Roadblock Coaching

What is the opposite of a life coach? More downtime doomscrolling, another supposedly boundary pushing clickbait slant on personal improvement.

In part I clicked through in the slim hope I'd learn about a new emerging cohort of 'coaches'. Having magically unearthed how they can enrich lives. Freeing the frustrated from chains of stasis, doubt or future failure in a way that, to give just one example, financial advisers and wealth managers largely overlook and seldom seem to deliver to anyone but their own pockets.

The link revealed a broadsheet piece by an anonymous wife suffering serious martial blues fifteen years and two young children in. She sought advice from a self-styled 'roadblock coach'. With this stated pain point of interest;

"helping women to navigate and overcome obstacles in their lives, be they feelings of anxiety or being overwhelmed, a career that seems to be on the wrong track or a relationship that is falling apart."

Remarkably, after paying for a four hour in-person session, "a week later, and, as clichéd as it might sound, the change is extraordinary".

It was quite the tale. Despite featuring pseudo-science such as attachment styles, revisiting childhood trauma and psychometric testing, the professed outcome was striking.

To offer an option for this post's opening question, then if not the opposite, certainly tangential or on another scale, roadblock coaching could be a valid route.

I think not of 'life', but in Sales.

Beyond label of coach. More like Remover, Fixer, Crash-through-er.

It can often be the roadblock that's the focus, with its hold on the surface seemingly transactional although restrictive nonetheless, yet with causes broader and more profound.

In keeping with the general populace, ask those in selling if they've any roadblocks right now and you'll receive curt dismissal. Quite right too in a sense. How would you expect to field such question yourself? 'Thanks ever so much for asking, as yeah, I've definitely got that problem, stranger...' Hardly.

There are apt ways of phrasing such enquiry. Of which I've blogged aplenty.

Yet here, the angle might be merit in remixing the rebranded marriage counsellor, now roadblock coach, message from above. In our B2B realm, here's one vibe;

helping sellers to navigate and overcome obstacles in their pitch, be they prospect disengagement or lost traction, a territory that seems to be on the wrong track or a funnel that is falling apart.

As before though, the chances of generating a genuine dialogue from this feel slim.

So ought we go to the next layer? What specific, unequivocal, identifiable roadblocks can we hit?

For us solution salespeople, it could range from the like of new pitch disinterest, competitive traps or pricing pushback.

For our potential buyers, it may well be something draining time, energy and resource out of their operations for which you provide a desirable unblocking.

There's many a way 'round a roadblock. From detour, alternative mode of travel or a change in destination entirely.

I suspect that if you asked a few of your paying customers one simple question, you'd get at least one sweet idea to put at the centre of your pitch. Give it a go;

"what roadblock went away after buying from us?"