Discover Your Coaching Niche

Archive for the ‘Reach your niche’ Category

For coaches, networking, when applied consistently, and focused on your target market, is an excellent way to bring in new leads.  But, more often than not, coaches make mistakes that hamper the success of networking as a client-getting strategy.

So, read on, and discover: do you make these mistakes when networking?

1. Not Taking Your Business Card

If you’re networking, you’re going to be collecting business cards, and your prospects will ask for yours.  It’s one of the cheapest forms of promotion there is.  

So take a stack of cards.  If you haven’t got any – order some professionally-produced cards today!  Look for recommendations for printers from fellow coaches, or from other professionals.

2. Not Having a Concise Answer to “So what do you do?”

This is so easy to do, yet many fall at the first fence.  Have a short elevator speech that makes it clear who you coach, and what solutions you offer.  If you haven’t developed you elevator speech yet, my BrandingYou! Workbook will guide you through producing one. 

It’s available for instant download via  http://www.brandingyou.org/brandingyousales.htm

Give enough information in your first response, but don’t overwhelm.  Test out your elevator speech and get feedback on it from your target market.

3. Networking with Other Coaches

Who are you networking with?  Naturally, it should be with your target market.  

A networking event put on by a coaching association, or attended by other coaches is not the type of networking event you want.  Who, there, ultimately, is going to buy your services?  No-one!  Go to networking event attended by your target market!

This article will continue in the subsequent posts.

I have added an article page to my coaching resources site, BrandingYou! .  So that many of my articles relating to discovering your coaching niche, or improving the marketing of your coaching practice are available there in one chunk.  You may find them easier to read as a result. 

My two most recent articles are posted there, including my article on the Seven Coaching MegaTrends: 
http://www.brandingyou.org/megatrends.html 
…and Don’t Get Clients, Get Leads! which is posted here: http://www.brandingyou.org/leadsnotclients.html .

 

In the previous posts, we’ve stated that clients want leads rather than clients, and have outlined how coaches can get these leads.

7. So I Don’t Want Clients, I Want Leads? 

Absolutely. To recap, you want a means by which a large number of people from your target market can try you out on a low-cost, low-commitment, low-risk basis.

You want your low-cost product or service to be representative of you and what you offer. It should meet your prospects’ needs, and encourage them to want more from you.

8. So What Do I Do First to Get Leads? 

Locate your target market, and ask them what they want most.  Make sure you cover content and medium.

Listen to the answers. Then act on them!

Conclusion
 
In this article we’ve looked at why coaches should not be looking for clients.  We’ve argued that they should be looking for leads.

And we’ve laid out a process to follow that will ensure you get leads from your target market.

So the only remaining thing is to ask “What are you going to do next, as a result of reading this article?”
 
 
Alun Richards
Author of The BrandingYou! Workbook
Free Discover Your Coaching Niche Mini-Course available here:
http://www.brandingyou.org/ecoursesales.html

© Copyright Alun Richards 2007. All Rights Reserved.  You may freely distribute this article providing you do so in its entirety; ensuring the copyright and contact details above are included.

in the first part of this article, we asserted that coaches don’t want clients – they want leads.  And we started to explore how coaches can attract leads.

4. That’s Quite a List – What Should I Choose? 

Well, rather than you choose what your target market might want, why not ask them?

Its always tempting to assume you know what your market want.  Sometimes it just seems so obvious.  But you can be surprised – it’s much better to ask, and act from knowledge, rather than guess, and act from ignorance.

And while you’re asking them what medium your product should take, do check that the content of the product is what they require, too. 

For example, you might believe that your target market need to know how to get clients. They might actually have a problem with converting prospects.  So ask! 

5. So They Tell Me What They Want – Then What? 

Now you have the most important information about your target market. You know what they want (the content) and what format they want their product or service.

Now all you have to do is produce the product (or service).  As you know it’s what they want, you should have no problem getting them to buy it.  Assuming you can produce the product – or get someone else to do it – you have a means to generate leads like they are going out of style.

Naturally, you’ll want a means to tell your target market about your product, to get it to them and to take payment, and you’ll want to keep your new prospects – your leads’ – details on file.

6. Why Do I Want To Keep My Leads on File? 

Because in the example we used at the start of this article, no-one is going to marry you straight off the street. (Or no-one you’ll be happily married to in a few years time, anyway.) They’re going to want to get to know you over a period of time.

So you’re probably going to have a few more interactions with these leads before any one of them commits and decides to buy your coaching services. Of course, several will drop out along the way. But that’s fine, as long as:
(1) they spend some money first, and
(2) there’s a queue of people to replace them.

This article continues in the next post.

Introduction

One of the biggest problems that coaches say they experience is getting clients.  In fact, their biggest problem is the thought that they need to get clients.  Read on to find out why… 

1. Don’t Get Clients! 

You heard me right – don’t get clients.  Look at it like this: do you, assuming for a moment you’re male and single, walk up to girls in the street and ask them to marry you?

No, of course you don’t!  That would be too big a step.  You want to take smaller steps first. You might want to go out for a coffee, to see if you might like to spend more time in each other’s company.

