Section One:

Foundations: How To Get Your First Coaching Clients

So, you’ve got your qualification, you’ve got your vision, and you’re ready to rumble. Now what? How does a coach get paying coaching clients on board in the first place? 

To break this down into simplistic terms, to get your first paying coaching client, you first need to get crystal clear on who your clients are, how to speak to them and where to find them.

This may seem like the easy part, but it’s actually where most new coaches veer off track. This part is absolutely essential to get right, or every step taken beyond it will ultimately fail.

 

Tip 1: Before you can find clients, you first need to know exactly who they are and how to speak to them. If you miss this step, no one is going to pay attention to you online!

 

Here is a breakdown on how to effectively master these important steps.

Building Your Coaching Offer

 

Your offer is the base upon which everything else is built and is the key to making sales. If you find yourself struggling to convert prospects into sales, then it is possible that your offer needs some work.

Where many people go wrong when creating their offer is that they put a focus on explaining ‘how’ their coaching service is delivered, ie. their Process.

 

Tip 2 – Your Offer is what you use to explain your service to potential clients. The better your offer, the easier it is to make sales and get coaching clients! 

 

1. What’s Your Process?

Your process is what you do, specifically ‘how’ you do it. For example, if you’re a health coach, your process might be workout programs and diet plans.

This is important,  but it won’t win you any sales. It’s important to remember; People don’t buy coaching programs, they buy what coaching programs help them do. In other words, it’s not the process that’s important – it’s the outcome.

 

Tip 3 – People don’t hire coaches because of their Process, they hire them because of the Outcome the process helps them achieve.  

 

2. Packaging Your Offer

Let’s run through a simple exercise that you can use to improve the packaging of your offer, thus allowing you to more easily attract clients.

First, grab a pen and paper, and write down your businesses Process, for example:

 

Business: Relationship coach

Process: Weekly 1:1 coaching sessions

 

Next, write down the Outcome you are going to be helping clients achieve. It may help to brainstorm a few possible outcomes to find the one you resonate with most. Once you’ve got it, write it down:

 

Outcome: Find and keep the partner of your dreams

 

Tip 4 – The clearer and more specific the outcome, the better.  

 

Now write down the 3-5 steps a prospective client would need to take in order to achieve the Outcome.

Make sure you focus on ‘what’ they would do, not ‘how’ they would do it. Once you’re clear on your steps, list them out in order of how they are experienced:

 

Step 1: Create a ‘perfect partner avatar’

Step 2: Build a ‘first date action plan’

Step 3: Start a weekly networking schedule

 

From the above example, we can learn two things;

First, never ask a business coach for dating advice.

And second and much more importantly, breaking things down into a clear outcome with 3-5 steps, transforms the offer from:

 

“Weekly coaching sessions”

(Lame.)

 

To;

 

“Find your dream partner in 3 easy steps!”

 

Now we can use this to easily and effectively explain our offer when speaking to a potential client.

 

Told you it was simple!

 

Tip 5 – Breaking your offer down into 3-5 steps helps prospects envision themselves taking the steps, building trust and confidence in you and your offer! 

 

3. Pricing Your Coaching Services

Okay, so you’ve packaged your offer, now let’s talk price.

 

The most important thing to remember when it comes to your pricing is that it should be tied to a timeframe.

An example would be a time frame of 12 weeks rather than an hourly rate for the ‘weekly coaching sessions’ example above.

 

Tip 6 – When pricing your service, begin with a packaged timeframe, rather than charging per hour or week-to-week. 

 

See, coaches often make the mistake of charging their clients by the hour, the same way they would if they were employed by a coaching company.

The beauty of owning your own coaching business is that you now have the opportunity to charge high-ticket prices for what you offer.

It’s important to understand that your potential clients are looking to eliminate a problem that they have.

Using the previous example, what amount of money would you be willing to pay to finally find the partner of your dreams?

Again, you are not selling your process, you are selling the overall outcome, which is usually invaluable to people who are struggling.

 

Tip 7 – Charge a higher prices you increase your prospects belief around the quality of the service you offer and it’s ability to help them.

 

Crafting Your Messaging

 

Now that we’ve covered how to build your offer, let’s talk about messaging. Messaging is the key to making any and all marketing strategies work.

