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Position, Don't Prospect - Part 1By Simon Clarke
If you're a coach, student coach, business owner or someone with a desire to get into business, take careful note of the powerful tips and development strategies presented within this series and GET READY to make the leap to ultimate success. Position, don’t Prospect We’ve already explained the importance of establishing a niche. If you do not niche, and instead decide to offer generic coaching services, you’ll find it extremely difficult to compete. Your coaching business and services will appear the same as everyone else and you’ll find it difficult if not impossible to distinguish yourself. Every prospective client, whether it’s reality or not, perceives their problems to be unique to them. If their problems have been enduring, their perception is that the problem is complex - too complex for them to have fixed themselves in the interim. Their logic therefore determines that they need someone with specialised skills and knowledge to help them overcome that problem. Someone with advanced skills and knowledge to their own. By your prospects reasoning therefore, a generalist will not be able to offer effective solutions to their specific (and complex) problems. For Example: One example of this ‘need’ for specialist knowledge can been found in coaches who work in the Real Estate Industry. Real Estate Agents (prospective clients) consider their field to be a specialised one and when it comes to improving their skills in listing, selling and managing property they turn to coaches that position themselves as specialists to the Real Estate Industry. Whilst you can: - focus your business in a niche area through your service offerings; As a coach you must also establish yourself as a specialist or expert in the niche. As much as you need to focus on building your business brand, you also need to concurrently build your personal brand as a specialist. Only by establishing yourself as an expert will you build the necessary credibility to your brand and validate your niche positioning. If all these elements are not totally congruent, your offer will never be compelling to your prospects. Your marketing message will seem confusing to your prospects, as they will not understand how you can offer solutions to their niche problems - problems they may have been experiencing for some time and not been able to solve themselves - without being higher qualified or having specialised skills and experience (being an expert). What are the benefits of establishing yourself as an expert in your
niche? - As an expert you can market with dignity! You won’t have to ‘chase’ clients. Clients will come looking for you because of your ‘specialist’ tag. Remember, clients are searching for someone who is perceived to be as knowledgeable and skilled as they are in their niche. - There are substantially fewer barriers to conversion because your prospective clients are pre-sold by perceived knowledge and specialisation. - Limiting the number of competitors you have because you are perceived as one of the few (perhaps only) coaches that can meet the clients unique needs. - Building your reputation and reinforces your positioning as a superior (if not ‘the’ superior) coach in the niche. - Being given the opportunity to speak, comment and or write about important issues, challenges or opportunities within the Niche. - By default it gets you involved in industry events and networking opportunities. - In turn this opens the door to have your ideas and insights published and talents recognised by important industry commentators, which in turn assists in developing your image as an expert! - Your reputation as an ‘expert’ will endorse your business and vice versa; - It allows you to be more selective with the clients you work with and you can deliver products and services you are most passionate about. - You can take advantage of powerful and highly leveraged marketing strategies such as publishing, public speaking, networking opportunities, joint ventures, referrals and endorsements. - You get a much higher return on your marketing dollar, reducing your Client Cost of Acquisition, improving your bottom line net income (and breaking even earlier as a business start-up); - You are able to build greater client loyalty which significantly increases your new client referrals, which in turn dramatically reduces your cost of client acquisition. - You get a higher conversion rate to your services. Prospective clients are far more likely to trust and appreciate the wisdom and knowledge of a coaching specialist. - The ability to solve a broader range of client problems. Once you’re an established and trusted advisor for the client you will be able to expand the range and scope of services provided. - The chance to better educate clients to the value you provide and charge fees based on the cost of the niche problems rather than on an hourly rate. - You can expand your services from 1 to 1 coaching to include highly leveraged product based and 1 to many services. - Being able to work with more astute and strategically beneficial affiliate partners who will provide higher value to your clients and ultimately better financial return to you. - Due to your strong client rapport and expertise, your clients will have a greater propensity to take up your endorsed affiliate services; - As an expert in your niche, your service becomes the only logical choice for your prospects. This article is an abstract from the Ultimate Coach Business Development Program, a comprehensive 24-month eCourse designed to walk coaches through the process of building flourishing businesses. If you'd like to learn how you can access the entire program email us at info@lcia.com.au. © Life Coaching Institute (Aust). If you wish to republish or reproduce this article, please include this information in the end of the article. For more information about the Institute - please visit www.lcia.com.au/lz.
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