Within hours of each other, I heard two things about growing coaching businesses.
Firstly, one of the few people who offer high quality marketing strategy for coaches told me that he was moving away from that work. “Corporate work is where it’s at for me – more lucrative”.
And secondly, an experienced and qualified coach I know told me that she had enrolled on a US style coaching business development course, costing £12,000!
These two examples encapsulate many of the problems that coaches encounter when looking for business growth strategies. The good people are few and far between, and the offerings are often expensive.
Growing your coaching business – what is available for coaches?
Let’s consider the range of ways that coaches may find support to learn the what and the how of finding and attracting clients:
- They outsource completely to a marketing company. It may work but it will be pricey, and none of them give a guarantee
- They employ or consult with a marketing strategy expert who gives them advice and structure. Again, this may work but it will be limited to the area of expertise the marketer has, and will leave plenty of gaps for the coach to fill themselves
- They sign on to a coaching franchise, which often has the words results, best, star, action or similar in their names. They’ll promise the earth in terms of coaching models, visibility and the like……. but they will still leave it to the coach to do the legwork and find their clients
- They sign up to a “guru” course, with webinars, books, and implied millions to be earnt at the end of the coaching rainbow. I know one person who has built a successful coaching business that way, and plenty more who have wasted their money
- Or they scrabble round the Internet, finding ideas and trialling them, in a constant cycle of learn/try/fail/do again
This is a sorry state of affairs, and it is no fault of the coaches. Many people come into the coaching profession because of a commitment to helping other people understand and unlock their potential. And not with necessarily the knowledge or understanding of how to develop a small business.
The challenge for coaches is….
And somewhere along the way there are a couple of realisations:
- That there is the potential to make a decent living from coaching
- That working out how to do that is really, really confusing
My frustration with the inconsistent, weak and often overpriced levels of marketing, sales and business growth support for coaches dates back many years. I have seen many, many coaches start their journeys with a spring in their step and a highly embossed business card. And a year later the fixed smile is still on their faces, but it seems a bit forced, as the worry sets in.
I was no exception to this, having entered the coaching profession on a wave of naiveté and a lack of commercial acumen. Tt has taken me 15 years and a lot of research to work out what works for coach/entrepreneurs to start and develop a sustainable coaching business.
In the meantime, fellow coaches, remember a couple of things. That as coaches you are eminently resourceful and will be, with the right support, be able to develop a sustainable business. As Peter Drucker said, anyone who calls themselves a “guru” does so because they don’t know how to spell the word “charlatan”. And don’t sign up for a programme that offered the earth but can’t give any guarantees!
Happy coaching
Charlie
