April 12, 2022
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New coaches and consultants make the same mistake. They assume that not having enough clients is a marketing problem. It is almost never a marketing problem. If you do not have a clear, defined offer with a confident price, more marketing will not help. It will just send more confused prospects to a confused message. This guide covers exactly what to do to sign your first ten clients as a new business coach or consultant, starting with the foundation that most new practitioners ignore: the offer itself and the price behind it.
The instinct when you launch a coaching or consulting business is to get visible. Build the website. Set up the social profiles. Start posting content. Start advertising. The problem is that all of this activity presupposes you have something clear and compelling to advertise.
Most new coaches do not. They have a broad area of expertise, a genuine ability to help people, and a pricing model borrowed from what they think the market charges (usually too low) or what other coaches charge (usually also too low). The marketing effort that follows is essentially amplifying vagueness at scale. It is expensive, slow, and often demoralising.
The truth is that your first ten clients almost certainly do not require marketing. They require a clear offer and a willingness to have direct, honest conversations with the people who are already in your network. For coaches and consultants who understand what business coaching actually delivers, the starting point is always the offer, not the audience.
Before you approach a single prospective client, you need to be clear on three things.
Who you help specifically: Not "business owners" but "coaches and consultants earning under £60,000 a year who want to double their income without doubling their hours." The more specific you are about who you work with and what problem you solve, the easier the conversation becomes.
What the outcome is: Not "we will work together on your business" but "at the end of six months, you will have a productised service, a pricing strategy, and your first three clients at the new price." Specific outcomes are easier to buy than vague processes.
What you charge: Name a number before you start talking to prospects. Not a range. Not "it depends." A number. It can be adjusted for specific circumstances, but you need a confident default price before the first conversation happens. Use Robin's 10:1 principle: your fee should be roughly 10% of the value you create. If your coaching helps a client increase their income by £30,000, a six-month programme at £3,000 is a clear, defensible price.
For the vast majority of new coaches and consultants, the first ten clients come from the same three places.
Your existing network: People who already know you, trust your expertise, and have either a problem you can solve or a connection to someone who does. Start here. Write a short, direct message to ten people you know well. Not a sales pitch. A direct offer: "I am launching my coaching practice and I have three spots open in the next six weeks. The programme is [brief description and price]. I think you might be the right fit or know someone who is. Can we talk for 20 minutes?"
Direct outreach to ideal clients: Identify ten people in your target market who you do not know but who match your ideal client profile. Approach them with a specific, personalised message about the problem you solve and how you solve it. Not a generic LinkedIn connection request. A message that demonstrates you understand their situation.
Referrals from the first clients: Your first two or three clients, served exceptionally well, will tell people. Ask them directly. Not just "do you know anyone?" but "I am looking for two more clients like you. Is there anyone in your network who has the same challenge we worked on together?"
Confidence in your offer and your price is not arrogance. It is a signal to the client that you have done this before and know what you are doing. Coaches who present their price as a suggestion, with visible uncertainty, create doubt in the mind of the prospect. Coaches who state their price clearly and stand behind it attract clients who respect both themselves and the practitioner.
A simple structure for presenting a coaching offer: name the outcome, name the timeline, name the price, and explain the mechanism (how it works). "This six-month programme helps consultants like you double their income by redesigning their offer and pricing model. We meet fortnightly, and you get unlimited email access between sessions. The investment is £3,500 for the full six months." That is everything the client needs to know to say yes or ask a question.
Do not offer a discount before the client has even asked for one. Do not apologise for the price. If the price feels high, the answer is to connect it more clearly to the value: "clients I have worked with have typically seen their income increase by £25,000 to £40,000 in the first year. The programme is £3,500." That context makes the price easy to evaluate.
Once you have ten clients delivered and ten case studies in hand, everything changes. You have evidence. You know the outcomes your work creates. You know who the right client is. You have a productised offer that has been tested and refined in real conditions.
Now is the time to raise the price, tighten the positioning, and consider the first steps toward scale: group programmes, a membership model, or a recurring support structure that generates month-on-month income without starting from zero each time.
The path from zero to ten clients is the same path most business coaches and consultants travel alone, unnecessarily. If you want to build your coaching practice with proper support and accountability from someone who has helped hundreds of coaches do exactly this, book a free coaching session with Robin. Or explore Robin's coaching specifically for coaches to see how the programme works in practice.
The most common mistake is focusing on marketing activities like building a website or running ads before creating a clear, specific offer with a confident price. Without a solid foundation, marketing efforts just amplify a vague message and rarely lead to clients.
Your first ten clients will almost certainly come from your existing network. These are people who already know and trust you. The next best sources are direct outreach to your ideal clients and referrals from your very first successful clients.
You should set a firm price based on the value and outcome you provide, not an hourly rate. A great rule of thumb is the 10:1 principle: your fee should be roughly 10% of the financial value you help your client create. This makes the investment an easy decision for them.
Present your offer with a simple, clear structure. State the outcome, the timeline, and the price. For example: 'This is a six-month programme to help you achieve X, and the investment is £Y.' Confidence in your price signals to the client that you know your worth and can deliver results.
Once you have ten successful case studies, you have proof that your method works. Now is the time to raise your prices, refine your target audience, and think about scaling your business, perhaps through group programmes or a membership model.
