Relationship Marketing: 5 Ways To Grow Your Coaching Business

If developing and deepening interpersonal relationships comes easily to you, you can leverage this ability to take your business to the next level – and the next one after that! As they say, business IS relationships. 

To create your community of raving fans and a nurturing circle of influence, begin by assessing the relationships you already have. Think of everyone from your best friend to your tax advisor. Think family, friends, clients, your list of 500, former colleagues and beyond. Which relationships could lend support to your business?

The next step is to look beyond your existing relationships and consciously create new ones.

1. Create your mastermind team. Masterminds are goldmines of opportunity, from strategies to support on so many levels, all in the spirit of, “How can we support each other in taking our business to the next level? I’ll rub your back; you rub mine.” Sometimes that means referring each other clients, but support can come in many packages. For example, when I launched a new Facebook fan page, my mastermind members not only liked it, they promoted it to all of their contacts. It was an effortless way to get exposure and referrals.

2. Develop strategic alliances with related groups. If you have expertise in a specific realm, you can leverage that expertise in collaboration with others who serve that realm. For example, Kevin had a long career as a golf club manager. When he moved into coaching, he leveraged his history to create a strategic alliance with the North American Golf Association, coaching people who hold jobs like he used to have. He writes articles for their monthly newsletter, and every time there's a conference, he's the speaker they call. This exposes his coaching practice to 3000 golf managers throughout North America. So think about your ideal clientele and the organizations or associations serve them, and then find a way to position yourself in a win-win situation.

3. Cross promote your way to a thriving practice. Do you know someone who works with your ideal clientele, but does something different? For example, let’s imagine you’re a productivity coach and you meet a professional organizer. Perhaps some of your clients could really use her services; and maybe some of her clients are an ideal fit for your business. You two could come up with an agreement and a set of incentives that work well for you both. Having a large online community really helps, so look for connections with an established network that they can promote you to. For example, let's say you offer your community a free conference call with the professional organizer. You interview her for tips and suggestions, and at the end, she gives your community a free gift or promotes a one-day workshop. In turn, she's does the same for you in her community. This is a win-win because it not only benefits you both, but it also adds value for your communities.

4. Become a corporation’s in-house coach. If you have a contact that works for corporation, and they don't yet have an in-house coach, that’s a great opportunity. Nearly every corporation is open to coaching.

5. If you know someone who has great exposure, like a keynote speaker, consider becoming their back-up coach. They may be speaking on a specific topic that's aligned with your specialty, where they may get in front of a large group of your ideal clients. You can take advantage of that if you develop the relationship and ask for it the opportunity.

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center – www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. She is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program for coaches and is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

Is Your Sales Strategy Web Friendly?

Many coaches assume that most of their business is likely to come directly as a result of 1:1 coaching and from referrals. Whilst this is always the best form of new business generation, it is worth considering whether your sales strategy is also ‘web-friendly.’

Whatever sector of coaching you may be working in, there is serious money to be made from taking your sales strategy online. For me, it literally transformed my business overnight.

One of my first product promotions resulted in $24,000 of sales, the majority of which were a passive revenue stream for me. I am not alone in my experiences either. There are many coaches out there making impressive revenues by selling their services online.

Steps To Achieving a Web-Friendly Sales Strategy

1. Make Sure Your Website Is Really Delivering For You
The first step to maximising your potential online is to consider your website. This covers everything from overall design and flow of copy to ease of navigation through the site, and SEO. If you’ve not really used your website as a serious lead generation tool before, I would urge you to consider a review of your website and ensure you have the right platform to begin broadcasting your services to the world! Speak to a few different consultants or agencies and try to speak with previous clients or go by trusted referrals before agreeing to any work.

2. What Can You Offer That’s Really Unique?
The next step is to really think about how you can productise your expertise into products that people will buy. Whether that’s, ‘How to stop smoking’ or ‘How to become a great business leader’, the secret is to focus on topics that you are really good at or passionate about, as the material will be stronger and will help you stand out and sell more. The aim is to try and solve that problem that is keeping them awake at night.

3. Turning Your Idea Into Something You Can Sell
Once you are clear about what you want to sell to your audience, you then need to build the programme and find a way to deliver it online in a cost effective and efficient way. There are many different online tools out there to help you get started with developing online coaching content and many offer free trials, so have a look around and see what works for you. I used a couple when I started out and then decided to invest in building my own coaching platform JigsawBox.com.

