If you’re a coach, you have to stop saying discovery session and you must stop giving out free coaching sessions. That is not a way to build your coaching business.
First off, discovery sessions is not the word you want to use. It just sounds like a very thinly veiled sales pitch. It’s going to sound like, “Let’s jump on a call and for 15 minutes, I’m going to discover if you will buy coaching from me.” That’s what it sounds like.
So no wonder people aren’t falling over themselves to do your discovery session or people don’t show up once you’ve booked in for a discovery session. You’ll get three times, triple the amount of results if you use something more like a strategy session.
A strategy session is where you’re actually giving them value, a strategy of how to go from their current problem to their desired result.
What About Free Coaching Sessions?
“Now, Cham, maybe I should give out free coaching sessions instead because people are more likely to want to do the free coaching session.”
If your goal is simply to fill your calendar with people but not convert that prospect into a paying client, give out as many free coaching sessions as you can.
The free coaching session should only be at the beginning when you want to build confidence or coaching skills. But if you are actually trying to attract clients, giving out free coaching sessions will have the reverse effect: “I just got a coaching session for you for free.”
You’re going to try and do the sales pitch part in the last five or 10 minutes of that coaching session. You’re going to say, “Oh, if you really like that, then maybe we could do something else. Here are my packages.” And they’re going to say, “Let me think about it.” Or, “Do you have something you can send me via email?”
A Win-Win Session
I understand that doing free coaching sessions is the way a lot of coaches do it and are doing it because they don’t know any differently. But it isn’t how it should be done. The free strategy session, however, is win-win.
You are helping your potential client win by giving them a strategy of what they should do to fix their anxiety, or ‘fix’ is probably not the right word, overcome their anxiety or find their life purpose or build a better relationship.
So they are learning, but at the same time, when done correctly, you are also educating them about your coaching program. All the different steps of how to go from their particular problem to their desired result.
So as an example, if you are helping people live a fulfilling life on purpose, then that strategy would be something like:
- Step 1, identify your values.
- Step 2, figure out your life purpose in accordance with those values.
- Step 3, set goals.
- Step 4, build habits, etc.
Then, guess what happens when you get to the end of that strategy session?
Not only have they learned something, but now you have built the building blocks to be able to go and say, “If you would like to implement this particular strategy, I’ve got a coaching program that does exactly that.”
So you, in essence, have been selling while educating people about your coaching program the entire way.
This is just one small hack, one small trick, to build a successful coaching business.
Getting Real Results
If you want to learn how to attract coaching clients consistently, there are actually three things you need to do. It’s called the marketing MAP.
Meet your ideal client. There are only seven different ways that I recommend.
Ask for their time. Don’t ask for their credit card details because you’ve got a special on. People don’t buy something just because you’re ready to sell them something. Don’t ask for email addresses in exchange for an eBook. Ask for time, because time is the building block of every successful relationship.
And then present your offer using what we call the Vision Script.
It’s a way that you should be running your strategy session.
It takes a lot more time than this blog to show you how to do it. So we’re going to be doing live demonstrations at the upcoming event called How to Attract Coaching Clients Consistently.
This is the way that you can get results at triple the speed compared to what most coaches out there do, just pulling their hair out and posting random stuff on social media that doesn’t really lead anywhere.
Education As A Means To Build Trust
If you like educating people as a coach, and I can only assume you do, that is the best way to sell. That is the best way to attract more clients. It doesn’t even feel like selling. It just feels like helping, like serving. That is what I’d love to impart to you.
So until we meet again, just remember, you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it started.
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