It’s commonly said that people are more likely to take a painkiller than a vitamin. And therefore you should frame your offer as a painkiller and your marketing in terms of pain.
It took me years to realize that this wasn’t really good advice.
And that, in fact, this way of thinking was dramatically limiting the number of clients I was enrolling in my business as well as the amount I could charge (and with those who did enroll, I wasn’t very happy with how they showed up in my programs).
I think that if you look at humanity as a whole, yes, “people” are probably more likely to take a painkiller than a vitamin.
But, once again, “people” are not all the same.
If you want the “people” who are high achievers, have a great mindset and are happy (and easily able) to pay high fees… they’re actually the “vitamin” people. 😮
Yep.
I was inspired to think about this today because I got into a conversation with somebody who said that “people don’t take their vitamins to make them feel better, but they’ll happily take their painkillers to get rid of their pain.”
And I was like…. “wait a minute. Hold the phone. I take my vitamins… so SOME people definitely do take them.”
I also do all kinds of other things to make myself feel better… because I don’t really have any area of my life that needs a painkiller.
(And I mean in the areas that coaches and service providers target – the things I have control over.)
And I’m the kind of person everybody wants as a client.
I pay high fees with no objections, I don’t question the value, I show up fully, I don’t blame the provider/coach for anything, I get amazing results. Etc. etc. etc.
So this is something to really consider for a moment if you want people like me as clients.
For us, things aren’t so bad that we need a painkiller.
We’re so motivated that even if you and your business didn’t exist, we would eventually figure things out on our own because we’re just that determined.
We don’t necessarily NEED you… but, we WANT you to make our journey faster and easier.
In theory, a lot of folks I know who have never lifted weights NEED a personal trainer way more than I do, because they don’t even know how to do it or where to start.
Yet, I, who already know a lot about how to do it and have been doing it for years, am the one paying for trainers to help me make faster progress.
And they’re all still sitting at home.
Interesting, isn’t it?
They need the painkiller, but they’re not taking it. And I, meanwhile, am happily paying for the vitamin.
One could argue that these folks aren’t in enough pain yet from being out of shape… but usually, when someone gets to the point of having real health/medical problems from decades of being out of shape, they turn to things like surgery or other bandaid solutions anyway – they don’t suddenly become interested in lifting weights.
At least that’s what I’ve observed.
So personal training might be a real and true example of a “vitamin” type offer since the people who are truly in the most pain from not lifting weights, usually are not motivated to learn to lift weights.
Anyway, let’s get to something actionable here. HOW exactly do you attract the “vitamin” type people?
I know a thing or two about this, because I’ve had loads of “vitamin” seeking clients who are already really advanced in the subjects that I teach and coach on.
I help coaches and experts to position their offers in a compelling and clear way, as well as to write FB content that gets them high-ticket clients weekly without sales calls.
And, over the past couple of years, here are some of the clients I’ve had:
–PR experts who’ve helped businesses land media coverage that brought in millions in investor funding
–sales experts who’ve earned millions helping people to tailor the wording of their sales pitch so that their prospect understands
–people who earn a million dollars a year helping coaches to craft compelling offers
–marketing experts who focus on messaging and have already built teams who help them earn seven figures teaching this
–And more.
.
See the pattern? They’re all people who have demonstrated skill and achievement in areas that required excellent communication and strategic thinking.
Which are the things I help with!
And they hired me for help with those things – to become even better than they already were.
And, for me, they were the most amazing clients.
They thought my fees were more than reasonable (even a little low, some said), they didn’t need one bit of poking or prodding from me to get their work done or to complete my program, and they actually had FEWER questions than the more “painkiller” type clients I used to have (while getting bigger results even though they didn’t need as much help).
So, HOW exactly do you write and communicate to draw in “vitamin” people like these folks?
I want to tell you a couple of really specific things here.
First of all, I suggest studying my framework for lead-generating content.
(I have a detailed training video here that breaks down how to do it.)
One of the hallmarks of my framework is that we only spend a sentence or two naming the “problem” or “gap” that the ideal client wants to close.
We don’t go on and on “agitating the pain” for half or three-quarters of the post or email or article, like it’s commonly taught that you should.
We’re also really careful about how we word the one or two sentences that describe their gap or problem or challenge.
Like, for example, I begin my posts by saying things like “here’s how to get one client a week enrolling from your high-ticket program from your Facebook posts.”
I DON’T say things like “isn’t it painful that you suck so bad at writing content and nobody ever wants to sign up for your program from Facebook?”
Obviously, that’s an extreme example 😉 but I wanted to drive the point home.
The first way of saying it is framed in terms of the ideal client’s gap (they’re getting less than one client a week enrolling for their high ticket program).
