Why You Struggle to Get Clients (And What The Top 1% Do Differently)

After working with over 1,000 health and wellness professionals, I've noticed five patterns that separate the ones who build thriving businesses from the ones who stay stuck

Why is it that some people seem to get plenty of clients into their online programs while others, who are perhaps even more experienced and more qualified, continue to struggle?

That’s a question that many health and wellness professionals ask. And I’m going to help answer it in this article.

I wish I could tell you there’s a special formula that works 100% of the time for 100% of the people. Unfortunately, there isn’t.

But I’ve watched many health & wellness professionals break through to consistent $10,000 to $20,000 months and more. The ones who build sustainable, profitable businesses often do five specific things. And the ones who struggle are missing at least one of them, and usually more.

Let me tell you what those five things are.

1. They have a clear offer that solves a problem people are highly motivated to fix

If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ve heard me say this over and over again. The most successful health and wellness professionals have a very clear offer that addresses something people are desperate to solve.

That means the problem shows up in people’s daily lives regularly. And it disrupts their quality of life. This makes them motivated to fix it. And they’re more likely to pay attention to solutions when they see them.

(I go into more detail about how to find this kind of offer in Why The Pick-a-Niche Advice Backfires.)

So having one clear offer is the foundation.

2. Their marketing starts with where their potential clients are right now — not with what the coach does

This shift dramatically increases your chances of being noticed.

The most successful people approach their marketing from their potential client’s perspective. They focus on the conversation already happening in that person’s head — what they’re struggling with, what they’ve already tried, and how the problem is showing up in their life right now. The solution comes later.

Many people introduce themselves with something about their qualifications. This is true whether it’s in person or on their website. For example, they say they’re a Registered Dietician, Certified Health Coach, or Chiropractor. Those tell you about the coach.

But the self-talk in your potential clients’ head is about the problem. They’re thinking about how they hate that the jeans they bought only a few months ago now feel too tight. Or they’re thinking maybe they shouldn’t go out on that date tonight because they’re afraid their IBS will hit in the middle of dinner.

The people whose marketing focuses on what their audience is experiencing are much more likely to get people’s attention.

And that’s the first thing your marketing needs to do.

3. They show people what makes them different in a way that matters

Getting someone’s attention is one thing. Helping them to see why you’re the right person to help them is another. And the most successful coaches don’t leave that to chance. They have a deliberate way of demonstrating it.

The big difference here is that the most successful coaches help people see why they’ve been struggling, why the things they’ve tried haven’t worked, and what’s actually going on underneath the surface.

And when you change how someone sees their problem, you change who they see as the solution. This is part of what I call Pixie Dust Positioning.

The most successful coaches have spent time developing their Pixie Dust. And they use it in their content, on their website, in their webinar or masterclass… everywhere. It becomes central to their marketing.

And the type of marketing rarely matters. What matters is that when someone encounters it, they walk away thinking: nobody’s ever explained it to me like that before.

That’s when comparison shopping stops. Because you’re saying something different than what everyone else is saying.

(I go deep into how to find what makes you different in this article about Pixie Dust Positioning.)

The coaches who struggle skip this entirely. They focus on tactics or jump straight to “book a discovery call” thinking they’ll explain it there. Unfortunately, fewer calls get booked.

4. They have a predictable lead generation system

The coaches who struggle often try doing a little bit of everything. Social media here, a Pinterest board there, occasional emails, maybe some SEO. But there’s no core system driving their business. Everything feels like it’s dependent on luck and timing.

The most successful coaches pick one lead generation system and master it before adding anything else. And the system they use fits the reality of their situation.

I covered this topic in more detail in this article: Two Strategies for Hitting $10K/Months.

5. They understand this takes time

Building an online coaching business isn’t a straight line. Almost everyone who has this dream passes through a predictable arc — early excitement, then the reality check when it’s harder than expected, then a crisis point where most people give up. The ones who make it are the ones who push through that crisis point instead of walking away from it.

I once worked with a professional ice hockey player who wanted to coach high-school players on how to optimize their health. Her program showed them what to do when they were off the ice which would help them perform better when they were on it. It’s a specific market with a real challenge because she had to get both the teen athlete and the parents on board. It was a tough market to crack.

We worked together for months. We tested different messaging, tweaked the webinar, and tried different ad angles. Almost a year in, she still wasn’t seeing a return on what she was putting in.

A lot of people would have quit long before then. I’ve watched many of them walk away after four or five months with no results.

But she didn’t. She kept at it.

Around the twelve-month mark, something clicked. Her funnel started converting. She started getting consistent leads. And she hit her first $20,000 month. (And she’s stayed at that level consistently ever since.)

It’s important to understand you go through different phases as you’re building your business. And you need to know which one you’re in. That can often give you the context you need to keep going. I wrote about those phases here.

Where to Start

If you’re struggling to get clients right now, it’s worth looking at where you are with these five patterns. Which ones are solid? Which ones are missing or shaky?

For most coaches, the answer starts with the first two — the offer and the messaging. Get those wrong and no amount of lead generation or persistence will save you. Get them right and everything else gets easier.

P.S. If you’d like more insights into how to do this, you’ll like my mini-book. It walks you through the details of The Trust-Based Marketing Method™.

It covers how to know if your offer has true market potential, how to develop positioning that makes you the obvious choice, and how to choose the marketing approach that actually fits your situation. Plus, it gives you some resources to help you put it into action right away.

The whole package is $17. Click on this link to find out more.