Well, it’s the same with clients.  If you have a mindset that you must get clients, you’re handicapping yourself from the start.

What you really want is leads. You want prospects who might be interested in what you have to offer, but would like to get to know you a bit better first.

2. Are You Sure I Want Leads? 

Yes. To many prospects, to ask if they’ll be a client – perhaps for a minimum of three months – is a step too far.  They’re going to say no, most likely. You’re asking them to commit time and money – and a lot of effort – with someone they’ve only just met.  How can they know if you and your services are right for them? 

Now, if there was a way to try out your services that was not such a commitment, then they might be interested.

3. But How Can They Try Out My Services? 

There are several ways, and savvy coaches are already employing a number of them. Basically, you want a low-cost, low-commitment product or service that a prospect can try out, and get to know you.

These may include offline presentations at your own, or other peoples’ seminars, exhibitions or workshops, where prospects can get a taste of what you offer. They could include your newsletter, e-courses delivered by autoresponder, e-books, specail reports, teleclasses or other low-cost products.

They could also include articles, recordings of presentations, your blog, podcasts, home study courses – the list is long and only limited by your imagination.

This article continues in the next two posts…

So far in this article we’ve discussed motivation, and that as coaches we want to motivate our prospects to buy our coaching services.  Now we’re going to deal with the presentational style associated with motivational speaking.

If we’re going to motivate our prospects to buy from us, we should adopt a style (or form) appropriate to that aim.  Now, let’s read on… 

Form follows Function

Many people confuse the presentation style often associated with “motivational speaking” with the act of motivating someone to do something useful – such as to buy your coaching services.

Your presentation style is a decision you make based on your audience, their needs, the environment, your aim and what you’re comfortable with.  You can learn different styles appropriate to different audiences and environments, of course.  And it’s good to gain that flexibility.  But motivational speaking is not the presentation style.

The architect Louis Henri Sullivan is credited as saying, “Form ever follows function.”
That is, the form – in our case presentation style – must follow, or support, the function it will perform, in our case motivating our audience to buy.  Form and function are inseparable.  Form, or style, is meaningless without its underlying and driving function.

Don’t put the cart in front of the horse

If you try to remove “motivational speaking” from the context of who is being motivated, and to what end, you are putting the cart in front of the horse.  Motivation, as we said, is not a free-standing thing that exists in isolation.

So what do you do?

First decide on your target audience - your coaching niche, if you like. Ask them what they want most – what are they starving for?  Then offer to supply it in the form of a presentation.  If you are genuinely supplying what they want, they will be motivated to turn up and listen.

If they value your offering, and the price is less than the perceived value to them, they will be motivated to hear you out.  And if you pitch your offering appropriately, they may well be moved to buy your services.

Did you notice that last sentence?  They may be moved to buy your services.  Ah, perhaps I didn’t mention in our definitions above that motivation comes from the Middle French noun Motif “a move” and Middle/Late Latin motivus – serving to move.  So when you motivate people, you move them. 

And if you’re moving people enough to buy your offerings, then you’re a motivational speaker.

Alun Richards helps coaches find and reach their coaching niche.  Discover yours with Alun’s free mini-course, “Discover Your Coaching Niche”, available from
http://www.brandingyou.org/ecoursesales.html

© Copyright Alun Richards 2007. All Rights Reserved.  You may freely distribute this article providing you do so in its entirety; ensuring the copyright and contact details above are included.

In the last posting we discovered that “motivation” is not a thing, so we can’t just give it to people.  We found we need to know who we are motivating, and to do what.

In our case as coaches, I suggested it should be to motivate our prospects to buy our coaching services from us. 

But “How do you know?”

How do you know?

And so onto the next NLP question: How do you know?  How do you know that your audience – hopefully your target market (or at least individual members of it) are being motivated to buy your coaching services?

This comes down to knowing your audience.  They will buy from you if you demonstrate a compelling reason to do so.  You’ll have a compelling reason if your offer is of more value to them than what you are charging.  And it will be of value if you can demonstrate you understand what they want.

So you need to supply what they want.  “But how?”  I hear you wail – “How do I know what they want?”   The answer is both simple and profound. 

Ask ‘em! 

Yes, just ask ‘em. 

Deliver what they want

Then deliver exactly what they ask for.  If you do that, and supply what is going to attract them – such as how to solve a common problem they face – your target market will flock to hear you.

“But that’s not motivational speaking”, I hear you say.  “What about style, flash presentation, loud music, punching the air?  Isn’t that what motivational speaking is all about?”

I could be cheeky and ask whether you would prefer to pump people up, or motivate them to buy your services.

But there’s a more fundamental distinction to draw.

And that is that Form follows Function – and we’ll discuss it in the next posting.

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
– Zig Ziglar, Salesman & Motivational Speaker.

What is a Motivational Speaker?

A glance at a dictionary tells us “Motivational speakers are persons engaged in public speaking who help motivate others with their knowledge and real-life stories in public setting such as sales seminars and corporate meetings.”

But why should we care as coaches?  What benefit is there to us in motivational speaking? 

