Helping the customer to develop its product

Many entrepreneurs or start-up businesses seek the services of a business coach because they recognize that they must first invest in developing themselves, and then develop their service or product. The coaching process helps them connect ideas and discover their value and the value of what they offer. It gives them confidence that they are providing something necessary and that if people reject their products or services it is nothing personal but that they are simply not connecting with what is being offered. It transforms the client's perception of their skills and capabilities.

They may seek a business coach when they are trying to reach a new market, when they don't quite know where they want to go or how to reach their goals. Why didn't I think of that before? Why didn't I consider this? How can I achieve it? It is a process with a high return on investment for the client because they save a lot of time by having things clear from the beginning and knowing for sure where they are moving to. In addition to the money they risk wasting on misguided actions.

Helps clarify your mission and vision

One of the functions of the business coach is to make it easier for the client to be 100% sure of the mission of their business and help them clarify their vision of how they see themselves in five years? And how to achieve it without sacrificing their life or personal goals. Sometimes the client thinks they want to achieve a goal but when they reflect on it they realize it is actually someone else's goal or what they assume they have to do to be successful.

Every successful business has a purpose whether it is to fill a need or provide a solution to a problem. For a customer to understand your business you must not only know about it, but identify and explain the problem you are going to solve, and who you are going to solve it for, your ideal customer.

They must be made to find what unique solutions they can offer and describe them in short, but impactful phrases that make them stand out in their industry. They should ask themselves what problems they are good at solving, what problems they like to solve.

Help clarify the product and the market

An entrepreneur is a person with initiative and willing to take risks. There are entrepreneurs who have always wanted to have their own business but sometimes do not know exactly what to do. They do not have a clear idea of the quality of what they offer. So you have to dedicate some time and space for them to focus on that service or product and to determine precisely the market they want to address, their problems and needs.

Once the client connects what they offer with what their ideal customer needs, they have a clear idea of what can make them unique and separate themselves from the competition. Only with these aspects defined can a business be described and planned. In order not to improvise or work based on assumptions, it is necessary to start with this research. The client must take the actions to find these answers.

Something important is to get them excited about your product/service. They should not only take into account the profits. When the main objective pursued is money, it is easier to lose direction and get discouraged if things do not go as planned. Passion is what can drive them and help them overcome obstacles.

Help you find your market

There are two types of markets you can access. The customer or consumer-driven (B2C) and the other business-driven (B2B). The former is huge and literally anyone can be a customer, so segmentation is essential. The second is more specific in nature so finding a niche is much easier.

If the client targets a particular type of company within a sector (technology, services, communication) and develops a specific solution for that area, everything becomes clearer. It is more complicated to design a product and service for the individual customer. You have to find a way to connect with them and that can only be achieved with strict segmentation. It is not a matter of saying that your service is aimed, for example, at businessmen between 25 and 35 years old, you have to go into detail.

A single product or service can hardly satisfy an entire market. Whether it is for the individual market or for other businesses, you have to be very specific in order to connect with the ideal market you have chosen. Take into account the characteristics of the product and its life cycle, the buying and selling process, marketing strategies, price, costs, among other aspects.

The individual market is guided more by the emotional, by the bond they develop with the product/service or brand and makes impulse purchases. The customer buys based on both objective evaluations such as need, quality and comfort, and subjective evaluations such as status. The duration of the relationship tends to be shorter, so a lot of work is done to build customer loyalty.

The B2B market is rational and demands to know every detail: this is what it is about, this is how it is done, this is how it is used and this is the benefit. They are interested in numbers. To avoid going in blind, one way to know what to offer them is to research the mission of the businesses they are going to target.

B2B requires more specialization and ongoing assistance. It is usually a more long-term relationship. They are most interested in minimizing costs and increasing profits and productivity.

When it comes to creating a marketing plan that has an effective reach, the approach would be totally different depending on the type of market. There would be two different plans. It is also important to make these actions based on feedback: How does it work? What do your ideal customers think? You may need to change something in the process.