The following is an excerpt from the book Get Paid For Who You Are.
Your business name should meet as many of the following criteria as possible, bearing in mind that it’s rarely possible to satisfy all of them:
- You are excited to tell people about it
- It gives a sense of who you help and/or what problem you help them with
- It’s simple, short and memorable
- It contains at least one word that your potential customers would be searching for on the internet (known as keywords). For example, if you sell baskets, then having baskets in the name is important.
- The domain name is available. This means no-one has already taken this name for their website. You can check this at www.Godaddy.com.
For example, let’s say Paul chooses the name “My Second Life” for his divorce-consulting business. This name meets the first few criteria: he loves it, it’s easy to remember, it describes his service of offering a new life to women going through divorce, and it’s simple, short and easy to remember. It misses out on one criteria as it doesn’t include words people are likely to be searching for such as “survive divorce”. But that’s fine — it’s hard to satisfy all the criteria.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Rob Cornish in 10 Super Coaches.
What top three methods, in order, did you use to get your clients in the first 2 years?
- Existing network- The customers I had in my racing shop, and my long time reputation in auto racing. My reputation and recognition was most significant in getting clients at that time.
- Placing ads- In local and national racing enthusiast newspapers and magazines.
- Referrals- indirect referrals, people seeing the results of the people I was coaching.
Tap into the network of people you know, offer them sample sessions of your coaching if for no other reason than having them understand what coaching is about so they can refer people they know to you.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Creating Your Speech
You need to decide who you will speak to. Who do you want to help? Women? Teens? Corporations? People in Rehabilitation? Spiritual people? When you know who you will speak to/help, you can start to try and find them.
Ideally, choose people who would pay for your services — who have money. Pick a topic which solves a problem people have. If you speak on ‘enlightenment for underprivileged children’ you’ll likely command a lower fee than if you speak on ‘how to make your customers choose your company over others’. Of course — if money isn’t important to you, this won’t matter.
Speak on something that’s VERY important to you and which you feel makes a difference to the world. If you don’t come from the heart and say what you really feel/mean, you won’t get the gigs, you’ll be unhappy, or both.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
When asked to speak at a corporation, there’s no harm in trying for a fee.
Rule of thumb: whoever mentions money first loses. When asked how much one charges, ask what the budget is. This gives you an opportunity to see what they are charging and if you are willing to speak for that. When calling a service group or organization one can always ask what the budget is for speakers. Many have honorariums that they provide to speakers.
If they are not forthcoming, and you have to mention an amount, something like $150 or $200 is reasonable to start with, moving up to $500 when you’re well known and have a killer speech. And it’s up to $10,000 when you really get up there, and are doing keynotes at national conferences.
But initially, if you just want the gigs for clients, experience, a testimonial, and a chance at some paid work, then still ask for a fee — but negotiate down as far as zero if you have to. “Well, because I’m going to get A, B, C out of it — I’d be willing to do a freebie.”
Sometimes you can ramp the fee up a little by offering a coaching session or package to senior staff.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
The actual speech is important. However, they will rarely hire you for your services on the spot!
Therefore, it’s important to give them something they can take away, that has your contact information on it. Give them something of value that they might want to keep. It can be a simple ‘Top Ten’ list, or even a Fridge Magnet.
Also — I highly recommend you find a way to get THEIR information. I like to use a feedback sheet that allows them to make suggestions to my speech. On the same form, I ask what they might be interested in (free coaching session, free newsletter, more information, products, speaking at their company), I ask for a testimonial (optional), and their contact information (optional). At the end of the talk, you’ll have a few handy leads to follow up.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
We asked the question: “What do you do?” and “If you did specialize in a target group, what might that be?” Here we look at the issue in much more depth.
It’s important to get clear on what it is you’re out to make happen for people. You’ll start with the intellectual stuff: “er… I help people set and achieve goals, which inspire…”. Balderdash! You want to get right down to it, in clear English that everyone can understand.
Here are some examples:
“I help people do whatever it is they need to do so they have zero regrets at the age of 80.”
“I ask people ‘What do you want?’ and ‘What are you doing about it?’”
“I help people get off the fence, and start living their life.”
“I help people get clear on what’s really important to them, and then keep them in action!”
“I insist people live the life they were born for.”
“I have my clients stop waiting.”
“I work with women who are not ecstatic in their relationship, to help them get exactly what they want and deserve from the relationship.”
Does that help? You want to get clear on WHY you are a coach and what you want for people.