4. Finding Your Customers
When your product is ready, the next step is to reach your audience! There are a number of ways in which to do this, from utilising social media to direct marketing, PR and partnership marketing.  Warm leads are invariably easier to convert than cold leads, so consider your existing database, previous prospects and clients as well as people who may act as advocates and promote your services to their customers, perhaps in return for a small commission fee.

By Nicola Bird. With an MSc in Occupational Psychology and a diverse range of business experience, mother-of-three Nicola Bird went from earning $0 to over $500,000 online by mastering technology to transform her coaching business. She created JigsawBox as a way for her clients to access her expertise online in a flexible and affordable way, while leaving her free to concentrate on growing her business and spending time with her young children. Nicola is passionate about inspiring women entrepreneurs and helping more people to gain a better work-life balance. For more information visit www.jigsawbox.com.

Who are you meant to serve? Finding the courage to be true to yourself.

Who are you meant to serve? The process of getting really clear on this can be quite a journey.

Caterina Barregar of Imagine Life Coaching is a perfect example of what happens for many coaches who keep asking, “Who is my ideal client? What am I really meant to do?” A graduate of the Passion Into Profit program, she volunteered to share her story about moving more and more into alignment with her true passion.

Check out this interview by clicking the image below.



Developing your credo isn’t just an exercise – it’s a journey. On your journey, you must find the courage to be true to yourself, to find your passion and your love, and to embrace the entrepreneurial mindset: to say, “How can I turn that passion into profit?” For the sake of sustainability and living a life that you love, you must be true to yourself. Caterina is a great example of that. It's been a journey, but today she is solid about how she wants to make a difference in the world – and she knows how to communicate that to others. That’s what it takes to turn a passion into profit.

Passion Into Profit Coach Challenge: Ask yourself what is my life story? Who am I perfectly designed to serve in this lifetime?

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center – www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. She is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program for coaches and is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

How to automate online communication for coaches

One of the most effective ways to grow your coaching business and keep your sanity is to automate your online marketing activities where ever you can.

There are a number of comprehensive software programs that can support an online marketing machine; InfusionSoft is a popular one.

These platforms can:

• Provide templates and schedules to stay in touch with your prospects.
• Help you stay connected with your community.
• Systematize and simplify your online marketing.

Once you set up the framework and fill in the templates, the system will generate auto responders and carefully timed promotional messages that enhance the customers’ experience of your brand.

 

 

For example: They buy the product and get a series of e-mails, all automated, up selling them into your next level product. These e-mails describe the next product in detail, including all the features and benefits. Cell phone companies such as Rogers/Fido and are prime examples of this; if they notice you are reaching the limits of your current airtime plan they automatically send you upgrade deals and offers. The same goes for when your contract is coming to expiry; they send you details on the latest handsets depending on the needs your current handset fulfils.

 

So, taking a life coach or business coach example; once a client has been coaching with you for a number of months, you tell them about the incredible retreat where you might work with them in person and really give them the extra support that will help them apply and get the most out of the principles you've been teaching them. After they graduate from the retreat, maybe you go on to offer your premium, one-on-one, full day coaching. If they want you personally, they will pay big bucks for that high level of coaching. All of this can be automated, going on silently and effortlessly behind the scenes, while you’re busy doing what you do best – delivering your service and expertise.

 

When building your community and exploring online marketing, it is important to set up some type of system. It could be a weekly three-minute video that explains a coaching tip. It could be a newsletter, or even just a paragraph on how to take their life to the next level. The most important thing about this type of communication is that it should provide value to your customers; it should not simply be a sell-in. Does your customer actually gain something by engaging with your communication, or is it just adding to the noise? Regular value added contact with your community can provide more impact than any other marketing that you do. How do you think this applies to the Rogers example above? Is this good online marketing?

 

Passion into Profit Coach Challenge: Take a close look at your marketing activities and ask yourself - where and what can I automate?

 

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center – www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. She is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program for coaches and is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

Converting interested prospects into coaching clients

As coaches in business we will spend the majority of our time “marketing” (yes even when you are an established coach). To leverage your marketing efforts you want to ensure you have captured contact information.

Once you’ve attracted someone’s attention and captured their contact info, you’re in position to seal the deal – by converting interested prospects into committed clients.

