by Eric Dombach | How to Become a Business Coach
When I first decided to become a business coach, the biggest challenge to my success was overcoming the head trash plaguing my daily thought life.
You know what I’m talking about: that little voice in the back of your mind that keeps whispering: you can’t do this…what are you thinking?…of course no one wants to do business with you…you NEVER should have taken this risk…and so on.
It’s debilitating.
After all, in the immortal words of Henry Ford:
“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t…you are right.”
If you’ve recently made the decision to become a business coach, or are considering whether or not it’s right for you, I hope you’ll recognize this one simple truth: success begins in your own mind.
You ever see someone with sloppy, subpar results? It’s because they’ve got sloppy, subpar thoughts floating around in their mind.
You ever see someone with stellar, focused, organized results? It’s because they’ve trained themselves to think stellar, focused, organized thoughts first.
This isn’t another pitch for fluffy, feel-good “positive thinking.” Vague, happy thoughts don’t get you anywhere, either.
But you simply can’t get around the undeniable truth that SPECIFIC RESULTS require SPECIFIC THOUGHTS.
A Simple Mental Reframe to Help You Become a Business Coach
Ask anyone who has ever built something of real, lasting value. Do you think they just haphazardly threw something together and hoped for the best? Or did it take precise planning, specific action, and focused resolve?
Did Michelangelo wake up one morning and just kinda-sorta chisel a little bit here and there off a block of marble to create the David?
Did monkeys pounding on a typewriter produce the Complete Works of William Shakespeare?
Then why do you think you can do the same thing in your business and be okay?
So if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s because you’re not thinking the right kinds of thoughts.
The solution?
Turn your liabilities into assets!
Just what do I mean by that?
I mean change the way you think! Recognize that what seems to you right now to be a big problem can actually be a blessing in disguise, if you view it differently.
When I began in the business coaching industry, I didn’t have any sales training, professional network, or corporate experience. It was terrifying…UNTIL I created the table below that allowed me to eliminate negative self-talk and re-frame my experience. This is a very powerful technique that is used by top performance coaches and even psychologists to help people get out from under the weight of hopeless/negative thought patterns.
If you’re struggling with fear or are finding it difficult to take the first step on your journey to become a business coach, why don’t you do the same with your self-proclaimed liabilites? First, list everything that makes you anxious and de-motivated. Then, reframe what you’ve listed by doing a simple reversal. It can help to print out your table and post it somewhere you can see it, so that when the negative self-talk returns, you can look at it and remind yourself of your reframe.Make this a consistent practice, and you’ll transform your thought-life–and in so doing, the rest of your life–on your way to becoming the best business coach you can be. Then, check out the rest of the mindset shifts and practical to-dos that will help you become a business coach in my FREE ebook, How to Become a Business Coach and put yourself in a position to be successful in this industry.
by Eric Dombach | Business Coach Training
Are you ready for the #1 rule of successful business coach marketing (well, any marketing, for that matter)?
Nurture your database.
Your database is your most important marketing asset. When you treat it with the love and care it deserves, you’ll be rewarded handsomely.
I’ve been continuously amazed by the number of coaches whose database is a disparate collection of Excel spreadsheets, Outlook contacts, piles of business cards with rubber bands around them and even scraps of paper laying around the office. If that describes you, consider this your wake-up call!
The key to business coach marketing that works is building long-term relationships with the people in your database by continually providing high-value, educational content that is clear, compelling, and actionable. Here at the Coaches’ Coach, we strive for “10x content,” a term we picked up from the SEO masters over at Moz that basically means extremely impactful content that is head and shoulders above what your competition provides.
But it’s not just about SEO–though that’s a great side-benefit when you deploy 10x content on your blog or social media channels. More importantly, nurturing your database through high-value content keeps your prospects warm and engaged in a positive relationship with you. Even if they’re not ready to buy immediately, nurturing them over time will yield results. (And no: you don’t have to do this all digitally. In fact, we recommend a multi-channel approach, as I’ll explain in greater depth below.)
