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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 Olivia Landsberg, leadership and communication coach.  Listen here:

Dear Coach

• Are you a new or nearly-new coach feeling daunted at the prospect of finding her first paying clients?

• Or a coach with some experience but no clear plan for attracting new business to you?  Especially not if it means any of that dirty M word, marketing!
• Are you concerned you will start losing your coaching skills if you don’t get some practice fast?

Now discover a way to become
confident, professional and attractive to the people you are meant to
serve.  Choose to create a successful and profitable coaching business with The Abundant Coach – our affordable Group Coaching Programme! 

***   Next Course starts 15th January   ***

——————————————————————————————————

For full details on this great 14 week teleclass programme for new and somewhat experienced coaches can be found at The Abundant Coach website.

I am an
inspirational, professional life coach who is caring, well organized, a great
mentor and developer of my clients. I care deeply what happens to them and I go
the extra mile to help my clients lead the life they want so they feel
fulfilled and resourceful.

I wrote and designed my website http://www.too-active-to-retire.com.

I retired from my
former life with the United Nations spanning 30 years when I had the good
fortune to travel and work in some great places like Paris, Manhattan, NY and
Nairobi. I began studying Coaching in September 2003 and retired in June 2000.
Today, while developing my life coaching business, I am definitely ‘too active
to retire’!

 My ideal clients are those who are taking
early retirement as a result of economic downturns, as well as those who need a
structured plan and who want a retirement full of vitality and zest. 

In Paris I trained with the Dale Carnegie
Academy in development of leadership, and effective communication; I also attained
a certificate in Counseling. A number of friends told me that they say things
to me they never dreamed of saying to others. I have great people skills which
is growing and developing as a result of my coaching business. I attained the UK
Coaching Academy advanced certificate in 2004.

The benefits clients
experience from working with me are:

§ Capable of
achieving what they thought was the unachievable

§ More
motivated to face life’s challenges

§ Confident to
encompass change instead of walking away from it

§ Guided to
awareness of their potential in a loving environment

§ Treated with
utmost respect in complete confidentiality

§ Self assured
and attain more self confidence

Coaching is more than worthwhile when I
see that clients have reached their goals and attain results they never
imagined possible before working with me.

Clients and colleagues describe me as having
an attractive personality, caring, thoughtful, kind and well organized.

 “… structured, rational and logical,
while keeping me accountable and focused to develop my ‘wins’"

 "… Carole
is non judgmental space to voice thoughts and provided tools that not only
enabled me to re-evaluate what was important to me at that time but
allowed me to express my boundaries clearly to the people in my life. This was
key in helping me to move forward. Carole has a genuine interest in the
wellbeing of her clients as well as a wealth of life
experiences which allow her valuable insight into her clients’ issues."

For
my programmes and fees, I invite you
to click on the following link

http://www.too-active-to-retire.com/programmes-fees.html.
My fees are based on each individual client, so the fees described are examples
of what I charge.

When signing up to my
newsletter www.too-active-to-retire.com/newsletter.html

I offer a free report
and an initial ‘getting to know you’ free consultation to find out if I am the
coach for you.

I am married to a kind Frenchman and I
have two step children and 5 grandchildren. My elderly parents live in Dorset
which means I travel to the UK frequently. We have an apartment in Spain which
I rent – take a look at http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/24231. Thanks to
technology I can work equally well on my coaching practice wherever I happen to
be.

To contact me: carole.barnerias@neuf.fr and I would love to see how I can help you. You can call me on
Skype:lifeintransition.

Name                       Chris Moon-Willems

Business name     Newmoon Coaching

Business URL       www.NewMoonCoaching.co.uk

Blog                          Moonbeams

Where are you based? Worthing West Sussex

Chris, tell us something about you:

I am passionate about making a difference to people’s lives. Professionally I play a lead role in changing the way social care is delivered to disabled and vulnerable people. As a personal coach and Master NLP Practitioner I inspire women over 50 to discover new beginnings in their life following divorce, bereavement, retirement, illness and redundancy

Who’s your ideal client? 

Professional women over 50 who are facing or making changes in their life. Some know what they want and others need my help to define their goals. All are excited about making changes in their life and prepared to make a commitment to creating a new beginning in their life

What other training, tools and work / life skills do you bring to your coaching?

I hold social work and management qualifications and am an accredited Life Coach (with distinction) Master NLP Practitioner and certified Retirement Coach

How do you coach?

I offer coaching by telephone with email back up for maximum flexibility, convenience and value for money.

If you don’t coach full-time what else do you do?

I am a Service and Project Manager for Social services

What benefits have your clients experienced from working with you?

• Redirection in their personal and/or professional life
• Increased personal and social networks
• Regained control over their life
• Increased confidence and self esteem
• A planned approach into retirement

What do you enjoy most about coaching?

I love the fact that everyone is unique and brings his or her own strenthts, talents and perspective on life to coaching

What words do clients and colleageues use to describe you?

