Now that we’ve talked about the transformation you provide (Part II) and your client avatar (Part III), it’s time to talk about one of the most critical aspects of growing a thriving coaching business.
A lot of coaches and even other coaching teachers overlook this part.
Your coaching framework.
In growing a business it’s critical that you put yourself in a ‘category of one’.
Most coaches get stuck in the trap of ‘being a little better for a little less’. In other words, they try to be a better coach than the rest but at a slight discount.
The problem is, that’s just a race to the bottom.
The way to escape this cycle is to be different.
And the fastest and easiest way to stand out from other coaches is to develop a proprietary coaching framework.
The goal here is to be the only coach who can do what you do.
There may be other coaches who help your ideal client avatar achieve a similar transformation, but you'll be the only coach on earth who does it using your particular framework.
In my own business, something 'flipped' for me when I developed my first coaching framework that was truly my own, what I call the 'Coaching Genius System'.
That framework really resonated with my audience, and it led me to growing my email list to over 13,000 people in under a year and getting over 1,000 customers for my courses and higher-end programs.
Note: your coaching framework is NOT the same thing as the methodology you may have gotten from a certification program.
Because if you use their framework, you'll sound like every other coach who has gone through that program.
And if you're like other coaches I've worked with, the methodology from the certification program never quite felt exactly right anyway.
Here’s another big problem.
Many coaches only give prospective clients a vague, wishy-washy understanding of how their coaching works.
Which is why…
Many life coaches can only successfully sell their services to other coaches.
The vast majority of people — i.e. people who aren't coaches — have plenty of challenges that they'd happily pay a coach to get help with.
Yet so many potential clients don't sign up and leave enrollment conversations feeling confused.
That’s because they’re on the outside. This is their first time they’re going through this change.
To them, the “how” is a mystery.
Clients are eager to know, "How does this work? What's going to happen?"
But coaches struggle to communicate a clear picture of how they’ll help their client get a result. At most they only give a fuzzy picture of a vague transformation.
Which is why only other coaches end up buying. Because coaches already understand the immense benefits of having a coach.
Remember, the confused mind doesn’t buy.
So instead of confusing “normal”, non-coach clients, it’s important you have a framework.
A coaching framework gives your potential clients a clear picture of the process you're going to take them through.
And it also proves that you've thought about it. That you're not just winging it with each client.
Showing clients your framework changes everything. Suddenly, they don't see your coaching as a mysterious process.
Clients see the road to their better life right in front of them. They see the framework laid out for them and sigh in relief.
"Oh, amazing. She has a plan for me. She knows what she's doing, she's clearly done this before. She's going to get me where I want to go. I can relax and trust her to lead the way."
Having a framework is one of the best ways for coaches to immediately give clients confidence that they're going to see a result from working with you.
And since enrolling clients is fundamentally about transferring confidence to someone else…
You end up enrolling a lot more clients!
And not only does it give clients confidence, YOUR confidence increases as well.
Now YOU know you're not just winging it. You start each client engagement with a roadmap so you always have a sense of what you'll be doing in any given coaching session.
And here’s what might just be the single best reason for having your own coaching framework.
You NEVER again have to sell yourself as a coach.
You never have to get on a phone call and feel like you need to convince a potential client, "this is why I'm an amazing coach and you should definitely hire me."
Instead of selling yourself, you share your framework. You walk a potential client through it and personalize it to their situation.
The framework does the selling for you.
It’s the antidote to feeling salesy.
Here’s what I’ve seen from my experience and from what personally working with dozens of coaches:
Enrollment conversations become a lot less scary.
You stop having to battle self-doubt or imposter syndrome on every enrollment call.
This is the big secret to having enrollment calls that stop sucking the life out of you. Instead of feeling 'salesy', you simply introduce your coaching framework and let it do the sales part for you.
Here’s what I recommend you do right now.
Take out a piece of paper and a pen. Then actually map out your coaching framework.
How do you take your clients from A, to B, to C, and finally, to where they want to go? What’s your process?
With love & joy,