Three facts

Fact 1:  According to my research, the biggest challenge to coaches – by a long way – is getting new clients. 
Fact 2:  For coaches, giving presentations is a highly effective way to reach potential new clients. 
Fact 3:  A coach who is a motivational speaker can expect to attract many people to listen to them. 

Got your attention yet?  Want to know how to become a motivational speaker?  Good, then read on…

Firstly, let’s define our terms

According to the dictionary, motivation, an noun, is:
• the act, or an instance, of motivating.
• the state or condition of being motivated.
• something that motivates; an inducement; an incentive.

Problem: Motivation does not exist

But we have a problem.  Motivation, in NLP terms, is a nominalization – a verb or complex action which has been frozen into a noun.  Despite its linguistic appearances, it is not a thing.  We can’t touch it or hold it.  We can’t give it to anyone. 

To really understand it, we need to get back to the verb, and the associated verb is – to motivate. 

To motivate whom?

But “to motivate” does not exist on its own as a free entity, either. There must be a subject – a person – who will be motivated.  So, the question is, “Motivating for whom?”  Different people are motivated by different things.  So who are we talking about motivating? 

For coaches, the obvious people to motivate are our target market, as they’re the people who will potentially buy our services.

So let’s assume for the moment you’ll want to motivate your target market.

Motivate to do what?

Now, the next linguistic question arises, as “to motivate” is a multi-part predicate.  You must motivate someone to do something.  So the next question is “Motivate to do what, exactly?”

If you’re in the coaching business, this should be a no-brainer.  You want to motivate your target market to buy your coaching services.

The next parts of this Motivational Speaking article follow in subsequent postings.

3. Prospect considers the benefits to be greater than their cost

Sometimes the prospect may raise a cost objection, resulting in their declining the offered coaching service.  From our experience, with cost objections, a number of things may be true:

• Inappropriate benefits are being offered to your prospect.
• There is an unclear value proposition for the prospect. That is the key benefits of your coaching services are not valued by your target market. Or they cannot see the value of your service is greater than the cost to them.
• You have not been successful in explaining the benefits in your prospect’s language.
• They may be confused about how your coaching offering works.

Here it’s really down to you to explain the benefits to your prospect, and to ensure they are understood.  Whether this is face to face, via a sales page or during a presentation, you must present the benefits clearly to your prospect.

4. Prospect is motivated to buy now

Why, when they’re aware of your services and their benefits, would a prospect not be motivated to buy from you?  It may be that the current pain they experience from their problems is not sufficiently great to warrant gaining the benefits of your services.

It may be that they feel they don’t have sufficient time to dedicate to your services currently.

The only way you’ll know is to ask.

So what can you do?

1. Enter into a dialog with your current and potential clients and ask them what they most value from you.  Ensure that during these conversations you establish what their biggest problems are.

2. When you know what’s important to your market, make sure that your coaching services are oriented to resolving those problems.  There should be a clear link between what your market wants and the services you provide.

3. Communicate this link in your potential clients’ language, covering the resolution of their specific problems.

4. Use communications channels that are appropriate to your target market.

5. Maintain the dialogue and refine your services where appropriate.

Summary

In order to buy your coaching services, your prospect must be aware that your services exist, and must be aware of their benefits.  They must consider the benefits to be greater than their cost, and be motivated to buy now. 

This article has identified actions you can take today to get your prospects to buy.  Which actions will you choose to take?

Alun Richards helps coaches find and reach their coaching niche. Discover yours with Alun’s free mini-course, “Discover Your Coaching Niche”, available from http://www.brandingyou.org/ecoursesales.html

© Copyright Alun Richards 2007. All Rights Reserved.

You may freely post this article as long as you retain the copyright and author contact details.

Ever had an initial coaching session - or a discussion – with a hot prospect, yet they did not buy your coaching services from you?  “Why?” you ask yourself on the way home – “Why did they not buy?”

Well, there are many reasons prospects give, but they all boil down to a small number of situations.  Want to know what those are, and how to deal with them?

In order for a client to say yes to your coaching service, a number of things must be true.
The client must:

1. Be aware that your coaching service exists.
2. Be aware of the benefits of your coaching service.
3. Consider the benefits to be greater than their cost.
4. Be motivated to buy now.

Let’s examine these situations one by one.

1. Prospect aware that your coaching service exists

Some coaches get frustrated at prospects seemingly still not knowing exactly what coaches do.  Although it’s useful for prospects to be aware of what coaching in general is, it’s more relevant for them to be aware of YOUR coaching service. 

This means that your chosen communication medium must be capable of reaching your prospects, and that the message must be understandable to them.

Then your message has to be received and understood by your prospect. Ask yourself if you are consistently getting your message out to your target market.

2. Prospect aware of the benefits of your coaching service

Coaches tell us they often find it difficult to explain the value and benefits of coaching sufficiently to cause a prospect to convert to a client.  And when prospects are unclear about the offering, no sale will result.

But to become a client, your prospect must understand exactly what benefits they will see.  Remember WIIFM – what’s in it for the client?  What will they get, specifically, from your coaching services?

This article will continue with points 3 & 4 in the next post.