Tag: coaching tools
We would all like to have more influence in our personal lives and our business. Robert Caldini, says that there are certain laws that apply to this great power and that we can harness those laws and use them to effect the outcomes of our interactions with others.
I would like to share two of those laws with you and discuss how these laws can help you attract coaching clients and how you can use them to persuade clients that coaching with you is a choice that will help them reach their desired goals.
The Law of Reciprocity
The law of reciprocity states that when someone does something for us or gives us something we feel a sense of indebtedness and we want to reciprocate in an effort to relieve that sense of obligation. When you take the time and effort to go the extra mile for your clients then they will feel an increased sense of indebtedness and loyalty. You can give to a potential client by helping them pinpoint what their problem is and showing them that there are many possible solutions.
Learn more about many client attraction strategies in my "No Sales Required Client Attraction" home study program.
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July 15, 2009
The key to having an attentive and involved audience when you are speaking is to make sure that you have researched the group you are speaking to. If you are addressing the needs, desires, and challenges of the group then they will be captivated.
I am sure you have been at an event where the speaker seemed to be speaking directly to your challenge or concern at the time. You were probably hangin the the speakers every word and wondering how he or she knew what was going on in your life.
This will be true for you when you have researched your audience properly and you address their challenges, needs and desires. But the truth is sometimes we misevaluate and things don't go as well as we would like so what do you do then?
The Only Thing You Can Control is Your Preparation and Response
You cannot control the audience. If people are fidgeting, going to the bathroom, talking to the person next to them, or sleeping there really is not anything you should or can do about it. Certainly do not call out or chastise the audience member. Just find the people who are interested and talk to them. It would be nice if everyone was kind and respectful but they often are not and it is not your job to control them or their behavior.
You can control how the room is set up. Make a plan for how you want the chairs arranged and the room set up if you are able to have any control over the room set up the sound equipment, and how you prepare for the event. Make sure you check the room set up and the sound before people arrive or have someone do that for you.Check your audio set up before you speak. Be relaxed and prepared and everything will be fine. Practice your workshop or speech the night before. Don't take yourself too seriously and be Ok with a mistake by remembering that when you make a mistake and move on the audience will like you better because they will see you are genuine.
NLP Exercise to Relieve Pre-Speaking Jitters and Fear
If you find that you have some jitters before you speak this simple yet powerful exercise will work to relieve the stress.
Close your eyes and place all of your fear in your left hand. Picture what it looks like, what color it is, what shape it is, how it feels, if it is hard or soft and focus on expanding it. Make the fear as large and strong as you can make it in your hand.
Next imagine calm, confidence, knowledge, success, and positive energy in your right hand. Let the positive energy intensify in your right hand and picture its power increasing.
Take and deep breathe and raise your powerfully positive right hand above your head then bring it down to smash the fear in your left hand. You can make a noise as you do this or do it silently. Be sure to exhale as you smash the right hand into the left hand. You have now allowed your power and confidence to destroy any fear or anxiety that you had.
July 9, 2009
Delivering dynamic and inspiring workshops and speeches is the most effective and fastest way to grow your business and attract new coaching clients. You can literally fill your coaching schedule with a few targeted and motivating workshops or speeches delivered to the right audience.
This method of client attraction will fill your coaching schedule quickly and you will not have to do any traditional selling. Most coaches love to help and serve others and that is exactly what you will be able to do when you are in front of a group of people who need and desire the information you are sharing.
Research Your Audience
To be effective in reaching the buying mindset of your audience you must know who they are and what they need. The products or services you have to offer must match the needs of the audience you are speaking to so it is imperative that you research your audience before you make contact to request a speaking opportunity. It will not be productive to speak to an audience that has not need or desire for your services so you want to make sure that your audience is a good match to your services and products.
You can get the details of what to include in a workshop or speech in my home study program "No Sales Required Client Attraction".
Use the internet to find groups that are related to your target coaching niche. Once you find a list of groups that are related to your target coaching niche determine the profile of the group members.
