Writing Often (feel free to substitute writing with communicating)

The tools available in a profitable Internet marketing plan give you the opportunity to make your “Coaching Playbook” available in some format so that potential players at least know what game you coach. Like it or not you need to see your self in the publishing business because it is important to create multiple opportunities to connect, engage and make your offer. The tools for connecting, engaging and making your offer, to give your potential players the opportunity to discover you and your method for coaching the big games of life will most likely be:

• books – printed & ebook
• audio recordings – digital download or on CD
• video – online & DVD
• special reports – free & premium
• blog posts
• email – newsletters & auto-responders

Not only does creating these tools help potential players decide if you are the coach for them, but,  depending on your frequency, can give the feeling that you’re right along side them as they play the game.

All of these tools can give you the opportunity to create and maintain relevancy for your relationship with your players.

In 2010 I will be moving to a very prolific content creation and distribution schedule.  I have already moved to a daily email format which have caused many of my subscribers to unsubscribe. That’s a good thing. These readers were not my market and I applaud them for managing their intake of information. At the same time my subscriber number are growing daily because of the feedback I get on Twitter about the content in the emails as well as the fact that the emails are being forwarded to their colleagues. I am enjoying many personal responses with comments like, “I needed this message today…”, “This was so on target, it’s right where I’m at in building my business…”. or this one is the best, “When can I get started working with you?”.

Writing Relevant

In preparation for the massive amounts of content that I am creating for next year I have intentionally engaged with my potential players more frequently and more strategically. Here are some of the things that I am doing to keep me relevant and how I use the information to help me identify & attract my perfect paying client – and develop future products as well:

Client Calls: With permission I record nearly all of my coaching sessions. I have a high level of trust with my clients since most come from word of mouth. I am very clear that the purpose of the recording is so that my client can listen to the call as often as he or she wants to take notes and learn from, as well as be able to hear themselves outside of the moment for their own observations.  I also let them know that I will be listening to the call again and it will help me coach them better being able to listen out of the moment of the call. It’s kinda like how sports coaches use video tapes of practice and game to correct or learn new plays.

From these recordings I am also able to pick up on patterns and common threads of questions or mind sets that show up not in just one client but in many of my clients.  When I write emails, articles, or posts for my blog I’ve got lots of juicey content stirring inside because of real live stories that I am connecting with.

My famous “No Strings, No Cost Laser Coaching” calls that I offer on Twitter & Facebook. I usually do about two of these calls a week if my schedule permits. This gives a prospective player the opportunity to have another perspective of the business side of their coaching. I have mastered the ability to take a look at the overall picture of their business and point out possible gaps in their client path. They leave the call with a recording that they can listen to over & over – not just about some obscure strategy they could be implementing but a very specific personalized assessment they can take immediate action on.

When I offer these sessions, often an sense of imbalance is created. The prospective client wants to know what they can do for me. First of all this tells me they have already made the decision that this was a valuable session. If there is enough value in what I offer on the call to the point of making them want to do something in return – I know I’ve done my job. This helps me hone my skills and know that I am right on target with the issues that coaches building their business are facing right now. And, I always let my clients know that from my perspective the call is R & D. It keeps me in touch with my market. When they realize that they’ve helped me by keeping me in touch with my market they can see the value in that for me and it balances the scale.

I also get new clients this way. After a No Strings, No Cost Laser Coaching session it frequently leads to a perfect paying client relationship. And since I said “no strings” I do not attempt to sell them on anything in the future, but because I hold nothing back, giving them whatever I can in the way of guidance or perspective in a single 60 minute session – they almost always want to take it to the next step which would be to work with me on going as a paying client.

Response to my daily email: Since I now send out daily emails 5 – 6 days a week I get lots of replies. I reply to as many as I can. I get questions for more information about a topic or get positive feedback when my message struck a cord.  Quite often my reply will inspire a new writing project. In fact this blog post is an inspiration from on of my readers comments.

Finally…

I get the best response to the content I deliver – email, articles, blog posts, etc – when I am “in state“. For me “in state” is that energy I feel when I am perfectly connected with a client and together we’re perfecting the “plays” of the game. It is when I recognize what is needed by my client to move forward and I help them see it through the view of their current mindset and it moves them into a new mindset for growth. Many of the things I have described above either get me “in state” or move me back into state if I am listening to a recording of a previous session.

The creation of the Coaches Profit Wheel has come out of regular, relevant engagement with my perfect paying prospects & clients. I’ve been told that my emails seem as if I am reading their minds. I think that means I am “in tune” and writing relevant.

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photo credit - BL1961

Did you know that you have your own energetic signature that was defined at birth, and quite possibly before that? Throughout your life your stories that you created and lived through are all ultimately designed to work towards your perfect happiness & abundant life. It’s true! No matter what your journey here on this earth has been – every bit of it can work for your good.

“There are more people out there waiting to hear your message who can only hear it uniquely from you than you can ever get to in your lifetime.” Jeff Herring

As you begin to discover and perfect your coaching message, method and promise that you will deliver to your perfect client I would like you to look inward. Spend some time taking a personal inventory of you.

