Your Target Market is the Problem With Your Business

I’ve never met a service entrepreneur who didn’t squirm when confronted by a marketing truism: you must target your market. You cannot serve “everyone.” I cannot tell you the stunts students and clients have pulled, trying desperately to defend their position not to choose a narrow-population market. They fear they’ll be confined, bored, and will lose money. If you relate to that and haven’t chosen a targeted group of people to market to, that is your problem.

You are shooting yourself in the foot and setting yourself up for a business of fits and starts; erratic client income…and invisibility. Furthermore, you won’t be recognized as an expert if you’re talking to “everyone.” Experts are experts because they help a particular group.

So, here are 6 reasons you MUST narrow your market to a slim population and why you’ll FAIL if you don’t:

  1. Your target market IS your business when you’re a service entrepreneur. Every program you offer and information product you develop must be directed and composed specifically for them. If you are targeting “everyone” or straddling a few markets, your program offerings can’t solve the very unique and specific needs and desires of that market and will fly under their radar; they’ll never even “see” what you have to offer because it’s too general.
  1. It’s the fastest (and, most likely only,) way to become an expert. When you have a solution for, say, teen-age girls at risk, you will be noticed and sought out because it is assumed that you have very specialized knowledge and experience with that group. When you stay broad, you will never, ever become an expert.
  1. It clarifies your thinking. Your brain cannot picture “everyone” and so your thinking stays unfocused and broad. When you can see a specific population in your mind’s eye, you are able to form the specific wording that gets noticed by your prospects’ brains—which are always looking for one thing: how does this apply to me, specifically? I always say, “You write only as well as you think.” That goes with anything you’re producing, really. It all starts with a clear image. If you cannot SEE the careers and lifestyles of your market, your thinking is fuzzy and so will be your business identity.
  1. Your promotions get heard and noticed. When you speak to the laser-focused specific needs of your market, you leave them feeling something that is priceless for a business: heard and understood. If you convey your value in vague and general language, it won’t hit your prospect’s heart. EVERYONE wants to feel that they are fully and completely understood. When you have a sliver-population-target-market, you will tailor your message to them; they will feel embraced and understood and valued by you—and compelled to work with you. It is the most powerful, psychological gift you give to people who haven’t worked with you: I know you. I get you. And I can help YOU, specifically.

When a business speaks to everyone, it gets heard by no one.

  1. Your excitement will increase. When your communication about your value is specific to a specific group’s needs, you get excited because suddenly you really know who you’re helping!  You are here to alleviate pain, solve problems—when you are doing that for a narrow population who needs you, the very best of you will spring forth and you will love sharing what you do! Trust me on this. If you are feeling flat about your business–it’s probably because you don’t really know who needs you most. If you’re uninspired, your business will fall away.
  1. Your marketing efforts explode in effectiveness because you know precisely where to put them. You find where your target population congregates, and your articles, website links, advertising, newsletters, etc. go directly to them. The time and effort you put into marketing drops dramatically—something every business owner must appreciate!

I’ve got a 24-page workbook for you that will help you determine your narrow market FAST–AND it also gets really deep into their heads. Part 2 takes you into the “inner psyche” of your market’s minds. You will know exactly what they need so you can build the most marketable programs and write the most compelling copy. And there’s a 2-hour workshop that goes along with it next Thursday, April 19th, when I will coach you to have your perfect buyer AND teach you how to use their psyche to sell. Jump on this asap!!!

How A New Program Drew 350 Registrations–the First Time Out

A client of mine, Teresa Aziam of The Aziam Center, led a telecall last night that interested 350 people in just a few days of promotion. She went to her list and asked two JV partners to promote for her—but out of the gate, with not a whole lot of promoting at all, this was a strong number.

Here’s what they were drawn to: There is a single formula that explains your lagging business success—and it’s the same (and only) formula you will ever need to get all the clients, sales, buzz and love you want!

That was the hook–and the essence of her “Teaching Story”—the story she unfolded on the call.

They may have been drawn to the title, too, but we didn’t measure that: Off-the-Charts: The Only Formula You Need for Breaking the Ceiling on Business and Life Success.

They stayed because—as one woman near the end of the call said, when asked how one of the exercises affected her, “I can’t even express it, it was so profound.”

