So why are coaches working so hard to convince people to buy their coaching?

I floundered around with this fruitless approach myself in my first three years of my business. Then I realized, that selling coaching is a very sales-like approach and I didn’t want to do it anymore. It takes a lot of energy for little return and doesn’t build much momentum or ease over time.

Each new prospect has to be convinced. It’s like starting over with every sample session. And too many say they can’t afford it because they perceive coaching as a luxury.

It’s not very coach-like is it?

Think about it. We’re taught to work with clients holistically, focusing in on their agenda  — what is it that they want today. And then we use our skills, listening and asking powerful questions, to draw out their wisdom, help get perspective and work through obstacles so they walk away with the outcome they came for.

Coaching is client-centric. But selling coaching is not.

So, what would be a more client-centric approach to attracting clients? There’s a tried and true way. Every successful change agent, entrepreneur and professional has done this. They target a specific group of people, find out exactly what they want — that tangible outcome they woke up wanting this morning — and show how they can help them get there.

Here’s how it works:

Focus Smartly

Focus your time and energy on a group of people — one viable niche market — that is:

• easy to find
• full of people who actively seek support to get where they want to go
• narrow enough that you’ll stand out in the crowd of service providers

Listen and Learn

Conduct a little casual market research to discover exactly what would motivate them to seek out professional services by asking:

• What outcome are you hungry to achieve right now?
• What would it do for you if you could make that happen?
• What’s in your way?
• What is it costing you to be where you are now?

Speak to their Heart

Make sure all your blogs, ezines and all of your messages speak to those people “where they live” about the specific challenges and outcomes they care most about (instead of about coaching). That’s how you’ll attract their attention and gain their trust.

Close the Gap

Offer well titled coaching programs, products and events that are clearly designed to help them achieve those specific desired outcomes. When you show them how you can help them close the gap between where they are now and where they want to be, they are naturally motivated to invest in their future with your professional support.

And don’t worry… you have all the skills you need already to help a targeted niche market reach those tangible outcomes and their full potential. You don’t need any expertise. Trust me, there are plenty of people out there who are eager to invest in professional services to achieve a specific purpose.

What about you? Have you ever come across a workshop or event that seems like it’s been designed for where you are right now? At those times, investing in your future is a no brainer. And you’ll tell others who are in the same place you are about it too.

That’s how you’ll attract clients in a client-centric way. It’s easier, more fun, less salesy and you’ll market much less.

There’s a new wave of coaches who have shifted their approach this way and are thriving.

It’s a mindset shift way. I want to invite you to my free webinar about this coming up next Tuesday called: 5 Secrets to a Highly Profitable Niche You’ll Love

Get your seat in my webinar now.  There’s only room for 100.

You’re not a salesperson. You’re a coach. So it’s time to start attracting clients who want your support without having to convince them to buy your coaching.

What do you think about this? I’d love to hear your comments so drop them in below. And I will respond to you.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: How to Attract Clients in a More Coach-Like Way

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Who’s Buying Coaching These Days?
• How to Get More Value from Every Business Building Program You’ve Taken
• 10 Common Challenges Life Coaches Face and How to Solve Them
• What a Target Market Can Do For You That a Coaching Niche Can’t
• How to Own Your Coaching Market

Many coaches haven’t noticed a blip in the number of people wanting their services. In fact, their income has increased over the last few years and it’s still rising. Their clients are staying longer. What are they doing differently?

Well, I’ll tell you, this may be shocking, but they are NOT selling coaching. And yet they are continuously doing some fine coaching with a wait list of clients.

Here’s what we know about any economic downturn, and there have been several over the last two decades where coaches rode the wave back up ahead of the curve…

People still buy things they want, but they have changed their buying strategy.

They feel they must justify their expenses and they get very serious about what’s really important to them. They dedicate their resources to those things right now.

This is true of all of us. We’ll buy less doodads and think twice about lots of things, but we’ll do things like go back to school or take some kind of training or enroll in a mastermind. We more earnestly look for ways to close the gap between where we are now and where we truly want to be.

People are looking to upgrade their lives, not with luxuries, but with meaning. And this is true of your future clients too.