Inspirational, intuitive, sensitive, funny, warm, direct, determined and a good motivater

What are your coaching fees?

Do you offer a free consultation or other benefits?

I offer a 30-minute complimentary session and free mini ebook on creating your new beginning

What else do you want to tell us? 

Trained with the Life Coaching Academy, Evolution Training and Retirement Options

How can people get in touch with you? 

chris AT newmooncoaching.co.uk

Name:                     Caroline Mc Creight

Business Name:   Ignite Coaching

Business URL:     Going live shortly!

Where are you based: Northern Ireland, Belfast

Tell us something about you, Caroline:

Born and raised in Belfast and as a mum of two boys my favourite activities include spending time with my family and friends, walking, travel, camping, reading, having a good giggle and eating Chinese.

My background and passion lies in working with young people.

Involved in youth work in a range of settings for 14 years, I graduated with a Bsc Honours in Community Youth Work in 2004 and in 2007 received my Diploma in Life and Business Coaching.

In May 2007 I established Ignite Coaching to bring to young people a service that recognises their true potential through a process of learning and understanding themselves in a caring and inspirational environment.

Ideal Client:

My ideal clients are young people, young people who are looking to make positive changes in their life no matter what their circumstances.

I also love to work with those who have a vested interest in assisting young people to get the best life they can have whether a teacher, parent/guardian or youth worker.

Other training, tools and work/life skills I bring to my coaching:

My experience has shown me that there is no ‘one size fits all’ philosophy and I bring to my coaching a combination of Hypnosis, NLP, Time Line Therapy, my knowledge and skills as a youth worker and my own life experiences.

My approach is based on building rapport with my clients where the focus is totally on them to bring about change.
How do you coach:

I work with young people face-to-face here in Belfast on an individual basis and in a group setting anywhere in Northern Ireland.

I also offer telephone coaching and email support both for young people and those interested in assisting young people to have the best life they can have.

What else I do, aside from coaching:

My passion and enthusiasm for working with young people has taken me in lots of directions. I am currently working with young people who have fallen outside mainstream education and are involved in an Alternative Education Programme. I also facilitate programmes to address offending behaviour and assess young people completing their NVQ level lll in Youth Work.

What benefits have your clients experienced from working with you:

“I was at a very low point in my life and could not see a way a forward. Caroline helped me look at my problems. She was someone I could talk to and really understood me…” Female 17yrs

What do you enjoy most about coaching:

I love to see people grow, develop and strengthen their belief in their unlimited potential and have a greater awareness about who they are.

What words do clients and colleagues use to describe you:

“Caroline is very positive all the time, an understanding and helpful person”  (Anonymous 18yrs)

"Caroline has a fantastic rapport with young people. She respects young people and they too respect her. She treats them as equals and empowers them to make their own choices in life, assisting them as they do so. As a great coach she passionately believes that every young person has potential and through coaching helps young people come to realize this for themselves. Her training and work as a youth worker in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Belfast, faced with extreme difficult issues like mental health and youth offending, has ensured her feet remain completely on the ground".

K. Newell Youth Arts Co-ordinator, NewLodge

Coaching fees:

Telephone Coaching:    3 weekly 1hr sessions with 1 week rest £120

Discount available for advance payment of 3, 6, and 9 monthly Coaching sessions

Standard fee for face-to-face and group coaching programmes is £47 and may vary depending on location and group size.

Fees can be discussed during complimentary session.

All coaching programmes include free email support

Free consultation:

Both you and I want to be sure that coaching is right for you so I offer a complimentary call that lasts around 30 minutes.

The complimentary call introduces you to the concept of coaching and explores how you can benefit from coaching

You make the decision as to whether or not you would benefit with no obligation and if you do not want to proceed, I may be able to find you a coach who is better suited to your needs.

What else:

I guess I have always been coaching through my work but I put a formal qualification to the work I do through Mindstream NI www.mindstream.ie in 2007. To compliment the coaching I completed the NLP, Time Line Therapy and Hypnosis Practitioner training through www.nlpnorthernireland.co.uk also in 2007

My coaching hours are reasonably flexible to meet the needs of my clients

How can people get in touch with you? mccreightc@hotmail.com (pending website going live)

Name                            Jenny Chalmers

Business name          Blue Horizons Coaching

Website                        www.bluehorizonscoaching.co.uk

Blog                               http://moresparkle.typepad.com

Where are you based?   

UK – In South Northamptonshire, just north of Milton Keynes.   

Jenny says:

I have been coaching for about four years now. I trained with Curly Martin of Achievement Specialists. I was fascinated by coaching when I saw a series of articles in The Times describing how the coaching process brought about personal transformation in people’s lives. I was amazed at how quickly this happened and it made me determined to be a coach.

I have worked mainly in education and coaching seemed a natural extension of this.

