3 Key Skills You Need To Grow a Profitable Coaching Business

Do you have the skills to grow a profitable coaching business? Having the right skills is the key to making a profit.

Do you want to be able to make a bigger difference in the world, if you want to attract more money, more income and make a bigger impact? Because that’s what building a great coaching business is all about.

It’s having a profitable business so that you’re not in a job that you don’t love. if you can build a profitable coaching business, in the sphere of your brilliance, in the sphere of your genius zone then you can make a six-figure income doing what you love.

A lot of people say to me things like; “There are so many coaches these days now Kat… how am I going to stand out? how am I actually going to get clients when they so many coaches?”

I say the same thing to them- “I truly believe there’s not going to be enough coaches for the number of problems in the world.”

Take a look at the statistics, it’s all there in black and white. Anxiety on the rise, depression on the rise, suicide, financial issues, divorce, all the stresses that come from the changing economy and technology.

People have a lot of fear, and a lot of issues to overcome. People have limiting beliefs, worries and negative emotions coming up. People need help. Every single one of us has problems, that is just the reality of the human experience.

If you stick in your area of genius, and if you learn the skills that you need to grow a coaching business and separate yourself from your competition, you won’t have competition.

People on mission have no competition.

There are a lot of skills that people need in business: setting up social media pages, getting a CRM, outsourcing your team, getting a virtual assistant, setting up your landing pages, your funnels, your website, everything that’s needed in business all requires different skills.

But there are three core skills that I believe can help Coaches specifically who want to attract more clients.

1. Communicate Your Value Online

The first skill if you want to grow a coaching business, is to be able to communicate your value online. This is a skill that needs a lot of practice, a lot of work to master and it takes time.

But being able to communicate your value online is one of the best skills that you can have when it comes to marketing your business online.

Your ability to market well is going to future-proof your income.

Here are three different things that you can do to improve your ability to communicate your value online.

The first thing I recommend is that you put time into upskilling your ability to automate your processes and systems. When you automate your systems and you have clear processes and a clear way of doing things that are repeatable, it helps you avoid having this clunky, manual old-school business.

I remember back in the day when I first became a personal trainer in 2003. I didn’t have a website and Facebook was still in its early stages.

I had to go out there and talk to people, which was great because it really helped me learn how to attract clients and get good at communication and really listening to people and understand their needs, their wants, their desires, their fears.

That ability to go out there and talk to people is incredibly powerful. That really set me up. But when the online world started to explode, I realised I was running a really old-school kind of business and I needed to learn these new automation skills.

For years, I used to book people in through sending text messages and we’d go back and forth and that would take time. I would spend time creating brochures, I would go down to my local warehouse stationery – the equivalent of office works in Australia and I would print out brochures and I would hand them out at the gym and all these other old school methods.

I didn’t understand the power of creating things like an online calendar link. Now when people book in with me, there’s none of that back and forth. They just click on a link; they book a time that suits them. I get an email, it goes straight into my calendar on my phone, and I just turn up to the appointment.

They automatically download a questionnaire all of which is automated. When people come to my website, they can download a freebie, they can go into my email system, I’m not running around because everything is streamlined.

Automating your business is one skill that I recommend that you really invest time, money and energy learning.

The next skill is the ability to attract attention online. It’s the ability to speak directly to your ideal client and speak to their dreams, their desires, their fears, and their frustrations.

That is what attracts attention. People do all sorts of crazy things online these days to try and attract attention. You don’t need to do crazy things. You need to show up, be real, be genuine, and solve people’s problems and actually help them and show them how much you can help them by actually helping them.

What a concept! I call it R.I.A- Results In Advance. If you give them a result in advance, they’re going to attribute that success to you and they’re going to want more.

Instead of just teasing them with a few little secrets, but don’t actually tell them how – show up and give great stuff for free. Don’t just hold it back for your paid stuff.

How are people going to know if you save all of your good stuff for your paid programs? Attract attention by consistently showing up with valuable content speaking directly to your ideal client’s main problems, not just vague, fluffy stuff.

I see all sorts of vague, generalized rehashed, repurposed content out there. That’s what everyone is doing and saying. Be creative, spend time on your own so you can really have those creative downloads and uploads about stuff that’s really helpful and unique.

The only way to be unique is to be yourself. That is the only way. So yes, model off other people, stand on the shoulders of giants. It’s essential but remember, the only way that you’re going to attract attention is by being fully unique and being yourself.

The next one is to clearly communicate your personal brand; your personal brand is important! because people attribute it to you.

I heard Richard Branson speak recently. When he was asked by the interviewer, Lisa, how to stand out in the marketplace. He talked so much about branding and how virgin created such a culture of fun, of partying, of being different, being unique, of pushing the boundaries, that is the personal brand that he created and the company culture of Virgin.

What is your brand? If you were to describe your brand with three adjectives what would they be?

For some of you, it might be you want to be quirky, you might want to be very reserved, you might want to be thought-provoking, or, you might want to push the boundaries a little bit.

What’s your personal style? Maybe you want to come across as exuberant or you might want to come across really professionally polished.

