When I started coaching back in 2000, there was no such thing as “finding your niche”!  We trained as life coaches and went forth hoping to multiply our clients.  Some of us succeeded as generalists and some of the longest-serving coaches I know are still generalists.  They have built their reputation that way and continue to have new business referred to them, often by former happy clients or people who’ve been reading their newsletters for years and feel they know, like and trust them.

We have learnt a lot, however, about marketing our coaching businesses over the years and these days we know that coaching in a specific niche – using our specific knowledge and being seen as an expert – simplifies the client attraction process.

Think of finding your drains blocked at home.  You certainly might call the local handyman (if you know, like and trust him) but many people will pick up their phone directory or go to Google and find a number for Dyno Rod or some other company specialising in blocked drains.  We know they will understand the problem quickly and have the right tools to help us.

And so with niche coaching.

Bernadette Doyle of Client Magnets has been writing this week about finding your niche so read on to hear what she has to say:

Finding Your Niche

It’s interesting how we talk about ‘finding’ your niche, as though your niche is lost or hidden. In truth, there is a part of you that already knows exactly what your niche is. The question is, are you willing to listen to this part?

This week I want to share some tips from my own experience establishing the Client Magnets niche, and also what I have learned from helping clients uncover their niches.

Stop Undervaluing What Comes Easily To You

A common theme I have noticed when helping clients to ‘find’ their niche, is that often their niche is right under their nose! But often we undervalue things that come easily to us, assuming ‘everyone knows that’ or ‘isn’t that obvious?’ Let me give you an example. Some time ago, my friend Veronica came round to help me with some office reorganisation. It made such a difference I almost cried. Veronica was baffled by my response and gratitude, shrugging off the difference she had made as though ‘it was nothing’. The fact is, it may have been ‘nothing’ to Veronica, but it was EVERYTHING to me. Do you have skills and expertise which comes so easily to you that you have underestimated the value it makes to others?

Don’t Expect A ‘Road to Damascus’ Type Experience

Sometimes I think we put pressure upon ourselves, and anticipate that the moment we suddenly uncover a niche, that it will be accompanied by lights flashing and dramatic music. The reality, I have found, is rather more mundane. Whilst I have worked with clients who have experienced light-bulb ‘eureka’ moments, they are rare. For me personally, I think that uncovering a niche is more like a silhouette emerging through fog. Has expecting a ‘road to damascus’ type experience, prevented you from seeing what is right under your nose?

Expect Your Niche To Change Over Time

The niche you select for yourself today is not cast in stone. It can evolve and develop as you do. When I first became self-employed, my niche was cold calling, but that has now evolved into a marketing approach which gets prospects calling YOU. Bob Burg, an expert in sales and prospecting, started his career as a memory expert. Doreen Virtue is now best known for her work with angels, but was formerly known as the dating doctor. Are you avoiding committing to a niche because you are afraid you will be trapped forever?

Your Niche Is Already Seeking YOU

All day every day you are being presented with clues and nudges in the direction of your niche. Are you paying attention to those little signs, or are you too busy making other plans? The phrase ‘Client Magnets’ first floated into my consciousness in the summer of 2001. It took another six months before I started a newsletter on the same topic. I didn’t ‘find’ Client Magnets. It came to me. My part was noticing and responding. From day one I felt that Client Magnets had a life and an energy of it’s own, and that my job was to work in partnership with that energy rather than trying to ‘make it all happen’ all by myself.

Are you so busy trying to ‘make things happen’ all by yourself, that you are overlooking opportunities which could be easy for you?

This week, take a stand wherever you are right now. Make a commitment to yourself, to your niche, to your audience. When you truly commit to where you are right now, you will be surprised how quickly opportunities open up for you.

Bernadette Doyle publishes her weekly Client Magnets newsletter for trainers, coaches, consultants, complementary therapists and solo professionals. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, then get your free tips now at www.clientmagnets.com

We came across this excellent article from Lisa Sasevich about monetising your free speaking gigs.  Some really useful ideas and reminders here so well worth a read.

We’ve all been there. We get booked to speak, but then the promoter says, “We want you to come and speak, but you can’t sell.” Ugh…What do you do?