My niche is women who have lost their sparkle. This may happen after giving birth, dealing with teenagers, getting a divorce or when the children have left home. As I’ve been in all these situations I know how much they sap your confidence and make you feel dull. The good news is that I know how to help you to feel good about yourself, so that your sparkle comes back and you feel really attractive again.

I coach mainly by phone because it is cost effective, although I do some face-to-face coaching locally. I have various roles in education and they all involve empowering people and giving them confidence in their abilities.

I offer a free consultation of around twenty minutes so that we can talk about how you would like to use coaching and, importantly, whether we feel we could work together productively.
After experiencing coaching, all my clients experience greater satisfaction with their lives and some find their lives transformed.

"Since talking with Jenny I’ve been able to stand back and look at what was happening, making small changes which resulted in huge improvements.
She has encouraged me to ‘think outside the box’ and to go after my dreams and make them come true. My ability to design and create is even better than before and I find ideas come easier and more work is coming in. "

TP, Graphic Designer, Milton Keynes

The thing I love most about coaching is seeing how clients achieve their goals. Their successes give me my satisfaction.

With Jenny’s help I chose two specific approaches to getting fit that fitted in with not only my lifestyle but also my personality. Because of this I have been able to sustain the commitment and improve my overall fitness’.

VR, Business Training Consultant, Sussex

Every client is different and my coaching recognises that different people need an approach that is tailored to their particular experience and situation.

"Jenny has been super to work with. She not only challenges and
inspires me, but she also gives me a positive space in which to work
out my plans of action. I found her ability to aid me in seeing areas,
or approaches I had not previously considered, very enlightening. She
has a canny knack of seeing the bigger picture whilst I am still
battling through the mire. Using clever techniques Jenny gives me the
confidence to take things out of the ‘too difficult box and complete
them, leaving me feeling a deep sense of achievement and bags of energy
to get closer to my goals. I would recommend Jenny to anyone who wants
to seriously spring clean their lives and put themselves back in
control."

VR, IT Consultant, Oxfordshire 

People’s needs are varied so I offer different packages starting with individual coaching sessions of up to an hour for £60. You might like to use a session to work out how to achieve a goal, to alter something in your life or to use me as a sounding board for your ideas.

You may find that one session is enough but if you think you will need more, you could choose to have unlimited coaching, including email support, for £160 per month.

My Regain Your Sparkle programme helps you to focus on areas of your life that are not totally satisfactory so that you can revitalise yourself. The course comprises ten sessions and takes about three months to complete. It costs £500 (terms are available).

If you have several friends who would like to have some group coaching, I can do this too.
    

Please contact me at jenny at bluehorizonscoaching.co.uk to arrange a free, no-obligation chat. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Name                   Lynne Lee

Business Name    Christian Life Coaching and

                           SEO & Article Marketing Coach

Business URL      www.ChristianLifecoaching.co.uk

                           www.SeoIsSimple.com

Blog                    http://ACloserWalkWithGod.blogspot.com

Where are you based?  UK – Derby

Tell us about yourself, Lynne:

I am a 53 year old mother of 5 who loves sharing what I’ve learnt and helping people to overcome hurdles. I’ve discovered that I love writing. I have written an eBook Optimize Your Website and I am developing a coaching ecourse and a second eBook on How to Hear God.

I have three areas of expertise:

My ideal clients are either:

• Looking to deepen their relationship with God, learn to hear him more clearly and ready to design their life around what matters most to them.

• Ready for a mentor to get alongside and help them to learn how to market their business using article marketing and how to repurpose their content.

• Establishing a web presence and want to do it in a way that ensures free targeted website visitors

What other training, tools and work / life skills do you bring to your coaching?

Whilst establishing my coaching business I have developed expertise in the areas of article marketing and website optimisation. Technical things come easily to me and I now help people to do keyword research, set up an affiliate programme, learn how to use Paydotcom, discover how to use cpanel, set up an autoresponder sequence and optimise their website.

What methods of coaching do you use?

I mostly coach by phone, 1 to 1, but I am about to launch a 4 week group coaching series on How to Optimise your Website. I plan to do many teleseminars in 2008.

What benefits have your clients experienced from working with you?

My clients grow in confidence, purpose and expertise. They discover that they can do things they thought were beyond them and are inspired to go after their dream.

What do you enjoy most about coaching?

I love seeing my clients break through barriers and grow to believe in themselves

What words do clients and colleageues use to describe you?

My clients tell me that I am very intuitive and a great motivator, I help them to believe that they can

What are your coaching fees?

I currently charge £117 for a month’s coaching. This includes 2×45 minute one to one sessions and email contact in-between.

I offer laser coaching around technical challenges for £47 an hour

Do you offer a free consultation or other benefits?

I offer a free 20 minute exploratory session to help determine whether I am the coach for you.

What else do you want to tell us?

I coach mostly between 10am and 2.30 pm weekdays and offer occasional evening slots around 8pm

How can people get in touch with you?

You can contact me through my website or at lynne at lynnelee.com