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• An Interview with Author Stephen Fairley
• CoachVille Live Events
• Letters to the Editor 

View this issue online at www.todayscoach.com/dec2004/010604.html

Wednesday, January 7, 2004 

Welcome to Today’s Coach and Happy New Year!   

In this special edition, we are introducing a new feature on the business of coaching.  Each month, we will spotlight a marketing approach, business strategy, or feature a successful coach to help you build your practice quicker, better, and with far less struggle.  The Business of Coaching is the major CoachVille initiative for 2004. 

To kick it off, we have a terrific interview with Business and Executive Coach Stephen Fairley of Today’s Leadership Coaching.  Stephen is the author of the new book “Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching:  How to Create A Thriving Coaching Practice.”  You can read an excerpt from the book here: http://www.todaysleadership.com/getting_started_in_coaching.htm. 

Also in this edition, we received lots of letters to the editor about CoachVille’s recent announcement embracing the International Coach Federation (ICF).  I’ve shared some of your comments below.  Have a suggestion?  Email us at letters@coachville.com.  And thanks for writing!   

Keep playing,

Kim George Communications Manager, CoachVille kim@coachville.com

The Business of Coaching
An Interview with Stephen Fairley 

What was the inspiration behind writing this book? 

I started this research as part of my doctoral dissertation. I wanted to examine the differences between successful and unsuccessful coaches. After looking at many of the programs and products available on practice building for coaches, I found virtually all of them to be based on one thing—a person’s personal experiences of becoming successful. They seem to follow a common theme of trying to replicate one individual’s success formula.  

I also found a lot of myths and misconceptions floating around the coaching community on how to build a successful practice. I wanted to be a part of dispelling these myths using real world research. However, I couldn’t find any research-based approaches and so I went out and conducted the research myself by surveying over 300 coaches nationwide to determine the actual factors that lead to success. 

And in the book you’ve defined specific areas of success in coaching? 

Success is very individualistic, for some people it means having more freedom and for others it may mean finding a sense of purpose in life.  For this study, I defined it in a quantifiable manner, financial success.  There are 3 categories of success discussed in the book:

• Financially unsuccessful coaches: people who make less than $20,000 a year just from coaching
• Financially successful coaches:  people who make more than $75,000 a year just from coaching
• Highly successful coaches: people who make more than $100,000 a year just from coaching

This is revenue generated solely from one-on-one or group coaching.  It did not include consulting, speaking, or training.

You conducted some ground breaking research into the business practices of coaches nationwide. Could you tell us more about your research?  

I believe this is the very first survey of its kind. In 2002, I surveyed over 300 coaches nationwide to discover what worked and what didn’t in terms of: sales & marketing practices, finances, packaging and pricing their services, partnering with other coaches, coach training and certification, and a number of other areas. Then I analyzed the data to find out what specific areas separate financially successful coaches from financially unsuccessful coaches. The results form the foundation of this book. 

Can you share some of the most interesting findings? 

Some of the statistics are quite startling:

• 73% of all coaches make less than $10,000 in their first year.
• Only 60% of all second-year coaches have managed to find 10 paying clients.
• Less than 11% of coaches make more than $50,000 by their second year in practice.
• Even though coaches charge an average of $160 an hour for their services, 53% of them make less than $20,000 a year.
• 30% of all coaches have never been able to find 10 paying clients.
• Only 9% of coaches are currently making more than $100,000 a year coaching.

One of the chapters in the book is “The Seven Secrets of Highly Successful Coaches”.  Tell us more. 

In addition to surveying the 300 coaches nationwide, I also personally interviewed over a dozen of the top personal and business coaches in the United States and they were very helpful in sharing their “insider secrets.” I then compared these real strategies given by real coaches with the other data I obtained from the survey and here are a couple of these secrets: 

1.  Highly Successful Coaches Don’t Sell Coaching 

Even though it may seem contradictory at first, a big secret of top coaches is that they don’t sell coaching because coaching is simply the tool they use to obtain the results. Instead, they focus on selling the benefits they offer, the value they provide, and the results they achieve. For example, some of the benefits of your individual coaching could be:

• Increase in employee productivity

• Less conflict between team leaders

• Better communication between departments 

The value you provide could be:

• You are available to your clients for quick consultations via phone and email anytime between scheduled sessions

• You are within easy driving distance and can meet with them at their office for no extra charge

• You have 15 years of experience in corporate America working with managers and team leaders on improving their communication skills and interdepartmental relations 

And the results you achieve could include:

• 75% of your clients report increasing their productivity by more than 60%

• Executive teams report significantly less conflict after just 4 meetings with you

• Your average client increases their salary by more than $20,000 annually after working with you for more than three months 

• The typical sales professional you work with increases their annual revenues by 25-35% within six months 

Remember, coaching is simply the tool or the process we use to solve problems and help clients achieve results. Don’t sell the process—sell the solution. 