No matter what kind of marketing activities you’re doing – online marketing, speaking, networking, or something else – the goal is to create your community (through your blogs, social media, weekly newsletter etc) and steer people toward a complimentary coaching session.

Before jumping into how coaches specifically can create community, it is helpful to look at how other local businesses are successful. For this example we have chosen local bakery and brand name, Terra Breads. Terra Breads was one of Vancouver’s first artisan bakeries, they have a strong commitment to community and authentic artisan baking remains stronger than ever. They operate four bakery locations around Vancouver. So, how do they garner a community?

First, let’s look at what they do offline:

This screenshot from their website shows how many different existing communities they get involved with. Helping other communities is a great way to introduce yourself into the right circles and start to get your name out there. Depending on what kind of coach you are will make a difference with what existing local communities you can start to penetrate. For instance, if you are a life coach who has experience in personal finance, then making yourself known and offering some hours at the local nonprofit credit counselling service is a great way to meet new people within your community.

Let’s turn our attention to online marketing. Terra Breads have an easy to navigate, well branded and informative website. It tells the visitor everything about artisan breads, shows the visitor some rich media in the form of photos and gives great detail about Terra Bread's story. This on its own is not enough to garner community; however it is imperative to facilitating an online following. Without a central place to find information, how will people find you? Terra Breads also run a Facebook Page and Twitter Feed to keep their followers up to date on company news, local events and promotional offers. It is important to notice that they do not just talk about themselves on social media, they share and comment on other companies Page's in their community (see below). For coaches this means getting online friendly with your local ICF Chapter, nonprofit organizations and other relevant businesses to your type of coaching.

Now for some coach specific points; this is the lynchpin of the marketing process, and there are a few ways to work it.

• At regular intervals, invite the prospect to contact you and inquire about coaching options. (Have your tiered menu of offerings and new-client package ready).
• Periodically let your list of prospects know that there is an opportunity for them to get the support they need to move ahead. (“I have three new spaces open in my practice at this time. If you’d like to see if coaching is for you, I’m offering a complimentary coaching session to anyone who may be interested in exploring new ways to get what you really want”).

Another pathway into your practice is to enrol people in a group program. Often, this eliminates the need for a complimentary coaching session. (“In two months, I will be starting a 10-week tele-class series, and the first 10 people to sign up will get to register for half price”).

 

A word to the wise: As you nurture leads and aim to convert prospects, be sure that the majority of your messages are value driven, not promotional. If you’re consistently delivering value in short, bite-sized pieces, people will stay on your list. If you’re too heavy handed with promotional messages, your prospects will soon abandon ship. So be sure you honor their interest and maintain their loyalty by consistently delivering more value than they ever expected.

 

Passion Into Profit Coach Challenge: Be consistent in sharing value with your community and be clear of your call to action strategy.

 

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center –  www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. Teresia is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Teresia is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program offered through the Erickson Business Center.

Get LinkedIn®! Leverage LinkedIn to Build Your Coaching Practice

You go to networking event after networking event, meet lots of business people, but when you get back to your office you leave the business cards you collected on your desk.

They seem to multiply. Lurking in dusty little piles.

From time to time you look at them, and think: Who are these people? What did they want? Were they interested in coaching? You know you need to do something with all of those business cards! But what?

One of the biggest mistakes coaches make is not maintaining a personal connection with their valuable business contacts. But there’s a free tool that can help! LinkedIn® is a business-oriented social networking site that enables users to stay connected with their business contacts and create new business relationships.

Why LinkedIn?
Because LinkedIn has 187 million members, who have an average income of $109,000 (40 percent of which hold a position of manager or higher). And LinkedIn is one of the most used social networks in the world, with an average of 2.8 visits per member per month.

What Can LinkedIn Do for You?
LinkedIn can help you connect with important business contacts on a regular basis and it can help potential clients find you.

All you have to do is type in the names of your business contacts and send a “LinkedIn Invitation” to them (or better yet, scan the business cards and upload them in batches). Once a business connection accepts your invitation, they become part of your LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn is a contact database on steroids. It’s got a wealth of information on each contact:

• Name
• Contact information
• Picture
• Headline
• Work and education history
• List of connections (who they know)
• Recommendations and information on the writers of their recommendations
• Group memberships
• Status updates

Each piece of information will help you in a different way. Their picture can help you recognize them at a networking event. Their work and education history can help you see what you have in common (e.g., you both went to UCLA or worked at United Healthcare). Their work history can help you see if they are part of your target market. Their group memberships can help you determine if they can help you access your target market.

