The Seven Coaching MegaTrends – Part 3
Coaching MegaTrend 5: Coaching Products
Coaches are increasingly using online products – both their own products and those of others – to achieve different marketing objectives. These products can be ebooks, articles, short courses delivered by autoresponders, teleclasses, downloadable mp3s, CDs, home study courses and combinations of the above.
Some coaches are using products to augment their coaching offerings, to appeal to different segments of their market. Others use them as a promotion device, to attract new prospects to their marketing funnel. Yet others are using products to leverage their time with clients – so that the client gets the maximum benefit while minimising costly 1:1 coaching time.
Coaches are finding that products can achieve multiple objectives – they can bring in revenue while building client loyalty and gently guiding prospects to the coach’s higher-value coaching services.
Coaching MegaTrend 6: Coaching Programmes
We are seeing the growth of the specialist coach, who blends coaching with instruction and training, and sometimes adds consultancy.Â
Coaching programmes typically have an overall aim, a set duration and have specific content that is communicated in addition to the coaching. They typically offer a programme – often between six and eight weeks – designed to build knowledge and skills in a particular area. Examples of this are CJ Hayden’s Get Clients Now! programme which blends training, coaching and consultancy.
This trend is leading to the coaching market fragmenting somewhat – and becoming less homogeneous. It’s not enough to just be a coach, it’s what sort of coach are you, dealing with what sort of clients to achieve what?
Taken together with MegaTrend 4 – niches and differentiation and MegaTrend 3 – the increasing maturity of the coaching market, we are seeing coaches profiting from providing coaching programmes to specific market niches.