There’s no doubt, coaching is one of the most important professions today. Although a lot of people think that coaching is the process of sharing with a client what you’ve learnt and giving specific advice on how to run their lives, it actually isn’t. Coaching is not therapy like psychology or psychotherapy because it does not work on past issues or trauma. Quality coaching is the process of improving client’s effectiveness and performance and helping them achieve their full potential. Superior coaching is when a coach helps his coachee change the way they face their lives, their challenges and change the way they operate in general so they can achieve any goal they set faster and in an easier way. A quality coach has completed his job when his client has achieved better results than them.
This is why coaching is such an important profession. And, coaching is gaining popularity for people to experience change either personally or professionally. More and more people want growth to come faster or much easier in their lives.
Some of the main reasons people would seek coaching are:
- Attaining goals
- Becoming successful in an area of their lives
- Finding happiness
- Finding their life purpose
- Being able to do what they love
- Deciding on their career
- Making life changing decisions
- Becoming more confident
- Improving their relationships
However, many coaches regardless of how good they are at their jobs, struggle to get a consistent flow of clients, and therefore end up either taking up other jobs or abandoning the profession altogether. Unfortunately, only a handful of coaches get to experience 6 or 7 figure incomes, and below are their secrets:
They make use of technology
It has never become easier to not only deliver coaching thanks to Skype or Facetime, it’s also become even easier to sell coaching services. Thanks to the social media for example, you can get a consistent flow of traffic to your website and therefore leads. Many coaches even advertise on networks such as Facebook by sharing life changing tips and inspiration through posts and videos and then point people to their website where they can find out more about the services they offer. Webinars have also become another very popular tool among coaches to sell their services. They share ground-breaking information on how people can completely transform their lives for the better, backed up with proof and case studies and then offer their services.
They work on their mindset
One of the biggest barriers for coaches that stands between them and having a very successful 6 or 7 figure coaching practice is their own mindset. Their attitude towards wealth, towards selling and towards being paid handsomely for their services.
Thinking that clients will come to you just because you are an extremely talented coach is not enough. Relying on word-of-mouth to get your business off the ground is an approach that can be very slow. Instead, think about the way you feel about selling and marketing. If you cringe at the idea of marketing yourself and asking for the sale, then your main focus should be on completely changing your attitude towards sales and marketing This can start by simply using affirmations such as “I am worthy of more money” and “I attract wealth effortlessly into my life”. Remember, positive self-talk can have a very powerful impact on your sales and marketing performance.
They define their target market
Although coaching can help everybody, regardless of their age, gender and profession, as a coach you still need to be selective of who you help. The more specific you are about who your demographics and psychographics are, the easier it will be to locate online and offline where these people hang out and the easier it will be to reach out to them.
Being clear about your target audience will also help you shape your marketing and sales messages as you wouldn’t talk the same way to a university graduate as you would to a single parent. Their concerns, their hopes, their fears would be most probably very different.
For example, if you plan to focus on coaching university graduates, one of your marketing headline could be: “Attention university graduates, discover how to fast track your way to a successful, fulfilling career”. On the other hand if you plan to focus on coaching single parents, one of your marketing headline could be “Attention single parents: how to raise happy, confident children”. As you can see, these two different demographics face different challenges and therefore your marketing message should always be aligned with your target audience.
They network
To grow a successful business, it is critical you make yourself known. Join clubs or organizations where your ideal clients would likely be members. For example if your target market is small business owners, you might find it useful to join local or regional small business networking groups or attend special events for small business owners.
If your target market are parents, join school or community groups where these people congregate. You can then host a weekly or monthly luncheon for the people you meet to build relationships with them. During these events, make sure you focus on giving value through delivering inspiring talks, offering catering and even inviting guest speakers. To build the relationship even further, maintain contact regularly with these people by either sending them cards by post, emails or text messages on special occasions.
They build and nurture a mailing list
If you are in the coaching business or in any other business for that matter, you are in the list building business. Successful coaching businesses have thousands of people in their database they keep in contact with. Having a mailing list and providing value to your list through sharing insight and tips in videos, newsletters or even blog posts will allow you to build a great reputation. And the more value you provide, the more people will spread the word about you and very soon, your word-of-mouth marketing will be put on steroids.
For example, if you have a database of 10,000 people, it means that you can communicate directly with 10,000 people, anytime you want, from anywhere in the world, at zero cost.
ABOUT PAT MESITI
Pat Mesiti is a best-selling author, coach and educator in the area of personal development. Having built some of Australia’s largest people-driven organisations, Pat understands the power of harnessing human potential. He has shared the stage with some of the world’s great business minds and has sold over millions of copies of his books and materials.