When I work with someone who says, “I paid $40,000 for coaching in the last two years and I didn’t get any benefit,” often the reason isn’t related to the quality of the mentor or the client’s “coachable” score. Instead, there’s a mismatch between the mentor and the mentee’s desired business model

The mentor mismatch takes many forms.

For example:

“I want to make money selling ebooks and products on the Internet. My coach says that’s impossible. I need to get clients. I can’t even hold workshops.”

But then you’ll also hear:

“I want to make money coaching. My marketing coach says it doesn’t make sense because it’s tied directly to hours  – ‘trading time for money’ – instead of “work once and then get paid over and over again.”

Or:

“I was told to start with one-to-one coaching before you set up your blog or create your first product. One guru said to earn $100K in coaching before setting up my blog.”

A lot of marketing advice these days – from newspapers to blogs to Facebook – often makes me feel like I’m living the fable of the blind men and the elephant. I also get a lot of headaches.

The truth is, all these coaches are right … for some clients.

Once you decide what business model you want, you can find some one – or some people – to support you.  Once you know your business model, you focus your energies. If you’re not going to be a coach you get to skip all the advice about get-acquainted calls.

At the same time, as your business grows, you might find your model changing. When you’ve created a lot of successful products, people start asking you to coach them. And when you’ve developed a reputation for one-to-one coaching and you’re building your business with referrals, you’re in a strong position to develop courses and signature programs.

Selling Info Products

You can make money by selling ebooks and products. If you choose this path, you’ll need a system to collect information about what topics are hot, who’s buying, what are the buying triggers, and where can you get state-of-the-art keyword search numbers. You start by researching markets first and creating products to deliver to those markets.

Some people actually make a lot of money selling kindle books on Amazon. They choose their markets and topics. They follow formulas to create products that will please readers and get good reviews.

Once you create a product, you can sit back and collect the money while you move on to other projects. Over time, the numbers add up.

Coaching, Consulting and Writing

If you want to start a coaching business, you will need to market your services by promoting yourself.  You’ll need skills in sales, networking and speaking. You need to radiate confidence that you can deliver solutions.

You’ll probably be advised to set up free consultations to get clients. You’ll direct clients into programs, typically one-to one consultations, until you gain  traction and then start working with groups.

Your challenge will be to make the business scalable so you get out of the pay-by-project or pay-by-hour mode.  I’ve talked to many coaches who are earning a good (even great) living but walk around feeling exhausted. If you’re in that category, there’s plenty of help out there.

The Great Mentor Mismatch

Just about everyone I know is convinced that one model is superior to the other (and you’ll also find advocates for hybrid models and one-of-a-kind systems). Hire a coach who’s living off passive income and she’ll tell you coaching is too much work. Choose a coach who’s sold on coaching and he’ll tell you he’s making a fortune while working 20 hours a week.

To complicate things further, if you want to become a copywriter or designer, you’ve got different marketing challenges. Your clients will be a different species from the clients of coaches. You can learn some techniques but a lot of your decisions will be different.

How To Create A Great Match Between
Your Business And Your Mentor

Choosing a mentor takes time, especially if you’re going to enter a program that costs as much as a luxury cruise or a small car. When clients ask me about joining big-ticket programs, I suggest these steps (based on my ebook on choosing a mentor):

1 – Before sinking a significant sum into a program, get clear in your mind about your offer. Do you have a clear idea of what you do? Have you identified a hungry market? Do you have some traction?

You’ll get more help when you’re consistently bringing in $500 a month than when you get some $5000 months and some $500 months.

2 – Start slowly. Set up a VIP day or one-time call. Get recommendations for action and implement them. If you get results, try again.

3 – When you’re joining a program of $5000 or more, talk to one reference for every $1000 you pay, up to 5 people. That seems like a lot, but one or two people won’t be enough. You may get the one person who benefited because she had special circumstances – or the one who didn’t do the work and got nothing from the program.

4 – Avoid saying yes or no immediately. If you’ve had a complimentary call, go back after the call and review what happened. How did you feel during the call? What did you take away?

5 – Get comfortable, psychologically and financially, with the program.

