Marketing Attractiveness

Attractiveness is another element of value that enhances status.  But what is it?

What is It?

Superficially, attractiveness is looking good and so covers a range of products and services.  These include clothing and cosmetics and activities that improve the look of the body, such as exercise, diet and various other therapies such as voice coaching.

At a deeper level, there is the distinction between fashion and style.  Fashion is external and followed slavishly, perhaps undermines identity.  Style is internal.  A stylish person adapts fashion to their own ends and perhaps leads fashion.

Most people mix the two, developing style based on fashion.  Neither fashion nor style necessarily equates to attractiveness but the important thing is the person feels attractive.

Value to the Client

So, what is the value of attractiveness to the client?  To some degree attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder.  Not everyone may agree your fashion and style choices are attractive.  And perhaps the most important beholder is the person themselves.  Do I believe I am attractive?

Some of us are not that bothered about our appearance.  However, it depends on the image we want to convey.  Attractiveness matters at a job interview or on a date.  Most people give their appearance some thought under such circumstances.  I might feel a little odd attending an interview in unfamiliar clothes but the impact on others is important.

Is it attractiveness we seek at formal events such as interviews?  There are of course issues around sexual harassment in employment and it could be argued that attractiveness plays to this dynamic.  This may be so but dress codes are different between a job interview and a date.

I remember an interview panel over 20 years ago, where one member objected to the candidate we appointed because he had bad teeth.  Most panels these days would not raise such issues but it is likely they still have a subconscious impact.

This adds up to the unsurprising insight that personal style matters because we need to minimise adverse unconscious prejudice.

How to Get There

Raising appearance with clients may be necessary from time to time with most coaches.  The main thing to be aware of is, if it is not in the original contract, the coach is likely to make their client defensive.  If appearance is important and is not your main concern, perhaps a bonus meeting with a style adviser might be a good way to broach the subject.

Apart from those who explicitly market their offers in terms of attractiveness, there are probably others who could but don’t.  A gymnasium for example could market on the health benefits of regular exercise but attractiveness is implicit.  Lacking attractiveness is an anxiety many people share and so explicitly addressing it is an option.

Your Offer

For coaches directly addressing appearance in some way, attractiveness may be an excellent value to add to the benefits of your offer.  Certainly crafting it in terms of personal style may help as many people warm to opportunities for self-expression.

Where attractiveness is incidental to your offer, it may be worth offering something as an optional bonus.

This is the sixteenth of 31 posts about elements of value.  Make sure you don’t miss any by signing up for the offer below.  The posts in this sequence can be accessed below: