What is the similarity between all successful coaches? They consistently get loyal and dedicated clients. Because, what’s a coach without their clients?
Are you continuously trading your time for money? Are you struggling to draft an offer? Do you want to know the best ways to sell your coaching offer? And ultimately get coaching clients?
If any of the above things resonate with you, you are in the right place. We will start with how to create a unique coaching offering and then move on to attracting your ideal clients and learn more about how you can ensure a steady flow of customers.
This blog covers the step-by-step guide to getting coaching clients in 2022:
- How to create a unique coaching offer?
- How to attract your ideal coaching clients?
- How do you ensure a steady flow of new customers?
1. How to create a unique coaching offer?
You might think, there are thousands of coaches out there; why would someone want to buy from me?
You have no competition when you have a unique coaching offer because there would be no one in the market like you.
There’s a famous quote in business, “If you’re serving everyone, you’re serving no one.” The coaching business is no different.
Choosing a niche is the only way thousands of coaches coexist. In the next section, let’s look at how you can select your unique niche in the crowded market.
1.1. How to select your unique space in the crowded market?
Know your ideal client – Who are they? What do they do? Where do they live? What are their fears/struggles/aspirations? Why do they need your services? For example, I am a business coach guiding new entrepreneurs starting their businesses in Delhi who want to attract customers for their business.
- Who are they? New entrepreneurs
- What do they do? They are starting their business.
- Where do they live? Delhi
- What do they struggle with? Getting clients
- Why do they need your services? They want to get guidance on attracting customers for their business
- Your niche is not about who you are (business coach). It’s about who you serve (new entrepreneurs starting a business).
- Before choosing a niche, you can adopt various methods to understand your ideal client and know their struggles/fears/aspirations. For example: Conducting surveys, 1:1 calls, secondary research on Google & Youtube, connecting with people on LinkedIn, using social media to see what they are talking about, etc.
- Sometimes when coaches struggle to understand their ideal clients, they can consider this approach – what was the message you’d give to your 20-year old self?
Sometimes the older version of you is the ideal client struggling with the same things you used to. You can become the bridge for that person from who they are and where they want to be.
1.2. Outline Your Offer
Outlining your offer means deciding on three key things:
- Features: How long is your offer going to be (three months, six months, annual, or something else)? How many calls will you take in a month? How frequently will you connect? Would you provide them with e-mail or text support? Are there going to be any tests or assessments? List down everything you can help your ideal client with.
- Desired results & benefits: The results you can guarantee your clients will depend on how well you understand your ideal client’s problems/fears/struggles/aspirations, and emotions. Use the exact words that your ideal client uses to resonate with them. You can support it with your experience, the benefits you provide, the social proof, and testimonials from your past clients. Testimonials and social proofs create trust and credibility.
- Pricing: Often, in the coaching business, the intangible value that the clients get from the offer is much higher than the monetary value they pay, like happiness, calmness, peace of mind, etc. Try to make sense of your coaching offer based on how valuable your coaching will be to your clients.
But if you’re struggling to set a price for your coaching business, you might have to experiment with the pricing before finalizing your offer’s value. That would be the cherry on the cake if you could involve your ideal client/prospect in the process.
1.3. Craft your elevator pitch
An elevator pitch is a 30 second or less pitch to introduce yourself and what you do to your target audience.
It involves answering five questions:
- What is your Title?
- Who is your ideal client?
- What do you do?
- How do you do it?
- What is the Outcome?
In the business coach example mentioned above, an elevator pitch would look like this,
“Hi, I’m a business coach [Title] for new entrepreneurs starting their businesses [Ideal Client]. I teach them the art of networking and negotiating [What you do] through a series of 1:1 coaching calls [How do you do it] to help them find and connect with their ideal clients [Outcome]. I love what I do and the impact I create in the lives of these new business owners. [A little enthusiasm is always a bonus].”
1.4. Show your expertise by offering discovery calls.
The first call with a potential client is make-or-break. Your prospect understands the work process and decision-making call through that initial discovery call.
But before getting into HOW to set up a discovery call, let’s understand the No-Nos of your discovery call.
Your free discovery call is NOT:
- A free coaching session
- The first step of your coaching program
- Free time for prospects to pick your brain
Only because we’re offering a free discovery call doesn’t mean prospects should exploit us in the call. Here are the steps to set up a free discovery call using CheckYa.
Step 1: Log into your CheckYa account. If you haven’t created an account, sign up here.
Step 2: Personalize your CheckYa URL using the Personalize URL button at the top of your profile (as shown in the figure below).
Step 3: Create your unique personalized URL and click on the Update button.
Step 4: Share your URL with your potential customers for them to book a call with you. You can also add the link to your social media channels.
Step 5: Check the call requests you received. Accept/Reject the calls according to your schedule.
Step 6: If you accept the call, it shows in the list of Upcoming calls, like this:
Steps to add a paid consultation call:
Step 1: Click on ‘Offer Free/Paid Sessions’ from your CheckYa profile page.
Step 2: Choose the ‘set the price per consultation’ option, add your price, enter the details about the call in the description, add the link, and hit save!
Your potential customers can easily book a 30-minute call with you via CheckYa.
Okay, we’re done with the groundwork. Now let’s get some clients for you.
3. How to attract your ideal coaching clients?
“I’ve set up all my systems, but I still don’t know how to get clients!”
Here is the juiciest part of this article. The best thing is to apply these methods whether you are just starting your coaching business or have been in this industry for years now.
3.1. Leverage Your Network
- Reach out to your friends and family.
- Participate in Networking events relevant to your ideal clients to build relationships with them and increase your visibility. It’s not about selling or promoting your services. You can network both online and offline.
- Become a part of networking groups like Lions Club, Rotary Club, Facebook groups, etc. Show interest in people you meet and learn more about them. Then follow up with them on a call or an e-mail and offer to help them.
3.2. Ask for Referrals
- Ask your family & friends to share about your coaching business. Your relatives could be your first customers, but not your only customers.
- Ask your happy clients directly for referrals. You can also offer your business card for them to share with someone in their network.
- Partner with an Influencer: Know someone well-known with your target audience? Can they vouch for your work? Can you add value to that influencer in any manner? Then go for it!
Note: Please do background research on the influencer and their audience to ensure they are a good fit.
“I got my coaching business to manage too! Do I have to put in so much work every time I want a client?”
Of course not. There are tried-and-tested methods to ensure you keep getting new clients.
4. How do you ensure a steady flow of new customers?
4.1. Build Your Portfolio
Your portfolio speaks for itself when a customer gets to know about you. It ensures a steady stream of clients.
- Services: Get specific on the services you provide. It will be the base of your portfolio, and you can diversify as you grow your coaching business.
- Case studies: Did you help someone get fabulous results? Document the process you used and created a case study out of it. A case study doesn’t need to be complex. It can be as simple as you record a video describing their problems, how you helped them solve their problems, and the results they saw.
- Testimonials: What your clients tell about you is an essential part of your portfolio. Video testimonials are most effective, but you can also take a recommendation from them on LinkedIn, and you can tweak it to add to your portfolio or website.
4.2. Start Your E-mail List
- E-mails give you a place to add your unique touch and speak to a large audience at a personal level. E-mail marketing has a high follow-up rate compared to other channels like social media.
- The best time to start your e-mail list is NOW. The simplest way to get subscribers is to give them an incentive – discount codes, exclusive content, early access, etc.
- You can use your e-mail list for updates, announcements, engagement, and much more. Since your e-mail list would contain a list of your potential paying customers, you should ensure a balance in the frequency of sending and selling in your e-mails.
4.3. Create Your Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is an incentive we offer people (website visitors or social media followers) in exchange for their contact information.
You may ask, how will a lead magnet help me with my business? A lead magnet will keep bringing new customers and provide you with their contact information. Then you can reach out to them with your e-mails, offers, and announcements to convert them.
Here’s how to create a lead magnet:
- Know your ideal client their needs and wants
- Identify which exact problem you want to solve through your lead magnet.
- Name your lead magnet offer.
- Choose the type of lead magnet you want to offer – Guide/report, Cheatsheet, Toolkit/resource list, Video training, Free trial, Discount, Quiz/survey, Assessment/test, some other material.
- Create it 🙂
4.4. Plan Your Promotions
Here is one of the ways to plan your promotions so that you can have a steady inflow of paying customers:
- What is your objective with the promotion? Do you want to increase your visibility? Or the number of subscribers on your e-mail list?
- Who is your audience for this promotion?
- What do you want to promote? Your lead magnet, webinar, workshop?
- What is the time duration that you’d like to promote for?
- What are the promotional activities you’d like to do? Social Media, E-mail, etc.?
- Prepare your promotional materials.
- Go on launch your promotional campaign!
4.5. Collaborate With Peers
- Partner with coaching providers and organize events, or host your own events. Apply to speak on topics that you’re passionate and confident about. It is one of the most effective ways for a client to know your expertise. Keep your talks informative, valuable, humorous, and crisp.
- Refer the client to another coach. Hear us out.
You may not be able to help all the clients you receive. In such cases, maybe some other coach can help them better. So refer them to those clients.
Partner with other coaches and work out an arrangement where you refer to each other if the clients are beyond the scope of your help. It generates trust, goodwill, and creates a consistent stream of clients.
4.6. Utilize Content Marketing
How to establish trust with your audience? You can’t be speaking all the time or answering all your clients’ questions by yourself. That’s why you need to invest in Content Marketing.
- Establishes credibility: “How you think is how you write.” Put content out there if you want your ideal clients to consider you an expert. Answer all their questions through your content. Build trust.
- Write/Speak using the language of your target audience: You can’t use your coaching jargon if it isn’t something your ideal client understands. Keep it simple, digestible, and easy to understand.
- Guest blogs/Guest on podcasts/Live: The best way to prove that you’re an expert in your field. Appearing in other people’s podcasts/Live demonstrates that you are a trustworthy authority because people only invite or accept articles from credible sources in their field.