 

This is Teresa’s “Portal Program,” as I call it–#3 on the diagram. It is the pre-event to her star-money-maker, Signature Program.

This diagram illustrates the strategic line-up of offerings I help my clients create. But it doesn’t just magically happen. Here’s how Teresa and I got to her “Teaching Story” hook above.

She came to me, knowing that her specialty was “mindset work.” First order of business is always determining target market.

 We went back and forth on that for a few sessions and finally she decided on “mom-preneurs” with kids under eight years of age. (I always have my clients, working with mothers, determine the age of their kids; it reveals yet another dimension of their problems/needs/desires that need to be addressed.)

The next order of business is determining that market’s “urgent problem.” I always say, “You must be urgently wanted (b/c you solve an urgent problem) or you will be an elective…and you can’t afford to be an elective.” So, we quickly determined that her market’s urgent problem (even though Teresa didn’t feel qualified at first to address it) was, “poor sales.”

“I don’t teach sales,” she said to me repeatedly, as she was trying to grasp that as her business future. She felt she wasn’t credible to solve that urgent need. (Can you relate? Then read on.)

“There are many solutions for someone, for example, who needs to lose weight,” I told her. “Someone can help nutritionally. Someone else can provide hypnosis treatment. Someone else, liposuction. Someone else, self-mastery techniques. The problem is the same, with many solutions. You can help that problem, as one of the solutions.”

That accomplished, we began to drill down into what she believed mom-preneurs needed to do to succeed. It wouldn’t be a sales technique, or strategy for attracting leads; it would be her answer, based on what she does well. After days of thrashing about in deep reflection (my questions tend to do that to people), she determined that above all, (that’s what I look for) her market needed to know their own self-worth to succeed. Without it, there can be no success.

And that began the very mysterious process that happens between me and a client in developing their Teaching Story. We sit on a see-saw, the two of us, and as she pushes off the ground in answer to a question of mine, it rolls down to me, and stimulates an idea, and back and forth we go, as my brain—always scanning for a Brain-Sticky concept—begins to think of what to teach to the market.

It’s completely non-linear and a process I cannot teach or I would make it a group program, but in no-time on that see-saw, keeping in mind a) her market; 2) what they most want; 3) what they need to know; 4) what she does best and 5) what they don’t know, I knew the hook: your sales are directly proportionate to your self perceived value. They will be low if your value of yourself (in any or all areas of life) is low; they will be high, if your self-perceived value is high. Teresa loved it because it was true. She said, “Yep. There is no exception. It can’t be any other way.”

I always test and test my clients’ convictions, and so I asked (as I’d asked it multiple ways before), “If they try any of the other solutions to boost their sales, will it work?” She was an emphatic, “No! This is THE answer!”

And so, I whipped the concept into a formula (which I don’t want to reveal here, for proprietary reasons, but you can go find out yourself!)

From there, I began to design the “arc” of the Teaching Story—how she would teach this to an audience. As you know, she gave it last night to a live audience, but even if she was never going to “be on stage” with it—having a Teaching Story Arc is a sweet, key way of developing an “idea” that no one else in the world has. No one else has the formula of her Teaching Story—and no one else has the teaching content we developed that teaches the formula, what do with it, and then presents a natural new problem to the audience.

Her Teaching Story was “urgently wanted” because it: addressed a nagging problem (low sales) with a irrefutably true concept (your sales are proportionate to your self-perceived value), spun in a unique way with a hook, (the formula), built with unique content (provocative exercises and data that taught the formula and the science behind it, in her case), delivered, using the unique curriculum design I’ve been teaching for years, which “teaches to the brain”—then resurrecting a new problem (how to effectively change self-perceived value forever to achieve off-the-charts sales and other business success), which is solved by the next event, the Signature Program.

And that is how 350 people came to register for the “only formula you need for breaking the ceiling on business and life success.” Congratulations, girl!! If you want to find out more about Teresa’s event, click here.

To do this work with me, email info (at) inspiredleadersacademy.com with “I want lots of people on my telecall, too!” in the subject line 🙂 or go read more at: www.inspiredleadersacademy.com/powerhousemethod2.

