Scaling up in the Boomer marketplace: Harder than it looks

The blog entry Senior Strategist Carol Orsborn posted yesterday at VibrantNation.com about the publishing industry rang a familiar chord. With so much buying power among women 50+, why aren’t there more examples of businesses that have achieved scale and success by finding better ways to deliver Boomer women the products or services they so obviously want?

I had these challenges in mind after a recent talk with a company aiming to consolidate and simplify an industry of great potential appeal to women 50+: life coaching.

Compass recognizes inefficiencies on both sides of the coach-client equation. Coaches, fragmented and scattered across every community, lack a centralized conduit to clients. And the millions of potential clients, similarly dispersed, lack an easy way to access regular coaching services. The challenge is compounded by the routinely high-cost of coaching (sometimes as high as $250/hour) as well as the time it takes to seek out the best coach for them.

Compass plans to be that conduit, connecting certified life coaches with interested women through weekly group phone calls and meetings and daily emails, all for monthly fees that range from $20-$60. Will it work? Compass just started last year, so it’s too early to tell. The company has talented management, strong backing and well-connected partners who share a vision to make coaching services accessible to women everywhere. The sales model is based on a multi-level marketing strategy that may prove to suit the entrepreneurial spirit of women, the current economy, and the nature of the life coaching industry well.

At VibrantNation.com we gather successful, well-educated women 50+, exactly the target market for a life-coaching company. Even if they know they would benefit from coaching services, many of them don’t know where to begin the process of seeking assistance, in large part because the field has lacked a central resource like Compass. Some women even tell us they aren’t aware that the industry exists; a huge opportunity awaits the right players.

At the same time, I wonder whether women (especially more affluent women) will seek a higher-touch offering than Compass’ affordable group calls provide. But Compass also allows its coaches to provide one-on-one service to clients outside the phone-and-email network. It may be, among other things, the best way for busy Boomer women to identify the right personal coach for them.

Not enough companies build ambitious plans to make the services Boomer women want more accessible. From one start-up to another, I wish Compass luck…and on a grand scale.