A Simple Practice to Describe What Work You Do
If you are a service provider struggling with describing what kind of work you do with clients, this post is for you.
Try the following exercise and if you’d like, comment below with what you come up with. (You may also get inspired by reading others’ comments too.)
If you think by writing, then write down your answers. If instead you’re better at coming up with ideas by talking, then start a recording (e.g. on your phone’s voice memo app) and just allow yourself to imagine and intuit whatever words come to you…
Try the following exercise and if you’d like, comment below with what you come up with. (You may also get inspired by reading others’ comments too.)
If you think by writing, then write down your answers. If instead you’re better at coming up with ideas by talking, then start a recording (e.g. on your phone’s voice memo app) and just allow yourself to imagine and intuit whatever words come to you…
Imagine your ideal client.
Bring to your mind and heart somebody (imaginary or real) who is interested in your work, and very open to being transformed by your services and products. They are at a place and time in life that is just right for the transformation that your work provides.
If you’re not at all sure who your ideal client is, just make one up. Think of the type of person you might enjoy working with as a client, that you would feel energized to serve.
Think of any specifics about them -- their gender, age, profession, their looks, how they sound when they talk, or anything else that helps you imagine them more clearly.
If you’d like, give them a name so you can easily refer to them in your mind, or in conversations with a marketing consultant.
Go ahead and write this down before going on….
❦
What is the work you’re doing with them?
Now, imagine that they are in a session with you. They are eager to receive your words and suggestions. They’re also very willing to tell you whatever will be helpful for your work together.
What’s the work you’re doing with them? Just describe it plainly. No need for eloquence or poetry or copywriting yet. Simply write (or speak) what you are (or will be) doing with them.
Once you’ve got this written down, go onto the next section.
❦
What’s different for the client after working with you?
Imagine that the client has completed their work with you. Perhaps it’s been a dozen sessions, or whatever your ideal package is.
How is your client feeling now?
What are they saying to you? “Because of our work together, I am now feeling / doing / able to…….”
What’s different about their life?
What are they now able to do, that was more difficult before working with you?
What challenge(s) has been (or is being) resolved, thanks to working with you?
How might they describe the benefits?
Any other changes you notice about the client or their life?
❦
What was the “before” like?
Now that you’ve described the work you’ve done with your client, try describing their situation before working with you, before the transformation:
What were they yearning for?
What was painful for them (if anything)?
Was there something missing for them in life? Or some felt gap in their knowledge or experience?
What was the reason they finally decided to seek out someone like you? Was there a triggering event?
Or maybe it was a chronic issue that finally got too much for them to bear?
Imagine any answers that come to you as you think about your ideal client. Write it down.
Congratulations.
You’ve just written a draft of your “Work with me” or “Services” page!
It may be a rough draft, and you will probably want to re-order some of the sections. But at least you now have some good descriptions and stories to work with.
I recommend that you put this away for a day. Then come back after a day or a week, and do the same exercise anew, without looking at your notes. See what answers, ideas, stories emerge this second time. Maybe something different, maybe the same. It’s fine either way.
Then put the second draft away for a day or a week.
When you come back to this work again, bring out both drafts, and then integrate the best of each into a third draft.
With this third draft you can now ask your audience (or a few friends/colleagues who are similar to your ideal clients or know a bunch of them) for their feedback and opinion. You could put it into a Google Doc and ask them to comment on it. Here’s a short tutorial video: How to offer comments on a Google Doc.
Your description of your work needs to be created with the market in mind (your ideal clients’ language and way of describing things). This is why it’s important to get feedback, and to keep tweaking it over time as you get more insight into how your ideal clients think.
You are welcome to comment below this video with any of your answers, and get inspired by others’ comments too!
Bring to your mind and heart somebody (imaginary or real) who is interested in your work, and very open to being transformed by your services and products. They are at a place and time in life that is just right for the transformation that your work provides.
If you’re not at all sure who your ideal client is, just make one up. Think of the type of person you might enjoy working with as a client, that you would feel energized to serve.
Think of any specifics about them -- their gender, age, profession, their looks, how they sound when they talk, or anything else that helps you imagine them more clearly.
If you’d like, give them a name so you can easily refer to them in your mind, or in conversations with a marketing consultant.
Go ahead and write this down before going on….
❦
What is the work you’re doing with them?
Now, imagine that they are in a session with you. They are eager to receive your words and suggestions. They’re also very willing to tell you whatever will be helpful for your work together.
What’s the work you’re doing with them? Just describe it plainly. No need for eloquence or poetry or copywriting yet. Simply write (or speak) what you are (or will be) doing with them.
Once you’ve got this written down, go onto the next section.
❦
What’s different for the client after working with you?
Imagine that the client has completed their work with you. Perhaps it’s been a dozen sessions, or whatever your ideal package is.
How is your client feeling now?
What are they saying to you? “Because of our work together, I am now feeling / doing / able to…….”
What’s different about their life?
What are they now able to do, that was more difficult before working with you?
What challenge(s) has been (or is being) resolved, thanks to working with you?
How might they describe the benefits?
Any other changes you notice about the client or their life?
❦
What was the “before” like?
Now that you’ve described the work you’ve done with your client, try describing their situation before working with you, before the transformation:
What were they yearning for?
What was painful for them (if anything)?
Was there something missing for them in life? Or some felt gap in their knowledge or experience?
What was the reason they finally decided to seek out someone like you? Was there a triggering event?
Or maybe it was a chronic issue that finally got too much for them to bear?
Imagine any answers that come to you as you think about your ideal client. Write it down.
Congratulations.
You’ve just written a draft of your “Work with me” or “Services” page!
It may be a rough draft, and you will probably want to re-order some of the sections. But at least you now have some good descriptions and stories to work with.
I recommend that you put this away for a day. Then come back after a day or a week, and do the same exercise anew, without looking at your notes. See what answers, ideas, stories emerge this second time. Maybe something different, maybe the same. It’s fine either way.
Then put the second draft away for a day or a week.
When you come back to this work again, bring out both drafts, and then integrate the best of each into a third draft.
With this third draft you can now ask your audience (or a few friends/colleagues who are similar to your ideal clients or know a bunch of them) for their feedback and opinion. You could put it into a Google Doc and ask them to comment on it. Here’s a short tutorial video: How to offer comments on a Google Doc.
Your description of your work needs to be created with the market in mind (your ideal clients’ language and way of describing things). This is why it’s important to get feedback, and to keep tweaking it over time as you get more insight into how your ideal clients think.
You are welcome to comment below this video with any of your answers, and get inspired by others’ comments too!