International Association of Coaching Blog

7 Strategies for Finding and Engaging Qualified Prospects Online

by Kathy Mallary

The more connected you are with qualified prospects, the more likely you are to win ideal clients. If that's true, why is it that so many coaches struggle to find and connect with their target market?

You either believe that your target market is leaving a trail that leads you to them, or you believe you need to create a trail that leads them to you. The first way is by far the easier, quicker and more profitable of the two.

Here are seven strategies that can help you pick up the trail of your best prospects and win more ideal clients:

1. Look for the 3 C's—concentrations, conversations and congregations. People in your target market share certain interests, and people who have common interests tend to gravitate towards each other and talk about the thing they're interested in. So your first task is to find these clumps of people who are talking about certain topics.
    
   
2. Use keywords related to your target market to search the three general areas where people tend to '"'clump" together:
   • Online forums and virtual communities
   • Groups on social networks, whether focused on business or personal interests (or both)
   • Industry and professional associations, which often have forums or networking events for members
    
   
3. Follow the leaders. Do a Google/Internet search for the more prominent thought leaders in your niche and pay attention to where they're showing up and participating, both online and offline (for example, public speaking events). Then follow them right into those nooks and crannies.
    
   
4. Watch and listen before you jump into the conversation. Once you've identified a community or group, don't just barge in and start talking. Take time to look at the history of the conversation and follow a couple of active threads to see what folks are interested in. Then watch for opportunities to introduce yourself and contribute; offer encouragement and resources, move the conversation forward, share your perspective in a positive way, etc.
    
5. Do NOT try to sell anything to the group, even if the community guidelines allow it. The people you meet online are not yet qualified to receive an offer from you—they haven't even taken the first step into your sales funnel (i.e., they haven't joined your mailing list). When you focus instead on building trust and relationship, your list will grow as if by magic.
    
6. When you find a good group, don't be shy about asking about the other groups and communities people belong to. This is like following a vein deeper into the gold mine.
     
7. Be both consistent and persistent. Put a structure in place so that you are searching for and participating in online communities on a regular basis. Don't stop after you find the first few places, or you'll get left behind as the market evolves. I have recurring tasks set up in Outlook that remind me to research and check in at various groups and forums. I invest time in research once a month and post/participate in forums and social networks every few days (more frequently on the more active groups.)

You can spend precious time and resources hoping that clients find you one by one, or you can be proactive and find a trail that leads you straight back to where tens, hundreds or even thousands of qualified prospects are buzzing about the very things that you love to help them with.

Happy hunting!

  
Kathy Mallary is a business development specialist who helps coaches get into high gear with both clients and cash flow so they can make a bigger difference and healthier profits. Get free resources for innovative coaching business models that expand capacity and add to the bottom line at www.spiritspring.com.

Five Ways to Attract More Coaching Clients with Your LinkedIn Profile

You can promote your coaching service by placing advertisements, direct mail or using flyers, yet these can be costly. So how can you attract clients to you?

Did you know that 135 million professionals are networking on LinkedIn right now? Many of these are decision makers and executive-level professionals from all kinds of industries. They are on LinkedIn to promote their brand and to look for solutions to their problems.

If you are an executive, financial, wellness or life coach and you are looking for more clients, you will definitely want to set up an optimized LinkedIn Profile. Optimizing your profile has two key benefits: First, you will increase the chance of being found when a prospective client does a search. Second, you will make a more positive first impression when this person views your profile.

Five Ways to Attract More Coaching Clients with an Optimized LinkedIn Profile

1. Fill up every field so your profile is 100% complete

Make use of every field to highlight your unique solution. Be sure to upload a professionally taken and friendly-looking photo. First impressions count and profiles without photos do not impress prospects.

You can also put in relevant keywords to highlight your niche, or the segment market you serve. These make you unique and relevant to your prospects. Just be careful not to stuff your profile artificially with keywords.

2. Brand yourself by claiming a meaningful "vanity name" in your public profile

LinkedIn automatically generates a web address for your public profile, but with a string of meaningless numbers. Associating yourself with numbers does not show you up as a person who is serious about your professional image or branding. Can you imagine saying, "Connect with me on www.LinkedIn.com/pub/your-name/1/14b/43v6754e3"? It is much easier to say, "Connect with me on LinkedIn.com/in/yourvanityname."

