Andrea Lee
GM, CoachVille

Hi. I’m Tina Forsyth. I’ve been coaching part time for 2 years and have recently taken the leap to building my full time practice. I’m having loads of fun building my programs, doing research on marketing options and connecting with people on how to build my biz. I thought it would be great to share this journey with my fellow coaches! Not just to help those of you out who are in the same boat, but also maybe to give some insight to those of you who are mentor coaches for folks like me.

Coaching found me in April of 2000 and I knew instantly that it was my calling. I enrolled in the CoachU program in August of 2000 and will be done in July 2002 (Yeah!) I worked full time and was coaching part time for the past 2 years. This was a very experimental time for me and was necessary to define who I want to work with and what I want to accomplish. All of this led to the birth of my company – Passion Works (www.passionworks.ca) and the recognition of my passion. I am working with people to define what they love to do and to create a career/business where they can make money doing what they love. I had paying clients up until January 2002 but currently have none. My goal is to get to 20 paying clients by the end of the year, and to compliment that with my workshops.

Ok. I know how to do the coaching, yet how do I build the biz? This seems to be the challenge that a lot of coaches are facing. How do we make money doing what we love? I’ve been researching all of the “typical” marketing avenues – sales, advertising, networking, presenting, etc. And to be honest, one word comes to mind when I think of going this route. Ugh! Cold calling? Not my style. Advertising? Expensive and low return. Networking? I love meeting people but most networking events are set up poorly.

I’ve decided to create my a personalized marketing plan. Tina’s plan!

My criteria is simple, it must be something I WANT to do, not something I “should” do. And it must obviously start bringing in clients or it’s not working. Here’s my plan:

Connect: This is one of my values, to connect with people.

I’ve decided to take this a step further and aim to proactively connect with people. What does it mean to connect? It means truly touching someone, even if the interaction is brief. Hold open a door for someone. Buy a stranger a coffee. Take 5 minutes to listen to a friend. How often do we go through life not really seeing the people around us? The guy behind the counter at the gas station. The person in the car next to us at a red light. Connection can take so many forms, from a simple smile to a deep, personal conversation. I’ve made it a goal to connect deeply with people everyday.

Gratitude: I’ll be honest, up until a week ago this one was a real mystery for me.

Yes, I’ve heard all about gratitude over the past few years, but I never really “got” it. Something was missing. So I went on a gratitude hunt a couple of weeks ago and found the answer. Gratitude is receiving! To joyously and freely receive what the world is giving to me. To receive the financial support my husband is offering during my transition. To receive the dream home that is being offered to us even though it doesn’t make sense financially. And the key? To receive all of this without guilt, without feeling “bad” for any of it. I’ve decided to receive what the universe is offering, even if it doesn’t make sense. Especially if it doesn’t make sense!

Ask to coach someone: It is a standard selling strategy to ask for the sale, yet it seems to be the hardest part.

Asking for the sales increases the closing rate exponentially. I find that I’ve been putting myself out there as a coach, educating people on what I do, sharing free sessions and then waiting for them to ask to be coached. Does it work? A little bit, but not a lot. We know when people are in a coachable situation. They are telling us they are! I went for coffee with a lady last week who is smack dab in the middle of a career transition. She is ready for change, just not sure what her next steps are. We had a nice chat. So it hits me on the way home – I didn’t ASK if she would like me to coach her! And yet her situation and outlook were so coachable. Here’s a great quote from The Four Agreements card deck by Don Miguel Ruiz that perfectly illustrates this point.

Find the courage to ask for what you want.

Others have the right to tell you yes or no, but you always have the right to ask. Likewise, everybody has the right to ask you for what they want, and you have the right to say yes or no.  – Don Miguel Ruiz

Simple, yes? Empower people to make their own choice to say yes or no, don’t make the decision for them but not asking. Coaching could be exactly what they need right now, they just don’t see it or are too afraid to ask. All it takes is courage. My goal is to ask people if I can coach them, when I see they are in a coachable situation. Be they friends, work associates, neighbors or the lady next to me in the grocery line.

Give it away for free: I was at the CoachVille conference in March and was struck by a very simple concept. In order for people to see our value and therefore hire us, we need to share with them what we have to offer! I’ll admit, I’ve been holding my coaching very close to me over the past year. If someone couldn’t pay me, then I wasn’t going to coach them because my coaching was worth money! (Gee, why don’t I have any clients right now?) I was very aware of not slipping into “coach” when talking with friends or co-workers. Well, needless to say they haven’t seen the value of what I have to offer, because I haven’t shared it with them! I’ve decided to give away my coaching. If a friend calls me to discuss a challenge, I’ll share all I have to give. I am going to volunteer as a coach for young adults at my local YWCA. As much as possible I want to get coaching out there, regardless of whether it pays me or not. Besides, there are other ways to get paid beside money.

I’m keeping a few other tools in my belt along the way: patience, faith, abundance, courage and, of course, fun! And most importantly, I’m willing to do what it takes to get my coaching practice going. If this doesn’t work, I’ll try the next thing. And the next thing. And I will keep going until I have 20 paying clients.

Ideas, comments, thoughts – feel free to email Tina Forsyth at tina@passionworks.ca or call 403-830-4339.
 

BONUS for this issue: Lesson #21 from CoachVille's 100-day Full Practice Ecourse for Coaches is included below for Today's Coach readers.  Lesson #21 is on the topic of offering free focus day sessions as a way to build and bond with your referral network.

copyright 2002 by coachville.com. distribution encouraged with attribution intact. feel free to share this with your coach clients.
 

