The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Public speaking is a great way to get clients. You speak to local clubs or organisations (usually for free, or you get a nice pen) and give their members a 30-minute talk at their regular meeting. You help them with a particular issue they might be facing, you’re positioned as an expert, and they get a strong sense of who you are.
If you make it easy for them to give you their information, you can follow up and build a relationship; e.g., through your ezine.
Some in the audience will want to have you speak at their club or company, and it may not be long before you’re starting to charge a fee.
And, when you have a great talk, you can record it and sell it on CD!
I gained several long-term clients, and my first paid corporate speeches, out of free speaking on the local club circuit.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Many new coaches I work with make a very simple mistake in their early sessions. “How did your Exploratory Session go last week?” I ask. “Great!” they say. “I’m going to call her next week to set up a time for another session.”
Can you see what’s missing here? They are still not this client’s coach. They are just someone to talk to if the client has time next week and still feels interested in coaching next week. You know how you can pick up a self-help book whenever you feel like it and put it down when you feel like it? In the above example the coach is playing the role of the book! That’s not coaching. Or more precisely, it’s not a Coaching Structure.
One thing that separates coaching from many other professions is the client’s commitment to his/her coaching goals and to a particular time frame working with the coach. This way, it doesn’t matter if the client gets busy next week. Their session is scheduled for 3pm Thursday, and that’s that.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
1) Their challenges get more uniform as you go narrower. Therefore, you can become an expert in their specific issues, instead of a generalist in everything.
2) You can research this particular group to learn more about what they need. And, you can test-market your wares to see what they are buying.
3) In your literature, you can appeal specifically to this group instead of to everyone. So your target market will be attracted to you instead of passing you by.
4) Your material (e.g. newsletter), can be targeted and of value to your target market, instead of a little bit useful to everyone (e.g. newsletter articles).
5) You can work out where they ‘hang out’, (e.g. health magazines), and focus your marketing campaigns.
6) When you want to get paid advertising in YOUR newsletter and on your web site, advertisers will actually be interested because you have a targeted, qualified audience for their product.
7) You achieve more credibility than someone who appears to handle everything.
You can create specific products and services that appeal to this group; e.g., Find your Career Direction form.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Clients are generally people:
- Wanting to change something in their life
- Wanting more of something
- Tolerating too much
- Wanting to switch careers
- Wanting to improve their career
- Looking for a bigger goal
- Desiring to achieve something faster
- Who are bored
- Who feel something is missing
- Who realize they can be much more successful with outside input.
They include:
- Executives
- Managers
- CEOs
- Housewives
- Professionals
- Creative people
- Entrepreneurs
- Small Business Owners
Below are some solid statistics from a past ICF client survey. While the data is several years old, the general characteristics are still relevant today, although we might expect a trend towards more lower-income and non-professional clients embracing coaching:
- 65 of the respondents were male (31%), and 145 were female (69%).
- Average age was 45 years, with respondents being within the age range of 24-67 years of age.
- Most were employed as professionals.
- Education gained: 82% had gained degrees, with one third gaining a Masters degree or higher.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Coaching is essentially a conversation between a coach and his or her client, starting with the aim of helping the client to live a fulfilling life. This is most often achieved by helping the client:
(a) Set goals that will add significantly to your client’s life (or as I like to say, and ‘put a BIG smile on your face’).
(b) To achieve those goals.
In this way, coaching can be broken down into two halves and this is a great way to communicate coaching to prospective clients.
You may also help the client live a more fulfilling life by helping them to increase their level of self-awareness. This alone can help someone move forward in any area.
Of course, sometimes the client may want to achieve a specific goal that the coach may not agree with (that achieving that goal will not add significantly to that person’s life). In such a situation, the coach may point this out — either immediately, or over time — and will still be willing to work on achieving the goal.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
What holds back most coaches in the early years is lack of confidence. The best way to bust through this barrier: coach fifty people! It doesn’t matter if it’s just a practice session or if it turns into three months of coaching.
Clients are “gold” for you – no matter what the fee. So don’t let your fee or lack of confidence stand between you and coaching many people.
Every client you have gives you:
- The feeling that you are really a coach, not a fraud
- A practice that looks a little more busy (“Sorry — that time slot is not available.”)
- The potential for referrals
- Free training!
- More and more confidence with every session you do, and lastly
- Possible revenue — either immediately or down the track