Have a think about the three adjectives to describe your brand and think about how you can really infuse your message in the marketplace with your personal brand. Whether that is fun and playful, or you use emojis, or you use certain brand colours to reflect that.

Always talk about your vision, your mission, your culture, always be communicating that online in the marketplace. That’s skill number one is to communicate your value online. That’s a skill you need to have to attract coaching clients because obviously, people are searching for you online.

People are looking at your Facebook business page, they’re googling you, they’re looking at your website, they’re looking at the way you communicate to get a feel for you. And remember, you’ve got to speak directly to your ideal client, because they’re trying to find you.

If you’re trying to be everything to everyone, you will not be able to find your ideal client, your ideal client won’t be able to find you, because you’re not speaking their language.

2. Community Your Value One to One

How good are you at communicating your value in a one on one conversation?

There are some really important skills that we need to make offers one on one to people and have them saying yes. If you don’t have the ability to sell your product or service, then you’re not going to have any clients.

I think people forget that having clients only comes on the other side of a sales conversation. They say to me things like – “I’m no good at sales, I don’t like sales, I don’t want to be pushy, I don’t want to sell, I just want people to buy my stuff “

They’re not going to buy your stuff unless you have an ability to sell well, to sell elegantly and, and in a way that doesn’t feel pushy or in a way that feels enjoyable for both of you.

It’s a really delightful conversation. it’s enjoyable because you’re really trying to see if you’re a match, you’re not trying to push, you’re not trying to convince them or change their mind.

I love the subject of influence, but I’m never trying to change someone’s mind. I’m trying to find out if we’re a match, and I’m trying to influence any limiting beliefs that they have that’s going to stop them from taking action towards improving their life. That is it.

If I’m trying to twist their arm or use this tricky tactic in my sales conversation, that’s not going to work out. They’re probably not the right person, so I’m going to get frustrated, they’re not going to enjoy the experience. That’s not a good day for anyone.

But if you have the ability to help someone feel really safe and comfortable through your language, through what you say, the words that come out of your mouth through your tonality, and for your body language, then people will put their guard down and you’ll actually get to the truth because sales conversations need to get to the truth.

They need to feel really comfortable and safe with you and trust you to be able to open up and actually tell you the real reason because a lot of people will tell you a false reason. For example, “I need to check with my partner, I need to think about it I need to check my bank account.”

Those aren’t the real reason. If you have an ability to build a deep connection with someone, for them to really be able to open up with you, you can just have a really great honest conversation.

That is a skill we don’t come out of the womb knowing how to do that. That takes a lot of practice, which means you have to have a lot of one on one conversations with the view to make them an offer.

Whether that’s a paid off or whether it’s something for free, the better you get at one on one conversation, the better the offer.

How often are you getting on one on one conversations on the phone? or are you on a zoom call or in-person with the view to actually help them and offer them something? That is a really important skill to develop.

Don’t be afraid of unsubscribes I love unsubscribes. Unsubscribes means that I don’t have to pay as much on my CRM.  It means that you’re getting a really concentrated list.

I would rather have 1000 people who really want to hear from me, than 50,000 people that barely open my emails and don’t want to hear from me.

It’s better to have people that actually really do connect with you and like you and trust you. unsubscribes are great, it just means that you’re getting closer and closer to your select group of people.

Remember to have a successful coaching business, you don’t need thousands of people. You’ve only got so much time and if you’re going to do one on one coaching you might only need 20 people. You’ve got to be really selective with those people and not just take on anyone.

I’m very selective with who I work with one on one because it’s your time and it’s your energy, and your time is your most precious asset. You don’t want to give that away for just anyone.

How good are you at those skills when you’re talking to someone one on one?

You might want to rate yourself on a scale of one to 10.

• How good are you at getting someone to agree with you?
• How good are you at getting someone to feel relaxed and safe with you?
• How good are you at getting someone to find a common interest and to laugh and smile with you genuinely?

Be honest with yourself and give yourself a real rating.

The ability to ask powerful questions is a skill that we all need to have in communication in general to build great relationships, whether that’s in our personal life or professional life, you’ll know this if people regularly say to you “that’s a great question.”

Your ability to draw information out of people and see if they’re enjoying the conversation can really help you adapt and respond to make sure they look like they’re really enjoying the conversation.

Your ability to help them imagine the future with you, and without you. That is one of the best sales skills you’ll ever develop your ability to help them imagine what is possible, what their life is like, in one year, three years, five years, with you coaching them after they’ve done your program. And without.

If nothing changes, what would their life be like in 12 months’ time, 5 years’ time and in 10 years’ time? Professionals ask these questions, amateurs skip over them because they feel maybe it’s a bit awkward and yes, they can be a little bit awkward to ask at first. But if you’re willing to do the hard things, that’s how you separate yourself from your competitors.

The next skill is the ability to overcome people’s limiting beliefs. I’m not talking about genuine things that people have, I’m talking about if they have limiting beliefs that are holding them back from taking action to improve their life.

Your ability to be able to keep talking to them, and not just go okay, no worries, have a think about it and just exit the conversation, and be brave enough to say is that the real reason to me?

