The Number One Piece of Advice I Followed to Fill my Coaching Practice
As you navigate the early stages of launching your coaching business, you’re probably receiving a ton of advice … advice about marketing and client support, and, of course, about how to attract leads and convert them to clients so you can fill your practice.
You probably know that not all advice is created equal.
That’s why I wanted to share the single most important advice I received when I was starting my own coaching practice. It’s advice I’ve followed again and again throughout my career as a coach and as I launched and grew The Coaches Console alongside my business partner Kate Steinbacher.
But first, a story …
When I first started my coaching practice in 2003, I attended Coach U, a training school founded by Thomas Leonard, the official maker of the coaching world.
He’d died about a year before I started attending the school, but as part of my training, I was listening to a recording he’d made during a class run by one of the Coach U employees, Sandy.
In it, Thomas shared a formula that outlined how many people you had to talk to, in order to get a certain number of clients to sign on with you.
Although this isn’t the actual formula he used, here’s an example: If you want to get 10 clients, you have to have 20 meetings. If you want to have 20 meetings, you have to call 100 people.
He said, “The more people you meet with, the more yeses you get.”
And I realized: this advice wasn’t exclusive to meeting with people. It was bigger than that.
It was about consistency.
Specifically, by taking consistent, intentional action (in this case, meeting with a certain number of people), a business owner can create the results she wants in her business (in this case, filling my practice).
I decided to meet with as many people as possible. And, to increase the effectiveness of my meetings, I was sure to prepare in advance. I met with people who were potential ideal clients, or who could help me find my ideal clients. And I met with a lot of them.
Here’s how the process looked—and the results it yielded:
I set up an “office” in a local coffee shop, Roanoke Mountain Coffee Shop. Twice or three times each week, for three months, I’d spend four, five, or six hours at the coffee shop.
My first appointment would come in and meet me for coffee, and we’d talk about how I could help—whether it was through coaching, or referrals, or simply by sharing information. That person would leave, I wouldn’t move, and my next appointment would come in and have lunch with me. Again, we’d talk, that person would leave, I wouldn’t move, and my next appointment would come in.
As I mentioned, I prepared in advance for each meeting: I always researched the people I was meeting with, so I could learn what I could about them. Then, when we sat down together, we could dive into the meat of the conversation right away. And although I was looking to build my business, and fill it with clients, I focused more on generosity: seeking ways I could support these people in the challenges they were facing at the time.
That might mean giving them advice about a book or article I found helpful, or about another professional who might be able to help them. It might mean I introduced them to someone else. No matter what, I always offered value.
And because of that, they were quick to reciprocate and find ways to help me.
Some of the people I met with turned into clients, some turned into referral sources or JV partners, and others turned into friends.
When I heard, “No,” I didn’t take it personally because I knew my consistency would pay off.
It worked! Even though my hair and clothes constantly smelled like coffee, even though I drank so much of it I couldn’t even stomach it any more, it worked.
Person by person, referral source by referral source, client by client, I filled and built my coaching business. There was (and is) magic in the numbers.
This was MY system for converting and enrolling people, and because I employed the most important advice I ever received—be consistent!—my business growth flowed fast.
If you’d like to learn more about how to develop and use a system that works for you, I’d like to invite you to download an important, complimentary resource I designed to guide you in systemizing your business so you get the results you want! It’s called 12 Proven Strategies for Launching & Scaling a Coaching Business Now and you can download it here, now.
I’m working way too hard and making little progress… what gives?! Does this sound like you and your business???
Hey there, it’s Melinda here. And we have just been sailing around the islands of Croatia. Right behind me, you
see the island of these and we’ve been hanging out here. We’re getting ready to head into town go to dinner, visit some
wineries, and, do some wine tasting. I just wanted to pop in here because I’ve had him here with a group of friends, and, a lot of them have been asking me about my business. And you’re gonna hear some of the crew and folks in the background there cuz we’re getting ready to take off and head into land. But a lot of it have been asking me about my
business, and, how we can work remotely, still have a business, still get everything done, still get everything accomplished, and, have this balanced life. And, I just wanted to give you some tips with that, because a lot of people that I work with, especially when they’re getting started, they work way too hard, and, make very little progress. And a lot
of times, it’s because they don’t stay focused. They’re scattered. They get distracted by the bright, shiny objects, and, they don’t follow through on what they start implementing. It’s so important to have a guide that can take you into new territory when you’re setting up your business. And just getting started, it’s so important to have that guide that knows what’s going on, knows the pitfalls, know when something might trip you up, know the shortcuts, know how to make things easier and effortless for you. And when you have that guide, then you also have the accountability to see everything through, to follow through to completion. It’s as simple as that. I know it sounds overly simplistic, but the people that I often consult with, and, coach with, and, work with one on one, the reason they see very little progress
is because they’re scattered. They’re trying to focus only on marketing. They’re scattered, not seeing things through to completion, and then they’re not getting those results. So, find a guide have that accountability and follow through with those results.