2. Highly Successful Coaches Productize Their Services 

Here in the United States, we have gone beyond a post-industrial society and are passing through a service-based society. We are now in the beginning stages of an information-provider society, where the most valuable people will be those with access to the best information and a heightened ability to rapidly sift through that information to provide solid answers to serious questions.  

Being seen as a resource and “information-guru” will be increasingly valuable in our society and one of the best ways coaches can do this is to productize your services. Top coaches actively find ways to package and sell their knowledge and information through: printed books, how-to manuals, CDs, tapes, CD-ROMs, e-books, e-zines, and videos. 

Highly successful coaches recognize that creating information-based products has several benefits including:

• Creates opportunities for multiple streams of revenue

• Enhances your overall credibility

• Encourages you to think clearly about who you are, what you do, and how you help

• Opens up doors for speaking engagements and seminars

• They can be sold on-line 24/7

• The amount of money collected is not limited by your available time

• They are a strong advertisement for your services

• Products can be sold anywhere in the world at any time  

The five keys to creating products that really work are:

• You must really believe in your product and have a passion for it

• It must be a quality product. Don’t every mistake quantity for quality when it comes to creating products

• It must subtly promote your services and other products. Blatant promotion is a turnoff and actually damages your credibility.

• It should be easy for you to create. Find products you can create within a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

• It has to tap into a real need. Find out what your target market needs then create a product around it. A sure way to fail is to reverse the process by creating a product that no one really needs.

• It must have a high profit margin. It’s very difficult to make money on a product that sells for less than $30. If your product is priced at less than that find a way to significantly increase its value to your target market, then increase the price. 

3. Top coaches hire their own coach.  

73% of full-time coaches make less than $10,000 their first year doing coaching. Based on my research, there are only three ways a coach will make more than $75,000 in their first year of business:  

1. They have been doing traditional consulting for a long time and they are a recognized expert in a field and decided to add “coaching” to their practice.
2. They were recently in a position of influence or power at a mid to large company and when they left, their former company became their first and biggest client.
3. They hired an experienced, highly successful coach to work with them one on one. 

Of these three ways, the only way most people can really influence in their favor is the third one because either you have been consulting for a long time or you haven't. Either you’ve recently left an influential position at a large company or you haven't. But anyone can hire a successful coach.  

Will this guarantee your success? No. Can you be financially successful in your first year without hiring a highly successful coach? Yes. I'm not talking about a guarantee or blind luck. What I'm talking about is significantly increasing your odds for success.  

Based on the responses of more than 300 coaches nationwide, hiring an experienced, highly successful coach is one way that new coaches can immediately push themselves to the top of the financial pile. However, here is the big caveat, and any coach considering hiring a coach needs to hear this—hiring a coach does not guarantee success, because 65% of all coaches making less than $10,000 also hire coaches. It depends on what kind of coach you hire, the area of expertise that coach has, and how effectively you use them. 

There are a number of specific questions I mention in my book that you must ask before working with any coach, starting with being clear about exactly how that coach will help you build your business and find more clients, rather than helping you develop your personal life.  

Every Coach who starts a coaching practice fully intends to succeed, yet many still fail. Why? 

Some of the most critical findings from the research are in the areas of the mistakes coaches make that significantly increase their risk of failure, that’s why I devote a whole chapter to them in the book. Here are three of them: 

Mistake 1. Believing in the Myth of the Field of Dreams 

One of the most common mistakes I see coaches make is buying into what I call “the myth of the field of dreams.” If you recall the movie then you will likely recognize this phrase—“build it and they will come.” When applied to starting a business, it’s the false belief that, “All I need to do to start my coaching company is tell my friends and family about it and then it will grow all by itself. Then I can basically wait for people to line up at my door.”  

Unfortunately, reality indicates it just doesn’t happen like that, unless your close friends or family members are the Gates, the Bushes, or the Buffets. If it did, everyone who started a business would become successful, but year after year 40-60% of new start-ups fail.  

“Officially” starting a coaching practice can take little more than having the idea and $200 for some business cards and a phone, but building and growing your practice to the place where it provides a constant stream of revenue and satisfaction takes a lot of time, energy, and resources. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  

For 98% of all successful coaches, building their business is something they did over a period of months and years, while expending a lot of energy, and pouring all their resources into it. The other 2% who built it in less than a year experienced a series of fortunate breaks that quickly launched them into the big leagues or left their regular job with a large coaching contract already in hand.  

