Looking ahead to 2021

MyCoachingToolkit - Look ahead to 2021 - Blog

Look ahead to 2021 

As we look back and reflect on our year, it’s important to understand how we adapted to the new normal and what more we can do to prepare as we look ahead to 2021.

Understanding how to survive in this difficult economic market and if possible grow your coaching business will be key to long term success, especially when meeting clients face to face is still not an option for so many.

So here are some ideas from the team at MyCoachingToolkit on how you can stand out and grow your coaching business in 2021, so it is correctly positioned to attract your ideal clients, win new opportunities and maximize your profits.

 

1 – Check your calendar and start talking

You will hopefully have some time over the festive period to review your client lists and identify who you could be working with or supporting. By putting the hours in now and making time to find all of that potential work will deliver new leads or spark ideas you can follow up on. Then, depending on the channels you normally use to find new clients, think about how many sales calls you could make in the first few weeks of January and make a plan for the next three months.

As with any business, this is a numbers game, but coaching will normally be the result of a conversation. So you need to look ahead to 2021 and find time to focus on finding new people to talk to and convert that conversation into some new clients.

 

2 – Generate new leads

Many coaches use social media to share insights into their coaching style, however the best approach is to normally talk about the results you will help deliver, instead of the process you normally follow or number of sessions you like to take.

As a professional coach, you help people go from where they are now, to where they want to be. So your role in generating new leads and converting them into a sale, is for them to believe you are the coach that can help them do exactly that.

Some ideas to generate new leads:
• Build your network of decision-makers so you can attract more opportunities
• Proactively promote your services on social media to build reputation and influence
• Get interview ready so you can talk confidently about your work and achievements
• Create a range of case studies to showcase your skills and experience

 

3 – Be specific about what you do and who you help

We all like to think we offer a specific coaching service, but do you use a generic title like ‘Life Coach’ when talking about what you do. If you want to maximize the opportunities, you need to look ahead to 2021 and target a number of small niche markets and think about how you can talk about what you do and how you help.

Maybe you can focus on talking to working parents who find it difficult to prioritize their week. We know they can be time poor and you can help them identify the less important tasks that do not need their immediate attention. The benefit you deliver is helping them to focus on the real priorities, so they get valuable time back to spend with their children.

You can give examples of the tools or steps you go through, but focus on the results you help deliver and talk to individuals who need that very specific service. To grow your coaching business, focus on the outcome, be the very best at what you do and show how you can deliver real value.

 

4 – Recommendations will help showcase your work

We have all heard how an unhappy customer will tell everybody how bad their experience is. Yet a happy customer may not normally tell anybody. So you need to confidently ask for feedback and act on what you hear.

It may result in you changing who you work with or the type of coaching you deliver. But focus on the people or organizations you want to work with, then help them get the best results. This should generate recommendations and positive feedback you can use to showcase your work.

Ideally you want to generate a pipeline of incoming enquiries. But always put the time in to searching for new clients and make those sales calls.

 

5 – What will finding the solution cost?

If your new client has a critical problem, talk to them about when it needs to be solved. This helps you work out how much time you need to allocate to supporting them to take a step back.  They can then review the current situation or work through different options or ideas.

However, look ahead to 2021 and understand your value and confidently price yourself based on the results you help achieve. Avoid bargain hunters and move away from the price per session model. If solutions are found quickly and future sessions are not needed, you will not receive the amount you had expected.

 

6 – Move at the right speed

In our desire to showcase how we can help, we sometimes overwhelm our clients and share everything at once. A much better approach is to think about what they need now. And what more they will need to get them to the next stage in the process.

Talk about what is coming next, but focus on what they must deliver before they can move on. Set some initial targets that are easy to achieve, so they stay engaged in the process and feel rewarded. But make future steps a little more difficult and encourage them to do the work if they want lasting change.

 

And remember…

Somebody you know may be looking ahead to 2021 and planning a project that would benefit from your coaching skills. But may not contact you because it’s unclear if you are going to be actively seeking new opportunities.

So one simple task is to reach out to your existing contacts and wish them a happy new year. And keep your employment status up to date on professional sites like LinkedIn.

 

Further reading:

If you would like a creative way to develop your own coaching skills and prepare for 2021, check out our virtual game in the online shop:

  • Virtual Game: Coaching Professional Development – This virtual card game is for coaching your own professional development and helps you develop successful coaching skills in a fun way. By asking the right questions, this game supports your own self-development and an introspective review that helps you drive personal change.

 

We have published a full range of resources specifically aimed at supporting you as a professional coach:

 

We constantly add content to the site, so please check our on-line shop and look at the full range of games, ebooks and kits. Or read some of the other blog posts written by our team of international coaches.

 

Join our community

As a new online resource centre, we welcome members from all over the World. Therefore, we would love to connect with you on social media, via our pages on FacebookInstagramTwitter and LinkedIn. So no matter what you want to chat to us about, please remember to engage, like, share and join our community.

Image: Thanks to Olya Kobruseva for sharing their work on Pexels.

Please note – Our materials can only be copied and distributed, if you include a reference and link to the original source: (cc) MyCoachingToolkit.com – 2020

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