If you hate making cold calls and your mentor swears by them, you’ve got a mismatch. (OK, you may be willing to change, but you’re taking a risk.) If your mentor wants you to revise your website, you’ll probably need to hire some help. Few mentors take the time to review sales letters and websites in detail; in fact, many mentors refer clients to copywriters for critiques or done-for-you copy.

If you’d like to talk further about your business (or get an objective review of what resources you might need to grow further), I’m happy to help. We can talk about any aspect of your model that’s related to getting clients, increasing conversions from your marketing materials, and generally growing your business. Click here to learn about my consulting program. 

You might also enjoy my ebook on choosing a mentor – the cost of 2 cappuccinos can save you from a very expensive mismatch.  You’ll get a complete list of questions to ask a prospective mentor along with a summary of red flags that signal a potential mismatch. It’s info you won’t find anywhere else -and it puts you ahead of the game.

Questions? Opinions? Please leave a comment below.

The truth is, your voice can become part of your brand by choice or by accident.  Your voice comes through on your website, sales letter, email messages, and blog posts.

But you often notice it more when you’re getting ready to tell a story.

.The way you tell a story often comes closer to the Real You than the way you promote an idea or share facts. When you’re sharing facts, that’s what people hear: the facts. They don’t hear your voice. They don’t care how you present the facts unless you’re unclear and the facts are murky.

Here are 3 ways to recognize and develop your own storytelling voice.

1 – Look at the email messages you receive from others and identify your most favorite and least favorite.

Which ones do you enjoy? Which ones set your teeth on edge so you keeping thinking, “I really should unsubscribe…”

You’ll most likely see a pattern.

Do you resonate more with down-to-earth, conversational, straightforward messages? Or breezy, super-cool messages with lots of offbeat metaphors and strong language?

2 – Practice writing as a character.

Writing for AppSumo, Neville Medhora built his style around the Sumo logo – the big Sumo wrestler cartoon. He created a character who was fat, brash, and politically incorrect. He kidnapped people to convince them to give the “Sumo-lings” a better deal.

So Neville could write playfully, “I currently have Drew Houston of Dropbox tied up in the trunk of my car…..and won’t let him out till he gives the Sumo-lings 85% off a year subscription to DropBox.”

Here Neville’s brand inspired his voice — and vice versa.

You can practice by writing in the style of characters in movies or television programs. Or you can create a character or persona and write from their perspective.

3 – Listen to the voices of your favorite clients.

Are they breathless or thoughtful? Do they speak slowly or a mile a minute? Do they have accents? Do they tell a lot of jokes? Punctuate their conversations with colorful language?

Skip the stereotypes. Some people over 50 – and over 80! – swear like sailors. Some young people – and young sailors – speak in thoughtful, measured tones and frown on four-letter words.

What phrases come up repeatedly in their conversations?

When asked, “Did you just get back from downtown?” they might answer, “I sure did!” or, “I did,” or, “You betcha.”

Finally… 

(1) Don’t worry if your voice is different from other peoples. Not everybody likes the light-hearted, breezy, funny copy laced with words I can’t use in an email system.

Most audiences respond well to humor, and most aren’t thrilled with somber pessimistic tones.  But some will favor a “just the facts ma’am” style and others will want you to embellish with personal touches.

Second,  you may not recognize your voice out of context. More than once, a client has asked me to please incorporate a specific paragraph, word-for-word, into a sales letter.

Every time I’ve followed instructions, they’ve come back with, “Where did you get that paragraph? You’ve got the tone all wrong! I’d never say that.”

Finally, when you’ve got a strong message, your readers and listeners aren’t paying a lot of attention to your voice. They’re so intently focused on “What’s in it for me?” they’re not noticing the package. They just hear “benefit….benefit…REAL benefit.”

Sometimes you need an outsider’s perspective to develop your brand and your writing voice. My one-time Power Hour consultations help you find answers without committing to long-term coaching or copywriting.  Click here to learn more and sign up.

This week I’ve been reading an excellent book with a misleading title: Performance Breakthrough: A Radical Approach To Success At Work.

The author, Cathy Salit, works with a performance ensemble for executive and personal development projects.  Her book focuses on using elements of theatre — especially improvisational acting — to frame business interactions.

One of Salit’s key points is that being authentic isn’t about finding the Real You. We have many authentic selves and we can draw on those selves in different situations.

