If you are a psychologist or a therapist and you want to offer a new product or service you first need to find, and learn from the people you want to help. This is a deeper dive into the first two steps of the "how to launch in 14 simple steps" episode. You can download your checklist to keep you on track with the 14 steps here.

First step: get to know your ideal clients

A couple of episodes back I talked you through a strategy for making sure you get to know the people you are trying to help before you even think about designing a product or service, let alone marketing it. If you haven't listened to that one yet then go back and listen to that one here. If you are a member of the Do More Than Therapy membership there is also a short course on this strategy in the membership that walks you through developing and using your ICA.

Once you know who you are trying to help you now need to think about where you are most likely to be able to meet them and, most importantly, have rich and meaningful conversations with them.

Wherever you find them you need to be asking the IMPORTANT questions. These include:

1. What are you struggling with?
2. What have you already tried to do to solve it?
3. What gets in the way of your attempts to solve the problem?
4. What have you been offered that hasn't worked for you and why didn't it work?
5. What makes you want to solve this problem? What do you hope life would be like if the problem went away.

In all your conversations make a note of the language people use and make sure you replicate that in all of your materials and marketing, even if eventually you want to move people away from some of the key words they currently use. To help with this get permission to record your conversations wherever possible. You can then use a tool like rev.com to get them transcribed so you can pick out keywords.

Here are some suggestions for places you can go (on and offline) to try and talk to your ideal clients.

Step two: If you are already working with your ideal client

• Set up zoom calls, explain that you want to help more people like them and you would value their in put. You will be surprised how many people want to help and even if you only get one person saying yes to this it will be SO valuable.
• Take them out for coffee (COVID permitting)
• Surveys (great in conjunction with other methods, Survey monkey is a free tool you can use for this)
• Use the feedback and testimonials you collect at the end of your work. These will tell you what mattered most to the people you worked with so you can make sure your new offer is built around that and that you mention it when you come to market your new offer.

Step two: If they are people you don't work with

• Ask for introductions from colleagues at work, friends and family who may know the people you are trying to help. It feels very vulnerable but you need to tell everyone you know what you are doing and ask them if they know anyone who is willing to talk to you about your plans via zoom or coffee. It is essential that they are involved in the development of your idea so don't let fear stand in your way here.
• Only AFTER you have done the above and had some in depth conversations you can try joining relevant Facebook groups. Ask permission from the admins and offer to provide something free to the group in exchange for being allowed to be in there if needs be. this could be a free facebook live or resource. Be in the group to LISTEN and learn the struggles and language used by the people in there. Do not try and sell anything, or even offer blog posts until you are a well established member of the group and have a relationship with the admins. If in doubt always message an admin and ask for permission before posting. The relationship with the admins (who may also be your ideal clients) can be extremely valuable in itself, even if they don't let you post in their group. Search the group for conversations where you can add genuine value and comment with your best advice/support. ONLY link to your site occasionally and if it is exactly what the person needs. Again, if in doubt check with an admin before offering a free resource.
• Use LinkedIn if your ideal clients have a particular job role. You can use the search function on LI to search people by job title which can be very powerful. For example, if I wanted to help businesses support their employees through COVID I might look for HR directors or similar on LinkedIn and message them. It is important at this point to just ask for the help you need. Mention that you are researching a new project and be genuinely open to the feedback you get. I really hate it when people try and sell me stuff on LinkedIn but it is a platform that is all about professional collaboration so people are often open to helping you, especially if you have hit on a topic they are really struggling with.
• Networking events (online or in-person). These are, in my opinion, valuable whoever you are trying to reach. They usually involve sitting in a room or on a call with lots of other business owners and talking for two minutes about your business. Then there is usually a speaker and some free flow networking time. It is my idea of a nightmare. BUT if you go in with a laser focus on what you need to find out and who you need to talk to you will find people will hear your passion for your project and want to help. It may be that they fit your ideal client avatar themselves and you can have a conversation then and there. Or (more likely) they know someone who they can put you in touch with. Often I have left an event feeling as though I anxiously sweat through my most corporate "blouse" (what even is that?) for no reason but then I get an email or a LinkedIn message that takes my project forward in some way. If you are open to it there really are amazing opportunities when you make yourself vulnerable like that.

Finally, and I forgot to mention this on the podcast, talk to your PEERS. One of the reasons I set up DMTT is that I believe we could and should be our own greatest champions. There is so much need out there that, in my mind, there is NO competition. We are all in it together. The reality is that if you want to launch an online course and you want it to be profitable you need to build lots of know, like and trust and a very large audience (thousands at least). That is a big ask for one person. BUT if we join together on these projects we combine all of that expertise, audiences and our individual strengths. The task becomes less daunting, and most importantly, we are much more likely to help people effectively when we work together.

Once you have found your people and started to have meaningful conversations with them you can move on to step three of the launch checklist and think about offering them something small as a test. Read more about step 3 here.

If collaborating with your peers sounds good, and you like the sound of helping more people, living your values and avoiding burnout you should check out the DMTT membership. We are a social enterprise designed to help you do exactly that.

Links

Are you planning on launching something new and innovative?

Are you hoping to reach more people and build a business that lets you live your values while avoiding burnout?

Then you need to download our cheat sheet - 14 Steps to a simple launch.

We are sharing a foolproof process to make sure you develop your project WITH the people you want to help and then get it in front of as many of them as possible.

Sign up to get it in your inbox now

https://psychologists.drrosie.co.uk/launch-in-14-simple-steps

You can follow me on facebook @DoMoreThanTherapy and instagram @rosiegilderthorp and Linked In: Rosanna Gilderthorp

I'd love to see you in there :)