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July 2, 2009
There is a lot to learn about running and marketing a coaching business and in the process of getting a business going or learning new ways to attract client many coaches find themselves in a state of overwhelm. They have a large number of things that need to be done but they don't know where to start so the response is to do nothing.
Are Your Emotions Causing You to Stall Out in Your Coaching Business?
Too many coaches are unknowingly caught up in their emotions about different aspects of starting and growing a coaching business. These emotions sneak up and stall us out until we uncover them and learn how to overcome limiting thoughts and beliefs.
Overwhelm
We all know what happens when we do nothing. Yes, you guessed it nothing happens and our coaching business goes nowhere! Don't let overwhelm paralyze you.
The only way to overcome overwhelm is to plan. Even if you can only plan goals for one month go ahead and determine your goal. Begin to put daily strategies in place that will help you reach your goal. Take the goal step by step and only one major goal at a time.
Don't try to achieve six major goals in one month. Pick one or two major things and plan the actions you will need to take each week to achieve the two goals. Each day take a look at what you have to do that day and make a check list.
Lack of Confidence
There can be a lot of fear involved in trying something new especially something that involves technical skills, the well being of someone else or, public speaking skills. A successful coaching business can involve all of those things simultaneously. So you have to have a plan for dealing with the challenges.
The first step to dealing with this kind of fear is to recognize that it exists. It is easily hidden behind another emotion or line of thinking. Not charging enough for your coaching is the disguised version of the fear that you are not a competent coach but that can be difficult to see. Not going out and doing workshops or finding a coaching niche can be the fear of public speaking disguised as uncertainty about what area of coaching is best for you.
Once you recognize that something is holding you back from achieving the goals you have set then you can take a closer look to determine what fear may lie behind your inaction.
June 30, 2009
Statistics show that ninety percent of coaches make less than ten thousand dollars a year coaching. Why is that true? I think it is because too many coaches don't get out and seek clients. They are busy taking more courses to become a better coach or networking with other coaches. This article takes a look at the emotions behind this issue.
Perfectionism
Far too many coaches fail to get off the launching pad because they have an underlying desire to be perfect. This perfectionist attitude can stop you from starting anything if you don't think you can do it flawlessly. What happens if you coach someone and their life does not change? What if you coach someone and "bad" things happen to them? What if the solutions you help them find only create more challenges?
First let's remember that coaching is fluid and it is not all about you and how you coach. I firmly believe that you could be a monkey and be a good coach as long as you were a monkey that had good listening skills.
Think about how many people just need someone to listen to them with good listening skills! I believe that if you sat through an entire coaching session and did nothing more than listen to your client and encourage them to keep talking through their issues the client would receive great value from you as a coach. So don't let yourself believe the lie that coaching is totally dependent upon you or your coaching skills.
The fact is that if you want to get better at coaching you have to coach a lot. That means that you start now and go get some coaching clients. No, you will not be perfect and yes, you will make some mistakes but that is how we learn and improve our skills. I can guarantee that your skills as a coach will not increase until you begin coaching lots of clients.
Information Stagnation
Another perfectionist attitude I hear from coaches is I can't start marketing and doing things like the Internet or giving workshops because I don't have enough training.
Coaches are people who are curious and like to learn but this is a trap many coaches fall into and I call it "Information Stagnation". The thinking behind information stagnation is that one does not have the skills to do something perfectly therefore, one must take more classes and learn more before beginning a coaching business.
Wrong, the best way to learn is to be practicing coaching while getting information and input. You can get better at coaching by taking courses and I highly suggest it but you can also get in a rut of taking classes and never coaching.
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June 28, 2009
Coaches tell me they want a successful coaching business all the time but when I ask them what does your business plan look like? "What is your marketing strategy?" Even "Who is your target coaching niche?" I get the same response "Well, I don't really have one yet." Well, I ask, how is that working for you?
