Should business coaches attend marketing seminars? Maybe you can relate to this: in a recent Facebook thread on the relative value and merits of marketing seminars, my FB friend BM wrote:
“I haven’t been to a live seminar in years. I’m too busy doing work for clients. How do I sharpen the axe?
“I have every book, ebook, and CD set that Bob Bly has published. … I’ve cut the number of other gurus I follow to three.
“It’s all recorded or printed so I can go back to school on my own time. After taking this inventory I realized that if I did nothing else I would not live long enough to read/listen to all of them again. And you want me to sign up for your seminar in Las Vegas? Egh!”
There are many who, like BM, are highly skeptical that the value of seminars outweighs the time it takes to attend, especially if the event requires plane travel.
And many others for whom the tuition is too stiff. They search for less expensive education and can almost always find it.
My take on expensive seminars and conferences– those with tuitions in the multiple thousands of dollars — and how to get essentially the same knowledge for less money and time — is as follows:
1–I always prefer to sample an expert’s free information before I pay.
Almost all gurus have websites with a ton of free content — yours for the taking.
Study that first.
If you don’t like that content, then why would you pay for more of the same?
(I just saved you a ton of money!)
I always prefer to sample an expert's free information before I pay. Almost all gurus have websites with a ton of free content -- yours for the taking. Study that first. If you don't like that content, then why would you pay for more of the same?
If you do like the free content on the guru’s website, then one of two things can happen.
Either it’s so useful that it answers what you needed to know, you don’t need to buy anything else, and you’ve solved your problem for free.
Or, it’s so good that you are now confident in getting more training and advice from this expert, and thereby improve your odds of successful learning while reducing risk.
After I study the free content (e.g., blog posts, articles, e-newsletters, free reports) … but before I move to a big purchase …
2–I look on Amazon to see whether the guru has written a traditionally published paperbound book on the topic.
A dirty little secret many info marketers don’t want you to know: often their books contain more content, better organized, and more clearly presented than their expensive courses and products.
Reason: mainstream publishers require a degree of editing, rewriting, copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading that 99% of info marketers don’t come close to. Result: clearer, more complete, and better-organized information.
3–Now, if you have gotten all you can from the guru’s low-cost/no-cost content … and you still want to study with them … you can safely and confidently invest in their higher-cost paid info products.
But … and this is a warning: do not overbuy.
Listen, I love it when I get an email showing a subscriber who just spent a grand with me buying a dozen different products; I like money same as anybody else.
But at the same time, I worry about that customer and information overload.
It’s like going bonkers at Barnes & Noble, buying every book that looks good to you, and then putting them on your shelf and never getting around to read them.
At least traditional paperbound books are a nice decorative touch in a room. You don’t get that with PDFs, mp3 files, and streaming audio. So unless you actually consume and use the content, buying info products is pointless.
I know this list isn’t conclusive. But these are the primary factors that weigh into my decision whether to pull the trigger, shell out the dough on an expensive seminar, and fly hours to attend … or walk away.
P.S. A confession: I am a terrible tightwad.
So if there’s a seminar I really want to go to in my field, I get out of paying … by asking the event producer if they’d like me to speak!
I offer to waive my usual speaking fee, which today is in the neighborhood of $6,500 — admittedly quite modest compared to what superstar speakers get.
I do ask that in return the producer allows me to attend the entire event tuition-free and also covers all my expenses — food, lodging, and travel.
If they say yes, and I really want to go, and can make the time, I go. Which given my workload and disdain for travel, is a real rarity for me today.
If you’re new to business coaching (or even if you’re not!), here’s an important truth. When you get right down to it, at our very core, business coaches are educators. In order to properly guide our coaching clients, we need them to be teachable–open to learning. And their openness to learning depends largely on one thing: their ability to listen. Of course, anyone who’s been a coach for any length of time understands that this can be a challenge. So how do you get business coaching clients to listen?
It might seem counter-intuitive, but the place to start isn’t with your business coaching clients.
It’s with yourself.
Examine your character, conduct, and concern for others. Ask yourself: Have I earned the right to speak?