To change the URL of your LinkedIn profile, simply log into your LinkedIn account, select "Profile" and then, "Edit Profile." At the bottom of the overview box you will see the URL of your public profile. Click on the "Edit" button. Next, look for the link that says, "Customize your public profile URL."

3. Choose A Powerful Headline

LinkedIn allows you to enter a short Headline after your name (as shown in the diagram). This is where you will enter your 140-character elevator pitch. Craft this tag-line to be customer centric and appeal to your prospective clients.

For example, you can make use of location and indicate that you serve people in a certain area. Or you can indicate that you serve a certain segment market. Remember: If you try to serve the whole wide world as a "catch-all" coach that will not set you part from the other coaches. It is being the #1 in your niche area that will set you apart.

I suggest you draft a few versions of headline and ask for opinions. You can also do some testing by using different headlines and monitor the response. Once you have decided on the tagline try not to change it too frequently or you will lose your branding.

4. Make Use Of Sections

This is a new improvement on LinkedIn that allows you to highlight skills, expertise and languages to make you very relevant to your prospects. If you have publications and white papers you will also want to highlight those. That will instantly set you apart from the masses. You can find sections under the "More" menu.

5. Join Relevant Groups

Join groups that your prospects are likely to join—not to sell or share but to listen and observe. Listen in on their conversation so you understand their problems, pains, fears and frustrations.

As a coach you already understand the importance of listening. When you give your full attention to understand others they are drawn to you magnetically. They want to know you more. People like to do business with people they like.

So before you ask for anything (favor or a sale) listen, observe and contribute first. Once you have earned the right, then you can offer your solution as a way of adding value to the conversation.

Apply these tips and start attracting your prospects!

 
Louisa Chan is a certified Coach and Social Media Specialist who helps you get more clients. She speaks and conducts workshops on Social Media and is the author of the guide, "Master Social Media In 1 Hour A Week." Louisa has been featured on BFM Radio and Television Malaysia.

Why your big list isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

by Kristen Beireis

It doesn't matter how big your list is. You can have 500 people or 10,000 people on your list, but that does not make or break your business. I know that is not what you are used to hearing. Since you started your coaching business you've probably been told that your first priority should be to growing your list. I beg to differ and I'll tell you why.

The theory behind the "big list" is a numbers game. It's percentages. 10% is a bigger amount of sales when you have 10,000 people on your list versus 500. So, the bigger your list is, the more people who will buy from you. This makes sense, but this approach has some inherent problems. Here are two most serious ones:

Problem #1: You have to do a lot of work to get those 10,000 people on your list. You have to reach out to many different corners of the universe and invite people to sign up. That's a lot of running around. It takes time away from other valuable marketing and business tasks. Most coaches who focus on the numbers end up concentrating on list-building for 3-6 months, working so hard to meet their subscriber goals that there is little other marketing going on. They are only paying attention to getting people into their list. And this brings me to the biggest problem of building a large list:

Problem #2: How can you focus on a relationship when you are focused on numbers? Potential clients want a relationship with you. As a coach, you are selling a specific type of relationship. Most marketing tactics that are effective at building numbers actually go against building a relationship. As with any marketing, if you are targeting a very specific group of people you will be more specific in your marketing. This allows people to truly identify with it and jump up to say, "I want more." If you are less specific, you'll get less interaction. If you focus only on getting more people on your list, versus getting the right people onto your list, you're not developing those specific relationships. You’re just creating a relationship with anyone who is willing to sign up. Sound cold? Well, it is! That's why it's not the best tactic for a coach.

So, what's the solution? Focus on your relationships. Increase your interaction with the people who want to play your way. Create a list of people who are active in your community and are ready to take action.

Think about that for a second. How many people on your mailing list right now are active in your community and ready to take action? Have you been so focused on bringing in as many people as you can that you've built a list of people who really don't want anything more than the freebie they signed up for to get on the list? With that kind of list you might get the "average" rate of return (i.e., the percentage of people who actually end up doing business with you). However, most coaches I know get well below the average return on a list they built by number.