Three Keys to Database Management and Effective Business Coach Marketing
1) It’s gotta be targeted. Know who your clients are and speak to them directly. Generally, I recommend targeting small businesses turning over at least $250,000 in annual revenue per year. A business smaller than that will probably be too small and cash poor to be worth your time, unless group coaching is a major part of your business model. Some business coaching franchise systems will tell you that the annual revenue cut-off is $500K–but I’ve had numerous business coaching clients in the $250K-$500K range happily pay me $2,000+ per month for years on end! In fact, one of my favorite clients ever was generating just $475K per year when I signed him up for a business coaching program. He stayed with us for more than six years, doubled his revenue, retired all his business debt, and now lives the designer lifestyle he went into business to achieve!
2) You’ve gotta be consistent. Your database is the basis for all your business coach marketing campaigns for years on end, including email blasts, newsletters, notification of blog posts, targeted direct mail campaigns, and telemarketing. When I built my first $1 Million Dollar coaching firm over a four-year period, I worked the same database of about 15,000 records that I had purchased from a list broker using a single CRM package. My prospects got warmer and warmer over time, eventually yielding hundreds of business coaching clients. Of course, if you don’t build and warm-up a database over many months and years of consistent marketing, you’ll never be in a position to harvest a crop of ripe prospects ready to buy!
3) Do regular maintenance. Keep your database pruned to maximize your effort and minimize expenses. That means cleaning up old and outdated information. If you’re not keeping your database updated, you’re wasting money on postage and ineffective telemarketing calls! Every time a new lead comes in, make sure the record is complete with a quick web search to gather all relevant contact information. Check for duplicate records on the spot and regularly scrub your list.
When you market to your database consistently, great things will happen. For instance:
On one occasion, four guys (who I’d never met or even heard of) showed up at one of my local business growth seminars. I went over to them, introduced myself, and asked them why they came.
“We’ve been getting your mailings and telemarketing calls for over six months so we wanted to come check you out,” they said. “What do you have planned for this morning’s seminar?”
“Well, I’m going to teach you how to build an amazingly profitable business and then I’m going to get you started on one of my business coaching programs,” I said.
To my great surprise (and delight!) this was their response: “Sounds good!”
Two hours later, they were signing a business coaching agreement at the back of the room, complete with credit card details! That relationship added at least $20,000 of value to my business (and probably more when you consider the value of their referrals) and took me just six months to develop, using completely leveraged marketing strategies (direct mail and telemarketing) to my database.
You’ve got gems like that in your database, too–IF you’ve targeted it correctly, are adding consistent value, and doing regular maintenance. Check out my ebook, Secrets of a Business Coaching Rock Star, for more great strategies for getting value from your database and building a steady stream of business coach clients.
by Eric Dombach | Business Coach Training
Over the years, I’ve been approached literally hundreds of times to answer one crucial business coaching question: “What’s your ‘secret formula’ for long-term, steady success as a business coach?”
My response is always deceptively simple:
Do the RIGHT THINGS in SMALL AMOUNTS over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME.
The simple fact is that there’s no shortcut to success–no business coaching certificate, training, or tool that’s going to make you “automatic money”–yet I’ve watched dozens of business coaches struggle because they simply didn’t understand or wouldn’t apply this core principle to their daily lives.
That’s because most business coaches (heck, most people!) fall into one of three categories:
Burn-ups, burn-outs, and burn-ons.
Which one are YOU?
1. Burn-ups jump in with a ton of enthusiasm but NO plan–and as a result, soon run out of money or motivation.
What a tragedy!
When I joined my first business coaching franchise back in 2001, I made it a point to invest $2,000 per month in marketing — NO MATTER WHAT. That means I planned meticulously and made sure I had a sufficient war chest when I started. It took some time, but you know what? It worked.
