The 7 Things Coaches MUST Do In Their Business Today

I work with a lot of coaches and I see a lot of the same missed opportunities and mistakes over and over. If you are a coach, consultant, or advisor, you’ll want to implement these tips right away.

1. Set up an online scheduling system to help automate the scheduling process. Even something as simple as embedding a Google Calendar into your website will help your clients find a day and time that works for you and them.

2. Tighten up your non-billable client time. Do your one-hour sessions go an hour and a half? Maybe the client shows up or calls 5 minutes early, you speak for 10 or 15 minutes before starting the clock, you wrap up an hour later (to make sure they get their full hour of coaching) and then you chat briefly for another 10 minutes or so after your billable time (scheduling the next appointment or whatever). Tighten this up. Chat less. It’s okay to take just a moment of your billable time to schedule the next appointment.

3. Charge a cancellation fee. It doesn’t have to be as high as your normal fee but it will show that you are serious about providing your service and you take their presence and participation seriously.

4. Record your calls. Offer this as a free service to them and assure them that you’re not going to publicly post the recordings. Send them the recordings after the call but save them for yourself because there are lots of ways to reuse the material. (I’ll tell you how in an upcoming blog post). Oh, and be sure to let your clients know that you are recording the call before you record it!

5. Email each client and ask them for a referral. Everyone knows they should do this regularly but no one does it. Why not email your clients right now and say: “I just wanted to let you know that I have a space open up and I’d like to fill it… but before I make it available to anyone, I thought I’d invite you to refer someone to me. I’ll give a free coaching session to anyone whose referral books with me.”

6. Conduct a survey. Ask your clients what they would like to hear from you and what the biggest problems they face today might be. You may get some suggestions that you simply cannot implement but you should get a ton of ideas that will help you shape your business and add even more value to your clients.

7. Make a list of the problems your clients come to you with that you cannot help them with and get in touch with a professional who can. Build a good relationship with them and refer clients to them. You might not get anything out of the deal (except for being able to help your client even when you can’t actually help them) but you could end up with some reciprocating referrals.

Your business is like a machine that runs along basically on its own. But from time to time you need to tune it up, and these 7 tips will help to optimize it.

Happy Blogging!

Related posts:

1. 5 Things You Need to Do In Your Small Business Right Now
2. When things are going really well