There’s a great deal to learn on your journey to becoming a business coach. To help you make the learning curve faster, here are the 6 main pitfalls new coaches fall into so you can avoid them. Not Attracting the Right Clients The goal of your marketing shouldn’t be to just get more clients. It should be to attract the right kind of clients. Your coaching services aren’t for everyone and you need to focus on those you can help the most. What is the type of person who can benefit most from your coaching? What are your strengths or areas of expertise? What types of clients have you had success with? If you can focus on a certain type of businessperson who’s the right fit for you, you’ll get more good clients and enjoy better success with them. Lack of Appropriate Screening When you first start talking to a potential client, you need to assess whether they will benefit from coaching or not. Some people decide to hire a coach because they think the coach will do the work for them. They think you pay the money, and success is assured. In reality, the client themselves need to be ready to face challenges and grow, with the help of a coach. When talking with a potential client, find out what their expectations are for your coaching. Explain to them exactly what you will do and what results they can expect to see, emphasizing the roles of each. Make this clear in the beginning to weed out bad-fit clients and set proper expectations. Not Growing Your Coaching Skills What sells your coaching and keeps clients is the quality of the service you offer. When a client starts seeing results, they’ll want to sign up for more and tell their friends. As a coach, you need to master these vital skills so that you can get these results for your clients. You also need to continue developing your coaching skills. You need to keep growing and facing challenges just like your clients. Doing the Work for Your Clients Many new coaches make the mistake of doing too much and applying too much pressure. You can easily push your clients too quickly and cause them distress, rather than helping them reach their goals. You can forget that your role is to listen, ask questions, and hold them accountable. There’s a tricky balance to strike where you’re pushing your clients to leave their comfort zones, but also taking a passive role where they move at the right pace. The last thing you want to do is be too pushy. The best way to prevent this is to keep everything focused on the client and their needs. Listen well and empathize, and you’ll understand where the line is. Dwelling on the Past One of the main reasons business get stuck is that they dwell on the past. Mistakes and failures are great teachers, but we need to let go and move on. When you’re coaching your clients, you will discuss the past, but you should focus on the future. Your role is to help them break free from the past so they can grow. Business Coaches Never Stop Learning Anyone can be a great business coach if they’re ready to learn the essential skills and maintain the right mindset. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can find success with a business coaching service. As you embark on your journey to becoming a successful business coach, remember that the road is paved with continuous learning and self-improvement. Avoid the pitfalls mentioned, and you'll be on your way to creating meaningful, transformative experiences for your clients. Let's turn your coaching aspirations into reality, one step at a time. Are you prepared to tackle challenges head-on and empower others to reach their full potential? Enroll in our course today and unlock the secrets to becoming a highly effective business coach. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.
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A business coach brings more than just skills and experience to the table. A coach needs to adopt the right mindset in order to help their clients face new challenges and grow from them. If you’re thinking about starting a coaching business, the first step is to assess your mindset and figure out what you need to work on. People Can Grow and Change Coaches help their clients to transform themselves and change. In order to facilitate this, you need to possess this growth mindset yourself. A growth mindset says that people change and grow throughout their lives. It holds that anything is possible if you’re willing to do the work. You have to be able to see not just where someone is now, but the potential they can achieve, and truly believe it. Focus on Success You may work with a client on things that happened to them in the past, and the past offers valuable learning experiences. But the focus should be on the future and the client’s success. Keep things positive and focus on strengths and victories rather than dwelling on past mistakes. Empathy Your ability to put yourself in the shoes of another person is a major factor in the success of your coaching. You need to listen deeply and understand where your client is right now. You need to take on their part and authentically feel for them so you can build rapport. Your clients will experience some vulnerable moments with you, so you need to be deeply empathetic. Love of Challenges Since you’re going to be facing challenges together, you need to have a positive attitude toward challenges. The difficulties we face are opportunities for growth. Even in failure, we grow. But the excitement of a challenge is that once you overcome it, you reach a new level in your business and life. Focus on the Client A good coach is generous. They are only there to serve the client. They can put aside their own problems and needs while they work with a client to face theirs. Your time with a client is devoted solely to helping them achieve their potential. There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Flexibility is essential for business coaching. There are multiple ways to tackle any challenge and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for everyone. During sessions, you’ll need to be flexible in order to understand and meet new needs and challenges as they arise. The Big Picture View While your client is lost in the everyday management of their business, you’ll need to take the long view and keep the big picture in mind. Think about where they’d like to be in a year, five years, or ten years. If you’re not used to thinking in these terms, it’s an easy habit to cultivate. Learning the Coaching Mindset Just like coaching skills, anyone can learn the right coaching mindset. Now that you know where you’re strong or weak, you can make a plan for what you need to improve. Are you passionate about helping others succeed? Dive into the world of coaching with our comprehensive course and learn how to make a real difference in people's lives. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. How do you get business coaching clients? You identify the right person who can benefit from your coaching, create an offer that explains your benefits, and then put it in front of them. If you can make that connection and speak the right language, you’ll get more clients than you can handle. Here are 6 simple ways to get your offer in front of your target market. Your Business Coach Website You can advertise your coaching services everywhere you are online, but you should also have a site dedicated to it. It could be a page on your existing website or a standalone site just for this service. The goal of the site is to introduce you and explain what you do in terms of the value clients get from hiring you. A separate page can have packages and prices and a form where they can sign up for more information. Don’t forget to also include a privacy policy that clearly explains how you use and protect client data. Join a Professional Coaching Organization There are many benefits to joining a professional coaching organization including training, networking opportunities, and access to resources. But professional organizations can help you get clients as well. Being certified with a professional organization will also help your marketing. You can post it prominently on your site to show you’re legitimate and qualified. It also teaches you important skills that will improve the quality of your coaching, and this goes a long way in retaining clients. Leverage Existing Clients If you currently offer other services, you can roll your clients into your coaching service as well. For example, you might offer social media management for small businesses. You may see ways they’re inexperienced and making mistakes with their social media strategy. You can propose that you coach them and help them develop a stronger strategy with an eye on their long-term goals. Referrals and Recommendations Create a referral program for your existing clients so they can tell others about you. Sign up for review websites and encourage clients to leave reviews for you there. Word of mouth is more persuasive than even the best marketing content. If people feel you’re truly helping them, they’ll be more than happy to tell others. Get Public Speaking Gigs A great way to show people the value you offer is to take advantage of opportunities for public speaking. Connect with your local business community and give presentations on topics that are helpful for them and demonstrate your expertise. They’ll see your value and consider your coaching services. You can also put your public speaking events on your website to lend you more credibility. Get Interviewed Find opportunities where you can get interviewed. Look for YouTube channels, podcasts, and content creators whose audiences you can help by sharing your expertise. Focus on delivering value to listeners and get into a routine of 1-2 interviews per month. You’ll gain valuable exposure to potential clients. Your Coaching Starts NOW Using the above strategies, you’ll start getting inquiries from people who are interested in what you offer. A great way to leverage these opportunities is to start coaching NOW. Whenever you meet someone who might become a client, start focusing on them and their business goals immediately. Start employing coaching skills and you’ll demonstrate to the person that you can help them. Do you want to attract the right business coaching clients? Check out the full course, where you learn the A-Z of action-based coaching skills, so you increase your income and help more people. Check it out HERE Don’t Wait! Enroll Today About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. Business owners are increasingly using the services of coaches to help them achieve their goals and overcome obstacles. A coach is a facilitator who motivates, inspires, and helps to clarify so that entrepreneurs can understand what needs to be done. Here are some of the ways a business coach can help entrepreneurs. Get Them Out of A Rut We all get stuck in a rut sometimes and it can be hard to get yourself out. When you’re facing a problem or challenge, you run the risk of overthinking and spending too much time in your head. A coach prompts the entrepreneur to take action and holds them accountable so they can get themselves unstuck. Push You Out of Your Comfort Zone It’s tough to take risks and try something new, but no business can succeed by doing the same thing over and over again. A coach gives their client a gentle push and the confidence they need to get out of their comfort zone and face the challenges that need to be faced. The Big Picture View Business coaches help by offering a big picture and long-term view. Any business can easily get caught up in the day-to-day details and lose sight of the bird’s eye view. While a client is handling the day to day, as a coach you help the client keep the long view in mind as well. Strengthen Your Weak Points A coach sees their client from an unbiased point of view, they can understand and identify your strengths and weaknesses. As a coach, you can then focus on these weak areas and help their client find ways to strengthen the weak areas. A business coach will also point out the areas where there