The following is taken from David’s interview with Judy Feld in 10 Super Coaches.
What was perhaps the biggest mistake you made in practice building?
Not exactly practice building mistakes, but here are some “don’ts” based on experience:
When closing a deal, don’t put yourself in a position of ‘negotiating with yourself’. Don’t do work on speculation. Don’t create long responses to complex RFPs. Don’t spend a lot of time “auditioning”. Coaches are different from consultants, and coaches get paid in advance. For career coaching: Don’t let a client assure that the first “exit package” offer received from their company is the best offer they can expect. You can always do better, and a coach can help you see how.
Would you advise coaches to pursue certification?
I did as soon as I could, through I haven’t surveyed my clients to see if my certification influenced their hiring me. I think with the number of people who are calling themselves coaches with questionable experience and training that the public will eventually look for certified coaches.
I recommend certifying as soon as you can and I think the ICF has the most credible independent coach certification credential.
Are there any particular schools you would recommend?
The Coaches Training Institute is where I did my primary training, from my connections to other coaches over the years, I would also recommend (in alphabetical order) Academy for Coach Training, Coach For Life, The Newfield Network, and Success Unlimited Network.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Leza Danly in 10 Super Coaches.
What top three methods, in order, did you use to get your clients in the first 2 years?
My top three methods were:
- Magic
- Referrals
- Public Speaking
I am not joking when I saw magic was my primary enrollment method. In fact, it was really important to me that I create my practice magically, meaning that I visualized it, I programmed for it, I spent time regularly in meditation imagining my full practice and seeing myself happily coaching a full practice. I made a schedule of where my client appointments were going to be and I absolutely allowed myself to desire it, imagine and expect it to happen.
Then I would delight as the phone rang and people called and I would set up sample sessions. I got so excited about the opportunities for growth for the people who called. I think I held an authentic space of possibility in such a way that they could more clearly see who they were becoming. Then I imagined people saying yes to coaching, and they did.
Again, I want to be clear I am not talking about a child’s magic that is about wishful thinking and looking the other way. I’m talking about the true, adult magic of consciously creating reality.
Once I started getting clients, then they referred other people. Also, even though I don’t recommend coaching friends and family, I did give them sample sessions so they would know more first-hand what I was doing and they were more likely to refer people.
Later, I began training coaches and speaking at conferences, which is another way for people to see you and get the power of your presence. But I didn’t do any public speaking in the first wave of practice-building.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ginger Cockerham in 10 Super Coaches.
What words of advice would you give to a coach starting out?
Coach as soon as possible so that you experience the coaching process really works for others. The shift that comes from hearing someone introduce you with “This is my coach” changes everything. Knowing that by showing up and being a partner with your clients and personally staying out of the way so they can fly is wonderful.
Invest in the best training for you. Investigate and trust that you will find the right training. Learn to be a business person as well as a coach. Develop a network of advocates so that you don’t have to create your business alone.
For me the key has been the expanding and deepening of my relationships with clients and colleagues that have become any advocates in my networking circles. They refer me, support and inspire me. My connections with other people have resulted in meaningful relationships and an abundance of opportunities in my business. It is so much fun to create business within a vibrant network of terrific people.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Ernest F. Oriente in 10 Super Coaches.
What was perhaps the biggest mistake you made in practice building?
The greatest mistake was I thought about subscribers one at a time, I set a daily goal of twenty and I only worked four days a week, so it’s twenty times four which was eighty or three hundred and twenty a month. That was very, very slow, so the greatest mistake we made was building our subscribers very slowly.
Looking back I would have done it with writing articles in trade publications, I would have built alliances, I would have done some of the things that we know today accelerate our velocity and the exposure almost immediately.
The following is taken from David’s interview with Leza Danly in 10 Super Coaches.
What method did you find most effective in getting your initial clients?
First, do your personal inner work. Know what you want to create (the kind of coaching practice, the size, etc.) and more importantly WHY you want to create it. Invest the time to explore your motivation deeply. Because if your motivation is to prove you are good enough, or to run away from failure, or to get people to love and approve of you, or to exploit people, or any of many negative motivations, it won’t work. Often these motivations are deeply buried and we don’t realize they are at play. When you find the joy of service and align yourself with a motivation to contribute, things will turn around.
Once you feel confident that your motivation is clean, you need to confront your willingness to give yourself this dream career. This may sound like a no-brainer, but for most people it’s the biggest challenge. They limp along at a handful of clients, because they honestly feel deep down that to be paid really well for inspiring conversations and having lots of free time is too good to be true. They aren’t willing to receive it.
Second, once you’ve done the introspection, give lots and lots of sample sessions. You never enroll clients from talking about coaching, only from boldly giving yourself to the client in a sample session. Let yourself love. Let yourself care. They will either want it or they won’t. Don’t obsess on the ones who don’t. Just keep giving.
