3 Key Factors to Attract Coaching Clients
Attracting clients into your coaching practice can be frustrating at times. Sometimes, just when you think you’ve got a new client on the way something happens to seemingly throw a spanner in the works. Have you ever wondered why that is?
You know – the times when you get a good feeling that someone is a great prospect and ‘definitely’ need your coaching service? You sense that they’re going to become a client pretty soon – but they just don’t seem to take the all important next few steps of moving closer to you.
Well, there are 3 key factors that need to be in place before someone will become a client with you. Do you know what they are? Well let’s get straight into the meat of this…
The 3 Key Factors
Here are the 3 key factors that need to be satisfied before someone will become a client in your practice:
1. Right message – Your prospective clients need to hear the right messages from you to be attracted to the idea of joining your practice in the first place. This is the message you give people when you speak to them (i.e. verbally and non-verbally) and it’s the message that appears in written form such as on a brochure or website for example.
Many coaches simply have lame marketing messages that don’t have the power to gain the attention of the client let alone anything more. Is your marketing message simply not up to scratch?
2. Right person – Your message needs to be targeted to the right person – not just the ubiquitous anybody anywhere variety. The latter approach is almost certain to fall on deaf ears.
A lot of coaches have too broad a message that it is unfocused and contains a plethora of wishy-washy generalities. Is it any wonder that not many people are attracted to take things further with this approach?
3. Right time – This is where the rubber meets the road and where your client attraction powers can come unstuck. You may have the right message going to the right person but if the timing is not right things will not progress as quickly as you’d like them to.
Do bear in mind the timing factor. When you first meet a prospective client the timing may not be right for a number of reasons. This is why it’s so important to have a way of staying in touch with your prospects so that you remain in their mind if things change and the timing becomes right. Then you have a new client. Are you doing this?
Please notice that you only have full control of the first factor, that you can influence the second and have no control over the third one. Hence the frustration. Can you see why things may not be progressing as quickly as you’d like them to?
© 2006 Shaun O’Reilly, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from this article in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution and include a live web site link.
Shaun O’Reilly works exclusively with coaches to help them to build successful coaching practices. He is also the author of The 5 Biggest Mistakes Coaches Make in Marketing and How You Can Avoid Them. To get your free copy just go to:
http://www.authenticpractice.com/