 

 

How I Got Certain of My Career Purpose: Letter to Client

A client asked me the other day how I came to have such conviction about my
purpose. It came on the heels of my having told her that, as a leader of change,
 she needs to have “certainty” about that. That it’s her time now to move into
power and play much bigger.  When she wrote me a couple of hours later, asking
me how I’d come to eb so certain,  I had to think about it!  I’d never had to “pull apart”
or articulate HOW it is that I know with such certainty that I am here to “activate”
the leaders and help them build successful one-of-a-kind business empires. Here’s 
how I answered her:

Here are some contributing factors:

1. I am really in touch with my emotions; always have been, and I don’t like anything
that feels bad. That’s why I could never work for anyone else, because I hated it. I
couldn’t stay in a marriage that felt wrong, and am 10 years into a relationship that
feels  great.  There are downsides to only wanting what feels good: I tend to
procrastinate on anything that doesn’t feel good and am rather moody when
doing something I hate.

However, all of this fine-tuned awareness of my feelings has repelled career paths
that felt bad, and drawn me to those that feel good, and 25+ years of that kind of
intuitive “tacking” has brought me to a spot in my life where I’m doing what I love
and am good at because I only cultivated the skills that I really enjoyed. After all of
these years, sorting out good-feelings from bad-feelings, my intuition is a finely
honed and powerful tool in my arsenal and it has led to “I KNOW.”  That kind of
certainty. I work with clients whose feelings aren’t that keenly felt, and so making
decisions can be very hard. And decisions are “certainties.” There is a great deal of
neuroscientific research that proves that if we can’t feel, we can’t decide. Read this
USA Today article  here.

2. Honestly, another answer that comes to mind is that I’ve done my own work–
meaning, the work I take others through. I know so well my own convictions because
of those deep, penetrating questions. For instance, in The Powerhouse Method(TM),
clients must assert their *single* contention for their market–and this is a very large
step in revealing their purpose. Then, I have them excavate their “mountain top
message”–their leadership message, that is their message for humanity. It’s really a
big message. When they get this clear, they’re almost home to certainty. Then, we
craft their mission statement and determine their one-of-a-kind solution and after
all of this, they are convicted about their reason for being here. I did all of this for
myself, of course, and no one can walk out of that not KNOWING.

3. I also have the certainty I have because of my career history. I have spent years
developing  my expertise–skills, again, that I am good. My conviction comes from
knowing my value to my market.

4. Additionally, I am madly in love with my market of service entrepreneurs here
to do big things in the world. Certainy comes from that and from knowing I’m a
perfect match for them.

5. And lastly (I guess, though I’m sure I’ll go to bed, thinking of more)…I bring my 
beliefs into it all (part of what I do in the PHMethod for others), so I’m clear that I
believe this is a special time in history, and *the* time for service entrepreneurs to
move into roles of leadership during this historic transition. I am DEEPLY convicted
about that…and that reinfoces my certainty of my role to ensure they succeed.

So, in summary: I am so certain of my purpose because I know how to feel what is
wrong from right for me, by years of sorting out what feels good from bad. If you are
not sure of how you feel, this will be a problem. You will stay stuck in analysis
paralysis and waffle for years. I encourage everyone to start small and notice their
” body’s speak.” Notice what your body says when you’re looking at a menu filled
with choices. It is what tells you if you want chicken or fish. Pay attention to those
cues. Then, start to notice how it feels when you’re reaching for the phone to call
someone: does it *really* want to talk to that person, or are you just doing it from
habit? I am also so certain about my purpose because I know my message to my
market and my message to humanity; I know what my unique offering is; I am
passionate about a certain population and have beliefs about their purpose that fuel
my certainty about my own. I encourage everyone to find a population they’re in
love with, and to look into their beliefs about what that population is here for; doing
so will help cement their own purpose.

I am thankful for this client asking me this question, and I hope my answer was
helpful for all.  Here’s to changing the world with your message!

 

The Invisible Business Part 2: The Key to Being Seen and Wanted

So, your service business isn’t different enough, and you know it’s not acceptable
because you’re here for such a bigger game! So, how do you go about setting yourself
apart in the marketplace? 