Know Your Prospect
Now don’t get me wrong. You don’t have to know everything to be a successful business coach. Instead, you have to be aware of your particular gifts, experience, and expertise–as well as an honest awareness of where your expertise ends. Know what you do best. Find out what this is by looking at your strengths and what you are most passionate about.
Then, once you understand your most profound area of expertise–what we often call a “niche”–you must create an emotional connection with those you want to educate.
But how?
Here’s another counter-intuitive insight you need to understand if you want to get business coaching clients to listen.
Before they’ll listen to you, you must listen to them.
You must create an emotional connection with those you want to educate. But how? Before they'll listen to you, you must listen to them.
Get to know your target audience’s “hot buttons,” or a set of aspirations and problems that people can relate to.
This is simpler than it sounds. You can learn about your target audience’s hot buttons by asking them.
Call up a few contacts in the niche you want to target. Tell them you’re looking to become a business coach to companies in their industry and you want their advice. Take them to lunch. Ask them about their struggles, successes, and concerns. Take notes of what they say.
The truth is, people are generally eager to share what’s on their minds and hearts when they sense that the person asking them is listening carefully to them.
Once you’ve had a few of these conversations, review your notes. You’ll begin to spot themes emerging. These are your “hot buttons,” and now you can use them to engage both clients and prospects on a much deeper emotional level.
Engage Your Clients on an Emotional Level
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most admired figures in history. He is renowned for his wisdom; however, he had little formal education. He was highly respected because of his knowledge and insight.
Franklin was a keen reader and an intellectually curious man. Biographer Walter Isaacson called Franklin “the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.”
Why?
Because people felt an emotional connection when Franklin shared his wisdom.
When you create new educational content, whatever the format is–whether blogging, email, video, or one-on-one coaching–lean on the insights you gained by understanding your target audience’s hot buttons.
Speak directly into their core concerns and worries.
This will demonstrate your expertise, your care, your attention to detail, your willingness to listen.
And then something remarkable will happen: you’ll earn their respect.
And when you’ve earned their respect, you’ll discover that they’re willing to listen–really listen–to you.
Believe me, this will make your life as a business coach–and your clients’ lives–much easier. Your clients will get the results they’re looking for. And you’ll build the business coaching practice of your dreams.
As a business coach, you’re a superhero. You fly in and rescue people from their struggling businesses with super cool business growth technology, profit-maximizing tools, and advanced knowledge.
But just because you’re a business superhero doesn’t mean you’re superhuman.
Like Iron Man and Ironheart, you’re a human being inside–and for best results, you need a supersuit.
Your Business Coaching Exoskeleton
Tony Stark’s and Riri Williams’ exoskeletons transform them from ordinary people into superheroes.
That’s because the technology gives them strength and agility they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Of course, even in real life, exoskeletons can’t make you something you’re not; in the comics, Tony and Riri have innate traits of intelligence, courage, and quick thinking that their supersuits enhance.
So what’s your business coaching supersuit?
Here at the Coaches’ Coach, we think of our system–with our proven curriculum, tools, and strategies to both grow your practice and coach your clients–as something like a business coaching exoskeleton.
Not unlike the Iron Man suit, it takes ordinary business coaches and transforms them into extraordinary coaching heroes.
It helps you draw on your innate skills and gifts as a coach, while multiplying your effectiveness, through a comprehensive system that has been proven to work for coaches and clients in dozens of industries over and over and over again.
Draw on your innate skills and gifts as a coach, while multiplying your effectiveness, through a comprehensive system that has been proven to work for coaches and clients in dozens of industries over and over and over again.
I’m talking about marketing tools to generate more leads. Sales strategies to close more clients. Step-by-step “silver bullets” to help you solve your clients’ most significant business challenges. Even a comprehensive strategic plan to move from a hands-on (albeit high-paying) coaching practice to a full-fledged business coaching firm that runs without you and generates passive income along the way.
Your Business Coaching Supercomputer
Of course, what would Iron Man be without J.A.R.V.I.S., his supercomputer who helps Stark run his businesses and look after his security?