Failing to plan for your coaching business is like planning to fail in your coaching business. You have to have a plan and work that plan. Would you go to a surgeon who did not have a plan for your surgery? Would you go to an accountant who did not have a plan for your taxes? Then why would you allow yourself not to have a plan for your own business?
Develop Your Marketing Plan and Work It
You must have a plan to marketing and grow your coaching business. Success does not usually happen by accident it requires planning and hard work on a consistent basis. Start with a marketing plan for your coaching business. Set goals and determine the strategies you will employ to reach those goals.
Your goals should include the income you desire, the number of hours you wish to work, the type of clients you want to work with, where you want to work and how you want to structure your business. Goals are not simply numbers of hours coaching or income earned they include lifestyle choices.
If you don't have a plan for how to attract clients to your coaching business then you need to get my "No Sales Required Client Attraction" home study program.
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June 23, 2009
It can sound like people are speaking a foriegn language when you hear all the different words like tweet, tweeting, follow Friday, hash tag, and direct message. Twitter has grown to be a huge social media tool. Even CNN has a "Twitter Board."
Twitter is a great social media tool and it can be your most valuable marketing tool if you use it right. You can reach many targeted users and share your knowledge while attracting them to your coaching business. This article will cover the basics of Twitter and how you can use it as a marketing tool to grow your coaching business.
Twitter
Twitter is a micro-blogging network. You can post brief 140 character messages on Twitter. This makes you become a great copy writer because you must get down to the core elements of every thought if you have to get your point across in 140 characters or less.
On twitter you have followers and you follow people. The first challenge is figuring out who you want to follow. I suggest finding a few leaders in your target niche and following them. The next step is to go to their page and see how many other people are following them. It is very likely that a successful thought leader in your niche will have thousands of followers so you can begin by following the people that are following the thought leader. Soon the people you have followed will follow you back and your list of followers who have an interest in your target coaching niche will begin to grow.
Perfect Your Profile
Make certain that your profile is set up to attract potential coaching clients and direct them to your blog or website. Your profile on Twitter is a crucial part of building your reputation and your business so you want to be very deliberate about what you include in your Twitter profile.
Always
include a photograph. This is social media and people want to know what
you look like so they can get to know you. Make sure that your
photograph is professional and that you look happy an to others. I see too many photos that look like a mug shot rather than an invitation.
Make sure your profile includes your unique selling proposing or branding statement. Include an offer and where someone can take you up on your offer. Send them to your opt-in page so they can get whatever you are offering and you can get their name and email address.
There are many places that you can find interesting Twitter backgrounds that allow you to promote your business and provide information as a part of the background. Just search for Twitter backgrounds and you will find many resources.
Like any group Twitter has its own language so I want to give you a few terms and definitions used on Twitter. Tweet is a message on Twitter. You can also suggest people for others to follow and Friday is the traditional day to suggest people for others to follow. Twitter users call this "follow Friday" and use a hash tag or pound symbol to classify a follow Friday tweet. When you see #FF or #followfriday you will know that that is a way of placing that message in a specific group.
Suggesting that people follow others is a great way to gain rapport with Twitter people and it is a great way to spread your message virally. Another tradition on Twitter is to re-tweet a post that you think is especially good. You do this by using the persons Twitter name and typing RT in front of their Tweet. Re-tweeting will quickly win you fans on Twitter.
Try to tweet your own original content rather than constantly tweeting quotes from others because you are promoting you and your business. An occasional quote is fine but not too many.
Twitter is also a wonderful resource for doing research in your target coaching niche. You can ask questions and ask for opinions on Twitter and get instant feedback.
There is literally hundreds of Twitter applications that do all sorts of thing here are a few. Tweetlater.com allows you to schedule tweets for the future. Friendorfollow.com helps you look at who is following you and who is not. Tweetdeck.com does all sorts different things. If you Google Twitter applications you will find many. I have to wonder if you need an application to deal with your Twitter account then are you spending too much time on Twitter and not enough time producing income.
June 16, 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
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
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