Branding consultants uniformly advise business owners to differentiate on the
following:

  • Pricing. Lower pricing establishes you as a easy-grab option; higher-end
    pricing cultivates an image of prestige or quality.
  • Convenience/Efficiency: You position yourself as being able to get
    customers results faster than anywhere else.
  • Personality. You separate yourself by what you wear; a particular way of
    speaking; an attitude, etc.
  • Past Career/Adventures: You separate yourself by branding your business
    on a past career (Kenny the Monk was a monk, and now he teaches leadership
    in corporatations), or adventures (a mountain climber now helps leaders scale
    the highest peaks in their own lives.)
  • Uncommon Credentials: You have a PhD in psychology but are teaching/ consulting business owners on business growth.
  • Target Market: You stand apart by having a very tiny niche. Freed Gleek
    built his business fortune by helping the self-storage industry sell information products.

There are other typical branding/differentiation strategies, and clearly sometimes
they work. If they’re “Brain-Sticky” enough, they capture attention, leads and
dollars. Much of what we see on the internet are differentiation strategies that
succeed here—for much the same reason as we are all drawn to bright, shiny
objects: they’re sparkly bling and we can’t look away.

But too often that does not foster quality leads or clients, just those wanting quick-
fixes, convenience, or some thrill—then they’re gone. If you are here to effect change
in the world, most of the differentiation strategies you will find will be too superficial
for you. Your business identity must be substantive.

What makes a substantive business? One that offers intellectually stimulating
ideas; ideas that turn heads, provide rare insights, suggest provocative direction.
This is, or should be, the domain of the expert, wouldn’t you say? To speak not about
hackneyed concepts, but fresh and innovative ones that inform and expand.

What if your business was separated from all the rest in this way? What if you stood
on the mountaintop with a concept that had never been posed before and that
taught those listening something new and substantial, that they are hungry to learn?

Why do you think you’d stand out from everyone with this idea? Because good,
provocative ideas are hard to come by—so by that alone, you will be different. But
also because nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. You want to
have such an idea.

When people work with me, this is how I differentiate them because teaching is the
domain of the expert, and service providers are experts—especially those with
big visions. They need to be out there in a very different way,  pulling prospects in
with their “Teaching Story.”

A “Teaching Story” puts forth a premise that no one else has. It’s yours and yours
alone, grown from your expertise, unique perspective, and wisdom. And it is how
you are known. It is your brand. As such, it is the secret weapon to becoming famous
and to changing the world.

What make a good “Teaching Story”? It: 

  • Is highly relevant to your narrow-market—something they have high
    interest  in learning about.
  • Tells prospects something new, that they didn’t know about that subject; it
    widens their intellectual horizons.
  • Stirs the emotions—often inciting disbelief or outrage, sometimes sadness,
    and always hope and excitement.
  • Has a provocative, even controversial, premise.
  • Provides satisfying support for that promise. 
  • Peels back veils, exposes untruths, and excites possibilities 
  • Creates a significant shift in perspective. Participants say, “I will never look
    at this subject the same way again.”
  • Dynamically unfolds to build suspense, alleviate tension and provide a
    satisfying and viable solution.

Like any good story, it is complete with hero, villain, desires, goals, obstacles,
suspense, climax. A Teaching Story has a deliberate “arc”—one that pulls the
prospect through a roller-coaster of emotions, to a final climactic finish of “a-ha!”
and transformation.

In order to get at your Teaching Story (i.e. your differentiation), it is imperative to
have your business identity fully established: who your target market is, what their
pains and desires are, how your solution is “urgently wanted” and what its results
are, what your mission is and, finally, your leadership message: the single-sentence,
mountaintop inspiration message of universal truth.

I do this work in a 7-session private program called, The Powerhouse Method™.
It is the fastest, most unique process you will experience for securing your one-of-a-
kind brand and the leadership message you are known for. To be considered for a
40-minute call to discuss your business differentiation and how the Teaching Story
works for you, just contact me at info (at) inspiredleadersacademy.com today! I
am confident you will never find a more effective, soul-stirring process for revealing
your one-of-a-kind business differentiation.

The Invisible Business: Why It Hurts on a Deeper Level

Service entrepreneurs come to me because they want to be Brain-Sticky: they want
to be compelling, memorable and original in the crowded marketplace. Often, in our
first call, they are excited and prattling off the things they think make them different
enough: I really listen; I ask penetrating questions; With me, they take action; I’m
very intuitive; Clients can reach me on the weekends, etc.

