74 | 3 Common Messaging Mistakes Coaches Make (And How to Fix Them)

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Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Hello, welcome to the 74th episode

of women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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I feel like I haven't recorded a episode

for absolutely ages because I've been

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utilizing interviews and different things.

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So it's exciting to talk to you today.

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I'm covering three common

messaging mistakes that coaches

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make and how to fix them.

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it's interesting as newbies starting

out, we think, well, I've got my

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niche, I've got everything I need.

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And when you've been in business

for years, you start to see

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that there are so many nuances.

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So your message is not just

your, I help statement.

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It's in fact, every single

thing you say in your business.

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Mistake number one I see

is blending with the crowd.

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The coaching industry is booming.

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And with that growth comes a lot

of similar sounding messages.

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Which is why we can't just rely

on your, I help statement because.

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Someone else will have pretty much

your exact I help statement too.

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So this is how we get to stand out.

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what can happen, especially

early on in business.

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Is looking at what other coaches

seem to be doing and doing the same.

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Often we don't know if those

coaches are doing well or not.

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So sometimes in my business of coaching

group calls, I do audits on people that

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I do know I doing super, super well.

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So the people in my group get to see

why is this working well for them?

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What exactly are they saying?

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What language are they choosing?

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What marketing are they doing?

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Why is this working?

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And that really helps you to see from your

own approach, what may need sharpening.

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So even if the account that we're

looking at is in a completely

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different niche to yours,

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You will learn so, so much from looking

at someone who is doing super well and

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you know, they're doing super well.

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I just saw a post on Instagram from

Daniel Priestley saying the best thing

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you can do is shadow someone who's

already a successful entrepreneur.

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and I really do think that's quite a good

opportunity, because until you have really

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seen inside someone's business, It's

hard to know all of the different levels.

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when I first started my business, I

worked with a business mentor who had

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won a Queen's award for innovation,

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so it was great working with

someone with vast experience and

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really learning from how much depth

went into just one tiny exercise.

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We did an exercise on

your business positioning.

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Hours and hours of research and plotting.

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Interviews with your

clients, like so much depth.

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to be honest, it was way ahead of what

I needed when I started my business.

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Because in your first few years, you just

need to take fast, messy action and start

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selling something and start learning

rather than getting too distracted by

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very complex positioning exercises.

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But it's an absolutely brilliant

thing to do when you are super solid,

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that this is what you want to sell.

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This is who you want to sell it to.

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You do have clients to talk to, to

figure out why they bought from you.

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And you can then consciously create

your brand around what you find.

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So back our mistake, which

is blending with the crowd.

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The difficulty is that many

coaches use language like Chat GPT.

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So I'm talking transformation, unlocking

your potential, achieving your dreams.

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Sadly chat GPT has destroyed many

of these words To be honest, they

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were already really overused.

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When things are overused,

they lose that impact.

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your potential clients will just scroll

by these generic messages because

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they don't cut deep enough in a kind

way to their heart to really speak

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to that exact feelings, emotions.

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And what does that really mean?

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Fulfill your potential or

these kind of big messages?

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We need to break it down

Into a micro message.

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They really do understand.

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So you're probably thinking, okay,

but how do I actually do this?

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The key is to articulate your

unique perspective or approach.

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It's a bit like that exercise.

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I was just talking about

in terms of positioning.

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Are you cheap or expensive?

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Are you operating with high-end

clients or lower end clients?

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Are you marketing with hype or

are you marketing with honesty?

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Are you.

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Ultra niche or are you wide open?

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We did this exercise with so many

different access, you could plot

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yourself on like this of like, where

exactly do you want to position

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yourself in the marketplace?

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And that might help you to really

articulate your approach, your values,

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what you believe is a really great

way of doing this in practical terms.

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Do you have any particular process or

frameworks that you use with clients?

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Like I mentioned asking your

current clients what they value

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most about working with you.

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I can really help you to see

your unique differentiator.

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For example, my clients

value the community.

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So that is a big aspect of my work.

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And they value the personal approach.

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I will continue to bring in

that personalized approach.

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My favorite business mentor, I mentioned

often in this podcast is called Fabienne.

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And she said at a conference,

I went to You do know that

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I didn't bake the brownies.

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she basically sends brownies to people

that she works with as a welcome gift.

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And she used to, when she started

her business, bake the brownies.

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Clearly now she is a multimillionaire.

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She no longer bakes the brownies,

but She does instill that everyone

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gets brownies sent to them in the

post when they start with her.

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So it's like, how can you bring in your

unique approach and make it scalable?

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So have a think about.

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What are your unique differentiators?

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How can you really embed these into

every single layer of your business?

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Mistake number two is

casting your net too wide.

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When you want to attract more clients, I

completely get that it feels good to have

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a really wide message that you could help.

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A lot of people.

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The problem with this is that

you cannot specify exactly what

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is going on for an individual

person in empathetic enough terms.