Are you a new or new coach, looking to build a practice quickly, or to at least strengthen your current network? 

Or, perhaps you're curious about online marketing?
Are you an active coach ready to become a leader in the coaching world? 

If any of the above is true, then you will find the the 100 lessons of the Full Practice eCourse to be right on the money.  Our members frequently email us to let us know that that these lessons work!

The Full Practice eCourse is a CoachVille exclusive and is 100% FREE with your CoachVille lifetime membership (just $79, click here for more information.)


The 100 Lessons of the Full Practice eCourse are:

(Click on lesson #21, Offering Free Focus Day Sessions, for a free sample lesson.)

Week 1
Know Thyself and Thy Services
#1. Articulating Exactly What You Do for Clients
#2. Identifying the Qualities of Clients You Most Want To Work With
#3. Identifying the Clients You Cannot Do Great Work For
#4. Identifying the Value Delivered from the Client's Perspective
#5. Using Effective Marketing Messages

Week 2
Resolving the Blocks and Fears To Having a Full Practice
#6. The Fraud Factor
#7. I'm a great coach!
#8. I need credentials!
#9. I can't charge for this!
#10. I don't believe in coaching! 

Week 3
Building a Referral Network
#11. How To Build a Referral Network of 10
#12. How To Build a Referral Network of 100
#13. How To Build a Referral Network of 1,000
#14. How To Build a Referral Network of 10,000
#15. How To Build a Referral Network of 100,000

Week 4
Educating For Your Network for Referrals
#16. The Sales Letter
#17. Cultivating & Meeting With COIs
#18. Playing 20 Questions
#19. The New Client/Referral Education
#20. The Current Client/Referral Education

Week 5 
Bonding with Your Network
#21. Offering free Focus Day Sessions
#22. Offering a fee or free TeleClass
#23. Offering a fee or free 5-day Program
#24. Offering a fee or free Course By Email
#25. Setting up and R&D Team

Week 6  
Developing a Winning Website
#26. Your Website Design Primer
#27. Your Home Page as an Email Converter: Part 1
#28. Your Home Page as an Email Converter: Part 2
#29. Your Home Page as a Solution
#30. Your Home Page as a Sales Letter 

Week 7
Winning Websites (continued)
#31. Your Home Page as a Program Menu
#32. Your Home Page as a Billboard
#33. Your Home Page as a Mall
#34. Your Home Page as a Portal
#35. Your Home Page as a Testimonials Center

Week 8 
1 to 1 Selling Techniques
#36. Be a Living Brochure 
#37. Using lazer marketing questions
#38. Converting questions and statements
#39. Double closing the sale
#40. Avoid Selling Mistakes

Week 9
Using Assessments as Marketing Giveaways
#41. The Quality of Life 100 Assessment
#42. The Clean Sweep 100 Assessment
#43. The Personal Foundation mini poster
#44. Attraction mini poster
#45. The DISC and other assessments

Week 10 
Increasing Web Traffic
#46. Coach Referral Services
#47. The Overture (goto.com) Listing
#48. The Yahoo Listing 
#49. Meta Tags are Must Haves
#50. Setting up a Links Page

Week 11  
Strengthening Your Reputation
#51. From wimpy to edgy
#52. From dominating to sensitive
#53. From helpful to wise
#54. From interested to interesting
#55. From heavy to light

Week 12 
Developing a National Reputation
#56. Write your first book
#57. Networking among key players
#58. Getting in the "A" group of coaches
#59. Creating an e-program that can serve millions
#60. How to work the media

Week 13
Mastering 5 Professional Standards
#61. 100% satisfaction guarantee
#62. Same day customer service response
#63. Arms length, professional relationship
#64. Nothing negative said, ever
#65. 100% confidentiality, always

Week 14  
Using Ezines and Ecourses
#66. Why use ezines and ecourses
#67. Become a learner by becoming a teacher
#68. Setting up an R&D Team
#69. Marketing your ezine 
#70. Converting subscribers to customers

Week 15
Double Value to Current Clients
#71. Being available via Instant Messenger
#72. Asking for more than the client can do
#73. Empowering clients to set tight deadlines
#74. Decline to accept excuses
#75. Help client see special stuff about themselves

Week 16
Social and Networking Settings
#76. The 15 second elevator speech 
#77. The 15 second self introduction
#78. Working a room
#79. Working an opportunity
#80. Becoming a lot more social

Week 17
Avoiding Client Turn-offs
#81. Being rushed or late
#82. Being a one trick pony
#83. Not adapting to individual client's needs
#84. Being arrogant
#85. Being wimpy

Week 18
Making it Big In Coaching
#86. Owning a niche
#87. Getting larger corporate contracts
#88. Charging premium fees
#89. Multiple/Related revenue streams
#90. Group coaching

Week 19
Managing Your Successful Practice
#91. Automated client billing
#92. Keeping practice consistently full
#93. Handling ebb and flow of clients
#94. Staying ahead of clients
#95. Coordinating with other coaches

Week 20
Shining in a Sea of Coaches
#96. Immediate response to inquiries
#97. Professional image/class act
#98. Packaging intellectual property
#99. Developing strategic alliances
#100. Carving out a new format of coaching



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copyright 2002 by coachville.com. no duplication.