Are you writing about the wrong thing?

This just in from the Where-Rubber-Meets-Road Dept.—

You may be writing about the wrong thing.

In your newsletters. On your blog. And if you’ve got ‘em, your sales pages.

It’s what I call the “Great Translation Problem.”

Here’s where many up-and-coming business owners go wrong:

1. You write about your process. You have an intake questionnaire, a full-life assessment, and 6 coaching sessions over 3 months.

What you don’t know: your ideal clients eyes glaze over when they see this. They don’t give a hoot. What they care about are results. But you are so focused on EXPLAINING yourself, you skip the part where you get clear on what’s most important to them.

The fix: Put your attention on the tangible RESULTS… the ones that are most important to your clients. If you are a relationship coach, it’s about finding “the one” (even if you know it’s not really about way more than that). And your program speaks to THAT.

2. You ask them to go steady you before you get their digits. Courting clients using online marketing is a lot like courting a partner. There’s a sequence of events that needs to take place before everyone is feelin’ the love.

What you don’t know: Not everyone is ready to pick up the phone and call you—or to buy your $3,000 high-end package—just because you put it on your website. In fact, few people are.

The fix: Nail your “calls to action.” On your homepage, I want to see 3 next actions potential clients can take to keep in touch or learn more from you—without buying a thing. Scheduling an initial session is good. Following you on social media is good. Getting a copy of your awesome free report is solid, too. Just make sure to make it tantalizing!

3. You keep selling “coaching.” For the love of all that’s holy: stop this right now. It is a road to nowhere. You find that people don’t “get” the value of coaching, so you keep finding yourself explaining “the value of coaching.” Still no response. So you redouble your efforts. And send a newsletter article called “why you need a coach.” Crickets. You get more and more frustrated, and it just stinks. Because you KNOW you can help people. But you just can’t find the words to express it, so THEY get it.

What you don’t know: the only people who want to buy coaching are coaches. And even then, it’s a tough sell.

The fix: Banish the word “coaching” from your vocabulary. Do the work and figure out what problem you actually help your clients solve. Bonus hint: pick one main problem. And then focus your writing on THAT. Forget being fancy. Focus on being simple and clear.

“I help professional women lose weight without counting calories” beats the pants off “I empower goddesses to unleash their inner magnificence, release old emotional eating patterns and step into a more holistic and healthy relationship with their bodies, souls, and minds” any day.

Mighty thanks to Tanozzo flickr photostream for the cricket