How Am I Supposed To Know?
I had a great conversation with a lovely coach recently, in which we talked through all of the things he’d done to grow his coaching business. It included LinkedIn University and Google Adwords. He’d had a measure of success with Adwords, but little success otherwise.
We talked about the kinds of clients he’d picked up from what he’d done and to be fair, he had had a few. However, they weren’t the kind of client that set his soul on fire and he just didn’t know what else he could do.
‘I have 2 full days each week in which I could concentrate on my coaching business’ he said ‘and I would love to spend those days working on it if only I knew what to do!‘
Why Should You Know?
It certainly got me thinking. Why should a coach know what to do to build a coaching business? We don’t teach business development skills at school. They’re only touched upon on a coaching course, so how could a coach be expected to know?
Here’s the thing though; coaches finish coaching courses with a belief that the qualification equals paying clients. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth.
Coaching courses teach fabulous skills – coaching skills. Those skills are half of the skills needed to build a coaching business, the delivery half. The other half of the skills required are the business development skills. That’s what we teach.
I Can Get All I Need Online, For Free
Some coaches have said to me in the past that they don’t need business development training, because it’s all available for free online. I still see those coaches posting optimistic ‘what one thing could I help you with today?’ type posts. I have never seen a single one of them succeed in a meaningful way.
In the same way you wouldn’t think you were a professional coach after reading a book or doing a free online coaching course, you can’t consider yourself proficient at business development without good training.
In the same way that coaching is a process, business development is also a process. A good business development process is one that is simple, clear and effective.
That’s what we teach.
A Happy Ending
I’m delighted to tell you that the coach who wanted to know what to do, has joined us as a mentee. With his mentors support, he worked out what kind of client he really wanted to work with, what they needed to hear to realise that they should work with him, and he is where they are, and talking their language.
He recently said that he can’t believe how simple our process is and yet how laser-focused – and therefore successful – it is too. He is creating enquiries from his ideal clients for free (who wants to pay for Adwords anyway?).
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