Many business coaching franchisees who contact us here at the Coaches’ Coach are struggling, frustrated, and discouraged, because their business coaching franchise isn’t profiting like they thought it would.
If you ask your business coaching franchise the question, “why isn’t this working?” they’ll probably tell you their system works just fine, it’s just that there’s something wrong with you.
This is only a partial truth.
Having spent six years recruiting folks just like you into five of the most prominent business coaching franchise systems in the world, I can tell you that there are five reasons business coaching franchises fail–and this video outlines them in detail.
If you’re a frustrated business coaching franchisee, take a few minutes to watch now. It’ll help you find the answers you’ve been looking for…
For more information on the business of business coaching, as well as a comprehensive breakdown of all the ins and outs of buying a business coaching franchise, check out our FREE ebook, The Business Coaching Franchise Buyer’s Guide.
The best and most leveraged way to grow your practice is by getting business coaching referrals.
Often, referrals come naturally, as your clients’ success leads them to recommend other entrepreneurs and business owners to you.
However, you can accelerate the process with an intentional habit of asking for referrals.
Keep in mind the value of your coaching. Remember that most people enjoy helping others. Give them that pleasure. Asking for referrals is a win-win activity.
Follow my three-step formula for more business coaching referrals, and you’ll accelerate your growth––without begging or hassle.
I call my referral process EAR.
Earn, Ask, Reward.
Here’s how it works:
Earn
The first step is earn. The fact is, before you can even think about asking for a business coaching referral, you’ve got to earn it. And that means delivering all-star service, all the time. It means listening to your clients. It means caring about them. It means building solid relationships of trust. It means making sure you’re poised and effective and able to solve their problems and deliver over-the-top value.
Ask
Then, once you’ve earned it, you’ve got to ask.
And you’ve got to ask consistently and systematically. This is what will really set you apart from most other business coaches––and it will be a major difference-maker in you results.
When you approach this properly, they’ll feel flattered that you’re coming to them for help!
There are many ways to ask for business coaching referrals. You can ask personally. You can send an email or a greeting card. You can call them on the phone. But whatever you do, make sure it’s systematic––or you’ll diminish its effectiveness.
There are many ways to ask for business coaching referrals. You can ask personally. You can send an email or a greeting card. You can call them on the phone. But whatever you do, make sure it's systematic--or you'll diminish its effectiveness.
Call a friend or business colleague that you believe knows, likes, and trusts you enough to answer “YES” to the following question: “I’m expanding my coaching business and I need your help. Could you meet me for breakfast or lunch on Wednesday to discuss how you can help?”
When you sit down with them, show them your “hot bio” and your “ideal client profile.” Ask them to think of people they know who match your ideal client profile. Emphasize that this is a brainstorming session, that’s it. As they list names, write them down. Encourage them to keep going. Don’t stop until there are 15-20 names on the list. Then ask them to identify their “top ten.”
Starting with the last name on the list, ask, “What’s wrong with John? Why is he not in your top 10?” Whatever they say, you reply, “That’s okay. We’ll get rid of him.” And cross him off the list. Then do the same thing with the rest until they say, “STOP! The rest are good!”
Why do you ask this way? Because suddenly they become an advocate of those names! And they’re willing to introduce you to them. Give your friend an email template to introduce you to each other (we have one you can use). Then make the phone call using our Silver Bullet script and follow the sales process from there!
Boom! Now you’ve got 10 leads you can reach out to.
Reward
Once you’ve earned and asked, it’s time to reward. Whenever a referral comes in, be sure to acknowledge the client who sent them. This can take many forms. At the very least, send a hand-written thank you note. If appropriate, include a gift. Some coaches even do quarterly “referral recognition dinners” and invite all referring clients to a fancy evening out on the town.
Remember that what you acknowledge, you reinforce, and by acknowledging and rewarding customers who refer, you’re teaching them that their kindness doesn’t go unnoticed. The result will be more referrals, more consistently.
Implement a systematic EAR referral program, and you’ll grow your business faster than you ever thought possible!
Today, I want to tell you a personal story about perseverance, what I’ve discovered is the key to business coaching success…
It’s June 2001.
I’m a brand new business coach, having just decided to give it a shot after spending seven years as pastor to a small congregation in my local community.
It’s a huge transition, but I’m excited. I’ve just returned from a 10-day training with the business coaching franchise I’ve just joined, their business-building advice ringing in my head–and an insatiable desire to succeed burning in my chest.
Every morning, I start my day on my back porch, praying like crazy for new clients.
But I don’t just pray.
I pour my heart, soul, and cash into growing my new business.
My wife and I scrape together $5,000 to invest in marketing. And I try everything I can think of: direct mail, newspaper ads, chamber mailings, telemarketing groups, networking, strategic alliances, referrals–if there’s a marketing strategy I hear about, I give it a shot.
The months pass. First one, then two, then three…and four months later, I have nothing to show for my efforts but a dwindling bank account, a notebook full of “hard lessons learned”…and some wounded pride.
But all that is about to change.
Because finally, after more than twenty absolutely dismal face-to-face sales meetings, I land my first client! Success, at last!
My heart soars. My big break!
Then…something I could have never predicted…
In the middle of the initial consultation, the client’s accountant storms in (uninvited and unannounced) with all the aggression of a mother bear guarding her cub.
He begins interrogating me about my background and competence as a coach–and since I have no professional track record except for my time in the clergy…well, let’s just say that five minutes later I’m out on the street wondering what on earth just happened.
