The following is taken from David’s interview with Mike Turner in 10 Super Coaches.
What method did you find most effective in getting your initial clients?
Getting work through my existing network.
Initially, I took every opportunity to try and sell my coaching services whenever the opportunity presented itself. After I had been doing this for a couple of years, I reviewed where the work I was doing had come from. What I found, to my surprise, was that none of it had come directly from the people to whom I had been trying to sell it – instead it had all come from unexpected directions.
But what I also realized was that it was important that I was putting myself about rather than just sitting around at home waiting for work to show up. The principle here seems to be that, if I put out my energy for coaching into the world (by talking about what I do, by writing about it, and by taking any opportunity to demonstrate coaching), this energy comes back in the form of work – but by a circuitous and indirect route.
And when I realized this, I stopped trying so hard to sell coaching to the people I met and instead focused more on promoting coaching – which in turn makes the energy flow more easily.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Anna Dargitz in 10 Super Coaches.
What top three methods, in order, did you use to get your clients in the first 2 years?
Your question implies that I had lots of clients my first 2 years. I did not. I had about 5-6 per month generally, though they stayed with me for years.
My top method, at first, was asking friends and family because I didn’t have a ready-made network and position at my disposal. It wasn’t pretty. I felt needy and desperate with an overlay of optimism. And of course, it was all quite unconscious. What I was aware of was that I was a new coach in a new coaching industry. I had to do a lot of educating.
My second method was to attend networking events, especially Chamber of Commerce. This too felt dry. I was a fish out of water. I did my best to live up to some measure of success defined as “number of paying clients” and felt miserable about my lack of success.
My third method was asking for referrals, handing out brochures and business cards, public speaking and building a website on a shoe string budget, all with little success. Everything I read, everything I was told indicated that this was how it was done. I thought, “there must be something wrong with me”.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
So coach a LOT. It’s OK if you’re nervous, or even terrified of doing your initial sessions – coach anyway. And don’t worry, we’ll cover many tips in later chapters to help increase your confidence and make the whole process much easier for you.
In the extreme, if you had 20 pro-bono (i.e. non paying) clients, you would attract many more clients and feel very comfortable charging them your full fee. You would also be getting a lot of training and experience under your belt. However, it doesn’t have to be for free…
Once you have 10-20 clients, with the assistance of your mentor coach, your practice will naturally grow in number of clients, client retention (how long they stay), and income. Once you have say ten clients, you might begin to look at longer-term, sustainable marketing methods.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Mike Turner in 10 Super Coaches.
In order, what where the top three sources of your clients in the first 2 years?
From people who had been clients in the time before I was a self-employed coach. The work arose from on-going conversations with them about what I was doing and what the challenges facing them were. This was the main source.
From my website – this only brought a few clients but one at least has now been with me for 6 years off and on.
From a magazine article which mentioned me.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Marcia Reynolds in 10 Super Coaches.
What method did you find most effective in getting your initial clients, and what advice would you give to coaches trying this method?
Go be visible, whatever this takes. Tell people what you are doing. Network wherever you can. Speak, write, and give seminars. The more people that know you and like you, the more the referrals will come in.
Also, get your own coach immediately, even if funds are low. Your coach will get you up and running quicker than if you try to do it by yourself. And your coach will help you clean up your own life so that you are more attractive to others.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Michael O. Cooper in 10 Super Coaches.
What method did you find most effective in getting your initial clients?
I asked friends and colleagues at my employer to try it out. I didn’t have a structure to master the complimentary session then, so it often turned out that the client was uncoachable or just doing me a favor. I did attract a few clients this way, but with a structure, I would have spent less time working too hard for little return.
Did you coach your friends and colleagues? If so, what invitation did you use that worked best and felt good for you?
I have coached friends and I’ve had incredible experiences – both good and bad. My recommendation is to refer your friends to other coaches you trust. Even though I had a few positive experiences, the relationship changed in a way that I was not prepared to accept at times. I also did not establish sufficient boundaries when working with a few friend clients – they would call me at all hours for coaching – one even asked me to coach him through a situation at a party while he was intoxicated.
