We all know that people have to: know, like and trust you before they’ll buy your products and services as a coach. So there is a high cost to not getting your position clearly communicated in the mind of your prospects. That high cost is no work or not enough work, and it snowballs from there: not enough work means not enough money. Not enough money means you struggle to build your coaching business.
Below I have identified 5 main types of coaching to make it easier for you to decide where your strengths lie. As I have observed, coaches often confuse whom they’re serving and with what. They don’t know their purpose; besides that, in the past, they certainly wanted to be a coach. Then I will move on to explain how to position yourself best.
(If you already are confident in what type of coach you are, feel free to skip down)
- Executive Coaching
Those in leadership positions seek executive coaching, such as senior managers and directors, where performance development is a crucial concern. Sometimes it’s also referred to as leadership or performance coaching.
The focus of Executive Coaching is:
- Enhancing their existing performance;
- Taking their existing talents and abilities to a new level;
- To help them to adjust to new situations or a significant transition shift.
99% of the time, it’s done in one-on-one sessions, where clients are allowed to reflect and develop a personal awareness of their strengths and work on weaknesses or specific issues they find challenging.
- Career Coaching
Career coaching is for anyone just starting a career or years into one who wants to advance or change their job.
The focus of Career Coaching is:
- Person skills assessment;
- Understanding the job market;
- Understanding organisational processes;
- Identifying opportunities and career-based roles that are “good fits”;
- Developing career transition plans.
The career coaching process helps clients understand the world of work and their personal development. Within this space, coaches assist clients in establishing a career-action place to enhance employability.
- Skills Coaching
Aiding the enhancement of existing performance through attaining set deliverables and goals, Skills Coaching focuses on:
- Identifying and refining personal career goals;
- Flagging objectives within existing roles;
- Recognising individual and career development needs;
- Upskilling to enable better performance.
Skills coaching sessions involve one-on-one programmes tailored to a specific individual’s knowledge, experience, maturity and ambition. The focus is on achieving both individual and company objectives. The coaches who run these programmes typically possess qualifications and experience in the areas in which the skills-transfer coaching is offered.
- Relationship Coaching
Relationship coaching aims to assist individuals, couples and groups build healthier and more fulfilling relationships.
The focus is to address existing or potential challenges in relationships by:
- Identifying behavioural patterns;
- Setting clear and healthy relationship boundaries;
- Uncovering new listening mechanisms;
- Assisting with ways to better express feelings and views
Those embarking on this type of coaching will work through conflict resolution, effective communication techniques, stress management, and ways to augment their emotional wellness.
- Personal Life Coaching
This type of coaching intends to support individuals who wish to make some form of significant change happen in their lives.
Personal Life coaches help clients to:
- Explore and understand what they want in life;
- Define attainable dreams and aspirations;
- Find answers and ways to achieve their goals;
- Highlight and understand their own potential, skills and talents so as to not give them unrealistic expectations of the end result.
Positioning yourself as a Coach, in short, means how you are uniquely qualified to be a leader in something that an identified group of people cares about.
Weak positioning will drag down the performance of everything marketing, and sales are trying to accomplish. Positioning at its heart begins with listening to your clients (or potential clients) and getting a deeper understanding of what they value in you, and then pairing the unique benefits you offer to meet their needs within the framework of the particular market you’ve chosen.
Now that you have decided what type of coach you want to become, you must determine your Who, What, and Why.
These three words are crucial to help you to develop your positioning statement. This statement is how you will communicate your value to your market and highlight what distinguishes YOU from the plethora of other coaches wooing your ideal client, offering the same results.
I want you to ask yourself…
Whom do you serve? How would you describe your perfect client?
What problems do your clients face, and what specific solutions can you offer?
Why should prospective clients hire you vs your competitors? What sets you apart?
Write down your answers to these questions. I have found that seeing them in handwritten notes or printed and pinned to your board will help you to assemble the pieces of your positioning statement easier.
Now, knowing the who, what and why is relatively easy. The hard nut to crack is the How. So, let me explain to you how you can position your coaching business to succeed in your market:
- Know where your business is right now.
With not having a board of directors or shareholders breathing on your neck for results, you and only you are accountable for the results. So you must evaluate your business yourself, don’t exaggerate or downplay anything as it is what it is, and you want to stay true to yourself.
To evaluate your business, the key things you want to outline are:
- The perceived value of your services by ideal clients.
- The effectiveness of your marketing.
- Your sales performance = conversion rate.
Are you getting as many clients as you desire? Are leads leaving your sales funnel too often? What is your conversion rate like?
The correct answers to these questions will help you understand where your business stands regarding marketing and sales. Regardless if the current state of your business is good or bad, you must know it. Knowing where you are, prepares you to take steps to where you want to be.
- Envision where you want your business to be.
Envisioning is where you specify what success means to you. We all know that success means different things to different people.
Whatever angle you look at it, success in the coaching business is a value function. It’s about having clients that you get results for consistently. So you have to see it to achieve it.
You must have a clear picture of where you want to take your business. It is that vision that will determine the actions to take. With a clear picture, you can always refer back to it and know if you are on the right track to success.
- Implement strategies that position your business to succeed!
Positioning your business for success means that you have to take the necessary actions that guarantee success. Success requires work.
Everything you will do to succeed as a coach revolves around 3 significant things:
- The value you are offering;
- Your marketing strategies;
- Researching your competitors and leveraging on the deficiencies they have.
To wrap up: Know what to do. But, doing what you know is what will lead you to success!
Positioning will go a long way when establishing your brand and connecting with your audience as a coach; to stand out from the noise and create a platform where you are heard and valued. It is the critical cornerstone that all of your marketing and business efforts must lead from.
When done correctly, the positioning will connect you with the people who are desperate for what you do, making selling your services much easier.
So take the time to consider the points I’ve discussed here. Go through each one and fit them to your brand.
If you are keen on the idea of nailing your positioning to increase your leads and sales but you feel that you need someone to walk you through these steps and provide guidance Expert Circle community is the right place for you to ask your questions. Post your articles about your progress, pains, obstacles you come across and how you’ve overcome them.
Sign up today; it’s free and will give you the benefit of surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals: https://www.expertcircle.uk/join/
And be sure to let us know how it goes!
