Do you know what the biggest cause of failure in the coaching business is?
I’ll give you a hint: It’s not a lack of systems, delivery, or a big budget.
The answer might surprise you.
Being in the coaching industry for over 20 years, I’ve seen even the most well-intentioned coaches get sucked into the vortex of this one thing. They become exposed to hundreds of different sales messages for the “must-have” or “must-do” thing-of-the-day.
As a result they’re left feeling overwhelmed and stressed out because they don’t know where to start.
Before long, they are consumed with learning (and using) one new technology after the other and spinning their tires because it’s not getting them the ONE result they want — CLIENTS.
They waste hours dabbling in different approaches instead of focusing their energy on a few concrete activities.
Thankfully, there’s a solution. And it’s simpler than you might think.
In order to get coaching clients on a consistent basis you need the proper marketing.
The Truth About Getting Coaching Clients.
Something I see too often is that coaches believe they need large financial investment and the latest technology to succeed.
It’s simply not true.
You don’t need a huge budget, fancy technology, or complex processes and systems in place to draw in clients.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on paid ads.
You don’t have to build a team, grow, scale, automate or optimize the living your services, products, or marketing especially when you’re just starting out.
It’s much simpler than that.
There are plenty of actions you could start taking right now to attract clients and become more successful with your marketing. Here, I have narrowed it down to nine for you.
First, It’s Important To Understand The Client-Getting Model.
The Client-Getting Model illustrates the 3 key steps to a successful coaching business.
Step 1: Demonstrate
Step 1 is all about enticing the prospect. You give them a taste of the outcome that they want in order to show them they can get it from you.
To kick things off and show them you can help them, create a Conversation Starter.
Your Conversation Starter is a compilation of valuable information you have. This can come in the form of a white paper, report, guide, book, audio, video, or checklist. This is your chance to educate the prospect, show your work is aligned with their values, and prove that you hold the solutions to their wants.
In your Conversation Starter, be sure to include authority content, social proof, and clear next steps. Share it for free to interested prospects and to people in your partner and referral channels.
The goal is to entice the right people and gently nudge them into the next step.
Step 2: Discover
The Discovery phase is all about uncovering who the interested prospect is, if they are someone you can help, and if so, how exactly you can help them. This works as a filter, repelling those who are not a good fit and attracting those who are.
Step 3: Deliver
You’ve broken the ice with an irresistible freebie granted through your Conversation Starter in Step 1. In Step 2, you’ve narrowed down your prospects to those you’re compatible to work with. At this point, the prospect becomes your client. Now it’s time to deliver what you promised them you would.
Today, we’re going to focus on Step 1: Demonstrate.
When you demonstrate your craft and provide results in advance, it shows your prospective coaching clients that you know what you’re talking about.
It shows them you can help them and gives them a taste of your style of coaching.
Next up, I will show you the 9 unique ways you can Demonstrate so you can lead prospects to a discovery session and then enroll them into your coaching if they are a good fit.
9 Unique Ways To Get Clients (Even With A Small Budget)
1. Get Referrals
A great way to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise is by publishing on blogs that your audience already reads and trusts. This will allow you to tap into an already established audience, boost your authority, and increase SEO value.
2. Be Interviewed
Gain more exposure and authority by participating in interviews. Whether that’s Facebook Live, podcasts, or the news, producers are always looking for experts and interesting people to feature. With the right media, you can reach very large audiences and build your reputation as an expert in your industry. An interview doesn’t cost you anything more than a small portion of your time, and the host usually shares your contact information — this is the moment to introduce your Conversation Starter.
3. Interview Experts
Featuring experts on your site increases your credibility and boosts your brand by association.
Choose your platform and reach out to specialists personally, offering to feature them in an upcoming podcast, video, or blog post. It’s a win-win. They gain access to a new audience, and you get to diversify your content and build a relationship with another expert.
4. Personal Outreach
Make the prospect feel like your message was handcrafted just for them.
