Top 10 Ways For Coaches To Get Clients1. Determine where to find your potential clients
Where are your clients spending their time – online and offline? Online, consider discussion groups, email lists and forums in which they may participate, as well as ezines and article directories they may visit. Offline there are magazines, meeting places, networking groups, special interest groups and exhibitions, to name but a few. Which of these choices best fit your target market?
2. Keep in touch, regularly
Once you've identified the best places to find your potential clients, make it a point to let them see you there often. A brief comment on a discussion forum weekly will keep you on their minds. Remember that short, regular contact is much better than long, irregular contact.
3. Write articles & distribute them to article directories
Research article directories and find out how they work. Select the ones that you like and try them out. A well-written article demonstrates your expertise with the specific problem your target market is looking to solve. As well, these sites encourage you to market your services in an "author resource box" at the bottom of the article (you can read my own "author resource box" below as an example).
4. Ask your clients what they need
There are an increasing number of ways to carry out research on your clients' wants and needs. Offline you can meet clients at events or call and ask what they need. Online you can use survey tools such as www.askdatabase.com or www.surveymonkey.com .
5. Create solutions that address those needs
Create special reports, e-books, articles, coaching programs or other resources that solve the specific problems of your target market. Come up with a strategy to give some of them away (to promote your services and paid resources) and sell some of them. Jo Losack of www.themagicofknowledge.com and Andrea Lee of www.multiplestreamsofcoachingincome.com are experts on product creation as a marketing strategy.
6. Use your free give-aways to generate a mailing list
Offer your website visitors (or people you meet offline) a free product in exchange for their name and email list. Use this list to have short, regular contact with your target market, to share your expertise (improving your credibility) and to promote your paid products and services.
7. Give talks in public
Find out where your target market meet offline, and offer your services as a guest speaker, keynote speaker or workshop presenter. In your talk, focus on the problems that they have told you about – remind them about what pain this causes and introduce them to the solutions that you offer.
8. Generate PR
Submit your articles to the newspapers and magazines that your target market read. As well, contact the media with story ideas and see if they will interview you.
9. Join associations
What are the associations that are relevant to your target market and niche? Search for them online and join them. Go to their offline meetings. Offer yourself as a public speaker at their events, focusing on a problem that the target market experiences. Join their management committee. Get involved and get seen.
10. Get referrals
Ask your existing clients for referrals. There are many referral systems out there - check out Jay Abrahams' methods. Whatever referral mechanism you use, get it systematized. Your autoreponder may provide you with 'tell-a-friend' forms that can increase the size of your list.
Conclusion
It's not just about being the best coach you can be. You need clients to coach! This article described 10 effective ways for you to get more clients – which ones can you start applying today?
Alun Richards helps coaches find and reach their coaching niche. Discover yours with the free mini-course, "Discover Your Coaching Niche", available from http://www.brandingyou.org/coursesales.html.