The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients (The Prosperous Series Book 1)

by Steve Chandler

In Fearless Coaching you will explore the two levels of fear that coaches face. There is the fear within your coaching which is often expressed as people-pleasing instead of powerful service. And then there is the fear of “selling” and enrolling clients that typically results in never making bold, life-changing proposals and having only uncommitted clients.

Show your clients what they cannot see. Say to your clients what no one else would dare to say. And you will have all the clients you ever desire.

When someone sees the world differently, they show up differently, and they create results that looked impossible a moment before. That is a miracle.

one way she improved her billings was by ruling out lunch, dinner and “coffee” as options for that first meeting with a coaching prospect.

But the truth is that it actually diminishes the chances you’ll land a coaching client if you have lunch with them first and establish your relationship as a social one.

If you just “have lunch” they will never feel the value of coaching. They’ll just think you are an amiable, affable, social person who is fun to chat with—but why pay big bucks for that?

Coaching is a good profession for people who are genuinely devoted to making a difference in the lives of others.

The coaching profession has a problem that is two-fold: there is a low bar for entry and a high bar for success.

Your clients are paying for their dreams. And their dreams are priceless.

The Pro coach learns to love selling coaching. And they know that cash is not the only way to be paid for coaching. You can be paid in experiences. You can be paid in relationships. You can be paid in learning. You can be paid in referrals.

The Pro coach understands that receiving coaching is part of their professional development. They model the power of coaching by devoting a significant part of their time, energy, focus and income to being coached by the best coaches they know.

The Pro coach knows that confidence is a result of taking action.

The Struggling coach tries to sell the concept of coaching. The Pro coach sells by giving people a powerful experience of coaching.

If you want to be successful you need to learn to love the business of coaching as much as you love coaching itself. And the simplest way to do this is to make the box on the right as similar to the box on the left as possible.

Challenge how your clients see the world. They do not need sympathy. They do not need you to be their friend.

People pay you not what they decide your coaching is worth, but what you decide your coaching is worth.

To become highly successful as a coach, you need to master three disciplines:

You need to master the business of Creating Clients

You need to become adept at Fearless Coaching

And beyond these, you need to be willing to work your own process—and do the Deep Inner Work necessary—so you can see your own blind spots.

The kind of clients you would love to work with are only created in a conversation. And high-performing, high-paying clients are only created in impactful, life-changing coaching conversations.

Share stories and case histories versus features and benefits.

Find the goal behind the client’s goal. Ask about your client’s clients.

Slow down. All the wealth you want is right there in the next conversation. Don’t have a huge to-do list, just be with Who’s Next.

Leave the conversation in a context of possibility, not a context of affordability.

Limitation creates value. Make sure you are the one doing the auditioning of the client, and not the other way around.

Discipline #1: Sell the experience, not the concept. The client’s decision needs to be whether or not to continue with you.

Steve Hardison, has taught me over the years (the last fifteen years) a distinction that he uses called event-action. I want to take my action as soon after the event as I possibly can.

You want a long description of the client’s default future: What if you don’t do anything (like this coaching) and nothing changes? What does that life look like? What is the downside of this default future of yours? What are the consequences? How painful is it?

Do not be afraid to ask an innocent question like, “Is this something you would like to do?”

If you were a waiter in a restaurant you would come up to their table at the end of a meal and say, “Would you like coffee? Would you like dessert?” That’s service. And if there’s a yes, then you bring coffee, and if there’s a no then you don’t, and you don’t care which. You’re serving with your question.

Most coaches refuse to direct the action during the close. They go soft and vague and the next thing you know the client has left the conversation and nothing is on the calendar and no money is in the mail. This happens because of lack of direction.

Slow Down. I’ve never had it not work to get people more business—to increase their revenue—when they just slow down.

Even if we have slipped into the context of affordability, I want to re-direct the conversation to the context of possibility before it ends: What’s possible if we worked together? Why would it be worth it to you if we worked together?

How would it be worth it to you? What in your world that you would like to be different might be different if we worked together? What’s possible for us? What would you like to change? What do you want? Why don’t you have it now? Tell me what you want and then tell me why it is not in your life right now. If you can tell me why it’s not in your life right now, you and I might be able to create a plan to work together to make that possible for you. What would that be worth to you? Would those results be worth that investment? You tell me. I’m not going to tell you. Now we are back in the context of possibility.

So when someone knows that you are limited (which you always are as a coach, because you only have so many hours every week to offer to the world), they know you don’t have that much availability. The fact that you do have an opening and are willing to consider them for it raises the value of your offer—always. Limitation creates value.

you can be in therapy for five years and still not know exactly what’s happened or gotten better; but coaching has to be good. People don’t renew

their coaching contracts if it’s not working for them, if life is not getting better, if they’re not transforming and hitting their goals. They don’t just stay on with the coaching like they might

This process is powerful. And it works. Take a look: Connect + Invite + Create + Propose = CLIENTS

Step 1: Connect

THAT’S IT. ONLY CONNECT. Ask yourself, who would I LOVE to speak to? And then call them. Bring your humor and curiosity. Be genuinely interested in what they are up to.

At some point, when you are genuinely interested, you may see a way that you can support or be of service to her.

If you are talking to someone who you believe could really get value from spending time with you, there’s a simple question to ask them when you hear them describe their dream, their challenge, or their biggest fear: Would you like some help with that?

If the answer to your question, “Would you like some help with that?” is a clear yes, invite them to meet with you. In person is always best, but over the phone can work perfectly. Block out two hours for them. Let them know that you will create a life-changing coaching experience. Don’t be afraid to tell them that. Coaching IS life-changing. Even a single session. Then put a date in your calendar.

ask the question, “Who do you know?” It is so gentle and creates so much space that the person you are speaking to can relax and really hear your question without any of the natural resistance that most coaches create when they are trying to “get” a client. “Christina, can you help me? I have a space available on The Confident Woman’s Salon. It’s a program for nine amazing women. Each woman is powerful, confident and successful. She has already achieved a great deal in life. And despite a track record of success, she is ready for support to achieve a goal that feels ‘impossible’ right now. Do you know a woman like that?”

And if this isn’t right for the person you are speaking to, they will pause and genuinely reflect on who they know.

never say, “Thanks, I’ll call them.” In fact, do the opposite. Get curious... “Tell me about her. What’s her big dream? What do you think may be holding her back the most in life, right now? Has she ever experienced coaching before? Do you think she’d be open to coaching? Why do you think she’d benefit from speaking to me?”

At the end of this conversation, if it feels like there may be a fit, say something like: “Have your friend call me or email me. You see, I never cold call. Even for a referral. Tell her that this is my gift to her from you. Tell her that I’ll block out two hours for her. I’ll create a powerful coaching experience and we’ll get her challenges handled. Forever.”

Clients don’t care about what you have to offer. They don’t even care what you charge. They are too busy thinking about their problems or their dreams. Indeed, they only ever care about the answer to one question: can you help me?