Don’t Quit Your Day Job Yet Learn How To Sell Coaching

Ok, some of you are going to freak out when I tell you do not quit your nine to five and become a full-time coach.

I know, I know it just feels so unfair.

You have a vision that you will easily be able to find 20 or so clients, charge them the current coaching rate (the average life coach charges $200+/hour). The dream feels so close to being real.

You can hardly wait, you’re going to be your own boss and you’ll have the freedom to work from anywhere in the world. Yes, I know you’ve seen those photos of a coach sitting on a beach with her laptop and a relaxing easy smile on her face.  It’s a great idea. I love the beach too, but I don’t want to work there. I don’t want to sit on the beach with my computer, I’m going to get sand in the keyboard, I’m going to get all sweaty and tense as I squint at the screen in the sunlight.

Ok, enough said.

But you know what I mean right?

You’ve done the calculations too. Here’s how the math works: If you coach 20 clients at $198/hour each week.  You would make about $200k working about 20 hours per week. Woo Hoo!!!! Financial freedom is just around the corner!!!!

But then reality hits you square in the face. It’s not easy to enrol clients into your practice. Bluntly put, it is hard to sell coaching. If you’re reading this, I bet you’re nodding your head 😊

One of the main reasons it doesn’t work out easily, people don’t want to buy coaching. They don’t want to buy it because they don’t know what coaching really is. Coaching is still a young profession and it can be difficult to explain exactly what coaching is, how it works and the value it brings.

The quickest way to turn this around is to stop. Don’t sell coaching. Here’s what you do instead. 

• Talk to people about their problems, challenges and dreams. Really listen to what they say so you understand their perspective.
• Find out what they care about and what matters most to them.
• Then, talk to them about the different solutions you have available. Explain specifically how you can help them overcome the challenge or reach the goal they are eager to attain.
• And how, together, you can do it quickly.
• Talk to them about how they will feel when their problems are resolved.
• Talk to them about how satisfying it will be to reach their goals. How their confidence will expand and their relationships will improve.
• Show them the testimonials you’ve received from satisfied clients as social proof. This will help them to believe it can, and will, work for them too.
• Remind them that they are doing the best they can with what they have right now. Normalize their experience, if they knew how to solve it on their own they would have done so long ago.
• When they can see clearly the difference between where they are and what they can achieve, and believe you can help them. Then they’ll be eager to work with you.
• Do a small amount of coaching so they can see in advance a taste of the results they will get.
• Finally, make it easy for them to start coaching with you.

Once they begin coaching and start to see the benefits unfold in front of them they will be thrilled. Not only will they stay loyal to you, but they will also refer their friends, family and peers.  

Really, the most important strategy to fill your calendar with paying clients is to help them see the gap between where they are and where they want to be and then show them specifically how coaching will help them jump the gap.