I grabbed a beer and burger with an old friend recently who was telling me about a challenge he faced with an aggressive competitor.

My friend told me about how his competitor was essentially advertising with what he believed to be unrealistic claims. Essentially telling people if they bought his coaching they could grow their income 10x.

Apparently it wasn't an outright lie. The competitor had done it once in very favourable conditions with a client with a ton of untapped potential. It's just that it was unrealistic for 99% of the people who might end up working with him.

“How can I compete against someone telling people they'll get results like that?” my friend asked. “I get great results for my clients but compared to what this guy is saying they look pretty dull”.

And you know, there's not really an easy answer to this one.

But one way to think about it is to think about the type of clients those unrealistic claims will attract.

Unrealsitic ones is my guess. People looking for a silver bullet.

An easy sale. But a painful relationship. Especially when the results don't show up.

Behind the scenes, these guys who make the huge claims also have huge refunds and huge customer service issues. But they get enough “easy targets”  and enough people who blame themselves or who don't tough out the refund process to make it profitable for them.

Not the sort of business I want to run. I'm sure you don't want that either.

Most great clients don't believe those inflated claims and wild exaggerations. 

Don't worry about how others are advertising or promoting their business no matter how unfair it might seem. They'll get the clients they deserve.

My advice: focus your marketing on the great clients you want and on promoting your business in an ethical way with realistic claims that set up your clients for success.