marketingcontent strategybuying triggersentity marketingcustomer languageidentity first marketing

    Full transcript

    View full transcript
    0:00
    0Your leads dry up because you listen to the wrong advice. And I understand this because I know your situation. You have to understand that a lot of people trying to help you, but they try to give you a solution for a problem you don't have yet. And because you don't have that problem yet and you think you have that problem, they can sell a solution that's not working for you. I will give you an easy example.
    0:37
    0There is a lot of rumor going on about the giveaways, the free giveaways on LinkedIn, for example. Where you've got the nice post and they tell you, okay, this one page is giving me the most revenue. If you have this page, I I'm sure you will have the best revenue in years. You will grow immediately. It's crazy if you only have this page.
    1:07
    0So you got hyped up hyped up. And then you have to react underneath that post with the word page or leads or give me, I don't know, something. And you receive the message with the funnel and you get all hyped up and then they are going to tell you what kind of pages it it is. And this page, it's it's an existing page and it works in the right time, but not for you. This page is like the review page, the video review page.
    1:40
    0And they tell you, I've got 5,100, 150 videos here from all my happy customers and it gives me the most revenue. And that might be true for that person who built the video reviews not for the review page. He or she built it in another way and then selected all of them in the video page and then they use it to create more buzz around it and they get customers very easy and they get more reviews. That's how it works. And yes, he or she is right, you have that problem because your video review page is not optimized.
    2:25
    0I know this. I understand this. So they are telling you you have a problem and you're looking at your own website and you're like, yeah, I don't have that page and probably that's a problem. No, it's not. Not yet.
    2:39
    0Yeah. It's a great asset but it's not the solution you need at this moment. And it's the same for people who say, okay, yeah, but I understand the video review page is working, it's amazing, but what you what you also need is like the assessment page. And I'm totally into assessments. It's really helping me as well.
    3:00
    0Assessments are great. And again, when you take a look at your website, you maybe have some assessment somewhere on your page, on your home page hidden or maybe in a pop up and it's not working. So this person is making the post, hyping you up again. Okay. If you do it like this, you will have the free leads all the time, organic all the time, hundreds of leads go coming your way.
    3:27
    0And that might be true, but they miss the point and you miss the point because you are going crazy for all the solutions that that are out there, but they don't begin with the beginning. And I don't have this easy click here and I fix your problem solution for you. I just have some food for thought. And I want you to think about it in a different way. Because the one thing you miss and you've heard this before but you didn't take the time or you did take the time but it's too difficult for you to think about it and to create it.
    4:06
    0I noticed I had the same problem a lot of times, so I quit trying that solution but I have something for you. It's easy. You have an audience. Maybe small, maybe big, it doesn't matter. And in that audience are potential customers.
    4:24
    0And you have to think about one thing. And I'm giving you a straightforward example and I hate it when people do this because for this example it's very easy and for you it's probably a little bit harder. I know. I understand. But by giving you this example, I'm giving your brain the framework to think about it and that's the real practice here.
    4:50
    0You have to think about it. Okay. So if you're in the kitchen and you're doing everything, making dinner, your son or daughter or whole the whole family is crazy, everybody's tired, end of the day, it's hectic and boom, there's a leakage. What's the first thing you think about? Okay.
    5:12
    0Maybe the second. The the first thing will probably be, okay, shut down the the main water pipe. Yeah. That's good. But the second one is in the category of solutions, I need a plumber.
    5:27
    0So you immediately start to think about the plumber. That that's what you do at that moment. And now, to translate it to your business, at what point in their lives or work or where they are do they think about your kind of business? They are not thinking about you immediately, but they think about the solution you have and that solution must be known for them. Because if you have something as a solution that's not known yet or people cannot think about it, then you have a different story to tell.
    6:10
    0That's for another video. I like that as well but not for now. So for a plumber, people know it exists. So at what moment you have to write it down, this down, you have to think about it, you have to talk to your audience or to your customers. At what moment do you think about my solution?
    6:36
    0At what moment did you think about it? Do you think about it? When do you need it the most? Because it's funny, a lot of people when you onboard a new company, you've got a question where did you hear from us or from who. Okay?
    6:55
    0This is at what what moment did you think about us? That's a very relevant question to ask to your new customers all the time because it gives you so much information about where to find your potential customer because what are they doing at the moment they think about you. And also, what do they do at the moment? So where are they? That those spots are really your gold mine because maybe you can partner up with those spots where they are.
    7:31
    0If they are sitting in a restaurant ordering coffee, they might think about coffee beans, making coffee themselves, partner up with some that's an easy connection in your head as well. But also, after when I went to the gym and I stepped outside and it's hot outside and I'm using wearing a vest and I'm still sweating, okay, may maybe at that moment I start to think about solutions for that moment. Then my my towel is already soaked from all the sweat. So maybe I just want like the little towel who is in my vest all the time. I I don't know.
    8:13
    0But at that moment, I'm thinking about things and then your category pops up. And it's not that you can find people at that moment, but you can talk to them about those moments and that's helping you to create more content. That's helping you to create more structure on your website as well to talk about these trigger points. Category entry points they are called. I believe it's from Byron Sharp.
    8:46
    0It's amazing. You can find it. You can ask AI about it and chat with AI about this thought. But for you, it's more important to talk to your audience about this and to write it down for yourself, to think about it yourself because at that moment you can start to talk more to their to your potential customer at the moment they need you. Because when you talk to them and they are watching you online and you are talking about a situation, that situation it's it's like a time traveling machine because when Even when you think about something, a sit that happened to you, your mind is time traveling to the past.
    9:40
    0So you bring them to that sit situation where your solution is the normal choice. So you connect their brain with your solution and to think about you. Maybe they don't want that solution at that moment from you, but they start to think about you every time they get into that situation. And suddenly, it will click and they will call you or send you an email and they want to buy your product or service. So this is the first thing to do.
    10:13
    0And why is that more important? Because if you start with assessments or with a video review page or all the other marketing stuff they are promoting online where you get some PDF or e book or funnel or webinar. You have to watch out. It's not a solution for a problem you think you have, while the real problem is something else. And the most important problem for entrepreneurs is that the language is not there yet.
    10:50
    0You have to think and talk think more for yourself, talk more with your audience and your customers about what it is, why they called you, why they want your solution, and at what moment they need your solution. And at that moment you can structure your website even around that. This is one part of course. For me it's important. I'm telling you, quit with all the, hey, receive this from me and you will have an infinite amount of leads for free.
    11:28
    0That's bullshit. That's not correct. That's not helping you. It's creating another problem and it's not going to the the core, to the fundamentals. So what is the fundamental thing for you to have your story straight, to know what to say, and that's practice.
    11:48
    0That's why I I say think about it, but also talk about it. Even in videos, I'm doing the same thing over and over again. I'm talking about marketing in videos and while I'm talking, I'm getting my brain more straight all the time. So my message will be sharper and sharper and sharper all the time because it's connecting with you in a better way. I know for sure that this video can connect with you, otherwise you wouldn't listen for so long to me.
    12:18
    0But I know in 100 videos more, I will connect with you even more, faster, better. Or maybe not, then you're not my my potential customer or my customer at that moment. But it's it's really like that. It's getting more sharp if you think about it and talk about it and it's making your brain think in a different way if you think, okay, at what moments does my potential customer really think about me? And sometimes that's easy, sometimes it's a little bit hard, but I challenge you to do this instead of the read all the PDFs for the free leads.
    13:01
    0That's not working. Try it for yourself.