It is impossible to attract your target audience and consistently get coaching clients without great messaging.

Whether you’re using paid advertising or organic methods, the quality of your messaging is what makes you stand out from every other life coach or career coach filling your prospects feeds.

 

Tip 8 – Your messaging is what you use for all aspects of your marketing. Your posts, ads, emails and website content are all built from your messaging.

 

There are three main things to consider within your messaging: the market, the perceived problem and the desired situation.

As this is such an important step, we created a video to help you improve your messaging:

 

1. Market

Your market is who you are wanting to work with, aka, your ideal clients. When it comes to your market, it’s best to focus on a shared problem or goal, rather than a specific demographic (eg: women aged 20-50).

To get extremely clear on this, you need to identify your market’s perceived problem and desired situation.

 

Tip 9 – Unlike Demographic targeting, Psychographic targeting allows you to define your market by a shared problem or goal – a far more effective way to define a market.  

 

 

2. Perceived Problem

The perceived problem is not the problem you help people with, it’s the symptom of that problem – ie how it’s showing up in their everyday lives.

For example, if you’re a fitness coach, you might be solving the problem of being ‘unfit’ or ‘overweight’, but the perceived problem for an overweight individual might be low energy, low mood, or low confidence.

 

Tip 10 – The Perceived Problem is the symptom of the problem; ie. how the problem is showing up in their every day life.

 

3. Desired Situation

The desired situation is the ‘ideal life’ your client wants, how they want things to be, and what they would be doing if they didn’t have the perceived problem.

Using the previous example, the perceived problem for an overweight individual might be ‘low energy’, and the desired situation could be ‘being able to spend more time with their kids after work’.

 

Tip 11 – The Desired Situation of your clients is the life their Perceived Problem is holding them back from; ie. what they would be doing if they didn’t have the problem! 

 

Now, to bring everything together:

 

Your Process achieves the Outcome.

The Outcome solves the Problem.

The Problem is experienced as the Perceived Problem.

Overcoming the Perceived Problem allows your client to reach the Desired Situation.

 

And that’s what it’s all about (clap, clap).

 

Tip 12 – Your Outcome, Perceived Problem and Desired Situation should all be related to one-another. 

 

Section Two:

Lead Generation: How To Get Coaching Clients Online

Once you have your offer and messaging down, your next question will likely be “How do I find clients for coaching?”. 

The process of finding interested prospects is called Lead generation. A Lead is someone who is interested in what you do and has interacted with you on a personal or 1:1 level.

This interaction could be sending you a message, subscribing to an email list, or requesting more information around a certain service you offer.

There are two ways in which leads can be generated;

You can find them (organic lead generation) or they can find you (paid lead generation).

While many may tell you that one method is better than the other, the truth is that both organic and paid lead generation methods can be incredibly effective, if used correctly.

Many businesses will have a preferred method to get coaching clients, but learning how to utilise both methods synergistically is the best way to go for the greatest chance of success.

 

Tip 13 – While there may be one primary method you focus, using a combination of paid and organic methods often works best. 

How Do I Get Coaching Clients without Social Media?

 

Although often overlooked, any coaching business can still benefit from the ‘old school’ lead generation methods.

Before we dive into the online methods for generating coaching clients, let’s first take a look at a few of the offline strategies you may wish to use.

 

Tip 14 – You don’t need to use just online methods to get clients, offline strategies can still work great.

 

1. Cold Calls & Door-To-Door

If your coaching business is B2B (business to business), offline methods such as door-to-door or cold calls can certainly produce some impressive results.

If you live close to a business district, you could easily approach 30-50 businesses in a single afternoon, generating dozens of potential leads in the process.

The thing to be aware of if you’re going to take this approach is that your initial interaction should be used to establish a more convenient time to discuss your services.

By doing this, you will be able to build connections and book meetings without annoying interruptions to the prospects day. Simply walk in (or call up), ask a few simple questions, and ask if there is a better time to chat. 

 

Tip 15 – To stay consistent, aim to complete a set number of calls to each day or each week, regardless of the outcome. 

 

2. Attend Networking Events

If you enjoy meeting new people, networking events can be a great way to generate leads.

Websites such as meetup.com make it easier than ever to find events in your area or even organise your own event.

As with the previous tip, aim to connect with potential prospects to reconnect at a more convenient time – no one likes the person who is constantly pitching their stuff.