Often it’s easy to identify with one identity and fall back on using that self in all situations. Yet growing into new careers — and new business opportunities — often calls for finding new selves and new ways to respond.

In other words, change the character you play in your story. Or create a new story to fit the character you want to be.

Some ways to do this:

(1) Tell a story as a character — someone as different from yourself as possible.

When practicing in a safe space, you could try some of Salit’s recommended exercises.  

Practice telling a story as if you were a fiery preacher … or as if you were sharing a secret with a few close friends … or as if you were down at the bar with a few of your closest friends, where you felt totally comfortable.

If you see yourself as a shy introvert, play the role of an extroverted sales rep.

You won’t be this character when you’re working with clients, making a presentation, or writing your copy. But you’ll be more open to showing a different side of yourself.

(2) Choose your self-disclosure persona.

Salit is a big fan of self-disclosure. She encourages executives to share their personal stories with colleagues, to develop closeness. The idea is that people have to buy into you before they buy into what you’re selling.

I bring a different perspective. I’m more concerned with setting boundaries. If I had to pick one right that was most important to preserve, it would be privacy.

So it goes against my core values to say, “You MUST tell everyone about your abusive mother or your alcoholic dad or your daughter’s run-in with the law.”

Salit shares a lot of stories about executives who bravely shared sensitive experiences. In her book, all the stories end on a positive note. Audiences respond enthusiastically — in one case, with a three-minute standing ovation. But it’s likely that some self-disclosures end less happily, especially without the kind of intense coaching Salit gives her clients.

I once told a story about going to the gym. I wanted to be “up close and personal.”

Now you have to realize I actually love going to the gym. As a child, I was a wuss and skipped as many PE classes in high school as possible. (The gym teachers marked me “present” sometimes because they were so happy I wasn’t there.) But now I’ve held a gym membership for most of my adult life: Zumba, weights, yoga … you name it.

When I told this story to one audience, the air went cold. It took me a while to realize that most of those people positively hated working out. They resented every bicep curl.

I learned. Just the other day I posted on Facebook, “Trying to convince myself that a cucumber salad is just as satisfying for an afternoon snack as a blueberry muffin with butter and coffee.”

That resonated. You have to pick your stories.

(3) In a new situation, come up with a listening role.

Whether you’re networking or participating in a sales conversation, think of yourself as an explorer. In the language of improv comedy, an “offer” is an opportunity to take the scene in a surprising new direction. 

What “offers” are you getting? What is your “scene partner” saying that could lead to a whole new story? What can you dig into with more questions?

If you’d like to explore these ideas further, join me for a one-on-one consultation. We’ll explore the ways you can expand your marketing … and maybe add some stories to fit your strategy.

One afternoon, I got a call from a woman in California—someone well-known in her field. Her assistant patched her through, and she opened with friendly energy:

“Cathy, I’m going to be in your city in a few weeks. Why don’t we meet for coffee? I’d love to learn more about your business!”

I was just about to book her into my calendar when she added:

“What is the nature of your business? What do you offer to clients?”

Ouch.

That question stopped me cold. Why was she reaching out if she didn’t even know what I do? Did she visit my website? Skim my LinkedIn profile? Assign her assistant to do five minutes of research?

Suppose she’d opened with: 

• “I see you offer copywriting services for solopreneurs. Maybe you could give a workshop for my clients.”
• “You emphasize storytelling. My clients want to sell with stories but they don’t know where to start! Could I introduce you to them?”
• “I’d like to promote your products as an affiliate. I’d like to ask you some questions first.’

Here’s the bottom line: Professionals are prepared.

They know their audience. They guard their time. They respect your time. They’ve done their homework before they reach out. They don’t show up hoping you’ll make the connection for them.

I see this all the time when I get podcast guest requests. People pitch talks about marketing for major brands—tech giants, soft drinks, sportswear.  But my listeners run service-based businesses. They’re coaches, consultants and freelancers.  They aren’t trying to be the next cola company. They’re trying to find clients, build trust, and sell their services in a crowded market.

If you want to connect,  don’t make me do the work. Explain the connection. Tell me why you’re a good fit. I may get so enthused I’ll move you right in!

