A framework for thinking about a new product or service

I had an idea. For a hybrid coaching group called The Unusually Focused Private Client Group. One-on-one coaching plus a group. I’d been thinking about it for a while.

The scope of the project was getting a little overwhelming. One of ways I get un-overwhelmed is to ask myself questions. This allows me to extract a bunch of stuff from my head and put it onto a page. The intent is to get the building blocks out first and then assemble them.  If everything is stuck in my head, it’s too hard to see how the pieces fit together.

I was doing that for this project today and realized that the process I’m using might be helpful to you.

If you’re thinking about creating a new product or service and aren’t clear exactly what it is or how to talk about it, you might dig this.  

Use the framework below to generate a bunch of questions starting with one of six words.

The six words are who, what, when, where, why, and how. 

After you generate the questions, answer them. You’ll get more clear about the offer and how to market it. It’s not smart to think about the development of a product in a vacuum.

You should not only be thinking about what your customers want, but also what you want, and how the hell you’re gonna sell it. 

The framework is flexible. Here are a bunch of questions I like, but you can make up your own as long as they begin with one of the six words above.

The goal here is not to write copy.  You’ll do that later.  To start, just make a list of answers, as many as you can generate. Go as fast as you can. Don’t overthink it. 

So that you can see how this works, underneath the questions, I’m also including some of the answers I came up with this morning for the Unusually Focused Private Client Group.

Who:

• Who is it for?

• Who is it not for?

• Who (if anyone) will you be working with? Who should be on the team?

• Who is the perfect customer? (names of real people. Not a “customer avatar.” Do you already have people - a hit list- in mind?)

What:

• What does it include?

• What does it not include?

• What will it do for them?

• What will they get out of it?

• What do they need to know?

• What boundaries do I need in place?

• What do you intend to deliver?

• What aren’t you willing to deliver?

• What would someone need to know  (about you, the offer, or themselves) to trust/believe you that it will work?

• What evidence do you have that it will work (“proof” - testimonials, stories, etc.)?

• What might get in the way of results?

• What competitive offers are out there?

• What can you compare it to?

• What’s wrong with it?

When:

• When does it start?

• When does it end?

• When should they expect results?

• When (and how often) will there be meetings/calls?

• When will you start promoting it?

• When will you close registration?

Where:

• Where does it happen (zoom, phone, email, slack, Facebook groups, etc.)?

• Where will you promote it?

• Where will they get the materials they need (what platform)?

Why:

• Why are you creating it? (What job are you helping them get done?)

• Why should they participate/buy?

• Why wouldn’t it work?

• Why shouldn’t they sign up?

How:

• How does it work?

• How will they know it’s working?

• How will you decide if they are a good fit?

• How will they decide if it’s right for them?

• How will you promote it?

Here are the answers to a few questions I wrote this morning.

Question: Who is it not for?

Answer: people not interested in using email, people not selling anything with no plans to sell anything, people who are unwilling to take risks, people who are unwilling to take criticism, people who are unwilling to annoy and offend, people who are unwilling to write, people who are unwilling to tell others what to do, people who don’t read, people who would rather get likes than money, people who are unwilling to lose followers, people who are more interested in their brand than in making money

Question:  Why am I (Ryan) creating this?

Answer: I’ve witnessed firsthand the power of like-minded people being in a group together — working on their projects. I haven’t done a group thing in a few years and I am confident my 1:1 clients would benefit from several aspects of the group process. They’ll be able to bounce their ideas off each other, get feedback from each other, benefit from hearing me coach other members of the group, be motivated by others’ progress, and hold each other accountable. I also know a group isn’t enough by itself. Clients need 1:1 attention to make progress quickly, so it seems obvious I should combine the two in one program.

Those are my answers to just two of the questions.  There are at least 30 more I will answer before I even start writing copy or making offers. 

By that time, the copy should write itself. 

Try it out. 

Later.