Let me invite you to sit down with pen & paper (no not at your computer for this exercise, please. Just trust me there is a purpose in this) and begin to write about your own personal wealth.

What? You say you have no personal wealth yet? Oh, but you do. Your life is rich with experience – both good and not so good. You have acquired knowledge, and you have both raw and developed talent. I’ll just bet if you’d give yourself permission, you could list many personal victories that you are actually quite proud of. Go on, give yourself permission to make a list of the “unique value of you”.

Let me give you some of the areas I would like you to think about as you make your list of what makes you so valuable:

1. Knowledge
2. Experience
3. Talent
4. Inspiration (what inspires YOU)
5. Community (friends & family at large)
6. Character & Values
7. Divine Connection – Spirituality
8. Relationships (close, significant)
9. Health
10. Finances

In each of these areas make an inventory list of what is unique to you. For example,

• Do you have a clear, intuitive connection with the Divine?
• Are you in tip top shape and healthy?
• Are you knowledgeable about nutrition with a wealth of experience in how to eat to keep yourself in optimum health?
• Are you a gifted musician or artist?
• Do you tune in to the needs of others quickly and pick up on what others miss?

Go ahead, spend some time with open heart and ready pen. You might be surprised at what you might discover about yourself. Remember you are looking for the value of the uniqueness of YOU.

I would love to hear from you on this. Tell me how this exercise goes. And yes, this has everything to do with building your successful coaching business.

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Listen to the show and find out how to get a copy of this book for free.

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Do you realize that “free” is a business strategy?

This quote from Chris Anderson’s book says it well. The powerful strategy behind the free giveaway that you give to new subscribers gives you the opportunity to build reputation and attention; your on-going strategy is to convert that into to cash.

You’re missing out if you’re not giving away something with enough value to build reputation and attention to your message, method, & promise.

Your emailing strategy is the “build” – continuation of what you started with your free special report, mini-guide, white paper, manifesto, audio, video -whatever your give away is – the backend is in the email follow up. You lose momentum and credibility if your giveaway and your follow emails don’t build your reputation and capture your prospects attention.

Take a look at your lead capture strategy. This is a pivotal piece in your marketing. A lot is riding on this.

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“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

I read this quote over at Michael Hyatt blog. Of course this is aimed at aspiring authors – but it got me to thinking. If you are a coach doing business on the internet, some form of writing is a staple for communicating to attract your perfect client.

You may not think you’re a writer or an author. You may not think you are in the “publishing” business.

You ARE in the communication business.

The perfect recipe for building your coaching business is “just get up and get busy communicating” your message, method & promise.

Message: The foundational story that presents the solution to a problem your identified perfect client is looking for. When your perfect client here’s your message, your story, they say, “yeah, me too. I can so relate to that.”

Method: Your unique process for solving a particular problem or set of problems. Or your unique process for taking someone from satisfaction mixed with unrest to new heights of inspiration.

Promise: What do your clients get, or aspire to achieve because they have worked with you. How have you moved them farther, quicker or both because of their investment of time and finances with you and your method.

Your perfect customer may be attracted by reading your blog posts, your articles, listening to recorded audio or watching a video. If you are only doing one form of communication you might miss many ideal clients who are best reached with a different communication tool. What? Okay if you only write in your blog – you could be missing perfect clients that love to listen to an audio or watch a video.

Coaches are in the business of communication. Plan this into your daily activities so that your perfect client can be attracted to you.

How do you attract your perfect client?

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What's Your Promise?

Today I need to hear from you.

1. Why do you coach?
2. What’s your motivation to be coach?
3. When someone coaches with you, what do they get, how do they benefit as a result?

You will get a link back to your blog when you leave a comment here. Please answer these questions as a comment below.

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I sent the following out in Monday’s Business Building Practice Email:

Successful Coaches understand that their activities must have a track-able return on investment.

Take a look at the activities you have on tomorrow’s to do list. If you continue to do those activities, will they bring you closer to a full practice and a living income?

An even better practice is to make a list of desired outcomes and ask yourself, what activities will take me towards this goal?

You list might look like this:

• To be known as an expert coach in my field (corporate, small business, business, parenting, health, fitness, etc)
• To build a large list of loyal followers & subscribers
• To build a full practice of two clients a day 4 days a week.
• One quarterly teleclass series with 20 students.
• Create one new digital product per quarter from the teleclass recordings & transcripts.

What will you do tomorrow that will take you towards any of these goals? Work from the end result backwards to today’s task.

If we take just the first thing on the list, what are the daily activities that you could do to be known as an expert in your field? First you must know the following:

1. What is the problem or problem set that you solve? or what is the quality of life that you inspire?
2. Who, specifically, needs this solution or quality of life?
3. How do you solve the problem? How do you provide the solution? How to you help the client improve the quality of their life?
4. Where can you showcase your solution in as many forms as possible to be seen by the person that needs – desires the solution and or the improved quality of life?

To establish yourself as “the expert” in your field, your daily activities should comprise of exposing your solution to those individuals that are actively looking to solve a problem. You should be providing the information so that the active seekers can find them any time of the day or night – at their convenience.