A manager I once knew had a favorite saying:
“Show up dressed and ready to play.”

We all got tired of hearing it. But he was right. Professionals are prepared and prepared people are winners.

If you want to be one of them, start with your story.
Get three stories ready—before you talk to your next prospect or client.
Download my ebook with directions and templates. Click here. Just $9 and you’ve got it.
Click here to get your copy.

An opening is the first paragraph that appears right after the headline or sub-headline. It’s sometimes called a hook because that’s what it does: it hooks readers and motivates them to stay on the page.

Your opening might be

… a startling fact: “The rules of managing money have changed in the last six months.”

… a pull question: “Are you ready for …”

… the first sentence of a story: “It wasn’t so long ago. I was working as a productivity coach. As part of my coaching, I would ask my clients, ‘What’s your morning ritual?'”

There’s one opening that can be especially tricky.

“If you’re on this page, you’re probably searching for a …”

Or, “You’re probably looking for someone to show you the best way to save for retirement…”

Or we might see a variation without the “probably:”

“You’re looking for someone to dig deeply for the real reason people choose your brand.”

This “we assume” opening needs to be used with care because you’re telling your reader’s story. If you know your audience well, your readers will recognize themselves. They’ll say enthusiastically, “That’s my story!”

But when you impose your own story on your audience, you can get pushback.

One relationship coach sent an email marketing message that began, “I bet you’re looking for a new relationship!” One of her readers posted on social media, “I’ve been happily married to the same person for thirty years. That was a quick unsubscribe.”

It’s like a friend saying, “You’re probably going to be watching the football game on Monday,” when you loathe sports and are more likely to attend the opera.

You can also attract the wrong audience.

Recently I got an invitation to attend a networking event. The organizer wrote, “If you are hesitant about attending, answer this simple question: Aren’t you tired of networking that fails to produce results? At [our event], expect to leave with a new contact that just might turn into a client or business partner for years to come.”

Now as it happens, I really enjoy networking. But I’m not sure I want to go and meet people who are tired of attending networking events! Maybe they’re just not good networkers.

Besides, does the organizer really want to fill a room with people who are worn out with networking? I suspect not.

So what can you do instead?

The simple fix: Replace assumptions with questions, hypotheticals, and multiple scenarios.

That’s why many copywriters begin by asking, “Can you relate to these scenarios?”

Hypotheticals read like this:

If you’re an entrepreneur and you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by all you have to do, you may have been advised to hire an accountability coach.

Or they present exemplar scenarios, as I do on this sales page for my Become A Copywriter course:

Mary, who’s bored to tears with tech writing and wondering if she’s creative enough to write sales copy

Bill, who’s had it up to here with life in the corporate cube, and wants to start copywriting “on the side” as the first step to self-employed freedom

Suzanne, who’s done some copywriting and can’t figure out how to expand into a full-time, lucrative business

Or they identify their target in a straightforward way.  “This message is for you if you’re ready to find your soulmate.” That way you politely exclude the readers who found a soulmate, or who feel their cat is all the soulmate they want right now. You honor the reality that not everyone will share this story.

Learn more ways to enter the conversation in your prospect’s mind with my free report, “Nail Your Client’s Backstory.”  Click here for immediate access.

“Behind every successful business is a good story.”

But that’s just the beginning. Many people do not realize that Walt Disney was a teller of tales, not a creator of stories.

These days as a marketer you’re trying to reach an audience that’s already feeling overwhelmed. More and more, they’ve also heard a lot of stories.

Starting with a good story — a story that supports your business strategy — is just the beginning. You have to communicate your story.

I’ve seen some compelling, suspenseful stories presented like paragraphs from a badly written college textbook. And I’ve seen good-enough stories presented so enthusiastically, the audience hung on every word — and remembered the speaker, too.

How does one become a good storyteller? What are small nuances that turn a story from so-so to suspenseful? What are must-have standards? What extremely positive examples must be taken as inspiration?

These 7 techniques will help you get started as you seek to tell stories that will get your audience to say, “Tell me more!”

(1) Make Your Story Come Alive.

Many writing courses emphasize the “Show, don’t tell” rule, especially in any kind of narrative writing. Your challenge is to help the reader feel they’re living an experience, not listening passively.

