One of the drawbacks of being one of many and blending in with the nice scenery, playing it safe and comfortable, is that clients, customers and influencers will overlook you. Not because you’re no good. You may be the best coach or mentor in the world yet if nobody knows who you are, then how will they ever know how much you can help them with their problems?
How can you stand out from the plethora of other life, business, relationship and every other type of coaches there is? Of course there are the obvious – speaking, social media, videos, Media Publicity. But I’m going to take it back to the very beginning. The basic factors that are common sense yet the most overlooked and I bet many of them you are not doing now.
Here’s the first 10 Steps that you can take towards boosting your profile and increasing your influence, resulting in the magnetic attraction for more leads, more clients and more sales!
1. Know Exactly Who is Meant to be Your Client
It can be tempting to want to help EVERYONE.
It sounds good.
It must equate to more clients if you have something for everyone.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. Attempting to look after everyone will actually bring you less clients.
When you become very clear on the exact person you can help the most, and enjoy working with the most, is when you will begin to attract that right person. And the less coaches there are specialising in solving the problem of that exact same person, the more likely you are to attract that client. Narrow it down, right down. From everyone, to that one specific problem that belongs to that one person. .
Instead of a Life Coach, you may become a Weight Loss Mentor for those over 150Kg. Now that’s going to grab attention for the people who fit that category.
2. Define Your Style
In the murky pond of life coaches all swimming around in indistinguishable blandness, when you find that one colourful Lilly pad to jump on to and take as your own, you’re going to be seen. There’s pretty much of a muchness to many life and business coaches. They all dress the same, look much the same, express themselves in the same way. Because if everyone else is doing it, it has to be right hey?
WRONG
Take the cookie cutter approach and you’re going nowhere.
Anyone who has succeeded big time as a coach has a very distinct style and personality going on. Take a look at a long standing great Tony Robbins and then latest darling of the moment Marie Forleo. Tony has a strong commanding and motivating presence. Marie is youthful and exuberant. And both are displaying parts of who they truly are. No point being fake as it’s not sustainable.
To find your unique style choose 3 things that represent you and/or your business. For example, Virgin Airlines is Fun, Economical, and Trendy. In contrast to Qantas which is Reliant, True Blue Australian, and Safe. Which one do you want to fly? Fun and economical? Or Safe and reliant? Maybe you’ll jump on for luxury with Emirates. Your attracted to the style that resonates most with you.
Combine some of your personal values with the look of your business and come up with your own unique style. When you have your style i.e. Fun, Fast, Family, then everything from your branding, your marketing and promotional material, down to your personal dress, appearance and energetic presence reflect your unique style. Consistency is the key.
3. Know Your Demographic
How far do you want to reach? Local? National? Or International?
When you are clear on your market and where they reside, you can clarify exactly how far you need to, or want to reach. The local market may be perfect for your business. Or you may have plans for an international scope. Once you are confident of how far you want to or need to extend your reach, then you can focus strictly on that area. If you concentrate on building a large presence in a smaller community (your local one) you will often do as well as the coach who has aimed for international clientele.
Know your demographic and focus on them. It’s going to save time, and useless expenditure on wider scale advertising that you wont need.
4. Get Out From Behind Your Logo
I can imagined you’ve spent a fair amount of time on designing your perfect logo. Countless reviews, until finally you found the exact style and design that totally reflected you. And now you can’t wait to show it off.
You plaster it everywhere.
Your Facebook banner, and profile pic. Twitter, and other social media. On all your promotional material. Your website your logo sparkles in huge 3D.
So much pride for your logo. So much focus went into getting it perfect.
And now I’m going to ask you to throw it away …. Well not exactly. I’m going to ask you to get out from hiding behind your logo and stand BESIDE it.
People want to connect with a human. A personality, A presence. That’s far more attractive than a logo that doesn’t have eyes, face, mouth and a fabulous haircut no matter how definitive your logo is.
Your coaching business is YOU. Not your logo.
Your logo should be a reflection of you – (know your style) – yet your logo is not what people will connect with no matter how awesome it is.
They connect with you.
Show your face on your Facebook business page. Let your unique personality stand out.
Take down your logo from your profile pic and put your own pic there. It’s you talking, not your logo.
