Chris Burbridge's List: Real Marketing for Facilitators of Inner Work

• That’s why you want to position your coaching services as the fastest, easiest, most enjoyable and most effective way to address the critical, specific and pressing problems that your target market has. The bigger and more urgent the problem, the more likely the person will hire you.

• $10,000 Problems… 

   
  • are the issues that keep your ideal clients awake a night.
   
  • cause your ideal clients a lot of struggle and stress.
   
  • are things that your ideal clients realize they cannot effectively address on their own.
   
  • are so significant because the person has compelling reasons why addressing the problem now is so important.
• Generic Problem #1: Small business owners who need to attract more clients.
• $10,000 Problem #1: Small business owners who realize that in order to achieve their financial objectives they need to create a high-end offering that leverages their unique gifts and skills and then find the A-List clients who will happily pay for the extra value they provide.
• Generic Problem #2: People who want to make a career transition.
• $10,000 Problem #2: BabyBoomers who have been laid-off and want to use the opportunity to make a complete career shift. They have a limited window of time and resources to explore and pursue new career options. They are concerned that if they don’t act quickly they will be sucked back into their former profession.
• Generic Problem #3: Executives who want to improve their leadership.
• $10,000 Problem #3: Newly hired executives with a directive leadership style who need to balance taking charge effectively while also getting buy-in from the existing team in order to achieve their first quarter milestones and “pass” their 90 day probation period.
• $10,000 Problems…
• are specific and when addressed will have a sustainable impact.
• are time-sensitive and need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
• occur within a subset of a broader target market
• 1. Develop a list of at least five $10,000 problems that your target market faces. You probably have a sense of what these are. Start off by listing the “generic” problems that your coaching addresses or the results it enables clients to achieve and then go deeper. Identify possible scenarios and situations when these problems commonly occur. Explore why solving these problems are so important.
• 2. Identify the subset of your target market where the $10,000 problems occur most and focus on reaching out and finding those people. These are the people within your target market who have the highest “Readiness Factor” and therefore most likely to hire you.
• 3. Develop specific marketing campaigns geared towards the subset of your target market who have $10,000 problems.
• 4. Focus on and discuss $10,000 problems in your complimentary consultation with prospects.
• 5. Really connect with the fact that your coaching “solves” $10,000 problems.
• For example, if a client invests a total of $2,000 in your coaching and as a result is able to address their $10,000 problem then they are getting a great return on their investment.
• FACT: People hire coaches to solve their problems.

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• Could  you, the coach, feel passion for the niche? Are these the kinds  of clients you would enjoy working with? Do you find the work you  will be doing meaningful and satisfying?
• The niche must be satisfying and fun
• Are they truly concerned about the issue  which you can help them solve with your coaching
• Is  there an intense, perceived need for the niche in the minds  of your prospects
• Almost invariably,  there must be some set of problems which you help clients in  your niche solve. The more intense their pain (or conversely,  the more attractive the benefit you help them realize), the  more quickly will the niche respond to your efforts
• Is  the niche underserved? You would not offer customer service training/coaching  to Nordstrom employees
• All things being equal
• Are  there already successful businesses "on the ground" in  this niche? When a clinician-colleague discusses potential niches  with me, I'm often reassured if they can show me already existing  local businesses that are serving this niche. That suggests that  most of these criteria may be met, not the least of which is that  people are now paying money to have a specific need addressed
• Coaches may make their approach to the niche unique by being the  first to deliver the coaching services "virtually" (by  telephone, E-mail, and the web). But they can be more assured that  there is a need that will be responsive to marketing than if the  niche has never been defined and addressed before
• Paradoxically,  can you be "first" in your niche? Ries & Ries (1998)  argue for the strategy of picking a niche where you are first.  One way to do this is to take a successful coaching niche and  narrow it further
• Can  your prospective clients pay for your services
• Is  the niche truly narrow? See Ries (1996) for compelling arguments  for the counterintuitive importance of narrowing your niche.  Much better to offer business coaching to a narrow professional  industry (e.g., corporate housing services or lemon lawyers)  than to a broad group (e.g., all attorneys or "boomers" at  midlife)
• Similarly,  are members of the niche from a single professional group or  industry? This is not required, but it's a major plus. The problem  with a niche focusing on "Boomers" is that it cuts  across every professional group in the world. If you focus on  a subset of a specific professional group (e.g., sales reps in  the computer industry, police administrators), the niche is much  easier to penetrate
• Do  members of your proposed niche feel they belong to a coherent  group? It's a major advantage if they do
• You're more likely  to have niche members forward your promotional material to others  if they know who the "others" are. You're more likely  to have the advantages of state and national professional organizations.  It's advantageous if as you specialize in the niche, members  can say with recognition about you, "She lives in my world." "She  clearly understands my issues." A coherent group? Lemon  lawyers. A more disparate niche? People needing assertiveness  training
• Can  you in some way help your niche make money or improve professional  performance? Of course, this is not an essential criterion. But  all other things being equal, it is easier for clients to justify  staying with you month after month if you are helping them make  money or perform better professionally. If you want to help them  have balance in their lives, you may want to work on that indirectly  rather than making it the centerpiece of your marketing
• Can  you locate members of the niche? Can you find them in order to  be able to use the funnel of trust (Dean, 1999) and to begin  to develop a relationship with the universe of your prospects  over time
• E-mail  is the most cost-effective way to market to potential prospects  over time. Do most members of your niche have access to E-mail

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• Conduct an online survey.
• Do personal interviews with current and past clients.
• Research your competitors. It’s a good sign
  when other coaches are serving the same target
  market as you. It means that that market hires
  coaches. You can quickly increase your knowledge
  by studying the marketing messages of your
  competitors.
• Reach out to industry experts and people in
  your target market.
• Talk to other professionals who serve your
  target market. These people are also your ideal
  strategic alliance and joint venture partners.
• Immerse yourself in your target market.
  Read magazines, books and articles.
• Attend conferences and events

• There’s an old expression that
  says that you need to walk a mile in someone else’s
  shoes in order to really understand them.

   

  Do this with your target market and you’ll find
  yourself with a wealth of information that will
  enable you to better connect with, market to,
  enroll and serve your ideal clients.

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• You would be amazed at what you can discover (and the doors that can open for you) when you reach out and directly connect with your target market!