A Fast Way to Fill a Coaching Practice – Marketing
A Fast Way to Fill a Coaching Practice
Suzanne Falter-Barnes
So youve gotten the coach training certification, made up your business cards, and started your web site. Youve discovered your niche, and you have been marketing - aggressively even!
But still, no ones exactly beating a path to your door. Kind of makes you wonder what youre doing wrong.
Chances are youre doing everything right. The only thing that may be missing is a broader chance for the public to really get a taste of who you are. You need to build relationships with these folks. They need to sample your wares, basically. Yet, how can you do that without actually coaching them first
Enter the big solution: workshops.
Holding workshops targeted to your niche is an excellent way to give your larger audience a real taste of what you do. The 3-hour, or full-day format of a workshop gives your audience a chance to sit back and observe you at work. Not only that, if youve shaped your workshop to fit your niche, youll find yourself with an excellent database of interested potential clients. So youll also be able to test the drawing power of your niche quite graphically, and learn the most effective ways to reach these folks. One psychotherapist I know In New York City built a thriving practice simply by leading three workshops about Jung and dream analysis.
An added perk: when you lead workshops, you get all kinds of terrific stories you can use in future articles, books, and speaking gigs. Three best-selling self-help authors I know actually lead workshops for this reason alone.
That said, there are a few key things that must be in place to turn your workshop into the client magnet that it can be.
1. Give yourself and your workshop a brand name. Some of the most successful I know of are "The Ezine Queen", "The Comfort Queen", "The Publicity Hound", "Authentic Promotion", and "The Grok". These are ownable, distinctive names that let people know exactly who you are