If you want to consistently attract the kinds of clients who want to go beyond surface level and do DEEP work with you and will pay a handsome fee to do so, then…
…make sure to write about the deep stuff in your content. 😉
This may sound obvious, but if you don’t write about the deep stuff, then people may not realize that you work on the deep stuff with your clients. 😆
More importantly, they may not even realize that “deep stuff” is actually what they most need to get their transformation.
For example, I’ve had many clients now who are business operations/scaling consultants.
They usually help with both the strategies of scaling (the surface level stuff) and the mindset and personal transformation needed to do it successfully (that’s the deep stuff).
When they tell me that they’re having trouble attracting clients who want to do the deep work, I’ll check out their content and invariably see that they are only (or mostly) writing content about the surface-level work.
Like “how to hire” and “3 tips to have your staff bother you less so you can be more productive.”
It makes sense that they default to surface-level content. Just as the deep work is harder for clients to do, it’s also harder for you to write about and explain… and I get that.
It’s easier to dash off a “3 tips” post than to sit down for a couple of hours and write an in-depth explanation of “here’s who you need to be to run a multi-million dollar company and here’s the inner work that needs to be done,” plus an actual description of the mechanics of said inner work.
But when you write the content about deep work, you’re rewarded with the clients who see much more readily that deep work is what they need, and therefore want it.
I’ve been delighted to hear these business consultants report amazing results like doubling their client load after we worked together on their content.
Another example is relationship coaches. I’ve also had many of these folks as clients by now.
They, too, usually have some surface-level strategies that they teach as well as deep inner work that they coach people through.
And I notice the same thing with a lot of their content: it’s usually about “what to say in this situation with your partner” or “how to negotiate this issue” or “how to identify what you want in a relationship.”
And they don’t do as much content (or any) about how to do the inner work to become the person who naturally causes the results that you want.
Which, of course, is really the only thing that will allow a person to truly transform in their relationship to the full extent that’s possible.
And P.S.: saying “do the inner work” doesn’t count as content about how to do the inner work. 😉
Or, to be more specific, it doesn’t show people that you have a real method for doing said inner work and allow them to envision what it would be like to do that inner work with you.
What is the inner work like? What does it consist of? How does your offer help people to do that work? How will people know that they’re making progress with the inner work and that they’re successful?
Writing entire posts about such things is a game-changer when it comes to attracting clients for your deeper work.
Relationship coaches, too, have reported to me that they got more clients for their highest-level programs after shifting their content in this way, whereas previously they’d been more successful at selling courses and other lower priced info-products.
A final example is my own business.
I, too, teach a mixture of surface-level stuff and deeper stuff.
My surface-level stuff is the mechanics of organic marketing – prospecting, growing your audience, how often to post and all that jazz.
My deeper stuff is the details of how to think through and communicate an offer and a transformation, as well as how to write content that attracts and pre-sells people who will be amazing clients and pay high fees.
I rarely write about the surface-level stuff. I do point people to my posts and resources about it if they want to know, because it’s important and fundamental to getting results.
But I don’t focus hard on it anymore. Back when I did focus on it, I got a ton of people interested in my free content, my free webinars, my free FB group, and my low-ticket e-books/courses etc.
But it was very hard to sell people into anything costing more than 500 or 1000 dollars.
When I tried to sell higher-priced things that involved more of my time to help people implement the methods, I got a lot of questions like “What more will I get from this higher-priced program that I didn’t already get from the free/low-priced course?”
And it was hard to answer that question. Because the truth is, it’s pretty easy (or at least doable) to implement the surface-level stuff alone without help.
The real benefit to a higher-ticket offer would have been in my reviewing the way people wrote their content and how they were thinking through their offers. That’s the hardest thing to see on one’s own.
Yet, I almost never focused my marketing on the details of how to write and think through these things, so most people had no clue of how deep I could actually go with them on those topics.
Now, I’ve actually stopped selling any low-ticket stuff whatsoever and shifted to selling high-ticket offers that focus 80-90% on reviewing people’s offers, messaging, and lead-attracting content – and 10-20% on the more surface-level stuff.
These offers fly off my virtual shelf almost every week with almost no effort whatsoever on my part (other than writing content about the deeper aspects of my work).
No convincing, no objections from people who don’t see why they need it or how it’s different from my free and low-cost stuff.
Cool, huh?
Now I understand how flawed the commonly-taught “ascension model” is in most cases.
Or at least, the THINKING behind it (I’m open to the idea that it could be done differently than it often is).
The thinking behind it is usually that you sell someone a surface-level thing in order to get them to see that they need the deeper thing.
(because they try the surface-level stuff and realize it doesn’t fully get them the transformation)
It may indeed be true for some people that they need to try surface-level and fail before they’ll admit they need the deeper stuff.
(As my elders were fond of teaching me when I was a young gal, “some people have to learn the hard way” 😉 😉 😉 )
But for others, they’re totally willing to accept the deeper stuff right away… if only they know it exists!
These are actually the best clients in my experience.
They soak up everything you give them like a sponge and implement at lightning speed.
And the irony is that they are also the ones who are least likely to even enter the low end of your funnel in the first place to go through your ascension model… because they don’t see themselves as having any time to waste, and they want the full transformation as quickly as possible.
You’ll do these folks a favor by not assuming that it’ll be hard to get them to accept your deepest work… You need only tell them about it (in a clear way) and they’ll be on board. 🙂
The deep work often sells more easily to these folks (for a higher price and with fewer objections) because it is what will actually solve their problem.
As opposed to selling them information that is merely a piece of the solution.
$5,000 to actually solve a problem thoroughly and permanently sounds like a bargain.
$500 for some information that doesn’t ultimately solve the problem sounds expensive.
For all of its problems, the coaching industry is still a light to the world precisely because of people like you who support clients through the REAL work.
So, for heaven’s sake, make people aware that you do this work so they can throw their money at you without thinking too hard about it. 😉
One of the things I’m awesome at is helping you to write content that showcases what your work is really about and avoids making it sound simpler than it is.
This is a big piece of what I do in my 30-day 1-on-1 program for experienced coaches and consultants who truly care about getting real and profound transformations for clients.
If you’re interested in this program, I welcome your private message on Facebook so that we can discuss your suitability for it.
Soon I will also be offering the chance to be trained, certified and licensed by me to teach my powerful methods to your own clients. DM me on Facebook if you want to be added to my waitlist. More information about certification can be found here.