People buy from those they trust. Do you trust people who are just trying to increase numbers? Have you ever signed up for a list where something felt a little fishy once you got there? I'll bet that's because the list owner wanted numbers.

Get 1,000 people who are active members of your list and aim for a relationship with people who want to play your way. You can play the numbers game all you want, but do it wisely.

Building a big list is like paint-by-numbers. You get a great picture, but you don't have art. To create art, you need to add your own perspective and make the picture your own.

So, go out and grow your list. Do it in your own unique and artistic way. Focus on identifying the most interactive and interested people and bringing them into your community as a member of your mailing list.

Communicate with them regularly in a way that gets them into conversation with you. This will instantly make you look like a star instead of a marketer. Your list will see you as helpful and they'll be willing to trust you. When you see the opportunity to grow your list in a way that is in integrity with the relationships you are building, then go for it.

So build a relationship, not a list. You'll get a higher return for MUCH LESS WORK.

 

Kristen Beireis is the owner of Coaches' Marketing Source, where she specializes in helping coaches get more clients by earning a higher level of trust. Her clients develop a more authentic way of marketing that is a beacon of light for those who are ready for their services. http://www.coachesmarketingsource.com.

Too Many Product or Program Ideas? A Five-Step Process for Making Powerful Choices

by Marcy Nelson-Garrison

Whether you are a prolific idea generator or have just a couple of different options calling for a decision, without a balanced, whole-brain, whole-heart process you run the risk of:

• Feeling overwhelmed and not choosing at all
• Choosing the shiny thing in the moment and loosing steam when the next shiny thing appears
• Trying to do all of them and experiencing a lack of completion and burn-out
• Ending up with a great product that you have no energy to promote because it doesn’t really fit your business direction

Good decisions require adequate information, thoughtful processing and clarity. As a product mentor I have found that the most powerful choices access both head and heart. The following five-step decision-making process will give you the best chance for business success and personal fulfillment.

The Five-Step Process

Step One – Checking for alignment
Before making any decision it’s important to check in with yourself and clear the emotional field. You want to connect to your powerful, calm, authentic center and make decisions from that internal state. The decision-making process begins with spiritual alignment. If your heart is not on board it won’t matter how smart or strategic your idea is—you won’t be able to sustain momentum.

This part of the process involves asking yourself a series of questions and taking time to listen deeply for your inner wisdom: Is this the right choice for me? Will it be good for my precious clients? Will it serve the greater good? Is it aligned with divine will?

Step Two—Research
Once you have checked in with your heart, it’s the head’s turn. It’s time to gather information, do the research, run the numbers and take a realistic look at how the idea fits into your current business model.

I am assuming that you want your idea to bring in money or build your business in some way. If that is the case, you definitely want to find out if there will be a return on the time, money and energy you will be investing.

In my experience, coaches are often intimidated or put off by the idea of research. Yet you actually engage in research all the time. Whenever you plan a vacation or do some comparative shopping, you are engaging in what is called secondary research. Secondary research is a great place to begin with your product or program idea and it can be just as much fun. Research becomes an awesome creative partner as you open to it and put on your master sleuth hat.

You also want to determine whether your idea fits with your target market and with your branding. Does it contribute to a natural flow or progression in your product offerings?

As a sidebar, I know how easy it is to get excited about ideas that are not a fit. I’ve had many of those moments myself. For the most part, my advice is to let those ideas go, file them away or gift them to a colleague.

However, if you have an idea that doesn’t fit your current business model and it is powerful and persistent, especially persistent over time, the universe may be calling you to change your current business model, niche or market. It’s imperative to listen at a deep level.

Once you know your idea is in alignment and your research says it’s a go, there are three more very important steps:

Step Three—Passion, energy & resources
Creating a new product or program requires effort and commitment and you need to ask yourself this very important question: Do I have the passion, energy and time required to nurture this idea to completion?

Sometimes the answer will be that it’s not the right time. Trying to push through when you don’t have the energy or time can set you up for failure. Be compassionate and honest with this question.

This is also a good time to explore what resources, support and information you might need. Completion might involve hiring others. You might need a graphic designer, a copywriter, a virtual assistant or even an intellectual property attorney. Perhaps your idea will require a business loan. Do you have the resources to get the help you need?

