How To Get Clients as a Business Coach:
The Ultimate Guide
Featured Articles
- 1Here's why you aren't getting consistent business clients
- 23 steps to becoming an expert
- 3How to get your first client as a business coach
- 4Mistakes that could be costing you clients
- 5Sales conversations tips to turn prospects into clients
- 6How to retain clients long-term
- 7Start attracting high-end business clients
As a business coach, you want to help entrepreneurs, business owners, or executives. You want to see them achieve their biggest goals. You want to transform their life from chaotic to productive.
To do this firsthand, you need clients.
Unfortunately, this is where most business coaches struggle. How do you find that first client? How do you retain them? What can you do to get a steady pipeline of clients coming in?
What you need is the right client acquisition system that helps you approach your ideal prospects.
Enrollment is not guesswork, luck, or a random thing based on how the prospect feels at any moment. Instead, it is a systematic approach that helps you build a steadily growing income while enhancing your professional brand.
In this guide, you will learn how to:
Are you ready? Let's start.
Here's Why You Aren't Getting Consistent Business Clients
Before diving deep into the killer strategies and tips for enrollment, you need to understand the core reason for not getting consistent business clients.
Usually, the first things that come to mind are poor marketing, lack of expertise, or inability to handle sales conversations.
But, most probably, it’s none of those.
Most often, business coaches fail to get clients because they lack credibility.
Business coaching is often high stakes. Your ideal clients could be seasoned entrepreneurs, top executives, and folks who don’t take anything at face value. For them to work with you, they need to be able to have trust in you.
Trust is the foundation of a healthy client-coach relationship.
So, the question is, how do you establish credibility? How do you convince prospects that you are the one they can trust to help them achieve their goals?
That’s simple, isn’t it? Just build a robust online presence. Create persuasive and strategic content targeting your ideal prospects. Answer their questions and build rapport. Right?
WRONG!
If you only focus on building a robust online presence, you might get many followers but ZERO clients.
Instead, do this…
Step 1
Go to your friends, neighbors, family, or close connections running their businesses.
Step 2
Coach them to achieve their desired results.
Step 3
Walk through their journey and support them until they make their first win.
Step 4
Then, take a video testimonial.
Step 5
Create mini case studies on how you helped your clients achieve the desired results.
Step 6
Emphasize the results you've produced for the client and create content around it.
Use this content to reach out to prospects. And yes, you can also post this on social media!
Case studies show that your approach works.
They get social proof that others have worked with you and got benefits. This increases the inclination to work with you.
Another reason you aren't getting consistent clients: you're serving everyone.
Is serving more people a bad thing?
No, and yes.
You wanted to serve as many people as possible because you were too generous.
It's not at all bad. But it could hurt when it comes to business. Most novice business coaches think niching down might reduce their opportunities.
In contrast, the more you position yourself as an expert, the more people get attracted to your offer.
For instance, say you're suffering from severe back pain. Now, would you choose a general doctor or a back pain specialist?
You’d probably choose a back pain specialist because you know they can provide the solution you're looking for. You trust him, and he is an expert in fixing the problem you're going through.
Everybody wants to go to an expert who can solve their problems.
3 Steps To Becoming An Expert
Let's say you're a business coach helping CEOs maintain work-life balance. CEOs who find it challenging to manage their professional and personal lives will come to you to seek a solution.
Niching down communicates to your target audience and eliminates ambiguity.
So, how do you niche down to become the only go-to person for your ideal customers?
Step #1: Identify your area of expertise
Figure out what you are good at:
Emphasize the results you've produced for the client and create content around it.
Would you like to work with startups, small businesses, mid-sized companies, or large MNCs?
What is the problem you help businesses solve? Is it boosting their revenue? Improving customer retention or employee engagement rate? Getting the right systems in place to achieve maximum performance?
You can identify your area of expertise based on industry, demographics, geographical location, and results.
Step #2: Understand the target audience
Once you've narrowed your market, research and create your ideal business client avatar.
What is the most significant problem they face that you could solve immediately?
What are the underlying challenges that are holding the business back?
What is the long-term vision of the company?
What's stopping them from taking action?
Why are they struggling to achieve their goals?
What kind of coaching support do they need?
What kind of consulting support do they need?
Who needs the support - is it the CEO, an executive, a specific team, or the whole company?
The best way to understand your audience is by engaging in powerful conversations. Interact with the audience in offline events, forums, Reddit, Quora, or social media platforms.
Step #3: Differentiate yourself from other business coaches
There are multiple smartphones in the market. But why did you choose the only one that you are using now? How was it different from its competitors? What’s the most important thing that caught your attention and convinced you to take money from your bank account? High safety levels? Extreme charging capacity? Or is it the ability to capture great pictures?
