“5 sales questions for a Master”,  with Alain Cardon, MCC

What is the first priority for a coach graduate?

Prepare a four to six-page detailed presentation of what you do and how you do it, of how much you cost, etc.  This, you should have learned how to do in your coach training.  Then, you need to go out to sell and sell again.  This is done by meeting people, and by pull-selling rather than by push-selling.  In other words, by listening to potential clients and getting profoundly interested in them, in who they are and in their issues and ambitions, from the first minute.  Coaching is a relationship.  You cannot sell coaching if you are afraid of meeting people, if you don’t listen to them and if you avoid establishing relationships.  You also need to find potential clients by working your network and then your network’s networks.  That includes calling on all the people you have ever met since childhood.  Let all of them know you are a validated coach, and that you want to meet potential clients.

How important is to have a marketing strategy?

Marketing rests on what you can do, on your core business, not on an intellectual idea of an imaginary niche in which you think you can get hypothetical clients.  I would suggest coaches first sell coaching everywhere they can and get a massive experience through coaching very different clients.  Then, when they find out where they are best, targeting with a marketing strategy may become useful.

How can you find clients and where?

Everywhere you know someone, or can meet someone through someone you know.  Meet people all the time.  First get 100 people in your data base, then aim for 1000, then 5000.

When is good to identify a niche and focus on it?

When you have developed it, you will know it.  People will tell you your niche.  The niche comes to you as you develop experience in a field.   You may not like it.  You may even want to get out of the niche people put you in, for their own comfort

How are the first 100 days of a new coach?

If you want to make coaching your profession, set aside 40 hours a week.  When you are not coaching, you should only be meeting people and selling.   Gradually, you will have more clients and move from coaching 5% of you time to coaching 95% of your time.

If you only want to make coaching a hobby, there are good ways to staying just a dilettante. First, spend most of your time working on marketing by designing a website, sending flyers to thousands of people who will put them in their trash, get a nice office and invest all your energy  redesigning it, work on drawing a sexy logo, and don’t forget to pay a branding expert who will tell you how to dress. 

You can also waste good time in meetings with other coaches.  Be sure they will never be your clients.  Then pllay politics with them in a local coaching association.  Don’t forget to design intellectually appealing concepts that you think will make you really different, spend social time arguing on which is the best coaching school, go to all the superfluous “interesting” introductory workshops you can find on the market, then spend whatever energy you have left being brilliant at social events about the theory of coaching rather than simply listening and being one.  etc.

If you want to become a coach, however, start by being a professional with everyone you meet by really listening to them.  They are all very interesting people and ultimately potential clients.