How is that affecting you and how would that cost you if you hold on to that belief? Is this normally what happens when you’re about to make a significant buying decision, and just really be real about it.

I recently was selling to a lady a $23,000 package, and she said, I’m just freaking out right now. I’ve invested so much money and I just don’t have the money.

And I just listened, and I barely said a word. I just noted and just let her feel good. I didn’t rush it. When you’re making a significant buying decision, remember that person is in turmoil on the inside, they’re battling.

They’ve got this pre-programmed to hold on to their money and this fear of change happening. Don’t rush them, take the time with them. If you need to have another conversation with them, have another conversation, especially if the stakes are higher.

If you’re offering a premium product, don’t be afraid to book another half an hour session with them, help them unpack it, help them come to the best decision, even if it’s not to buy your offer.

Help them to at least solve their problem in some way, recommend something else if you feel you’re not a match for them. Don’t just go no worries and exit because you’ve got that fear of rejection.

An important skill in sales is your ability to be brave enough. To ask for the sale. A lot of people have lots of conversations, but they don’t close, they don’t finish. So, practice in the mirror 100 times- how would you like to pay for that? would you like to pay upfront or a payment plan?

How would you like to sort that out? How would you like to move forward?  Would you like to get that set up on direct debit? Or would you like to go on my saver plan? Practice all those combinations of asking for the sale.

Don’t be afraid because if you can’t get money into your bank account from your clients, you will be stuck in a job you don’t love for the rest of your life, and if you want to be a coach, you have to be good at sales.

3. Communicate Your Value in a Room

Number three is your ability to communicate your value in a room. Communicate your value to a group of people. This is the game-changer for most coaches.

If you’re a coach you want the doors to your coaching business to fly open, you want people paying you what you’re worth. So, get on a platform. I don’t know why more people don’t do it.

Well, I do know, because they’ve got fear, fear of rejection, fear of not belonging, fear what if people don’t come, fear of not knowing how to fill their rooms and fear of stage fright. They’re all valid fears.

I realised when I was sitting in a convention in the UK at the time, and I was watching this guy on stage and he was wearing a beautiful suit. He started talking about the one to one model versus the one too many.

I had been a personal trainer for eight years at the time, and I just did not want to overcome my fear of getting out behind my safe, comfortable one to one model, and stand up in front of a group.

But I realised at that moment, I am not going to have the impact that I want in the world. I am not going to achieve my goal of reaching a lot of people and making a huge difference in the world If I don’t overcome this fear of public speaking.

I decided on that day that I’m going to learn how to speak. I’m going to learn how to stand in front of a group. I’m going to learn how to craft my message, tell stories and make an offer from the stage. I used to think that I would just get someone else to do my selling for me.

If you want to really grow your coaching business, presenting is your golden ticket. It’s the way that I get almost all of my client clients, I get about 95% of my clients through events.

There are a few skills that sit under presenting.

Number one is the ability to craft a message. To be able to really organize your knowledge into a system, into a process that’s very clear and step by step for people and shows them exactly how to get from where they are to where they want to be.

Organise that process, and the ability to tell stories, and to be able to tell stories that involve making decisions and taking action, and the ability to effectively plant seeds all throughout your talks.

Continue to water those seeds throughout your talk to help people overcome all the limiting beliefs that are stopping them from taking action.

You also need to develop stage skills. You can learn about body language, how to use gestures facial expressions, how to use the space, how to anchor a room, you can learn how to use a timeline in the room, how to use technology- PowerPoints, lights, microphone, all those presenting skills that sit under their ability to communicate your value in your ability to attract your avatar.

Your ideal client, your audience, and the ability to get them into the room is a key skill when it comes to growing your coaching business. Then there’s the ability to inspire them to take action.

You’re not just talking for talking sake, you’re not just giving them information and content, which is what a lot of people do. They just show up and throw up. They just put all their content out to people. And people go cool, thank you.

They then go home, and they’ve got a head full of information and not a lot has changed. We need to get good at the ability to inspire people to take action.

So never ever write a talk, never deliver a video, a webinar, a workshop, a two-hour meetup, anything without thinking that goal is for someone to take action. That is the goal of the talk and you need to decide your action before you build out your talk.

I built out a talk and deliver it at my gym. And I just shared content. But then I learned that the whole purpose of the talk is to get them to take action. The whole talk is thinking how can I get them to take that action at the end of the talk? That’s the key.

Everything that you do when you’re talking to a group, like right now on video, I’m talking to a group. My goal is for you to take action and not just listen to this and go, that’s interesting, that’s nice information. But you get a return on your investment of time by listening to this and watching this video.

When you’re working on the ability to get someone to take action, you’ve really got to understand influence.

How often are you reading books and listening to talks on influence because that is in my opinion, the number one skill that you need to attract clients as a Coach. Your ability to influence.

But it sits in these modules of communicating your value online, communicating your value one on one, and communicating your value in a room. So really, what it comes down to is marketing, sales and presenting those are the three key skills.

I recommend that you just forget everything else and you focus on those three skills. The umbrella over those three skills is influence.