Allow people to see who you are, what you’re like, what you like to do. Post personal pictures that you’re happy to share. Many coaches Facebook pages are downright boring full of inspirational quotes or marketing posts. Spice yours up with pics of you and your life, amongst the motivational graphics and the promotional posts.
Connection with you makes for great trust. And greater trust leads to more sales.
5. Build Relationships
A prospect will often stay that. A prospect, very rarely crossing over to become a client. On the other hand, building relationships with people who are people you’d love to work with, and where trust, likability and respect develop, are the people who most likely will become your clients. This is where patience is virtue.
When we think of sales we are thinking of instant gratification.
Being inundated with hordes of hungry people who want to snap up our services and product.
Yet in that hungry horde are individuals. And a high percentage of those individuals need to TRUST you before they will buy from you.
Here’s a few tips on building that trust:
Never dismiss anyone because they didn’t purchase from you straight way. Often people will contact you for your services as that trust and respect develop. It could be months to several years from their first contact with you till they become a client or customer.
Email your subscribers regularly with USEFUL information. Maybe for an example, limit promotional material to every 1 in 4 emails. Show them what you’ve got first before you attempt to sell to them.
Treat everyone with equal respect. Who are you on first dealing with someone to decide that they’re a ‘tyre kicker’ and wasting your time because they didn’t purchase or commit on first contact. Are they really the time waster? Or have you not developed the art of relationship building to ensure that person does become a client.
6. Network! It’s a simple one.
Get out and be seen and heard.
If you’re hiding away at home, we can’t see youuuuu. Or hear youuuuu.
And then we won’t know how talented and amazing and life changing you are for us.
You don’t have to go to everything!
Choose maybe 3, 4 or 5 networking avenues or groups and then commit to going to the events.
And if you’re extra keen, start your own networking group. Instant elevation to leader …. And multiple guest speaking opportunities 😉 Don’t have a guest? Book yourself.
Have your elevator speech, yet remember, a rehearsed speech is never as good as allowing your passion to shine through.
7. Hang Out With The Right People
If you want to form alliances and joint ventures that will build your profile and expose you to more of your potential market, then you need to hang out with people of influence.
You may not be able to tap into those at the top of the influence tower yet, but you can start with forming relationships with key people that you have access to now.
As your authority grows, so will the amount of influential people you will begin to have access to. You can’t do it all on your own. Tap into the power of “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, in the nicest, most gracious way possible. Because remember the influential people need to want to hang out with you too. If you’re not nice, they won’t.
8. Build Your Tribe
The stand out coaches are leaders, not followers.
The quickest and easiest way to build your own tribe of loyal followers is to use social media and create a group on Facebook.
A few tips for success with a Facebook group:
• Choose a name that your ideal market is likely to search for. In other words, there’s not need to be fancily clever with your group name. If it’s a group for parents of teens, than call it Parents of Teens.
• Be diligent of the activity within the group. Eliminate spam and ban the spammers from the group quickly.
• Interact with the members daily by liking and commenting on their posts, especially by offering encouragement and your expertise.
• Tag new members in a group welcome. This encourages them to visit the page, and introduce themselves, therefore encouraging more groups posts, comments and activity.
A group with good activity is likely to be promoted by Facebook than a group that is full of posts with no interaction (This usually happens to groups where the admin leaves the members to their own devices which often leads the wall to become a breeding ground for spam)
9. Plaster Your Website with Your Credentials
If you’ve got them, make sure they’re seen.
Fact is, the majority of people will be attracted to your personal Style. They’ll be attracted to you. And the credentials wont matter too much at all. Certainly not if you’ve got a solution to their problem.
BUT snazzy coach credentials, the logos of TV and radio where you have appeared, and some of the big corporations you’ve worked with make you look very impressive. And if someone’s on the edge about you, it may be the one thing that wins them over.
10. Be You
Fake’s pretty easy to pick up. Your potential market will zone in on it in an instant. Don’t try to be like Marie Forleo if you are not naturally vibrant and outgoing as she is. Be your own best version of you.
You don’t need another coach’s style to attract their market and clients. You need your own uniqueness to illuminate so you can create your own market, followers and clients.
That’s your basics covered. Prepare yourself to Step into the Spotlight and Shine with the next steps to being Seen and Heard. Video, Bogging, Speaking and Free Media Publicity. If that all sounds too much, there are Step into the Spotlight programs that can help you build your profile and become magnetic to more leads, clients and sales.
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