We have a bone to pick with the “coaching” profession – and anyone else that discounts like crazy.
Yes, that means you, person who sent me the Twitter Direct Message saying how you can help me by coaching me to live my BEST life! Of course, to do that, you’re giving me a link to my FR*EE Coaching Session.
First of all – aside from the fact that you spelled “FR*EE” with an asterisk in it, to get past the spam filters – you’re leading with the wrong thing. Free is not the unique selling proposition here. Discounting your services to get us in the door I understand – but I don’t think you’re doing it correctly.
Might I suggest this approach instead…
1. Make the Free Stuff Standout.
Yeah, we’re back on our high horse about FREE and Paywalls and The Free Line. Start by showing us what you can do, what you propose doing, little and big changes you have helped clients make. White papers, blog posts, newsletters – things of value. Free, sure – but valuable so that the time I invest reading your stuff gets me thinking you might be worth hiring.
2. Don’t Start by Discounting.
Similar to our continuing study of Gilt Groupe vs. Groupon – once you get people (clients) in the door thinking that you have a value of “x,” it’s really tough to get them back in the door at a value of “x divided by 2.”
Note that a Free Assessment or similar tool is great – but don’t call it that. “No Obligation [insert name of tool].”
We once had a session, we were the client, and the coach said this up front: “I want to work with you. Let’s spend the first 15 minutes off the clock, then, if you and I agree that we’re compatible, we can have the next 45 minutes at my regular rate. If not, we’ll part as friends.”
3. Make Us Pay to Even THINK About Working With You.
I absolutely love this. Dead Serious. An application fee.
We filled one out a couple weeks ago – a coach who we have been following for at least a year, we like what this person’s up to, and we thought we might want to hire them.
We knew their going rate – posted at the bottom of their application – and it cost us a refundable $19 to fill out the form.
Not a gimmick; this isn’t something done so that we’d forget about it and the statute of limitations on getting a refund would run out.
We actually had a chat with the coach, found out we were not a good fit for each other, and got our refund 10 minutes after our call ended.
4. Oh, and Don’t Be A Coach if You Can’t Coach
Did you know that you can get a Life Coach Certification on the Internet?
This reminds me of the Diploma Mills that we used to bump into during our Higher Education Marketing days. There are respectable groups – ICF and ICA for the Life Coaching types, franchises such as The Growth Coach and The Strategic Coach, and there’s Vistage and others.
But there are crappy designations out there, many of them available for a few bucks.
Coaches are a dime a dozen. And, if you don’t communicate value, you’ll never be able to charge what you’re worth.
Is THIS even worth it?Sticking with the theme of Products, Freemium, and Experience…
A couple weeks ago, Area 224 purchased a product that continues to puzzle us: a piece of software that made pretty substantial claims. You can read the post here: https://area224.wpengine.com/crappy-product-avoidance/
What has been interesting is how the company has handled this whole process – and what we can all learn from it. We’ve sanitized this post to keep names and identifying information out of it. Highlights:
1. Software Purchased, But Keeps Breaking.
What the software was supposed to do – automate a repetitive process using a combination of API calls and the like – ended up being something it was not at all good at. Queue it up to do that once, find that it shuts down, you need to restart.
Our email to the company: Help, please.
Their response: Try again, it works fine for us.
2. Product still breaks, proves ineffective.
Still has us puzzled, as we’ve tried all the recommended tweaks. Manual is not much help – in fact, the manual looks like it was written for a different process altogether.
Our email: We’d like a refund, please.
Their response: Well, we’ve had to change the product entirely. Please try the new version. Download here.
3. New Product is for something entirely different.
Imagine you order a mobile phone. After learning that the mobile phone doesn’t work, you send it back to the company and ask for a new phone. In return, they send you an extension cord.
That’s the best analogy. This thing is not gonna work for us, not what we ordered, and really would be a waste of our time here at HQ.
Our email: Please for the love of Mike give us a refund.
Their response: Hold on, we’re going to give you complimentary “coaching” that only “members” pay for.
4. The complimentary “coaching”? Send us an email. No more than one email per day. We’ll respond as soon as we can.
I “get” coaching. I think it’s a really valuable exercise. I have interviewed people who could potentially be coaches to the team here at Area 224, and to me personally. BUT, in all honesty…I’m not interested in coaching around a product that has changed drastically since I purchased it.
