Crime #002
Describing your customers as “anyone ready for change”.
The explanation
“Ambitious people.” “Purpose-led individuals.” “Anyone ready for their next chapter.”
These descriptions sound like audiences, but tell a visitor very little about who your service is designed for. Almost anyone could identify with them.
Someone considering coaching or consulting needs to know whether you help people in their situation. A manager taking responsibility for a team for the first time has different needs from an experienced director considering retirement. Both might be ambitious. Both might be ready for change.
When you describe your audience only through broad aspirations, you leave visitors to work out whether their particular circumstances belong here.
That uncertainty matters. Before someone shares a problem or books a conversation, they want some indication that they have come to the right place. They should not have to contact you to discover whether you work with people like them.
The temptation is to keep the description broad because you could help many different people. Naming a particular group can feel like turning everyone else away.
But “anyone ready for change” does not communicate the breadth of your expertise. It leaves the intended customer undefined.
You do not need an elaborate customer profile or a narrow demographic description. Age, gender and income may have little to do with whether your service is suitable.
What matters is the shared circumstance that makes your help relevant: the responsibility they have taken on, the business they are building or the decision they are facing.
Give visitors a description they can recognise themselves in.
How to fix it
Replace the broad audience label with a specific description of the people the service is designed to help.
Use this structure:
For [type of person] who [specific situation].
For example:
- “For managers who are leading a team for the first time.”
- “For experienced consultants who are preparing to hire their first employee.”
- “For senior professionals who want to move into one-to-one consultancy.”
Choose the detail that affects what someone needs from your service. “Women aged 35–50” is not as compelling as “Women returning to management after a career break”. The situation explains why they might need your help.
Start with your actual customers. What was happening when they came to you? What did suitable customers have in common? Which circumstances were you particularly well equipped to help with?
Use those answers to write one audience sentence for the service page. Put it near the top, beside the description of what you provide.
Avoid adding every other group you could conceivably help. If a service genuinely suits several groups, look for a meaningful shared situation. If their needs are substantially different, describe them separately.
Then show the sentence to someone in the intended audience who does not know your business. Ask: “Who do you think this service is for?” and “Would that include you? Why?”
Listen for whether they recognise the situation you intended. If they have to stretch the meaning to include themselves, refine it.
The goal is a clear answer to one question: “Is this for someone like me?”
Are you guilty of Crime #002?
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