If you are intent on continuing to make your coaching business hard and complicated, this is where you should stop reading. The most “painful” thing that you’ll get from this article is a twinge of regret… regret that you’ve been making it so complicated and so hard for so long. Other than that…. you have EVERYTHING to gain.
And not just you.
You got into coaching to help people, right?
To make a difference?
So, OTHERS have a lot to gain by YOU stepping into the role of a PROFESSIONAL coach.
But you can’t make a difference when all you’re doing is scratching the surface with “complimentary coaching sessions” and charging low fees — when you can get someone to pay you — to attract the LEAST committed of clients.
Enough introduction… although if you haven’t read the previous 5 sections in this special report, start here and work your way through. First, the “Ingredients” of a 6-figure+ coaching business…. and then, the actual blueprint.
💲Serving Hours
💲Story Telling
💲Selling Habit & 6 Magical words.
💲Cash-producing content
💲Multiple Income Streams.
These are the tools you need. Now, here’s how they all work together:
For the next few minutes, please forget your woes regarding technology. Please reject the pressure to be “fancy” with your brand. Please ignore the shouts of every guru telling you about webinars or funnels or whatever. If you choose to layer those in, fine.
But.
It.
Is.
Not.
Necessary.
Not for 6-figures.
Not for 7-figures.
💲SERVING HOURS
The first thing you need to do is offer what my first coach referred to as “serving hours.” This is DIFFERENT from the standard — and woefully ineffective — “complimentary coaching session” because it is NOT open to everyone all the time, and also, it DOES require the recipient of your serving hours to “contribute” in some way to their time with you.
All of this is explained in PAINFUL detail in this post… and it is one way you can IMMEDIATELY make more money in the next 6 weeks than you did in the past 6 months. Way more.
Two additional notes on serving hours:
- REALLY serve them. Do NOT make this a thinly veiled sales session.
- Follow up each session with an email that gives them options for how they may continue the work you guys began in the initial session. (But only if they ASK for this information. If they do not, you may consider asking “Would you like to talk about how we might continue the work we began today?”
Again, it’s all here.
💲STORY TELLING.
Whether you’re speaking on stage, speaking to a camera during your Facebook lives or letting your fingers do the talking in blog posts, you need to get good at telling stories. Why?
Because stories SELL,
Because stories reduce sales resistance,
Because stories IGNITE your potential client’s dreams again,
Because stories reach into the hearts of your market and LIGHT THEIR POTENTIAL on fire.
And because stories take you out of “sales man” mode and put you into “partner” mode. Stories make the “benefits and features” conversation (BOR-ING) come alive.
It doesn’t have to be full on case studies.
It can be a MENTION on a live stream.
In a recent video I was able to share just a HANDFUL of wins experienced by our Women Who WOW members. Here’s what I said,
“6 figure revenues…
7 figure revenues…
Media features, times like 100.
Speaking gigs, that PAY and are ideal;
Retreats and events, filled. (Profitably.)
Best selling book launches.
HUSBANDS being brought into the business.But sometimes the biggest wins are the HOW we’re doing business…
more confidently,
with less anxiety,
and also, with less chaos.
Less overwhelm; andwhat’s more…
while taking back FULL control of your schedule and life.”
The response even surprised me. The stories… in BULLET POINT FORM allowed people to see what was possible for THEM.
Stories. They can be YOUR own story of overcoming X… or they can be the stories of your clients. Ideally, you have both.
When you’re telling stories, as PART OF YOUR BRAND, as an EVERYDAY component of how you show up in the market place, do not forget to include emotion… not “just the facts,” Include the emotion.
For instance, I’ve ALWAYS told the story of investing $50 to start my business, which I took out of the whopping $213 I had in savings at the time. But when i started sharing the SHAME I felt being a college educated woman making payment arrangements with the power company and THEN still struggling to make these payment arrangements…. when I started revealing the struggle with anxiety I felt when the bills were piling up and I had NO IDEA what to do… when I started revealing how I HID my stress and anxiety from my husband because I couldn’t take on HIS fears on top of my own…
Well, that’s when the stories REALLY started working. Why? Because people can relate to them. They knew I “GOT” them.
So, what are YOUR stories? Write them down. Work them into your content. Refer to them over and over again. Go deeper into the emotion of them.
And, of course, tell client stories too…. with their permission. =) Moving on…
💲SELLING HABIT & 6 MAGICAL WORDS.
Look, you’re only going to make money when you sell coaching. And coaching sells through conversation. BUT…. it does not sell the way they tell you it sells when you’re getting certified.
You need to cultivate a “selling habit” for your coaching practice. I’m actually hosting a very small intensive in National Harbor, MD this year for coaches, and teaching them this exact blueprint but in a way that is nuanced and allows (demands) that they do it ALL their way. But, part of this event will include SELLING for COACHES.
Here’s an overview:
- Do NOT allow people to “pick your brain.” Instead, allow them to share what’s bothering them and say these “magical words:” I CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT.
- Follow it up like a professional. Your dentist doesn’t meet you at a party and pull out a light and start looking at your problem tooth, does she? NO! She asks you to make an appointment.
Why? Because dentists get paid.
To turn a conversation into a client, say this,
“I can help you with that. But, I want to give this the time and space it deserves. Let’s make an appointment. I’ll waive my initial consultation fee and we’ll see how far we get.”
You’ve assured them (honestly, right???) that you can help them.
You’ve positioned yourself as a professional.
And you’ve reminded them that you work for “FEES” or money.
You’re well on your way to getting a client.
- But you MUST still sell. You must still follow up after the connection with a few ways that you can work with this person… at VARYING price points. You’ll want to encourage them to “choose the option that best fits with their budget and sense of urgency.”
What is YOUR sales habit? Can you define it? If not, message me and let’s remedy this. You need to be able to identify WHERE your leads will likely find you and how you will get them into conversation with you… as well as which options you’d like to begin selling at which price points.
Moving on…
💲CASH PRODUCING CONTENT.
Content isn’t JUST for being found on google. It’s also for being seen…. for standing out… for being IMMUNE to commoditization. (Ask me about the video training regarding WHY your market unconsciously WANTS to commoditize you and how you can combat it at every turn!) Content keeps you fresh in the minds of your market. It also differentiates you from any and all other options — if you’re doing it right.
- Doing content RIGHT means going it authentically and daily.
- Content gives your champions something to share other than your business card, not that I’ve ever used business cards.
- Content allows you to be seen and respected as an expert.
- Content allows you to serve your market and nurture your prospects with something OTHER than a “did you forget to pay me” message.
- Content begins conversation. (P.S. this post is a great example of how content begins conversations and calls out your ideal prospects. I’m going to be showing exactly how these things work at the event in MD.)
- Content separates your best prospects from the rest of the world so they are EASILY reached and found.
Content is STILL queen. Yes, the tactics are different. Yes, the tools can be overwhelming, but it’s the HEART of your content that matters. I’m the Lowest tech online marketer in the world. Plain and simple — because of content.
Quick note: DO NOT create content and wait for it to be found. Write about a particular niche of your market. Share it with that niche’s association or local chapter. Do a video about a certain problem and then share it with support groups dealing with that problem. Share your content as a service.
💲MULTIPLE INCOME STREAMS.
You’ll want multiple income streams to allow you to work with clients at different levels so that you can maintain the sort of LIFESTYLE you want. For me, I created a membership because 1) the waiting list for my private coaching services had a waiting list FOR the waiting list. and 2) I wanted to serve more people…. but I did NOT want to be working all the time. I needed leveraged income streams.
I’ll be back soon with the pros and cons of different income streams. In the mean time, what questions do you have?
