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What to do with your very nice boat
I was on a VIP call with a community member recently and I asked her two questions:
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"What's life like for your clients before they come to you?"
"And what's life like for them after they get results with you?"
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This might sound simple enough, but for most people, it’s difficult to answer in a meaningful way.
In this case, she began describing the methods she used to get results for her clients. And this is the most common response I get to these types of questions. The problem with these answers is they do not give your clients any way to visualize themselves getting results while working with you.
Instead, they will visualize themselves doing work. Or perhaps being worked on.
But no clear visualization for what will be different about their lives compared to what they’re already doing now.
Seven years ago, I was doing the same thing as a personal development coach. I knew what actions to take in order get results. But I didn’t know how to describe the results. And I didn’t know how to describe what life was like before getting the results.
So I had a lot of trouble getting people to hire me.
Here’s what eventually solved this problem for me. I learned it first from Tad Hargave. I’ve seen it taught many ways since, but Tad’s version came first, and that is the one that stuck with me. So if you notice any similarities to the way he teaches it, that’s intentional, and all due credit goes to him.
He describes it by saying:
Don’t sell the boat, sell the destination.
So imagine two islands.
Island A is where your clients are right now.
They’re stuck, they’re frustrated, they’ve been circling the same problem for years and they know that something needs to change but they can’t seem to find the way out from where they’re standing.
Then there’s Island B.
And Island B is where they want to go. You’ve already made that crossing yourself. You’ve figured out how to get from Island A to Island B, and it wasn’t easy. You built a boat, perhaps a really good one, nice study boards, a sail that catches the wind just right, and a navigation system that actually works.
Since then, you’ve the same crossing dozens of times and you could probably do it in your sleep.
Now you can take other people across.
But here’s the problem…
When you show up to Island A and start talking about your boat… “It’s X, Y, Z… hand-carved hull… I spent three years building this thing… blah blah blah….” — the people on shore start to look at you sideways.
They’re not thinking about your boat.
They just want to get to a better island.
Which is why a travel agent analogy works even better here.
A couple walks in to a travel agency and they want a vacation. A real one with beaches, sun, and something that doesn’t feel like real life for a week. And you learn forward and say:
“I’ve got a boat.”
Wrong move.
They don’t want a boat. They want to wake up a cool island breeze somewhere with nowhere to be. Breakfast that tastes like something different. The chance to swim before noon. Dinner last for hours because no one’s in a hurry.
The boat is just how you get them there.
And your clients are the same way.
They don’t care about your modalities, or your certifications, or your frameworks, or how many years you spent developing your approach, at least not on the surface of it. What they really care about is one thing.
“What does my life look like on Island B?”
So the next time you sit down to write a post, an email, a sales page, or whatever… ask yourself honestly: am I describing the boat, or am I describing the destination?
The people who need your help are ready for a change of scenery, but they just need to believe that Island B exists, that it can exist for them, that you’ve been there, and that you can prove it.
Anyway…
If you want to get better at describing the destination in a way that makes people lean in and think, “that’s exactly what I’ve been searching for…” then you too can get on a VIP call by becoming a VIP member of the community.
Here’s the link:
Talk soon,
Kevin Hood