Make genuine connections to start building your business network, then follow up the following day to arrange a time to talk business.

 

Tip 16 – Connect with local organisations and offer a free live training for their members to build your network. 

 

3. Don’t Forget About Client Referrals

There is no better lead than that of a referral. Not only are they free (all you have to do is ask), but a lead that has come as a result of a referral will be far more likely to engage your services long term.

If you’re not doing so already, get into the habit of asking existing clients for referrals anytime a client experiences great results. 

If you have past clients, you can reach out to them to see if they might know anyone who might be interested in becoming a new client.

If you don’t yet have your first client, you can still utilise referrals to get clients and grow your business. Simply reach out to people in your personal network and ask if they or anyone they know would be interested in your service.

If you’re unsure what to say, send the following message to 10-20 of your peers and see where it takes you:

 

“Hi [NAME], as you may or may not know, I help [TARGET MARKET] achieve [OUTCOME]. 

Would you, or anyone you know be interested in this?”

 

*Note: Many of our clients who are in the coaching industry have used this exact template to generate their first few clients after sending just a few messages!

 

Tip 17 – You don’t need clients to use referrals to get coaching clients, you likely already have people in your network who can connect you with potential clients. 

 

Offline methods aside, there are more than a few ways to generate high quality leads and clients online, but with so many options, it can be hard to know where to start. 

Should you run ads? Create content for social media? Do a blog post with search engine optimization (SEO)?

Fear no more, it’s time to get clear on the best marketing strategy for your online coaching business.

When it comes to online lead generation, you can consider using both organic and paid strategies.

 

Organic Lead Generation

 

Organic lead generation methods provide coaches a steady and consistent stream of new leads and new clients.

Both organic and paid lead generation strategies allow you to get your message seen by potential prospects, but when it comes to finding your perfect leads, organic methods can give you a level of laser-like precision that can’t be matched.

Organic lead generation strategies are methods that do not require an advertising budget. They are free to use, requiring only your time, making them the perfect way to get your first paying coaching clients.

The specific strategy or social media platform you use will vary based on your market and your experience with the platforms.

When starting out it’s best to pick one social media platform to focus on.

Whilst you can make organic lead generation work anywhere, we will cover three of the most effective platforms for coaches; Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

 

Tip 18 – When starting out, choose a single social media platform to focus on. 

 

1. How To Get Coaching Clients On Facebook

Facebook makes it easier than ever to find your first paying coaching clients prospects online. Facebook’s ‘search’ feature can be used to find people from certain locations, age ranges and job titles, to name a few.

Beyond search alone, facebook groups are a great place to find potential clients. Simply search for groups that your ideal market might be a part of and request to join. Once accepted, you will be able to post, comment and interact with other members of the group.

Before starting, you may want to give your Facebook profile a quick makeover. Use a nice, professional display photo to show people who you are, and update your bio by making it clear who you can help.

Further customisation may include updating your cover photo and making a few posts to provide value to your target market, or offering a free coaching session to anyone who might know you already.

Doing so can result in users reaching out to you for help at an ever growing frequency as your network grows.

 

Tip 19 – Using Facebook Groups is a great way to find communities of potential clients 

 

2. How To Get Coaching Clients On Instagram

If you’re someone who loves being on camera, taking photos, or recording videos, then Instagram may be the perfect social media platform.

Although it’s not quite as targeted as Facebook’s search feature, Instagram still provides a lot of options when trying to find prospects. Searching for relevant hashtags can help you find users that share specific interests with your ideal clients.

An equally effective method is finding influencers that your market may be following. From there you can see who follows and engages with the influencers post.

If the post is speaking about a problem or an outcome you can help people with, the users that have engaged may be your perfect leads.

To maximise the effectiveness of Instagram, be sure to set your profile up in a way that speaks directly to your target market. As you find prospects, following and engaging with them (liking and commenting on their posts) will almost always result in them giving your profile a visit.

If they like what they see, there’s a great chance they will follow or engage back.

To see a full breakdown on how to use Instagram to get high-paying clients online, be sure to check out our in-depth training below:

 

Tip 20 – Instagram can be an incredibly powerful platform for coaches. For a full breakdown of how to use Instagram, check out our walkthrough video above. 