It’s actually rare that anyone ever seeks out coaching for two reasons:

1. Coaching is a tool, not an outcome. And yet it’s the best tool in your toolbox for helping people reach an outcome!
2. Coaching, in and of itself, is often perceived as a luxury. It’s our job to change that perspective!

So I’m on a bit of a soapbox for coaches and I had a webinar about this last week because I keep seeing coaches struggling to sell their coaching. Instead of selling coaching, offer your target audience something they KNOW they really want and use coaching as your best tool to help them get there.

See the distinction?

4 Things that Must Be In Place for You to Get Coaching Clients Consistently

For people to invest in the services you’re selling these four things must be satisfied:

1. They have a specific outcome they urgently know they want right now.

This is critical, so let’s break this down. I’m talking about:

⇒ A SPECIFIC outcome, not a vague one like happiness or fulfillment.
⇒ Your target audience already KNOWS they want it.
⇒ And they want it RIGHT NOW.

So it stands to reason… you need to know exactly who you’re serving and have inside knowledge about what they most urgently want so much so that they’ll invest well to get it.

1. They discover that YOU offer a specific solution or approach designed to get them exactly where they know they want to go.

This means you want to get your compelling message directly and repetitively in front of your target audience by clearly articulating the gap you help them leap over. (Talking about how great coaching is won’t strike a deep enough chord.)

1. They believe that YOU have a simple system or easy path that will work for them.

This begins with your own belief in the transformation you provide and your ability to deliver that. There’s no doubt in my mind, you’re good for it!

1. They feel that they cannot afford NOT to invest right now (to solve that problem or reach that outcome).

Help them see the consequences of living without that specific outcome and the rippling benefits of reaching that specific goal now. This is how you help them justify the expense of working with you so that they say, “YES!”

It’s easier to do this than you might think. But I know from experience that most coaches need help to shift their mindset and approach away from selling coaching to an approach that’s consistently profitable. I did. But once I made this shift… look out! I became unstoppable and you can too. This is what I teach coaches.

If you’ve been selling your coaching, it’s time to learn a much better approach. Let me help you identify with 100% confidence:

1. The ideal target market you serve.
2. What they really want and don’t want.
3. How they talk about what they want.

Then, I’ll show you the easy way to craft your message and offers so they’re irresistible.

Here’s  your chance to gain back your time and investment in your coaching business so far by becoming a top-of-mind resource for your ideal coaching market. Champion Your Ideal Coaching Market

There is big transformative energy going on right now in the Universe. I know you can feel it. People and groups all around us are becoming even more innovative and full of passion to transform the world, their lives and situations.

This is the perfect time for you to break through blocks and ride that wave up with a minimum of resistance and effort. Help others to ride that wave too.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: Who’s Buying Coaching These Days?

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Did You Skip This Crucial Step in Your Coaching Business?
• Are You Marketing Your Coaching To Seekers?
• Where The Coaching Clients Are
• How to Be Truly Content with Your Coaching Business
• How to Own Your Coaching Market

When it first happens it feels like you’re stepping onto a fast luxury train. It’s very exciting and smooth. Some sort of critical mass is reached where suddenly you’re the bomb and everyone knows it:

• The right opportunities roll in (instead of the kind that waste your time).
• Someone gives you a book advance or you’re asked to keynote for 5 figures.
• People come out of the woodwork to promote you to their big lists.
• You hear all the time “You’re the best there is.”
• Your list suddenly grows exponentially.
• Your time is in such high demand you must double or triple your fees.
• And you realize you have to hire money managers because it’s flowing in.

Your star has risen! And now you’ve got the high-class problem of having to turn down opportunities and clients. But then you expand your team (into a lovely little family) so it’s possible to scale up without having to work harder.

I know not everyone wants a business like that, but don’t you want some measure of “having arrived”? At the very least you want to become THE top of mind go to person for your niche so it makes your life easier, more enjoyable and prosperous.

But what do you really need to have going for you to become well known?

You may be surprised…

• First, you need to believe in yourself. Truly, it’s a requisite of consistent long-term success.
• Next, you need to stand for something and stand out in the crowd. That means there has to be something unique and magnetic about you, your message… OR something unique about who you serve and what you do for them that they really want – your niche.

That’s what it means to be special-ized! (Sorry, being a generalist coach with a big niche or several won’t ever get you there unless you’ve got a rolodex of people who can’t wait to hire you.)

