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Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

I’ve recently undertaken market research into the coaching market.  And I’ve summarised the MegaTrends I’ve seen below. 

I attempted to get a good cross-section of sources, so I listened to what other practising coaches told me is happening in the marketplace.  I read and listened to coaching industry watchers as well as analysing the market from my perspective as a coach, consultant and provider of coaching marketing products.  I listened to my clients, and attempted to track the many trends now influencing the coaching market.

This is but a short summary.  The full Special Report will be available for download from my website http://www.brandingyou.org in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, enough of the background, read on…

The coaching market is changing and it’s changing rapidly.  There are a number of powerful trends sweeping through the market, and every coach should be aware of them.  These are the Seven Coaching MegaTrends, and they are set to change the coaching market forever.

They will affect your coaching practice, the way you reach your clients, how you interact with them, what you offer and ultimately whether you will continue to get coaching business.  You’d best be aware of them – so read on to discover what they are.

Coaching MegaTrend 1: Increased Supply of Coaches

We are seeing a vast increase in the number of coaches qualifying from the rapidly-growing numbers of coach training establishments.  And the number of coaches qualifying each year is accelerating. Recent estimates indicate that there are now between 30,000 to 50,000 active coaches worldwide. 

As well as far more choice of coach training, there are far more good books, seminars and other support materials both on coaching and on managing your coaching practice.

This means far more competition for both newly qualified and established coaches alike, and these coaches are learning both coaching skills and practice management skills at a rapid rate.

Coaching MegaTrend 2: Increased Demand for Coaching

Marketers distinguish between four different stages of a market: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline.  We see the coaching market as a whole as still being in its Growth stage, where the expansion of coaching significantly exceeds the growth of the economies in which it operates. 

The characteristics of the Growth Stage of a market are increasing customer interest, with rapidly increasing sales and the equally rapid emergence of more coaches as competitors. 

So there is an increased demand for coaching.  But at the same time the coaching market is expanding, the competition from other coaches is also increasing significantly. 

In this stage, to attract new clients, the marketing activities of coaches become more and more important.  On the plus side, several clients typically engage in repeat purchase behaviour patterns. 

So to prosper in this changed marketplace, coaches need to place more emphasis on marketing – ensuring their positioning is clear and their marketing messages are heard.

Differentiating yourself from other coaches has never been more important.

More Coaching MegaTrends follow in the next posts…