160. 6 Steps to Stand Out in a Crowded Market

You're listening to Coaches on a Mission - I’m your host Dallas Travers and today, we need to have a real conversation about how you can avoid what Jona Xiao calls The Sea of Sameness. If you ever worry that too many coaches do what you do and there’s nothing that really makes you special, this episode just might blow your mind.  My guest is Jennifer Jakobsen who helps business owners who want to make a difference slay their self doubt and desperation so they can show up with the kind of authenticity that attracts paying clients over and over again.  Jennifer came into our conversation with a simple question…How can I leverage my strengths, skills, and background to stand out in a crowded market?  Well dear listener, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed… but we business coaches coaching other coaches on how to find coaching clients… We’re kind of everywhere.  And Jennifer had a hunch that she was making marketing harder than it had to be simply because she couldn’t quite pinpoint what exactly makes her special.  Before I hand Jennifer the mic, let me share the six steps we designed to help her stand out in a crowded market.  Step 1: Identify what you want your clients to celebrate when they wrap up your work together?  Step 2: Clarify the thing that holds them back from their goal.  Step 3: Choose a specific snapshot in time that illustrates where your dream client is at when they’re ready to hire you.  The clearer the better on this one. Step 4: Name the skills, perspectives, experience and expertise you bring to the table to help your clients accomplish their goals. Step 5: With those things in mind, what process would you take a client through to get them from where they stand today to the goal they hope to celebrate in the future.  Step 6: Own your Blue Ocean - the unique place in your industry that only you occupy and where competitors don’t exist.  All right… this episode was one of my favorites in a while. So, let’s take a listen, shall we? TIMESTAMPS 05:25 Dallas summarizes Jennifer’s goal for this coaching session 06:45 Jennifer and Dallas discuss the results Jennifer wants her clients to celebrate 09:00 Jennifer identifies what is holding her clients back from their goals. 10:45 Dallas explains the Awareness Ladder 12:35 Dallas asks Jennifer to describe a snapshot in time when clients are ready to hire her. 14:00 Dallas describes the two ways to answer Jennifer’s question of “How do I leverage my strengths to stand out in a crowded market?” 18:35 Dallas develops a working DCPS for Jennifer 19:17 Dallas asks Jennifer, based on the working DCPS they developed, what specific skills and experience she brings to the table that no one else does 21:30 Dallas summarizes Jennifer’s specific skills and experience 23:25 Dallas describes the process Jennifer would take a client through to get them to their celebration goal 25:05 Jennifer and Dallas discuss ways to integrate her as a business therapist into this process 32:35 Dallas and Jennifer discuss steps to take to land on a specific type of business owner 34:25 Dallas refines Jennifer’s working DCPS and discuss how to use it 37:25 Dallas discusses the next step is to own your blue ocean and what that means. 38:50 Jennifer discusses her next steps. CONNECT WITH ME: INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/dallastraversbizmentor/