Table of contents:
Here’s what I’ll cover in this article:
- Crafting a Captivating Online Presence
- Create Valuable Content
- Personalized Outreach
- Free Discovery Calls
There are many reasons for which I absolutely love coaching – not least of which is being able to not only witness powerful transformations first-hand, but being able to be a key part of that transformation.
Coaching empowers individuals to reach their fullest potential, and I wouldn’t change what I do for the world.
If you’re a coach, you know the incredible value you can provide to your clients.
But before you can get to that point, there’s a… hurdle, let’s say, that needs to be overcome. And that’s getting potential clients on a call with you in the first place.
It’s in these conversations that you can truly connect, understand their needs, and demonstrate your expertise.
However, getting potential coaching clients on a call can be challenging. For many coaches, both new and not-so-new, this can be a real pain in the b…
And though I agree that it’s not always easy to get potential clients on a call, especially more recently with some (not totally unwarranted) mistrust directed towards the coaching industry growing, it still is a completely necessary part of a successful coaching business.
So in this post, I’ll try to get into some strategies that are authentic and “softer”m that will help you build a genuine connection with people, making it far easier not only to get them on a call, but to get them into a space where they’re more open to working with you so you can help them totally transform their lives for the better 🙂
Ready? Then let’s go!
1 – CRAFTING A CAPTIVATING ONLINE PRESENCE
Ok, so we’re starting off with something that I totally haven’t mastered yet at all – so we’re off to a great start!! 😀
But even though this isn’t my forte, it’s still something that I genuinely believe is important, and which I work on conscientiously myself, because I do see the impact that it has on businesses.
There’s no denying that in today’s day and age (…wow, doesn’t that make me sound old…), having a presence on the internet is not only important, it’s pretty much a non-negotiable – unless your target audience isn’t on the internet either.
If they are though, then not being on the internet yourself doesn’t make you just harder to find, it also makes you seem less reliable and trustworthy, because there’s no way for potential clients to “get to know you” through your online presence and content.
So even if you’re like me and don’t really cherish the idea of living your life on IG, you should still be putting some stuff out there 😉
Here are a couple of ways you can do that, without feeling like you have to keep up with social media trends but while still allowing potential clients to get a good sense of who you are.
Your website
Even though you’ll find a ton of people now online saying that websites aren’t necessary anymore and that you should move on to funnels, social media and other platforms, I have to disagree with them.
Yes, the way websites are now consumed has shifted, and they’re no longer the only portal through which your audience can get a feel of who you are.
This doesn’t mean that having a website is useless though, and I still firmly believe that a good website is a very strong online presence for your audience.
A website is a firm, long-term presence and shows a kind of solidity that social media just can’t replace. Put together a nice website that showcases who you are, what you do, and who you help.
It should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and contain informative content about your coaching services. Share your story, credentials, testimonials, and any relevant free resources or blog posts. Make it easy for visitors to contact you for more information.
Social media
Ahem… and here we are, deeply in the realm of “do as I say and not as I do”… 🙂
If you’ve checked me out online, chances are you’ve stumbled on my social media… If that’s the case, you may have also observed that I’m FAR from consistent with keeping up on the different platforms.
The reason is simple: social media really isn’t my thing.
Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in the value of social media for finding clients because I do. I just have trouble keeping up with it for myself.
So I’d like to share what I’ve come to believe over the years:
Yes, if social media is your thing, then by all means, use it as a strategy to attract potential clients! It can be enormously powerful, so it’s a great tool to use in your strategy.
If, however, you’re like me and it’s not your thing, here’s what I’d recommend: use it more as a kind of portfolio of who you are, what you do, who you work with, etc.
Don’t worry about reach, likes, share, etc. Just post to your social media however often you feel like it, using it as an online window into your business. This will allow people who search for you online to find you, will build credibility and afford a glimpse into who you are, permitting potential clients to decide if they’d like to reach out to you or not.
In either case, share and post things that showcase who you are: personal stories, insights, and meaningful content that highlights your coaching philosophy.
Also don’t forget to respond to comments and messages promptly and authentically – the whole reason we’re doing this after all is to connect with people! 😉
2 – CREATE VALUABLE CONTENT
If you’ve been thinking of starting your business for any amount of time, then this is likely something that you’ve heard over and over – create good content.
