Which Kind of Wealth Hires Your Trade

Imagine a dog walker named Nora Pike who wants wealthier clients. One evening between walks, she rewrites the first sentence of her website. It now says, “Dog walking for busy families and discerning clients.”

That week, Dr. Ellis looks for someone to walk her dog at midday. She works 12-hour shifts in an emergency room, and her dog is home alone all day. She opens Nora’s page and two others. All three describe busy owners and careful walks. None of them says anything about a house where nobody is home from seven to seven. So Dr. Ellis books the walker who charges the least.

Suppose instead that Nora looks at her best clients before she writes. Most of them are doctors at the hospital near the park. So her first sentence says, “I walk dogs at midday for households where both adults work long shifts at the hospital. After each walk, I send one photo and one sentence, so you never need to reply.”

Dr. Ellis opens the page and sees her own week. She writes to Nora to ask about a trial week, and Nora starts walking her dog the following Monday.

Nora’s walks were the same both times. In the first version, she wrote for every client who might pay more. In the second, she wrote for one kind of client. That is the doctor who still works for her money and has no time to spare.

So choose the kind of wealth your trade serves best, and name one group inside it. Here are the four kinds of wealth, and the one profession a Sacramento broker found among her high-end clients.

Wealth comes in four kinds, and each hires for a different reason

Inherited wealth came down through the family, often with a household whose ways were settled before the client arrived. That household tends to keep its people for years, and it judges a new provider by how well they fit in. So this client wants a provider who learns how the household runs before changing anything.

Self-made wealth was built by the client, often through a business they started. A large purchase can feel like part of the reward for that work. So this client wants a service that feels made for them. A standard package may tell them that they are one more customer.

Earned wealth belongs to people who are still paid well for skilled work, such as surgeons, law partners, and executives. They tend to feel short of time, so they want exact answers to their questions first, and warmth after.

Unexpected wealth arrived suddenly, through a settlement, an inheritance nobody expected, or a lottery win. This client often does not know what a service like yours usually costs. So they stay with the professional who explains the price before being asked.

Each kind wants something different from the same page. A surgeon wants the price and the next free date in the first lines. To her, a paragraph where one sentence would do can look careless. A client whose money arrived last year wants more words, not fewer. She wants to know what the service usually costs and what your price covers, part by part. One page cannot put both first.

What your trade does for a household points to the kind that hires it

Here is the course’s suggestion for where to start. Each kind hires for its own reason, so match what your trade does to that reason. There are exceptions in every town.

A private chef, a dog walker, a home organizer, or a personal trainer takes part of everyday life off a household’s hands. Earned wealth is the likeliest kind to hire them first, because those clients are short of time.

An interior designer, an event planner, a specialist realtor, or a coach is hired at a moment of change. That can be a new house, a wedding, or a move. Self-made wealth and unexpected wealth are the likeliest to call. A self-made client may be marking what they built. A client with unexpected wealth may be spending this much for the first time.

A tutor or a family photographer works with one family over many years. Inherited wealth is a likely kind, because those households keep their people for years. Earned wealth is the other, because parents who work long hours hand the lessons or the family photos to someone they trust.

A Sacramento broker found that almost every high-end client was a lawyer

Elizabeth Weintraub is a real estate broker in Sacramento. In May 2017, two brand strategists posted on ActiveRain about finding a corner of the market that no competitor had claimed. Weintraub answered in a comment that she had found hers in one profession: “lawyers. I love them to pieces and the feeling is mutual.”

“Many agents won’t touch lawyers with a 10-foot pole,” she wrote. “Yet, almost every high-end client for me is a lawyer.”

Lawyers are earned wealth, but Weintraub’s niche was narrower than that. It was one profession, a group of people she could point to.

Naming a group like that is the step after choosing a kind. A real group is a set of people who share something you can name. That can be a profession, an employer, a school, or a building. You can write a sentence to a group like that, the way Nora wrote hers to the doctors.

Why writing for two kinds of wealth goes wrong

Imagine Nora a month after her rewrite. A new client who won a settlement last year asks what dog walkers usually charge, and whether Nora’s price is fair. Nora answers on the phone and wins the client. Then she thinks that other new clients might wonder the same.

So that evening, she adds three paragraphs to her page about what walkers in the city charge and what her price covers. Her sentence for the doctors now sits under them.

The next week, Dr. Ellis gives Nora’s name to a colleague, Dr. Okafor. Dr. Okafor opens the page on a break between patients. She scrolls past the three paragraphs looking for the price and the days Nora has free. Then she gives up and books the walker her neighbor uses.

The page tried to serve two kinds of wealth, and it lost the kind it was written for. The fix is to keep the page for the doctors.

A page written for one group does not stop you from taking a client of another kind. When that client calls, give them what their kind needs on the call. In the version that works, Nora’s settlement client still gets her answer on the phone. Dr. Okafor finds the sentence about long shifts first and asks about a trial week.

How to choose your kind of wealth and name the group

List your last five clients. Next to each, write your best guess at their kind of wealth. Go by what each client said about money and family. For example, a client who talks about the people the family has kept for years may have inherited their money. If you cannot place a client, write “not sure.”
Choose the kind of wealth you will aim at first. Start with the kind that comes up most on your list. If no kind stands out, choose the kind whose reason for hiring matches what your trade does for a household.
Name a real group inside that kind, such as one profession, one employer, or one school. Write it as a sentence you could say to a friend. For example, a personal trainer might write, “People who sold a company in the last two years and want to get fit for what comes next.”
Open your website and read its first sentence. Ask whether someone in that group would see their own week in it. If they would not, rewrite the sentence for them, the way Nora wrote hers for doctors who work long shifts.
When a client of another kind calls, give them what their kind needs on the call. Leave your website as it is.

Next: You will see why the client who answers their own email is the right first target inside that kind.