Archives – June, 2009
What the heck is social media and is it just a big waste of time? Social media and internet social networking has become a vital and lively part of our digital society. The way I see it, humans love and need to feel connected to other humans so social media has become the new vehicle for that connection.
Today you can instantly make connection and talk with people all over the world. You can search to find people with similar interests no matter how obscure those interests might be. You can find a group that is associated with any subject you can think of.
Social media is so many things to so many people that no one description fits. It is a place to meet with others with similar interests, to simply socialize and chat, to do business marketing, to express yourself, and to study human behavior and trends.
What Are the Best Social Media Sites?
The two social media sites I find most effective are
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June 15, 2009
If you want to use the internet to get coaching clients then you must attract potential clients to your site and build a list of contacts. Not many people will hear about your offer and sign up for coaching on the spot. Most people have to get to know you and see how your coaching is going to help the solve a problem. This process takes time and requires communication. To do both those things you need to capture names and email addresses so that you can begin to communicate.
Writing articles is a great way to let potential clients know who you are, direct them to your site, and to provide valuable informaiton so they can get to know like and trust you. I want to share some template that are easy to follow and can help you write client attracting articles quickly and easily.
Check List to Success
Everyone loves the idea of a check list because it simplifies a complex process and breaks it down into manageable steps. Readers love checklist articles and checklist articles are quick and easy to write. If you need to write an article fast then write a quick check list article and your readers will flock to it.
Begin your article by telling your reader why you have created this check list and how using it is going to benefit them. Make sure you use keywords in the title of your article and in the name of your check list. The keywords will draw the search engines to your article.
Next, give the reader the steps in the check list. Tell them
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June 9, 2009
Get free and easy traffic to your website by writing great articles that will draw in your target coaching niche. Potential coaching clients are hungry for information on subjects that they are interested in. A person can have an interest in a subject because they enjoy the subject or because they have a challenge with the subject.
The key to successful article marketing is to write a lot of great articles your target coaching niche will be interested in and articles publishers will run with and publish.
There are several tried and true formats that will help you easily write articles. The basic format is to define a problem, increase the pain the problem causes, offer a solution, and summarize.
Get Out of a Trap
We have all felt that we were trapped by something. We have made choices or can't see any choices before us and we feel trapped.
Use this method to write an article that will help your target coaching client understand a particular trap. Follow this template to write great articles about getting out of a common trap for your target coaching niche.
Choose a trap that your target coaching niche commonly falls into and
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June 7, 2009
When I talk about marketing coaches tend to take off their coaching hat and put on their salesperson hat. In most cases that is not such a good idea because they also go from being authentic or real to being the salesperson they imagine they should be.
We all have an image of sales people and most of the time that image is not very attractive so why put on a salesperson hat or persona to attract clients? Does not make sense does it? It is important to stay who you are as a coach when you are inviting people to coach with you and avoid becoming the salesperson you think you should be.
I would like to share some things to think about the next time you have the opportunity to talk with someone about coaching with you or the next time you are at a networking or marketing event and interacting with clients.
Customers or Clients are Humans Too
It is funny how we take on a role in a given situation and see the other person as a role and not a human being just like us. Your customers have the same hopes, dreams, desires, challenges and fears that you do or that you have had.
With the age of internet and email we forget that there is another human on the other end of that email or sales copy. Try to interact as personally as possible to all emails and customers to create a win-win relationship.
When you are writing copy for a sales letter or an email picture one of your clients in your mind and write specifically to them. This will help you keep the tone more personal.
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June 5, 2009
I surveyed the coaches on my list to find out what you would most like to learn about right now. The overwhelming response is that you want some exact steps to take to get clients now, right now! OK, I 'm going to tell you exactly what you can do to get 5 new coaching clients next week.
Now, I get to tell you what I most want from you because you are the one who has to actually do something to make this happen. I can teach you what to do until the cows come home but I cannot make you do a thing and none of my teaching will work until you get off your butt, stop making excuses and do this stuff! I want you to commit to do this stuff this week!
Stop lying to yourself!
I have heard it all so here are the top excuses for not truly being committed to having the coaching business you want. These are the things I hear endless numbers of coaches' whine about and use as their reason for not doing what they have to do to reach the goal they desire.
It is sort of funny that we are talking about coaches who are trying to have a business where they help other people overcome their challenges, solve their problems and reach their goals but they are whining to me that they don't know how to get clients.
If you don't have the skills or the knowledge that is one thing but once you find where to get the skills and knowledge of how to attract coaching clients then you are out of excuses and it is all on you! I am going to give you the tools so let's take a look at what else is stopping you or holding you back from getting what you say you want.
Top 3 excuses for not taking action to grow your coaching business
"I don't have any time". We all know that we always have time for what we love and want to do. If you don't have time to grow your coaching business then it is because you are choosing to do something else for some reason.
What are you choosing to do instead of taking time to market your coaching business? Let me ask you a few questions to help you take a look at how you really spend your time? Do you take a lot of self help classes? Do you spend time continually learning how to do things rather than doing them? Do you watch television? Do you really need to work as much as you do or could you cut back your "real job" hours and trust that you will make it on the reduced income?
Document exactly how you are spending your time. Write down your true activities for the next week and document exactly how you spend your time then stop doing the things that are not helping you have the time you need to grow your coaching business.
You will probably have to sacrifice to get your coaching business of the ground. Reduce your monthly expenses by 10% by cutting out things you don't really need and things that are a distraction to growing your business.
Stop finding excuses to keep doing what you have been doing and find the time and money you need to grow your coaching business. Dedicate one hour each addition hour each day to taking actions that will support your business growth.
"I don't have the money".
Absolutely everyone can reduce their living expenses by 10% and be perfectly happy! Could you live on your income if it were reduced by 10%? Do you have cable TV, a cell phone with email and a digital charge monthly? Do you get a manicure or a pedicure regularly? How often do you eat out?
"I don't know what niche to coach".
If you have not chosen your target coaching niche, defined your target coaching niche, set up your business structure, developed your identity statement or unique selling proposition then get my "Coaching Business Blast Off" home study course.
Invest in your business.
But don't invest if you are not going to do what the course directs you to do because these are the primary things you must do or your coaching business is destined to fail. Simply put you cannot sell to a market if you don't know who the market is!
I know two things for sure. One, if you keep doing what you have been doing you will get the same results you have been getting.
If you do nothing then nothing then your coaching business will not grow and eventually it will only be a wishful thought.
June 1, 2009
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