INSIGHT ON : Our greatest allies
INSIGHTFUL RESOURCES by Candice Brokenshire
A new perspective on cool tools to boost your coaching business.
Have you ever considered that your greatest business alliance could be your current client?
What tools do you have in place that honors our coaching code of ethics and yet allows this alliance to work for you?
If we have a great experience at a restaurant or store we will openly share that experience with others thus creating buzz through word of mouth. Coaches however are in a service business where the experience of the coaching relationship is our marketing and yet it is confidential. How, you may well ask, do we therefore create greater buzz from our clients? Well firstly, ask yourself – how easy are you making it for your clients to talk about you if they want to?
The stretch is likely to be in the connections we make in our own time. Do you keep up with and recognize dates that are important to your clients? Do you send them anything in the mail? When you create your newsletter do you send it mass mail to all subscribers or do you take the extra care to personalize a note and send it directly to your current clients separately? If you don’t have your own newsletter, is there one that you admire that you would forward, along with your own thoughts about why it might be relevant to that client?
Structures are an obvious place to go too. Yes we all enjoy and appreciate the benefits when a client creates his or her own resonant structure but what if they are struggling? I send ‘being soaps’ to my clients so everyday they can remember to be in conscious choice (I am also told they work very well as car deodorizers!). What can you do for your clients? Are there books or symbols/objects that would have a positive impact on your client? If you already send a book do you suggest that once they are done with it they pass it on to a friend or colleague?
Just consider this, outside of the parameters of your confidential coaching relationship do you give your clients anything, anything at all that they can tangibly share with others, discuss and create buzz around?
Some pointers –
- Consider what the stretch is for you in enhancing your client’s experience of your ‘business’
- If you snail mail, send a business card with every invoice, it may well get passed along.
- If you are currently creating a website, newsletter or blog, make it easy for the reader to forward and share, in fact openly invite it!
- Take nothing for granted. Have you ever educated your client about your whole offer? This can be done with a letter, website link etc…
- Always ask for a testimonial and permission to share it on your web site, in your social networks, in newsletters.
- When you facilitate/coach a corporate group, what is your leave behind communicating? Is it asking to be shared? Is there adequate information about all that you offer?
RESOURCE AT: http://www.coachingtoys.com for structures and ‘things’ to share with clients.
In alliance,
Candice
