Prosperous Coach Podcast

When coaches reach out to work with me, they almost always say that their biggest fear is marketing. They say: “I’m not good at selling myself.” Then I say, “Well, that’s okay because you don’t have to sell yourself to be a prosperous coach.” And I mean it. 

This episode will be a huge relief. Find the full transcript for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/195.

Selling is Not the Same as Marketing

So, first, let’s distinguish between marketing and selling because they often get lumped in together.

Marketing is a part of your service. You relate to your ideal clients and let them know that you are here for them. You create a customer journey to attract the people you most want to work with.

It’s an ongoing process for anyone who has a business. And it’s not at all unsavory. In fact, it’s an authentic act of caring because you are a genuine human being with real value to offer.

Whereas, selling is transactional. It happens at a moment in time where you invite an interested prospect to become your client in exchange for fees.

It’s a professional necessity to enroll clients this way but you don’t have to be blatantly self-promotional to complete this transaction. 

Blatant Self Promotion Isn’t Fun or Attractive

What does blatant self-promotion sound like coming from a new coach? I see this kind of thing on new coaches’ websites …

“I’ve trained and certified as a life coach and I’m ready to help you create the life of your dreams. I listen closely to you and without judgment. Then, through powerful questions I help you make mindset shifts and take powerful actions.”

It’s as if the coach is trying to write a resume and they aren’t really sure what to say yet because they are new to coaching. I did this on my first coaching website too because I didn’t know any better and it wasn’t at all effective.

What’s missing in promotional statements like these? Any relevance to the person who reads it.

Think about this. Did anyone wake up today wanting to hire a life coach to help them create the life of their dreams? Highly unlikely.

People are truly not that impractical. They don’t think in terms of abstract concepts like permanent utter happiness. They want to solve a specific big problem that has been dogging them. They want something very specific and if they want it urgently enough, they seek that solution.

A Better Way for Coaches to Attract Clients

Read about how to market without selling yourself and feeling like you're selling your soul.

I think every coach knows that before they work with a client there are two crucial things to do. One is to receive the client’s payment and the other is to help the onboarding process with a smart intake packet. That’s when the co-creative relationship becomes official and professional. Find the full transcript for this episode with helpful links at prosperouscoach.com/194

When I first started as a coach, I didn’t have a smart intake packet. I had copied another coach’s documents with their permission, and honestly, with so many other things to learn, I didn’t give it a lot of thought.

That way until I was asked to develop certification curriculum for Coach Training Alliance and I buttoned up a lot of my practices. CTA still uses my finessed intake packet and the curriculum 21+ years later and I’m honored.

By the way, that’s one of the benefits of stepping into a leadership role — you rise to the occasion. Think of your coaching business as a leadership role and you’ll be inspired to higher degrees of professionalism. It’s for you as much as it is for your clients.

So why is an intake packet important? 

I’ve never been more certain of an intake packet’s value for the client than after hiring a social media coach who had a minimal onboarding process. She asked me to set up our first session and that was all the due diligence there was — no questions about me, my background or anything more than getting my payment.

I ended up asking for a prorated refund after one session because we weren’t a good fit and she wasn’t modeling good coaching practices in her services. I did not feel seen or safe, which are critical in coaching. 

Onboard Your Coaching Client with Care

A critical benefit of a good intake packet is to help your client onboard smoothly into your services. Show them you care about them and want to understand who they are. It helps them feel seen and safe. Episode 186 is called 4 Ways to Help Your Coaching Clients Feel Safe. It’s a good listen, if you haven’t heard it already.

People feel safe when you take time to understand them. But that’s not the only value of a smart intake packet. Here are 4 other reasons to show you care with your intake packet:

·      Gather important data about the client

·      Convey policies and procedures

·      Make clear your role and their role

·      Learn what makes them tick

Let’s go through each of these …

Get a Profile of Your Coaching Client

One of the 3 documents in my intake packet is a simple Word document with fillable spaces to capture their:

·      Name

·      Email address

·      Phone number

·      Time zone

·      Physical address

·      Website

·      When they finished coach training (which is germane to my niche)

·      Their partner’s and and kids names & ages, if any

·      Their current employment & title

·      Plus, a catchall question – What else would you like to share with me at this time?

Read here for the specifics of what goes into the agreement and the other 3 essential parts.

Rhonda Hess: Hey coaches, I've got something special for you today. Find the full transcript plus helpful links and specific words to say in coaching sessions at prosperouscoach.com/193. Also, there’s a link to a free downloadable infographic that you’ll want to click to on that page.

