Running a coaching practice, nowadays, is not an easy job. Indeed, as a modern coach, you have to deal with a lot more tasks than just coaching athletes. You have to run marketing campaigns, come up with sales strategies, build online communities to promote your brand, and so much more. Yet, more than anything, you have to constantly attract clients into your coaching service. And, not just any kind; you have to target the clients that you want to collaborate with; those who will benefit most from what you have to offer.
So, what can you do to attract such clients to your coaching business?
How to bring new clients into your coaching service
If you want to know how to attract new clients to your coaching service, you’ve come to the right place. Read the following tips to step up your client-base-building game! 😉
1. Leverage your differentiation factor
Finding a differentiator for a coaching practice is a challenge that many coaches may be struggling with. What is a differentiation factor? In short, it’s a trait (that you may have as a coach or a person) or a characteristic (of your brand) that distinguishes your business from your competitors, giving you a competitive edge.
2. Honor a clear coaching style, based on the needs of your niche
It’s important, as a coach, to find a niche you like and create a coaching style, through which you can serve it exceptionally. Doing so, you’ll help athletes solve specific — often, hard to tackle — problems; and slowly pave the way for business success.
3. Turn your game changers into a product
They say that a product is easier to buy than a service. If you think about it, it makes sense. By productizing your best services, you make them more ‘tangible’ to your prospects. They’ll be able to understand better how your services can solve their problems. Now, that’s a powerful way to get new clients into your coaching business!
4. Use your existing clients to get referrals
If you already have clients with whom you’ve established a strong relationship, you can ask them politely if they could help you bring new leads into your coaching business. How? Simply by sharing their experience with friends and acquaintances who could be interested in training under your guidance.
5. Stay active on social media
You either love them or hate them, but neither emotion changes the fact that social media gives you the ability to effectively reach your target audience. Staying active on social media platforms, and following a sound social media strategy, will allow you to:
- connect with them,
- read about the problems they face — and the goals they want to achieve
- learn what they really need, firsthand; and
- offer them a helping hand with a product or service that can solve their problems.
6. Use real-life moments on video, as points of contact with potential athletes
A video is a very strong medium when it comes to catching your prospects’ attention, and increasing engagement. With this in mind, you can create videos with real-life moments — as points of contact — and add credibility to your coaching practice. This way, you’ll show potential athletes how they can benefit from your coaching.
If you want to experiment with videos, keep in mind to:
- Be real
- Be relatable, and build rapport
7. Start growing your contact lists with new leads
You know, athletes won’t seek out your contact lists to add themselves to. You have to give them an incentive; and, this way, convince them to give you their contact details. A good and simple tactic is:
- Warm calling, first
- Cold calling, as soon as you can
To briefly explain, warm calling is when you call leads who have shown an interest in your product or service, but haven’t ‘converted’, yet. Whereas, cold calling is when you call leads who probably aren’t aware of your brand; and, thus, haven’t shown any interest in becoming your clients, yet.
8. Network at endurance races or conferences
Attending — and networking at — endurance events, like races or even conferences, will ‘expose’ you to your target audience; but also to a larger community of professionals. That’s a very effective way to start getting noticed by the people you want to notice you.
Start local, then expand outwards
As it often happens, entrepreneurs aim to directly expand beyond their reach, forgetting about their beautiful local community. However, people love supporting local businesses, so, if you want to make a difference in your niche, start locally.
9. Get your offering out, including on your website
So, yeah, you need clients, you know that already. But, to get them, first, you need to get your offering out there, for them to ‘take the bait’; that is, if they like it. In today’s digital world, you have endless options to place your offering. Nonetheless, you should post it on your website first. Just make sure that your message is clear, and that it has the potential to attract clients to your coaching business.
10. Optimize your website for search engines (SEO)
Performing search engine optimization (SEO) on your website, will help your ideal clients find you faster. Something you need to be careful with, in SEO, is your keywords. Choosing the right keywords — the ones that your audience uses when searching for services like yours — and optimizing your website accordingly will do the trick.
Key points to consider:
- Hire an SEO expert, if you need to
- Listen to your clients, to create relevant content
- Produce a high-value FAQ section, based on what they ask
11. Do podcasts or interviews, to bring new clients into your coaching service
Doing a podcast or interviews with people — like, other coaches, athletes, sports nutritionists, etc — can get you in front of a larger audience. In these online events, you can talk about topics that relate to your business. Make sure to share some useful tips and how-tos.
Start with your local market, which you know best
We should highlight, again, the power that local communities and markets have for professionals, like you, who want to grow their businesses. Besides, your local market is the one that you know better than any other. Hence, make the most of the opportunities you’ll find there, to test the waters and experiment, before expanding to larger markets, with Endogusto.
12. Do webinars and meetups to bring new clients into your coaching service
Hosting webinars and meetups is a great way to attract new clients to your coaching service. If we could offer you a tip, in this case, that would be to create webinars that focus on bringing value to your audience. And, by all means, avoid being too salesy.
13. Leverage public speaking, emphasizing your competitive advantage
If you’re looking for a great tip on how to gain clients for your business fast, getting out there and talking to your audience is one of the best we can give you. Specifically, participating as a speaker in an event is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to:
- introduce your brand to your prospective clients and, other professionals with whom you could collaborate, at some point
- emphasize your competitive advantage, and
- increase your impact as an endurance coach (authority).
14. Form partnerships with influencers
Partnering or collaborating with other professionals — who may also be influencers — can help you get right under your prospects’ noses; and, eventually, convert them into clients. Before you partner with someone, though, take care to confirm, first, that you share the same values; and, that you can work together toward a common goal.
…or become a poster-child, yourself
Alternatively, you can become an influencer yourself; if you think you could dedicate the time to pursue this path — and, you could handle being in the limelight. 😜
15. Hit the online forums and bring more clients into your coaching service
Quora and Ask are mainly question-answering forums; while Reddit is a directory of users — from all walks of life — who create their own groups to talk about every topic you can imagine. All three can work great for you, in your effort to target and engage your audience; and, establish yourself as an authority in your market. Chances are that your soon-to-be clients are already browsing these forums, trying to find answers you can provide.
16. Do some pro-bono work to bring new clients into your coaching service
Giving limited pro-bono offerings to cover a need, or solve a problem will certainly speed up the process of client onboarding. This way, your prospective clients who are unfamiliar with your work, can get a chance to understand the value you can bring to their athletic efforts; which can potentially convert them into long-term paying clients.
To give you an idea, these goodies can be a:
- free 20-minute consultation
- limited-time offer
- discount for a service or a product
- template/ checklist/ infographic/ guide/ ebook (with training tips)
17. Use email marketing to bring more clients into your coaching service
Email marketing is very effective when it comes to bringing new athletes to your coaching business; and, keeping your current ones engaged. We’re talking about a powerful marketing channel to share and promote your:
- success stories,
- case studies,
- updates,
- new collaborations,
- offers, etc.
18. Sponsor events or actions where all the right people can see your brand
By sponsoring an event, you communicate to the right people — your prospective clients — that you:
- care about their problems
- share their interests, and
- support their causes (in case of an awareness-raising or charitable event)
Therefore, there’s no reason why not to give it a go; especially since every party involved can benefit from it: you, as a sponsor, the attendees (your prospects), and the event organizers (with whom you can collaborate in other activities).
TL;DR
Getting new clients for your coaching business is, indeed, a challenging endeavor. While there are no shortcuts to becoming a successful, fully-booked coach, you shouldn’t despair at all! You should know that success is within reach, as long as you’re willing to work hard; and, of course, dedicate some time to plan and execute a strong marketing plan.