So instead of, “He was clumsy,” you say, “He banged into the table and knocked over a chair.” You go heavy on action words, description, and details and light on the adjectives and adverbs.

(2) Don’t be too easy on your hero.

Unlike the classical “beginning, middle, and end” stories, marketing stories begin with a problem.

But to keep your audience engaged, marketing stories need to incorporate an element that’s common to most good stories: conflict.

Here’s a story from Gloria, a home schooling mom:

I’ve stayed home with my own kids since my first son was born ten weeks early. It took a LOT of time for me to prepare preschool activities for my boys.

“When I started home-schooling, I would spend at least 4 hours prepping each day. I was totally exhausted and frazzled by noon…and was getting by on just a few hours’ sleep. My husband and my other kids were feeling neglected.

“People told me to forget about homeschooling and send my son to a regular school…”

That’s the first conflict. Gloria had a second conflict:

“Even when I found an activity they loved, I still wondered if it was the right activity to support their educational development. Or was it just a fun way to spend some time together?”

When I first heard the story, I found myself wondering: “Will Gloria find an answer? Did she give up?” And I don’t even have kids.

(3) Think like a mystery writer.

Fans of murder mysteries will recognize this pattern. Around page 240 the hero seems to solve the mystery. As a reader, you start to relax and wait for the fun part of wrapping everything up.

But you’ve got another 75 pages to go. That’s way too long to celebrate the victory.

Sure enough, just as you and the hero get ready to say “The End,” the author introduces a twist.

You thought the butler did it, but he’s got an airtight alibi. And the heroine’s boyfriend is acting mighty suspicious.

From our earlier example: Gloria found a solution to her son’s learning needs…

but now she faces a new plot twist: How do you adapt this popular Montessori program — designed for groups of children nursery schools — to the chaotic home environment of a busy mom?

After you solve the first problem, you’ve got an even tougher problem…and that’s the story that sells.

(4) Replace “Get Personal” with “Relate To Your Audience.”

Recently a business owner told a rather long story about the insights she’d achieved at a yoga retreat in one of those five-figure cruises to a South Seas destination.

Her whole life was transformed. Events that would have turned her into a nail-biting mess now leave her calm and confident.

But will this story resonate with her readers?

This type of retreat isn’t just expensive. It requires a level of intensity, commitment, and fitness that will be beyond the level of many readers.

I’m currently trying to do yoga myself, via online classes. I go for the easy poses and plan to stay at the beginner level for the rest of my life. So the story held some relevance.

A year ago? I wouldn’t have gotten past the first sentence.

(5) Get your audience involved.

During a traditional theatre presentation, the actors rarely try to break the fourth wall. You can bring your audience into your business story with lines like, “Imagine you were looking over my shoulder.”

Or, “Picture yourself on an airplane and I’m sitting in the seat next to yours.”

(6) Create empathetic characters.

There’s no stock formula for characters, beyond having a protagonist. An adversary

adds interest. You can engage your audience by providing details about the characters and giving them distinct personalities.

When you’re the hero of your own story, you have to present yourself as likeable — not a know-it-all, not someone preaching to your audience from a superior position.

Here’s a tip: Create heroes who resemble your ideal client.

If you want to work with financial planners on designing websites, make the hero a financial planner who needs a website.

(7) Commit to your characters with dialogue.

If you want to work with moms of young children, make the hero a mom and give her some kids with carefully chosen ages and temperaments. Do you teach moms how to handle kids who resist parenting…help them get their angelic brilliant children into Ivy League schools?

Dialogue makes your character come alive. When you change your tone and vocal style to match the characters, you show commitment to your characters. Ideally, your audience will recognize “Uncle Jim” and “Harry the business owner” just by their speaking style.

Dialogue grabs attention, whether written or spoken. You don’t need to be funny. You can be dramatic, serious or playful.

Bonus tip: Use stories that reinforce your brand.

Business owners can feel pressured by the advice to, “Tell a story…any story!” So they create a story that’s entertaining but doesn’t support their brand..

Tell stories in a style that will match your brand.

Your brand evolves as your business grows. You’ll need to find new stories to match your new brand.

