There’s a thought that often trips people up when thinking about the possibility of working with super-impressive clients (y’know, the kinds who have achieved a lot already in their business and life and are happy to pay high fees).
That thought is:
“They’re already so good at [INSERT TOPIC I HELP WITH]. They probably already think they know everything about it and don’t see any need to improve at it or learn new techniques.”
Let me give you 3 reasons why this thought is nonsense and you shouldn’t let it stop you from putting a stake in the ground and saying “this IS my ideal client and I want to attract them and work with them.”
(which, of course, can lead to the business of your dreams because these high achievers are the ones who see the most value in coaching and professional services and are most willing to pay high fees)
Here we go:
REASON NUMBER ONE
Yes, they do see a need to improve. Even though they are already so good at [THING YOU HELP WITH].
That’s the thing about high achievers. No amount of achievement is ever enough. Hedonic adaptation and all that, y’know.
Was Michael Jordan satisfied with one championship? No.
Two? Three? Four? Five? No.
Even at six championships, when the Bulls finally split up, Jordan thought they could do more.
You could hear the disappointment in his voice when he was interviewed in The Last Dance ESPN series when he talked about how he didn’t understand why the team had to be disbanded and he had been eager to have them try for a seventh.
To someone who has not reached a high level of achievement in something, this mindset makes no sense. I mean, he was already in the top 3-5 most famous athletes of all time and the Bulls held so many world records (some of which they still hold to this day).
Why would he want more?
But to the high-achieving type, it makes PERFECT sense. They know that once you achieve something, the “high” wears off pretty quickly and it becomes your “new normal” and now you just want something new to strive for.
So if you think high achievers don’t see a need to improve, think again. They are actually the MOST likely group of people to see a need to improve.
Accomplished singers are the ones taking the most lessons.
Experienced weightlifters are the ones paying the most for personal trainers.
People who’ve been doing boundaries work for 15 years and are quite familiar with the topic already are the most likely to hire the best boundaries coach on the planet to help them fine-tune things in their relationships.
(I am an example of the client in all three of those scenarios, btw 😉 )
REASON NUMBER TWO
(why it’s nonsense to think that impressive clients won’t hire you because they don’t see a need to improve and think they know everything)
A much more likely reason why they won’t hire you is that you haven’t shown the impressive client what OUTCOME(S) they could get if they knew the next-level stuff that you know.
In other words, if you go around saying things like, “Your offer isn’t good enough!” or “Your coaching techniques could be improved!” or “I know you think you know a lot about boundaries but there’s actually a lot you don’t know and I can show you!!”…
…then OF COURSE that’s not going to work well.
They don’t believe you – because they know they’re an impressive person and they know that what they’ve built (or who they’ve become) is outstanding.
However, if you SHOW, as opposed to telling, they will absolutely pay attention.
And again: “showing” looks like naming what OUTCOMES they could get (or, said another way, what gaps they could close) if they had your next-level knowledge.
Here’s a good example of this:
Some of the best communicators and content writers in the world have hired me. And I teach communication and content writing! 🙂
When I’ve asked some of them why they chose to hire me, they’ve said things like, “We do well with getting clients from our content. We get one or two per month and we make six figures. But then we saw you talking about how you and your clients get up to four to eight per month and make multiple-six or seven figures. We realized it was possible to do better than we thought, and we wanted those results too.”
See? 🙂
The same thing applies to whatever results are possible from the knowledge that you have regarding your topic.
If you know coaching techniques that can increase someone’s client success rate to 99%, and you talk about that 99% outcome that’s possible, and they’re only at 75% success rate, you can bet they’ll pay attention to what you’re saying.
If you know boundaries techniques that can help someone be totally at peace when setting a boundary, instead of worried what the other person will think, and you talk about that result, and the impressive person doesn’t have total peace yet, you can be sure they’ll start asking themselves whether they might need what you offer even though they know a lot about boundaries already.
REASON NUMBER THREE
(why it’s nonsense to think that impressive clients won’t hire you because they don’t see a need to improve and think they know everything)
Impressive clients are smart (obviously) and if you explain HOW your thing can help them reach their next level of achievement, they’ll understand.
They’ll see that this “how” is different from what they’ve tried before, and they’ll be interested.