I don't know if you got to listen to the previous session that I did with my good friend and amazing coach, Laurie Cameron, where we talked about Powerful Questions (Episode 139 – The Art of Crafting Powerful Coaching Questions.) If you have not heard that one, go get it because it's really, really good. And this one's also going to be really, really good. We are going to talk about something different having to do with coaching skills today. So let me first introduce you to Laurie. 

The world that Laurie Cameron wants to leave our children is one where we feel safe, valued, and connected because that's when we can accomplish meaningful work together. Her part in creating that world is to help people communicate with kindness, respect, and compassion. Laurie's been coaching and training since 1998 and her company WAKE UP! Enterprises helps leaders integrate the coaching mindset and heart into their everyday communications in order to build a sustainable coaching culture from the inside out. She's also a senior faculty member of one of the oldest coach training organizations in the world — that's Coach Training Alliance, and she has trained over 1200 coaches through CTA. Laurie also works with coaches applying for their ACC credential with the ICF to get their 10 hours of mentor coaching. Visit her at wakeupenterprises.com or ACCmentorcoach.com. 

Laurie, thank you so much for doing this again, and it's always so fun to collaborate with you on anything.

Laurie Cameron: Oh, I feel exactly the same. I'm really thrilled. Thank you so much for inviting me.

Rhonda Hess: My absolute pleasure.

And so, we are going to talk today about aimless coaching sessions. Everybody's had one, probably everybody's experienced one. We are going to take a look at it from all angles and uncover the best way to recover from an aimless coaching session as a coach. So first let's just start with this. I thought about this: bWhat do you think, Laurie, is a single word that describes the best coaching sessions with clients?

Laurie Cameron: I think FOCUSED is a good word — because you know … there's purpose, there's meaning, there's safety — all of that. And yet, if I were to pick one, it would be focused — not just focused on what the client wants to take away, but really focused on the client. Fully focused on the client for the entire session because coaching is client-driven.

Rhonda Hess: It also means that it has an aim. So I really like that one. I think that's really good. What does an aimless coaching session look and feel like to the coach?

Laurie Cameron: In the classes that I teach at Coach Training Alliance, we come up with this a lot — an aimless session. I have an analogy for that, Rhonda, and it's kind of like watching a dog, chase a family of squirrels.

Read the tips and short scripts Laurie has about avoiding and fixing aimless coaching sessions.

When it comes to what you delegate and what you do yourself, it’s a question of workstyle preferences. But that’s not the whole story. I’ll share 4 criteria to help you make strategic decisions about delegating. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/192.

When I first started my coaching business, my motto was don’t be cheap with your coaching business. This meant that I hired out a lot. I spent money on experts of all sorts and hired a full time VA to do all the little things I couldn’t be bothered with.

I believe my time is highly valuable — good mindset there — so I didn’t want to do anything except what I started this business for … to coach. That was a bit short sighted.

I went too far to the delegating side of the continuum, which cost me in 3 ways:

1.     Low profits because my expenses were high

2.     Not learning things that I should have learned

3.     Time because managing others wasn’t my forte (and it took far more time to manage their work product than if I had done those things myself.)

I made rash decisions because I didn’t really know my business model, what I bring to the table and the holes in my competencies. I didn’t think through what energizes and drains me. I clearly needed a business coach!

Mostly, I was blindly following what other coaches were doing. I fell in with a crowd of high rollers. It wasn’t as seedy as it sounds but it wasn’t good for me either.

Sure, business by trial and error is a time-honored tradition. Making lots of mistakes and learning from them has its upsides! Still, wouldn’t it have been smarter for me to strategize as much as I could from day one in my business?

So, I offer you that better way ... strategize as much as you can from the get go then also be willing to make mistakes and learn from them.

What are Your Long-Term Goals for Your Coaching Business?

This is the first of 4 criteria for knowing when to delegate.

20 years into my business I’m delegating far less and that’s strategic because my goal now is to:

·      work a 35-hour week

·      earn high profits for the time I do work

·      deliver high value and work with fewer people because that means less enrolling effort

·      keep a simple business model

·      do marketing that’s pinpointed, authentic and showcases my genius

For me, offering a 1:1 Signature Program is working far better than other business models I tried and it’s why I teach this to other coaches.

What about you? 

1.     How many hours would you like to work each week?

Read here for more questions and the other 3 criteria for easily making decisions about delegating or not.

