Why potential clients coming to Noomii are location biased<\/strong><\/p>\n Noomii generates all of its client traffic through organic search engine results. I just ran a quick Google Analytics\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0reports and in the last month, 95% of those who landed on the directory thanks to Google, Yahoo, and Bing, did so by\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0searching for a coach in their city.<\/p>\n Please note that over 75% of the leads on Noomii contact coaches directly. The other 25% request our help to\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0find their ideal coach.<\/p>\n Our findings are not unique to the coaching industry. Rather, I’d suggest that the way people search for other service\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0professionals influences how people search for a coach. Try it yourself. If you need to hire a dentist, lawyer, mortgage\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0broker, or doctor, you’re likely to search in your city. So when people think about hiring a coach, they want someone\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0close by.<\/p>\n Even when clients on Noomii have agreed to work on the phone with their coach, they prefer local coaches. We’ve\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0spoken to dozens and dozens of clients who get their list of compatible coaches after agreeing to work on the phone\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0and then they write back saying things like \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cdon’t you have any coaches in my state or at least the Pacific Northwest?\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0(or whatever region they’re in).<\/p>\n We have to face the reality of people’s perceptions. They want someone who can relate to their geography,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0time zone,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0political climate, socio-economic environment, and more. In their minds, there is a big difference between a life coach in San Francisco<\/a> versus a life coach in Chicago<\/a> versus an NYC life coach<\/a>, even if they can all do phone coaching. Whether or not the perception of the potential client is accurate, it’s none-the-less there and we can’t ignore it. The bias is particularly relevant to those who come to Noomii after doing a\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0geographically based search on Google.<\/p>\n How Noomii’s numbers confirm the location bias of potential clients<\/strong><\/p>\n We have the good fortune of seeing large pools of data. Looking at a sample size of the last\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0100 coach match client\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0who contacted at least one coach through our messaging system, we concluded that you are 20% more likely to be\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0contacted if you\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 This confirms our hypothesis that clients have a bias toward hiring a local coach.<\/p>\n If the goal is more paying clients, we need to give clients what they want<\/strong><\/p>\n The data that we have presented so far is only the start of the story. For every client that contacted at least one coach,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0there are a lot clients that contacted no coaches. Sure, maybe there are window shoppers or tire kickers that will\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0never become paying clients but we hypothesize that a lot of them are not hiring Noomii coaches because they’re not\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0getting what they expect<\/em><\/strong>, even when agree to work with a coach on the phone. The flip-side of that is if we can more\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0consistently supply potential clients with well-suited coaches that live close to them, more of those potential clients\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0would engage the services of a Noomii coach.<\/p>\n In other words, our data suggests that somewhere between 30 and 40% of potential clients are hiring Noomii coaches.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0We’d like that number to go up. And if we can successfully do that, all of our coaches will benefit because a greater\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0percentage of Noomii visitors will be hiring Noomii coaches.<\/p>\n But what if there are not many client leads in my area?<\/strong><\/p>\n After digesting all of the above information, you’re probably thinking that there are not enough client leads in your area,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0especially if you live in a place like Dayton, Ohio. You may also be resisting what our conclusions because you want an\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0international clientele base.<\/p>\n If that’s the case, then you need to work extra hard to stand out head and shoulders above the rest by getting really\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0clear about the type of client you work with and the unique solution you offer. Then you need to be really selective\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0about which client leads you respond to. If you are going to respond to a client lead outside your area, you better be a\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0good match. And when I say good match, I mean that the perception that people get<\/em> from looking at your profile in less\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0than 10 seconds<\/a> leads them to believe that you are a good match.<\/p>\n We’ve spoken to a number of coaches who claim to be a good fit for a particular client lead and when we talk to them,\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0it’s true, they are a good fit. But then we look at their profiles and the information is not consistent with the story we\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0heard. Often who coaches are and who they say they are on their profile don’t match up.<\/p>\n It’s understandable that coaches have a hard time communicating what they are all about. We’re blind to our strengths\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0and it’s hard to separate our individual selves with the service we offer. That’s why we offer one-on-one profile reviews.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0We want to make sure that as many coaches as possible get clear on who their ideal client is and can communicate it\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0succinctly..<\/p>\n It’s frustrating to see a business executive getting responses from spirituality coaches, life coaches, and relationship\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0coaches. Yes, in theory a coach can help any type of client but (even though I don’t totally agree with that logic but\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0that’s for another post entirely) the potential client doesn’t think that. They want someone who appears to be a good fit.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0They want someone that can relate to their situation. They want someone that gets them.<\/p>\n If you have any other questions or simply disagree, please let us know. Leave a comment below.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/noomii-blog-files2.s3.amazonaws.com\/2012\/08\/LifecoachSeattle1.jpg\" "\\"LifecoachSeattle\\"")
<\/a>We\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve run dozens of tests with real people who have come into our office and with very little instruction, we\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0observed how they search for a coach. Their behavior matches our data. Here\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s what the typical person does:<\/p>\n\n
are in the same city or state as the client.<\/p>\n