Get Coaching Clients by Facilitating Workshops
February 8, 2010
The first thing new coaches want to know is how to get more coaching clients quickly. Most coaches spend time getting a fancy logo designed, designing a website, getting business cards printed and writing brochures thinking all these things are necessary before they begin to market their business. Not true!
The best step you can take at any point in your coaching career to get new coaching clients quickly is to begin conducting workshops. I suggest that you begin by conducting live workshops in your local market. Later you can modify these workshops to become online workshop or online courses. You can even begin conducting your own events by adding other compatible experts to your team and conducting two or three day workshops.
Leading workshops gives you instant expert status and authority. There is a big difference between leading a workshop and lecturing. There is also a big difference between leading a workshop and facilitating a great workshop.
Facilitation is far different than other forms of teaching and being a great facilitator is the key to gaining recognition in your market. When you lead a great workshop it is very easy and natural for attendees to want to continue the experience by working with you as a coach.
What is a Facilitator vs. an Instructor?
A teacher distributes information to students who are required to absorb the information and be tested on it to ensure their learning. A facilitator is a person who manages information exchange between group members. Facilitators may be experts in the topic but their focus is to encourage learning through experience, activity, and discussion. A facilitator’s job is to create an environment where learning, discussion and interaction take place.
The interaction, learning, sharing and physical experience are what makes a workshop a unique and special experience. A great facilitator is a master of many skills including interpersonal relations, observation, intuition, insight, tact and control. The facilitator must keep the environment interesting yet controlled enough to allow maximum learning for all participants. Speaking of participants, they will be varied in personality, learning speed, learning style and prior knowledge so the facilitator must use keen interpersonal skill to ensure that each participant has a rich learning experience.
A facilitator must also keep in mind that they are there to assist in the learning process not as a soley as a transmitter or disseminator of information. The learning takes place through the sharing and participation of the participants.
Filed under: Workshops and Networking
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