Niching Case Study: Janet Matthies

I teach non-resistant & resistant people to access their conscious FLEXIBILITY & STRENGTH in mind, body, and spirit.

infinityflexibility.com

#sytycn2014

Tad’s Rating:

2/10

Contest Rating:

5/10

Average Rating:

3.5/10

Tad’s Comments:

Right now this is a 2 for me because this comes across as “everyone” right now.

Here’s why:

You say you teach, “non-resistant & resistant people” — so those negate each other. It’s like when people say, “My target market is men or women” or “My ideal client is young, middle aged or old.”

Secondly, you say “mind, body, and spirit.” which is every aspect of a person that exists. If you were to pick one (which I don’t think would be the right thing in this case) I would know more clearly the nature of what you do.

And lastly you talk about flexibility and strength. Which are very general things which, I imagine, everyone would want.

So, it adds up to a sort of “I help everyone with some general things.”

If you were to say this to me at a party, I would have no idea if I fit into this group or not and no idea who to refer you to.

The sense I get from reading this is that your ideal clients are in a place where they are not strong or flexible. That would be your diagnosis of their situation I’m assuming. However, your diagnosis is very different that their experience — and we want to name what their lived experience is. So, when people are inflexible and weak — how would they notice that? What would show up in their life to let them know that? What specific and painful problems would that result in? And which of those problems are you most interested in helping people with? If you can hone in there, it will make a big difference in the clarity of this.

Niching Contest Participant Comments:

I see these OTs, PTs, MTs, Chiro, nurses, etc. as a second niche. You take care of the people who take care of the people. Instead of lumping them together with the athlete niche, you can write your marketing material so each group connects with their own issues that they face.

5/10: Who . . . ? I do not recognise myself? Neither do I see what I’d overcome with your help.

4/10: Not sure what you do, like the photo.

5/10: I can envision you picking either “resistant” or “non-resistant” people but it doesn’t seem targeted enough if you include both. It’s clear that you want to help them become more flexible and strong — are you meaning that in the physical sense or in the emotional sense? I’m not sure what you do though, are you a bodyworker? Do you teach yoga? Are you giving out flower essences?

3/10: Non resistant to resistant! That’s the entire planet! And I’m not sure what you even mean by it.

4/10: I don’t have a sense of what you do from this, other than it’s something to do with physical activity.

I think the problem with this is that people wouldn’t self identify as resistant or non-resistant.

Imagine you had 100,000 people show up at your door all asking to work with you. 100,000 is a bit unmanageable so you start looking at who you most want to work with first.

I suspect from the shamanic element you would prefer people who are open to exploring their spirituality and alternative paths more than traditionalists or non-woo-woo types. From the fitness aspect, what are they trying to achieve — weight loss, injury rehabilitation, managing/preventing chronic illness? Are they already athletic or more couch potatoes? Are they facing a transition like divorce, empty nest, loss of a loved one? Does your personal story give you a special connection because you know what they’ve been through and how your work has helped you?

What areas/issues have you seen time and time again where people achieve great results by working with you? Where do they want to end up? What will change in their life by having conscious flexibility and strength? Do you enjoy working most with kids/young adults, seniors, mid-lifers, men, women, parents, professionals, computer geek types, creative artistic types, etc.

If you worked with a group of people and in the first class while doing introductions they all said “me too, really, that’s me too,” how would they be describing themselves?

5/10: I have the same issue with “non-resistant and resistant” people — that says to me that you teach everyone, which means there’s no niching happening.

Plus, I’m also not sure whether you’re teaching physical flexibility (yoga? some form of stretching at the gym?) or mental adaptability (coaching? meditation? spiritual teaching?) or something else entirely.

I’m curious how your current clients would have described themselves when they first started working with you? And I’m also curious how they’d describe the results you’ve helped them to create in their lives.

I suspect if you were to rewrite this in the language that they use, it would become much clearer.

7/10: If you teach non-resistant and resistant people then you teach everyone? I like the idea of flexibility and strength being also part of mind and spirit. It makes me wonder about what methods you use.

The message isn’t clear to me. I really don’t know if I’m this person and how you are going to help me with flexibility and strength. Not sure if you will be training me, as in fitness, or working with me in a counselling type setting?

5/10: Can you elaborate what a resistant person looks/acts like? What makes them inflexible? Etc.

5/10: this is more a statement about what you do rather than who you can help the most or want to work with. What issue(s) are your peeps facing and where do they want to be. What would most help them be able to say “I’m in” or “I’m out?”

8/10: This looks like two niches in terms of who you intend to serve. (I have the same issue, and am creating two different messages to reach them.) I think it’d be easier to know who to send you if you did that.

4/10: For me this is rather blurry, sorry. I do not understand who these non-resistant and resistant people are, resistant to what? Also, both resistant and non-resistant would imply everybody, which is the opposite of niching, since you do not want to target everybody. Furthermore, I really do not understand what it means to access your “conscious flexibility and strength.” I do like your domain name!

Janet Matthies’ Reflections:

Open minded, injury prevention or rehabilitation goals, athletes who work hard, take responsibility, want to make a difference in their own health. I am a former division one athlete so I have insight into that level of athletics and commitment. Work with lots of men athletes or former athletes all ages, people who have tried everything else with little or no results.

Anyone with body imbalance (aka pain) could be a business person, lots of people in medical field have body aches and pains, nurses, OT, PTs, a client of mine has hemiparesis and I move her body for her to get muscles to shorten and lengthen, massage therapists with arm pain, back soreness, basically anyone with mysterious pain that no other doctor takes seriously so they are left feeling invalidated and in pain.

The Revised Niche:

n/a