by Laura West
Can I just say… “I’m guilty!”
I’ve done it plenty of times and it is all in the spirit of wanting to help a customer.
You put everything you have on a subject into an article, ebook, products or webinar even though you are thinking…wow, this is a lot of information!
What’s the harm? you say.
Well, your wonderfully generous spirit soon turns into confusion, overwhelm and frustration for your client.
When a potential customer reads, sees or hears your message they get inspired or excited about what you are up to. Then they buy your product or come to your program. You have created a relationship of engagement and trust. When you are generous with your content and expertise they are still feeling good.
But there is this moment when it shifts…when your content becomes too much for them to consume. It tilts over that bell curve into overwhelm and then they feel stuck. They stop consuming your program and then they feel guilty or like a failure. They feel like something is wrong with them that they don’t get it or can’t keep up…
You’ve put too much content into your product…
They may still love you…but they stop reading or watching your content because they have hit overwhelm or worse yet doubt. The real kicker is that then they won’t buy anything else from you for a while because they still need to finish this work.
I would venture to say that you could pull back on the content you deliver and it would still be plenty for someone to experience your work and create results.
How to get your customer through overwhelm
If you just can’t help being a generous spirit I have are several recommendations for you to help your customers consume your generous content and not get frustrated:
- Break down your content into bite-size action steps. Create steps that are do-able and achievable.
- Develop checklists to help your customers keep track of their progress and action steps.
- Devote time on a call or in a program to actually do an exercise so they get “into “ action and they aren’t just learning about stuff to do.
- I do this one a lot – Give them success tips. Let them know how to get started, give them a jumpstart guide or tips for what to do when you get stuck.
- You can also include “Get It Done Days” where everyone works on going through the product or program, offer open office hours for spot coaching and mentoring, or Q & A time to help them do the work not just read over the work.
Make sure to look over your content creation and see if you can focus on smaller doable information. Then develop some ways that you can help someone go through your program or content more successfully by taking out the overwhelm and getting them into action sooner and easier!
Let me know if you ever have customers who love you but get overwhelmed or stuck. Also, I’d love to hear ways you help your customers consume your information easily and quickly.
