Can I ask for your help with some market research for my business?
This question will RUIN your business from day 1 if you’re not using it correctly.
Asking this question before you have identified your ideal client is a recipe for disaster.
Let me tell you why…
- You’re asking it to every (wo)man and their dog! This means you’re going to get a million different answers and opinions with no clear answer as to whether you have a business or not! It’s like asking your Grandparents if they’d buy the new pair of Nike trainers that have just been released… the likelihood is slim!
- Your friends and family are bound to support you and think it’s a great idea, but are they going to be the one’s buying it? Again, the likelihood is NO! Or they may not support you, as they’ve seen you start up businesses before that have failed and are now scared for you, sabotaging the one thing that will fulfill you and bring financial freedom.
- Equally, if someone is doing you a favour by answering your questions, they probably like you and so their answers are going to be swayed and therefore will probably say yes to buying your stuff right up until you ACTUALLY ask for money!
- You don’t know where your ideal client is if you don’t who they are… so getting around the above issues is going to be hard work!
My strong advice is to work out who your ideal client is first! This may seem contradictory to tradition but trust me, I did it this way and it saved me a lot of time, confusion, and failure.
As a Coach, there’s a simple way to identify your IC… it’s you! It’s you at some point in your journey.
When you work out ‘who’ you’re speaking to first, the following things happen…
- You know where those people are to ask them about their specific pain points and get specific answers to specific questions that will be more valuable than asking broader questions.
- You know in your heart of hearts that you absolutely have a business that will be successful because YOU would have paid for your services, and so asking this question is to fine tune your services.
- You have a starting point and a focus to direct your efforts to create an epic business that is totally aligned with your life’s purpose and is led by your purpose and passion and not what’s necessarily visibly popular. Trust me, this is so important!
Trying to work with what seems to be the next ‘BIG THING’ that isn’t aligned to your zone of genius, will be damaging to both you and your clients.
So as you can see a lot of time, confusing and heartache is saved when you get clarity on who you serve and what you help them with FIRST!
Don’t get desperate when you don’t know who you’re talking to and just ask random questions to the general public.
Random questions will receive random answers = GAME OVER!