In this episode I’m going to give some tough love to those of you that are charging low prices because you figure you’re a relatively new coach and that’s what you should do until you have more experience. Find the full transcript of this episode at prosperouscoach.com/191

The reality about charging low prices at the start of your business is that it could stop your business from getting off the ground. It can even be a form of self-sabotage.

I get it. There’s fear of rejection. There’s not believing that you’re worth it. Usually that’s an unconscious belief that’s driving your actions. I’ve been there too.

But I’ve learned a strange secret and that’s this … the sooner you ask for higher prices the sooner you’ll get them. And you must earn well to survive in your business.

Think of it this way you’ve already done your apprenticeship in your coach training program. It’s time to graduate to being a business owner and pricing for profit.

Profit isn’t a bad word. It’s net income. It’s the wages you give yourself minus expenses. If you aren’t profitable, your business can’t survive much less thrive.

Sounds ridiculously simple doesn’t it? It’s true. And what’s more is that the sooner you charge more for your coaching services and get it the quicker those worries about rejection and not being worthy will melt away. So you help yourself to cross that threshold sooner.

Look … you KNOW what’s too low. You know when you’re shorting yourself.

It’s a smart strategy to have an introductory rate for your first 5 clients. But don’t make it too low or you start to build expectation within yourself and the marketplace that you’re not up to the task.

And women coaches … hear this … I rarely see men charging low prices as a new coach. You have the control to boost your earning power in your own coaching business.

And let me assure you … you charging prices that will sustain you will not hurt anyone. In fact, when your clients invest in themselves with your coaching they win too because they have given a big YES to themselves.

So, let’s look at one dynamic and smart action you could take to immediately shift your approach and stop sabotaging your success with too low pricing.

Stop Charging By the Coaching Session

Raise your hand if you’ve ever priced your coaching by the session or by the hour.

You’re not alone in that. I raised my hand too. I used to only sell coaching by the session in packages. That kept me spending more than I earned.

Now the only time I charge by the session is for my one off 90-minute Strategy Session. It’s where a coach can hire my expertise to help them choose a smart target audience and coaching niche that leverages their experience and talents.

Let me demonstrate why this is strategic on my part …

Read the better way to pricing here.

Perception is a huge factor in early coaching business success. The way that your target audience perceives you makes all the difference in how easily you attract clients, how many clients you enroll and how well you earn. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/190.

So where does that leave you if you’re a new coach? Isn’t this a Catch 22? Well, no, because a new coach can show expertise from day one.

Look I’m not talking about being an expert coach … although if you already have years of coaching under your belt and have coached hundreds of clients – that’s a certain kind of expertise that’s marketable. But a new coach wouldn’t have that yet.

Your Experience Could Be a Primer for Expertise

Let’s get a more fluid definition of expertise here.:

What do you bring to the table
to help your target audience solve their BIG PROBLEM and reach their ultimate goal
based on your life and work experience?

Sure, you might be new to coaching and/or new to running a business but you’re not new to life, are you?

If you’re willing to go there and have amassed experience in a field, industry, role, a topic or even a certain stage of life it’s possible to leverage that when you choose a target audience and niche.

So this is a big part of how I help coaches choose a profitable niche. I’m looking for what — in their personal story, life or work experience — is a clue to a great niche for them because I know how powerful preceived credibility is for people that are considering hiring you. Check out episode 85 – How Can New Coaches Be Perceived as Credible?

Sometimes new coaches tell me they want to focus on a specific target audience and niche because they think that’s where the money is. For example, one coach, who had never worked a corporate job, wanted to become a corporate coach. Another who never had any business experience wanted to be a business coach.

Well, that’s not going to fly, right? I mean what possible reason would those audiences have to work with those coaches? No reason I can think of. That will make enrolling clients nearly impossible.

So, when you choose a target audience and niche it’s rarely a good idea to choose completely arbitrarily.

By the way, while it may be true that there can be increased income potential in corporate or business coaching, the competition is fierce there. Every coach needs to find a way to STAND OUT!

Before you decide to put a stake in the ground for a specific target audience and niche ask yourself: Why would they listen to me? Now I know that coaches can coach around any topic and they can coach any audience. But I’m not talking about who you could coach. I’m talking about who would HIRE YOU!

When I help coaches choose their target audience and develop their coaching niche I encourage them to leverage their unique experience, knowledge and wisdom in career or life.

Read another example, learn what agile expertise is and learn more & apply for Coaching Business Breakthrough -- my VIP signature program -- here:
prosperouscoach.com/VIP

I have 2 openings and only work with 20 coaches per year.  I would love for you to have one of those slots!

