There was a local fair in my home town, that I use to go as a child. I was 12 or 13 back then, and that weekly visit was like a ritual for my friends and me every single sunday.
On that fair you could buy any kind of product, except food. You could find music (remember those old cassette tapes?), clothes, leather bags and belts, shoes, ceramic pieces and figurines made by local artisans, plants and flowers…
You know how things go when you belong to a group of friends, don’t you? If they did something you probably ended up doing exactly the same.
So when a friend of mine that loved buying gifts to her mother, started looking at the ceramic figurines, I decided it would be a nice thing to do to also give an unexpected gift to my mum.
So said and done. I bought what I thought was a gourgeous and elegant figurine of a woman standing next to a few dogs, very similar to the one my friend had chosen for her mum.
And there we went, happily carrying our precious treasures, while I was already imagining the face of my mother, surprised and delighted at the sight of my gift for her.
And yes, there was a surprise at home, but not the kind I was expecting.
When I arrived home, and gave the gift to my mother, she gave me the less convincing polite “thank you” you can imagine. Then started looking for a place to put it over the cupboard, while forcing a faked smile, (and probably thinking to herself how great it was to have something else to dust off everyday).
And then it came: she started telling me all the reasons why I should NEVER again, spend my money buying gifts to her, and why that money was just for me to enjoy.
I still remember how bad I felt that day: disappointed, sad, and even embarrashed…but as hard as it was, it seems that I wasn’t ready to learn the lesson there, because many years later in my business I was going to repeat it.
I understand that, as a conscious professional, you are probably not trying to create products or services for your mother (but I might be wrong). But if you make the mistake I’m about to reveal to you, you’ll probably feel as discouraged, disappointed and hurt with your clients as I was with my mother in my childhood back in the early 80’s.
And the mistake is this:
“Creating products, programs and services that you want to create, not the products, programs and services that your clients really want to buy”
Because, let me tell you, 99% of the times, what you want to create and what they want to buy , it’s not the same.
So save yourself some heartache by doing a little research in advance. And before your start creating your next product, go and find out what your ideal clients really want.
And then focus on creating exactly that.
CHARO’S COACHING TIPS
Answer the following questions, to get a better understanding of what kind of help your ideal clients really want from you and your business.
- Where do your ideal cients gather, either online or offline?
- What are they struggling with?
- How could you find out what they really need and want? (tip: surveys, read their comments on facebook groups, offer strategy sessions, etc)
- What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to crafting your offers and creating your programs products and services?
- Leave your comments below and share with me what those challenges are, so I can create a new article to help you solve them.
Namaste
Charo