In this special episode of the Fearless Business Podcast, Robin tells listeners everything they need to know before launching their own coaching business.
Business and lifestyle coaching isn’t for everyone, it takes a special type of person to become a successful business coach. Throughout this episode, Robin guides listeners through the do’s and don’ts of business coaching and advises them on how to launch and market themselves successfully.
The coaching industry is an incredibly large one, with an estimated 80,000 - 100,000 registered coaches in the UK alone it’s easy to understand why someone wants to start their own coaching business.
However, because it is a large one, just as many coaches have failed to try and establish themselves in a highly saturated market. Here’s Robin’s advice for how you can avoid failure:
A business coach is an authoritative figure that is often idolised and doted upon. Because of this, many individuals find themselves wanting to become coaches because of the power, influence and respect a business coach acquires. However, if this alone is the reason why you’d want to become a business coach then Robin strongly recommends that you reconsider.
Fundamentally, a coaches responsibility is to help someone improve their current circumstance, be it through business coaching, mindset or lifestyle. They serve as a guide, often having to help their clients face hard truths and implement feedback. According to Robin, the two most fundamental qualities any coach should have are as follows:
No coach is a coach without clients. They need customers to be able to find them. When marketing themselves, Robin recommends that every coach should niche down where possible. It’s no good just branding yourself as ‘the UK’s best business coach’. Sure. You could be. But a quick browse on Google will give you pages upon pages of fellow coaches who think exactly the same about themselves.Instead, reflect upon your entrepreneurial journey and what got you into business in the first place. Think about what makes you unique, play to your strengths.
For example, let’s say you are a female business coach who strives to empower women in business. You have an extensive background in owning salons across the country with a very high success rate. Initially, you market yourself as the ‘empowering female business coach’, but find that it’s quite vague and doesn’t really say much about you as a coach. Instead, you calibrate. You market yourself as ‘The Salon Coach’, a coach that helps other salon owners feel empowered by improving their business and increasing their revenue. Of course, you aren’t the only salon coaching business out there, but the search pool will be smaller as you have been more specific with your USP and branding, making it easier for people to find you.
Niching down also increases the coaches chances of enlisting their “dream client”. This technique not only allows customers to find you faster but allows you to work with more high-quality clients, making the job much more enjoyable.
Regardless of the industry, they’re in, Robin always recommends an outcome-based pricing strategy for all businesses.
Outcome-based pricing is when businesses get a client to pay for their services upfront and is dependent on client satisfaction and results. This goes hand in hand with money-back guarantees where business owners promise their clients an outcome or their money back.
There are many benefits to an outcome-based pricing strategy. First, the money-back guarantee connotes a strong element of confidence towards the consumer. Additionally, having your clients pay upfront can serve as a buffer and allows you to plan ahead for dry months.
Robin's last piece of advice is to invest in a business coach yourself. As many coaches already know, business coaches are great for laying the foundations of a new business. You can use your business coach as a guide for your own practices and even nab a few tips and strategies from them.
When searching for your own business coach, be sure that they are well versed in communication, subject knowledge, problem-solving and of course, listening. This will increase the chances of a trustworthy relationship between coach and coachee.
If you are unsure where to find a business coach try using search engines or visit some local networking meetings. Local business events are a great place to receive genuine reviews from other coaches/business owners on which coach worked for them and are a great place to get some feedback for your own coaching business.
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