are gaps to fill. You’re Wrong! As a business coach, you give your clients valuable feedback. In particular, coaches can point out when their clients are making a mistake. It’s not always easy to hear, but coaches are empathetic and have their clients best interests in mind. It can be very useful for an entrepreneur to have someone who can show them where they’re wrong and set them on the right path. Clarify Your Vision Business coaches don’t do the work for businesses. They lead the entrepreneur to come to an understanding of their business and where it needs to go. Through asking open-ended questions and helping the entrepreneur think, as a coach you will get your client to clarify the vision that drives their business. Set the Right Priorities Setting priorities is a vital task for business owners and entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur will need to focus on the activities that will get the most results. A coach can help their client set priorities effectively and get organized in other ways as well. Their business coach can teach the entrepreneur skills they can use without them to help the client run your business more efficiently. Grow Your Business The result of working with a business coach is that the client’s profits will grow. In turn, by becoming a business coach and adding that service to your current business, the investment you make in training will pay you back by helping your business meet its goals and become even more successful. Do you want to know more about becoming a business coach to help grow your business? Check out the course, Action-Based Business Coaching Skills, which teaches you the A to Z of becoming a business coach. You can get started today to enlarge your potential About The Author
Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. Have you heard that starting an online store is a great business idea that requires no start-up cash? The good news is that it’s true. With no overhead for paying rent, buying stock, or hiring employees, you can start an online store with little more than an internet connection. It’s one way to build a business from the ground up even if you don’t have any money to spend. Here are some ideas on how to do that: Take Advantage of Free Software You can build your store completely using free software. There are free ecommerce store platforms and website builders you can use that offer all the same features as premium products. They sometimes require a bit of customization and may not always be as easy to use, but it’s well worth trying free options before you consider premium ones. Try several before you choose one to start building your store. Implement Free Marketing Methods There is a wealth of free marketing methods available. You don’t need to spend anything at all on advertising and marketing to drive traffic to your store. Some popular free marketing methods include: Content Marketing. Create helpful content such as blog posts and YouTube videos and post these online where your target audience gets their information. Social Media Marketing. Connect to your audience on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and start building a relationship with them. Search Engine Optimization. Learn some SEO and you can design your site to attract searches from Google and other search engines. Companies often hire experts, but you can learn it all on your own with a little research. Affiliate Marketing Become an affiliate and sell other people’s products. This option allows you to run an online store without any inventory. You can choose products on sites like Clickbank, Amazon, and CJ Affiliate and sell them in your store. When people buy from the vendors through your store’s link, you get a commission. Sell Information Products Another option that allows you to sell without needing to purchase, store, and ship inventory is to sell information products. These are digital products such as eBooks, online courses, video series, and resources. Since they are digital files, your buyer simply downloads them once the purchase is made. People will pay good money for what are essentially digital files if the information is valuable to them. Research Your Market for Free Big companies spend a great deal on advertising by casting the net wide. You don’t have to do this. You don’t even need to pay for marketing data or focus groups. Take advantage of social media and other places where your audience is engaged online, and you can gain insights without spending anything at all. Listen to people’s conversations, read their comments, and interact with them to find out what they like and don’t like. Starting an online store without an investment just takes a bit more time and ingenuity. With a good plan, you can build your store from the ground up without spending anything at all. Do you want to learn more about launching a profitable online store without spending a dime on start-up costs?
Check out my course, “Building Your Digital Store Front” Get Step By Step guidance on building a profitable eCommerce business and achieve your business dreams Ready, Set, Go! In the vast realm of online shopping, the line between a forgettable experience and a memorable one lies in personalization. Picture this: you enter a store, and it feels like it knows you, understands your preferences, and guides you effortlessly. That's the magic of a personalized online shopping experience. Let me share a story that underscores the importance of personalization before diving into seven game-changing ways to enhance your online store. Last year, I stumbled upon an online store that completely transformed my view of shopping. Every visit felt like a personal experience tailored just for me. From a personalized homepage showcasing items I loved to a loyalty program that rewarded my specific preferences, this store had cracked the code to customer satisfaction. Intrigued? Let's explore how you can infuse this magic into your own online store.
Ready to transform your online store into a personalized haven for shoppers?
