How to Find the Exact Words that Attract Your Clients (and Gets them Excited to Work with You)

One of my favorite things to write and talk about is copywriting.

Which for most of my clients - it's their absolute least favorite thing. 

Most of these consultants and coaches love what they do. But they hate the struggle of trying to find the words to describe what they do and write about it.

It's the lack of words that keeps websites from getting launched and marketing tactics from getting implemented.

Related Article: "7 Reasons Why Your Client Aren't Getting it When you Write and Talk About What You Do"

If you're ready to discover how to talk about what you do in a way that is compelling to your ideal clients, then read on. This article is for you. 

What I'm NOT going to do is show you how to put sizzle around how to explain your methodology to your client that makes them sign with you on the spot because that is not going to happen. Clients don't understand, nor do they care about your methodology. They won't hire you for that unless they are looking for a low-paid extra "pair of hands."

And they don't have the same vocabulary as you do. So when you try to use that lingo to come across as smart and credible, you make your client feel dumb. Which is a sales killer. 

I'm also NOT going to show you how to convince a client about something you want them to want.

What we're going to focus on instead is how to get future clients who land on your website to say, "Wow! You're reading my mind! You get me!"

You do this by talking about their problems and challenges from their perspective, using the words that are actually going through their minds. 

Your shop talk is never going through their minds. They are not sitting up at night wondering how to find a coach that will unlock their authenticity or a consultant who has a 5-step methodology for aligning people, processes and profits. Sure by the end of being coached by you, someone might get rid themselves of false beliefs, bad job or toxic relationships and you might apply your 5-step process in your consulting, but that isn't what is going to get a client to excitedly book a free consult with you to learn more about what you do. 

What will turn website visitors into discovery meetings and discovery meetings into signed contracts is speaking their language (not yours.)

Let me show give you some ideas to find and use the exact words your clients need to hear in order to convince them to work with you.

Related Tutorial Video: "Ideas to Spark your Website Copy Clarity"

Go where your clients might open up.

Do the following:

• Do a survey with former and potential clients.
• Follow up a survey with interviews that allow you to probe for insight, clarity and really good phrases.
• Go to Amazon. Find books that your clients might buy to solve their problems (when they should be hiring you) and look at how they express their pain, wants, needs, and solution desires. 

Do NOT:

• Go to places where clients are editing themselves like LinkedIn.
• And for sure do NOT go to your competitor's copy as they might not base their copy on the words clients actually use. 

Questions to ask include:

• What were you struggling with before we worked together?
• What problem did you have that I helped you solve?
• What did you try prior to us working together that didn't work? Why didn't it work?
• What were you able to create or achieve as a result of working together?

Be clear on what you're listening for

You’re not listening for: 

• Phrases you already use
• More corporate-speak
• What everyone else is saying

 What you’re listening for are two things: 

• Reoccurring themes around what people say over and over again about -
  • What they are in pain about
  • What frustrates them about an existing solution
  • What are they looking for in a solution
  • What do they ideally want in terms of a transformation
• Phases that make you stop and notice and the words they use that speaks to the depth of pain and deepest desires - 
  • Says what no one else is willing to say
  • Interesting and memorable phrases

For example, one of my clients is a dating coach for accomplished, high-achieving women and through her surveys, interviews and amazon book reviews was the prevalence of fear and discouragement that these women experienced around the dating process and even finding love from someone who valued her strength. Some of the sticky phrases we uncovered were:

• Confusing and frustrating to be smart about success but not about love
• How to take the same skills of motivation and intelligence that serve us so well professionally and use them to work toward the best relationship possible
• Gives women who have broken through the glass ceiling but not the love ceiling pragmatic tools and proven strategies to find satisfaction in romance
• She has bestowed a gift to the women of the world, an escape hatch from ending up in misery with the wrong man

These phrases both revealed the issues that her clients faced and powerful ways of expressing those issues and how to position herself with her clients AND copy.

Some outcomes for another one of my clients is a change consultant and was struggling with trying to find her angle in the market and how she stood out and discovered that one of the big challenges with change was the limits of traditional leadership development and why it is insufficient for handling unplanned change. Here are some of the sticky phrases we got through her "voice of the customer" research process:

• If you are interested in organizational change and have been around the block once or twice, you may have found yourself a bit disenfranchised or frustrated by the flavor of the month attempts at "change." Or, you may be mystified why most leadership development doesn't seem to stick. Or you may have read about concepts like "learning organizations," "integral theory," "employee engagement" and the like but have no idea how to implement such things.
• Here's the thing, many of us read a lot, listen to a lot of podcasts, keep up on the latest and greatest about what we need to do to be successful leaders. So what stops us from doing what we know we need to do exactly how we need to do it? Yes, emotions. 
• Emotional intelligence [has become] simply new jargon for discussing our emotions. intellectually and codifying them in competency models. Meanwhile, our feelings remain imprisoned in our heads.
• The missing link between great intentions and great results is often a little talked-about leadership trait - emotional agility and courage.
• The fact is that businesses are not generally safe places for people--even when there is great leadership.