What LinkedIn Can’t Do
LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful tool. But business won’t magically appear just because you’re on LinkedIn. As Chef Gordon Ramsey of “Hell’s Kitchen” has said, “... business doesn’t just come and sit on your lap, you’ve gotta go looking for it and if you don’t you’re going to fail.”

So that’s why most people have a LinkedIn account, but don’t get much out of it. LinkedIn is not a replacement for the in-person contact needed to build business relationships, rather it’s a tool to enhance relationship building.

You still need to talk to people on the phone, meet with them for coffee, see them at networking events, or at the very least, send them a personal note via LinkedIn or email. You still need to interact with them on a human level.

How Can You Use LinkedIn to Build Business Relationships?

Maintain connection:
1. Send “LinkedIn Invitations” to every quality contact you meet. Personalize the invitation to build a foundation for the relationship: “It was nice meeting you at the MGMA Meeting. I enjoyed our discussion about Pay for Performance. I would like to continue to build our business relationship and am inviting you to link with me on LinkedIn.”

Build relationships:
There are many ways to use LinkedIn to build business relationships, for example, you can:

 

1. Review a contact’s LinkedIn profile, once they accept your “LinkedIn Request,” send them an email highlighting the experience, education, or connections that you have in common.

 

2. Review a contact’s LinkedIn profile before a phone call so you can target questions to address their business needs.

 

3. Take a contact’s LinkedIn profile with you to coffee or lunch and use it to build rapport.

 

4. Review the profiles of key people in a networking group, prior to attending an event, to:

• Select people to look for
• Help you recognize them
• Prepare questions to initiate meaningful business conversations

Meet new business contacts:
There are many ways to meet new business contacts on LinkedIn.  You can find them in:

• A “people” Search
• A friend’s connection list
• A group
• A comment they made in a group or the “answers” section
• They can also find you in one of the ways listed above

How You Can Use LinkedIn to Enroll Clients
Once you become more active on LinkedIn, you will begin to get more “LinkedIn Invitations” from people. Converting them from a stranger to a client does not have to be a difficult process. Here’s an example of the process I use:

1. Let’s say a woman named Sara sends you a “LinkedIn Invitation.”

2. If you don’t know Sara, look at her LinkedIn Profile (occupation, work history, education and connections) to determine if she is a potential coaching candidate.

3. If Sara is a potential coaching client, write a LinkedIn email to her to ask for a “get to know you” phone call. NOTE: Don’t accept her “LinkedIn Invitation” until after the call and make it easy for her to schedule the call by offering three times you’re available. If Sara doesn’t look like a viable candidate, either accept the invitation (if being linked to her could be beneficial) or archive it.

4. Before the phone call, review Sara’s LinkedIn Profile and create questions to build rapport: “I really enjoyed attending UCLA, did you?” And uncover her pain points: “What keeps you from accomplishing what you want to accomplish?”

5. Come to the call with curiosity and the intent of building a business relationship with Sara.

6. On the call, ask:  “What attracted you to send a ‘LinkedIn Invitation’ to me?” 

If she is considering hiring a coach (I get this response about 25 percent of the time): 

• Ask: “What is compelling you to look for a coach?” 
• After letting her know how coaching can help her with her issues, make an attempt to enroll Sara into your coaching practice: “Are you ready to sign up for coaching?”
• Or if you sense she’s not ready to enroll or your enrollment attempt fails, offer her a sample coaching session.

OR

If she isn’t looking for a coach:

• Ask her questions to uncover her pain points.
• Tell her how coaching can help her.
• Offer her a sample coaching session. (I have enrolled many clients this way).

7. After the sample coaching session, ask if it was helpful. If it was, ask if she would like to engage you as her coach, explain the pricing, and give her three options of dates/times when she can start her coaching sessions.