This episode is special because my closest friend, Susan DeGenring, is with me today. We're going to talk about the Enneagram in coaching. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/189. 

Before I introduce her, let me explain two things that inspired this episode. First, some of my recent clients learned as part of their coach training, how to use a scientifically rigorous assessment tool with their clients.

And I noticed that those coaches felt more confident about coaching and charging higher prices, and they have thrived in their businesses.

The other thing that inspired this episode is that I recently had a chance to be on the receiving side of coaching with the Enneagram.

I was going through a tough time. Yeah. Even coaches with 20 years of experience of those. And I had lost my joy for life and went into a bit of a depression. So I reached out to my closest friend, Susan, who is a brilliant coach, and she studied the Enneagram deeply in a few sessions with her.

I felt lifted out of my funk with a much more positive outlook.

So let me tell you about Susan. Susan DeGenring is the founder of Still Mind Coaching Solutions and is a leadership development coach and strategist. She delivers goal-based yet transformative coaching using the latest neuroscience and mindfulness approaches.

And Susan's mission is to create better workplaces by guiding leaders to exercise the privilege of power responsibly with more clarity, humanity, and strategic intent. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Most recently she has certified to become a mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher, employing mindfulness practices paired with two decades of leadership development experience to help clients recover from burnout and build resilience as organizational leaders.

Contact Susan DeGenring at [email protected] or at https://www.stillmindcoaching.com/

If you want to thrive in your coaching business, it’s time to change your perception about marketing. Let’s bust some myths about marketing and look at it from a different point of view. Find the show notes for this episode at prosperouscoach.com/188.

First, I wanted to share a win with you because YOU helped to make it possible and I’m grateful ... 

Prosperous Coach Podcast recently hit 150,000 downloads. That’s momentous. My latest 5 start review said: “A well appreciated podcast! Rhonda tackles issues that any coach could face and provides useful tips on how to deal with them in a profitable way.”  Sweet!

I wanted to share that news with you because I market through my podcast. That’s called generosity marketing, which is about giving away value to attract ideal clients. It’s one of the non-salesy approaches.

So … when you think of marketing, do you cringe? Are you thinking:

·      Marketing is going to feel sleazy no matter how I do it.

·      I have to become good at selling myself.

·      I don’t know how to market effectively!

Only that last is true. You don’t know how to market effectively … YET. And there’s a natural fear of the unknown.

I cringed about marketing too until I learned a more conscious and transparent way of attracting clients. Up until then I thought of marketing as this necessary evil. That’s a reaction to high-pressure marketing tactics, which are old fashioned and a low integrity approach that ruins marketing for everyone.

So, toss out that approach completely. You do NOT have to barrage people with marketing that tries to fool or shame people into buying what you’re selling.

And forget the idea that you have to sell yourself too. You don’t have to sell your soul to market effectively.

But here’s the truth … if you want to earn well as a coach and stay in business you do have to find a way to attract your ideal clients.

The reality is, unless you already have a network of people who know, like and trust you and would love to work with you, you will need to create a community of potential clients and build relationships with those people. Otherwise, you’ll be another coach who is a best kept secret. And there are lots of coaches who are.

Becoming known by your audience is half way to becoming a coach in high demand. Being known doesn’t mean you have to talk about yourself all the time and toot your own horn. There’s a better way.

I started building my community from scratch. That’s not a heartbreaking task. It’s a heart-warming task if you do it in a conscious way.

And you don’t have to be known by tens of thousands of people either if you target a narrow and unique audience and craft a niche that’s meaningful to them. There are a multitude of reasons why choosing a viable target audience and choosing a smart niche is the first strategy to help you stand out and attract your ideal clients. Check out episode 9 if you haven’t already.

To read the 6 steps to market like you coach and about the 5 mindset shifts to make to enjoy marketing click here.

This episode is inspired by conversations with two of my VIP clients – both are coaches working with a professional audience. I will share details about why it’s smart to create an Avatar for your target coaching audience, how to do it and use it effectively for everything in your coaching business.

By the way … I’m not talking about those cute little characters that represent YOU on social media. This is about your ideal client. Find the full transcript with the list of questions to develop your Avatar at prosperouscoach.com/187.

So here is what was going on with my two VIP clients that inspired me to create an episode for you about this. Both, independently, were having trouble with their messaging.