The process made clear the market need and words to describe the market need - which is traditional change management approaches and leadership development works for planned, evolutionary change, but completely insufficient for unplanned, complex change and deeper organizational/leadership transformation.

Use your client's EXACT words in your copy

Once you have these sticky phrases - use them in your copy. Make them your headlines and sub-headlines...with minimal editing.

My dating coach client can take this phrase:

• Gives women who have broken through the glass ceiling but not the love ceiling pragmatic tools and proven strategies to find satisfaction in romance.

And turn it into her brand promise/value proposition with a few tweaks:

• I help women who have broken through the glass ceiling but not the love ceiling with pragmatic tools and proven strategies to find satisfaction in romance.

My change management client can use these phrases:

• If you are interested in organizational change and have been around the block once or twice, you may have found yourself a bit disenfranchised or frustrated by the flavor of the month attempts at "change." Or, you may be mystified why most leadership development doesn't seem to stick. Or you may have read about concepts like "learning organizations," "integral theory," "employee engagement" and the like but have no idea how to implement such things.
• Here's the thing, many of us read a lot, listen to a lot of podcasts, keep up on the latest and greatest about what we need to do to be successful leaders. So what stops us from doing what we know we need to do exactly how we need to do it? Yes, emotions. 

And make them the introduction section on her services page of her website:

• I get your frustration with the best way to handle the change your company is facing. You're an organizational change expert and have been around the block. You have read the books, been in the leadership development program, listened to the podcasts. You and I know what is stopping your team from doing what they already know they need to do. Yes, emotions. 

Related Articles:

• "What is a Brand and Why You Need One"
• "How to Build a Consulting/Coaching Website" (Tutorial Video)

Where you might get stuck

There are three places you might get stuck or resist the process:

1. "Leading the witness"

Or what you can consider the "hammer looking for a nail" syndrome where we're very committed to the methodology we want to sell or the process we use and so either we look for the words that confirm our bias or we try to put words in our clients' mouths. For example, we might be very passionate about creating workplaces where everyone can be our authentic selves and do work that we love.

So, we set up our surveys and interviews so that our clients say that "Yes, I'm at night worrying about creating a workplace where everyone is their authentic self" vs. what they might actually be thinking which might be, "How in the world am I going to get my underpaid, overworked front-line to just smile at customers when I have no money to reward or train them and what will happen to me if I don't get this done? Will I be fired?"

2. Learning curve overwhelm

Doing market research and this "voice of the customer" process draws on qualitative research skills that might new to you. You may not know the difference between the questions you ask and the ones you use to probe for more insight and how to get someone talking. Identifying themes might be difficult for you.

But here's the deal - these are skills that add tremendous value to your consulting and coaching toolbox. These skills are the foundation of amazing organizational assessment and coaching client intakes. So while they are new, they are worth your time to develop them. 

(And they are highly learnable - I promise!)

3. "But what about MY voice??" objection

One of your writing goals might be to find your own authentic voice and you will. But I promise you corporate speak and industry jargon isn't your voice. That's a language you learned to survive and thrive in an organization.

Your voice is what you say when you're comfortable with someone you're helping and when you adapt your language to meet others where they are at. If you want your 5-year-old to do something, you use different words than your teenager or a client. 

For example, I work with purpose-driven consultants and coaches with a variety of spiritual/philosophical outlooks that cause them to think of their purpose in different ways. So I can have back-to-back meetings using my voice to encourage people to build businesses out of who they are but say it differently based on who I'm talking to. 

When I'm with my spiritual but not religious client I might say, "We need to uncover your dharma and the business the universe is asking you to manifest."

And then on my next call with my Christian client, I might say, "Seek the Lord to ask Him to reveal the business that He has put on your heart."

And finally on the next call with my client who has no spiritual perspective I might say, "Dial into your heart and mind to see what you really want to do with your career."

My voice is the intention I am trying to express which is that I believe that the best business - the one that will make us money, happiness and create the greatest impact in the world is the one that is aligned to our best-at strengths, passions and story. But I adapt what I say to who I am talking to.

If you're struggling with a lack of clarity and confidence in your business vision and what you do or want more support mining for the voice of your clients, book a call with us and let's chat. 

About Me: I'm Betsy Jordyn and my business development firm builds strong and powerful brands for remarkable consultants and coaches and their unique strengths. Simply put we design consulting and coaching practices that position you as a thought leader and sought-after expert by helping you find the words to describe the value of what you do and use them on your website and in your marketing. Check out our roadmap to mentoring and website design programs at https://www.betsyjordyn.com/services.  

Schedule a consult call to talk about creating your brand messaging and positioning and copy for your online platform: https://www.betsyjordyn.com/schedule.