The #1 Reason People Don't Sign Up for Your Program

If you’re a heart-centered coach, the #1 reason why people don’t sign up for your program is that they don’t know what problem it’s solving.

For example, I often see programs that are described or titled something like, “Living Joyfully” or “Thriving in Your Life.”

And, I totally get why we title our programs this way because I used to do it and then struggle to get people to register. It feels so lovely to have a really gorgeous program title that speaks to the beauty of what will happen in a coaching process.

But, these sorts of titles are really broad and don’t speak to a clear problem. The potential client wouldn’t know what this is really about.

The problem is, while we all want to live joyfully, we don’t think about it like that in our minds. Our minds are more like, “Hey, what the HECK am I going to do about my five-year-old’s constant meltdowns that last four hours.”

The living joyfully part is more like the implied outcome that we want, and we think it’s going to happen when those tantrums stop. We don’t connect the dots that your living joyfully program can make us feel better because it’s not specifically addressing an issue we need help with right now.

So, if you want people to sign up for your program, you want to make them feel like you read their minds and you’re the person for them right now.

For example, when I was dealing with the four-hour meltdown issue, I started searching for help. I looked up a lot of things to see what I could find, having the vague understanding that maybe occupational therapy could help. One day, I found a local occupational therapist whose website literally said, “Do you have a meltdown kid?”

In one sentence, she summed up all my concerns about the problem at hand. Is my child ok? Is there help for this? Why is she having such long meltdowns when she’s no longer two or three? I don’t see other kids doing this, and I’m scared I can’t help her. I’m at a loss.

She read my mind! And, at the same time, that question also implied that other kids have this issue and she knows how to solve it - and she’s not judging me as a mother - even before I read further. (Notice how she didn’t say anything about it being related to my parenting! What a fresh perspective that is!)

This brings me to the slightly tangential point that actually, you don’t even need to start your sales pages or your social media posts or emails with your program title! While you want your title to clearly state what you’re solving in your program, often the best start to a sales page is a question, just like the one above about having a meltdown kid.

And, if you want to be able to ask such a pithy question, you need to really know what it is your ideal client is aching to solve.

A lot of coaches have learned how to “define their client avatar or ideal client,” but it’s all superficial things like lipstick color or a favorite hobby. This just doesn’t lead to the pithy questions or the clear program titles.

I was in a super popular business program with a really long avatar exercise and I don’t think it ever asked me what problem I was solving… and I didn’t leave the program with any clarity at all.

(Even worse, it was just a looooong worksheet with tons of ideal client questions I had to answer without ever giving me any coaching feedback on how to really define my ideal client.) I didn’t get any more clients as a result of taking that program.

The only things you really need to know about your client avatar in order to create super clear program titles or pithy questions that make them literally drop everything and register (can you IMAGINE how fast I signed up for sessions with that OT? Like, speed of light fast) are: the exact problem they have, the exact results they want, and two-three traits.

Obviously, knowing the exact problem they have and the results they desire gives you a ton of clarity around what you’re writing when you go to title your program or start a sales page. The two-three traits should be deeply relevant and significant so that they narrow down who you’re talking to into a group of humans who are likely to be the best fit for your work.

For example, my occupational therapist knew she was talking to moms who are highly intelligent, likely to be hard on themselves, and have read every parenting book ever written but can’t figure out these horrific meltdowns.

In my coaching program, I know I want to work with female coaches who are heart-centered.

You can see how knowing just those two-three traits is enough to make it really easy to talk to your ideal client in a way that feels like you really understand who they are without ever knowing anything about their lipstick.

I can write to my coaches about the fact that they don’t love marketing that feels like hustling, because I know they are heart-centered.

I can write to them about my program designed for coaches because I know they are coaches!

The cool part is, this kind of clarity in your messaging allows people to sign up even if they don’t match the traits exactly because they can still see it’s relevant without being so broad as to leave them wondering if this will help them.

For example, I get some solopreneurs who aren’t coaches and my occupational therapist gets some dads instead of moms, but it’s still a fit.

I literally titled my program “The Heart Centered Coach Accelerator,” which shows you exactly how easy writing a title becomes when you know those traits, the problem you’re solving, and the results your clients want.

In one title, I’ve summed up who I work with, the fact that they aren’t seeing the success they want yet in their business, and the result I provide, which is that we will get moving in a big way so they don’t feel stuck anymore and finally have momentum around getting clients and making a living as a coach.

I could also call my program other things, of course, but you see that the goal is to show our ideal clients quickly that we get where they are, what they want help with, and the result they are seeking.

The thing that attracts your ideal client in your messaging is the description of that problem they just Googled yesterday. (Or if they didn’t Google it yet, you have even MORE street cred for reading their mind before they articulated the issue to themselves!)

One of the main reasons my coaching business took off like wildfire back in 2008 when some of my colleagues struggled was the clear focus I had around who I wanted to work with and the issue I wanted to solve.

Back then I was passionate about helping women who were struggling with two pelvic syndromes - vulvodynia and interstitial cystitis - relieve pain. Since there weren’t any medical answers to these conditions, and I had discovered a mind-body healing approach that worked, my messaging was incredibly enticing to my ideal clients.

Sometimes heart-centered coaches shy away from this kind of clarity out of fear that they’ll lose the chance to work with all the fun tools they love that center around things like thriving and cultivating joy.

In reality, though, the clear program title or the pithy question just gets your clients in the door. Once they’re coaching with you, you can bring in all the fun tools and all the fun processes and show them why they’re so powerful and why they help them solve their problem.

The main things I coached women around when I was focusing on pain were releasing self-pressure and connecting to their inner wisdom - all exactly those fun coachy things we love to do with our clients!

Helping you to determine what problem your ideal clients want solved, the result they’re aching to have, and those two-three essential traits is part of my group program.

One of my intuitive gifts is being able to quickly see (with my Celtic Seer vision) the common issues you work with when you share client details with me, and then I articulate everything above for you so you don’t have to worry about it at all. With all of that done, it’s a snap to find your pithy questions and program titles together!

Then we go on to design a signature program that’s perfect for you and your clients, test it, and make sure your content is aligned to make people feel like you’re reading their mind and attract them to that program.

It's all aimed at helping you to get those regular clients/signups so you finally have that sustainable business.

You can learn more about this program and others here.