Finding Clients? How's That Going For You

I was talking to a lovely coach. He was one of us, you know, passionate about what coaching can do and absolutely full of excitement for the future. He finished his qualification about a year ago and hasn't had the success he had hoped for in finding clients.

He wanted to talk to me about marketing a coaching business and we had a Zoom chat.

It's Not My Cup Of Tea

As I was describing to him what we teach in our mentoring process, his nose crinkled. I talked about having

• a target audience in the form of an ideal client,
• a marketing message that is written for exactly that kind of client,
• and to make sure that he was where that kind of client was, with his message so that his potential clients could hear it.

'It's not my cup of tea', he said. I'd rather just continue what I'm doing and let my coaching speak for itself.

How Many Clients Have You Had?

Referral business is without doubt the best form of client acquisition, and so I asked him how many paying clients he'd worked with in the last year.

He squirmed.

Turns out that he hasn't actually had a paying client yet. He's given away lots of coaching and everyone who experienced it said that they thoroughly enjoyed it. He knows that they will recommend him to their friends and colleagues and he believes that it's just a matter of time before the floodgates open.

Have You Had A Single Referral Yet?

When I asked him if he'd had a referral yet he clearly felt that he was on stronger ground and proudly told me that actually several of the people that he had coached had come from referrals.

'The ones who were referred to you, you coached them for free?' I asked?

Turns out that's exactly what's happened.

When Is A Referral Not A Referral?

A referral from someone who was coached for free inevitably leads to them expecting free coaching. You can imagine the conversation, can't you?

'You should have a chat with Bob! He's a sound guy and he knows what he's talking about' isn't actually a referral from someone who thinks you're going to charge a professional rate, is it?

Make It Your Cup Of Tea!

Marketing a professional services business doesn't mean that you have to be pushy, or salesy. It doesn't involve becoming something that you're not. It simply means that you learn how to articulate the benefits of coaching in a way that the people you can help can actually understand!

If you have recognised yourself in anything I've said, maybe we should talk? That link goes to our website and every single 'book a call' button will send you to my diary.

If you'd like 2021 to have actual paying coaching clients in it, I can definitely help you. We even offer payment plans to spread the cost of our mentoring programme across 10 months.