Tips For New Coaches (from coaches)

A few weeks ago I asked readers of this blog and members of The Fully Booked Coach Facebook Group for their best tips for new coaches.

Below are the ones that I think can add value to you as a coach.

Obviously, I haven’t published anything I disagree with, but they are the opinions of the coaches who wrote them.

If you have a great tip for a new coach and would like it to be featured with a link back to your website, please leave it in the comments!

You can check out the author’s website by clicking on their name.

Tips For New Coaches

Find like-minded people

Karl Henley

Look for a Rotary club, an Optimists club, a Community Services Centre board opportunity, Lions club, Toastmasters… there are a number of them.

Join as many as you can because the networking and door-opening opportunities are HUGE!

And if you enjoy that, you’ll be with a group of like-minded souls, who will share a genuine interest in what you do and it does open doors!

It’s not a race

Sam Curtis

There are a lot of experts, marketing tools and sales ideas out there, all of which can be valuable. 

However use your own highly-tuned skills to decide what works best for you and your business right now, you can always come back and work with them later down the road.

Remember, it’s not a sprint but a marathon.

Write, write and thrice I say write

Rob Collins

Practice writing as often as possible.

You only get better by practising… well OK, also by reading and picking up ideas from other writers.

Good writing skills will help you explain to potential coaching clients that you understand their pain points and that you can help them find solutions. 

Your writing skills are crucial for your blog posts, email newsletters, or promoting your services on Social Media

Your spelling and grammar are an important part of your writing ability. With the Grammarly app, there’s no excuse for such basic errors. And if you encounter a word where you’re not sure what it means, do yourself a favour and Google it.

Tim’s note: My spelling and grammar used to be appalling and it was largely down to Rob relentlessly kicking my ass that I finally realised it did matter. And it does.

Develop an entrepreneurial mindset

Susan Scott 

Michael Gerber, in his book EMyth Revisited, explains the reason most businesses fail is that the business owner tries to create the ideal job for themselves (he calls this the technician mindset.) 

A technician is thinking about what they are good at, what they want to do each day and how they will be happiest.

A business that succeeds, however, is started by someone with an entrepreneurial mindset.

An entrepreneur builds a business, not a job.

They are willing to do whatever needs doing, to take on whatever role the business requires of them. 

The focus is on creating an entity that serves the needs of the customer, not of the owner.

Just start

Lei Wang

Don’t wait to start till you have everything in place.

Ignore all those free masterclasses that teach you how to scale to 6 or 7 figures in months/year, how to run ads, or they have that one tool that everyone must have and will turn anything into gold.

The key to getting STARTED is to focus on the simplest ways within your reach to take the first step:

Confidence comes from experience. Experience comes from doing, not from endless readings/webinars.

Once you get started, you gain momentum, and that’s the key to success!

The sooner you get started, the sooner you will gain the experience, gain the confidence, figure out what to charge, figure out your niche, figure out what message to put on your website.

Tim’s Note: When Lei signed up to do one of my courses and I saw she was an adventurer I kinda rolled my eyes. But she really is a fucking adventurer and the first Chinese woman to scale the highest peak on every continent. I’m a bit of a fanboy now!

The best tip is this: PICK A NICHE of type of people and only market to that group.

Be an expert in that niche.

Join groups. GIVE to those groups.

Make a LIST of potential prospects, but don’t push to offer services until they SEE you as an expert.

Learn sales

Natalia Arnaiz

If you haven’t done sales before, do a sales course.

Tim’s note: The vast majority of coaches don’t understand sales and don’t bother to learn which happens to be why the majority of coaches don’t have enough clients.

Test, test, test!

Nicole Bolz

And then learn from the feedback and your experience.

Your biggest key to success in business and with making your service successful is if you test your ideas, show up, try your approaches out with clients, post the text you have written and then ask for feedback and learn from it.

You cannot master an extremely diverse, volatile and complex challenge like generating happy customers by just thinking about it.

It can feel scary to just show up like that and we humans tend to avoid it but you know what’s worse? Investing your genius, time and money, just to find out you were wrong.

You need leads

Ben Stein

Lead generation gets to be systematized, experimented with, tracked and optimized to help build the foundation for a successful business.

All data and no drama.

You’re not a coach if you don’t coach

Zen Halimana

Surgeons operate. Singers sing. Athletes play. And coaches coach.

Coach as much as you can – free, paid, peer, skill exchange, doesn’t matter.

The more you coach the more clarity & confidence you’ll get. 

