Your Quick Start Guide to Building a Better Coaching Business

Pt. 1 - Discover your Ideal Customer

 Ideal Customer

Demographics/Psychographics
Who is Your Ideal Age range: ________________ Gender: __________________
Income / job type: _____________________________________________
Customer Psychographics
If you try to sell to everyone, you’ll end up selling to no one. 1. What’s their Training age / experience?
You need to identify THE person you wish to help.
2. What are their Interests?

An ideal customer is the hyper-specific “persona” for a group of 3.
customers that will absolutely love your content and products.
This will help you create targeted product development and 4.
marketing that allows you to focus on delivering solutions and
messages to the right people – the people who are most likely
to buy from you AND stick with you. Remember, a handful of 5.
people that stay with you forever are way more valuable than a 6.
ton of folks who come and go only making one purchase!
7.
What do they like to read and where do they go to find
information?
Top 3 Motivations: Why are they training? Why are they looking
for coaching? (these are very different)
Top 3 Struggles: What’s keeping them from achieving goals?:
What would stop them from purchasing your product?
What would they buy if your product didn’t exist? Why?

Start by answering the questions on the right, thinking about

your most ideal customer. Be as specific as possible. DETAILS
MATTER!
Ideal Customer
What will create
progress
People don’t buy products just to buy products. People buy products to
create progress in their lives. Progress sells. Similarly, your customers
are not training to train, but training to move closer to an ideal version
of themselves.
Does your target audience want to train so they can podium at their
next event? Do they want to thrive and feel alive during their weekend
outdoor adventures? Do they just want to look better, feel better, and
live longer?
All of your customers are “hiring” you to create progress in a specific
“job to be done” that they have along their journey. Understanding your
target audience’s job(s) is critical to delivering a winning solution.
Refer back to the Psychographic constructs of your audience while filling
out this section.
JObs to be done statement
Use the template below to define your target audience’s
“jobs to be done” statement. Be as specific as possible. It’s
more important that the ending statement is
comprehensive and accurate than easy to read.
As _______________________________________
Plug in your “Target Customer” from the previous slide
When I ____________________________________
The “When” portion describes your customer’s situation
I Want ____________________________________
The “I want” portion describes your customer’s motivation
So that____________________________________
The “So that” describes your customer’s expected outcome
E.g. “AS a busy professional with a growing family, WHEN I can
no longer afford to shell out $200/mo for coaching, I WANT to
find an affordable way to keep doing intense, goal-oriented
training, SO I can continue feeling like an athlete while staying
committed to healthy habits on a budget.
Ideal Customer

YOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

Where to highlight the Write a punchy, short statement of your value proposition

value you create ____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________
Your solution functions in direct relation to your customer’s struggle and
jobs to be done - this is their journey. They are the hero on this journey, Examples
not you. You are the mentor that steps in to guide them and help them
get to where they want to go. TrainingPeaks - Results Start Here

TrainHeroic - Coach More Athletes, Better

Think of your value proposition as your promise to your customer.
DIGIT - Save Money without Thinking
If they work with you, your value proposition is what they will get. This
is a short, memorable statement of the value you will deliver. It’s a one Barbell WOD - Get Stronger for CrossFit in 3 hours/week
liner that exists at the intersection of your customer’s problem, desired
outcome, and your solution. CrazyEgg - Website Behavior Tracking at an Unbeatable Price

WalMart - Everyday Low Prices

Southwest Airlines - Low Fares, Lovable Customer Service

Ideal Customer
Why they choose your
solution
Remember, what you are selling is progress, not programming.
In what specific ways does your solution create progress on your
customer’s journey (jobs to be done)? How do you help them move
closer to their ideal self? These factors are called “Benefits.”
The methods and ways you create this progress are referred to as
“features.” All the engaging community stuff you do, your world-class
programming and science-based training, innovative motivational
techniques, mindset training are all “Features” that work together to
“get the job done”.
Benefits
List your solution’s three primary benefits
Eg) Podium at next race, PR your events, Stay accountable, Have fun training, Access
training anywhere/anytime, Improve your technique, Learn New Exercises, etc.
Pro tip: the more specific and concrete you can be, the better.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
FeATURES
List your solution’s key features
Eg) HD instructional videos, evidence based programming, weekly office hours, daily
check-ins, video technique reviews, monthly challenges, peer accountability, nutritional
guidance, daily mobility work, vision setting exercises, etc.
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Ideal Customer

Competitive Solutions
How to Set Yourself List a few alternative solutions your customers may “hire” to

apart
We live in the digital age. Everything is just a few clicks away. When
customers are “hiring” you to help create progress in their lives, chances
are, you’re not the only one they’re looking at. The best product
developers assume this to be true and think carefully about what they’ll
need to do to differentiate.
complete their job to be done. Rank them in order of what you
think the “best” alternative solution is in your customer’s mind
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
*think broadly and creatively. What might your solution “replace”? For example, the original
Model T Ford didn’t compete with other cars, it mostly competed with horses.

To stand out in the crowd, you need to be able to:

Differentiators
1. Differentiate your service from competitive offerings in ways
that matter List your solution’s key advantages over the competition:
2. Speak clearly about those differences so your customers can ____________________________________________________
make quick, informed decisions ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

*again, be creative and think deeply here. Saying the same thing someone else is saying, using
slightly different words, isn’t a differentiator at all. What truly sets your solution apart?