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So, last week I held a one-to-one

session with someone who wanted

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to work with high achieving women,

but she was initially with distant

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to decide between a high-achieving

executive in an organization or

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a high achieving entrepreneur.

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And the problem with hedging,

your bets with both is that

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you can't say things like.

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When you walk into the boardroom and

everyone gives you their attention.

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Because an entrepreneur is not

walking into the boardroom.

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So it means you end up watering down

your message to a generic, you're a

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powerful woman and you want to speak up.

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Yes I am.

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But if you can paint the picture for

me, particularly as an ideal client.

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At that webinar you're running or

that in-person event you're running.

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Then I'm like, okay, you understand

the sort of thing I'm trying to do?

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How can I work with you?

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Whereas, if someone is just

going, you want to speak up?

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It doesn't speak to me directly

enough for me to think.

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Yes, I do want to speak up.

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So I want to work with you.

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So you need to paint the complete picture.

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And when you stay wide with your

niche or your message it means you

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can't have a targeted good enough

message because you don't really

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know your ideal client inside out.

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So, I know it's an overused

term, but the further you go into

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business, the more that this ideal

client exercise will come up.

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What are their goals and aspirations?

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What have they tried

before that hasn't worked?

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What are their secret desires

they haven't said to anyone.

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Really using their language to

connect with how they truly feel.

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Under this one, we also need to think

about the results that they want.

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So instead of those vague

promises or vague talk of coaching

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sessions, When you have a really

good idea of your ideal client.

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You can paint the picture of the result

that they want, which he just can't do if

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you are hedging your bets with your niche.

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The best thing also about knowing

your ideal client inside out is

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addressing objections in your content.

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So you have an easy time on sales calls

or in your sales process, if that's

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why a sales page that already addresses

the objections that they may have.

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And in case you're worried that this means

you won't be able to work with people

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that want to work with you just know that

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Behind closed doors you can do anything

you want, but for your exterior marketing

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message, you really need a crystal clear

message that speaks to your ideal client

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so they know that you are

the perfect person to help.

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Okay.

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mistake number three is

downplaying your expertise.

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So you will know that I

share a lot of case studies.

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I focus on their results.

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Instead of me talking

about how great I am.

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They can talk about how it's been

working with me, the results that

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they've achieved in the process.

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What their experience was like.

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You can also share your own journey.

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on this podcast, for example,

I've spoken a lot about building

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my own business, which shows both

expertise and relate-ability.

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Demonstrating your expertise

through your content like blog

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posts, podcast, social media can

actually showcase your knowledge.

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for example, I had a client who was

having a stand at a big conference

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at the XL center in London And she

was asking me how best to talk about.

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coaching To the people

walking past her stand.

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And I said, instead of trying to talk

about what coaching is, why don't you say,

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sit down for live free coaching session.

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People can watch you actually coach other

people and they can put their name down to

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get coached, live on the spot themselves.

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So that worked super, super well for her,

because you can't really talk to people

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about coaching easily, but how could you

demonstrate that knowledge there and then?

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And in fact, it gives me an idea that

I've been wanting to do for an absolute

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age, which is have a live coaching

session with someone where I help

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them to get clear on their niche or

their offer or their marketing plan.

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So keep your eyes peeled.

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Another thing that will help you to

stop downplaying your expertise is to be

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really transparent about your process.

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So think about how you explain

your work with clients.

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. I love reviewing my client's

processes especially if they're, for

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example, working with corporates and

they have One, we have a 30 minute

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conversation to establish your needs.

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Two I will write a proposal

to meet these needs.

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Three, we sign up the proposal and four,

we begin work on the transformation

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that you want in your organisation,

So it feels really professional.

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People know what the next steps are.

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So let's wrap up the three common

messaging mistakes we've discussed today.

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So firstly was blending in.

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with the crowd instead of

showcasing your unique perspective.

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Next up was trying to appeal to

everyone rather than speaking

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directly to your ideal client.

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And third was downplaying your

expertise instead of confidently

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communicating your value.

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Are you falling into any of these traps?

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An effective message isn't about

tricks or hype, which I know is

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another worry from my ideal clients.

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It's about clearly and

authentically communicating

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the true value that you offer.

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I am here for the brilliant coach,

like you, who is ready to refine

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or build out the full marketing

ecosystem of your business so you

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consistently call in ideal clients.

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You know, you have the

coaching or consulting skills,

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you need to make an impact.

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You've maybe been playing around with the

marketing side, but you want step by step

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instructions and someone to answer all

of your questions every step of the way.

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So you get fast results.

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You've binged all of the free material

and you just want real help to get

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answers to those questions that help you

move forward tomorrow, not next month.

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You want to be part of a program

designed to give you a clear roadmap

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and the confidence to truly up level,

as well as a mentor and community

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who will make this feel, not just

doable, but actually enjoyable.

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This is my value to you.

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If you already to up level and have been

waiting for a sign, then this is it.

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You will find the link to the business

of coaching program in the show notes.

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Like I say, at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe

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in yourself and be the wise Gardner

who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.