Whether you’re a new coach or someone who’s been running their coaching business for a while, the million dollar question is always, ‘how to get more coaching clients?’

Well in today’s post I’m going to share 12 different ways you can get more clients in your coaching business so you have lots of ideas you can try.

Get’s dive in!

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Focus on what makes you different

So the first thing that I want to talk about when it comes to getting clients is to really clearly communicate what makes you different. There’s a lot of coaches out there and lots of other people doing similar things to you. So it’s important that you communicate through your branding and messaging what actually makes you and the way you approach your niche or area of work differently.

An example that I often use with this is around Baby Sleep coaches. I have a 21 month old daughter, who has had periods of poor sleep (although thankfully not as bad as my first born!) and I was looking at sleep coaches for support. I came across Care It Out and what I loved about this coach was how quickly and obviously she communicated her difference from a very standard sleep coaching technique called ‘cry it out’ which was an approach I personally didn’t want to take.

This example is very clear and direct but it doesn’t have to be quite that obvious. Your brand and message – what you put out there for people to see can communicate this in subtle ways too.

When you’re communicating what makes you different it can be easier to attract clients because they want to work with someone who ‘gets’ them. Share your message and values so people can feel understood and can see some of what they believe in reflected in you.

Post in Facebook groups

This tip is all about showing up in Facebook groups where your people might be hanging out. Depending on the group it might be about posting on the promo threads or it might simply be about being present and commenting and helping others in the group. Always check the groups rules around promo as no one likes a spammy poster!

This article gives you lots of tips around this strategy if you want to dive into it.

One thing to remember with this strategy is to ensure that your personal Facebook profile has information about your business so if someone clicks through to learn more about you they can find out about what you do, your website and your Facebook business page.

Friends and family email

A friends and family email can be a handy strategy to try especially when you’re starting out. You’re basically crafting an email that tells people what you do and invites them, or other people they may know, to a free or paid call. 

This is partly about word of mouth and partially about just getting some people on a call and then either getting a testimonial from them or even pitching them your full package.

This one can sometimes bring up a lot of mindset and alignment stuff as it doesn’t always feel that comfortable but if you’re just starting your business friends of a friend or a family member can be really good people to work with as first clients.

Related post: How much to charge for coaching sessions

Follow up with past clients

If you’ve had any clients in the past, or if you’ve had anyone who’s expressed an interest, but who hasn’t perhaps gone through with working with you, just make sure that you’re doing some follow ups.

You can put this into your calendar to remind you so that a few months after working with someone, you get back in touch with them and just ask them how they’re getting on and if you can support them in some way.

You can also do this for people who have expressed an interest, but haven’t gone the full way and decided to work with you in your full coaching package.

With most of these people you’ve already got that connection with them and if they’re a past client you have helped them achieve a result so they can be really good people to check in with if you’re seeking clients.

Build a referral network

Creating some kind of referral network with other coaches or practitioners can be a great way to get clients. Depending on your niche, finding others whose work isn’t the same as yours but complements it, can work really well when it comes to referrals.

If a client comes to you and you aren’t the best person to help them you could refer them to someone else, just as someone else might refer someone on to you. You can have an informal referral agreement or something more formal where you pay the person who refers the client a fee or percentage of the package cost they invest in. 

To build referral networks chat to other coaches, practitioners or even approach local organisations that could be a good fit such as spas, wellbeing centres etc.

Grow your email list

Ok, so I’m always banging on about how important it is to build an email list but that’s because it is one of the best ways to build a sustainable business. 

Building a list is a really useful way of getting clients because once someone is on your list, you have a much better chance of building that relationship with them. You can sell to them much more effectively and you can serve them really well with free content. 

Building an email list just makes sense on every single level.

What I find with email list building is that it’s a slower form of marketing. But hopefully we’re all here to build sustainable long-term businesses that are going to see us well into the future and building an email list is going to help you get clients both now and in the future as you build better relationships with your community too.

Network

Hopefully as we start to come out of the pandemic more in person events are going to start happening, but even online networking events can also be helpful when it comes to getting clients. 

This can be part word of mouth and part direct contact with people who would be ideal clients. 

Perhaps you can speak at an event in person, or be featured as part of an online event or summit. You may even have the opportunity to share information about your coaching package and how you help people.

I honestly think that any opportunity you get to be in the same room as people where you can leave an impression is super helpful when it comes to getting clients

Run a free or low cost workshop

This could be online or in person – it could be free or paid. Perhaps it’s webinar style training or a more hands on workshop.

Workshops and training are a great opportunity to showcase your expertise and have people get to know you better. You can also pitch your 1:1 coaching package at the end of the workshop as well.

Take a look at SEO

SEO, or search engine optimisation can be a good way to have your ideal clients find you and your business.

It used to scare me off as I always thought SEO was some super complicated thing that would require a lot of hard work but it’s actually fairly easy to get started with. 

It might begin with creating blog based content that answers questions your ideal client may have and then optimising it for SEO. This is something I cover in my course Blog School.

You could even explore using Google ads as this has the potential to help you be seen by ideal clients too!

Related post: How to use blogging to market your coaching business

Use social media strategically

Social media can be great for getting clients but only if we’re using it strategically. If we’re just posting random quotes and memes and are approaching it all without any kind of plan then it’s probably not going to do that much for us.

But if we have a bit of a strategy about how we’re going to show up, that can make all the difference. Perhaps it’s making sure that we actually share the fact that we have a one-to-one coaching programme and that we can take on clients. It might also include sharing testimonials, it might include making specific offers to people who follow you. It could also include sharing things that reflect what makes you different to jump back to the first tip!

Also another reminder that I would say social media is a slower form of marketing, that’s not to say not to do it, but it might take you a little longer to see results as you grow your community.

Pinterest

Pinterest is one of my favourite places to hang out online and it might be your client’s favourite place to hang out online as well!

I’ve gotten a number of past clients through Pinterest where they have seen some of my content and then connected with me further (usually via my email list).

Like some of the other tips, this can be a bit of a slow burner but if you’re building a sustainable business and you want to bring leads and your business on an ongoing basis, Pinterest can be a really good place to look. I also have a course on Pinterest, which is called Pinterest magic which you can check out here.

We do cover a bit of Pinterest in Blog School so if you’re just wanting to dip into it start there but if you really want to get stuck in Pinterest Magic is awesome for that.

Talk about what you do and make the ask! 

This last tip might sound really obvious but so many of us (me included!) forget to simply talk about what we do and invite people to work with us. 

We can get so focused on providing value via free awesome content that we forget to actually mention the people that they can work with us.

So talk about what you do, your 1:1 coaching offer and how people can take that next step on an ongoing basis, you could even schedule reminders or build this into any business planning you do.

So there are 12 different ways you can get more clients in your coaching business, and there’s many more! There’s also a lot of ways you can make some of those strategies above even more effective as well.

If you want to get more clients and need some support around this, check out Priceless Power Hours. This is one of my favourite client getting strategies that works really well and is based on creating a strategic power hour / discovery call / sales call hybrid offer!

I do hope you’ve found these tips helpful, pop me a comment below and let me know which one you’ll try. And don’t forget to check out Priceless Power Hours too!

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