Marketing Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about how EVERY marketer is  living between a rock and a hard place these days…


YOU ARE BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE BECAUSE:
“What’s easy to sell is hard to deliver, but what’s hard to sell is easy to deliver!”

For example, most every CONSUMER  is sick to death of dealing with computerized goods and services. They’re overwhelmed and frustrated by the inability to find a real human being to answer their questions, solve their problems, and generally make them feel like they’re part of a society run by people, not machines.  (This all started 25 years ago with the advent of computerized voice mail “Press 1 for…”, etc., and the frustration has been accelerating ever since)

On the other hand, most every MARKETER is sick to death of dealing with consumers. They don’t want to “trade hours for dollars” anymore, to manage large teams of human capital, or to develop the systems necessary to field complaints and attend to quality assurance at this level.

MARKETERS WANT TO SELL INFORMATION WHILE CONSUMERS WANT TO BUY SERVICE.   Anybody see a problem here?

It’s pretty EASY TO  SELL DONE FOR YOU SERVICES, but it’s getting DAMN HARD TO SELL INFORMATION PRODUCTS. (You really DO have to have a truly unique position in the market, overwhelming proof that you can deliver, and good copywriting skills… and most marketers dramatically under-estimate what I mean by the three words “unique”, “overwhelming”, and “good” in the preceding statement!)

On the other hand, it’s EASY TO DELIVER INFORMATION PRODUCTS. When compared to done-for-you services, they produce ridiculously fewer numbers of complaints, require MUCH less management skill, have a much shorter training and ramp up time for your team to deliver, and they scale quickly once you get your marketing systems in place and optimized.

But it’s DAMN HARD TO DELIVER SERVICES.  Services require people, and people require ongoing management, training, and motivation.   For many small businesses, that’s just too time and capital intensive.

So where is our salvation?

How can we possibly market our way out from between this “rock and a hard place?”

For many businesses, the solution is to add  coaching to the mix.

Coaching is often be the perfect solution because:

  • The consumer gets human service, but the marketer doesn’t have to do any of the actual work required to achieve the results…
  • You can charge more for it because of the human element, yet in many cases you’re not really adding much additional costs to your internal infrastructure…
  • When the coaching is delivered in a group format you can record it,  instantly creating information products without additional planning and development costs…
  • People who consume coaching are more likely to purchase your information products because they come to know, like, and trust you on a much more intimate level…
  • And for this same reason, coaching clients are MUCH more likely to refer others!…
  • Plus, it creates an ongoing feedback loop for your existing products and services (people pay YOU to give you valuable marketing research data!)…

My new “Million Dollar Coaching” product reveals my (and Terry Dean’s) most treasured secrets for building a financially rewarding–AND–emotionally fulfilling coaching practice. PLUS, if you purchase soon you’ll even get a license to steal the tested and proven coaching-offer salesletters from myself, Terry Dean, and Doberman Dan. (Minus our personal credentials of course).  Click here now to learn more:  ”Coaching Business Secrets: Four Million-Dollar Marketers and Coaches Reveal Their Most Treasured Secrets for Building a Lucrative–and Emotionally Fulfilling–Coaching Practice! (Regardless of whether you’re a business or personal coach, even if you’ve never done a single session, and even if you have no earthly idea how to get your first client)”

PS – The other solution to the problem is to bite the bullet and coordinate the done for you services.  There are many GREAT reasons to offer done for you services too… it all kind of depends on your personality, resources, and to a lesser extent the market you’ve chosen.  But, in my humble opinion, most of the internet marketing crowd really isn’t cut out for it.  If you’ve spent the last several years mostly chasing the digital dream, adjusting to the rigors of done-for-you is excruciatingly painful, at best.  Mr. T would “pity the fool” who didn’t at least consider solving the problem with a coaching program first.