What Your Prospects Wants vs. What They Need

One of the great things about owning your own business is that you can learn from others who have succeeded before you. Believe me — as valuable as it is to learn what to do — learning what not to do can sometimes save a lot of heartache, time and money.

I’m more than happy to pass on my faux pas in marketing. After all, my mission is to see more and more coaches be financially successful much sooner than I was.

So here’s a classic mistake made by me and countless other coaches:

Trying to sell prospects what we think they need instead of what we know they want.

You see, we’re big-hearted people who genuinely want to help others. How often have you gotten an idea for a teleclass, article, or product inspired by what works for you? That’s what most entrepreneurs do. But here’s the bad news — more than 50% of those endeavors fail outright.

Your ideas are gold — so don’t toss them out! But before you go to all the trouble of developing and marketing that new idea, check to see if it’s likely your niche market will buy it by doing some market research. And then make sure that your marketing language speaks to their top challenges and desires.

So how do you distinguish between your client’s wants and needs?

This can seem like a subtle distinction so I’ll start with an example most everyone can relate to:

A kid at mealtime.

What she wants = dessert.

What she needs = vegetables.

What happens when her parents keep pushing the vegetables? She wants the dessert even more. And when the lunch money goes in her hand it’s likely she’ll buy sweets instead of a garden salad.

Now, apply that distinction to your adult prospects. More examples:

A corporate CEO.

What she wants = to please the shareholders and keep control.

What she needs = better leadership and management skills.

An entrepreneur.

What he wants = freedom and profitability.

What he needs = structure, boundaries and an ace support team.

A lawyer.

What she wants = achievement and recognition.

What she needs = a life outside of work.

When you really begin to look at it you’ll see that what they need is often the means to getting more of what they want. But if you market what they need they may not connect the dots. So the rule for marketers is don’t lead with the need.



What Your Prospects Wants vs. What They Need - To learn more about this author, visit Rhonda Hess's Website.

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