Maverick

“Maverick” vs. “Goose” segments of your niche

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Yesterday, I sent a handraiser email asking readers if, assuming they have an email list, they get on average 30 or more new subs each week. I got two kinds of replies. See if you can spot the pattern:

#1. No

#2. No!

#3. I do not. But that would be awesome. even 3 a week would be good for me

#4. Nope. 😕

#5. Hell no

#6. I wish LOL

#7. yea

#8. Yes!

#9. Yes, I do… I use linkedin/Facebook and Instagram organic to drive leads.

#10. I get about 100-150 a week and about 30-35 unsubs per week (daily emails)

#11. I get that a day.

#12. Daily

I appreciate everyone who replied. And as thanks for that, let me share a distinction I make, which might be useful to you, called the “Maverick” vs. “Goose” segments.

I first made this distinction last year, when looking at three successful coaching clients I’ve had, each of whom was writing daily emails as a major part of their business.

I looked for commonalities.

One commonality I found was that each of these clients focused on the “Maverick” segment of their audience.

If you have ever seen Top Gun, you know that the movie is about Maverick, played by Tom Cruise. Maverick is the cool, good-looking, talented fighter pilot who inevitably gets the girl and the glory by the end of the movie.

And then there’s Goose, played by Anthony Edwards. Goose is Maverick’s likeable, goofy-looking sidekick, who never gets to fly the plane and who is ritually sacrificed halfway through the movie.

So the question becomes, who do you want to build a business around? Maverick or Goose?

I looked at those 3 coaching students I’d had, each of whom was doing very well. I saw all three focused on the Maverick segment of their niche. Specifically:

* In the “basketball” niche: On high school coaches, rather than high school players

* In the “fitness” niche: On 44-year-olds, rather than 24-year-olds

* In the “marketing” niche: On people who want time, rather than people who want money

My point being:

Yes, some niches are more promising than others to start. You’re more likely to find players with money subscribing to an investing newsletter than replying to a debt relief ad.

But within each niche, regardless of how initially promising or unpromising, there are also the Maverick and Goose segments.

If you’ve already got an audience, or if one is building up for you as we speak, it makes sense to find a binary question you can ask people to classify them as either Maverick or Goose, and then to focus your efforts on working with the Maverick segment, at least based on what I’ve seen.

And on that note, if you haven’t yet replied to my handraiser yesterday:

If you have an email list, do you on average get 30 or more new subscribers every week?

If you do, let me know. I mainly want to know who you are and what you do. I don’t have any particular agenda, though I do have a half dozen possible ways you could help me or I could help you.

Affluent quests

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This morning. Coaching call.

The guy I’m coaching writes a daily email. Makes a lot of money. Has had two or three successful careers before turning to online marketing.

As an aside, today he mentioned an email that he sent to his list last week. It was about his own imposter syndrome.

Admitting to imposter syndrome wasn’t any kind of pandering or fake vulnerability.

He genuinely felt doubts when a new client, much more successful than him and with a much bigger business than his own, came to him for advice and guidance, and offered to pay him multiple thousands of dollars per month for it, for a six month engagement.

“That email got a lot of response,” my coaching student said.

I’m not surprised. And I imagine that the people who replied to him were his best prospects.

After all, the most highly qualified, highly credentialed people are the ones to most acutely feel a mismatch between their public image — success and achievement — and the inner reality — doubts, confusion, time needed to figure it out.

This includes even the top achievers, the ones who repeatedly get results.

Marketing tip:

In his No B.S Marketing To The Affluent book, direct marketing legend Dan Kennedy says the affluent are on a search, a life and lifestyle quest.

Dan gives five dimensions to this quest. But most of all, says Dan, the affluent are on a quest for competence.

So keep that in mind if you’re trying to sell to the upper end of your market. The high achievers. The Mavericks, rather than the Gooses of your audience.

As for me:

Maybe you’d like to work with me one-on-one?

Next week, I’m wrapping up coaching with the high-achiever above.

​​Right at the start of our work together, I told him that he didn’t need more than a month of my feedback and time. After all, his emails were already fun and interesting. His copy was dialed in. And he was making lots and lots of sales.

And yet, he still wanted to get my feedback on his copy, because he wanted to get better at what he’s doing, and to learn something new. About that, he told me this morning:

“It’s been amazing. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve had sales. Mostly little tips and tricks that I opted in for, so I feel fulfilled.”

I don’t do a lot of one-on-one coaching.

​​After next week, it will either be zero people, or one person, depending if I find somebody who is a good fit.

​​In case you’re interested, hit reply, and we can talk.