In other words, what is its USP or unique selling proposition?
A USP tells your target audience how you’re different from other in the same space and gives your target audience a solid reason to work with you.
After discovering your ideal customers, you must craft your USP that is appealing to them. To craft a killer USP statement, fill in the blanks in the template below:
I help <your audience> achieve <the result> by <your approach>.
For example: I help small business owners become more productive using a custom-tailored PMC technique.
How To Get Your First Client as a Business Coach
You've set up everything you need to start as a business coach. The only thing missing is the customer. Getting your first customer can be a manageable task.
Here are four proven strategies to get your first client faster.
#1 - Help Your Network
Here are the two best funnel marketing strategies you should use to attract audiences.
So, open your professional and personal contact list – this could be your phonebook, LinkedIn network, people from forums you are a part of, people in your local community, or folks you’ve connected with on Facebook, Instagram, or other social channels.
Go over it carefully and see who amongst this list are business owners. They don’t have to be large companies; they may just be running a small home business or freelancing. That’s fine! From the shortlist, see if anyone matches your target audience profile. Chances are you will find one or two people who fit the bill.
Reach out to them with your offer. Use this ultimate 12-step client enrollment script to guide you through the conversation.
Make sure you ask powerful questions in the conversation to identify if they are facing any issues. If you can fix their problem, describe how you can help them. Finally, offer them either a free or a paid solution.
Pro Tip:
Do not provide immediate solutions. For instance, you should refrain from directly jumping into the answer if a small business owner says that he wants to increase customer satisfaction rate. Instead, ask questions to understand their "Why." Such as, “why didn't you act before, and what made you step forward to resolve the issue?”
#2 – Build Your Personal Brand
Most business coaches often underestimate the profound value of building a personal brand.
Suppose you're a novice business coach looking to attract higher-level executives to help them increase business profits. How do you approach them?
Most probably, you go to their social media profile and message them. Your message was persuasive and got the attention of the CEO. He clicked on your profile to learn more about you. He knows what you do, but he wasn't sure whether you had enough credibility to help him since you haven’t showcased it.
The CEO cannot know if you are the right person to solve his problem. He needs to find out if you've got the right knowledge about the industry and the market.
It's been two weeks since you've continuously sent several follow-up messages.
Three weeks…And even a month has passed by. But you get no response.
Why do you think this has happened?
It’s because while YOU know you're the right person for the job, the CEO doesn’t know that and has no way to verify it.
The best way to showcase that credibility is to create content consistently:
Tips To Build Credibility:
- 1Show up consistently.
- 2Provide practical and actionable solutions to your target audience's problems.
- 3Conduct 1-day or 3-day workshops and provide a glimpse of your services.
- 4Build an email list and nurture the ideal prospects.
- 5Give your clients more before you could ask something - Provide free help, talk to them, and listen to what they can’t communicate.
- 6Demonstrate you’re the ideal business coach who could fix the target audience’s problem.
#3 – Network At Events
You should be in the right place to meet the right people at the right moment. And when it comes to networking, nothing can beat offline events and workshops.
The best part of events is talking to people and exchanging ideas. You can learn more about the industry and help your clients achieve incredible wealth and results.
Imagine you attend a workshop about healthcare startups. Suppose hundred people have participated in the event. Out of which, you might meet and greet 30 people. You may even have deep conversations with at least 5 to 6 business owners or entrepreneurs. And if you played your cards right, you could end up working with 1 or 2 of them.
Don’t just be a passive attendee. Look for opportunities to speak at the events to build your reputation further.
#4 – Ace Your Marketing
Marketing is one of the best ways to attract new clients outside your network. But as a new coach, you should be careful of the marketing strategy you want to deploy. Paid ads can get expensive really fast! And not all marketing strategies work for everyone.
To design your marketing plan, first, get a handle on your customer's pain points, needs, wants, and desires. Then create a message that resonates with them.
Use that message in the right forums where your clients are more likely to hang out.
For example, if your niche is Mompreneurs, you might want to look at Facebook groups to find the target audience. On the other hand, if your niche is communication service providers, you might want to be present on LinkedIn.
Whatever the channel, remember one thing: Personalization is the KEY.
First, obviously, personalize the message to the audience’s context. And next, not so obvious, personalize the message to you – let your personality shine through. Show the layers to yourself as a human being, add a dash of humor if that works for you, and share personal stories.
#5 - Leverage Your Brand Ambassadors
This is one of the BEST strategies to attract new clients and build your online authority. Encourage your past or current clients to share their experiences working with you.
Especially sharing a before and after the journey could attract tons of audience, increase brand awareness, and increases the chances of going viral. Ask them to share their progress and success after working with you.
