If you want to get into executive & leadership coaching, there are only two keys to success:
- One: Get great clients
- Two: Deliver great results to your clients
Unfortunately, most coach training programs don’t show you how to do either one of these. I know, because I not only train members of our Center for Executive Coaching, I also help coaches who have graduated from other coach training programs to get on track. Following is some guidance on both of these areas.
Get Great Clients:
Whether you are an internal or external coach, you have to position yourself in ways that set you apart from others. Most coaches do a very poor job in this area, and many give up. If you are willing to do the work, you can succeed once you get the right training. Here is what it takes and what we teach you:
- Choose a lucrative niche. Spend about 70 percent of your time targeting this niche, and 30 percent of your time open to what comes your way. There are dozens of growing niches in coaching right now, whether by industry, function/title, geography, demographics, psychographics, or a horizontal solution where you excel. We show you how to select the right niche(s) for you.
- Develop messaging that compels people in your target market to come your way. A couple of hints here: First, start your message with the problem you solve, the costs of the problem, the benefits clients receive when they work with you, and why you are uniquely qualified to help. This sounds obvious, until you read the marketing copy on most coaching websites; notice how they only talk about themselves, as if the client is secondary.
Second, use the word “you” 3 times more than you use the word “I,” because clients care about their issues, not yours. When you join our program, I will personally review and edit your message with you.
NOTE: Internal coaches also need this skill, so that you position yourself as a strategic asset in your company, not just a place for “coaching as a last resort.”
- Get visible in ways that establish yourself as a go-to expert in your market. At a high level, there are really only four ways to do this, and we give you tool-kits to figure out the best tactics for your style and talents. A key tip: If you are spending money on marketing, you are wasting your money!
- Know how to have business development conversations that convert interested, qualified prospects to clients. Most coaches also fail miserably here. I did when I started, and it took me a while to realize that all I had to do was coach the client through the buying process. There are a few key questions that you and your prospect have to answer together to know whether to move forward. We show you how to do this so that you don’t waste time with prospects who will never buy.
Here is what one graduate writes:
“I realized as I was preparing my taxes that I owe it all to you and your program….You are changing lives. I now have the flexibility to live and work wherever I wish and help others. The last six months it has really taken off. I am speaking at several workshops and seminars each quarter and have developed quite the following on social media. I have traveled to Florida, New York, Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado to speak. I do not say this to brag but to let you know that you really did help me re-invent myself.”
Get Great Results:
You are not going to get great results the way that most other coach training teach coaching. Many of these programs either teach coaches to evangelize a particular philosophy or pseudoscience, or teach coaches to ask a series of never-ending questions. Both frustrate clients quickly.
We teach you the core coaching competencies, and then we go much further. We do this by giving you over two dozen methods and tool-kits to address the most pressing challenges executives face: influencing with impact, engaging employees, leading change, building effective teams, creating a high-performing culture, planning for succession, resolving conflict, and more. That way, you have efficient, practical, proven processes that you can put to work immediately.
We also show you how to bake value and measurable results in every interaction you have with your clients, from the start of an engagement until the end.
That’s it: Get great clients and get great results for clients. That’s our focus. Other programs don’t think this way.
There are lots of programs out there. None are like ours. That’s why we attract the top professionals from the best companies, as well as super-successful entrepreneurs, elite athletes, returned military leaders, and others.
If you are serious about getting into executive and leadership coaching, we should talk. Contact me anytime at andrewneitlich@centerforexecutivecoaching.com or my cell at 941-539-9623.