What you say…? Where’s the exhaustive list of other stuff you need, Rhonda? Seriously. That’s all you need.

Now for my fellow introverts out there, please know you don’t have to be a rock star to get the rock star perks – such as more and better clients who pay well, stay longer and do your marketing for you (and other goodies). Any coach can have that. I’m living proof.

I’d like to show you the easiest way to GET WELL KNOWN and become a coach in high demand for your little or big “empire” (with a consciousness and grace of course).

Learn how you can Champion Your Ideal Coaching Market!

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: Why it Pays to Be Well Known (and what might be keeping you from it)

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Revenue Streams – Create Marketing that Pays You

We all happily stumble into exciting opportunities that become significant turning points in our coaching business. There’s a lot of grace in moving with the current… but it’s helpful to at least pick the river that will take you to where you ultimately want to go.

Making conscious choices, planning your work and working your plan, and setting intentions for the big milestones in your life are part of a prosperity practice. Deviating from the plan here and there is cool (but spazzing out all over the place is not so cool).

In my last post, my friend Erika Kalmar (who’s doing that awesome Giveaway for Coaches), talked about the importance of business planning. Unsexy as that may seem, what I know for sure is that she’s absolutely right. Business planning helps you take AIM and take your business seriously.

But it’s not the first step…

The 1^st Crucial Step is: Decide specifically who you serve and what transformation you provide (that they urgently want). Stand for something and someone. That’s how you stand out.

Without that clarity, your business plan will be sketchy at best, your website will be bland and your offers won’t compel people to invest.

Are you leading your coaching business to long-term sustainable success? Or are you just taking stabs and hoping for the best?

Two things are at the core of your long lasting success:

1. Your niche —the specific transformation you provide, and

2. Your niche market — the specific group of people you serve who urgently want the transformation you provide.

If you’ve chosen a niche but you’re working too hard to get each client, there’s a set of simple shifts you can make today that will make you a coach in high demand.

Or if you’ve decided to put off the niche decision because it’s too hard to choose, bless you. You don’t have to do this alone. I have a system that makes your choice simple and fun.

Come read all about it….

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: Did You Skip This Crucial Step in Your Coaching Business?

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Who’s Buying Coaching These Days?
• How to Get More Value from Every Business Building Program You’ve Taken
• How to Be Truly Content with Your Coaching Business
• How to Own Your Coaching Market
• When Marketing Your Coaching Business Becomes Fun!

Then there’s the real world of business. Coaches make money by selling a service. Like every other business, we have to get in front of people who don’t already know us, and show them that we offer something they are willing to pay for.

Nearly all of us start out thinking we know how to do that, and nearly all of us get humbled when it turns out not to be so easy. It turns out, the money part doesn’t take care of itself.

I’m all about passion, believe me. I completely endorse you following your purpose. But following your purpose is not the whole story – because it’s all about you. It leaves out your tribe.

So, what if you were to look at the whole topic of your niche from the point of view of the people you serve? From that angle, the question is –

What coaching niche would bring you a steady stream of ideal clients?

What coaching niche would connect so powerfully with what your tribe really wants that they would line up to work with you? Either your niche has that potential or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, you have to ask yourself how you are going to take care of the money part.

Test Your Niche

How do you know if your niche has that potential? Try this quick test. Rate your niche on a scale of 1-10 (10 being best) for the following four questions:

1. How easy is it for you to find and talk to 50 people in your niche market right now?

Can you say, right now, exactly where and how you can get in front of 50 people in your market? They need to be people who will talk to you. There are some niche markets that are easy to find, but the people in that market won’t talk to you unless you are one of them.

2. How hungry are they for what you offer?

What is the outcome that they most want? What is it that they are really trying to achieve? What they are so hungry for that they are willing to pay for it? Does what you offer speak to that?

3. Would YOU invest in your own services to achieve the results you offer?

Before you were a coach, if you were a person in your niche, would you have invested, at the level you want to charge, in what you are offering?

4. How top-of-mind is your service for the results you offer?

Would someone who is aware of you as a service provider think of you first when their mind is on that most-wanted outcome? Could you establish yourself as the go-to person for the results you offer?

You need at least an 8 on each question to be truly confident that your niche will pay off now and later.

Now Move Forward

However your niche did on the self test, don’t worry about it. It’s all good.