8. When she chooses a date and time, send her your welcome package.

Works Cited
1. LinkedIn process: www.linkedin.com
2. Gordon Ramsay quote: I wrote this down while watching the show. Here a reference to it: http://ventstation.blogspot.com/2007/12/marketing-advice-from-gordon-ramsay.html
3. Definition of LinkedIn from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=LinkedIn&i=60336,00.asp

Donna Schilder, MCC, Leadership, Career, and Business Coach (and Coach U Graduate) is the creator of the “6 Weeks to More Success Through LinkedIn” Video E-Course: getlinkedinnow.com. In the E-Course, in teleseminars, and in individual coaching sessions, Donna helps coaches and businesspeople leverage LinkedIn to get more clients and/or job offers (with step-by-step instructions for the online process and real business strategies). In addition, Donna coaches executives, consultants, coaches, and public speakers to break through what blocks them from achieving wild success. Connect with Donna on LinkedIn, donnaschilder.com, and @GetLinkedInNow. This article was first featured in the February 2013 issue of Coaching World.

The first step to determine your coaching fees

Are you a new coach? Are you struggling with deciding on how much you should charge for your coaching services? Teresia LaRocque, MCC, Director of Erickson Business Center shares the first thing you need to ask yourself when deciding your coaching fees to make the income you want to make as a coach in business and highly serve your clients.

 

 

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Decide and claim your intended monthly revenue. 

 

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center –  www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. Teresia is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Teresia is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program offered through the Erickson Business Center.

How I got 1,000 Facebook Fans (in Three Months)

Never before has there been such an open space for anyone to have a podium to express themselves. In the past, only thought leaders, authors, or celebrities could get up on a stage and share their thoughts and opinions, but now with Facebook anyone can do it. So as a coach, how can you use this platform to spread positivity and simultaneously build your brand?

From committing to your status updates to creating ads and ‘promoting’ your posts, growing your Facebook page requires a strategy. Here I’ll share my secrets to developing my Facebook fan following.

Declare It On and Offline
In my latest personal development book, “Don’t Think of a Blue Ball,” I explain how the process started for me by making a declaration.

“When you want to do something and you decide that you will, you will. Since I learnt how powerful the power of declaration was, I started to achieve everything that I dared to declare. When I joined the social networking site, Facebook and created a Facebook Page, I declared that I would have 1,000 ‘Likes’ in three months. And I did it 15 minutes before the date that I had declared it for.

When you declare and announce it to people in your community—you give it power and it attracts the support of that community.”

Since then my page has received more than 5,000 likes in less than two years. As a life coach, we know how to coach ourselves out of fear and into courage. Taking action, making declarations and moving forward in spite of the fear, which after all is only “false, evidence appearing real.” When we make a declaration like this, we are managing our own accountability, we have set a goal and we are designing actions, which are integral attributes of an ICF coach being authentic and competent.

Walking the talk, is how we inspire people rather than “telling” them what to do.

Communicate Directly on Facebook Daily
I used to find this hard to do because in the past I had associated Facebook as “wasting time” but Facebook is not a game. It is a place you go to meet and interact with real life people and the only way to gain “likes” or fans is to be interested and engage with other Facebook users.

I take about an hour in the morning and then another 30 minutes at the end of the day to look through other people’s profiles and I like or comment on them, then I find something that I am inspired by and write a line or two on my Facebook page. Be sure to truly engage, remember that these are real people with thoughts and feelings and they have a message to shout out as well, they want to be heard not just bombarded with your inspirational words or your sales pitch. I learnt this lesson from Katrina Kavvalos—(Social Media Coach).

Be an Active Listener
Browse through profiles and see who your friends and potential clients “like.” Go on and “like” a few pages that interest you at first and then over the next few days, see if you really do “like” their posts. I found that I needed to reduce the number of pages I “liked” as it became too much for me, so I went through them again after a while and “stopped liking” the ones that I didn’t really enjoy, keeping my list of “liked pages” to very few that I truly did “like.” These should usually be made up of people you admire, you aspire to be like, you have learnt from and even your peers. Read what they post daily and “like” or even “share” when you appreciate or agree with them. People who like your page want to see and read content and it does not necessarily have to be all your own original stuff. They need to see that you are human like them on the same playing field and you too like and admire others.

Invest a Little
Although you can build your “likes” organically, it does help to set aside a monthly budget for Facebook Advertising. It is one of the most comprehensive and specific target market aimed tools I have ever come across. You can design ads or you can just simply click on the “Promote” icon below your post and set the budget for that particular post, starting from $5. I usually go for $20-$30 each time and receive at least 40–50 new views and page “likes.” This is far better than advertising the page, as it is promoting two things for the price of one. You have the potential to receive a “like” and you already have the viewer “engaged” and interested. This has worked wonders for me and I use it every time I want to promote a workshop, my book or a new video. There are many tools out there to measure how effective or influential you are being on Facebook including Edgerank and Klout.