A comprehensive Internet Marketing strategy allows for a comprehensive approach to connect with the people that are actively looking for a solution that you offer.

• Blog posting
• Blog commenting
• Article publishing
• Internet radio – host & guest
• Video
• Teleseminars / Webinars
• Social Networking
• Social Publicity

Each of the tools listed above gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the solutions and be found by active seekers. Each time you post to your blog or publish an article you demonstrate the solution or a piece of the solution – and if properly crafted the words themselves act as tiny magnets to draw the seekers to your message (this is the purpose of SEO).

This week as you prepare your calendar of activities -whether or not you have clients, you must decide how much of your day will be invested in creating or continuing your expert reputation. Not all of your content creation needs to be done daily – some of it can be done once and spread out over several days. Other pieces can be repurposed – for example – turn session recordings into blog posts or articles, which allows you to have time for coaching or leading groups while your content is doing the work for you.

What’s on your to-do list? How is it moving you towards your business building goals?

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Tuning Fork by Eurok on Flickr

1. If you don’t define your market niche you’re marketing will be like an out of tune instrument with random sounds that don’t resonate pure sound with anything – your marketing becomes “noise” in the marketplace.
2. The better you have defined your ideal prospect and you begin to tell your story, or in this case “sing your song” your voice is pure clear sound and your ideal prospect joins in. Your coaching message and the clients need harmonize, just like using a tuning fork for the starting key of a song or to tune an instrument.
3. Your marketing should, just like the turning fork, harmonize with whoever is “in key” with your song. Prospects that read your marketing material and move on are not in harmony with your message.

If we look at marketing as music it seems to me that it would just be easier to think of it as music that harmonizes well or not, or, different genre’s of music that appeals to different listeners.

So if you’re a coach that hates marketing, maybe you’re not tuned in to a genre of marketing that makes you and your ideal prospects heart sing.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this. Please leave me a comment.

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Upbeat: Cultivating the Right Attitude to Thrive in Tough Times.

Today’s guest, Rajesh Setty, author of Upbeat: Cultivating the Right Attitude to Thrive in Tough Times, tells his employees not to talk about the news at work. It’s not productive and doesn’t help them move forward in their business.

As a coach you will appreciate Raj’s approach to the nine environments of You to create a consistently UpBeat attitude and business approach. Raj has been asking himself and his peers, colleagues and employees the right questions for quite a few years – you can see the benefits in his business and life. This has EVERYTHING to do with Getting More Business.

Join me on today’s call – Get More Business Show

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Coaching as a Business or a Hobby? photo credit Sam Pullara on Flickr

In order for your practice of coaching to be profitable you must operate it like a business, otherwise it’s just an avocation or a hobby.

av-o-ca-tion – n. An activity taken up in addition to one’s regular work or profession, usually for enjoyment; a hobby.

A business is profitable when operated with certain best practices. Yet many coaches who have trained and certified as coaches don’t make the time or the investment to learn profitable business practices. Many coaches actually avoid the very practices that would bring them the profit they are seeking.

Milana Leshinsky,  of Coaching Millions, in her New Coaching Manifesto talks about the 91% of coaches who are failing miserably as business owners because they spend way too much time trying to define or defend the profession of coaching rather than focusing on creating value and problem solving for a culture of people that really need a coach – but don’t yet understand the true value of coaching.

Here are the problems as I see it:

Unsuccessful coaches…

1. think “coaching” is their niche
2. do not have a message that clearly communicates value or solution to a particular prospect
3. avoid marketing like it is something painful
4. have no clear path for the prospect to become a paying customer
5. do not ask for the business
6. wait for clients to find them
7. have only one product – either one on one coaching or group coaching

Think about other businesses or professions.

Would you go to a restaurant that had a sign in the window that said, “We serve food”?

How about if you saw a business open in your community that had no sign, no way at all of knowing what the business had to offer – just a commercial building with the doors open? Would you go there to do business?

What about a business with an open sign but when you went inside, no one was there?

What are some of the practices of other professions, ones that you do business with?

Successful businesses have an easily identified product or service with an ideal client or customer in mind. A way to get their attention and offer their product or service for an exchange of money.

Let’s consider the example of the restaurant – no one is offended if the owner announces, even advertises that it serves only Mexican food. People that don’t like Mexican food can choose another restaurant. No one is offended when they receive advertisements about the restaurant or when a commercial comes on during their favorite evening show on television.

Yet, many coaches are struggling because “they serve coaching” (so what?!), and they don’t actually want to market their business – in fact they don’t know who they are solving a problem for and how to let anyone at all know that they solve a problem.

So what am I saying?

To be successful as a coach you must implement sound business practices. You must

• know who your ideal prospect is
• have a clear message of what problem you solve  or value you create
• a unique method for creating the solution
• have systems for attracting and communicating with your ideal prospect
• ask for the business
• have multiple entry levels for the client to do business with you and experience your method and solution

If coaching is something you feel passionate about, something you love to do – but unless you implement good business practices, it will be impossible to make a decent living, nor will it fund the life of your dreams.

Is coaching your business? What will you do about it?

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