• If you’ve been pursuing a niche that scores low on the test, take heart. It may feel tough right now, but it’s ok, because you’ve “dodged a bullet”. Now you can avoid putting more investment into an unprofitable niche. Remember, everyone in business gets humbled by doing things that don’t work. The winners are the ones who stay in the game, learn from their mistakes, and try something different.
• If the test confirms that you’ve chosen a highly profitable niche, celebrate. And move forward with confidence.
• If you’re just getting started in coaching, now you can start with a wider perspective on what niching is all about. Looking at your niche from the point of view of the people you serve will give you a big advantage.

Wherever you are on this, there’s an action you can take now to move toward the coaching business you dreamed of. Choosing a specific, narrow niche that has high profit potential is just the first step. Once you have that in place, you also need to:

• find out with certainty what the people in your niche want so much that they will pay a high price for it.
• connect with them and share your message and offers in a way that motivates them to invest.

You can get direct, live support to nail down your market, message and offers in my Ideal Coaching Market workshop. Check it out.

I’d love to know how you did on the niche self-test. What questions came up for you around that? Leave a comment below. And keep moving forward.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: Test Your Coaching Niche – Will It Go the Distance?

RELATED ARTICLES:

• 6 Signs That It’s Time to Narrow Your Coaching Niche
• What Keeps Coaches From Narrowing Their Niche Enough?
• How to Be Influential in Your Coaching Niche
• Coaching Niche or Target Market: Clarifying the Difference
• What a Target Market Can Do For You That a Coaching Niche Can’t

Today, you’re speaking at a brown bag association meeting about team leadership. Yesterday you gave a talk at your church about relationships. Next week you’ve got a gig at Borders where you’re giving a career choice seminar. You’re versatile, but are you building a sustainable future?

It feels good to be recognized, so you say ‘yes’ to speaking and training opportunities even if there’s no continuity to the topic or niche market. But what are you recognized for? And is it something you can leverage to become financially successful in your coaching business?

Or maybe you’ve committed to one topical coaching niche (like leadership, career, relationships) but you’re offering that topic to everyone, with no unique market or message. The same question applies. What are you known for? Is it something you can leverage for financial success?

If you’re morphing your message to fit any opportunity or potential client you could possibly attract, you’re just making more work for yourself. Leverage comes when the market you’re serving and your message are congruent and consistent. Then you can leverage everything you do, because it’s all aimed at the same target.

If you’re tired of working really hard for every client and never building momentum, the fix is simple. Here’s how to coach more, earn more and market less:

1. Pick a distinctive tribe to serve.

Make sure the tribe you choose is easy to find and full of seekers – people who invest in their own personal and professional growth. Your niche market will go the distance for you  if you know exactly how to get in front of them. Ideally, it’s a group you have some knowledge about. But that’s not critical because you can learn what makes your market tick.

2. Become their champion.

Make it your business every day to find out what they really care about. Research them personally in 1:1 conversations. Get into their heads, step into their shoes, read their publications… understand them.

- Where is their pain?
- What are the most urgent known problems they have?
- What are the top goals that have been elusive to them?

Find out what they need first, before you craft your message and your coaching programs. Resist the temptation to generalize their problems to what anyone may be challenged by. When it comes to connecting with people where they live, speaking to the specific pain they experience and outcomes they want wins every time over broad and general.

3. Stop selling coaching.

Coaching is your toolbox, it’s not what people seek. When you learn to think like your niche market does, you’ll know what to sell. And you’ll be surprised at first, because what you sell has more to do with them than with you.

Show them that you’re all about helping them move past their pain and achieve the results they most want – and will pay for! When they see that, they’ll hire you. You help them bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be. See how that’s about them, not about you?

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be an expert in your tribe’s occupation. Remember… coaching is co-creative. It’s about reflecting back the client’s wisdom, not about telling them what to do. People WILL bring agendas you like to coach about, no matter who they are. In time, you’ll become an expert in how to serve your tribe.

4. Focus on one powerful direction for your LONG TERM success.

Show that you understand them by customizing your brand and message. Use language that speaks to what distinguishes them as a tribe, in:

- your moniker, benefit statement or tagline, and promotional copy.
- the name and design of your coaching programs.
- your blog posts, tweets, newsletters, everything you publish for your market.