Word of caution, there are a lot of sites that offer to get you more likes for $5 or $10 or more, these are not real and they do fall out eventually. You are better off having fewer engaged likes than many silent ones.

To conclude, don’t separate people you meet face-to-face with people you meet on Facebook. Some of my best connections and clients have come from Facebook. They are resourceful individuals just like you and are enjoying this incredible new platform where each and every one of us has a voice to declare, to share and to have an opinion. The “like” key is powerful, the comment key, even more so but the one you really want to get your users to click is the “share” key, for that shows that you have influence. Think about why someone would want to “share” your post on their profiles before you post anything.

Malti Bhojwani, PCC, is the founder of Multi Coaching International (1999). She is also an NLP practitioner and is trained in Ontological Coaching. Her latest book, “Don’t Think of a Blue Ball,” has gained international endorsements and is available online. As a coach she aims to serve, not fix or help, through her personalized sessions, virtual coach program, YouTube videos and her writing. For more information visit maltibhojwani.com.You can also connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, or follow her @MaltiBhojwani. This article was first featured in the February 2013 issue of Coaching World.

Only Do What You Love - It Is Your Key to Successful Entrepreneurship

Imagine a cup that represents your internal energy. When your cup is full, even overflowing at times, you feel confident and focused; you're in the zone.  You have so much to give to your clients, your business and your circle of influence.

Now imagine your cup springing a leak. As the energy slowly drains out, you struggle to keep it full. It gets harder and harder to pour energy into your business and the people around you. You feel much less vibrant, and you enjoy your activities less. Things become a struggle when there is less energy to go around.

This cup represents not only your energy but your ability to achieve success. It's not just imaginary; it is a very real part of your life as an entrepreneur. So, if you want to be successful, you have to ask yourself:

• How do I need to design my business so that my cup stays full?
• How can I market my business in a way that keeps me energetic and passionate?

These are very important questions, because in the coaching industry, we’re not selling a product; we are marketing ourselves. It's personal, very personal. We’re asking people to invest in us. This can be an intimidating thing to do. It's a high-stakes proposition, and it can bring out our inner gremlins – self-doubt and insecurities. As we go about building our business and coaching others, we want to be engaged in activities that feel natural and effortless, so our inner light can shine and people can experience our brilliance, not our fears.

 

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Embrace the standard that 80 percent of your time as a coach in business you will be doing what you love and find a way to let go of or delegate the rest! Your success depends on it.

 

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center –  www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. Teresia is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Teresia is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program offered through the Erickson Business Center.

Navigating our social media driven world

When social media channels first emerged on the scene in the early 2000s, they were perceived by many as a fad. Something that would stick around only long enough until the next big thing appeared. But today, with more than one billion users across numerous platforms (TechCrunch, 2012), they are very clearly here to stay.

As a coach in today’s technologically advanced world, how can you best utilize these burgeoning social media channels to your advantage? Which platforms should you use? How do you build up your likes/followers/fans? What messages should you share? Read on for the tips and tricks of navigating social media.

Facebook
If you aren’t on Facebook, you should be. This social media tycoon has more than one billion monthly active users—81 percent of which live outside North America (Facebook, 2012). With so many active users, many of your past, current, and potential clients are bound to be there already.

Gain loyal followers: You do this by providing quality content on a regular basis. What can you offer that provides value? It is important to post content beyond your business—entice people by posting about coaching, your community and more. Daily, consistent updates keep fans engaged and interested in what you have to offer. There is no magic number when it comes to how many posts you should put out there in a given day or week. Test different strategies to see what works for you.

Engage people in conversation by asking questions and always responding to comments and questions on your page.

23% of Facebook users check their account 5+ times daily! Some 80% of social media users prefer to connect with brands through Facebook AND a whopping 77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook. (Huffington Post, 2012)

Twitter
Twitter is rapidly growing as a social media mainstay. The trick is to sell yourself in 140 characters or less (less is more!). You want multiple tweets in a day, but too many—or too salesy—tweets will cause followers to stop following. Space out your tweets (you can even schedule tweets through a program like Hootsuite) to keep content moving steadily.

