I recently read a fantastic book by Daniel Priestley called Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You. I recommend you read the whole thing, but one principle in particular struck me as especially relevant–a business coach growth tip I’ve been teaching for years.
It’s this: give ideas away, charge for implementation.
In the information age, prospective clients are bombarded with offers to buy this book, that course, or these downloadable audio programs that will change their lives forever.
But what they desperately need is someone to help them sort through the abundance of information available at their fingertips and to move it from head knowledge to on-the-ground results.
That’s where you come in.
Information Doesn’t Sell Anymore
Priestley argues:
[S]ome people…are still under the impression that their information is somehow more valuable and they should make money from it. I see plenty of people trying to make money from ebooks, downloads, and audio programs. They refuse to acknowledge the world has changed.
Now don’t get me wrong: in a sea of information, even your free content has to be high quality and differentiating. But the way you cut through the clutter is to have better ideas, more consistently, than your competitors–so that you become a trusted source of knowledge, and so they turn to you first when they need help making things happen.
[S]ome people...are still under the impression that their information is somehow more valuable and they should make money from it. I see plenty of people trying to make money from ebooks, downloads, and audio programs. They refuse to acknowledge the world has changed.
Priestley gives five levels of value, as he describes below. A well-rounded business coaching practice would have some of each (and I’ve included examples of what that might look like).
Information or ideas – People are drowning in ideas, information, recipes, and strategies. You can give people a blueprint of a stealth bomber these days and they would lose it on their ‘downloads’ folder. Information and ideas are good to give to potential clients to demonstrate that your company is a thought leader; the days of trading on ideas and information are numbered. Business coaching example: a book, ebook, podcast, blog, info-graphic, or whitepaper.
Components – This is where you sell the ‘building blocks’ that people need to create something themselves. Components could be raw materials, basic services or regular commodities. You’ll need to sell a lot of these if you want to make any money. Business coaching example: Benchmark Boss or the Flippen Profile.
Supervision – This is the lowest form of implementation work you can offer. It’s where your company provides close and ongoing supervision while your clients works on achieving an outcome. Be aware you are dangerously close to selling ideas unless you’re taking an active role on the client’s ongoing journey and assisting them in getting the results they want. If there’s no real accountability of personalization, this type of implementation will lose its value. Business coaching example: a membership site.
Done with you – This is…where you and your clients work together to create an outcome. They provide some of the work and so does your business. This is, essentially, business coaching.
Done for you – This is a solution whereby your business has created a full and complete answer to a problem your client needs solved. Business coaching example: full service marketing, accounting, or other business service agencies with which you create joint ventures to recommend to your clients for ongoing referral fees.
Improve your business coaching practice by thinking about how you can diversify your offerings, create more engagement from prospects, and close more business! And for a step by step guide on how to become a business coach, check out our FREE ebook, How to Become a Business Coach.
I know instantly whether a potential copywriting client and I are simpatico just by the marketing terms he or she uses.
For instance, when I hear a client use words like “response” …”conversion” … “click-through rates” … “break-even” … “results” …”leads” … “sales” … “selling” … “offer” … “closing” … “call to action” … or “profits” …
… I know we pray from the same hymnal of direct response.
It’s only when clients use other marketing words that my radar signals we might not be a good fit.
In the business coaching industry, the same principle applies. There are concepts and marketing terms business coaches should simply avoid.
For instance, it was trendy for a time to say that marketing is having “conversations” and not selling.
When I wrote about conversations in this e-newsletter, subscriber WM replied:
“I am a salesman. At the end of the month, my sales manager asks me how much I sold. If I was to reply, ‘I didn’t sell anything, but I had a lot of conversations’ — I’d be out on the street.”
As a business coach, this is even more true. In most cases, you’re a solopreneur. If you don’t sell, you don’t eat.
I’m not saying conversations are not a valid part of the sales and marketing process.
But marketers who focus on “conversation” sometimes do so to avoid revealing that they do not know how to sell.
"I am a salesman. At the end of the month, my sales manager asks me how much I sold. If I was to reply, 'I didn't sell anything,
but I had a lot of conversations' -- I'd be out on the street."