We’re getting ready to see some of the crew back there. We’re getting ready to take off site. I don’t have much more time, but, it as simple as that. A little bit of focus, a little bit of concentration, a little bit of discipline, and, you’ll work smarter, not harder in your business.
Do you have that guide? Do you have that mentor? Do you have that accountability built in? And here’s a little tip about
accountability – a lot of people have an accountability partner; which is good, but also the type of accountability partner
is what really matters. Because there’s nothing worse than having an accountability partner that doesn’t know anything either, and, then it’s like the blind leading the blind. And you feel like you’re making a lot of headway because you’re working on a lot, and, you’re working on a lot of different activities, and, you’re doing a lot of work. But when you have the wrong kind of accountability partner, you don’t know if your efforts are gonna turn into results. So not only have the right guide, but make sure you have the right type of accountability partner. Having a buddy coach is great; having a colleague that goes through it with you is brilliant. But make sure your accountability partner has been on the journey before you, and, has experienced the kind of success that you want to create in your business.
All right, if there’s somebody that you know of, a colleague, a friend that is working way too hard, and, seeing very little results tag, them below. One of these little tips might just be what makes the difference.
All right, I got to go. We’re heading into that island right there, oh, and by the way this is where Mamma Mia 2 was filmed. So we’re gonna go play around in that town. Who knows, maybe we will sing and dance on the on the port and on the boardwalk. But think about how you’re working smarter in your business, not harder. Definitely leverage that and then you can have the business beyond your wildest dreams. So, you can live the lifestyle beyond your wildest
dreams!
Invaluable Advice From A Successful Coach Entrepreneur….
Hey there, and good morning from Split Croatia!
We’ve just arrived i’m actually on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. Overlooking, there’s the old walled city of Split, and, there’s the Adriatic sea. And we’re actually getting ready to get on our yacht for the next five days to go explore all the islands. I’m so excited! But, before we go, I had somebody recently asked me, “How do you have the business that you have, and, the lifestyle you have – like you travel everywhere you go to these amazing places?” And, we’re here in Croatia for the next 10 days and when I thought about it, it really came down to three things. I want to share these tips with you quickly. And I want to give you some a little bit of insight into each of them, to make sure you’re leveraging them for your business and your life.
The first is be creative. You know, early on when I was first getting started in my business over 15 years ago, I had to be creative with my time and my money. And then I had more time, but, not as much money when I was first getting started. And so I had to take advantage of opportunities when I necessarily couldn’t afford it. But I had to ask the magic question: “How can I afford this?” Because the secret to remember is that, one desire never causes harm to another. So, for example, when I was first getting started, I loved to travel. And you know me, I love to ski as well. And so, when I first got started, I would take these ski trips, but I couldn’t stop working. Because I had to keep working, so my clients would keep paying me. So, I keep making the money. So, I had to organize my travel in a way that I could travel and work at the same time. Now, I don’t have to do that as much. So, when I travel, I’m unplugged. But in the early days, it wasn’t the case. Another example that I wanted to share with you, my husband and I, we loved going to concerts in the early days of my business; when I didn’t have as much money. I invested my time. I would volunteer for the symphony for local venues so that we could hear great concerts without necessarily buying the tickets. Now, I spend my time doing other things. And we actually invest in season tickets. And early it does not only allowed me to have a free ticket to the show because I volunteered my time, but it also allowed me to give back. So it was really a
win-win-win. So, be creative early on how you spend your time and always ask yourself – “How can I even?” When you think
you can’t afford something, how can I do whatever it is that you want to do by asking that one magical question. It sparks the creativity. It gets your intuition in flow. It gets you out of your brain and invites more resources so that you can get creative. And how you answer that question? So your work and your life can still balance each other even in the early days.