This is when I have to play bad-cop.

To coaches who tell me that they’re intuitive, take people to action, and listen really
deeply, I say, “That’s what a coach does. It’s in the job description,” at which point,
the newer ones instantly deflate and announce, “I don’t think there IS anything very
special about me, then.”

The pain I hear in their voice runs deep.
When we’re in business for ourselves, there
is very little separation between “what we
offer” and “who we are.” If we aren’t offering
something special, things get collapsed and
we start thinking we’re not special. And there
is no fate worse for a service entrepreneur
than not being special. If we can’t separate
ourselves from our work, it’s safe to say we
can’t separate our egos from our work–and it is a bitter pill to swallow that
we may not be special enough to fulfill our mission and have an impact on the
world.

From the moment we’re born, every one of us wants to be special. Even as teenagers,
when blending in is ‘in’, we want to stand out to our best friend, our boyfriend, our
teachers, our sports team. Every one of us dies a little every time someone we admire
or love overlooks us. It is the human imperative to be noticed, seen, wanted,
valued–i.e. recognized as special.

This doesn’t go away when we “grow up” and become business owners. In fact, the
need is often augmented then, put on display, if we’ve had a history of being ignored
and passed over. But for others, the existential human need to be different and special
still exists. And in business, it certainly exists. It is an absolute truism: you must
be special to succeed in your own business.

So, for those whose business identities lack the “stand out” factor, there is a double-
blow: their human fear of not being good-enough/special-enough is triggered as well
as the very real potential that they will fail in business.

And for those who are visionaries, this is acutely painful…and unacceptable. If you
are here to effect change in big ways and fulfill a mission bigger than yourself, you
won’t achieve it feeling small and insignificant like you did in gym class, or by
closing up shop.

The problem is, however, that the most prevailing branding and differentiating
advice out there is superficial and not long-term Brain-Sticky. If you’re here to make
change, you must stand out in a substantive way. No gimmicks and bling.  (And no
features and benefits, either.)

Return for Part 2 tomorrow, as I share the most commonly accepted strategies for differentiation and why they don’t go far enough for any service provider—but
particularly not for those with visions to change the world. Until then, give it some
thought: how has not having a solidly different business identity pulled
on your
in-bred human fear of not being seen, wanted, valued…special enough?

A Time to Lead: Do You Dare?

Here is the recording to my recent call, A Time to Lead: Do You Dare?

Please be patient as the audio loads into your player. It can take up to 45 seconds.
www.inspiredleadershiptraining.com/media/Recordings/ATimetoLeadCall.mp3

This is an inspirational “keynote speech,” more than a training, and in it you will
learn about:

Historic Changes in Our World Now and Your Changing Role Because of Them

How Business Will Change and How You Must Be Different From Them All

Constructing Your Leadership Message

Enjoy!

A Successful Expert But Still Not Feeling Your Big Purpose? Reason #2

I’d like to round-out this discussion with the other reason you may not be feeling a BIG
PURPOSE—though you’re successful. You may not be utilizing your skills and
talents
for a far-reach aspiration: both yours and your markets’.

When I launched my 2nd business,
Inspired Leadership Training, in 2006,
I was teaching an incredible public
speaking program, Secrets of Impact
and Influence
, based on the latest
brain research in learning. What was
I helping people do, initially? For a
long time, it was “get more clients” by
using public speaking as a marketing
tool. Then, for an equally long time, 
I was helping them to “be the best
presenter in their field”—because this program really delivers that. Then, I was helping
them be responsible experts, raising their standards so they were teaching with
unparalleled excellence—a requirement, in my book, for giving paid presentations,
seminars, trainings, etc. 

But the problem was, these skills and talent of mine, which were able to produce these
promises, were not connecting to a part of me that was alive and well outside of my
business: a part that was becoming aware of and studying global human potential.
I was watching the central institutions of our world collapse around us, and the rising
up of populations demanding freedom and human rights. I knew that this activity was
going to reach a climax—and that leaders with great wisdom would start coming out of
the woodwork, as if suddenly “activated” or called to their purpose. And I knew my
market—a subset of coaches, consultants, authors and speakers–were those up-and-
coming leaders.