 

3. How To Get Coaching Clients On LinkedIn

LinkedIn search allows you to find your exact client avatar with precision that can’t be matched. Want to find CEO’s of gardening businesses with more than 5 employees? No problem! LinkedIn makes finding prospects effortless, however, there is a catch.

The power of the platform has resulted in it being used by anyone and everyone trying to sell to business owners. It is not uncommon for regular LinkedIn users to receive dozens of messages each week from people offering their service.

Fortunately, with the right strategy, you will be able to stand out from the pack and experience all of the business growing benefits that LinkedIn has to offer.

To start, take your time setting up your LinkedIn profile. Be sure to make it clear who you help in your profile headline.

As with all search engines, the keywords you use in your headline can be used to help your profile show up when those keywords are searched by potential clients.

Consider what (or who) your prospects may be searching for, and include those words in your headline for a better chance of being found.

Another profile-enhancing tip is using your ‘Experience’ tab to share client results and testimonials. If you have them, adding them to your Experience tab will mean they’re one of the first things people see when they get to your profile.

For an example of what this can look like, check out our Head of Marketing’s profile, Hayden, here:

Once you’re happy with your profile, you can use LinkedIn’s search feature to find potential prospects.

Keep in mind, if you want to stand out, you should hold off on the sales pitch right out the gate. Instead, lead by offering value while expecting nothing in return. As an example, you could send personalised message saying something like:

 

“Hey John, great to be connected. 

I saw your post about [TOPIC] and thought you might be interested in a training video I made on How To [ACHIEVE OUTCOME], here’s the link: 

Would love to hear your thoughts!”

 

Another approach you could take is using the Endorse feature. Endorsing someone’s skills can be a great way to get their attention, as well as serving as a good conversation starter.

Finally, as LinkedIn is the platform for professionals, professional perspective is always appreciated.

When you share your unique ideas and insights on other peoples posts, not only are you using the platform the way it was intended, but you begin to stand out as an industry expert, cementing your name in prospects’ minds.

 

Tip 21 – If your coaching business is B2B, consider using many of the amazing features LinkedIn as to offer to find clients. 

How To Get Coaching Clients Fast with Paid Advertising

 

Paid lead generation methods allow you to reach new clients at a much greater scale than organic methods, but it comes at a cost (literally).

Advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google allow advertisers to pay to have their message shown to users of their platform.

Paid lead generation – or paid advertising – can be used to enhance many of the organic strategies we’ve covered, thus allowing you to generate even more clients. It can also be utilised as its own standalone client generation method.

One key difference between paid and organic advertising, is that unlike organic strategies, paid advertising is rarely used in isolation.

A good way to think about paid advertising is as a traffic director; paid ads can be used to direct traffic (prospects) to a specific destination. This means that you can use ads to drive 100’s or 1,000’s of prospects to your page, website or funnel.

However, without that specific destination, there is nowhere to send the traffic.

A common mistake coaches make is thinking that if they spend money on paid advertising, they will generate leads for clients.

Unfortunately, it’s not the ad that generates the lead or client, it’s the destination page or site. Because of this, many coaches will use a Marketing Funnel or Sales Funnel when running paid ads.

We will cover Coaching Funnels in more detail in the following section, but for now, think of paid advertising as step one of your marketing strategy, understanding that the following step (the sales or marketing funnel) is equally important in making paid advertising work.

The two most popular paid advertising platforms for coaches are the Facebook Ads Platform (allowing coaches to advertise on both Facebook and Instagram), and the Google Ads Network (allowing coaches to advertise on both Google and YouTube).

 

Tip 22 – Paid advertising works best when combined with a nurture system, such as a high-ticket sales funnel. 

 

1. Facebook Ads

Facebook has been the go-to advertising platform for coaches for the better half of a decade. The biggest benefit Facebook offers for coaches is it’s ability to get started with paid advertising for any budget.

Before online advertising, paid advertising was reserved for big business, those that had $10,000-100,000 to spend on marketing. Today, you can advertise online for just a few dollars each day.

How little, or how much you spend is totally up to you, and as costs are associated with impressions served, there is no penalty for those who are spending less.

Essentially, Facebook charges you for impressions – meaning every time someone sees your ad, you will pay a few cents.

