The Garden Path of Business

Once upon a time there was a two-room beach cottage. Humble but welcoming. Over time, according to the whims and insights of the owners, additions were added.

Years later it looks a little crazy. Which end is the front door? Why is that *there*? Visitors still come, plenty of them, but it’s a little challenging to figure out how to get in, or where to go once you do.

This is the metaphor I’ve used to describe Heart of Business lately. It’s painful to me that it’s not more obvious for you to find what you need.

It’s also okay, because this is what happens in business. You can’t build a creative business like a clockworks. It takes inspiration and, at times, mess.

Although many people in marketing use the term “funnel” to describe the series of linked offers a business makes, hoping to pour people through from the introductory offer to the most premium offers, we don’t.

We prefer the term “Garden Path” for two reasons. One, I hate to imagine clients being crammed through a funnel into a, what, meat grinder? Two, it feels a lot more descriptive of what actually is.

In our neighborhood there are plenty of gardens. Some are manicured, very neat and precise. Others are wild permaculture havens. But they all have in common two things.

First, they have a gateway of some sort. Secondly, they have at least the first two or three steps laid out. It may go wild after the third step, but you know at least how to enter.

When a new client shows up, they need to know where the gateway is and what the first few steps are. Once they are in, they are more able to make their own choices about what they need, or at least have enough of a relationship with you to ask. But for those who are brand-new, it’s good to make it obvious.

When your business gets a bit overgrown, wild, complicated, it’s worth it to take the time to think through all of your offers and at least mark out the garden path to some extent.

If you’ve never done this work before, your business may be missing out on money. It’s not a given that the first business/revenue model you fall into is going to be the most effective for your clients or the most profitable for you.

Here at Heart of Business, that’s what we’re working on now. I don’t anticipate any radical changes, because I see a lot of beauty in what’s here. What is needed is some repotting, some trimming and weeding, and laying out some stepping stones to make things more clear.

The benefits of working on your Garden Path are many. Here are some hints to creating your own:

• It’s been shown that clients don’t necessarily progress along a linear path from small offer to medium offer to large/premium offer. Sometimes clients come right into the premium offer. Sometimes they never do and repeat a series of smaller offers. What kinds of clients do you have, and what do they truly need?
• Often the garden path is arbitrary, meaning that there is no one right way to do it. Someone who has a similar business to you might have a topic you label as “premium” set up as the introductory offer. It’s okay. Sometimes you just need to plant your flag.
• As Rachna Jain advised me, think about the transformational path your client is on. What are they needing to progress through? What are the garden steps on that path of progress?

How can you make your garden path really clear to your clients, so they can figure out for themselves which offer to go for?

With love and appreciation,

Mark

p.s. Need an gardener at your side?

For the right person at the right time, individual hands-on coaching help is what will develop your business rapidly and easily. Someone you meet with regularly, who gets to know you and your business, and helps you develop it into something you love that also supports you financially.

We love to help our clients make money, and to do it with integrity and heart.

If you are having the thought, “I could use some help here,” why don’t you talk to Jason or Yollana? You will explore where you are and where you can go, and get an honest evaluation of what would it would take to get you there.

To schedule a conversation, check out our Organic Business Development Program.