First, don’t throw in the towel. You can still make it well worth your while, even if you don’t sell AT the event. Below are three simple but effective ways to maximize this type of opportunity.

1. Use a Drawing to Collect Leads

If the promoter tells you that you can’t sell, just say, “No problem. May I do a free prize drawing?” Often, he or she will say yes. A drawing is a great way to drum up interest in your product or service while collecting qualified leads for your ezine. Here’s how.

• Give away a product or service that you most want to promote. You might choose an audio program or a consultation with you. Pick something that you want the audience to know about because, of course, if you’re giving it away, you have to talk about it for a while. This is your opportunity to unabashedly promote all of the benefits of your product and the amazing results people have had with it.
• Pass around a fishbowl or a basket. As I’ve said, it’s amazing how people will clamor to get their business card into a fishbowl for the opportunity to win something.
• Build your list. Let everyone entering the drawing know that they will also receive a “complimentary subscription to your XYZ ezine.” That way you’ve disclosed that you’ll be sending it to them in advance of their opting in with their business card.
• Celebrate the winner. Have the person who wins come up to the front and say, “Everyone, give Sarah a hand. She won the XYZ product!”
• Be ready afterward. After your talk, people will come up to you and ask how to get your program, and they’ll want to know what else you have. Be ready with order forms, or if that’s not permitted, see #3 below.

2. Turn One Gig into Many with a “Stay Connected” Form

Whether or not I can sell at the event, I make sure to get my “Stay Connected” or “Looking Forward” form into people’s hands. This is my magic tip for turning one speaking gig into many and, if I can’t sell, for capturing emails so that I can be in contact later.

• The top half of the page contains three checkboxes that are important for my business goals going forward. Yours should reflect your own goals as well. The first one says, “Yes, I would love a complimentary subscription to your Invisible Close ezine so I can get tips that I can immediately use to boost sales in my business.” The second checkbox says, “Please contact me about scheduling a possible keynote, workshop or training. I loved your talk.” The third one is, “I have a business referral opportunity for you.”

If they love you, people will often come up and say, “You have to talk to my group!” So you say, “That’s great!” and ask them to write it on the form. Be sure to ask for their primary email and phone number.

• The bottom half of the form has a picture of my product, my contact information and three strong testimonials. There’s a dotted line where they can tear it off, hand back my part, and keep my testimonials if they want to.

3. Sell On Your Own Turf!

A great strategy, if you can’t sell at an event, is to offer the participants a free teleseminar to cover one of the juicy points you didn’t have time to cover during your talk. Schedule it within 48 hours of your talk. Again, collect business cards or at least their first name and email address so you can send them the free call information.

This works in two ways. First, you can add them to your ezine list if you let them know in advance they will be getting a complimentary subscription. Second, you can invite them to the free teleseminar, and, on your turf, it’s open season. You can make any offer you like!

With just those three simple tactics, I’ve turned “no-sales” events into whopping successes. And you can, too!

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Sales-from-the-podium expert Lisa Sasevich has x-ray vision for seeing the sales opportunities that exist in every company, and the creativity to convert them into gold! If you’re looking for simple, quick and easy ways to boost sales without spending a dime, get your FREE Sales Nuggets now at www.theinvisibleclose.com.

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Today's interview with Terry Molloy, co-founder and director of Britain's Next Top Coach.  Terry explains the concept behind the competition and addresses the controversy it has raised in certain coaching circles!

Check out the interview and take a look at the website, BritainsNextTopCoach.tv.  The closing date for the competition is 31st December 2008 and it is completely free to enter.  Go on, you know you want to!

Today I'm talking about the X Factor.  Does your coaching business have the X Factor?  You will need it to succeed with your business.  Listen here:

Today's interview with Olivia Landsberg, leadership and communication coach.  Listen here:

Today’s interview with Jan Scott, women’s coach.  Listen here:

Enjoy!

Are you a life or business coach looking for a very affordable way to get yourself a website – and not prepared to compromise on quality?

Are you avoiding telling people about your coaching business because you know their first question will be: "I’ll look you up.  What’s your website address?"

If so, I’m delighted to tell you about the just-launched Coach Website Express which is going to be a huge help to coaches who are on a tight marketing budget but still want a unique and professional-looking website.