And then, the second thing is leverage opportunities. And what I mean by that is this, when you are first getting started, actually – I
think this is smart whenever you’re in business, especially when you’re first getting started. Again, I didn’t have the money that I needed just to invest in absolutely everything. So, rather than buying things at face value I would always invest when there was an
opportunity to leverage multiple resources within one purchase. Whether it was bonuses that were added in or special deals that people made, and, that they offered. So, I would always leverage my opportunities and leverage the resources so I could make my money an investment. Go as far as possible.
And then, the third thing is that hole. It’s one of my favorite cliches. Work smarter not harder. Kate and I have this funny math that we do 1+1 equals 11. You see, in the early days of my business, I had to leverage technology so that I integrated technology to automate streamline, simplify and organize as much of my business as possible because my time needed to be spent on finding
clients, creating content, finding referral partners so that I could quickly build my business. I don’t want to spend my time in the backend, right. So, I leveraged technology in the early days to allow me to travel, to allow me to have my lifestyle, and, my
business, and, both of those to be true. At the same time, now over the years, as my business is evolved, I leveraged my team,
and, still technology. But I leveraged my team so that they’re like, while I’m here in Croatia, they’re still at home; they’re working, doing what they love doing. So that we can get ready for our upcoming promotion and our launch that we’ve got our next round of bootcamp – that’s about to start up a little bit later this fall. And I’m leveraging technology and my team so that I can work smarter, not harder. So, that one plus one equals eleven eleven, and I can really leverage that opportunity. So, the essence is be creative. You can have work you, can have life. They can both exist in equal degrees of Awesomeness! At the same time, don’t sacrifice one for the other. Just be super smart, all right?
That’s my signal! I think the universe agrees with me. We’re about to go wander through the the streets of the old palace you can
see through there; and then we’re gonna hop on our boat. But, I just wanted to share that with you so that you can create the business beyond your wildest dreams, and, live the lifestyle beyond your wildest dreams. If you know somebody – a coach. or an entrepreneur that’s just getting started, or maybe they’re struggling in their business, tag them below make sure they know these three things. So, they’re not unnecessarily wasting time on tasks, or the wrong things. So they can love what they’re doing, and, help others create great transformation.
All right, I’ll see you soon! I gotta go, bye!
From Stuck to Thriving!
Brent Roy, Professional Life and Leadership Coach, was stuck.
He was coaching a few clients, but wanted to attract more. He wanted to take the steps necessary to turn his coaching hobby into a profitable business—and he was exhausted from trying (and spinning his wheels).
It would have been ideal to earn as much as or more than what he was making at his full-time job … because if he was coaching, he’d be doing what he loved to do!
But … he felt like a car stuck in the snow. The wheels were turning, but he wasn’t going anywhere (and he was wasting a lot of gas).
At the time, Brent wasn’t completely clear on his niche or how to begin reaching potential clients (or, what to charge when he did find them).
Although he’d invested money in coach training and mastermind groups, they didn’t provide the roadmap he needed to get his business launched.
So—he was scared and overwhelmed, and more importantly, he was on the verge of walking away from his dream of owning a thriving coaching business. (EEK! I know!)
That’s when he signed up for our Easy Breezy Coaching Business Bootcamp. At first, he was apprehensive about spending more money on anything to do with coaching, but when he saw one of his instructors on a Coaches Console Training, he reached out and asked how she liked it.
She said she loved it—so he joined Bootcamp and, he said, never looked back.
During the 12 weeks he spent in Bootcamp, he transformed from a hobbyist who enjoyed coaching but procrastinated on the hard things that would get his business systems in place into a confident business owner ready to launch his niche market!
Thanks to the Bootcamp’s step-by-step approach, Brent was able to put in place the pieces needed to attract, engage, and convert prospects so he could build his business.
He’s created his lead magnet, a huge list of potential clients, an online scheduling calendar, follow-up emails for clients and potential clients, and several coaching packages.
Most importantly, he’s thriving—and he’s helping his clients do the same.
If you’d like to read additional real-life success stories from other coaches who have used The Coaches Console and our Easy Breezy Coaching Business Bootcamp, download your complimentary copy of 12 Proven Strategies for Launching & Scaling a Coaching Business Now, here.
PS: Brent Roy is a Certified Professional Life and Leadership Coach who enjoys helping emerging leaders find balance in their life and work. In 2012, he received the IPAC President’s Award for Excellence in Professional Development through UNB’s Public Service Management Program. He provides flexible, personalized programs to individuals and classes that help them or their team reclaim a sense of balance. https://www.brentroy.com/