This gives coaches absolute control over how much they spend and how many people they reach. If you want to reach more people, spend a bit more, and the number of impressions served to your market each day will increase.

As the purpose of an ad is to direct traffic to your site or funnel, we can judge the effectiveness of a specific ad by looking at the Click Through Rate (CTR).

If an ad has a high CTR, it is an indication that the ad is resonating with the target market. If the CTR is low, it means people seeing the ad aren’t interested in your message.

If this is the case, you can either change the targeting to show your message to a different market, or, change the message itself, by writing a new ad.

A Click Through Rate (CTR) of 1% or higher is typically a good sign. If the ads CTR is >1%, you may want to consider testing new ads before increasing your spend. A good Click Through Rate will result in a lower Cost Per Click (CPC), which means more clicks for your budget.

 

Tip 23 – If your ad is getting a Click Through Rate of over 1% it is a good indication that your message is resonating with your market.

 

2. YouTube Ads

A key difference between Facebook ads and YouTube ads for coaches is that unlike Facebook ads, that can use either images or videos, YouTube ads require a video to be used for the ad.

This makes YouTube ads more preferable for coaches with experience with paid advertising, as the time and investment required to produce a video ad is often far greater than that of an image ad.

Because of this, it is typically best to use Facebook ads to refine your messaging and targeting, before moving over to YouTube. Of course, there are situations where it might make more sense to start with YouTube right away, but for most, the additional complexity of video ads is not worth the hassle early on.

 

Tip 24 – YouTube ads can result in a higher quality lead, however this often comes at a higher cost when compared to Facebook ads.

Section Three:

Nurture: How To Get More Coaching Clients

So, you’ve generated a lead, congrats! Now what?

Taking someone from being interested in what you do (a lead), to actually signing up to work with you as a client, requires a system. Specially, a lead Nurture system.

Whether you’re using organic methods, or paid strategies, Nurture systems are a vital part of any client acquisition process.

Effective lead nurture helps to accomplish two things:

1. Converting interested prospects (leads) into sales calls

2. Increasing Sales Call Conversion Rate – by warming up and qualifying prospects before the call

If you’re generating leads, yet lacking sales calls-or generating calls, yet lacking sales, the solution will likely be found in improving your Nurture process.

Keep in mind, your specific Lead Generation strategy (organic or paid) will help determine what Nurture system you use.

To keep things simple, we’ve broken the Nurture strategies down into Organic Nurture (best when used with Organic Lead Generation) and Paid Nurture (best used with Paid Lead Generation).

Let’s dive in.

 

Tip 25 – There are different Nurture systems that can be used for organic and paid lead generation. 

Organic Nurture Strategies

 

If you’re aiming to get coaching clients online using organic methods, the Nurture process is relatively straight forward;

Once you’ve found a prospect (using one of the methods previously covered), reach out to them on the social media platform of your choosing and start a conversion.

 

1. Nurture Conversation

The goal of this conversation is ultimately to book qualified prospects in for a sales call (covered in step 4). Before we can do this, we first need to make sure the prospect is a ‘good fit’ (i.e. you can actually help them). To do this, we need to establish two things:

1. The prospect has a problem that you help them solve.

2. The prospect has a goal that you help them achieve.

If both criteria are met, you can book the prospect in for a call. Keep in mind, most of the qualification happens on the sales call itself.

We don’t need to get too detailed in the conversion itself, we just need to make sure we can help so that we’re not wasting the prospect’s time.

For example, a typical conversation for a weight loss may look something like this:

 

You: Thanks for connecting! I see you’re a dentist, have you been following a workout program lately or is work keeping you too busy? Haha

Prospect: Work is busy but I try to get to the gym a couple times each week.

You: Nice, any exercise goals you’re working towards?

Prospect: I’m actually trying to get in shape for my wedding in 6 months, pretty excited!

You: That’s awesome, how’s it going? Are you on track or not really there yet?

Prospect: Ahh it’s going alright, I’ve just been struggling with my diet lately.

 

In this example, the prospect has a problem that you can help solve, and they have a goal that you can help them achieve.

As both criteria have been met, you can now ask the following:

 

You: Got it. Are you looking to get some help with that, or happy doing things on your own for now?

 

That’s it! If the prospect says they’re open to getting some help, we can book them in for a sales call.