I hope you can apply at least one of these tips in the near future. When you do, please drop me a line and let me know what you did. What was your audience’s reaction? How did you benefit?

Most of these tips come from my Amazon Kindle book, Grow Your Business One Story At A Time. You can download it here.

Check out my course – How to give a memorable 5-minute talk.

Alas, I was not. I was a wuss and a wimp. I could have won awards for “Most Creative Excuse To Escape Gym Classes” in school. So I’m thrilled every time someone says, “I can tell you work out.”

The Copywriting Fitness Test

Copywriting also can be strong or weak. Some copywriting seems ready to run a marathon and some seems downright wimpy. How do you tell the difference?

Spot A Wimpy Landing Page As Soon As You Open Your Browser

The unmistakeable sign of a wimpy page is vagueness – the copywriting equivalent of flabby muscles.

You see promises like, “Step up to the next level!” instead of, “Let’s explore your unique gifts and discover how you can maximize your potential (without adding new stress to your life.”

You see questions like, “Are you ready for more authentic relationships?” instead of, “Would you like to get the secret key to better relationships when you’re a solitude-loving introvert who has fantasies of living on a desert island?”

You can spot a REALLY wimpy landing page when you ask the question: “How many other marketers could use the same copy and make the same claims?”

The smaller the number, the stronger the copy.  Strong copy seems to be written with just one business owner in mind.

So how can you get build muscles into your landing page?

Begin by looking for your client’s backstory – also called your baggage story.

In his book Tell To Win, Peter Guber demonstrates the impact of a customer’s story.

A producer needed to get Alice Walker’s approval to produce her book, The Color Purple, as a stage play.  Alice was the customer; the producer was, in a real sense, doing the selling.

Guber coached the producer to expect resistance. Alice had gotten a negative backlash from the black community after her book was produced as a movie. The producer needed to address Alice’s backstory — not directly, but with a new story.

That’s the kind of backstory you need to reach prospects. You start with their pain or problem…but then you dig into the layers that create resistance.

Just as Alice Walker had bad experiences with a previous producer, clients come to you with baggage: good and bad experiences with other service businesses.

So let’s say you’re ready to craft your message and write the copy. Those steps require you to enter the conversation. They’re sharing their experiences and expectations. Now it’s your opportunity – and challenge – to respond.

Learn more with this free guide to understanding your clients- https://cathygoodwin.com/baggage

Download my course – Nail your client’s motivation to buy. 

All too often business owners find they’re paying more to write their own than they would if they hired a professional copywriter. They’re down to the wire and realize they just don’t have time or energy to write another 10 pieces of copy for that launch. And now they’re delayed.

When you delay launching a program because you don’t have time to write the copy, you’re actually paying yourself far more than you’d pay a professional copywriter. When you delay till the last minute, you’re scrounging to find a copywriter (our schedules fill up!) and you’re under pressure.

Here’s why you may do better to hire a copywriter than to DIY.

(1) Copywriting is a skill. It’s not like writing a brochure, business letter, a technical report or user manual.

You may have solid expertise in financial services, consulting, legal services, tech, mental health or medicine. But copywriters are experts in planning and writing to persuade your best prospects to become your own clients.

Learning this skill can take years. Fine-tuning the skill takes even longer. Copywriting styles change over time. They vary by purpose and by field. It’s difficult — probably impossible — to keep up if this isn’t your full-time job.

Copywriters write persuasively every day. So most likely we can complete the project faster…and we have tips to make the copy more persuasive without getting sales-y or pushy.

Copywriters also bring a fresh perspective to your business writing. If you’re a lawyer, it may be tempting to sound like all the other lawyers out there. But a copywriter can suggest an approach so you’ll stand out, especially if you’re a small firm, without sounding pushy or sales-y.

(2) Copywriting attracts traffic. I’m not talking about esoteric SEO techniques, which are overrated. Your copywriter should understand things like backlinks (used to be good, now they’re bad), keywords (use judiciously) and more. You’ll most likely get more traffic without effort when we post copy that is high quality, targeted, and easy to read.

To optimize your business blog, your copywriter will take a few basic steps that anyone can use. Research your keywords. Optimize each post rather than the blog as a whole. Choose just ONE category per post (I’ve heard pro and con on this one, but the “one category” rule makes sense).

