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A major portion of my daily workload as a consultant at Sai.Coach is that I screen and interview coaches for our business accelerator. One question I often ask the applicants is : What makes you different?

Common answers I receive.

“I think differently”

“I know my client’s pains because I’ve been through it myself.”

“It’s my calling to be a coach. I have such a burning passion to impact the world.”

“The way that I coach is different to every other coach”

“I tap into the deep parts of my client’s lives to help guide them into a place of where they desire to be”

“My process is different”

Let me ask you, if you were looking for a coach, and they gave you one of the answers above for this question. Would that move you to a place of wanting to invest in their services?

Probably not.

I’d like to share a story.

This story will challenge you to think.

Draw the line as to how the story relates to coaching businesses as a whole.

If you’re up for the challenge, continue reading.

Imagine, at the end of your residential street is a construction site that employs over 500 contractors [1], who work 6 days a week 9am-5pm . It’s the best known secret that these contractors have a preference of lemonade as their favorite beverage[2]. Ever since they have started working on this site, every local convenience store had a very difficult time keeping lemonade in stock[3]. You and your community take note of this.

Collectively your community are sparked with the entrepreneurial spirit – so they set up lemonade stands along the street of the construction site[4]. There are now 10 lemonade stands selling a cups of lemonade for $1 [5]. You haven’t set up a stand yet, because you’re still not confident this will actually work.

After a month in business, your community is raving about how much money they’re making[6].

This gets you excited. You’re ready to set up your stand.

The challenge is this: How do you strategically setup your lemonade stand in a way that will differentiate you from the other 10 stands? Be creative.

Goals you want to achieve:

-You want to charge more for your lemonade. (low end clients versus high end clients)
-You don’t want to work 12 hours a day like owners of the other stands. (so you can spend it doing exactly what you want)
-You want to stand out. (you want to be valued on the market)

In the next article, I’ll compile the most interesting answers and share with you what I would do.

You’re probably wondering what those numbers in brackets are. 

Here you go :

[1] – Market size
[2] – Understanding what the market wants
[3] – Data validating that this is exactly what the market wants.
[4] – Making your presence where your market is.
[5] – Understanding what the market is charging.
[6] – Validation that it is a profitable market.

You can submit your answers to me on LinkedIn.

If you enjoyed this challenge, consider dropping by LinkedIn and Say Hi to Davith Meng. Davith is available for pro-bono consultations and coaching for charitable causes and NGOs.

Say Hi to Davith CLICK HERE