Other Marketing Terms Business Coaches Should Think Twice About
“Branding” always makes me a bit wary. Yes, it’s also a valid and often important part of marketing.
But in marketing speak, it’s often code for, “We just position our product in the marketplace but don’t know how to sell.”
And “brand awareness” is sometimes code for, “I talk about awareness because it can’t really be measured and therefore I am shielded from having to produce a result that can be measured, which would reveal whether my ad is working and profitable.”
For many years, “content” didn’t sit well with me, as I thought it devalued and positioned writing as a commodity — just as calling a writer a “wordsmith” did back in the day.
But content has become an accepted term, and I am good with it now.
Same with “content marketing,” which we used to call “getting more leads and sales by giving away free information.”
The title “content marketing strategist” though is a bit overblown to me, as many (not all) people who call themselves that essentially just write online articles for clients.
“Impressions” is another term I shy away from. I am not trying to impress anyone. I am trying to sell them a product or service.
“Likes,” “followers,” and “connections” in social media. Well, they are valid and measurable, and have some value.
But they are nothing to get excited about, if they are not driving traffic, converting, and filling up your funnel with hot business coaching leads or bank account with money from new client contracts.
Any particular marketing terms you like or don’t like? And do you agree or disagree with my assessment of marketing lingo here?
If you’re like most business coaches, you have a database of leads and contacts you’re working slowly over time. But do you ever struggle with the question of when to push harder, and when to let up in your sales efforts? How do you know when business coaching prospects are ready to sign up for services?
The other week, I was asked to join a panel on a webinar around this question–and it has a lot of resonances for business coaches: “Should sales follow up content marketing?”
After all, as a business coach, content marketing is the best and most effective way to demonstrate your credibility and authority. But how can you know when business coaching prospects are ready to move from your marketing funnel to your sales funnel?
The Middle Way Between Being Pushy and Being Neglectful
On the webinar, there were a lot of strong feelings. Panelists reported feeling hassled and “spammed” when business called them after downloading a whitepaper or signing up for reports.
And many business coaches struggle to know how to follow up appropriately once they’ve made first contact. “Am I being too pushy on the one hand, or not following up fast enough on the other?”
Here’s the answer hiding in plain sight: let your potential clients tell you themselves what’s appropriate.
I don’t mean just ask them outright. They probably won’t know. I mean let their actions tell you.
How to Know When Business Coaching Prospects Are Ready to Act
Whenever someone signs up for my regular emails they usually fall into two camps. One group is ready to take action straight away, the other (usually larger group) needs some warming up.
So I send helpful emails with useful information to build credibility and trust. But I mix in emails that ask questions or offer something for them to do like watch a video or complete a survey.
Who should I focus my personal follow-up on? It’s the people who take actions that show they’re the most interested. The ones who watch the videos straight away or hit reply and ask me questions or give feedback.
So I watch my open and click-through rates. I use my website analytics tools to see who’s downloading what. I watch my email inbox to replies to my questions, and my survey software for responses to my surveys.
Those are the ones I focus on for follow-up.
Who should I focus my personal follow-up on? It's the people who take actions that show they're the most interested. The ones who watch the videos straight away or hit reply and ask me questions or give feedback.
I don’t ignore the others. They keep getting my regular emails and I hope they find them useful. I’ve learned that at some point, something will happen, and many of them will get more active–and I’ll pick it up then.
You can do the same no matter how you interact with potential clients. Keep a regular “drip feed” of valuable communications going: invite them to events, mail them useful articles, invite them for coffee. Make sure you can see when they take action and when they do, increase the follow-up.
That way you’ll get your follow-up right. Fast and frequent for the ones that want it. Regular and value-added for those who aren’t ready yet.
And it’s effective follow-up that wins clients.
For more great tips and tricks, get a FREE 30-day trial of the Coaches’ Coach comprehensive business coaching system!
After over a year of trying to build my business coaching practice, I had almost nothing to show for it. Sure, I got some clients and I got some good results for them, but my own revenue and cashflow was inconsistent and unsustainable. I was either coaching for free or practically free, but either way something had to change… FAST.