Even today with the advent of AI and an incredible amount of content available at our fingertips, I truly believe this is still incredibly important.
There may be tons of information available out there, and even tons on exactly what it is that you’d like to talk and coach about.
But none of that content is in your voice, with your perspective, with your twist.
And you may be thinking yeah, but that doesn’t matter. If the what has been said, then the how really doesn’t matter.”
Well, for a ton of reasons that I won’t get into here, that’s fundamentally not true. But to keep it short – if you think back, I’m almost 100% positive that you’ve heard 2 people say pretty much the same thing, but when one person said it it went over your head, yet when the next did it somehow resonated.
For instance – ever been in class when you couldn’t understand for the life of you what the teacher was saying? And then your classmate turns to you and explains it in slightly different terms, and all of a sudden the light bulb goes off?
So just because something has been said before doesn’t mean that there’s no value in you saying it, because there’s likely someone out there who will only understand it when it’s been said with your words.
So now, as for the content itself, what should you create?
Well, the best content is something that’s going to be helpful to your audience, that’s going to take them from where they are now to where they want to be, that helps them solve a problem.
Again, showcase your knowledge, your insights, your experience in a way that will help you connect with them, and show potential clients a glimpse of who you are. If you’re able to create content that resonates with them, they’ll be far more likely to be inclined to work with you, or at least to find out a little more 🙂
As far as the type of content you can create, there’s really no limit and will depend on your long-term strategy, what you like creating, where you’re creating it etc.
You can write blog posts, create videos, and webinars, write ebooks, create workbooks, launch a podcast, or any other piece of content that you can think of!
If you’re unsure of what you like doing, then try a little of them all and see which sticks 🙂
3 – PERSONALIZED OUTREACH
This is my personal favorite strategy – the one I used for myself when I was first starting out and the one I use most often with my clients who are just starting out as well.
What this means is just that you’re reaching out to people one-on-one to start a discussion, and maybe get on a call from there if you see that you’d be able to help them more in-depth and just see where it goes.
Now, I know that if I say “reach out in a DM”, most of you will want to puke, and maybe even get in a punch or two because you’ve been spammed in your DMs just like I have been.
So yeah, it’s a reality that this may seem like it’s been over-used and people don’t respond well to this anymore.
I’d argue that that’s the case with any strategy that’s been misunderstood and misused by a bunch of dipsticks who don’t understand how or why to do things. (… I’ve written and re-written this part, trying to keep my cool and stay objective about these people, and this is as good as it’s getting… so… you’re welcome 🙂 )
Anyway – if you do this right, it’s a really great strategy.
But the whole point of doing one-on-one outreach is that you’re doing it with ONE PERSON AT A TIME.
Stop spamming the entire continent! (…sorry…)
So here’s what you want to do: go online, read posts, go into FB groups, watch videos etc with people who are talking about what it is that you’d like to coach about.
Read the comments, read the questions, and answer them as fully, honestly, and helpfully as you can. Give real, valuable information. Give enough that you’re truly helping them, but not so much that they’re going into information overload.
Then, end by simply saying “I’ve got a ton more that I could share, but this is where I would start. If you’d be interested in knowing a bit more, or maybe some tips that go a little deeper than what I’ve shared here, then feel free to reach out! I’d be happy to help.”
THIS, my friend, is how you do one-on-one outreach.
Give information, help them with actual, helpful advice, and then let them reach out to you if they want to.
Some will, some won’t. But believe me when I tell you that the ones who do will be very open to hearing more.
You can use this strategy pretty much anywhere information is being shared, be that on social media, in groups, in memberships, on videos, etc.
Be creative, be helpful, and be genuine. Soon enough people will reach out because they’ll want to know more from you 🙂
4 – FREE DISCOVERY CALLS
Ok, so you may be wondering why this is even here – the whole point of this blog post is how to get people on this call, right?
Yes, well… Though there are strategies that you can use to get people on the call, there’s also a lot of thought that needs to go into the call itself.
What I mean by that is that though a lot of the time – especially in the beginning – your first calls booked will be through one-on-one outreach as mentioned above, it may still happen that someone who found you randomly on the internet, consumed a bit of your content and liked it is considering reaching out.