Simply, reach out to key prospects and influencers personally. You can do this through social media, email, or by phone. You don’t have to sit down and manually pump out each one (this could be an email broadcast), but it should lead to a 1:1 interaction.
Based on the prospect’s place in the buyer journey, offer your Conversation Starter or invite them to a Discovery Day or Session.
5. Get Referrals
You don’t need thousands of clients under your belt or an official referral program to take advantage of word-of-mouth advertising. Referrals are usually an introduction to a potential client by an existing client, partner, or colleague.
These people have worked with you. They know, like, and trust you. When they come across someone looking for your services, you’re top of mind. They’re happy to recommend you and make an introduction.
You inherit the trust and endorsement of the referrer. You build social proof around your business. Done right, referral enrollment success is 5x higher (or more) than any other client-generating technique.
6. Attend Events
Events give you the opportunity to engage prospects and expand your professional network.
Research events frequented by your ideal clients and attend them regularly. Meet as many people as possible, especially the speakers and event promoters. Most people wait until after the event to connect with speakers.
Do your research, arrive a few minutes early, and connect with the speakers before the event starts to avoid a swarm of people afterward.
7. Be A Speaker
Live speaking presentations are one of the most powerful and effective ways to identify coaching prospects and establish authority.
Endorsed by the promoter, you are instantly perceived as an expert. The promoter provides the audience. It’s an interested audience (especially if they paid to be there). They want to learn what you know. This is your opportunity to share it with them.
Choose the right stages and this alone could build a six- or seven-figure coaching business.
8. Author A Book
For millennia, books have been the definitive source of information and expertise, and their authors perceived as foremost authorities.
Become the “Go To” coach by authoring a book. You don’t need a publisher — traditional publishing is increasingly being replaced by self-publishing platforms.
If your book is a bestseller, that’s great, but it’s not necessary to achieve your outcome. A book provided as a Conversation Starter during the Demonstration phase of obtaining clients promotes credibility and automatically establishes value and social proof.
9. Host Events
Hosting a training event or seminar is a great way to give a lot of value and an extended experience of you. It’s a social element that builds trust and friendship.
Events offer attendees opportunities to participate in a Discovery Session, or even to enroll on the spot. The event itself can be a Conversation Starter and a Demonstration device. It can be used to sell coaching, enlist partners, such as Joint Venture Partners, and expand your professional network.
Here, I’ve shared 9 simple yet effective ways to get clients.
To discover how to implement some of these different approaches, sign up for my free training called, “How To Become A Virtual Coach,” and learn how to captivate clients by making marketing a natural, integrated part of your strategy.
Click Here To Reserve Your Spot
Why You Should Watch The Training:
- If you enjoy helping others, and you’ve always dreamed about doing work that makes a real difference in people’s lives – and you also want to do something where you can get paid extremely well for your time – then this is for you.
- In most jobs you need to work 40-60 hours per to week to earn $47,900 per year, however you’ll see how you can make the exact same amount doing less than 1-hour of coaching per day.
- The 3 reasons why becoming a Virtual Coach may be the fastest and simplest way to create your “Dream Job” or your “Dream Business.
- How to create your perfect “Dream Business” where you wake up and are excited to dive in each day while making a real difference in people’s lives every day.
- How to find the people who are willing to invest in your high-level coaching to get to the next level in their life and their business.
- As a coach you can charge 10X compared to the average salary of a person in the United States.
- As a Virtual Coach, you’re the boss. You set your own hours and you decide who you will and won’t take on as a client. You can travel whenever you want and work from anywhere in the world – as long as you have an internet connection.
- How as long as you have a computer and an internet connection, you can start a Virtual Coaching business with virtually zero in start up costs – and you can get started quickly.
- The #1 strategy I’ve used to sell over 100 million dollars in products and services online to more than 1 million paying clients and customers that you can use too. It’s so simple yet extremely effective in helping you attract in qualified clients…we call it the Client Magnets.