 

Tip 26 – Before booking a prospect in for a call, identify if they have a problem you can help solve, and a goal you can help them achieve. 

 

2. Qualification call

If you still have doubt as to whether the prospect is a good fit by the end of your initial conversation, you can add in a quick 5-10 minute qualification phone call, to give you the opportunity to dig a bit deeper.

Doing this helps build trust with the prospect, and helps you avoid booking sales calls with anyone you may not be able to help.

 

Tip 27 – If you’re unsure if you can help a prospect book them in for a qualification call. As the saying goes; “When in doubt, book a 10 minute qualification call!”.

 

 

 

Paid Nurture: The Top 5 Coaching Funnels

 

We’ve already covered why using a funnel is critical for anyone planning on using paid advertising to generate leads. Now the question is, which funnel is right for you?

In a recent video, we broke down the top coaching funnels that you can choose from.

A brief summary of each funnel is covered below, however if you’re serious about finding the best funnel for you, we recommend watching the full breakdown video.

 

Tip 28 – Find out which coaching funnel is best for your business by watching our in-depth breakdown video above.

 

1. VSL Funnel

The VSL or Video Sales Letter funnel is a multi-step funnel that offers free training. Once prospects opt in, they can watch the training video, after which they can choose to book a call. The benefit of this type of funnel is that everything is done online.

There is no following up and no need to speak to the prospect beforehand in order to assess them. They will know after watching your video whether or not they are interested in your offer, and when they book in, they are already very warm.

 

Tip 29 – The VSL Funnel maximises lead quality, at a slightly higher cost than other funnels. 

 

2. Webinar Funnel

Similar to the VSL, the webinar funnel offers an online training, the only difference is that rather than the training being accessible at any time, there are instead several time slots for the prospect to choose from.

They then show up to the webinar at the scheduled time of their choosing.

Webinars typically last anywhere from 30-60 mins in total. The process for booking a call is the same as the VSL funnel.

 

Tip 30 – The Webinar Funnel maximises lead quality even more, but the cost is often even higher than the VSL Funnel.

 

3. Lead Generation Funnel

The lead generation funnel is a 2-step funnel offering prospects a ‘lead magnet’. This is typically in the form of a PDF or ebook.

The prospect has the ability to opt-in in order to access the free information.

Once they have opted in, they are redirected to a page with an upsell video. Here, you could explain to the prospect that you can help them even if they book a call.

On the same page, there will be an application that they can fill out in order to book directly into your calendar.

 

Tip 31 – The Lead Generation Funnel is great for maximising lead volume with lower costs.

 

4. Social Media Messenger Ads

Messenger ads are used to drive prospects to a social media profile where they can send a direct message.

This strategy perfectly compliments an organic strategy on the same platform. For example, if you’re already using Instagram to generate leads organically, you could use Instagram messenger ads to help generate additional leads each day.

 

Tip 32 – Social Media Messenger Ads are best when used to enhance an exisiting organic lead generation method. 

 

5. Facebook Groups

The Facebook group funnel is centred around building a free community, typically using a Facebook group, where you can consistently post content and engage members.

A good example of using a combination of paid and organic methods would be running an ad in order to direct people to joining your facebook group.

From there, you would warm them up using organic methods such as posting valuable content, and when they engage with that content, reach out to them via message in order to book a call.

 

Tip 33 – Facebook Groups can be a great Nurture funnel, however they do require ongoing time and attention to get the best results.

 

Section Four:

Sales: Selling High Paying Clients

Okay, let’s recap;

You’ve identified your primary Lead Generation strategy and you’ve started using it to generate leads, nice work!

Once you get a lead, you’re using a Nurture system to warm up and qualify them before booking them in for a sales call. Congrats.

There’s just one last hurdle standing between you and a coaching business making consistent sales. That final hurdle is *drumroll* sales.

Psychology Of Sales

 

If you want to get coaching clients, sales is a must. At its core, sales is an exchange of value. If a prospect believes that the value they receive will outweigh the cost of working with you, they will buy.

So, how do we make sure your prospects see the value in what you’re offering? To answer that, we first need to understand the difference between objective and subjective value.

To better understand this important distinction, let’s use an example: What is the value of a photo album?

Objectively speaking, the value might only be $10-20. On the other hand, if the album has been handed down to you from your parents or grandparents, the subjective value of the album may be priceless.

