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- The Code Breaker Newsletter - Issue #005
Hey Code Breakers,
Welcome to this week's Code Breaker Newsletter, where we share some of the best insights, tips, and stories on how to break the code on your market and unlock the potential within your business.
In issue 003, I shared one of the most crucial elements to your success - building your email list and keeping it engaged.
Today, I’m going to breakdown the first step in the process of building your list, it’s glaringly obvious and yet frequently brushed over or outright ignored. It’s getting really clear on WHO you want to serve. This is a key piece. Because, without this key piece, your growth will stall eventually.
Unfortunately, most coaches and consultants get started with a simple idea, but very little thought goes into the specifics around who they want to serve long term.
It’s all about WHO!!!
It all starts will a simple decision. A decision of who’ll you'll serve. But when this step is skipped or avoided coaches and consultants experience the following issues:
Stagnation
Lack of Interaction
Glass Ceilings
Frustration, Anger, and Rage
This all starts with an inability to define and/or focus on a specific WHO. Thankfully, each of the above issues is solved when you successfully define who, because everything stems from there.
Here's how to do it so you can avoid falling into the traps above:
DECIDE who you truly want to serve.
The word “decide” means to cut off from all other possibilities.
It means committing to serving only those people who fit within the definition of who you want to serve. It’s deciding who’ll you’ll work with and “cutting off” those you wont. It comes down to the best definition of marketing I’ve ever heard and it comes from one of my mentors, Dean Graziosi:
Marketing is attracting those you want and repelling those you don’t.
It’s that simple. The thing is you can’t attract those you want, if you don’t know who they are, and you won’t know if you’re repelling those you don’t want if you don’t know the reverse.
Getting crystal clear on WHO you want to serve empowers you to build crystal clear marketing messaging and magnetically attract your ideal clients. Because when you try to market to everyone you speak to no one.
Getting the core elements right.
In future newsletters I’ll cover the nuance of really dialing in your who so it builds in your unique background, attributes, and value so you can build a unique passcode that unlocks your market. But first let’s cover the basics.
There are four elements you must consider when selecting your who if you truly want to be successful. Getting these elements right is the key to rapid and continuous growth. Get them wrong, and you may be in for a long wait.
The Four Core Elements
NEED: They must need what it is that you have to offer.
Also known as a Hot Market, you want to look for who’s that truly need what it is that you have to offer.
Another way of looking at it is that your customer is likely experiencing pain of some sort. No pain, no gain? No pain = non-motivated who.
A great way to know if you’ve made a great decision here is to see if you can answer the 3 W’s. Why change, why now, and why us?
Why would your WHO need to make a change?
Why do they need to change now?
Why should they choose you over any other possible solution?
ABILITY: They must be able to purchase what it is you have to offer.
If you’re customer needs what you have, but doesn’t have the ability to purchase it, you’re in for a very frustrating day.
I see this one with coaches who want to help kids, or sales consultants who only want to work with start-ups. If the kid doesn’t have access to funds and the start-ups are so new they can’t afford what you offer, than it doesn’t matter if they need it, they’re unable to make a purchase.
Right solution, wrong person.
In these cases either make your who the person who can buy or change your who all together.
ACCESSIBILITY: You must be able to gain access to them.
How accessible are the who’s you’re wanting to target?
Do they all congregate in some way, shape, or form, that gives you a route to get in front of them.
This can often be a sticking point for a number of people. Not because they’re who isn’t accessible, but because they lack the creativity to figure out how to locate them. Advertising platforms are you friend. Even if you don’t know how to run ads, getting to know and understand the advertising platforms and the details lists they can generate can be a huge help in narrowing down your specific who.
GROWING: They must be in a stable or, ideally, growing market.
Another area I see coaches and consultants struggle is picking a “dying” market.
When you decide who your who is, you must pick one that provides the opportunity for growth.
This can be an existing market with a large base, but you’ll experience even greater growth and opportunity when you pick a growing market.
Deciding who you want to serve is an essential piece in your success. Ignore this at your own parel. If you’re trying to build an email list and it isn’t growing as fast as you’d like, dig into your who. Review everything above, and ask yourself the questions related to your who. If the answers aren’t as clear as you’d like, dig in until you get them right.
If you need more help our guidance on dialing in your who and creating your own unique passcode to unlock your market, considering joining the Code Breaker Academy or reaching out to us directly. We’re always here to help!
See you next week!
P.S. In an effort to share an inside view of what the entrepreneurial journey is like I decided to start a daily email/newsletter to share my reflections of the day. This will include observations I’ve made, marketing campaigns we’re running, what’s working and what’s not working. If you’re interested feel free to subscribe and I look forward to communicating with you there.