I created this product because I was once where you are now.  Actually, I had a website but was frustrated that I couldn’t update it myself.  Yet I felt that to learn how to build a website myself would require too much time and likely to be fraught with pitfalls.

Then finally, one day I realised I held in my hands the solution to my despair!  Take a look at CoachWebsiteExpress and you will learn what I discovered and how it can help you create the website you want at a price you can afford  – even if you have no technical ability!

Click here to visit the Coach Website Express site.

With the relaunch of New Coach Business Network later this year, I am looking for coaches at all stages of their career to interview for 15 minutes on my new Blog Talk Radio show.  It doesn’t matter how much experience you have as a coach as long as you enjoy talking about yourself (one of our favourite subjects surely?).

What’s in it for you?  A chance of course to promote you, your coaching, your website.  Great SEO from Blog Talk Radio and your website will get a link from BTR – valuable external link.  And if you haven’t got a website yet, well just look at my latest offer.

I’m looking for an angle that will be of interest to listeners.  That might simply be your personal journey as a coach, It might be about your niche, a type of marketing that has worked well for you, a favourite case study, your take on goal-setting, limiting beliefs, eliciting values, accreditation… I don’t want to give you too many options and overwhelm you but as long as you would enjoy talking about some aspect of your coaching journey for just 15 minutes I’d be interested to hear from you.

Practically speaking it will involve calling a US phone number and talking over the phone, not too hard, is it.  Timing will be to suit the two of us though I have a regular Sunday slot scheduled in the months to come – 11am.

Please don’t be put off if you’re a new coach.  This is the new coach business network, remember, and there will plenty of other new coaches who would love to hear how it is for you and if you’re having the same challenges or finding breakthroughs they could benefit from.

Email me direct please at marion@marionryan.com with:

• A brief paragraph about yourself, your coaching and any angle you’re interested in talking about.

• An idea of your availability.  Not keen on evening interviews but if you can’t do daytimes, I can do some weekend calls.

If you’re up for it just not yet, let me know what month I could schedule in your 15 minutes of fame.

And the offer is currently open only to members of New Coach Business Network so if you’re not yet, you can do so by clicking on the link in the right hand sidebar.  It’s still completely free.

Whether you are a brand new coach or an experienced one, it is always beneficial to be part of a coaching community, whether online or face-to-face.

A new coaching group is starting up in Reading, Berkshire and the inaugural meeting will take place on Thursday 6th November 2008  with subsequent meetings on the first Thursday of each month.  There is a nominal fee of £3 to cover refreshments and the hire of the room.

If you are interested contact Annie O’Neill by email at annie.oneill @ newhorizons.uk.com

Would you like to get more traffic to your website or blog quickly and for free? 

If you are a half-decent writer then writing articles around your expertise – by which I mean of course the expertise that would draw clients to you like a bullet if they just knew you existed – is a magical way to get lots more people clicking on your site.

How?  There are many many article directories out there where you can submit your articles.  You don’t get paid for them, nor do you pay to submit them. 

If, however, you do a little bit of planning around your keywords and make sure your article includes them, you will find that they quickly rise to the top of the search engines.  A descriptive and sexy resource box (your author bio) is always included at the end of your articles and if your words have enlightened, delighted or intrigued your readers a percentage of them will click onto your site.

There are many tips and tricks to help you improve and perfect your article-writing but if you have a brain, an internet connection and a keyboard then Bob’s your Uncle.

Ohh, but it’s so hard finding time to write regularly.  That’s why you should quickly hop over to the LK New Year’s Article Challenge which starts today – 17th January – and ends on my birthday – 19th February.

The Challenge is to write and submit 30 articles in that time period.  Don’t worry if 30 sounds a lot in that time period.  If it only encouraged you to write and submit 10 that you wouldn’t otherwise have done, wouldn’t that be great.

Go take a look and if you’re interested, sign up quickly.  You’ll find it at www.LKArticleChallenge.com

The prize for completing the Challenge is the Golden PJs award which you can proudly display on your site.  I managed to achieve this in the LK Fall Challenge.

Look forward to seeing you there!