Six months later I was billing over $10,000 per month. A few years after that I was billing over $85,000 per month and adding 5 clients to my firm each month.
By simply doing the RIGHT THINGS in SMALL AMOUNTS over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME, you can eliminate this problem.
2. Burn-outs run short on courage and persistence when things get tough.
I remember the thrill of landing my very first business coaching client on September 5th, 2001. Cash flow at last! Six days later, on September 11th, terrorists changed the world forever. The following week my first client quit my coaching program because his sales had dried up and he decided to close his business.
Here’s the reality, folks. Stuff happens. But you have to keep going. Are you constantly telling yourself that it needs to get better next week or next month or you’re going to quit and go back to what you know? If so, you may be a burn-out waiting to happen. You need to do the RIGHT THINGS in SMALL AMOUNTS over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME.
3. Burn-ons, on the other hand, know they’re in the game for the long-haul and understand that success is a journey.
They know there are treacherous obstacles to overcome on the road to long-term, reliable rewards as a business coach. Personal inexperience, poor positioning with clients, phone reluctance, bad budgeting, and lack of working capital can be scary obstacles, indeed.
But burn-ons plan well, work hard, and stay the course even when things go badly. They know that successful business coaching marketing campaigns don’t have an end date–that when you begin with a targeted list of suspects who meet your ideal client criteria, and continue with monthly contact over a period of years (yes, years!), you’ll win.
They do the RIGHT THINGS in SMALL AMOUNTS over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME.
Are you wondering just what those “right things” are? Then do yourself a favor. Try a 30-day free trial of our complete business coaching system–the same one I developed over 10 years to grow my firm to over a million dollars in revenue. Then, step by step, day, by day, implement the strategies you discover inside. It’s not rocket science to be a successful business coach–just the patience and willingness to do the RIGHT THINGS in SMALL AMOUNTS over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME. Enjoy!
by Eric Dombach | How to Become a Business Coach
If you’re to become a business coach, here’s one simple daily habit that will bring you more and higher business coaching clients and fees, and virtually guarantee your success…
Work the phone each and every morning until you book at least two Complimentary Coaching Sessions into your calendar!
This is the single-most important habit of my life as a business coach. More than any other habit, this one accounts for the 140% per year growth of my business coaching firm from 2001 to 2005 which culminated in a sale of the firm to my coaches for $1 million USD.
Now before you get alarmed that I’m suggesting you spend hours of your precious time cold calling, understand that I have almost NEVER cold-called during my entire career. In most instances, someone else has done the cold calling, and my work is making follow-up calls to warm leads and prospects at various stages in their decision-making process. We call this “warm calling” and that’s what you want to be doing with your phone each and every day. I’ll tell you more about how to make that happen in a minute, but first…
Why Will this Habit Help You Become a Business Coach Successfully?
Because marketing is just simple math.
When I first started my coaching business, my business coach was a former sales manager at a large Fortune 1000 company. He used to say to me, “Sales and marketing are just numbers games, so do the math and make the numbers work.”
I remember doing the math. If I booked just two Complimentary Coaching Sessions each day, I’d end up with 10 appointments per week.
Very quickly, I noticed that about half of my appointments would cancel. Over time, of course, I got better at positioning these appointments using various marketing techniques, and the percentages improved.
Still, I reasoned that if my 10 appointments turned into 5 actual appointments and I converted just 20% of them, I would get an average of 1 new client every week. And guess what? It worked!
In my fourth month as a business coach, I landed my first four clients. After that, I kept booking at least two Complimentary Coaching Sessions with small business owners each day and pretty soon I was banking $10,000 per month, then $20,000 per month, then $30,000 per month in business coaching fees!
So, if I could get you to do just one thing that would virtually guarantee your success as a business coach, it would be this: set aside the first 3 to 4 hours of each day to work the phone and keep doing it until you book at least two face to face appointments for that day. When you’ve got your two for the day, you can do other things!
