Updated on December 19th, 2023
You are either an established coach or a coach starting to build and grow a profitable coaching business. You’re looking for doable, quick-return methods on how to get coaching clients fast.
A coach is an expert in something. An authority figure that people trust and pay for the advice.
If you can get people to recognize you as an expert with high authority and credibility, you will start getting coaching prospects, clients, and referrals. As your authority and credibility grow, you will be able to charge what you’re worth for your services and get premium coaching clients that pay you without thinking twice.
I am sharing a few methods from my 18 years old successful coaching business practice that have landed me high-paying coaching clients and referrals. This post is the answer to your three questions.
- How to get coaching clients?
- How do I get my first coaching client?
- How do I find an ideal coaching client online?
Let’s get started
1. Focus on one type of client
Imagine this;
You’re a male in your 40s and looking for serious fitness and lifestyle changes and goals. You’re more likely to have confidence in a fitness coach who serves only this age group. When you see 90% of the success stories on this coach’s website for this age group, you would want to start your coaching journey with this fitness coach, soonest.
The learning from this example is to serve a certain audience with specific challenges. Targeting coaching clients and building a coaching client base requires a focused approach. When you focus on one specific type of client, your prospects find it relatable. It makes your sales process easier and faster with a higher conversion rate.
2. Minimize your coaching offerings
When it comes to getting high-paying premium coaching clients and creating a coaching brand, it’s important to consider the impact of offering multiple skills and modalities.
While coaches may have acquired various skills during their practice, monetizing every skill can confuse and overwhelm prospects. When you establish your expertise, for one niche, it’s easier for your audience to make a decision. With multiple offerings on the table, you’re making them think twice and maybe, look for other coaches with one strength.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t monetize your other skills.
Make suggestive offers when the time is right and when a prospect is converted into a client for your primary offering. It will be easier for them to trust and hire you.
3. Become the ultimate expert in your niche
Once you have identified your niche and defined your specific coaching offering, it is crucial to develop a strategic action plan to establish yourself as the go-to coach in your field. The key objective is to become renowned for your expertise within your niche and continue to grow your authority and following.
To achieve this, it is essential to implement targeted marketing strategies and leverage content marketing tailored specifically for coaches. By narrowing your focus and staying laser-focused on your niche, you can position yourself at the forefront of your industry, elevate your coaching business to new heights, and eventually get high paying coaching clients fast.
4. Be a Guest on the Podcasts
Visibility is the key to getting more high-paying coaching clients online or offline. Collaborating with other coaches and securing speaking engagements for coaching clients are powerful strategies to increase your visibility and attract high-paying clients. Being featured as a guest on industry-relevant podcasts allows you to reach new audiences and gain credibility through endorsements from influential experts.
Furthermore, when you receive referrals from another expert with a large following, the acceptance of your coaching brand among potential clients will be significantly higher.
You can put yourself on a radio guest list as well to be heard and known to a global or local audience.
Sign up with RadioGuestList.com. It sends an email once a week inviting guests and experts.
Identify popular podcasts in your niche and invite yourself as a guest to them. It’s amusing to initiate. Try this, 8 of out 10 self-invitations are accepted. It’s a bold sign of leadership.
5. Write for Magazines & Columns
Online and offline magazines like Entrepreneur.com, Forbes, Lifepositive, etc. have a massive following and reader base. Writing for publications like these can give you huge visibility and eventually, leads.
Most of these publications and magazines have a simple application and selection process. They prefer experts who are already writing for other publications or have an active blog.
Make sure to put some of your popular and most read and ranked articles in the application. It will increase the chances of getting accepted as a contributor.
Some magazines have sponsored contributions you can try. If you’re a beginner with the contributions, consider doing 4-5 sponsored contributions so that you have a portfolio.
I found Brainz magazine, a good magazine with a decent readership.
6. Go where your ideal client is (online & offline)
I have had a good deal of new connections, referrals, and clients from local events. I would introduce myself and often I would hear, “Oh, I need your help with social media”. Or”I need to get more clients, how do I do that?”. And the next month will be good with meetings, calls, and closed clients.
Start showing up where you know your audience is. Be strategic with your presence and attendance. Make sure that you don’t exhaust yourself. Attending two events, meetings, and gatherings online or offline is a great start.
One effective approach is to join relevant online communities and actively engage by contributing valuable content, participating in conversations, and building a strong presence. Over time, these communities have become a valuable source of leads and opportunities for my coaching practice. Continuous learning and involvement in these communities have been key to establishing credibility and gaining relevant referrals.
Two online communities turned out to be a great source of leads and opportunities in the year 2022 for me.
A WhatsApp community of women leaders and coaches, Shemantra, led by Shilpa Ajwani
A Linkedin group of over 81k Coaches, led by E.G Ervin
By combining strategic attendance at events and active participation in online communities, coaches can generate leads, expand their network, and continuously learn to enhance their coaching practice.
7. Create a killer profile
Between seen to converted, there is a decision-making time. That’s where a powerful coach profile plays a crucial role. Create a powerful profile with all the essential details your prospect wants to know. A good profile can have:
- Power Bio: Summarize what you do, how you do it, and who your ideal client is in a concise two-three sentences.
- Industry Experience: Highlight your expertise and experience in the coaching industry.
- Certifications and Accreditations: Showcase any relevant certifications and accreditations you have obtained.
- Testimonials from Coaching Clients: Feature testimonials and success stories from satisfied coaching clients to build trust and credibility.
- Pricing Strategies for Coaches: Provide insights into your pricing strategies, demonstrating transparency and value.
- Effective Coaching Proposals: Outline your coaching process and give a brief overview of how working with you looks like.
- Website, Blog, and Social Media Links: Include links to your website, blog, and social media profiles to provide additional information and showcase your online presence.
Your coach profile appears as a brochure, pdf, flyer, your about page on the website, your bio under blog contributions and podcast interviews, etc. Utilizing social media for coaching clients can further enhance your visibility and reach, and helps you get coaching clients online.
8. Interview Industry Leaders
Networking for coaching clients is not only about getting interviewed but also about giving back. Without any special requirements, you can interview industry leaders, experts, and coaches to expand your network as well as the following.
This happens when you interview another industry expert
- You’re seen as an authority
- You’re seen as a seeker
- You’re seen as a connector – who connects a seeking audience to a giving expert
- The expert you interview will share the interview with their network, which eventually drives more traffic to your online assets
- You open opportunities to get invited to interviews and podcasts
- You get collaborators and referral partners, eventually helping you get high-paying coaching clients from references that are strong and more likely to convert faster.
You can interview on Instagram Live, Linkedin, and Text or video interviews on your blog, and YouTube channels. When you are ready to start, remember that everything you need is already with you to build your online presence and attract coaching clients.
Over to you
I have shared what has worked for me in the last 18 years and how I have built a successful coaching business.
It’s your turn.
Which methods did you like the most? What are you going to start with?
Share in the comments. And feel free to ask any questions. I would love to answer and see a fellow coach grow🙂
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Sunita Biddu is a digital business coach and power blogging mentor helping coaches and small business owners. She helps with building a strong and profitable online presence and reputation that creates a self-sustaining business. Sunita writes on this blog once a week about easy-to-use guides and articles about business, coaching, social media and blogging. You can grab some of her free resources and ebooks from the resources section.