Request your clients to provide a video testimonial. Further, you can use the video testimonials on your website or social media as a credibility-building tool.
Mistakes That Could Be Costing You Clients
You've got some great strategies. You're meeting new people in events and workshops. You've established an online presence. You're sharing wonderful tips and providing huge value for free.
But still, you are struggling to enroll clients.
What could be happening?
Here are some mistakes that could be affecting enrollment.
Mistake #1: You don’t have enough social proof.
Most business coaches shed sweat and blood to help their customers achieve goals. Yet they don't ask for testimonials once they complete their job.
Testimonials increase credibility and provide you with immense feedback.
You get to know what your customers are thinking about your services. If you ask the right questions, you know why they have come to you and what made them stick to your program.
Not asking for testimonials is like missing out on bigger opportunities in the future. Ask for feedback regularly and record them to showcase to new clients.
PRO TIP:
Collect video testimonials - far more engaging and authentic than written reviews.
Mistake #2: You're not talking about the problem.
The major difference between a professional and a rookie business coach is the former talks about the problem the customer is facing while the latter talks about the offer they're providing.
Talking about the customer's problem helps them realize the necessity to find a solution immediately.
Think about it like this. You're suffering from a headache. You've been neglecting it for the past 30 days because you don't take it seriously. Now, a person comes to you and talks about the complexities of headaches and the adverse effects of not treating them.
Since you understand you've got a problem that needs to be solved immediately, you'd be willing to do whatever it takes to fix it.
The same is the case for your customers too. Talk about their biggest problem and what it costs them if they don't solve it immediately. That's how you turn prospects into clients.
Mistake #3: You aren't initiating powerful sales conversations.
Sales conversations can either make or break the deal. You do great hard work to take your prospects onto the discovery call. But you might lose the deal if you fail to persuade them and converse correctly.
Do you want to know more about how to initiate effective conversations so that you can make better rapport with your customers?
If yes, we've got you some of the best sales conversation tactics. Read on.
Sales Conversations Tips to Turn Prospects into Clients
Who wouldn't love to convert prospects and enroll them in a coaching program? Of course, every business coach dreams about their ideal client and wants to work with them. But not all of them close the deal. This is why most business coaches think closing a sale is challenging.
But closing high-end deals can be a manageable task for you. Incorporate proven communication techniques while talking to your prospect and convert them into customers effortlessly.
As soon as you welcome the prospect, ask them questions such as:
Introduction Questions:
The goal of asking the introduction questions is to make personal connections with them. Find out the things that are in common between you and your client. That's how you become friends and make a great time together.
Journey or Background Questions:
These are the few basic questions that help you build a good rapport. However, as you dig deeper into the conversations, you could ask more questions about their business core values, foundation principles, mission, vision, and much more.
However, the above questions are best to break the ice and get along with the smooth flow of conversation.
PRO TIP:
Don't try to act as if you know everything. Be an active listener and try to understand what your prospects aren't revealing.
How to Retain Clients Long-Term
Attracting new customers is only one side of the coin. Retaining existing customers is equally, if not more, important.
If you cannot retain clients, do a deep dive and figure out what’s going wrong.
Instead of finding and fixing retention issues, amateur business coaches hunt for new clients. That’s costly and painful and not a sustainable strategy.
Do this instead…
Experience Is Everything
Ask any business coach, and they will tell you their focus is on producing results for their customers. But there is another vital factor that decides customer retention.
It's the customer experience.
People remember things, places, or events based on their experiences. As a business coach, you must offer your customers an exceptional experience to stand out. You need to let them experience YOU.
There are two powerful things you can do to enable that:
- 1Share your beliefs and vulnerabilities to help people connect with you at a deeper level. When they know who you are and what you stand for, people with shared beliefs will be attracted to your tribe.
- 2Demonstrate what you can do for your audience in “X” days. Give them the roadmap and speak out about how you can support them in their journey.
As they engage with you, figure out ways to escalate their experience.
Some more tips for driving experience:
The key is to give a vivid experience to customers, from onboarding them to providing feedback. Do whatever it takes and build long-term relationships.
The key is to give a vivid experience to customers, from onboarding them to providing feedback. Do whatever it takes and build long-term relationships.
Start Attracting High-End Business Clients
Ultimately, no one formula will fit every business coach when attracting clients. Some will see success in a week or on their first enrollment call; for others, it could take a while. You must figure out what works best for you and deploy those strategies.
Do you need more help to enjoy a successful career as a business coach?
Would you like to know more proven strategies and methodologies to gain high-paying clients? Do you want to establish yourself as the most sought-after business coach?
If you answer yes to any or all of the above, we've good news for you!
Step into an extraordinary life of impact, income, and freedom as a highly-skilled and sought-after Mindvalley Certified Business Coach.