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Dear Anne, I decided to create an article to answer your question as I believe more coaches may benefit from this, so here it goes:
Question:
“Hi Cris, my name is Anne (name changed to maintain confidentiality) and I am a Stress Relief Life Coach. I recently created my own website & I am very much involved in social media but am having trouble getting clients. Since you are established in the coaching business would you mind giving me some advice? It would be appreciated! Thank you for your time hope to hear from you!”
My Experience:
Hi Anne, thanks for connecting!
I am sharing below what worked and has been working for me, totally taking my coaching hat of with your permission to give you my personal advice…
- Book recommendation:
When I first started, I got a ton of great info from the book The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients
After reading this book, you will learn that being noticed is important (social media, website, etc…) but, what matters the most is the coach you truly are, live, breathe and exhale to anyone that surrounds you. By doing that, your ideal clients will be attracted to you based on your why and not on what you do.
How do you receive this?
“I am a (niche) coach”…
Or this?
“I am the soothing light that helps people overcome stress to have peace of mind to do what they truly love and desire.”…
See what I am saying? Who would you want to work with?
2. Do brag about your certifications:
I notice a lot of people calling themselves “coaches” nowadays… Most are not certified and properly trained coaches, and having worked as a coach before as a hobby and professionally after my trainings, I now see the difference. Having said that, I highly recommend anyone to work with a certified coach, or a soon to be coach going through an accredited type of certification (they typically offer lower pricing as they will be training with you). For accreditation, I recommend checking the ICF site to find approved trainings. If you are a certified coach, make sure you mention it whenever you have a chance. We are working with human beings, it is not a trial and error game. Being certified shows you take pride and responsibility to know what you are doing. You earned it, use it!
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it!”
Today, I always recommend working with certified coaches, as I always see us humans as delicate beings and a coach that doesn’t know what they are doing may cause more damage than truly help. I had a top notch business coach once that ruined the most beautiful story of my life without even noticing it was done… This is a perfect example of a business consultant delivering mentoring and consulting as if it was coaching. Coaching is different as you know… After my experience, I consider risky working with anyone that is not properly trained and certified.
3. If you don’t have one, get a coach!
I have a Mini Cooper, and I love it… While taking my super ride to the dealer, one sales person told me they are all required to have Minis. How much credit would you give me if I was selling you a Mini at the dealer:
Sales person: Look, Minis are AMAZING!!! You will love the smooth ride, it is fuel efficient, and totally fun…
Buyer: Oh, that sounds exciting!!! How long have you had your Mini for?
Sales person: Well, I have a big family and the Mini is not convenient for me, so I have a pickup truck. “BUT” If I had a smaller family, boy oh, boy I would have a Mini.
Zig Ziglar also mentions the importance of “owning” the product you sell on his best selling book Secrets of Closing the Sale
“Closers own what they sell.” – Zig Ziglar
4. Find your WHY:
I guess my point is… Why what you offer would even matter to your ideal client? What will it do for them? What do you have that will inspire them to become a better person, make more money, be happier… (results you offer) As with any business, the spotlight is on the client and we coaches have the job to empower and hold a safe space so the client can shine!
Go ahead and ask yourself the famous “why” question… Why did you choose to work relieving stress from others? What about your niche is so important to you? What is your story that inspired you to take the first step to really want to do it? What is your experience and motivation that will make me feel in my guts you are the right coach for me?
Once you start being “seen” for who you are, and not for what you sell, you will no longer have to get clients, they will come and get YOU!
“Disneyland is not just another amusement park. It’s unique, and I want it kept that way. Besides, you don’t work for a dollar – you work to create and have fun.” – Walt Disney
5. Give your prospects the experience of a lifetime:
A lot of people I talk to, have no clue what coaching is… I recently reached out to my peers to mention I wold no longer be working with online marketing, unless my clients would need mentoring and consulting besides coaching and one response I received got me thinking… It went something like: “Congrats on coaching full time! We can catch up anytime but I am pretty happy with my job and not thinking about changing it right now.” For this specific person, you hire a coach to switch careers… Coaching is so much more than that and as my coach says… You cannot just “explain” what it is. A person will realize what coaching is after having “an experience”. And most of my first time clients say in the end, wow, I had no idea this was coaching!!!
Take your clients to a test drive to show them how this ride is magical and able to take them to so many places yet to be uncovered and explored… Deliver a bombastic experience at your first “hello”.
I hope this is helpful, rock on!
Coach Cris.
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Cris Repolês, The Phoenix 