(Impressive clients tend to like trying new things and learning new things, too!)
The point here is that JUST letting them know what outcomes are possible from your methods isn’t enough.
You’ve also got to give them a clue as to what your methods ARE – and HOW they enable the outcomes.
Otherwise it just looks like you’re making scammy claims, and the high-achieving clients are especially sensitive to those, because they’ve been around the block and heard it all.
An example of sharing “how” is that I don’t just talk about the results that are possible from my client attraction method – I actually do all kinds of sharing about what the method IS.
I write posts pointing out specific things about people’s writing that make client attraction harder vs. easier.
I do video trainings breaking down my content writing method, and reviewing people’s content to point out how it does or doesn’t adhere to my framework and what the results would likely be if they shifted this or that.
A lot of times people go and try the tweaks that I talk about, and come back and say “OMG it worked – I got a high-paying client who had no objections.”
This is me SHOWING – not telling – people that the method works and gets the outcomes that I claim it does.
(And btw – with the high-achieving types, getting some results from your free content/teachings in no way deters them from hiring you. Again, high achievers always want more, so if they get a “little result,” like getting one client from one piece of content, they’re by no means satisfied – it just makes them want to hire you to get the “big” result, like getting consistent weekly clients from lots of different pieces of content.)
…
To recap:
1. High achievers do see a need to improve even though they’re already good at the thing you help with.
2. Show the OUTCOMES that the high achievers can get from knowing/mastering your next-level stuff. Don’t just harp at them that they need to improve (I know you wouldn’t do that, but just illustrating a contrast here 😉 )
3. Show HOW your next-level stuff can help them get those specific outcomes. Don’t be mysterious.
Make sense?
Let me go even further here and tell you HOW I recommend sharing your “how” and your outcomes. 🙂
I have two post-writing frameworks that I teach.
One is the “direct offer” pitching your program.
In that one, the outcome goes at the top and the “how” is in bullet points underneath.
It roughly goes like this:
“I have an offer for [DEMOGRAPHICS] who want [OUTCOME].
“Here’s what we work on: [‘HOW’ BULLET POINTS OF METHOD]”
There’s more to the framework, but those are the basic building blocks.
(If you want to see a video of me teaching this framework in detail, click here.)
My second post-writing framework is the value post, dubbed “belief-shifting post” by some of my clients.
That one is more like a conversational essay-style thing – kind of like what you’re reading right now.
It roughly goes like this:
“Here’s one reason why [SMALL PROBLEM OR GAP] occurs.
“[COUPLE PARAGRAPHS OF EXPLANATION OF THE REASON]
“And here’s one or two things you can do to solve it.
“[FEW MORE PARAGRAPHS EXPLAINING ONE OR TWO DETAILED POINTS OF HOW TO SOLVE – WITH ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES]”
There’s more to this post-writing framework too, but those are the major components.
(If you want to see a video of me teaching this framework in detail, click here.)
Consistently posting these two kinds of posts – plus growing my audience through friend-requesting and letting people spread the word about my FB group – has resulted in a steady stream of the most amazing, high-achieving, high-paying, non-objection-giving, amazing-result-getting clients for me.
Whaddaya know.
And clients of mine report similar results about the quality of clients they get. It’s a dream come true for all of us.
Want to attract amazing high-achieving clients from your content too?
That’s what I help people with in my 30-day 1-on-1 program.
I help you to frame your offer in the most attractive way possible for that impressive ideal client, and write it up in my 500-word offer post framework, and write your amazing value posts that show them all the nooks and crannies of your method and how it can solve so many of the little challenges that are coming up for them.
More information on the 30-day program, including pricing, is available here.
You can DM me on Facebook if you’re interested.
If you ONLY want help articulating the outcome that your ideal impressive high-paying client is going to want, I break off that piece from my 1-on-1 program and address it on its own in my group workshops.
You can learn more about the workshops here, and DM me on Facebook if you’re interested in attending one.
Later this year, I will also begin offering the opportunity for you to become certified and licensed to teach my methods (for framing offers and writing content) to your own clients.
The certification program is still in development. You can learn a little more about it, including pricing, here.
And if you’d like to be put on the waitlist to be notified when it’s ready, just DM me. 🙂