Explore the features your platform offers and consider implementing these personalized touches. Elevate the shopping experience, build lasting connections, and watch your online store become a customer favorite. Do you want to learn more about designing an effective online store? Check out my course” Building Your Digital Store Front”. How do you get people to visit your online store? The first step is to create a strategy that identifies a target market and how you’ll entice them to visit your store. Then, develop marketing tactics that will drive traffic. These are things you can do that will boost the number of people who visit your online store. With the right people visiting and the right products on your site, you’re guaranteed sales. Here are 7 marketing tactics you can try today to drive more traffic to your online store. 1. Encourage User-Generated Content on Social Media Don’t just share your content on social media. Encourage your users to get involved and create their own content which you can then share. Present a challenge like asking people to take a picture related to your products and services, or encouraging them to write something and use a hashtag you created. This is a great way to get your audience actively engaged with you. 2. Seek Out Reviews Reviews help people make decisions about what to buy online. Since consumers trust the opinions of their fellow consumers more than a business’s claims, you should be actively seeking reviews from your happy customers. Reach out to customers that give you feedback and take advantage of review sites. Create a profile on each applicable review site and provide a link. You may want to offer some type of incentive for writing a review. 3. Create Helpful Content on a Regular Basis Get into a routine of creating and posting helpful content in places your target audience will see it. Write blog posts, film short videos, and produce visual content like infographics. Somewhere in each piece of content, include a link to your online store. This will not only help your customers, it will also drive traffic to your store. 4. Partner with Other Brands Partner with other brands that your customers might want to buy from. These don’t need to be big brands. If you targeted your audience well, any size brand will work well. Partnering with other brands engenders trust and helps your customers, but it also exposes you to a new audience. Do things like co-create content, host a contest, or launch a joint product together. 5. Take Advantage of Livestreaming Hold livestream events on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. You can host webinars or Q&A chats with your followers where you discuss issues, present information, or ask questions. You can also use livestreaming to promote directly, introducing new products or holding virtual focus groups. 6. Reach Out to Influencers Reach out to influencers in your niche and ask if they’ll promote your online store. An influencer is someone who’s active online and has a large and engaged following. They often promote products and services for businesses. Research and find influencers in your field, then reach out to them with an offer to promote you. 7. Run Regular Timely Sales Run regular sales that are connected to times of year, events, news items, or holidays. Promote these sales on your marketing channels and bring new potential customers to your online store. Depending on the nature of your online store, there are many other marketing tactics you can implement to boost traffic to your store. Pick one or two tactics to start with and monitor your results. Then, you can determine if the tactic is working for you or not and add new ones into the mix as needed. In summary, one of the most important things to grasp along the path of success within the digital marketplace is to understand how to effectively drive traffic to your online store. If you are really ready to take your e-commerce venture to another level, then do try our complete and comprehensive online course on "Building Your Digital Store Front." This course is carefully put together to equip you with some of the key strategies and tactics touched on the blog, as well as go into the topic with more detail, real examples, and hands-on guidance. You will do all this after the course with maximum efficiency and, therefore, attract guests, converting them into your faithful customers of the online store. Don't forget, you have lifetime access when you enroll. Don't let go of this opportunity in your e-commerce journey.
Enroll for the course "Building Your Digital Store Front" now, and get ready to unfold the secrets of soaring constant traffic and double-fold sales for your online business. Your success is calling; so, come on, start building your digital empire now! In a world flooded with online stores, the challenge is real – how do you make yours shine? The digital marketplace is bustling, and there are so many online stores looking for a fair market share. But fear not, fellow entrepreneur! Building a successful online store is all about finding the right products, presenting them effortlessly, and offering favorable terms. Let’s dive in and make your online venture stand out! Navigating the Digital Terrain Remember the good old days of traditional stores and trade shows? Well, welcome to the digital era, where online wholesale marketplaces like Alibaba, Oberlo, and eBay Business Supply are your new best friends. No need to suit up and attend physical trade shows anymore – the world of suppliers is at your fingertips. To Dropship or Not to Dropship? The dilemma: to stock or not to stock? Some wholesale dealers offer dropshipping, a boon for online store owners. They handle the inventory, fulfill orders, and ship directly to the customer on your behalf. Platforms like Oberlo, SaleHoo, and Wholesale2B make this dreamy option accessible. But beware – your drop shipper's performance can make or break your reputation. Choose wisely, and consider recommendations from your peers to find the best fit. Ideas, Ideas, Ideas! The secret sauce to selecting the perfect products lies in understanding your target market. What challenges do they face? What products can solve their problems and align with your brand? Start by creating a customer profile, then look at your competitors or companies your audience frequents. What do they offer? Identify gaps you can fill or unique twists you can bring. Thinking locally can also open doors. Explore nearby products that could find a new home online. Strike up conversations with local vendors to uncover potential wholesale rates. And for the creative souls out there, why not consider crafting your own digital products? eBooks, video courses, and information resources can provide a unique and valuable addition to your store. Best Practices for a Winning Selection As you curate your product lineup, keep your brand in mind. Opt for products that align with your brand identity and cater to your target audience. Look for profitability, ease of shipping, and accessibility in sourcing. Remember, the key is offering products that your audience is actively seeking. Embarking on the journey of creating an online store is an exciting venture. With a thoughtful selection of products, a keen understanding of your audience, and a touch of creativity, your online store can carve its own niche in the vast digital landscape. So, gear up and get ready to stand out! Do you want to learn more about building an effective online store?
