Saturday, May 28, 2005

The Magical Way to Get Clients by David Wood



The Magical Way to Get Clients
Body of Article
Do you ever worry about not being able to get clients? Well -- how do the successful coaches with thriving businesses do it?
The fastest way to accelerate is to model what works for successful people!
For many months now I have been working on an e-book with interviews from ten hugely successful coaches with successful businesses. A major questions focus was: "How did you get so many clients?"
One of our coaches, Leza Danly, has coached hundreds of people over the past nine years. When we asked Leza how she was able to get a full practice of 20 clients in less than six months, she gave us her success formula. Here is an excerpt from her interview...

EXCERPT INTERVIEW WITH LEZA DANLY, MCC
Doing the inner work
...(You need to) do your personal inner work. Know what you want to create (the kind of coaching practice, the size, etc.) and more importantly WHY you want to create it. Invest the time to explore your motivation deeply.
Because if your motivation is to prove you are good enough, or to run away from failure, or to get people to love and approve of you, or to exploit people, or any of many negative motivations, it won't work. Often these motivations are deeply buried and we don't realize they are at play.
When you find the joy of service and align yourself with a motivation to contribute, things will turn around. Once you feel confident that your motivation is clean, you need to confront your willingness to give yourself this dream career.
This may sound like a no-brainer, but for most people it's the biggest challenge. They limp along at a handful of clients, because they honestly feel deep down that to be paid really well for inspiring conversations and having lots of free time is too good to be true. They aren't willing to receive it.
Getting Clients: Magic

I am not joking when I say magic was my primary enrollment method. In fact, it was really important to me that I create my practice magically, meaning that I visualized it, I programmed for it, I spent time regularly in meditation imagining my full practice and seeing myself happily coaching a full practice.
I want to be clear I am not talking about a child's magic that is about wishful thinking and looking the other way. I'm talking about the true, adult magic of consciously creating reality.
Scheduling clients before getting clients
I made a schedule of where my client appointments were going to be and I absolutely allowed myself to desire it, imagine and expect it to happen. Then I would delight as the phone rang and people called and I would set up sample sessions.
Getting excited
I got so excited about the opportunities for growth for the people who called. I think I held an authentic space of possibility in such a way that they could more clearly see who they were becoming. Then I imagined people saying yes to coaching, and they did.
Sample sessions
...Once you've done the introspection, give lots and lots of sample sessions. You never enroll clients from talking about coaching, only from boldly giving yourself to the client in a sample session. Let yourself love. Let yourself care. They will either want it or they won't. Don't obsess on the ones who don't. Just keep giving.
Referrals
Once I started getting clients, then they referred other people. Also, even though I don't recommend coaching friends and family, I did give them sample sessions so they would know more first-hand what I was doing and they were more likely to refer people.
By David Wood and Geoff Grist
I encourage you to share, replicate or forward this article as long as the authors links and copyright information are kept intact.
Davids Bio

David Wood is a Certified Life Coach. He helps coaches, consultants, speakers and trainers to build their businesses via his popular eBook http://10SuperCoaches.com and his audio eBook at http://www.FirstFiftyClients.com. Get his new Free Download '50 Power Questions' and popular monthly eZine for clients at coaches (now over 15,000 subscribers) at: http://www.solutionbox.com/freedownload.htm

Link to website
Web site: www.life-coaching-resource.com

Copyright information
Copyright 2004 SolutionBox and Life Coaching Resource.com


About the Author
David Wood is a Certified Life Coach. He helps coaches, consultants, speakers and trainers to build their businesses via his popular ebook at http://10SuperCoaches.com and his audio ebook at http://www.FirstFiftyClients.com. Get his new Free Download 50 Power Questions and popular monthly ezine for clients and coaches (now over 15,000 subscribers) at: http://www.solutionbox.com/freedownload.htm