    Frequently asked questions

    What are category entry points and why do they matter for lead generation?

    Category entry points are the specific situations in which a potential customer starts thinking about your type of solution. They matter because if your content and website do not reflect those moments, no tactic generates consistent leads. Byron Sharp developed the framework and Paul Veth applies it directly to expert businesses.

    Why do viral lead tactics like video review pages and assessment funnels fail for some businesses?

    They fail because they solve a problem that exists at a later stage of business growth. If the foundational language and customer insight are not in place yet, those tactics have nothing solid to amplify. The solution is right, the timing is wrong.

    How do I find out what my category entry points actually are?

    Ask every new customer one question: at what moment did you first think about our kind of solution? Their answers reveal the situations, locations and emotional states that trigger your category. Those moments become the foundation for your content and site structure.

    How does talking about my expertise in video help sharpen my marketing message?

    Repeating your ideas out loud forces real-time clarity. Each time you articulate a concept, your brain refines the connection between the situation your customer is in and the solution you offer. Over time, the message becomes sharper and connects faster with the right person.

    When is the right time to add a video review page or assessment funnel?

    After the foundation is solid: you know your category entry points, your language reflects your customer's situations, and your content consistently addresses those trigger moments. Review pages and assessment funnels optimize what is already working, they do not create traction from scratch.

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