Versus the second way which is worded as a huge painful problem (and also speaks to someone who is not advanced – since it implies they’re not getting any result at all yet).
Someone who’s getting less than one client a week could still be really good at writing content and positioning their offer – but they have room for improvement.
(Even people who ARE already getting one client a week could still have room for improvement – some of my clients have been in this position!)
The improvement is the vitamin which helps them go from strength to strength (and targets a very specific gap where they want to improve).
Same goes for other topics.
I’d suggest starting off a fitness-related post with something like: “how to deadlift without waking up the next day with a wrenched lower back” (specific gap of the advanced client).
Rather than “aren’t you tired of being fat and frumpy?” (pain-based and kinda insulting message – which is also quite vague and doesn’t assure the advanced client that you are familiar with their specific challenge, nor does it show respect for all that they’ve already achieved)
Now, that’s just a bit about the beginning part of my framework for the lead-generating post.
The rest of the post (the majority – about 60-70%) is where we talk about HOW to solve the specific challenge – and what really causes it.
All in matter-of-fact, encouraging, inspiring language. Nothing about pain.
Followed by a brief CTA for our program.
This is perfect for the empowered, already-successful client. They just want to know how to solve their problem (or be confirmed in what they already know) and that you can help them to apply that “how” to their unique situation.
Now, let’s also talk briefly here about my framework for directly pitching an offer in a post (or an email, or on a website, or wherever) in such a way as to attract “vitamin” seeking people.
You can learn and study the details of my framework here.
Here, too, we don’t start out talking much (or at all) about pain.
Though, again we do name the gap that the empowered client wants to close (you could call this a “problem” but again it’s not in that super-painful way).
This distinction of gap vs. pain is really similar to what I just talked about for the lead-generating posts, except it zooms the lens out more to talk about the BIG gap that the offer bridges, vs. a little gap that’s part of the big one.
So, in the example I named earlier, of how to deadlift without wrenching your lower back, maybe the BIG gap of the high-ticket offer is “lower your body fat percentage from around 30 percent to around 20 percent.”
So, in my framework, if you were writing an offer post for this offer you would begin with, “I have a great offer for [DEMOGRAPHICS] whose body fat percentage is in the 30s and would like to get it down to the 20s.”
And the rest of the offer post would break down HOW you get people there (what are the concepts, topics, and/or miniature outcomes that you work on in your program).
Check out my training video for more on this. 🙂
In contrast, the way you’re often taught to speak to people’s pain, the offer would probably begin more like so: “Are you sick and tired of being fat and not being able to fit into your clothes? Tired of hating how you look in the mirror?” Etc.
I hope the difference here is obvious!
One way names the gap. The other way talks about pain.
The empowered client tends to look right past the pain talk. They may even be insulted by it because they know things aren’t that bad for them – they’ve achieved a lot already and they just have a few things to figure out or make progress on before they reach their next level.
And they want a coach or expert service pro who will recognize that.
I’m curious to know what you have to say about this idea of pain vs. gap.
I know that once I saw this distinction, I couldn’t un-see it.
So many things started to make sense. I started to realize why I had attracted so many disempowered clients over the early years of my business.
Like the clients who joined my FB group from a FB ad, or clicked on a webinar that I was running ads to.
All of that ad copy spoke to pain. Like “aren’t you so tired of being broke and having no clients” etc. etc. etc.
OF COURSE that didn’t work well!
Hindsight is always 20/20, though. 😉
You might also be interested to know that all the super-impressive clients I talked about earlier (yep, all of them) were people I attracted through FB organic methods.
Just by sending friend requests to people who looked like they had a business that they were actively marketing, and writing these empowered posts and offers, I attracted the most amazing people as clients.
Over 140 at this point, all enrolled without a phone call for high-ticket programs and all with the most amazing attitude and work ethic.
This method of attraction worked way better than the ads with pain-based messages ever did.
I’ve had clients in the non-business space mention similar results once they switched to this method also.
I mention this because a lot of people think that the empowered types aren’t on Facebook (or social media in general).
I used to think that too.
But we only think that because we are unknowingly speaking to a different type of person. So the right people can’t hear or see us.
I’d love to know your thoughts on all of this.
And if you want help to quickly shift your positioning and content to attract the most empowered type of client for your work, send me a DM on Facebook. This is the focus of my 30-day 1-on-1 program.
More information on the program here.
If you want help only with articulating the outcome that your ideal empowered high-paying client is going to want, I work on this piece with folks in my Articulate Your Outcome Workshops (offered about twice per month – you can always click here to find out when the next one will be).
More information on the workshops can be found here.
And you can DM me on Facebook if you’re interested in joining one of them.