The key to
understanding how to attract coaching clients is to look at the issue from the
client's point of view. Why do people choose one coach over another? What are
they really looking for and what makes the difference to their
choice?
I asked a group of
people how they chose their coaches and then matched the responses to create
the following diagram.
The first thing people look for when hiring a
coach is specific knowledge and experience. Clients want a coach who has
achieved goals or had experiences that give them special insight into their
issues. This knowledge and experience, which I call the coach's
niche, is one of the easiest ways for the client to assess
the coach's value to them. For coaches this means that how we define our niche
and how we describe our accomplishments is key to our success in attracting
clients.
The second set of
criteria that people mentioned was what I call presence.
When people are interviewing prospective coaches they want to feel fully
understood and comfortable with the style of the coach. People will assess this
criteria based on their gut feeling when they interact with the coach. When it
comes to longer term coaching results (the key to keeping clients), the coach's
presence is the most powerful factor and it acts like a catalyst for the
effectiveness of all other aspects of what the coach delivers.
Coaching skills is another
criteria prospective clients use when comparing coaches. Coaches with highly
developed skills and an effective tool kit will be able to impress prospective
clients by helping them make concrete progress in their trial coaching session.
But for coaching skills and tools to be effective, the coach's presence is
still the foremost requirement.
Sometimes a coach's outlook is the
key attraction for a client. I've had clients hire me simply because they
notice that my can-do attitude and positive focus will have an immediate impact
on their results. Also, clients may be looking for someone with new ideas or a
completely different perspective to stimulate or inspire them.
The baseline requirement for clients is that
they trust and respect the coach. Clients are concerned
about the integrity, honesty, supportiveness, trustworthiness and confidentiality
of the coach. They want a coach that they respect and are proud of. Usually
they will assess these criteria based on their intuition, but they will also
pay attention to others' opinions and will sometimes ask for references. If
they do not trust and respect the coach, any amount of value in other areas
will not convince them to hire that coach.
In summary,
coaches wishing to attract clients should clearly describe their niche, narrow
or broad, so that prospective clients understand what special knowledge and
experience they have to offer. The coach's presence will be assessed
intuitively by the client and is critical to the clients choice to hire and to
keep the coach. The coach's skills and outlook influence clients' choices
through the impact they make during a trial coaching session. Coach's must have
a high level of integrity to ensure they are worthy of the trust and respect of
their clients.
