28 Mar, 2012
Ask Bev – How Do I Get Real Business Orders?
Posted by: The Coaching Academy In: Ask Bev
Veronica from London asks: When I have tried marketing my coaching business I just seem to get bombarded with cold calls trying to sell me advertising. I have spent over £500 with no return on investment. How do I get real business orders?
This is a great question. When I started out as a coach I had the benefit of previously working at a national level, marketing several companies. With tens of thousands of pounds in my marketing budget I would advertise in magazines, newspapers, radio etc.
As a new coach with a very limited marketing budget it was a very different story. Marketing your coaching business should be low or no cost.
Because I had been advertising in magazines in my previous roles, I gave it a try with coaching and the results were disappointing. Like you, I was bombarded with sales calls, attempting to persuade me to advertise in similar local magazines which were equally disappointing.
I decided to ditch the paid advertising and asked the magazine if they would like to run a competition where a reader could win £500 worth of Life Coaching (5 sessions).
People would complete a short paragraph about why they should win and what benefit they would like to gain from receiving coaching.
The winner was announced in a future issue and I offered 10 runners up a free telephone consultation. As you can see this kind of promotion could work on the radio and via social media.
The aim is to convert the winner to future coaching sessions or get the wheels in motion with referrals. The runners up are also great prospects for future clients.
I offered coaching as prize for many coaching charities and also offered to speak at their events and run mini ‘wheel of life’ sessions and talks. I found giving my time instead of my money was far better and led to more clients.
Linking with health clubs is a great idea and I know many coaches who have taken my advice in this area that have formed strong local and national relationships with gyms which have been very lucrative.
Running mini courses or introductory session works well in the health club environment, If you have 15 people on your coaching course each week paying you £15 for a one hour group workshop you will make £225 for the session.
If you would like information or training on how to run small workshops please email lucy@the-coaching-academy.com.
Using google, pay per click, social media and writing articles etc will get you noticed on the web. If you’re going to make a real effort getting people to your website then please make sure you have some sort of data capture so people can sign up for an ebook or something similar.
This means that even if they don’t call you straight away you can start a relationship with them and have their email address for future contact. Make sure your website is built to attract the type of clients you are looking for.
I have seen some real shockers and it’s not a surprise that people click off in seconds. Your website is your shop window so make sure its a good one.
Bev
About Bev
Bev is CEO of The Academy Group which includes The Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy (EBA) & EBA for Coaches which are both joint ventures with James Caan. Her book “Do It! or Ditch It” has already been listed as a bestselling business title and she is ready to pass on her success to your organisation.
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