Connect Don’t Perform with Your Coaching Prospects

One was not getting engagements from her posts or enough downloads of her podcast. As a result, not enough people in her audience were going to her website and taking actions to get on her list, fill out her application and grab a Discovery Call. So, she didn’t have enough enrollment opportunities and didn’t have enough clients.

The other hadn’t launched yet but was struggling to write blog articles. Though he had excellent writing skills and tremendous expertise his blogs were coming off stiff. They were full of cliché topics and thoughts that could easily be found with a Google search. He was writing to a generic audience even though he had targeted a narrower group.

Neither of these coaches were relating enough to their audience and that’s essential in today’s marketplace.

I realized that both of these coaches were not enough in touch with their specific target audience. They were talking like a coach, which was coming off bland. It’s really important not to be coachey with your messaging. Connect don’t perform. It’s the best lesson I ever learned.

Your Avatar Helps You Attract Your ideal Coaching Client

So, I showed them how to create an Avatar and develop their blogs and podcast episodes, their social posts and presentations, by stepping into the shoes and mindset of their unique target audience. I’ll explain how in a moment.

Remember the blockbuster film Avatar from 2009? If you haven’t seen it, grab some friends and delicious snacks and settle in for a fantastic journey into a beautiful planet called Pandora, that is overrun by humans wanting to mine the native’s resources no matter the cost. Yes, it’s an age-old story but uniquely told.

In the movie, scientists from Earth manufacture a few bodies that look and respond like the bodies of the Na’vi, the indigenous, highly evolved planet-centered people of Pandora. The consciousness of the scientists could then be downloaded into those bodies so they can move about in the culture, interacting with the Na’vi in the most relational way.

Beyond the movie, you’ve probably heard of the Avatar concept for businesses. Your Avatar, in this case, describes in great detail who your chosen target audience is and what exactly makes them tick. Every business should have a clearly defined Avatar so that their products, services and marketing are designed specifically for the Avatar.

If you create your Avatar in a masterful way and use it to interact with your audience in the most relational way then you have a huge advantage in marketing and attracting clients.

See the rest of the transcript including all 22 questions to develop your AVATAR of your ideal coaching client.

This episode is about strategizing ways to help your clients feel safe in their professional relationship with you. Safe feelings will help your clients have a better experience in your coaching program. That in turn translates into longer term and return clients, more referrals and great testimonials. 

This episode is also a Listener’s Choice episode, which means it’s a favorite of coaches who have listened before you. Find the full transcript at prosperouscoach.com/186.

Do you ever feel nervous with your clients or have performance anxiety during sessions? If you’re a new coach, that’s totally normal. And you want to be sure that feeling diminishes with each client you serve. 

In my early days, I was so anxious about delivering value that I lost my personal power by inflating my role by over-delivering and people pleasing. And I ended up feeling drained instead of energized by sessions. Do you know what I mean? I’ll talk all about this challenge in another episode soon.

You might not realize that your new clients also will have some anxiety about coaching too, so it’s important to help them feel safe. Clients who feel safe will be more candid and get more from your coaching. Here are 4 ways to help them feel safe:

Cultivate Happy Coaching Clients Before During and After
First, know that cultivating happy clients starts by creating happy prospects. You want people in your target audience to already have a strong sense of your integrity, personality and exactly how you can help them BEFORE they hire you.

You don’t have to hard sell. You don’t have to convince anyone. Make your marketing process a natural selection process. And don’t worry about the people who don’t hire you.

If your social media posts, blogs, podcasts, videos, website – everything – show that you are fully informed about what’s important to your audience they can feel that.

You want your audience to feel seen, heard and understood by you. If they do, they’ll follow you and share your content with others in your audience. They’ll also get curious about what you offer because you’re speaking about what they desire and what’s in the way of that. 

Once they do hire you, you’ll be able to help them feel safe in other ways.

Set Boundaries and Provide Structure to Coaching Clients
In a desire to be ALL things to your clients do you forget to set boundaries and provide structure in your programs?

If so, it’s understandable because coaching skills themselves are so open. Open-ended questions, deep levels of listening, open-mindedness about differences – all of those things will be enhanced when you put boundaries and structures in place for your clients.

People THRIVE with a sense of structure and will respect boundaries if you set them up thoughtfully and communicate them well.

Before your first session:

1.     Provide clear terms and agreements about your coaching program in your intake packet.

2.     Clearly describe your policies about showing up for sessions and payments.

3.     Provide a template and then ask them to send you a Session Prep 1 -2 days before each session.

4.     Set clear expectations about your availability and how & when they can contact you.

To read about the other 2 ways to help your coaching clients feel safe, click here.