In my post last week, I was asked to elaborate more on how to build an established coaching business. In an ideal world you will go immediately from newly qualified to established coach and generating new clients solely by word of mouth.
Unfortunately, reality steps in, and however tempting it is to talk about ‘the easy way’ to generating a six-figure income via coaching, there is no ‘easy way’ to do this. [In fact, I am doubtful that you can build a six-figure income purely via face-to-face coaching] The only certainty that I can promise you is hard, but rewarding work along the way.
The solution to this problem, which has eluded at least 75% of all newly qualified coaches looking to grow their own coaching practice is a marketing system. Not just any marketing system, but a marketing system which works. When I say works, a system which if you follow it religiously it efficiently generates you new clients every month. As a coach, or any professional adviser for that matter, the more time you spend marketing the less time you can be earning money. Therefore, building an efficient marketing system is a necessity for any coach who is serious about building a thriving coaching practice.
Before you can generate a marketing system, which works, you need to first build up your skill at marketing, sales and business development in general. It’s no good having a fantastic marketing system which generates you lots of prospects, if say for example, you are unable to convert these into profitable clients.
Digressing slightly, many coaches think that word-of-mouth will be sufficient to build up a thriving coaching practice. Word-of-mouth will help a coach generate more business, but for this to happen efficiently, you already need a thriving coaching practice in place.
Your marketing system needs to systemically define how you go from generating awareness for your services through to actually converting a good lead (i.e. someone very interested in buying your services) into a new client.
Briefly taking each stage in turn, how is your marketing system getting you in front of your target market? This could be as simple as networking with people who are well connected to your target audience.
Then, when you are in front of your target market, what are you doing to provide information which your target market values reading? For example, if you are out networking, do you have something interesting to say? Can you pass on an article you have written?
And then finally, how is your marketing system helping interested members of your target audience, evaluate your offering & decide to get in touch with you? Do you prominently display your client testimonials and feedback on your website?
And then finally, have you built your personal skill at selling to be able to recognise buying signals and close a deal?
I have only briefly answered the question of how to build an established coaching practice. Many books and businesses have been built around this subject! One of the books that I can highly recommend, (and have used myself to develop a thriving coaching practice), for coaches struggling with building a marketing system is Hannah McNamara’s Niche Marketing for Coaches
Related posts:
- Thinking about setting up your own coaching practice? There are two main strands of activity that you need to undertake before setting up your coaching practice - learning...
- I’ve got my coaching qualifications, now what? To run a successful coaching business you need two things - the ability to market yourself and the technical ability...
- How efficiently & effectively are you marketing your practice? Marketing a professional services firm can often be viewed as a black art. This need not be the case. Successful...
- 12 questions which will revitalise your business development The secret to building a successful business is 2-fold... efficient & effective marketing, and good fiscal management. In this article,...
- Freelance or Interim or Business Owner – Part 3 Business ownership... so how does this differ from being a freelancer? And can you be both? What different skill sets...
2 Comments
Thanks for the book recommendation. I also believe that there is a certain mindset that is neccessary before achieving a thriving practice. Many coaches, hate the idea of niche for many reasons. Most promenant is the fear of missing out on business. When trained we are taught that coaching is a product of the client, therefore, we can coach anyone and don’t have to be “experts.” I have differnt reasons and that the joy of working with different kinds of people. I haven’t “narrowed” my niche yet – I’m starting with an ideal client traits and am seeing a pattern of who I am attracting develop. This, too takes time but, I’m willing to do that instead of rush into a niche that I’m not passionate about!
Again, thanks for the book. I’ll check it out! Cheers, Lorin
Thanks for your great comments Lorin. When I left corporate life, I was afraid about missing out on business as a coach, so tried to be an executive, career and business coach for entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners. It is only after I significantly narrowed my focus down to professional advisors (lawyers, accountants, consultants) that work started to flow to me. Six months after focusing on a niche I do get assignments which don’t necessarily fit my niche – but predominantly I am attracting the kind of clients I have credibility with and love working with. I’ve generate about one warm referral/enquiry a week from my marketing activities and now have three other coaches helping me service the demand for my services. So, it is seems to be a paradox, but to generate more clients, it really does pay to narrow your focus on who you specialise in working with.