Your website will attract traffic when it’s organized, well-written and consistent with your other online writing. More important, it’s not enough just to generate traffic to your website. A copywriter will help you turn your inbound traffic into leads and then sales.

(3)  Copywriting isn’t just wordsmithing. Copywriters have to know what to say as well as how to say it. So copywriters dig deep into your business, your story and your goals.  It’s not unusual for your copywriter to serve as your key business consultant: she understands the value you bring to your clients.

Your copywriter will help strengthen your message, capture your voice, identify your story archetype and support your brand. Professional copywriting leads to a strong online presence, where you become instantly recognizable to your clients and you gain credibility. When that happens, clients are more likely to say “yes” faster.  

A few final words:

Choose a writer who doesn’t have a big ego and a small view of the world.  Copywriting requires communication. You’ll be talking about your business to your copywriter, so you’ll need to feel comfortable sharing information that can be sensitive. Professional copywriters have thick skins; it’s okay to say, “That really sucks. How can we fix it?”

Choose ONE person to liaison with the copywriter. Want to scare away a good copywriter? Get one person on the team to say, “This looks great! Just make these few tweaks and we’ll run with it.” And then, after the copywriter makes the changes, a new person comes along and says, “The whole tone is off. Can you revise…”

Your big takeaway: It doesn’t have to be either/or. I work with lots of busy clients who like to write their own copy. They bring me on board when they feel they’re too close to the copy, they’re running out of time, or they want to see if I can help them get past a stuck place.

If you’re thinking of hiring a copywriter, check out my free report: Top 3 Big Ways A Copywriter Can Grow Your Small Business. 

How do you demonstrate your expertise as a consultant or coach? How do you show you’ve really got the goods?

You could state your credentials. You could talk about what you know.You could even talk about your own achievements and how you reached them.

But a lot of business owners come up against the “I hate to write about myself” block. They feel they’re boasting or showing off … and that doesn’t feel good.

Actually, the most effective way to communicate expertise is by crafting a success story.

For example:

Ken sent this story to his list (with edits to disguise the details):

Annette came to me because she was looking for more effective ways to demonstrate her value and increase her close rate beyond 40%.

Annette is a successful professional organizer with 10 years of experience. Her clients tend to be conscious, mission-driven business owners. Together, we analyzed Annette’s programs and offers. We also discussed her personal and revenue goals.

“After Ken’s’s 2-week marketing program,” Annette said, “I revised my offers and focus less on close rates. I began implementing the strategy and saw results right away.”

This story gives us some hints about the way Ken works with his clients, but it’s pretty vague. Ken could reposition the story to focus more clearly on his expertise.

Let’s rewrite:

“Annette is a professional organizer with a steady flow of clients. When prospects signed up for her free get-acquainted sessions, she was able to close over 40%. She wondered if she could get an even higher close rate and wondered if she could improve her sales pitch.

“Over the years, I’ve learned that many business owners put energy into activities that will rarely lead to the results they’re seeking. I’ve built a 7-step program to help them connect goals with actions. And I’ve developed a sixth sense for recognizing where they need to begin. That’s why I schedule a one-to-one session with each client at the beginning of the group program.

“After our one-to-one call, Annette realized she needed to focus on the big picture for her business. She enjoyed a high close rate because she was competing primarily on price. She needed to come up with higher-end offers and packages. She needed to stop trading hours for dollars and create some courses and group programs.

“We worked together to redesign Annette’s offers. She could keep a low price point with group program offers and video training, while raising her prices for the one-to-one programs. Her closing rate was less important than her total revenue.

“Six months later, Annette reported that she had reduced her working hours by 20% while raising her revenue by 30%. She expected to see even more growth as she could leverage the programs she was creating now.”

Of course, a real story would include even more details, but notice what Ken’s done. He’s identified his strengths as a business consultant. He’s shown that this success story isn’t unique to this client: it comes from his well-developed system.

Most important, he’s demonstrated his expertise in a professional, matter-of-fact way, without boasting or exaggerating. He’s also building a foundation for becoming the go-to brand in his industry, even in a competitive field.

And if you’d like to work one-to-one with me to uncover your own brand-building story, click here to learn more about the Strategic Intensive consultation.