As a coach or practitioner, one of the biggest challenges you face is ensuring that your messaging truly resonates with your ideal clients.

It’s tempting to rely on industry jargon, long term thinking, or even just your expertise to communicate the value of your services.

However, often the most powerful way to connect with potential clients is to speak their own language—using the exact words they use to describe their problems, desires, and needs.

Harnessing the language your clients use is a game-changer. It can help you craft marketing messages that are clear, compelling, and aligned with your audience’s mindset.

By tuning into what clients say—particularly before they begin working with you—you can create messaging that makes them feel understood and eager to engage.

In this post, I’ll share why client language is so crucial, how to gather it effectively, and how to use it in your messaging to attract and convert more of your ideal clients.

I’ll also include insights from my own coaching sessions that demonstrate how powerful this approach can be.

 

Why Listening To Your Clients Is More Important Than Your Expertise

When you’ve been working in your field for a while, you accumulate deep knowledge of the problems your clients face and the solutions that work best.

However, this depth of expertise can create a disconnect between you and your potential clients.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of speaking from an expert’s point of view, which may not resonate with someone who is just beginning their journey.

For example, one of my clients was struggling with messaging that focused too heavily on the big, long-term transformations her program offered.

She was excited about providing tools that would help her clients live healthier, more fulfilling lives for years to come.

But while these long-term results were incredibly valuable, they weren’t what was drawing people to her program in the first place.

In reality, clients often sign up because they are seeking immediate relief from a specific problem. Whether it’s chronic fatigue, weight issues, or a lack of energy, their initial motivation is usually more focused on short-term needs than long-term aspirations.

Therefore, your marketing needs to meet potential clients where they are right now—not where you hope they’ll be after working with you.

It’s not that the bigger picture doesn’t matter… it does! But focusing on the immediate pain points that potential clients are experiencing will help you make a stronger connection from the start.

 

How to Capture Client Language

The first step to using client language effectively is to capture it. This involves listening closely to how clients describe their struggles and what they hope to achieve.

While you might think you already know how your clients talk about their problems, there’s no substitute for hearing it directly from them.

During one of my program coaching sessions, a client was preparing to conduct interviews with her past clients to gather feedback. She wanted to understand why they had chosen to work with her, using their own words to fine-tune her messaging.

Instead of focusing on their feedback about the program itself, we discussed how she should explore the why behind their decision to join. By asking questions that focused on their initial reasons for signing up, she would be able to capture language that could help her attract new clients.

When clients talk about their experiences before they started working with you, they offer insights into their mindset, challenges, and motivations at the time they made the decision to invest.

This is the language you need to focus on in your marketing. It speaks to the problems and desires that are top of mind for potential clients, rather than what they discover after they’ve gone through your program.

 

Record Your Conversations

One of the best ways to capture authentic client language is to record your conversations. Whether it’s a discovery call, a client interview, or a check-in session, recording ensures you don’t miss the nuances of how clients describe their struggles.

When clients speak spontaneously, they are more likely to use the unfiltered language that resonates with others in their situation.

In my coaching business, I always recommend recording calls, as notes alone can’t capture the full richness of how clients express themselves. This also allows you to go back and analyze the exact words and phrases they use when discussing their pain points and desires.

Over time, you’ll start to notice patterns. Certain words or phrases will pop up again and again, signaling the emotions or concerns that are most important to your audience.

When you integrate this language into your messaging, it creates a sense of familiarity and trust because clients feel like you understand them on a deep level.

 

How to Use Client Language in Your Copy

Once you have gathered client language, the next step is to integrate it into your marketing and sales copy. This can transform how you communicate with potential clients across all your platforms, from social media posts to sales pages and email campaigns.

For instance, one of my clients was struggling with balancing the language she loved to use—focused on long-term transformations—with the language that would resonate more immediately with her audience.

She cared deeply about providing tools that her clients could use for a lifetime, but that wasn’t necessarily what drew clients to her program initially.

After discussing it, we concluded that her messaging needed to focus on the immediate benefits clients were looking for when they first came to her—like increased energy, better sleep, or pain relief.

By shifting the focus to the short-term wins, she could better capture the attention of potential clients. Once they were enrolled in the program and experiencing results, they could then appreciate the deeper, long-term transformation she was so passionate about.

But to get them in the door, she had to meet them where they already were.

This approach applies not only to sales copy but also to discovery calls. When you use the language clients are already familiar with—describing their problems in the same way they do—you build rapport quickly.

They feel heard and understood, which makes them more likely to trust you and, ultimately, sign up for your services.

Want to create content that attracts clients? Here’s a step-by-step guide.

 

Real-Life Examples of Client Language in Action

In that same coaching session, another one of my clients was struggling to articulate a clear, compelling message for her audience.

She worked with clients who were often dealing with fatigue, inflammation, and other health concerns, but she was getting caught up in language that was too abstract or “big picture” for her audience.

Instead of focusing on the immediate symptoms that brought clients to her, she was using terms like “paradigm shifts” that weren’t relatable to the average person.

We worked together to narrow her messaging down to the specific challenges her clients were facing day-to-day.

These included things like feeling tired, dealing with chronic aches and pains, and needing to rely on medication just to get through the day.

By using this more tangible language, she was able to create messaging that was more aligned with what her clients were actually struggling with, rather than the advanced concepts she was passionate about as a practitioner.

This shift in language made her messaging more accessible and relatable to her audience, which helped attract more of the right clients—people who were experiencing real, immediate challenges and needed support to overcome them.

 

Actionable Steps for Incorporating Client Language

If you want to improve your messaging and attract more clients, here are some actionable steps you can take to start using client language effectively:

1. Conduct Client Interviews: Reach out to current or past clients and schedule brief interviews. Focus on asking them about their experience before they started working with you. What were their biggest challenges? What made them decide to seek help? How did they describe their problem at the time?
2. Record Discovery Calls: If you aren’t already recording your sales calls, start doing so. These calls are a treasure trove of insights into how potential clients talk about their pain points and what they hope to achieve.
3. Analyze Testimonials: Go through the testimonials you’ve received and look for recurring themes. Pay attention to how clients describe their struggles and what motivated them to sign up for your program.
4. Incorporate Client Language in Your Copy: Use the exact words and phrases your clients use in your marketing. Whether it’s in your sales pages, social media posts, or email campaigns, client language will make your messaging feel more authentic and relatable.

 

Final Thoughts

The power of client language lies in its ability to create a connection between you and your potential clients.

When people see their own words reflected in your marketing, they feel understood.

They realize that you get them—that you know exactly what they’re going through. This builds trust and increases the likelihood that they’ll take the next step, whether that’s booking a discovery call or signing up for your program.

By meeting your clients where they are, speaking their language, and focusing on their most immediate needs, you can create messaging that resonates and converts.

So take the time to listen closely to your clients and integrate their exact words into your marketing strategy.

You’ll be amazed at how much of a difference it can make in attracting the right people and growing your online business financially!

 

Liked this? Next step: Learn how to attract high-paying clients (and stop chasing followers) in my other post.

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