Business

Choose Coaching as Your Niche to add value to your customers

The benefits of a coaching program is that it fits just about every niche and business model you can possibly think of and it also adds a great deal of value to your customers.

In order to show you just how flexible coaching is, let’s take a look at a few examples.

Service Business Model – A freelance writer can offer a coaching program to help other aspiring writers grow their own freelance businesses.

eCommerce – A person selling dog-training tools can coach others on how to train their dogs.

Information Marketing – An information marketer in the health and fitness niche can offer personal fitness coaching or diet coaching.

Affiliate Marketing – An affiliate marketer that represents home organization products can offer a coaching program to help others become more organized.

As you can very clearly see, coaching is quite adaptable to fit both your needs and the needs of your audience. The key to a successful coaching program is to identify a need within your audience and to solve it through coaching. Offer your customers valuable information over a specific period of time.

Coaching also provides that added value to your customers.

You likely own an online business for two primary reasons.

#1 You want to make money.

#2 You enjoy your niche topic and enjoy providing value to your audience.

Coaching enables you to do both. It provides one more powerful way to connect with and interact with your customers. Providing this level of value and interaction can be greatly rewarding for both you and your customers. There’s something very satisfying about helping people solve their problems and coaching makes this possible. You get to become an active participant and see your customers’ lives change for the better.

So you see, you are able to provide so much value by just starting your own coaching program.

I hope this blog series has armed you with the information that you are seeking. I look forward to hearing from you and learning more about the coaching program you presently have or the one you are currently working on starting.

Best of luck with your coaching journey.

Why Offering Coaching is Easier Than You Think

By Tina Yelle

So many people ask me if I believe that having a coaching certificate is necessary to become a great coach. My personal opinion is that no, it’s really not necessary. Almost anyone can hang up a coaching sign on her door and not have any official training or certification.

But, your own path to coaching depends on your target audience and your personal and business goals. If you inspire to add ‘life coaching’ or ‘executive coaching’ to your business model, then you may want to explore certification options. The competition is a bit more extensive in these two fields and certification will help you establish more credibility.

That all being said, if you happen to be in a very particular niche industry such as parenting, dog training or organization, certification is most definitely not essential. You know your field and you know it well. You can very simply design your coaching program to fit your target audience’s needs and your business goals and then launch your new program.

A little planning and preparation is really all you need to get up and running successfully.

Technology Makes Everything So Much Easier

Technology has made launching and running a great coaching program so much easier. Wouldn’t you agree?

Depending on your audience and the coaching program you create you can use:

Audio and video technology to coach (Podcasting, Webinars)
Membership site technology (Wishlist or Buddypress)
Autoresponders (Mailchimp or Aweber)
Social networking mediums like forums or chat rooms to coach
Instant messaging, email and other instant media to connect with coaching clients
Digital downloads and ebooks

Today, most coaches work mostly by Skype, email and telephone and so they are are able to offer their services all over the world.

In short, there are very few barriers to entry. You’re likely already using all of the technology you’d need to launch a coaching business. And unless you’re in a highly competitive field like “life coaching” certification and training isn’t necessary.

That’s my take on it!

Expand Your Sales Funnel Through Coaching

By Tina Yelle

As a rule of thumb, when the general public buys a product or service from you, they enter your sales funnel. Statistics show that most often they will enter your funnel at the lowest priced product or service that is available to them. However, through effective marketing messages and communication, your goal is to guide your customers through your sales funnel so they’re eventually purchasing more expensive products or services.

When you add a coaching program to your sales funnel, it’s often your highest priced product or service. Make sense?

Let’s review 3 reasons why coaching is such a beneficial addition to your sales funnel:

#1 The broader your sales funnel, the more sales you could potentially earn from each customer.

You will have some customers who will start at the very lowest priced product and then proceed to purchase every other product along the way. By adding a high priced item like coaching, it will help you make more money from your valued and loyal customers.

#2 The broader your sales funnel, the more value you can offer to your customer.

Through the addition of a high end product to your sales funnel you’ll offer more value to your customers. They’ll be able to gain the maximum amount of benefit from your business.

#3 The broader or more diverse your sales funnel, the more entry points your customer has to choose from.

Not everyone will choose to buy your least expensive product or service. Some people will jump in and buy a mid-level product as a first option and still, others will buy your highest priced product without blinking an eye. So, when you offer a variety of price points and products/services, you ultimately provide more options for your customers.

It should be noted that a coaching program doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, you could offer various levels of your coaching program such as group coaching in addition to your one-on-one coaching option. This way, you can cater to those who aren’t able to afford your personal coaching program.

In closing, coaching really enables you to expand your sales funnel and to add more choices and value for your prospective clients and existing customers.

In the next post, we’ll talk about how you can add information products to your coaching program to add more profit potential to your business.

Coaching May Help With Business Branding

By Tina Yelle

While you are considering if becoming a coach is right for you, you may also be asking yourself if coaching may help you with branding your company. Branding is most certainly an integral part of a business. It could be said that having a stellar brand is the most important component of a business.

You may believe that branding is a visual experience but that’s not totally correct. Good branding is about creating a personality as well. Infact, for most small business owners, your personality IS your brand.

Coaching, and the type of coaching service you provide, can filter into strengthening your brand. Your personality and coaching strategies will shine through with each customer transaction and every single moment you are coaching a client – thus strengthening your brand. Let’s take for example, if you’re known as an outspoken and controversial business owner already, your coaching style is going to follow a tone that is very similar. And, every potential client that has an experience with you through your coaching program will experience your brand. Your personal brand will also be strengthened or diminished in their minds.

Why Does Branding Matter?

In short, branding:

Makes your business more visible – You could be instantly recognized online and off.

Enhances word of mouth marketing – It motivates people to talk about you to other people. You may find more opportunities that will come your way.

Increases front of mind awareness – Customers think of you first when they have a need.

Makes your business more profitable – A strong brand helps you sell more products.

Remember, a strong brand is a strong business and adding coaching to your business can help you strengthen and establish your brand.

To continue reading through this Blog Series, you’ll find the next post on How To Add High-End Products to your Coaching Business for More Profits here.