Check out my course, Building A Digital Store Front, which teaches you the A to Z of setting up a successful online store, helps you build relationship and achieve your business goals. Get started right away helping people and achieving your goals. You always hear that you need to build a list. Success in digital marketing is all about having a large and highly engaged email list. But having a massive list of subscribers isn’t helpful if you don’t know what to do with them. First, you have to define where email marketing fits into your sales funnel. Then, you can take advantage of your list and get the most value out of it. Your Business’s Sales Funnel Every business has a sales funnel. The top of the funnel is where potential customers initially discover your business. If they’re interested, they pass into the funnel where your relationship with them deepens. As the lead moves through the tunnel, you make offers to them and get to know them. If done well, they reach the bottom of the funnel, where you make your offer and they buy. Building Relationships with Your Email List Email marketing is a useful tool for building relationships. Your subscribers have entered the top of the funnel and now they’re expecting to receive value from you through your content. Initially, a new subscriber is an unqualified lead. You qualify them by offering valuable content including small offers. If a person takes you up on a small offer, this tells you they’re the right match for your business and they’re willing to spend money on your offerings. Others will unsubscribe from your list or remain inactive. This tells you that these individuals are not the right fit. They won’t buy when you make higher ticket offers. Why Email Marketing Works for Qualifying Leads The advantage of email marketing over other communication channels, like social media or blogging, is that it’s highly personal. Your messages come straight into the person’s email inbox. They signed up to receive these messages from you. The best practice with email lists is to offer high-value and exclusive content that focuses on solving problems using your unique expertise. This is what builds a close relationship. If done right, your subscribers will look forward to your messages and see you as their go-to for information on this topic. In addition to informational messages, you can then start mixing in small offers at first and gradually bigger and bigger ones to qualify leads. Narrowing the Sales Funnel You may choose to segment your email list into buyers and non-buyers. Some people will just enjoy the free content but not spend any money. Others will take you up on your offers. An email list is best used as an avenue for building relationships with your market. But first, you need to identify where it fits into your overall sales funnel. In other words, where is the subscriber coming from when they come to your list, and where do you want them to go? This is how you can make the best use of your email list. "Ready to supercharge your email list growth?
Discover proven strategies in the Innovate Academy course Lead Magnet Lab This comprehensive program takes you through the entire process, from A to Z, of building a robust email list using effective lead magnets. Elevate your business goals with this invaluable knowledge Don't miss out—enroll now to unlock the secrets of accelerated email list expansion!" Growing your email list is essential to building relationships with your target audience. The more subscribers you get on your list, the more opportunities you have to make impactful connections. The standard way to build an email list is to offer a lead magnet, but an even more effective method that builds lists faster is the content upgrade. How is a Content Upgrade Different from a Lead Magnet? The standard lead magnet is an eBook, email course, webinar, or free membership. It’s a one-time offer that entices people to sign up to your list. The idea is to blast your lead magnet out into the world everywhere you interact with your target market. A content upgrade is one type of lead magnet, but it differs in some important ways. It’s a piece of bonus content that adds to your free content. For example, you might have a blog post that shares valuable information. If the reader wants a deeper dive, they can sign up for your list and receive this additional content. Why Should You Use a Content Upgrade? A content upgrade requires you to create more content that’s specific and highly focused. But it’s well worth the effort because a content upgrade tends to grow lists faster than a regular lead magnet. The key to its effectiveness is its specificity. The reader is already there, consuming content in a topic area they’re interested in. You already have their attention and you’re already meeting a specific need. It’s only natural that they’d happily give their name and email address to learn more. How to Create High-Value Content Upgrades Take a piece of content and ask yourself, “Is there more I could add to this?” It may be additional information, or something that helps the reader put what they’ve learned into action, like a cheat sheet, template, or resource guide. It might be the same content in another form, like a transcript of an audio or video interview. You can also create content with upgrades in mind. Think of it as a pay wall. The first half of the content is available for free to capture attention, and then the second half of the content is available for download in exchange for signing up for your list. One effective technique is to lead from the free content to your first email messages to your list. These first few messages could be a further extension of the free content. The key is to create a system for easy content upgrade creation. For example, get into a flow of creating long-form content that you then break up into pieces, or create scripts for your audios or videos that you can offer for download. Focus on Your Target Market Start with your target market. If you know them well, you’ll understand what kind of information they’re looking for and you can create content that addresses their issues and needs. Explore the secrets to rapidly expanding your email list!
Dive into the Lead Magnet Lab course by Innovate Academy, your ultimate guide to mastering the art of constructing a robust email list. Uncover the A to Z of leveraging compelling lead magnets to propel your business towards its goals. Ready to supercharge your email marketing efforts? Enroll now and revolutionize your approach! Don't miss out – take the Lead Magnet Lab course today! |
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