Make no mistake, the majority of small businesses fail within four years. There are two important questions you must ask yourself before starting your coaching business: (1) What are the top causes of business failure? (2) What will I do differently to significantly increase my chances of success? 

According to the Small Business Administration and Entrepreneur magazine, the two most common causes for small business failure are:  

• Undercapitalization—lack of available funding when starting

• Lack of revenue stream—inability to generate revenues by finding new clients 

Mistake 2.  Targeting the Wrong Markets 

Another big mistake I see coaches make is targeting too large of a market or one that does not meet the right criteria.  Your ability to quickly and explicitly identify who your ideal target is will pay early dividends when it comes to saving you time, energy, and money.  

The more specific, and narrow you can make your description of your ideal market, the better off you will be when it comes to easily identifying prospects in a crowd, recognizing prospects when you meet them at networking events, selecting which networking groups to participate in, and determining which organizations you want to speak to. 

Mistake 3. Using passive marketing strategies versus active marketing strategies 

Some years ago when I first started out as a consultant, I met with a marketing coach to talk about targeting my ideal client more effectively.  She asked me to give her a comprehensive list of every marketing activity I was doing.  After looking at my list her reply was, “Stephen, everything you’re doing is passive.”  At first I didn’t understand, but as she explained, I saw a theme emerge.  I was constantly busy doing marketing activities, but they were all passive or reactive ways to trying to find clients.  I was waiting for people to come to me instead of going out and finding them.

Here’s a brief list of passive marketing strategies and their alternative, active marketing strategies. In my book I go into great detail about dozens of other active marketing strategies you can use to find new clients fast.

How would you sum up “Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching”? 

Building a successful coaching practice isn’t magic or rocket science. It follows the same principles and guidelines as building any other small business. To create a thriving coaching practice you must devote a lot of time, energy, and resources and manage it like a small business. 

Stephen Fairley, president of Today’s Leadership Coaching, is a Business Coach, a speaker, and the author of 3 books including “Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching.” He can be reached at Stephen@TodaysLeadership.com or 888-588-5891. You can order his book from Amazon.com or from his website: http://www.TodaysLeadership.com    

CoachVille Live Events...
Start the New Year off right!

Have you ever thought: "Why is it that even when I know what to do, sometimes I just don't do it?" 

Or maybe you (or your clients) have had a goal or plan that you/they "intended to have happen", but it just didn't? 

If so, then don't miss the Absence of You Intensive... Coming to Denver, January 16 and 17, 2004!

In the Absence of You seminar, we will introduce you to Conflicting Intentions, the greatest drain to human energy. Conflicting Intentions are unspoken and often unseen and caused by conditioning from the past. Conditioning that causes you to try to be something that you are not and believe things that are not true for you. The intentions that come out of this conditioning are typically in conflict with what you and the people you know "really" want in life. 

Join us in Denver, CO January 16 & 17 - Click here to register!

For additional program information, please visit http://www.coachvilleconference.com/absenceofyou2004.html. 

Coaching Springboard Intensive

Wondering how to get up and running as a coach in less time and with little angst, while receiving a bigger payoff?  

The Coaching Springboard Intensive, coming to New York City January 16, 17 and 18. 

Led by veteran coaches, Nina East and Rick Reddington, this two-day training is perfect for those who want to 'springboard' into the coaching field.

The Coaching Springboard Intensive is designed to provide you with useable coaching tools and skills to:

Get clients.
Start every coaching conversation so that you get to the most important issue/concern right way.
Solve the problem of chatting and stay "on point".
Convert clients into raving fans and sources of referral.    

We don't call it "Coaching Springboard" for nothing - this leap will catapult you to amazing new heights.    

Join us in New York, NY January 16 & 17 - Click here to Register!
New! Optional Third Day Practicum January 18 - Click here to Register!

For additional program information, please visit http://www.coachvilleconference.com/springboard2004.html

CoachVille's Newest  Events...

The Attractive Practice - Size Does Matter 

The key to building your empire is to have a HUGE vision for the future that you want to create. The vision becomes the point of attraction to an ever-expanding community. Then you have to find ways to add value to this community by tapping into the fundamental human desires to connect, create and collaborate. This program is for anyone who wants to learn how to move from the practice of coaching to the business of coaching – from self-employed and working for the money to creating a vision and systems that allow money and people to work for you.

Beyond Proficient - Evolving as a Coach

Did you know that causing problems is part of the true craft of the masterful coach? Did you realize that if you are coaching the person and not coaching the environment, you are only doing half the job? If you want to be on the leading edge of the coaching field, you have got to be evolving faster than the people you coach.

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