When did I begin to be more strategic in my coaching business?
It began when I targeted a viable audience and figured out what they want so much they’d invest in my help to reach that goal.
That’s #1 because if you don’t target a viable audience no other strategy after that will work.
It was after my 3rd year in business for myself that I began to think more strategically.
And wow how it paid off. And how I wished I’d been more strategic from the beginning, but I didn’t know how.
Looking back I have to laugh at myself a bit, thinking that I could have a successful coaching business without strategy. But I’ve always been someone to jump in headfirst.
Are you ever like that?
Having No Strategy for Your Coaching Business Means Slow Growth
So in those days when I wasn’t being strategic, I was blessed in so many ways — still am — by serendipity.
So many angels and surprises came my way in the form of opportunities and wonderful human beings that gave me a helping hand. And I hope you have those in your life too.
I would never have leaped to the idea of helping coaches, first with their coaching niches, had I not been tapped to be a trainer in a coach training company.
And after a year, I was asked to rewrite the curriculum of that organization called Coach Training Alliance. They’ve been using that curriculum for 2 decades. It’s a wonderful coach training school.
That opportunity was good for me because I learned that I was good at taking complex concepts and breaking them into step-by-step processes.
That’s when my teacher archetype was really born. And if you haven’t listened to the episode Do You Fit One of These Coach Archetypes? check that out.
So then coaches started hiring me and that was when I realized I needed a better strategy than having a coach website all about coaching and trying to sell coaching sessions to anyone.
Having no strategy is a kind of a strategy. If you have time to burn or if going about things totally organically is a value of yours, no strategy can work in the long run.
But when it comes to attracting enough clients who pay well, stay longer and refer more ideal clients, having a strategy now, when it’s early days in your coaching business, is the way to get there faster.
For most of us, getting there faster is critical.
Most of my clients need to earn and earn well. Their coaching business is in lieu of getting another J.O.B.
So strategy is the way to go.
If you’ve not learned to be strategic yet, that’s okay. And I suggest that today is the day to start.
10 Critical Strategies For New-ish Coaches
You may be wondering why am I talking about strategy so much in a series called Coaching Business Checkup?
Well, here’s the deal, if things aren’t going well for you in your coaching business it always boils down to a lack of strategy. And there are several areas to look at to see what’s amiss.
Want to test your coaching business to see how strategic you’ve been?
And now here’s the 10 Strategies:
#1 Target a Viable Audience (Episode 266). You know I talk about this a lot. It’s so critical and so many people step over it or just don’t do it quite thoroughly enough.
#2 Discover Their BIG Acute Problem And Top Goal (Episode 65). So many coaches choose a general or chronic problem for their niche
#3 Develop a Signature System To Reach Their Top Goal (Episode 66). Again, I don’t really believe in just doing so many sessions per month. I believe in developing a program, a structure so that your clients know you know what you’re doing and feel excited about investing more with you.
#4 Design A Simple Business Model (Episode 5). You wouldn’t believe how many coaches step over having a set business model. They don’t really know what it is, and I certainly didn’t when I started.
#5 Create a Positive Customer Journey with Strong Conversion Processes (Episode 236). This involves your website and so much more. You need to be able to think like your future clients
#6 Set Up Enrollment Opportunities and Learn How to Enroll (Episode 52)
#7 Build Trust with a Visibility Strategy (Episode 146) This is the way you’re going to market — the way you’re going to stay in front of your target audience and let them know what you have for them. But, not in a salesy way, instead in a generosity marketing kind of way.
#8 Create a Valuable Customer Experience and Collect Social Proof (Episode 271). This is after they enroll with you. You must be sure that what you are doing feels good to them so you can collect valuable testimonials about what it was like to work with you.
#9 Set Up Internal Systems To Save Time (Episode 34). This is something I didn’t do for a long time and now I’m a systems maven!
#10 Develop High Payoff Action Habits (Episode 223)
There are other strategic things you can do. The list could be endless.
I believe that there are developmental phases for coaching business owners that are like building blocks. When you are first starting your business there are certain things that are appropriate for the place that you’re in.
And, in fact, trying to implement things that are beyound y our phase of develop could trip you up and postpone success.
So I invite you to be patient and start with the foundation. This is what I do with new coaches in my VIP Coaching Business Breakthrough program. I only work with 20 coaches each year to help them master those 10 strategies.
If you’re struggling to create all the strategies you need for your coaching business, let’s talk.