Our email: We’re done here. Please send us a refund.
Their response: ?
We’re giving them one last benefit of the doubt, and we’ll post the update once we get it. BUT…
We talked earlier this week about The Free Line. In this case, even if this were a “Free” product, there is no value exchange. Brand, Product, Value, Experience – all of that is absolutely horrible.
If you’re in the business of selling stuff, or giving away free stuff, or whatever your business is: are you focusing so much on the “upsell” that you forget to add value?
Maybe – FREE or $39 – the focus needs to be on making it insanely valuable – so that the “upsell” is easy.
Awesome Experiences Don’t NECESSARILY Have to be Social.
I’m listening to Queens of the Stone Age. It almost didn’t happen. But then again, it was supposed to happen. Because of the Experience.
The story goes like this: QOTSA is touring to support the re-release of their first (and self-titled) release. They’ll stop by Chicago on April Fool’s Day. No joke. And I’ll be there.
They did all the modern things you’d expect for a tour: links on Facebook, special stuff just for “fans” (or those who click the Like button), and exclusive stuff for those who end up getting concert tickets.
AND…one of the exclusive things we get with our tickets is the chance to buy an instant download of the mp3 files of the re-release – before the rest of the world can get it.
SO…when we couldn’t get our own copy, even though we ordered the concert tickets, visited the link, verified our bank account through VISA, etc….what happened next?
Let’s see – one quick email over the transom from us. One quick response from Domino Records. Summary? “We’ve had a couple people tell us they had trouble. Sorry about that. Let me send you a link.”
And they did. And it worked. And it’s back to business.
How can you let your customers, your clients, Experience the Awesome – especially in this “Customer is Always Right” Social Media Universe of ours?
Let us offer 3 tips that both sides of the equation can use to Experience the Awesome:
1. Don’t Be A _____.
You can insert your own word there. The guy on the other end of the exchange, Pat from Domino Records, was nice, clever, humorous and quick. He didn’t know me from Adam; he took me at face value and fixed the problem.
Not to pat myself on the back, but I was kind and direct in my note over the wall to Pat. Just asked for help in fixing the problem. (I did joke that my wife was really counting on this. Wait, that wasn’t a joke.)
2. Awesome Extends to Your “Brand Extensions.”
Pat represents the band – even though he’s with a record label. But, QOTSA decided to put their trust in him to handle this sort of thing.
And, my first direct experience with this band was my interaction with Pat. You think I won’t remember that down the road?
3. It’s An ‘Experience.’
Music has this figured out – well, at least the bands that know the game has changed. Used to be you sell a bunch of records and maybe tour and you make a nice living. NOW, you create a brand experience – and that experience may vary depending on who and how and when.
Go beyond the music world: Authors who create something awesome. Speakers who make you want to hear more from them.
Yes, the digital download is awesome. And the brand experience is, too.
Content Strategy?Welcome to the “Year of Content” (3rd Annual).
Glad to see you here. Step right up. Welcome.
Now, where’s your content strategy?
No content strategy? Well, you probably DO actually have a content strategy. You just haven’t articulated it yet.
You’re Your Own Content Strategy
Back when we were consulting with Realtors, circa 2009 (and a little in 2010), we used to tell them that we knew the three most important words in Real Estate Marketing:
Repurpose. Repurpose. Repurpose.
That thing you worked on last week? You remember it, the report for the client who was wondering what is going on in the East Side? There’s your content. Strip out the identifying info, massage the text and look and feel, make it VALUABLE. Repurpose.
You’re Your Own Content Strategy
Remember: the thing you are tired of talking about? It’s new to someone bumping into you for the first time.
All this web mumbo jumbo? “Engagement” and those dozen other words that mean totally different things in different industries?
It’s BRAND NEW CONTENT to someone else.
Know Who You’re Writing For, or Speaking With and How Often.
We figured this out on October 4, 2010. That’s when we said two things about this here site:
We will blog often.
We will share meaningful, valuable information especially for small business and emerging business marketing communicators.
Hey, whaddya know? A Content Strategy!
The result was a four-month whirlwind – more of everything: connections, relationships, leads, prospects, calls, random calls, sales calls, opportunities.
Thanks, sheilagranger.comOr Not. But now that we have your attention…
In the middle of Mind Mapping, recalibrating 2011 plans for World Internet Marketing Domination, and taking stock of what we’ve got to work with here at HQ, we stumbled upon the remarks from a speech we gave in 2008.