The next day, the client is in my face, demanding a full refund, and threatening to sue if I don’t return his money.
Ouch.
My first client–GONE. After just one consultation.
Don’t Take Your Foot Off the Gas Pedal
But I don’t let it stop me.
You see, by now I know that marketing is just a mathematical exercise. Because of that perspective, I control the emotional impact of this setback, pick myself up, dust myself off, and press forward.
Day after day, week after week.
Then, a month or two later, I convert four face-to-face sales meetings into clients in just one month! When I add up the revenue from these four new clients, I bank over $10,000!
But even more important than the cash flow, I realize that I’ve gained an incredible perspective–a perspective that has been worth millions to me ever since:
Don’t take your foot off the gas pedal.
You see, as soon as that money hit my bank account, I reinvested it immediately back into my business.
As a result, in 2002, I hit $25,000 a month. In late ’03, I nailed my first $40 grand month. In ’04, I generated $85,000 each month in sales.
By mid-2005 I’d added a total of 7 coaches to my business and sold the whole kit ‘n’ caboodle for a cool million.
Since then, I’ve built several successful businesses using this same exact strategy.
Business Coaching Success Requires Relentless Re-Investment
As soon as your marketing investment pays off and you land a new client or two, you’ve just generated additional money you can turn around and put right back into growing your business. And you can repeat it over and over and over again until you’ve created the coaching practice you’re dreaming of.
It’s simple mathematics. Anyone can do it. And yet…one of the biggest reasons business coaches starve is because they do the exact opposite of what it takes to be successful.
As soon as they get a little cash, they take their foot off the gas.
You’ve been there, right?
You market, sell, and promote like mad…and then you finally land some new clients. BINGO! Then, intoxicated with your success, instead of RE-investing it in marketing like you should, you spend it.
It’s a recipe for disaster!
Sow your seeds today so you can reap rewards tomorrow.
Think of it this way. The more chances you have to make a sale, the better you’ll get at closing. The more sales you close, the more coaching you’ll do. The more coaching you do, the more referrals you’ll get. And everything begins to spiral upward from there.
So put your foot on the gas and never let up…even if you think you’re “in the clear” for a moment.
The more chances you have to make a sale, the better you'll get at closing. The more sales you close, the more coaching you'll do. The more coaching you do, the more referrals you'll get. And everything begins to spiral upward from there. So put your foot on the gas and never let up.
Back when I was coaching and consulting full time, I learned a hugely helpful lesson in improving my effectiveness. It’s pretty simple–what I like to call the business-changing magic of keeping it real. Or: “If you feel it, find a way to say it.”
Sounds simple, but it’s incredibly powerful to use as a guide in your interactions with clients.
Like many coaches and consultants, I’m a rational type. I’m not super comfortable with conflict or anger or other emotional issues that sometimes arise in any business relationship.
So when I picked up that my client might be concerned about something, or angry, or disappointed or whatever, I tended to keep quiet.
“Let’s not open that can of worms,” I’d think to myself as I swept the issue under the carpet and acted as if nothing was wrong.
And, of course, that’s rarely the right thing to do. It usually comes back to haunt you. Bad feelings fester and grow out of proportion to their causes until they become much more destructive than if they’d been addressed early.
Keeping it Real with Your Coaching Clients
The “if you feel it, find a way to say it” principle encourages you to speak out if you sense something is wrong.
Here are some phrases to try:
“I get the sense you’re not fully comfortable with this plan…”
“It feels like something else may be worrying you right now, is that right…?”
Having the courage to say what you’re feeling or sensing gives your client a chance to open up, and almost always diffuses situations that could become relationship-destroying if left unchecked.
Having the courage to say what you're feeling or sensing gives your client a chance to open up, and almost always diffuses situations that could become relationship-destroying if left unchecked.
Keeping it Real with Your Business Coaching Prospects
It works in sales too, before you even close the deal.
Often we pick up that our prospects might not be fully bought into what we’re proposing. Or they may have some objections to our solution. Or they might just not believe what we’re saying.
Usually we get a feeling that something’s not right. But we tend to ignore it, ploughing on through, getting to the end of the meeting unscathed, and submitting the proposal–only to find out later we didn’t win the client.
Far better to say what we’re feeling. Give your potential client a chance to get any issues they might have out on the table so you can address them.
You’re much more likely to win a sale as a result, rather than just bulldozing past their objections.
Hi Eric – Since joining your program, I’ve picked up 7 new coaching clients, and they’re doing well! In my most recent event, I was able to convert 7 members out of the 20 people who showed up, which is a pretty darn high conversion rate. I threw out what marketing I had been doing from my Franchise and used your acquisition formula instead. I have $8,000 in new, recurring monthly revenue to show for it. By the time the event was done, they had seen me facilitate the business owners roundtable and saw that I knew what I was doing. The number of people who wanted coaching was incredibly high, especially after they heard my offer to benchmark their financials and discuss their challenges. They said, “Yeah, of course I’m going to sign up!” I’m using your stuff because your intellectual property and content is at a very high level. It is proven and enduring material which adds a lot of value to my clients. My franchise is so far behind what you’ve put together, it doesn’t even come close. Coaches’ Coach is a superior product. So what is it? It’s solutions-based coaching, which is what the market wants and needs. If I had only run into you sooner and adopted your techniques, I would have slayed this thing way sooner and had more fun doing it!
