As I began my transition from a corporate career to starting a coaching practice, I immediately noticed a disturbing trend within the coaching industry that I knew I wanted to stay away from. A trend that once had many coaches earning 6- and 7-figure incomes, but a tactic that’s also turning many away from the benefits of coaching: telling people they need a coach.
Yes, it is a saturated market and a noisy world. As a woman who is passionate about helping others in her niche, it’s easy to get sucked into the messages that everyone else uses; sales pages and social media posts trying to convince others how much they need life-changing information and innovative sessions that only a coach can provide.
Programs, emails, Facebook ads, and social media posts are filling our space designed to tap into the fear that we somehow need the latest and greatest offerings to “make it,” to write our own success story, but these tactics are no longer working and many coaches who rode the wave to the bank are now struggling to recreate those once thriving sales funnels.
Why? Here’s the brutal, sensible truth: no one needs to hire you. No one needs your coaching services and consumers are catching on much faster to these marketing tactics and realizing that they don’t, in fact, need to hire a coach to achieve their goals and dreams. They simply no longer accept being told what they need.
It’s time for us as coaches to do better for our industry and that starts with understanding that when someone hires us to coach it’s because they want to, not because they need to. By doing so, we not only serve our industry with more integrity, but position ourselves to outperform the masses who still cling to doing business for fear of losing their way.
So how can you avoid this pitfall facing the coaching industry? Accept the reality that the people you are marketing to do NOT need you. I address this in more detail here in a short, to the point Facebook Live video (https://bit.ly/2K2lGGN)
So what do you think? I hope you have a different perspective on your role as a coach. So how do you rise above the noise and stand out?
Here are some points to keep in mind and in your coaching business:
GIVE VALUE FIRST
I know this sounds obvious, but I’m still amazed at the number of trainers who run webinars and create content focused on fear of missing out messages to promote products, while actually providing very little consistent value.
Unless you set a value-first-above-all else precedent that clearly conveys why someone would want to hire you, that 45-minute webinar where you’re pouring yourself out to sell a $1,000 program probably won’t work if you’re using ” need this.” ” points of sale.
Yes, time is money, and I understand that for you to spend time preparing and delivering a webinar, you need it to drive results, but in this market of savvy consumers, value is what drives sales, not hard sales.
MAKE AUTHENTICITY A NON-NEGOTIABLE
Gone are the days when throwing your link to a ‘You need this now because it will radically change your life in 24 hours’ sales page will have them eating out of your hand as they happily click the Buy Now button. People have heard so many “I was homeless, broke and made billions in 90 days on this program” stories that while that may be a 100% true story for you, it has been abused by others to the point that doesn’t even sound impressive. or sincere more.
Of course, stories are great. They are of course highly effective at inspiring and selling, storytelling is here to stay, but what they want more than their duds to enrich the story is your consistent authenticity and willingness to be transparent. People no longer want to see a perfect high point of your life and how your business got you there. They need to see the real messy you too so they can relate to you as a real person which will lead them to want more of what you have to offer.
WHAT IS THERE FOR THEM
While her story is important and inspiring, her tribe is far more interested in what she can do to help them. They don’t need to hire you to move to the next level of their business, they don’t need your latest and greatest training program to reach your next promotion. What they do want is to show them that you care about their needs. What they do want is for you to be more interested in their needs than making your next sale.
So ask yourself: How are you serving up the valuable, high-quality brain food your tribe wants on a regular basis?
Yeah, this relationship-focused approach where you give people what they want, mind you, it takes more time, thought, energy, and creativity than telling them how badly they need what you have, it’s a slower way to grow your business and it takes time to build true, deep trust with your audience, but the measurable results you’ll have long-term in your business will speak for themselves.
The coaching industry is going through an evolution that some will not survive. As business owners and coaches, we must be open to listening to our tribes and moving with the flow of change. The marketing tactics that worked 3 years ago don’t work anymore and I think now is the time to go back to the basics of doing business, being attentive to the needs v. you want and how you share that message with your audience. Are you talking to your tribe, telling them what they need, or are you taking the time to listen, ask questions, and provide the value that is desired?
Those who grasp this principle and faithfully practice it will not only survive changes and disruptions in the marketplace, but will overcome it to grow a thriving coaching business. Those who don’t will unfortunately not be available to help those who decide that hiring a trainer is a desire they should invest in.
Do you want to read more? Visit kendradahlstrom.com
