Many coaches are ineffective at generating qualified leads and converting the leads they do get into happy, paying clients. It ultimately results in an inability to generate enough revenue to fully immerse themselves is what they are most passionate about: coaching.
How To Generate Qualified Leads
The key word in the sub-headline above is “qualified.” Too many coaches focus on quantity instead of quality and are left wondering why their conversion rates are as dismally low as they are. I’ll take 100 highly qualified leads over 10,000 people who don’t know who I am and who don’t care about the solution I’m providing.
The secret here is understanding the process of qualifying your leads. Let’s start with your social media profile. It doesn’t really matter which one you use — what this comes down to is using your social media profile in such a way that only your target market is interested in connecting.
As an example, my LinkedIn headline reads: “Helping Coaches Generate More Leads, Land More Clients, and Earn More Money.” Why is this headline so powerful in qualifying leads? Simple. If you look at my profile on LinkedIn and you’re not a coach, you aren’t going to want to connect with me. If you are a coach but you don’t struggle with finding leads, closing sales or generating revenue, you won’t want to connect with me either.
My headline effectively qualifies and identifies whom I want to connect with and how I can help them once we are connected.
How To Land More Ideal Clients
The unfortunate truth is most coaches are great at creating real and lasting transformation for their clients but are horrible at selling that transformation. How do you combat this inability to sell well? The same way you learned how to do everything else in your life: step by step.
Most coaches loathe the process of selling because they were never taught a process to follow that would effectively stack the odds in their favor of closing. The conundrum coaches are faced with is people hate to be sold to but they love to buy.
Here are few steps that will create a win-win situation:
Put them in the frame of mind to buy.
I accomplish this by sending my ideal clients a short questionnaire designed to do three things: 1) get them thinking about their greatest challenges, 2) get them thinking about everything they’ve tried to do on their own to fix it only to fail and 3) get them thinking about what will happen if they don’t resolve this in the next three months.
Get them on the phone.
I sell high-ticket coaching programs, and I feel that it’s my responsibility to at least have a conversation with an ideal client prior to selling. Notice this is the first time I’m getting on the phone with them. By the time they are on the phone with me, I’ve engaged, built rapport and established a relationship. I’ve focused their attention on their problems and created urgency for them to fix them.
And it doesn’t end there. Once on the phone, I ask them to share with me their problems even though they already shared. I do this because I want them emotionally connected to their challenges. In this state of mind, my ideal client practically begs for a solution.
Ask for permission to sell.
No one asks for permission to do anything anymore, but getting to a yes, no matter how small, is powerful. Dr Robert Cialdini wrote a phenomenal book called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. In this book, he explains why it’s so important to get as many yeses as possible when selling.
In short, when a person says yes, everything they are must align with their spoken word. Their mind, body, heart and soul have to align with the yes they gave you, and it’s almost impossible to renege on it. Once you get a yes, pitch away. That permission is powerful, and it gives you the right to share.
Now Reap The Harvest, You Deserve It
Qualifying your leads and mastering the process of selling well will result in an increase in revenue generation. There’s no way it can fail. When you get your message in front of the right people, at the right time, and when they need you most, the selling process becomes less important as your ideal client reaches out to you to solve their problems rather than vice versa.
Reproduced for educational purposes. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/09/18/a-definitive-guide-to-generating-qualified-leads-as-a-coach/#48b45e806df0.
