Archives – February, 2009
There is one thing that will kill your coaching business, lack of action. The first thing I hear from coaches who have been coaching for a while but are unable to get more than three or four coaching clients, are the words “how do I get more clients?” My response is not an answer rather it is a question. “What have you been doing to get more clients?” Inevitably, the answer is “not much” or “I have a website.” My next question is “What are your goals?”
You must clearly define your goals
Many coaches start their coaching business without clearly defined goals for their business. A vague concept of getting more coaching clients, making more money or a desire to coach full time are not clearly defined goals. An unclear goal will
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February 28, 2009
This is the second part to a series of two articles.
eBooks
Ebooks are electronic versions of a book that clients can read online or print. Ebooks can be any length but I prefer that they be under 100 pages making them reasonable for printing.
You can write an eBook on any subject relating to your coaching niche and offer it at a low price or free to clients and potential clients. It is very easy to write an ebook by organizing a collection of related articles.
Social Media
Many coaches and others use social media like Twitter and Facebook to market their businesses. This must be a very subtle form of relationship marketing because these are social platforms.
The idea is to find people who interest you or who may be interested in what you do and ask them to join you as a friend or follower on a given social media platform. Then find out about that person by “chatting” with them or by being in a group with them. You can let people know about what you have to offer and how it may be of help or interest to them.
An important part of any social media platform is
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February 28, 2009
Recommend Resources
Become an Affiliate of Suzan Schmitt: The Coach Marketer
Join The Coach Marketer Affiliate Program
Where to get a blog with hosting
http://www.zeegetablog.com – Get a Typepad blog.
Where to purchase a domain name
http://www.godaddy.com – Get a domain name should cost around $10 per domain.
Where to get a conference line for teleseminars
http://www.zeeteleseminar.com – Get a great teleseminar service that records, is professional, and easy to use.
Where to submit your articles to an article directory
http://www.ezinearticles.com – Submit your articles to this directory for FREE.
Where to get a shopping cart, autoresponders, broadcasting, newsletters, mailing list, ecommerce package, and more.
http://www.zeeshoppingcart.com – Get a shopping cart through 1shopping cart.
Other recommended information providers
http://www.connieregangreentechnology.com – Connie offer a great technology home study course.
http://www.kathleengageproducts.com – Kathleen Gage offers a number of internet marketing courses and she is always a great teacher.
Zee’s The Coach Marketer Articles
http://www.zeearticles.com- Get an account with Ezinearticles.
The Coach Marketer Courses and Mentoring
Coaching Business Blast Off
http://www.coachingbusinessblastoff.com - This 4 part home study course is for new coaches and coaches who are having a hard time choosing their niche. This course includes choosing your niche, defigning your niche, communicating to your niche, systems to run your business, how to structure your business, financial issues, client payment and banking.
Zee Inner Circle
http://www.zeeinnercircle.com
- This is an ongoing program at a very low monthly fee. You get a
weekly inner circle teleclass, access to the inner circle forum, a
weekly email with ideas and action steps, FREE access to all Coach
Marketer Greatest Hits collection.
Top Coach Mentoring Program
http://www.zeetopcoach.com – This is a lifetime program you are in the group for as long as you wish to remain. You get a weekly mentee coaching call, one on one mentoring once a month, FREE access to all my courses and classes for one year, email access, phone access, and a private group for mentees.
The Top Coach Inner Circle
http://www.zeeinnercircle.com – This is an ongoing program at a very low monthly fee. You get a weekly inner circle teleclass, access to the inner circle forum, a weekly email with ideas and action steps, FREE access to all Coach Marketer Greatest Hits collection.
The Coach Marketer Greatest Hits Collections
http://www.coachmarketerhits1.com – a collection of 6 teleclasses including, targeting your coaching niche, powerful workshops, your personal brand, irresistible coaching offer, marketing process, become an authority.
February 28, 2009
Coaches constantly tell me that they have a blog or a website but they are not getting any clients from their site and they are becoming discouraged. Let me start by saying that building an internet business and internet marketing is a lot of work! It takes many hours of persistent strategic marketing to attract customer to your website and even more to get them to buy.
This article will touch on several ways to drive traffic to your website and get people to enroll in your database. I will cover article marketing, blog posting, teleclasses, ebooks, and social media. To build a large client base you will need to use all of these marketing tools on a regular basis.
Article Marketing
Many people who publish ezines are looking for content to include in their publications and they find that content in article directories. An article directory collects articles from hundreds or thousands of authors on hundreds of subjects and provides them to publishers of all types. I use
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February 27, 2009
Plan your coaching business success by using your time wisely and setting priorities. Coaches don’t plan to fail but they do because they fail to plan. You can be two or three times more productive and reduce your stress by planning.
Coaching business owners and time management
Time management is a challenge for solo business people who work from home because there are so many distractions surrounding us including family, chores, television, email and social websites. Yes, I know about all of this from personal experience! We don’t have a boss lurking over us or watching what we do so it is easy to stay busy all day yet accomplish less than we would like. Planning your work and making lists can support you in accomplishing all your goals. Planning for success is key to having a coaching business that succeeds quickly. To ensure that you get off the best start I offer "The Coaching Business Blast Off Home Study Program"
Pick your best times
I suggest you determine what time of day you are
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February 24, 2009
Build Rapport
At the start of your coaching session, you need to build rapport with the coaching client. If the client has come to you because they have read an article you wrote or attended a workshop then you have already begun the process of building rapport. They know you at least a little and they must trust you or they would not have come to the introductory coaching session.
