Do you know what your customers really want?
Let me ask you a question: How well do you really know your customers?
When you’re starting a business, the first thing you need to do is identify your target market.
The first marketing essential for coaches is getting clarity on WHO your dream clients are and what challenges you’ll be helping them overcome.
When it comes to customer profiling, I’d suggest going beyond demographical profiling (age, gender, job title etc.). You want to learn as much as possible about the opinions, beliefs, attitudes, interests and values of your dream clients.
Using “professional women after 40” isn’t a niche specific enough in my opinion.
Psychographic profiling helps you get more personal and identify not only who your clients actually are, but most importantly what your customers really care about.
How to find out what your customers want
TL;DR
- Research online
- Use social listening
- Create a survey
- Ask them face-to-face
Once you know who your ideal customers are and what truly matters to them, it’s time to get clarity on their problems.
This is the turning point that will allow you to create meaningful content that they want to consume because it helps them achieve their goals.
The better you understand their problems, challenges and pains, the more likely you’ll be able to create something that really makes their lives better (and establishes you as the go-to expert on this area in their minds).
You probably already have some ideas about your ideal customer’s challenges – that’s why you’ve started your business and set out to help them…
But we’re not mind readers and sometimes it’s really hard to know exactly what people are thinking and feeling, what it is that they are struggling with and need help with.
Do you research
Aside from trying to identify these challenges in your own mind, you can look around and ask around, to get a lot more clarity!
I’m talking about conducting customer research, both qualitative and quantitative.
You can start by asking Google what people are searching for around your area of expertise (and the problem you think you’re going to be helping them solve).
Keep an eye on Google’s “Related searches” or “People also asked” section as well, where you’ll find more phrases and relevant search queries.
To go deeper, you use tools such as Answer The Public to get more insights (and a lot of very specific questions people are searching for – all based on real data collected from Google and other search engines).
This will give you a much better idea about people’s inquiries, questions and challenges related to what you’re offering. It’ll show you which keywords and phrases people are using to describe what they want and need.
Another way to learn more is through social listening
You can use platforms such as LinkedIn to search for people who fit your ideal customer profile and look at what they talk & care about. Keep an eye on any mentions of the challenges that you can help them resolve.
You can either simply use the search bar or search via hashtags, as they can help you filter conversations to find the most relevant ones.
I’m sure that by now you see how you can get a much clearer understanding of what your customers really want, by looking around at what they share and say publicly.
Conduct your own research
I would always recommend doing a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research. This helps you not only to get a broader perspective of what’s going on in your industry but also a deeper understanding of people’s individual challenges, needs and preferences.
For quantitative research, you can use simple tools such as the LinkedIn poll or the poll sticker in Instagram Stories to get a better idea about people’s opinions and preferences.
To go one step further, you can create your own survey and reach out directly to your ideal customers. Ask them to help you help them better by answering your short questionnaire.
The final step would be inviting a handful of people who could be your dream customers to have a 1-2-1 call with you. Here you could ask them more questions and drill down (gently obviously) into their challenges, wants and needs.
This is the qualitative part of your research. You don’t necessarily need to get a huge number of respondents, but you’re really looking for deeper, more nuanced answers.
If you already have some clients you’re working with, you can ask them to answer your market research questions. And by actively listening to what they’re saying and what language they are using, you can get a lot of insights as well.
Especially if your client calls are recorded, you can listen back to what they’re saying during your sessions. Pay attention to what language they are using and what challenges they are mentioning etc.
Listening is your secret weapon
Listening is the no. 1 skill that will help you understand what your customers really want (and need).
Even simply by scrolling through LinkedIn, you can get a lot of answers and identify your customers’ needs and expectations.
And if you chat with a few people 1-2-1, you can learn so much more!
What they want vs what they need
Before we jump into fulfilling everything that our customers want…
Let’s pause for a second and ask ourselves if what they want is really what they need.
One thing is knowing what your customers want and the other is knowing what they need. Because it might not be the same thing!
Your job is not simply to fulfil all your customers’ wishes – you’re not a genie!
Your job is to understand their true motivations and desires. That’s how you’ll be able to help them achieve their goals and overcome their challenges along the way.
Let’s have a look at this simple example:
Your ideal customers may want to buy a new hoover. Sounds simple, right?
But let’s pause for a moment and wonder: “What is it that they actually want to achieve?”
Their goal might be to have a cleaner house and they think that what they need is a new hoover. But maybe a better solution would be to hire a cleaner. Or maybe they need a different floor surface (to carpet or not to carpet may be the question). Or maybe they need to stop dirt and dust from entering their home (or workspace) in the first place.
Your job is to be a detective and dig deeper. Ask more questions and get very clear on your customers’ ultimate needs, goals and expectations.
And then, if you know that you have the right solution for them, show them how you can help them solve their challenges and achieve their goals.
Simple, right?
OK, I know that it’s not simple!
All of this takes time, digging, asking around and most importantly listening.
It might take a while to be 100% sure what it is your customers truly want.
Just keep going!
Do you want to know how to use all this in practice, to create a simple, yet effective marketing plan for your business?
Check out my FREE guide, Get Visible – Find Joy in Your Marketing and Build a Thriving Business.
It’s your roadmap on the journey to getting your coaching business visible in front of more of your ideal customers.
Do you need help with your marketing?
If you’re struggling to pull all of this together (and understand how to implement this information into your marketing), get in touch and let’s work on your marketing together!