We went there with two missions: (1) share valuable information (we were speaking at the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization at their global conference) and (2) don’t use PowerPoint.
So we went up there with one page of information – and, believe it or not, we kept that page of information on the Internet for the past 2-plus years. We’re crazy like that.
Web 2.0, the groundswell, and how you’re gonna make millions*
The asterisk was explained as “millions not guaranteed.” In fact, at the time, U Sphere was making a tiny amount of scratch, and we had started to focus all of our efforts on Area 224.
We had also JUST seen a joint venture with another company in our space — “eHarmony meets Lending Tree for college admissions” was where we operated — fall apart as only really bad breakups can.
About me:
used to be a corporate pr guy | didn’t really like pr | either get an MBA or build a business | spent time at Syracuse and Chicago State
Here was the setup: who was this guy and what qualified him to get up here and speak? Great question, and one that, IMHO, a lot of conference organizers get wrong.
[Not for the “social proof” thing; we could talk about that for hours, as I think it’s vital these days, especially with all the blow-hards out there.]
This is already telling me, within the first couple of minutes, that this guy’s story is, at the very least, interesting. Dare I say this is the “whipsaw effect” that a lot of people miss when planning their conference speaker roster.
The whipsaw effect. What would prompt a guy to leave a cushy PR job to go into college admissions? (Honestly: I’m much more interested in a counter-intuitive presentation, speech, speaker or whatever. See UnMarketing for an example. Market yourself by NOT marketing yourself. Sign me up!)
About uSphere:
bootstrapped the business from its inception in 2005 | we’re still at it | cross between eHarmony and LendingTree and Facebook for college admissions | goal is student traffic, parent traffic, college admissions people traffic | the brand is out of your hands | be prepared to embrace that fact or get the heck out
Foreshadowing. Since I’m older and wiser now, I realized I was tipping my hand to my own future direction. First up, we had changed our own “brand promise” or “value proposition” or “tagline.” We were now “eHarmony and Lending tree and Facebook for college admissions.” We use the word “traffic” three times. AND, we started to beat the “brand is out of your hands” drum for the first time.
What we did right:
not collegesphere, it’s uSphere: international focus, not just USA | outsourced virtually everything | virtual business | ad networks | affiliate networks | dialogue is part of the brand | oh yeah we actually have a brand
Somewhat self-explanatory. While we didn’t make tons of dough at it, we do credit ourselves with making some noise.
What we didn’t do right:
kids don’t buy stuff, parents buy stuff | wasted too much time figuring out pricing of student stuff | didn’t go after parents early enough
We could write a book on this section. Proving the adage that you’ll learn much more from failure than success.
Advice, for what it’s worth:
think long and hard before raising money | if it smells bad, it’s bad | if it looks bad, it’s bad | if they won’t tell you what they’re up to, it’s bad | partner first | talk to everyone | “A Team & B Idea”
More book-worthy material. We had been through so many Investor Meetings and Investor Presentations and Bad Meetings With Shady Characters that we learned so so much from.
That last line comes, indirectly, from a gentleman who is a legend in Chicago Angel Investment circles. “I’d rather invest in an ‘A’ team with a ‘B’ idea than a ‘B’ team with an ‘A’ idea.”
(The last two? Let’s just say the first one precedes an NSFW-ish word that gets used an awful lot lately. The second one preceds an NSFW word that a certain book’s title tells you not to hire.)
About the groundswell:
read the book! | seriously, go buy it right now | go to groundswell.forrester.com and you can get all the info that you need about the groundswell | I cannot overstate the importance of getting this book | POST: people, objective, strategy, technology
You can tell I really liked the book. I still do like the book. POST is probably the number one acronym in all of social media campaign planning.
A couple notes here: Grubhub had suggested us to the organizers – but we had also used the service, too. And Edward Tufte is considered to be the “DaVinci of Data.”
Well, a few things. First of all, stick around afterwards. People love to talk to the speaker. We made some connections that stick with us now.
Also, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. In this case, this was us at possibly the most vulnerable moment: a company at a crossroads and a guy telling the audience, honestly, what went wrong.
Finally, and this is key: if you plan to speak from slides, what happens when they can’t get the laptop hooked up?