Despite this, I was still promoting SII around more practical goals: getting more
business and being one of the best presenters/teachers. Yet, the fact was, this
particular public speaking model was tailor-made for the leaders
.
 For
those who would be called to serve in the global human potential movement. Indeed,
that’s why I had gravitated to learning neuroscience and applying it to public speaking
in the first place!! I had known it could move mountains and mount movements—but
I wasn’t talking about that in my promotion of the course, and not even in the course,
with those seated before me!

My skills and talents were not taking my market far enough, And they were
not taking me far enough into things that mattered most to me. Finally, just a few
months ago, I leapt off the cliff and made it clear that everything I do is specifically
designed for those who want to change the world—who want to be true, inspired leaders.
Not every coach, consultant, speaker or author wants my skills to take them there
they’re more attracted to my older, more pragmatic promises–but so many do! Many
are being “called” to bigger stages every single day and the higher calling of my
skills and talents
(that extend beyond public speaking, by the way) is reaching
out to them
.

So, if you’re not feeling your Big Purpose, look at how far you are taking your followers
with your skills and talents. Where could you take them that’s bigger, higher, grander,
more meaningful—more inspirational?

If you’re one of the called—if you know you are an inspired leader—Big
Purpose known or unknown—it is your time to lead. Be sure to experience
my call Thursday, Feb. 23: A Time to Lead: Do You Dare?

A Successful Expert But Not Feeling Your Big Purpose? Reason #1

So, what do you do if you’re like my colleague-friend–an expert with a successful
business–and you want to feel that you have a BIG PURPOSE, but you’re just not
feeling it?

If you’re feeling ho-hum, and not called to anything particularly meaningful, or not meaningful enough for you, I can almost bet
it’s because you aren’t connecting with the right audience.

The one you’re currently working with is either too broad (a
huge issue for so many experts/service providers!!) or simply
not the right one.

You need to know, who has the pain that you most want to
heal
? Not the pain you are dealing with now, but the pain that most galvanizes you when you think of soothing or eliminating it. Perhaps you are working with too superficial a pain right now—or an audience whose level of pain doesn’t enable you to do your greatest work.

Or look at the aspiration you most want to help people fulfill. You may simply not be calling your current audience to reach high enough. Or you may need another audience entirely who has higher aspirations.

My Big Purpose is to change the world by ensuring that you, visionary leaders, change the world. I am very clear that I am here to help that population, and the
recent change in my business identity makes that abundantly clear. I am speaking to
a very select group of experts now—those who are visionaries and want to change the
world. I narrowed my already narrow market. And I did it because I had to for my
own growth. I was feeling that something was missing—I was feeling uninspired–and I
realized that I was getting bored with what I was asking of them. I didn’t need to change
markets, as you may, but I needed to call them to higher aspirations—to satisfy my
own soul.

And, luckily, my desire to call them higher coincided with what was happening in the marketplace: millions of service-based entrepreneurs waking up to a desire to be part
of something bigger. And I knew I was the one to help them.

Knowing my skills and talents went a long way to firmly establishing my Big Purpose.
But I’ll delve into that in my next post. For now, I want to emphasize the importance
of your audience in feeling your own purpose.

You are here to effect change. You wouldn’t have chosen your profession otherwise.
And you do have a purpose—and I firmly believe you have a Big Purpose. If you’re
not feeling it, take a hard look at those with whom you’re working now. In some way,
they are not igniting your spirit. Either call them to something higher, heal a deeper
pain, or change to an audience who wants either or both in direct proportion to
your passion
for either or both.

Be sure to get on next week’s call: A Time to Lead: Do You Dare?

UPDATE:  A relatively new client of mine wrote me the other day because she was
noticing a lag in her excitement. “I have moved away from “life interests” and into
more of a “business” market and am questioning what I am doing and why– forgetting
that it simply doesn’t excite me thinking about working with HR or executives to
bring my offering to them. It actually gets me to an icky place of,  “Why bother?” I’ve
looked at our work so far and see that the only thing that needs changing is my target
market! Now, it is feeling GREAT!!”

Purpose is entirely linked to your target market!

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