By focusing your message, you’ll attract your tribe’s attention. Your interest in them is an attraction factor in itself. This is how you become recognized for something distinctive, and build a profile in your market.

If you take these four steps, everything you do to promote your coaching business will gain coherence and power. There’s nothing more effective than leveraging your time and energy in everything you do.

• You won’t have to start over with every marketing campaign. Instead, you’ll create something and use it over and over, tweaking it to make it better.
• Instead of feeling uncertain, you’ll be clear about your value, knowing that there’s a specific group of people who want exactly what you offer.
• Instead of limping along with a spotty income, you’ll break through to a steady flow of paying clients.

Want help with this?

There’s nothing that can make a bigger difference to your coaching business than focusing your message, and I want you to get whatever support you need around it.

I’m offering a free live webinar on Tuesday, February 7th at 1pm ET to go into more depth on this material. If you would like to be recognized as the go-to resource for a highly profitable niche that will bring you a consistent flow of clients, click here to save your space on the webinar.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: What Are You Recognized For?

You’re crystal clear about your desire to make a big impact and contribute to the success of the human race. But somewhere in the drive to do that, your energy and attention gets scattered and ineffective. It’s pretty painful, especially if the lack of clarity sticks around for very long.

Of course, focus is the answer. Focus clears your mind and spotlights what to do next. Pinpointed focus renews your courage and confidence.

I’ll tell you, on days when I feel unfocused, nothing worthwhile gets done. My response? I’m outta here. I had a day like that last week and, seriously, I just blew off my to-do list and took a mini vacation.

I’ve learned to let myself have days like that, because 85% of the time I am focused, and the result is always awesome!  On those days, I start my day feeling on purpose, energized, motivated, and ready to take high payoff actions. And I end the day feeling grateful, more prosperous and relaxed.

What Makes the Fog Gather

What causes that feeling of ineffectiveness to creep in? I’ve seen it over and over in the coaches I work with, and it usually comes down to this. They don’t have a solid grip on who they serve and what those folks really want.

If you’re even a little fuzzy about who you serve, what they want, and how you fit into that picture, then you don’t have a clear direction for your business. So, it’s more difficult to push forward on projects, create and fill your coaching programs, and attract a steady stream of clients. Of course, that means you’ll miss out on making a great income too.

The good news is, clarity on those points is closer than you think. Commit yourself to finding the answers for a few fundamental and pithy questions about your coaching business, and you’ll have pinpointed focus most of the time. Then you’ll be able to cover lots of ground quickly and get where you want to go.

Focus is Knowing Who, What and How

Here are four powerful questions that, once you’ve answered them, will bring focus to everything you do in your coaching business.

1. Who do you serve?
2. What do they say they want most?
3. What do they say is in the way of their reaching that outcome?
4. How can you can help them bridge the gap between where they want to be and where they are now?

You can answer the first question on your own, as long as you have a good sense of what makes for a viable coaching niche. For the other three questions, you need to do some informal research with the people you serve. If you decide for them what they want, you may miss the mark and get into a muddle all over again. Because what you offer won’t get their attention and motivate them to invest.

When you know who you serve, what they want, and how you fit into that picture, you have a clear overarching direction for your coaching business. You may lose focus on a particular day, or struggle with a particular project, but you won’t be confused about your real value to a real audience. And it will get easier to discern and complete high payoff actions every day.

If you want support to answer those four questions for yourself, I invite you to check out my signature workshop Champion Your Coaching Market. In five simple steps, I’ll walk you through how to choose your own highly profitable niche, and then how to do simple research to find out what they really want (and will buy from you!). You’ll come away with clarity on your niche market, the message you put out to attract them, and the program offers that will inspire them to invest.

Once that’s done, your direction is set. Then everything you do to create your programs and attract clients will benefit from that clarity and focus.

If you’ve been feeling out of focus, share a comment about which of these four questions isn’t answered for you yet. And share what other methods have worked to get you back in focus and on track.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS ONLINE AT: 4 Questions to Bring Your Coaching Business Out of the Fog and Into Focus

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Did You Skip This Crucial Step in Your Coaching Business?
• How to Get More Value from Every Business Building Program You’ve Taken
• When Marketing Your Coaching Business Becomes Fun!