The Real Deal Offline Series: Offline Guru Coaches Who Are Only Giving Half Of What You Paid For!

7 replies
Hey Warriors,

The other day, I was sitting and reading the salescopy for a couple of offline coaching programs that I was considering.

As I was toggling back and forth between the salespages by two very well respected offline mastermind/coaching programs, it occured to me that one of the program creators obviously favored IM over traditional marketing consulting.

So, I'm sure his students are getting a heavy dose of "IM is the ONLY way to riches" type advice. His salespage practically screamed that.

Now, we all know that helping business owners grow their profits, attract more customers etc. has been around for eons...but has simply gone through many "name changes" such as business consulting, business advisors, offline marketing etc.

However, I keep seeing offline coaches who lean so far in one direction or the other, that it's almost irresponsible.

For example, I got my first $2000 client because after meeting with him and going through the worlds greatest mindmap of all the wonderful IM things I could do for his business, he simple chose to have me put together a direct mail letter for him.

Not build him a website. Not optimize his Google Places listing. Not build him 100 lead capture pages with all the local city names as the domain name etc.

Now, fortunately I've written copy for a few years, so I was easily able to create a direct mail letter that pulled really well.

Only after I did that, did he hire me to redesign and build him a new website. He trusted me with his business image because I'd proven myself to be trustworthy and able to produce results.

However, when I offered to do his Google Places listing, he quickly said that he would handle that and didn't want to pay for something he could do himself.

Sure, I could've beat him up about how I could optimize the heck out of his listing and generate him a ton of business, but that would've been swimming against the tide. It was much easier (and more profitable) for me to go with the flow of what he wanted.

If I was stuck on stupid, I would've missed out on that low hanging fruit.

So, keeping that in mind, while I was mulling over which offline marketing coach or mastermind group to choose, I came to one conclusion:

You may need 2 different offline coach's or mastermind groups.

See, usually most mastermind groups or coaching clubs will have a majority of folks that lean really hard one way or the other...and that's fine for some.

But, in my case, if I want to go to the next level, I need to have a offline coach who is a big believer/promoter/guru/expert in all things concerning helping business owners.

Realistically, that may be too much to ask, so I think having one who is strong and has a proven track record in IM and one who is strong and has a proven track record in traditional marketing may be the best option for some.

Otherwise, it's easy to close your eyes to one or the other and begin to believe that the current way of doing things is the best way.

Has anyone else reached a similar conclusion?

Thanks,

Chris Rivers
#coaches #deal #giving #guru #half #offline #paid #real #series
  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    The fact is that 98% of the worlds transactions still happen offline, even though our 2% seems like the whole world to us.
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  • Profile picture of the author krikkod
    There will always be biases when it comes to best marketing methods/strategies, but i think the way you are going about finding someone who encourages all forms of offline marketing is certainly the safest bet. Kinda the equivalent of 'diversifying your portfolio', and in the game of being self employed, that's certainly the safest way to play it.

    I have a sneaking suspicion though that those who lean more on one strategy over the next, are only inclined to do so because that's either all they know, or that's what their experience has proven to them actually works.

    Either way, id say you're on the right path.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tracy411
      Hi Chris,

      Yeah, I agree with your approach. I too would want to have advice on both ends of the spectrum. This way, once you have it all in hand, you can customize it to your own style and clients and meet in the middle.

      John's point is true. Even if online marketing and business is growing exponentially, the fact remains that for so long, offline has been the norm and majority of people's experience. That is where they are comfortable, so that is where they will lean. I also think it is fair to say that, to some extent anyway, the demographic of the owners of the businesses might play a decent part in where they want to go with their advertising. I would imagine that people, say 50 and older, would be more likely to prefer traditional offline methods, at least at first or until they were confident that they exhausted the more traditional methods first and still wanted to grow their client base. And yes, that is a general statement, and there will be many that will be differently inclined, even within that demographic for various reasons, including experience as krikkod mentioned. From what I have seen with technology and social media inclinations of this group though, I would say there is truth there. I would love to hear any experience to the contrary or further insights though as I am by no means an expert here at this stage.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    We really are still in the beginning stage of the very long process of the evolution of moving the offline online... But its a BIG move with millions of years behind it. Most business is offline. This is a FAST GROWING sector. It has taken 10 years since the internet started just to get the 2%. In fact the internet ITSELF had to be sold OFFLINE initially, in blockbuster video stores for one.

    In the course of millions of years getting 2 percent of the worlds financial transactions is fast, however its still an emerging market.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Tran
      This is an interesting discussion.

      To me, offline, online, mobile are all marketing channels. As such, they should all contribute to the marketing mix.

      Each channel's contribution depends on the ROI per channel. Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to manage channel investments. Most of what I see for my clients has a higher percentage of marketing dollars assigned to offline. This is not say that offline is better or more profitable. Rather, it just says that for my clients' demographics, it is easier to target offline.

      Even the IM gurus utilize all available channels for promotion. In my area, I've seen IM gurus spend a lot of money on full page newspaper ads and 10 page direct mail pieces. For those channels, they promoted their "Make Money Online" seminars. I suspect they wouldn't invest in these channels if they weren't profitable. But the irony is not loss on me for this example.
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  • Its a very interesting question Chris and I think you have hit the nail on the head when you say that you might need more than one coach/programme.

    The fact is that the saying 'jack of all trades - master of none' is a truism and therefore if you find a programme that claims to teach you everything about everything then it is likely to be at a superficial level.

    The way I have approached it is to decide which tools I want in my toolbox and then seek out experts that are truly that for each element. That way I gradually build my skill set and don't try to be master of everything all at once. As you readily acknowledge, this is a vast subject so it is going to take anyone quite a bit of time to truly get to grips with all aspects.
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    the transaction doesnt have to take place online for online to have been effective .

    Same as people are buying through their mobile whether business owners want them to or not, theyre doing it , so theyre using the internet to help them make decisions about where to spend their next £££$$$ offline .

    If someones searching for "restaurants in my town" and you dont come up it doesnt mean your restaurant is gonna be empty, but it does mean youre very unlikely to win that particular persons business that specific time.

    Chris totally agree, many mentors lean towards their own favoured methods, ones they know and are fully confident about so if challenged they are able to hold their own, sounds to me you dont really need a mentor anyway
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    Mike

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