You need one, too.
Well, okay, maybe you don’t need a supercomputer per se, but you need a highly intelligent resource you can rely on to help you through a tight spot.
There’s a name for that, by the way.
It’s a coach.
Just like you tell your clients that they need a superhero coach, you need a superhero coach.
The Coaches’ Coach provides you with a Certified Coaches’ Coach who can guide you through the ups and downs of running a business coaching practice–and even a community if you’re in group coaching.
So you see what I mean?
Being a business coach is kind of like being Iron Man!
Especially if you take advantage of the best tools, technology, and resources in the field.
Give it a shot yourself! Get a FREE 30-day trial of our comprehensive business coaching system, including one-on-one coaching, and unlock the power of your own business coaching supersuit and supercomputer. 😉
Before you buy a business coaching franchise, ask yourself this question: do clients really buy business coaching franchise brands? Or are they buying something else?
To answer this question, you first need to understand that most business coaching franchise brands are trying to sell more franchises to prospective coaches, NOT business coaching itself.
After more than eight years in this business, experience with 7 different franchise systems, and over 1500 business coaching franchisees, I can count on just two hands the number of franchisees I know who have actually banked revenue as a direct result of the franchisor’s brand, marketing efforts, national strategic partnerships, or preferred vendor relationships.
In fact, not only do most franchisees receive next to nothing in the way of revenue from the franchisor’s marketing efforts, most of them are frustrated by their inability to market their business because of onerous franchise restrictions!
For example, most franchisors are so concerned about guarding the purity of their brand, that they won’t even allow you to have your own website or develop email marketing campaigns without going through an approval process. In some systems you won’t even be able to set up your own social networking sites. Talk about frustration!
Here’s one thing I can promise you. If you find a business coaching organization that has discovered how to generate more business than it can consume, they will not be making this available to use as a franchise opportunity! Remember, the whole point of the franchise model is to use YOUR money, YOUR time, and YOUR effort to build their brand! If they had that much business coming in, they wouldn’t be giving you 85% of the revenue, and keeping only 15% of it for themselves.
They would be hiring employees or opening company-owned locations to do the work for a fraction of the gross revenue.
Here’s how to know quickly and definitively if a franchisor is focused on selling a franchise or if they actually make their franchisees successful by giving them revenue. Look at the franchisor’s marketing campaigns. Are there any focused on making sales to the end users — or are they all focused on making franchise sales?
If the franchisor is concentrating on selling more franchises, this is a good indication that you will be left to your own devices to make sales. On the other hand, if the franchisor markets coaching services and refers inquiries back to the franchisee best equipped to make the sale, this is a good indication that the franchisor has your best interest in mind.
What Business Coaching Clients Are Really Buying When They Sign Up for Coaching
The sad truth is that most of the prominent business coaching franchise brands have nothing systematized whatsoever except how to sell franchises. Oh sure, they have a whole raft of books and training materials you can use, but nothing that approaches a real, step-by-step, paint-by-numbers system that a newbie could follow in a linear, rational fashion.
The fact is, your clients won’t be buying a particular business coaching franchise brand. They’ll buy you.
The fact is, your clients won’t be buying a particular business coaching franchise brand. They’ll buy you.
Franchisors don’t want to admit this, but it’s true.
Unlike products sold by Coca-Cola, McDonalds, or Apple, business coaching is a VERY personalized process. That means it’s up to you to make the sale. In most cases, any hope you have that you’ll get anything from the franchisor will be sorely disappointed.
Word to the wise, when crafting your financials for your due-diligence phase I would assume “ZERO” revenue will come from franchisor generated sources…all the onus of building your business will fall squarely on your shoulders.
In August, John Nieuwenburg banked $30,000 in business coaching fees for the first time eversince he began his career as a business coach in 2004. John has been generating $200,000 per year consistently, but this year he will DOUBLE that. In this video, John explains how he connected with his “Why” in a fresh way and clarified his lifestyle and financial goals to create the motivation to push to the next level.