Step Four—The big picture
Products and programs take on a life of their own and it’s important to spend some time imagining your idea unfolding into the future. Imagine your idea completed and launched: What opportunities does it open up for you? Who does it attract? Where does it lead you?

When you have a sense of that future picture ask yourself this very important question: Is that where I want to go?

I have had clients at this point of the process experience an important wake-up call. When they imagine the logical path the product will take they realize that it is not ultimately where they want to go. This is a very important piece of information!

Step 5—Making the decision
Once you have gone through the first four steps, answered the questions and gathered the information you need, it’s important to come back to the heart.

From your calm, authentic center, clear any negative emotion and once again bring the beginning questions to your heart: Is this the right choice for me? Is this what the universe is asking of me? Is it aligned with divine will?

Make the best decision you can. Once a choice is made, pay attention to feedback from the universe—adjust and realign as you go.

Choosing which creative idea to pursue deserves intentionality and a commitment of time to the process. Power is created when you give life to something. Choices that are aligned with your heart, your life purpose, your business model, your business goals, solid research and divine will are powerful and open the gateway to synchronicity, ease, success and fulfillment.

 
Marcy Nelson-Garrison, MA, LP, CPCC, is a product mentor, certified coach, masters level licensed psychologist, product reviewer for Choice Magazine, visual artist and founder of Coachingtoys.com. Marcy helps coaches develop authentic products and programs in a way that is deeply honoring and sustainable. Download her free creativity workbook at www.PinkParadigm.com

 

 

How to Stop Bumbling Your Way Through the Business of Coaching

by Jason Westlake

Starting your coaching business, earning an income through coaching and getting clients are all part of the business skills you need to master to be successful. And that’s a different skill set from the coaching itself. Getting clients is not something you can expect to master in a day. Clients don’t magically line up for you while you sit at your desk building your website.

There are at least 18 disciplines to master in the art of getting clients. Not tips. Not pointers. Not things to think about. But disciplines. A discipline is something you take on as a practice, just as you would master a skill like kung fu. It takes time, practice and discipline. It takes failure, making mistakes and incremental improvement.

Getting clients takes commitment. Getting clients takes being professional about approaching your business. Getting clients means you treat your practice like a business. Getting clients means you get better, step by step, learning from other coaches, knowing that the art of getting clients is something you master, just like your coaching skills.

If you are committed to getting clients and building your life coaching practice, then you are ready for the first of the 18 disciplines. The first discipline is to sell experiences, not concepts.

You have probably tried to talk to clients about coaching. You told your prospects about the benefits of coaching. You listed off why their lives would be better. You told them about the concepts of coaching. And they didn’t become your clients.

Why? Because you tried to sell the concept, not the experience. For example, if you are selling lasagna, you can say that the lasagna tastes great. You can list the benefits of lasagna. You can tell them the features of lasagna. You can say that the lasagna was made with homemade beef, fresh mozzarella cheese and the finest ingredients. You can tell your prospect how much better their lives would be if they ate lasagna.

Or you can just give them some lasagna to eat. Which method do you think sells better? Which is easier? It takes a lot of work to try to sell concepts, and it feels like you have to twist their arms to get them to coach with you. Sell the experience instead.

That means you coach them. You ask them questions and really get with them in their world. You don’t even need to bring up the fact that you are a life coach. That’s self-serving. Coaches help people. So coach your prospect. Find out what his problems are. Make a difference for him. Create some breakthroughs for him. Make sure he experiences your coaching.

And then people will feel helped. They’ll want to coach with you quite naturally. You won’t have to convince them. It will be much easier, and you’ll begin to attract clients. Selling experiences, not concepts, is just the first discipline to master. There are many more.

Remember that getting life coaching clients takes commitment, and a coach to help you master those business and sales skills. If you are willing to dedicate yourself to learn the art of getting clients, you will have a successful coaching practice. If you can embrace the business skills and embody them, you will come to see that getting clients doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t have to be a mystery. And you can learn to attract clients just as well as you can coach.

 
Jason Westlake works with successful professionals who feel empty and are committed to building a more purpose driven career or business. Jason helps them stair step their way into a truly fulfilling profession. To learn about upcoming resources about the 18 disciplines, subscribe at http://jasonwestlake.com/.