Using the Warm Invitation by David Wood



Using the Warm Invitation
Body of Article
You've done the networking, looked through your contacts, and now have a list of people to approach for coaching.
You've then decided not to be so stingy, and added another 20 people to the list - people you're not sure of, but hey - it doesn't hurt to ask - right? And that's where you get stuck.
How do you approach these contacts so they will become clients?
How do you do it without pressuring them?
How do you do it so you get a 'yes' over 80% of the time?
I call these kinds of approaches 'warm invitations'. You aren't calling a stranger so it isn't a cold call. But, it's not necessarily a hot prospect either. They are just people you know, and you would like see if they are interested in coaching.
In this article I'm going to give you a script that is proven to work. But it's critical to note that you are NOT trying in this phone call to get them as a client. All you are going for is an 'introductory' or 'exploratory' or 'trial' session. Use the label that feels best for you.
The following is an excerpt from The CoachStart eManual:
The First Line
Are you stopped because you just have no idea what to say to see if someone would want to try coaching?
Here is a sample script to use:
"Hi, Jeff. How are you? I am calling about coaching. I am setting up my coaching practice and I am looking for high energy [put in your own descriptor if you don't like 'high energy'] people to do some trial coaching sessions with."
[Pause/Listen]
Notice this is very non-threatening, yet straight-forward. It also compliments the person, making them feel good right away.
Check Interest
"But first, if you have a couple minutes, I'd like to check and see if us doing a session together even makes sense, because I don't want to waste your time with this."
[Pause/Listen]
Note no hard selling here. You are trying to gauge interest. This part shows that you value the client's time.
Question
"O.k. great. So Let's find out if there is something worth working on. What's one thing you'd like to alter in your life?"
Or you can do other questions like, "What's the biggest pain in your life?" or "What would you like more of in your life?" You can insert your own question and experiment with different questions. This gets them into coaching mode and helps you discover what they need.
[Pause/Listen].
Note: Discover what they want, but don't try to work it out or solve it yet.
Set it Up
"OK, if we could find some great strategies to help you do that, would that be worth spending half an hour on?"
"Great-I won't be charging for this. If we find a great goal that coaching could help make a big impact on, we can look at setting up a coaching structure for you. If not, then I appreciate your time in helping me with my training and development. Do you prefer Wednesday or Thursday? Phone or face to face?"
Here you are showing the value of coaching. You are asking them if they think coaching is worth their time. You are also honestly saying you are looking to gain them as a client, but at the same time allowing them not to feel pressured by thanking them for helping in your training.
Set the time and date now if possible, so there won't be any phone tag later. Give them two date options to start them thinking of when, instead of second-guessing whether or not to do this coaching trial session.
Remember you are helping them. You are going to work with them to create an action plan for something they would love to change. It's wonderful if they decide they would like to become a client, but don't worry about that so much. Just get out there and do 50 trial sessions - to help the people you know! The rest will take care of itself.
So be confident and give them a call!
[Excerpted from The CoachStart eManual]
* * *
Are you unclear on what to say in your trial or first session? The exact details of how I do MY trial session - the one I've done around 400 times - in The CoachStart eManual. To see the list of what else is covered, or to download it today, click here:
The CoachStart eManual
By David Wood and Geoff Grist
I encourage you to share, replicate or forward this article as long as the authors links and copyright information are kept intact.
Davids Bio

David Wood is a Certified Life Coach. He helps coaches, consultants, speakers and trainers to build their businesses via his popular eBook http://10SuperCoaches.com and his audio eBook at http://www.FirstFiftyClients.com. Get his new Free Download '50 Power Questions' and popular monthly eZine for clients at coaches (now over 15,000 subscribers) at: http://www.solutionbox.com/freedownload.htm

Link to website
Web site: www.life-coaching-resource.com

Copyright information
Copyright 2004 SolutionBox and Life Coaching Resource.com


About the Author
David Wood is a Certified Life Coach. He helps coaches, consultants, speakers and trainers to build their businesses via his popular ebook at http://10SuperCoaches.com and his audio ebook at http://www.FirstFiftyClients.com. Get his new Free Download 50 Power Questions and popular monthly ezine for clients and coaches (now over 15,000 subscribers) at: http://www.solutionbox.com/freedownload.htm