Share From the Heart
Share honestly about your struggles as they relate to the struggles of your clients. Everyone likes to know that they are not alone and that you can truly understand their challenges because yours have been similar. When you share your challenges and how you were able to overcome them and reach your goals, you give your client
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February 23, 2009
Like Likes Like
The old saying goes “like likes like”. We all like people who are similar to us, who look like us, who act like us, who have shared experiences with us and who think like us. Look for these things as your client is talking and notice how they move and behave. Does the client speak fast or slow? Are they demonstrative or reserved? Is their body language open or closed?
Try to match your style with their style without being untrue to yourself. It is natural to do this and I am asking that you become more aware of the tendency to match another person’s nonverbal style. You will naturally speed up your speaking when you are with a person who speaks rapidly. You will tend to talk with your hands more if you are speaking to a person who is very demonstrative.
We like
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February 20, 2009
This is the first article in a three part series about attracting clients because they know, like and trust your as a person and as a coach.
People buy from you or decide to coach with you when they know, like and trust you. I do not know where this idea originated but it is commonly accepted in the marketing field and I believe it to be true especially for services such as coaching. When I first heard the idea of know, like and trust I readily accepted it but quickly realized that I was not sure how to make it happen in my business. How exactly does one get potential coaching clients to know like and trust you? This article will examine and expand on each area.
Know
Potential coaching clients can get to know you through your workshops and presentations, articles, website, blog and other forms of communication. I would like to focus this article on the introductory coaching session. I hope that you have attracted a coaching client to an introductory session with a seminar, article, or workshop and now you have to opportunity to spend some time one on one and enroll them in a coaching program.
This is the time to allow your client to get to know who you are, to share why you do what you do and how your passion for your work is a benefit to them. Clients want
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February 16, 2009
Getting new coaching clients is the great challenge for all coaches. It does not matter how long you have been coaching or how good of a coach you are. You have to market your coaching business and attract new clients because you will always have clients who no longer need coaching and those who must stop coaching for a variety of reasons. The challenge is how to attract those new clients in a way that feels comfortable for you and is effective.
Attraction marketing vs. Push Marketing
Most coaches think of push marketing or old school sales when they hear the words coach-marketing plan. You know what I am talking about. The old sales marketing that promotes what you have to sell by focusing on your product, your credentials, and your methods. Using this type of marketing, you tell the clients why they need to change and how you make that change happen. No wonder this type of marketing is difficult for most coaches; it is pushy!
Attraction marketing brings clients to you or pulls them toward you by offering learning opportunities and information that will be attractive to the person who may need or want your services. Attraction marketing is the subject of my home study course "No Sales Required Client Attraction".
Be a Resource before a Vendor
When you employ attraction marketing, you become a resource for potential clients. You provide them with attractive, useful and interesting information that draws their interest and draws them to you and your services. Coaching clients have a need and
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February 8, 2009
You want your marketing message to be the one that your potential client hears and listens to. Marketing messages are flooding our email, TV, radio, mail, magazines, and just about everywhere, we go. People are so inundated with different messages and information that we have turned out brain filters on full blast. So, how do you get your coach marketing message out to potential clients in a way that they hear you? How can you make your message cut through the clutter?
Planning
You need to have a marketing plan that uses several strategies on a consistent basis to reach the top of mind awareness level that a potential client must have in order to make a purchase decision. That means that you must think long term and realize that marketing and sales are a process and so is a buying decision. The first step is to establish a long-term goal for your marketing. Write down your long medium and short term goals and establish a time line for accomplishing those goals. What result would you like to have from your marketing in one year? Your goal can be as simple as the number of clients you would like to be coaching or you can have broader goals that include selling products, publishing books, speaking tours or whatever you desire. Start with your long-term goal then work backwards outlining the major efforts that will be required to accomplish those goals and place those activities on a time line. Once you have established the timetable for accomplishing the major steps in reaching your goal you can go back and fill in the monthly, weekly, and daily actions that will be required.
Consistency
How many times does a potential coaching client have to hear your message before they understand it and take action on it? Frequency is a term used in advertising to refer to the number of times a person is exposed to your message. Convention says that a person must hear your message a minimum of three times before they begin to internalize the information. This means that your marketing efforts must be consistent or you will not establish enough frequency for your message to be heard and understood. I suggest that coaches plan at least three marketing activities into their daily schedule.
Variety
Everyone learns in a different way so you need to deliver your coach marketing message using a variety of methods. You can use a variety of delivery systems to reach potential coaching clients with a consistent message. I suggest several methods including article marketing, blogging, speaking, workshops, newsletters, ezines, social marketing, networking, referrals and auto responders. I realize that list sounds overwhelming and knowing where to start can be a challenge. I suggest that coaches begin with networking and speaking because these activities will bring client to your coaching business rapidly. Blogging, newsletters, ezines, and social marketing are all very essential and effective coach marketing tools but they take longer to be effective.
Action
The most important thing about implementing a marketing plan is to take action and begin marketing on a daily basis. Perfection is not required to begin. Your marketing efforts do not have to be perfect when you begin so do not expect them to be. Accept the fact that you will have success and some less successful efforts. Use the less successful efforts as a learning tool that helps you make adjustments so you can achieve success on a future effort. One thing is certain you must begin marketing and implement your marketing plan on a consistent basis before it will work so get started today.
Be sure to join my FREE teleclass every Wednesday at 9p EST. Go to the top of this page and register so you will get the link and replay link each week.
February 3, 2009