Well, about 6 weeks ago I saw an email about a group CoachesCoach program Eric was starting later that month. and I decided to click the link, fill out the form, and schedule a strategy call… after all, what could it hurt, right?
Now I’ve been in the program for three weeks, and I am kicking myself for not starting with Eric or his certified CoachesCoach team of coaches. I’ve been in the program for less than three weeks and am busier than I’ve ever been. My schedule has been booked solid 2 ½ weeks out and I just closed my first coaching client for $3,000 upfront and paying $1,500 a month…. In just three weeks!
It’s better than that though… with Eric as my coach, I’m just a text or quick message away from getting answers to all my questions. From the simple questions, like what do I wear on my complimentary coaching session tomorrow morning, or to the more complicated things, like how to get in front of a room full of people who want to talk with me about coaching… I have access to it all.
Plus all of Eric’s experience starting, growing, and selling his coaching practice and helping thousands of people around the world to do the same has been crunched down into a streamlined process, that you can now access, use and implement to achieve time freedom, increased wealth, financial independence, security & consistency of income, and more than anything else, a business you can be proud of… and sell for a profit.
Listen, I am still kicking myself for not starting sooner. I’ve heard it said, “A year from now you will have arrived… the question is where will you arrive.” With Eric’s coaching and the CoachesCoach system, I know I’ll be arriving at $10,000 or $20,000 a month coaching revenue in a few more months.
UPDATE:
BANG! Eric Dombach’s CoachesCoach 100% Sales System Delivers again! I’m glad to take the title as 100% closer and thrilled to have put over $32,000 of annual coaching fees in my first full month in the program!
My first appointment had ZERO objections, but I had to get my objection-handling ninja moves out on this call. Thank you, guys! I could not have done it without this group coaching program and especially the awesome training Eric has put together in the MyCoachesCoach membership area.
Don’t wait as long as I did. Really. Get on board with CoachesCoach. Eric and his team of coaches will take you where you’re wanting to go, but you have to make the jump and get started.
David Robertson
CEO and Lead Business Coach
Growthpoint Coaching, Inc.
Far too many coaches (myself included) use the terrible excuse of “I haven’t got the time for marketing” or “I haven’t got the time to learn how to do it properly.” But if you want your practice to thrive, it’s absolutely vital that you find time for business coach marketing. So now I’m going to give you something extra to slot into that priority time. Here’s a simple business coach marketing strategy to rekindle old contacts and get big results.
What I want you to do is make a list of three people.
Not just any people. One person in each of the following criteria:
One old contact you did great work with but have fallen out of touch with;
One current contact who has the potential to become a great client or business partner for you;
One current contact who is kind of just starting out, but could get a great boost from some free help from you.
Do it now. Don’t wait. Just get out a pen and paper and make some notes. Should only take you a few minutes.
Now, for each of the names on the list, write down something you could send them that they’d really value and find useful. I’m thinking here about articles or videos you could send a link to, maybe a book you could post to them. Or an event you could take them to.
If you don’t know what it might be specifically yet, just write down the sort of thing you’d like to send them. You can search for something that fits the bill later.
During the next week: do that useful thing for them
Do it first thing in the morning when you get to work. One per day on any three of your working days.
Here’s what you’re going to learn when you do this simple business coach marketing strategy:
First, it’s surprising just how many of them will really appreciate hearing from you. Especially since you’ll have put a bit of thought into finding something useful to send them. This will give you a bit more confidence to contact people in the future.
Over the next week, do one useful thing for three prospective clients. Do it first thing in the morning. It's surprising just how many of them will really appreciate hearing from you.
Second, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is. Just block off a few minutes of time and shoot them an email or pop something in the post. Or maybe even phone them.
Finally, you’ll be pleased with the results. Out of three re-energized contacts during the week, it’s a racing certainty that at least one will do something to help you back.
See where you get by the end of the week. If it feels like you’ve been able to manage it within your workload, then do it again next week. And the week after.
Pretty soon you’ll become a “follow-up machine.” With results to match.