Then, when you’re banking $10,000 per month or more, you can reduce the requirement to booking just one face to face appointment per day. This way you’ll maintain your sales momentum.
Get Appointments WITHOUT Cold Calling
Here’s the strategy I promised you about working the phone ONLY with warm prospects and leads.
Connect and Sell is a fantastic service we can’t recommend highly enough: it uses an auto-dialer and live, professional pre-screeners to ensure that you ONLY get connected with business owners who are genuinely interested in talking to you. Every call that gets transferred to you is a business owner who’s said YES–they’d like to talk to you and learn more! It’s a fantastic way to leverage your time each morning as you reach your goal of two appointments per day.
Regardless of the strategies you use to secure two appointments per day, this habit will pay off in a thriving, profitable practice and the rewards you’ve been seeking from your business coaching career.
by Eric Dombach | Business Coach Training
This week, I received an email from one of our members asking how to structure her group coaching program.
It’s a fantastic question–one that we receive often from our members.
That’s because group coaching is a fantastic top-of-funnel offering.
Group coaching allows you leverage your time, grow your pipeline of premium coaching clients, and expand your influence in your target market. It’s a way to give coaching clients a chance to get to know you and to rely on your services as they build community with other success-oriented business owners. Group coaching provides both marketing and bottom-line benefits, and I strongly encourage you to consider adding group coaching to your mix of services.
So let’s dive deep into some of the most common questions about group coaching.
Why would I offer group coaching as one of my business coaching programs?
Group coaching programs are ideal for businesses too small to afford one-on-one prices at $1,000 to $3,000 per month. It’s a great way to establish a coaching relationship with small-ish businesses. Over time, many of these group coaching clients will matriculate into a premium coaching relationship as their businesses grow and they’re able to afford the investment.
Another great reason to offer group coaching is because of the leverage effect: you can generate substantial revenue with a relatively small time investment.
How should I set the price for my group coaching program?
For starters, make it your ambition to earn at least as much (if not a whole lot more) money per hour from group coaching than you do from coaching clients one-on-one. We refer to this method of calculating your earning potential as the Effective Billable Rate (EBR). So your first step is to compute your EBR for your one-on-one coaching programs.
Let’s say that you charge $1,500 per month for one 30-minute business coaching call per week, and you do about an hour of prep and admin per account per month, for a total of three hours. Your EBR is $500/hour ($1,500/3 hours). Using your EBR for one-on-one clients as your standard, your group coaching program should be structured to deliver at least $500 per hour.
Say you decide to keep your group reasonably small so as to 1) be able to achieve a high level of personal interaction with the members, 2) leverage the power of peer-pressure among your members, and 3) encourage a culture of peer-mentoring in the group.
If you have a 1-hour coaching session every other week, plus 2 hours per month of prep time and administration, you need to collect at least $2,000 from the group to achieve your EBR standard ($500 * 4 hours). If you launch a group of four members paying $500 per month, you’ve hit your target! If you put five people per group, you’ll bank $2,500 per month, for an EBR of $625. That’s even better leverage than one-on-one coaching!
How long should my group coaching program last?
I recommend a 6-month experience with sessions every two weeks, totaling 12 total sessions. Why? Two weeks between sessions gives your clients time to apply what they learn and get serious value out of their investment–while leaving just enough room that they’re hungry for more.
How should I structure the content in my group coaching program?
Most of your group coaching sessions will be about 50% new content followed by question and answer time. Of course, every good business coaching program is based on rock-solid content that business owners can use immediately to grow their profits. I suggest taking your clients through the 5 Steps to Freedom and 21 Silver Bullets; these are powerful and effective principles that will supercharge almost any business.
(Not familiar with the 5 Steps to Freedom and 21 Silver Bullets? Take our entire business coach training system for a spin for 30 days and get acquainted with the methodology thousands of coaches have used to successfully work with their clients over the past 15 years.)
