4 Useful Tips for Writing About Your Potential Client’s Problem – And Your Promise (Especially If Your Work Creates Subtler Results)

What is my potential clients’ problem?

How can I communicate effectively if the work I do promises subtler, less visible results?

These are two of the questions that have bubbled up in the last week in our Write Club community. And if you’re a coach, healer, or wellness professional whose work is on the more intuitive, less LOSE 30 POUNDS IN 30 DAYS!!! or YOU TOO CAN BUILD A 6-FIGURE BUSINESS – TOMORROW!! end of the spectrum, chances are you may have this question, too.

So, let’s look into some workarounds that might be of use as you sit down to write about the day-to-day problem your potential client has in your marketing.

Some ground rules, to keep things neat and tidy…

First off, your marketing message needs to effectively name two things: the everyday problem your group of potential clients has that they are highly motivated (and on the hunt) to resolve.

Second, your marketing message needs to name your promise of what’s possible for them, once they solve this problem. Sometimes I call this the “other side of the rainbow.” It’s your picture of the new possibility that comes online, only for the people who choose to face their problem, instead of ignoring or tolerating it, like most people do.

These two things are part of the six elements that make up your marketing message. (If you want help putting your marketing message together, check out our Craft Your Message course.)

So when we are having a conversation about our potential clients’ problem, invariably the promise comes up as well. If you have a hard time with the word ‘promise,’ as 50 percent of my clients do, you can use possibility, outcome or transformation instead.

Maybe you are like Andrea, a coach and member of Write Club who has decided to remain rather general in the problem she solves. She works with clients around what she calls ‘The ‘Big 3’ issues – love, money, and time.

She’s writing her website right now, and wanted to talk out how to clearly and efficiently convey her potential client’s problem on her homepage.

Which brings us to our tips for how to do just that:

#1  Bunch them. By zeroing in on the 3 main issues that are important to her clients and that they seek out her services for, Andrea has already done something smart. She’s named them ‘The Big 3.’ Can’t you just picture her saying that out loud to someone who’s curious about what she does? ‘I help people sort out whatever’s not working in their lives – what I call the big 3 – love, money or time…”

#2  Come up with an overarching, conversational short hand that sums up the benefit. Andrea’s Big 3 is a solid descriptor of the areas of life where she helps her clients get results. But she may need a few more stock phrases in her Message Playbook for it to resonate and make sense to other people (a Message Playbook is the foundation for effective and focused communication, writing, and marketing for your business. If you want help pulling this together, check out our Craft Your Message course.)

For many coaching, healing and wellness businesses, there’s a tension here. On the one hand, you need to communicate so other people get it. On the other hand, you want to stay true to your work and avoid sounding like everyone else (or an unctuous and insincere marketer). That said, let go of this being perfect and shoot for ‘good enough.’ For her promise, Andrea might use a phrase like creating the life you want, helping people make their lives better, creating a life you love. Doesn’t matter that other people use these phrases, by the way. You can use them to drive interest and sales, too.

#3  Pick a more general promise that you KNOW people want. Whether you do something esoteric like Human Design or something subtle that bucks the norms in your industry, like wellness coaching that isn’t about weight loss, see if you can find a promise, outcome or result that bottom lines the benefit in a practical, pragmatic way. For example, Human Design could actually be about making great decisions. Hypnosis or life coaching could actually be about getting results. (For a whole website I wrote for a business intuitive using this strategy, which only mentions intuition once or twice, see: http://rebeccaliston.com/)

#4  Experiment. I know it’s tempting to sit in inquiry while you ‘work on’ finding the Perfect Words… but resist this temptation! Sit and breathe long enough to get yourself out of panic and inaction, then give yourself permission to not figure this out for awhile. Every time my message has gone through a refinement, upleveling, or pivot in my business, the wheels fall off the bus and my marketing gets weird. The game is to keep showing up and being of service to your people, even when you are going through that awkward teenage phase where your limbs are long and gangly, your skin is breaking out, and your voice is changing. Keep talking about this with your Accountabilibuddies, listen to your experience for clues, and trust that where you are now is not permanent. This too shall pass.

At the end of the day, you’re probably not doing anything wrong, and you are definitely asking some of the right questions.

But this message work is a slippery eel.

It changes and wriggles and moves, as you learn more about why your clients come to you, what is the most meaningful for them, and why they picked you over the other guy.

The best way to answer the questions ‘what is the #1 result my clients come to me for?’ and ‘what is the #1 pinch point I want to focus my marketing on, so that I attract more of my ideal clients?’ is to surrender. Surrender to the fact that there are no Perfect Words you can use. Surrender to the fact that you don’t have the answer right now (but you are asking many of the right questions that will lead you to what you seek). Surrender to the fact that you might feel muddled, uncertain, and messy for awhile… and that is a completely normal part of growing a business.

Also: reach out and talk to people. Your accountabilibuddy. Your clients. People who would make great clients. Resist the temptation to make your business all about you – it’s not. Instead, admit that you are looking for better words, and ask them to tell you how they’d say it. Then? Listen and copy the words that come out of their mouths into your marketing.

Mighty thanks to Andrea S. and Rena R. for asking the right questions.