Getting started in the Twittersphere: Seek out colleagues and friends to follow on Twitter. The people you follow will prove to be a constant source of inspiration—it is through them that you will be able to retweet (share) content and you’ll glean ideas for future messaging.

Post and share content that matters: By consistently providing valuable content in your areas of expertise, people will turn to you as source. Balance out your messaging with retweets of others’ content. Pose questions, post quotations, share articles/blog posts that speak to you. The Twitter feed moves quickly. The nature of Twitter allows you to repurpose your messages and share more than once—this is especially important if your followers are spread across multiple time zones.

Be an active part of the conversation. Retweet and comment on posts! If people engage with you, interact! An unfortunate 56 percent of customer tweets to companies are being ignored (Huffington Post, 2012). You don’t want that to be you!

Since the dawn of Twitter, there have been a total of 163 billion tweets. In 2012, one million accounts were added to Twitter every day. (Huffington Post, 2012)

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is frequently touted as a powerful social networking tool for professionals and is a great way to connect with past/current/future clients.

More than 2.6 million companies have LinkedIn Company pages. (LinkedIn Press Center, 2012)

Tips for making the most of yours: have a complete profile page—you want to build trust from the very beginning. Provide enough information so people feel comfortable reaching out to you. Tell your story…why should people care about you/your business? Don’t leave fields blank (this includes all possible contact information you can list)! Add a real photo of yourself—people like to see the person behind the profile.

Join and be active: Once your account is set up, you will want to begin networking. There is a plethora of coaching groups active on LinkedIn where you can join in on numerous discussions.

Likewise, if leads are what you seek, they can be found on LinkedIn, you just have to ask! Anytime you make a new connection, don’t be afraid to let them know you are searching for a lead.

Blog
If done well, your blog can be a powerful tool to promote your business/services; boost additional web traffic to your website; and connect with potential clients.

Concerned with content? The growth of coaching in recent years has been phenomenal—as such, people are constantly searching for more information about it. In addition to writing about your own business and coaching, talk in broader terms about the profession. Answer those frequently asked questions you have heard over the years. Shed insight into what coaching is and what it isn’t. Talk about the coaching process and how people can determine if it will work for them.

60% of businesses have a business or company blog—of these, 35% actively blog at least once a month. (Blogging.org, 2012)

Other social media platforms you might consider using:

YouTube
There are over 800 million unique visitors to YouTube each month (YouTube, 2012). If you create videos, a branded YouTube channel is a perfect way to house your collection. Your own channel allows viewers to subscribe to your content (and be immediately notified of any new videos you post). Through YouTube, it is simple to embed your videos directly into blog posts for use across other social media platforms.

Pinterest
This relatively new platform is all about increasing your business’ visibility. Potential ideas for use include: sharing favorite quotes, books, success stories, etc. Be creative! It was found that 69 percent of online consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they’ve bought or wanted to buy, compared with 40 percent of Facebook users (Huffington Post, 2012). Also, 43 percent of people prefer Pinterest to associate with retailers or brands; 24 percent chose Facebook (Huffington Post, 2012). Pinterest use continues to grow amongst businesses with the now available Pinterest Business pages.

If you have any tips or strategies when it comes to social media usage, we would love to hear them! Tweet them to us using this hash tag: #icfsmtip

Works Cited
1. Facebook. (2012, October). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.facebook.com/: http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts
2. Huffington Post. (2012, November 29). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-honigman/100-fascinating-social-me_b_2185281.html
3. LinkedIn Press Center. (2012, September 30). Retrieved December 5, 2012, from LinkedIn: http://press.linkedin.com/About
4. TechCrunch. (2012, May 14). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://techcrunch.com/: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/14/itu-there-are-now-over-1-billion-users-of-social-media-worldwide-most-on-mobile/

Kristin Kelly is the woman behind ICF’s social media initiates. She’s the one who keeps you informed through Facebook, shares interesting articles about coaching on Twitter, and moderates discussions on LinkedIn. She is also the editor of the official ICF blog and manager of ICF’s email newsletters. Kristin has been on staff as ICF’s Marketing Specialist for the last five years. If you have a submission for the blog, email her at kristin.kelly@coachfederation.org. This article was first featured in the February 2013 issue of Coaching World. 

