For over a decade, I have encouraged my clients to develop a client avatar if they want to get coaching clients.
Note: You can get my Client Avatar workbook for free by going here.
A document that contains all the most pertinent information about the person they most want to hire them.
It should cover demographics such as:
- Where do they live?
- How old are they?
- How much do they earn?
- Are they married or single?
- Do they have kids?
And psychographics such as:
- What are their non-negotiable core values?
- What are they most fearful of?
- What is holding them back?
- What are their biggest dreams?
- What most motivates them?
All of the above information is crucial if you too, want to get inside the mind of your ideal client and get your messaging on point.
You cannot write copy or create content if you don’t know who it’s for or what problems they need your help with.
One of the things I suggest you do for your client avatar is make a list of books likely to be read by your ideal client.
There are three main reasons you should do this.
- You can read them too and get an understanding of what they like/dislike. You may get some ideas to help you become an even better coach.
- They will, in all likelihood, give you some great ideas for content production. Bestselling books don’t necessarily have to be good, but they are bestsellers for a reason.
- Amazon reviews are a goldmine of information about your ideal client.
And it’s that last one I want to talk about here.
People tend to leave reviews when they feel strongly about something and these can tell you a lot.
With the four and five-star reviews, what do people like?
- What are they saying specifically?
- What language are they using?
- What commonalities are there across numerous reviews?
Can you replicate any of that and even improve on it?
What do the one and two-star reviews say?
- Are there areas the author failed to cover or explained poorly that you can write about?
- Did the author fail to deliver on the book’s title/topic?
- Were people unhappy with the writing style? Maybe it was too academic or too informal?
Genuine bestselling books can have hundreds of reviews, so trawling them can be time-consuming.
Or rather, it used to be time-consuming.
That’s no longer the case.
I have a strong dislike for the book The Prosperous Coach even though it’s frequently mentioned as a seminal book for coaches.
I even read the fucking thing twice, thinking I must have missed something the first time.
Even so, it’s a bestseller and has made the authors a lot of money. So, to ignore it would be foolish for somebody in my position.
I have an excellent grasp of my client avatar because I’ve been doing this for so long, but let’s suppose I didn’t.
And let’s suppose I knew that many of my ideal client had read the book.
As previously mentioned, I could go and painstakingly trawl through the reviews on Amazon.
I could easily spend half a day reading people’s opinions, trying to get an idea of what they liked and what they didn’t.
Or I could use AI – which is what I did.
I took about 50 reviews of the book and dropped them into Claude (a competitor of ChatGPT that I prefer) and asked it to analyse them.
Here is what it brought back:
While many reviewers found The Prosperous Coach transformative and inspiring, some felt it was overpriced and overpromised what it delivered. A few found the advice too simplistic or outdated, especially for experienced coaches. There were criticisms that it generalizes too much based on the authors’ personal experiences.
Some reviewers noted the book is geared more towards life coaches helping individuals, rather than executive or business coaches. A few disliked the tone as too focused just on making money over providing genuine help. Others felt it lacked enough specific guidance on building an online presence and attracting clients.
However, the advocates still highlighted valuable insights on confidently charging premium rates, boldly marketing, and developing a thriving coaching practice. Overall the book received mixed but still largely positive reviews – very inspiring for some, not as relevant for others depending on their background and coaching niche.
There is a lot of helpful information in there that I could use if I were just starting.
Fortunately, I am already very careful not to over-promise, and I also keep on top of changes in marketing, especially SEO and AI.
Similarly, as the vast majority of my work is one-to-one, my coaching is tailored to a coach’s individual needs and circumstances.
And even though I now know that a great many coaches struggle to charge what they are worth, knowing that a decade or more ago would have been helpful.
Can you see how crucial all this can be in getting inside the head of your ideal client so you can pitch solutions and not coaching?
Right, so go and grab the client avatar workbook and get on it!