When we talk about sales being an exchange of value, what we’re really talking about is subjective value.

You might be offering an incredible service that is worth $10,000+, however,  if your prospects don’t believe in that value, then their subjective value of your service will be $0.

In the game of sales, it’s not enough to just have a valuable offer, we must then be able to convey that value to the prospect. To do this, there are two things we need to achieve within the prospect’s mind: Clarity, and Confidence.

 

Tip 34 – The Subjective value of your offer is the value as judged by your prospects based on their belief in it’s ability to help them. 

 

1. Clarity Of Outcome

To increase the subjective value of your service, we need to create total clarity for the prospect. If what they will receive as a result of working with you is unclear or ambiguous, it is unlikely they will move forward. For example, which of these two offers do you feel is most valuable?

 

1. “I will help you lose some weight.”

2. “I will help you loose 9kg in 90 days with a flexible diet plan that will increase your energy, while still letting you eat the foods you love.”

 

As you can see, by creating clarity around the outcome, the offer becomes significantly more valuable.

 

Tip 35 – The clearer the outcome of your offer is to the prospect, the higher its subjective value will be. 

 

2. Confidence Of Outcome

Clarity of outcome is achieved when the prospect understands how your service works. Confidence in the outcome is achieved when the prospect believes that your service will work for them.

This can be accomplished by explaining to the prospect not just how your service works, but how it will work for them specifically.

 

Tip 36 – Confidence in the outcome is achieved when the prospect believes that your service will work for them specifically.

 

Okay, that’s enough theory, now how do we actually apply this to a sales call to get coaching clients?

 

 

Crafting Your Sales Script

 

At a high level, a sales call can be broken down into two parts. First, we have the Discovery phase. This is where you ask the prospect questions in order to get a clear understanding of where they are, what problems they’re struggling with, and what they would like to achieve.

Following the Discovery phase, you then transition into the Pitch. This is where you explain to the prospect what you do, how it works, and more importantly, how it will work for them.

 

1. Discovery 

Let’s say you help people with weight loss. In the discovery phase you might ask the prospect questions about their exercise routine, what they’re eating each day, how much weight they want to lose, and how much time they have to workout.

From these questions, you might discover that:

• The prospect wants to lose 5kgs
• They work full time and only has 3 hours each week to workout
• They aren’t following a diet plan because they haven’t found a diet they enjoy
• They used to have a personal trainer which helped keep them accountable

 

2. Pitch

Now that we understand the prospects’ situation, we can move into the Pitch. This is where we can use the insights we’ve gained throughout the Discovery phase to create both Clarity and Confidence within the prospect.

To do this, we simply need to explain what we will help them with, while ensuring we relate it to the prospect’s specific situation. For example:

 

“To make sure you reach your weight loss goal of 5kg, we’re going to do 3 things:

First, because you only have 3 hours each week to workout, we will build a personalised exercise program that you can complete in just 30 minutes, 3 times each week. 

Next, we’re going to make a diet plan that you actually enjoy. To do this, we will track your meals over the next 7 days. From there, I’ll create a diet for you that includes all of the foods you’re already eating, so that it’s simple and easy to follow.

Finally, to give you back the accountability you had when you were working with your personal trainer, I will be sending you daily reminders to keep you on track, as well as weekly check-in calls to track your progress and hold you accountable.” 

 

Here, you can see how the core service (exercise, diet plan and accountability) has been presented in a way that speaks directly to the prospects’ specific needs, desires and goals.

This leaves the prospect feeling completely understood, with total clarity and confidence in you and your service.

We’ve created a video giving a more in-depth breakdown of the sales script and sales process below to help you get coaching coaching:

 

Tip 37 – Use the answers you receive in the Discovery to craft your Pitch, customised to your prospect. 

Recap

 

So there you have it, a complete breakdown of everything you need to about how to get coaching clients and growing your online coaching business.

Rather than chasing your own tail trying to use the newest and shiniest marketing strategy, give yourself the opportunity to learn and understand the fundamentals.

With this core knowledge, you will have the ability to make any strategy work. With time, focus, and a will to succeed, these tips will carry you into the next phase of your business journey.

If you found this article helpful and you’d like to learn more, go check out our free online course, Genesis.