After choosing a niche, the #1 problem coaches face is attracting enough clients who are able and ready to hire them. Some days you feel like you’re working so hard and there’s this sense that no one is out there noticing. It’s de-motivating to say the least.
I thought you might need a pep talk because there are so many surprising and wonderful ways that clients can find you IF you are strategic, consistent and speak the language of your audience.
And it’s important to know that when you market or create content you are not just building relationships with potential clients for today but also with people who will hire you later. With every smart action you are securing your future in your coaching business. Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/209
For fun, I thought I’d share 5 surprising ways that my clients — who are all coaches — found me:
5 Surprising Ways That Coaching Clients Find Me
- Referrals from people I’ve never heard of – Sure you get referrals from previous clients but what about from a mystery person? Its always so weird when a prospect will tell me in a Discovery Call who told them about me and that name doesn’t ring a bell. I always search my database and emails to try to find the name and nothing! I chalk that up to staying visible in the sphere of my target audience – the coaching world.
- Facebook and LinkedIn groups that I USED TO BE active in – No lie. I’m so surprised when some post I wrote in a social group that I haven’t been on since 2011 attracts a coach to working with me. It’s the beauty of the permanence of social media and the internet, right? Again, it’s just about being out there and being consistent with your messaging.
- Articles or blogs I posted over a decade ago – Some coaches don’t want to do a content strategy but I will tell you over a long time now the #1 way that clients find me is through my content – 8 years of blogging and now 4 years of podcasting are doing the job. You could be a podcaster too.
- Google searches without buying clicks or ads – Yes, if you put out enough content your audience wants over time the keywords build up and people will find you with relevant searches. I’m not even on the first or second page of Google. I don’t buy ads. But every year a handful of my VIP program clients find me through a search for ‘coaching niche’ or ‘target audience’ – that’s the front door problem I can help my clients with.
Do you have a front door problem?
What keywords for your target audience could you continuously use in content that will help you build up search engine optimization?
- Receiving a gift of my program – This has happened twice where another person buys my program for their friend or family member. They came across me and thought, this is just what my daughter or best friend needs. That’s why it’s so important that your messaging is so clear that even a teenager understands who you serve and how.
What’s the most interesting way so far that you’ve attracted a paying client?
When I have a Discovery Call to enroll clients into my Signature Program I always ask how they found me. I hope you’re doing that too. It helps you build up data about what’s working what isn’t so you can make adjustments and leverage anything that’s effective.
Look, if you are a new coach it may not seem like it yet, but please believe it that could be you having these surprising ways of clients finding you. Ask yourself … Am I being strategic? Am I so present in front of my target audience that I’m perceived as credible and reliable? Am I consistent in my messaging?
And here’s an important point, potential clients don’t readily find, follow and hire you if you’re talking all about coaching. You need to talk about what’s relevant to them from all angles over and over. It’s doable. And it’s actually a whole lot more fun that just trying to sell coaching sessions!
Two Camps of Coaches Who Are Struggling to Attract Clients
Most often the coaches I meet fall into two camps if clients aren’t finding and hiring them:
The No Strategy Camp
The coach is trying a bunch of different things without any real strategy guiding their actions. When I started as a coach, I was in the first camp with no strategy. I worked so hard and got nowhere because I had absolutely no direction. I was throwing spaghetti at the wall. I was getting a few clients but had no real program. I charged too little. I struggled mightily.
They haven’t targeted a viable audience or, if they have, they are trying to sell something that audience doesn’t know they want like coaching. Every business owner must over something that is genuinely wanted and looked for.
A quick little self-sponsorship here … If you haven’t landed yet on a viable target audience and chosen a smart niche, let’s Nail Your Niche together. For a limited I’m offering $100 off for my Nail Your Niche session, which used to be called a Strategy Session. I’m booking for January sessions now. Give yourself this gift. To read more and book your session go to prosperouscoach.com/myniche. Let’s get the first step of your coaching business right so everything else you create will attract your ideal clients.
They are following the lead of what others do online, trying all sort of tactics that were marketed to them even if they don’t fit their business model. It’s working hard and not getting any traction.
I have so much compassion for coaches in this camp because you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s when you know you need a coaching business mentor who will hold your hand through creating everything.
The Best Kept Secret Camp
In this case, the coach has chosen a viable target audience and smart niche, but isn’t “out there” often enough doing the right things or using the right language to attract enough clients in their specific audience.
If you’re in this camp it could be that you just need to get more outside of your comfort zone in what you’re doing. You might be busy on your business but doing all the easy behind the scenes things. It could be your pricing (likely too little), messaging and free offers (likely too broad, coachey or long winded) or the way you are articulating your offers (pushing coaching instead of specific outcomes your audience wants.)
From either of these camps there are simple solutions to get into the Thriving Camp but it will take 2 things:
1. Thinking through a better approach to attract a steady stream of clients.
2. Believing it WILL happen by you driving the outcome. That’s why I say “Stay Inspired and Make Things Happen”. It’s both!