And it spills over into other areas of your business. You’ll meet potential clients, get your name out there, get testimonials and referrals.

Too many new coaches get caught up with creating websites, sales, marketing, funnels & pretty logos. Coach your ass off and that other stuff will take care of itself.

Tims note: If you want to get coaching partners, hope over to The Coaching Exchange

No free lunches!

Susan Mason

If I could go back to the start of my business, I would not do any free coaching sessions.

I had 5 free clients at first and spent 12 weeks doing 1:1 sessions. It added up to 60 hours of coaching.

Instead, my recommendation is to get practice and testimonials one free coaching session at a time.

Statistically, if you have 60 single engagements with your dream clients, 5-10 will sign up.

The way it looks is to:

1) Dial into one micro problem they are having using chat or Messenger.

2) Offer a coaching session for free.

3) Stipulate that if they get value from it, they agree to give a testimonial.

I am now doing this method. If I could go back, I would forego the free coaching packages. I would instead start at offering 1 free session in return for a testimonial, they get value.

Check out this book

Melissa Hickok 

Read Who The f*ck Am I To Be A Coach by Megan Jo Wilson.

She gives the best advice in this book.

The advice I like the most is how to reorder our thoughts to have confidence.

That we are not born thinking we are not good enough.

A Ballsy Closing Method

Kriss Judd

When it comes time to close the sale, I use what I call the “closet close.” 

Ask your prospective client to close their eyes and imagine taking their favourite outfit out of the closet. One they look and feel absolutely amazing in.

Ask about the different parts of the outfit: skirt or pants, jacket or blazer, scarf or tie, tailor it for the person’s gender and general state of dress.

Next ask them to think about the jewellery they normally wear with that outfit: earrings, necklaces, bracelets, wristwatch, tie clip, or cuff links.

Ask them to add the perfect shoes to go with their perfect outfit.

Now ask them to add up in their head how much all that cost. They don’t have to tell you, they just need to think about that.

Ask them how often in the last year they wore that outfit. The answer will probably be along the lines of “not often.” 

Then ask them how often they used their mindset, or productivity, or accountability, whatever it is you coach people on, in the last year.

Point out the comparison between an outfit they may only wear once or twice a year and the mental state they use daily.

Ask them, “If money were no object, would you want to work with me?” By this point in the process, you should be fairly certain that their answer will be yes. 

Then ask, “Comparing the cost of an outfit you wear once or twice a year to the cost of coaching for something you use daily, does it make sense to work with me?” This answer may take a bit more back and forth, but will usually result in a yes. 

Finally ask, “What credit card would you like to put that on?”

Your final question assumes the sale and doesn’t let them say no to, “Do you want to work with me?”

Tim’s Note: Kriss is using something called conversational hypnosis which requires a lot of skill and a shit load more confidence to use. It can also feel manipulative to some people as can an assumed close that she uses at the end. Both can be highly effective but use them with caution because they can also blow a deal.

They’re right, when they say you need a list

Liz Scully

They’re right, when they say you need a list.

Build your newsletter list as soon as you can. Whenever you start, you’ll wish it was earlier.

And make sure you stay in touch regularly – it doesn’t have to be long blogs or fancy videos, quick tips – a simple ‘what do you need help with?’ mail out now and again is enough. There’s nothing worse than building a list than not bothering to mail them

And most of all, treat your list like friends you’re staying in touch with and don’t sell to them all the time. No one likes that.

Tim’s Note: Liz knows her shit! I would say that 60% of my client’s come from my list and unless you have a ton of money to spend on Facebook or Instagram ads, you must have a list of you’re to succeed online.

You’re running a business, not a hobby!

Christine Errico

Learn the basic business foundations. Set up a separate bank account from your personal bank accounts. Keep good financial records.

Track your income and expenses.

Keep receipts for everything business related, even if you think it’s NOT business related, keep the receipt then ask your accountant/financial advisor.

Trust me, you’ll be glad you did come tax time.

Do incidental marketing whenever you get the opportunity- at a social function, in the supermarket, watching your children play sport.

Always be marketing

Cherri Forsyth

Remember that wherever you are, in a professional or personal capacity, you are marketing yourself.

YOU are the best marketing tool you have! So make sure you are walking the talk.

Make sure that every coaching session you do, every talk you do, every networking function you attend, that you bring your very best self!

What’s your tip?

Come on, this is your opportunity to help other coaches and get a valuable link to your own website.

Leave me a comment and if it has value and hasn’t already been covered I will add it.

Any other comments and thoughts are welcome too.