Now, you have to remember that many people will hesitate before booking a call with someone they don’t know, even if that call is free. They’ll be worried that you may pressure them into buying from you on the call, they may feel awkward, or they may simply not like the idea of a face-to-face call with a random person from the internet – all of which are valid fears.
In order to mitigate those fears as much as you can (there’s not always a ton you can do, other than showing who you are as much as you can through your content, and showing them a genuinely caring person), you’ll want to consider a couple of things for your calls:
- Make them as appealing as possible
- Make them as safe as possible
Make your calls as appealing as possible:
So the first thing you want to do to get people on the call is to… well, make people want to get on the call with you.
Almost every coach that I know offers some sort of free discovery call, whether they’re called discovery calls, strategy calls, free sessions, or whatever. And yes, every coach should – no one should expect anyone to pay the hefty fee of coaching without some kind of one-on-one talk first.
But moving on to the call itself – by calling them simply “discovery calls”, or “strategy sessions”, you’re not actually making it appealing to anyone. What do those names even mean? What are we going to cover? Is that just an elaborate way to get me on what will effectively be just 45 minutes of you selling to me? (Been on those calls, and they genuinely suck. Don’t do that to your people!)
A great way to address this fear is to use a strategy that I learned from Christian Mickelson, who’s a great coach. He uses what he calls “Free Sessions That Sell”
What this is, is instead of just getting people on a discovery call, you’re actually getting them on a kind of “mini-coaching call”.
Here’s what a Free Session That Sells looks like:
- It’s got a specific name and purpose
- It’s got a specific duration
- It’s got a specific outcome
So for example, if you’re a coach who helps people get organized, here’s what your free session could look like:
Overcome hectic morning school runs once and for all:
Never feel like you’re losing your mind running all over the house trying to get everyone out the door on time in the morning anymore.
“Jump on a quick 30-minute session with me, and we’ll discover what’s keeping you in a constant state of stress, as well as identify key actions you can take to instantly curb the chaos.
Leave the session with a roadmap of how to instill calm and serenity into your mornings, leaving you feeling reenergized and ready for your day!”
Something like this tells them exactly what they’ll be getting with you, how long it’s going to take, and best of all, you’re promising to give them actual value directly on the call.
Then, and this should go without saying, actually deliver on that promise during the call 😉 The added value to a call like this is that if you actually do deliver on your promise, you’re not only demonstrating that you’re trustworthy but also that you’re a phenomenal coach – this may make them ready to work with you 😉
Make them as safe as possible
What I mean by this isn’t that they feel threatened or afraid of you, but as mentioned briefly above, many people are wary of these kinds of calls because they feel they may end up just being a 45-minute-long sales pitch.
This is something that’s a reality, and it’s something you need to consider as going through your potential client’s mind.
The best way to alleviate this fear is to simply address it upfront: wherever or however it is that you’re getting your potential clients on calls from, make sure you’re telling them exactly what the call is going to be.
Tell them what you’ll be going over, and tell them what to expect.
And then, deliver on that promise! (shocker, I know).
If you promise a call with no sales pitch, do not pitch to them on that call, but offer to set another call with them to talk about working together if they’d be interested (this is a risky strategy as it’s going to be harder for you to get them onto another call, but it’s worked for me as well as my clients, so you never know).
You can also start the call with saying that at the end, you’ll offer to tell them a little more about what it would be like for you guys to work together if you feel like you’d be a good fit, but that they’re free to say no thanks, that they’re not interested.
Then respect their wishes.
If at the end of the call they say they’re not interested in hearing about it, thank them for their time and end the call.
In all fairness, if you’ve actually delivered the value that you promised them, they’ll be more than likely to want to hear more. This means by extension that is they don’t, you need to go back to the drawing board and make sure that on the next call, you deliver!
So that’s how you get potential clients on calls with you!
It will take work, time, and grit for the ball to get rolling. It may seem discouraging at first, it may seem like you’re not booking as many calls as you’d like (or even any), but keep going. It takes time to build enough credibility and trust that the people you want on the calls actually feel it’s going to be worth their time.
Just keep delivering value and you’ll get there! 🙂
Now, I’d love to hear from you! What strategies resonated with you? Are there any you’ve tried that worked for you that I haven’t mentioned? What are your favorite ways of connecting with potential clients?
Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear!
Hope to talk soon, and in the meantime, take care!
Jen
P.S. Don’t forget to pin this for later!
