Every coach I meet has the same fear hiding somewhere underneath their自信满满的外表: "What if nobody actually wants what I'm selling?"
I get it. You've spent months developing your offer. You've read all the books. You've maybe even gotten some certifications. And then you put it out there... and the response is... crickets.
The problem isn't you. The problem is you skipped the most important step in coaching business development. You didn't actually talk to enough people about what they wanted before you built what you thought they needed.
I've been coaching for over two decades. I've launched programs that flopped hard and programs that filled up in days. The difference always came down to one thing: how well I understood what my market actually craved.
The Problem With Assumptions
Most coaches build their offer in a vacuum. They think: "I'm great at helping people with X problem. I'll create a course about X." Then they wonder why nobody buys.
Being skilled at something doesn't automatically mean people will pay for it. They have to want it, need it, and — most importantly — have to be actively seeking a solution right now.
This is the mistake I made early in my business. I assumed that because I had valuable knowledge, people would line up to pay for it. They didn't. Because knowing what you offer is valuable and knowing what people want to buy are two completely different skills.
Listen Before You Build
Here's a question I now ask myself before creating anything: "Have I actually talked to at least 20 people in my target market in the last 90 days?"
If the answer is no, I don't launch. I go talk to people first.
Not surveys. Not questionnaires. Real conversations. Thirty-minute calls where I shut up and listen more than I talk. I ask things like:
- "What's the hardest part about [problem they have]?"
- "What have you already tried to fix this?"
- "If you could wave a magic wand and solve one thing, what would it be?"
- "How much is this problem costing you — in money, time, or stress?"
The answers will surprise you. Often, the thing people will pay for isn't the thing you assumed they'd want. It's a smaller, more specific, more emotional version of the problem you thought you were solving.
Find the Language They Use
One of the most valuable things you get from real conversations is the exact language your market uses to describe their problem.
This matters more than most new coaches realize. If you use clinical or technical language, people won't feel like you "get" them. But if you use the exact words they use when venting to a friend at 11pm — suddenly you're speaking their language.
For example: I worked with a health coach who kept using the term "adrenal fatigue" in her marketing. Her ideal clients were stay-at-home moms who didn't care about adrenal fatigue. They cared about being "too tired to play with their kids." Same problem, completely different emotional hook.
Your marketing has to speak the language of desire, not the language of your certification.
Look at What They're Already Buying
Another powerful way to understand what people want: look at what they're already spending money on.
If your target audience is buying fifteen different courses about manifestation, maybe — just maybe — they're hungry for spiritual coaching. If they're paying 00/month for gym memberships, they might be ready to invest in fitness coaching.
People vote with their wallets. Their spending tells you what they value, what they believe is possible, and what they're willing to invest in.
Join Facebook groups in your niche. Read the posts that get the most engagement. Notice what people are complaining about, celebrating, and asking for help with. This is market research you can do in your pajamas.
The Pain vs. Solution Match
Here's the framework I use for every program I create: How intensely are my ideal clients feeling the pain right now? And does my solution directly address that pain?
People buy coaching to escape pain, not to gain abstract benefits. "Get more confidence" is weak. "Stop feeling like a fraud every time someone asks you about your business" is powerful.
Your offer has to be the obvious answer to a burning question they're already asking. Not a logical solution to a problem they don't realize they have.
When you get this match right — when your marketing language mirrors the exact pain your clients feel — enrollment becomes almost effortless. Because you're not convincing anyone of anything. You're just showing up as the obvious solution to a problem they already know they have.
Test Before You Invest
One of the smartest moves I ever made: I started validating offers before I built them out completely.
I'd create a simple landing page describing the program. I'd drive targeted traffic to it. And I'd see — before I spent six months creating content — whether anyone actually clicked the "buy" button.
If the landing page converts at 10% or higher, I build it out. If it doesn't, I either tweak the offer or the messaging until it does.
This approach has saved me from building at least three major programs that would have flopped. No amount of beautiful content can save an offer that doesn't match what the market wants.
Build Your Business on Real Insight
The coaches who struggle aren't the ones who lack skill. They're the ones who never did the work to understand their market.
You don't need a massive audience to start. You need deep understanding of a small group of people. Twenty genuine conversations with the right people will teach you more than ten thousand social media followers who don't really care.
Get curious. Ask questions. Listen more than you talk. And then — only then — build the offer that those conversations clearly point toward.
When you know what people want to buy, creating it becomes the easy part.
Want a proven system for building a coaching offer people actually want to buy?
Join the Wealthy Coach Academy — 97/month and get access to our offer development framework, market research templates, and launch strategies that work.
Or start with a free class: Book a .95 discovery session to see if we're the right fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many conversations do I need before I know what to sell?
Twenty is a good starting point. By the time you've talked to twenty genuine prospects, you'll start hearing the same phrases, the same complaints, and the same desires repeated back to you. That's when you know you're onto something real. Less than ten and you're probably just hearing outliers.
What if I don't know who my ideal client is yet?
Then that's your first research project. Pick the three types of people you think you could help most. Talk to all three. See who responds best to your help, who gets the most results, and who seems most excited to work with you. Your ideal client often reveals themselves through the work, not before it.
Should I offer free consultations to figure out what people want?
Yes — with a twist. Don't make the free call about "figuring out what they want." Make it about providing massive value and diagnosing whether they're a good fit for what you already offer. You'll learn plenty just by how they respond to your existing framework. Save the deep discovery for paid clients.
What if I'm in a niche where people aren't already spending money?
Then you either have the wrong niche or the wrong market. Someone, somewhere, is paying for a solution to the problem you want to solve. If you can't find them, it's usually because you're looking in the wrong places — or because the problem isn't painful enough yet for people to open their wallets. Dig deeper.
Can I use surveys instead of conversations?
Surveys give you data. Conversations give you insight. You can't ask a survey what the emotional undercurrent is. You can't probe a survey when something interesting comes up. Use surveys to validate patterns you've already spotted in conversations. Don't use them as a replacement for the real thing.
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About Jeremiah Krakowski
Jeremiah Krakowski is a coaching business mentor who helps coaches, course creators, and consultants scale from $3k/mo to $40k+/mo using direct response marketing, AI systems, and proven frameworks. He runs Wealthy Coach Academy and has 23+ years of experience in digital marketing. Learn more →