Five reasons your coaching business needs your story

You may have heard it said 'Stories Sell'.  It's true.  We really connect to a good story and it's a proven marketing and sales tactic.

You know this instinctively, you only buy something when you really 'believe' it.  And you can take any example from your own life.  Think about the last purchase you made; what was the pitch?  What did you believe when you bought it?  I can guarantee you, it was a great story.

However, I'm not writing about new 'tactics' here.  I want to write about something much more authentic and personal than the latest proven business building gimmick.

And what's this got to do with coaching?  Well you can be the best coach in the world but if you can't sell your services, you simply don't have a business.

Here are the five  reasons your coaching business needs YOUR story and these are also the five ways you can build your business authentically and easily.

1. Your Story is evidence of your expertise. What you have experience; including your personal life events, research, education and approach, is the best evidence of why you are perfectly placed to coach others.

2. Your Story creates powerful connect. When we hear your authentic story we are reminded of our own related experiences and instinctively understand that you get it!

3. Your Story is inspiring. Your potential clients are struggling to achieve something.  You have grown beyond that struggle so by telling that story you are inspiring others.

4. Your Story is the key to attracting clients. Your story differentiates you from others in your market. People always remember the story and be attracted by it. You show up as human, approachable, knowledgeable and most importantly, relevant.  Clients find you when you start telling your story.

5. Your Story makes you money. Add up all of what's said before…more connection, more expertise, more inspiration, more clients – yes, it means you will make more money and have a thriving business. Now what coach would say no to that!

You need a great story.  And you don't have to make it up.  You have a great story.  Don't doubt it.

Your story is who you are, it's how you create your reality, it's how you show up.

Start showing up powerfully with your authentic, compelling story – your business will thank you for it!

Lisa Bloom, PCC is founder of Story Coach Inc. and the Certified Story Coach Program.  Download her ebook ‘Using Stories to Get Great Clients’ at http://www.story-coach.com.

How to make building your coaching business seem fun & effortless

Building a coaching business can feel daunting, especially if the entrepreneurial world is new to you or you don’t particularly like the whole marketing conversation. But let it be known, you do not have to do the hard driving, grit your teeth action to build a profitable business.

If I told you it was possible to market your business through activities that you found fun, energizing and effortless, would you believe me?  I'm going to share with you how to make that vision true for you.

Building a successful business is like building a skyscraper, you need a solid foundation to support a six-figure business. But beyond a solid foundation to support it, you need a consistent source of energy to keep doing the activities you need to do to get the results you desire.

What is this source of energy? We’re talking about marketing. Not flash-in-the-pan marketing… sustainable marketing. And if you want it to be sustainable, it has to be easy. It has to fit with your natural abilities – the things you are good at and enjoy doing. I call these your attractive abilities – your key to successful entrepreneurship.

Every single person on the planet has a unique set of talents and gifts. These are the things that come easy to you and complement your personality. You are good at them, and naturally, you love to do them.

For example, some people are extroverted and enjoy engaging those around them in meaningful conversations, like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

Others are introverted and they have an impressive skill set when it comes to processing information and putting their thoughts on paper. An example could be leaders such as Warren Buffett or Steven Spielberg.

Sometimes, these abilities feel so natural that we assume everyone can do these things. But that simply isn't true. These traits are gifts, specially developed aspects of your personality, and they form the basis of your unique ability to contribute in the world.

Give yourself a chance to thoroughly investigate what it is that you are both great at and love doing.

Begin by asking yourself these four critical questions.
1. Which business activities energize you, both during and after you do them?
2. Which business activities make time fly?
3. Think of a time when you were successful as a professional. What activities were you doing?
4. What activities do other people complement your performance on (and you feel surprised because you thought everyone was good at it)?

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Decide today to align your marketing activities with things you love to do and what you are great at and embrace the effortless way of being a coach in business.

Teresia LaRocque MCC, is Director of Entrepreneurship and Business Building Mentor for the Erickson Business Center –  www.ericksonbusinesscenter.com at Erickson College International www.erickson.edu. Teresia is a pioneer in the booming profession of personal coaching, the first recipient of the International Coach Federation’s Master Coach Credential in Canada and cofounder for the Vancouver International Coach Federation chapter. Teresia is committed to supporting coaches to take their talent and passion for coaching and make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. Teresia is the founder and facilitator of the Passion into Profit Program, a customized business building program offered through the Erickson Business Center.