#63 From 0 to 48 discovery calls in 48 hours!

If you are a coach looking to rapidly expand your audience and client base, this article about how to create exponential growth activities is for you.?

In my Business of Coaching programme, and in my group calls, I often point out how much time we can spend creating just one social media post, when we could be using the same amount of time to capitalise on some really big opportunities for growth.

We just need to stop, step back, and look for those opportunities. And here’s how.

As coaches, our available time is limited and every minute counts.

We’re constantly juggling so many different responsibilities and we all want to grow our business in a sustainable, easy way.?

Strategies like focusing on social media can only get you so far unless you are the lucky one who goes viral every day of the week, hitting the nail on the head every time. But that is sadly the exception rather than the rule.?

Of course, we always aim to make amazing content. But, as it takes a long time to build a substantial audience who are going to see your social media posts, it makes sense to nurture other approaches whilst your network is growing.

Take my LinkedIn numbers, for example. For some reason, watching my followers grow from 8,000 to 9,000 seemed to take forever.

Whereas, although exponential growth can still start slowly, it can rapidly compound and give you a strong upwards trajectory.

I gave a talk to six or seven hundred coaches recently and I asked the audience to connect with me on LinkedIn, which led to a huge spike in my followers straight after the talk. That’s an example of an exponential growth strategy.?

So, how can you find exponential growth channels??

Here are four powerful strategies you can run with right now.?

1. Guest appearances?

How can you get on other people's podcasts, videos, blogs, live streams? Really think about who has your ideal audience and is offering a slightly different service to you.?

I’m thinking of inviting someone to guest on my podcast, who helps coaches with the legalities for their business. She has the same ideal client as me and a complementary skillset.?

It would be an exponential growth activity for her because, if she came on my podcast, she may get a quick burst of new followers into her audience.?

The benefit of speaking at someone else's event is that you gain shared trust - the people who already trust them will automatically trust you because you have borrowed their trust. And, if they are recommending you, their followers are more likely to trust you too.?

Know, like, trust.

What we’re always thinking about when we’re getting people to buy from us is ‘know, like, trust’. So, if we can borrow this from someone who has already built that relationship with their audience, it’s a far quicker process than showing up online month after month trying to build your own ‘know, like, trust’.?

If you don’t feel you are very established yet on your journey, you might be doubting whether people would want you to be on their podcast, or write a guest blog for them or be a guest expert in their Facebook group.

But you might be surprised how keen people can be to invite a guest expert if what you can share with their group is a priority for them.

If you pitch it right, you’re adding value to their offer. When you pitch to them, demonstrate the value that you’re going to offer to their exact audience. Don’t be generic as that will be a much weaker approach and may not hit the spot.?

Why wouldn’t they say yes to an offer that’s only adding value to their group?

Of course, it’s still a numbers game. You don’t know how many others are pitching to speak to their audience. But, as the classic phrase says, “you’ve got to be in it to win it.” So, get out there and give it a go.

Increase your chances of getting accepted by making your pitch outstanding, putting more effort in than the average person might do.

A coach in my group recently got an article published in The Telegraph newspaper. How? Because she thought about every detail, including laying out the article with contact details, making it really easy for the journalist to copy and paste the content and feature it.

It shows that, if you always go above and beyond in everything that you do, you will be rewarded for it.?

2. Speaking at events

A talk one of my clients gave led to her being featured by huge names in her industry which gained her all kinds of work, including group coaching.?

Do some research to find events that your target clients attend, then pitch yourself to the organisers as a speaker.?

In my early days as a coach, when I was doing career coaching, I spoke at a huge conference at the O2 in London, on the topic of imposter syndrome. It was a really big moment for my business and I was absolutely petrified! I had never done any public speaking in my life, but I always say yes to opportunities and this was no exception. I planned my talk, then booked a session (not having left enough time for more!) with an amazing speaking coach, which was a huge help.

Speaking at the O2 was a great experience that genuinely catapulted my career.?

3. Leveraging existing audiences

One of my clients was recently feeling disheartened by consistently putting the work in every day, for several months, without getting results. Then, one day, she got a request to run a workshop.

It just reminds you that you never know what tomorrow’s going to bring. If you keep at it, the results will come.

The same client, following a conversation we had about exponential growth activities, saw an opportunity with an influencer in her space who had her ideal client base. She got in touch with them, and they featured her in their Instagram stories.

0 to 48 in 48 hours!

From that exposure, she gained around 700 Instagram followers in 24 hours and, in 48 hours, 48 potential clients had booked a discovery call with her. One has already converted into a high paying client.

These figures are outstanding, and show just how powerful seizing opportunities and leveraging existing audiences can be!

Through all these conversations, learning so much from discovery calls with her ideal clients, she has really found her niche and her target audience.

It’s been an amazing experience that I’m sure will be a game changer for her business.

This new, more high profile visibility has also resulted in her being asked to do a podcast series. Again, this new opportunity wouldn’t have come her way if she hadn’t used her initiative and taken action with exponential growth activities.

So, it’s really worth you thinking about who has a huge audience that fits your profile, and what value can you offer them?

4. Online & social media advertising

If you have more money than time, you can invest in ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube and other platforms.?

It’s worth noting, though, that it’s not as straightforward as just boosting a post. There’s a lot to learn and a lot of science goes into maximising its effectiveness.

With Facebook and Instagram ads, you’ll normally need to have a funnel in place, offering a free gift like a value-adding PDF resource. As you probably know, how it works is that they give you their email address to receive the PDF, which you then add to your sequence of really good nurture emails. This then takes them through the ‘know, like, trust’ journey that will hopefully lead to them booking a discovery call with you.

It takes a lot of preparation to make sure your backend process is strong enough to get your paid ads to convert. So, it’s not a quick fix but it is possible if you’re willing to take the time to learn how to do it and how to make it work for you.

A word of warning is that it can be an easy way to burn money - I’ve been there myself! When I run ads, the minimum I spend is ￡10 per day, which is basically the least you can spend to run an effective ads campaign. That’s ￡70 per week, and many people spend way more than that.

I haven't tried Google or YouTube ads yet. They could be worth a shot, but just remember it could be a big and expensive learning curve before you’re being effective and maximising your investment.

There’s more than one right way

These four exponential growth strategies: Guest appearances, Speaking at events, Leveraging existing audiences and Online & Social media advertising work best when you balance them with your own ‘building’ activity.?

In my group coaching programme, I often run a session brainstorming lead generating activities, under the headings ‘Built’, ‘Borrowed’ and ‘Bought’.

This article covers some of the ‘Bought’ and ‘Borrowed’ angles but there are many more. I think we came up with around 70 different ways when we did this brainstorming activity as a group.?

Keep an open mind, and know that there are lots of ways of doing this - the right way will be the one that is right for you.

Don’t just think about it, do it.

Of course, it’s one thing knowing what you need to do, it’s quite another actually doing it.

If you want the accountability, the support, the exact know-how and the steps to get you where you want to be, then that is what I do.?

I’d love to hear from you, to help you build your successful business!

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