If you want to have a full- or part-time coaching business, you need two essentials: 1) the ability to coach effectively and 2) clients.

I’ve trained hundreds and hundreds of coaches over the course of nearly two decades and I can say without a doubt which of these essentials is the bigger struggle for would-be coaches.  Can you guess which is the bigger challenge? (Hint: it’s not the ability to coach effectively.)

If so many coaches are good at coaching and want to have a coaching practice, what is it that trips them up?  While each coach’s situation is distinct, I have noticed three common roadblocks for getting clients.  Let’s discuss what they are and how to overcome them.

Mental Roadblock.  The number one deterrent to getting clients is the conversation that goes on in a coach’s head.  The mental roadblock is created by negative or limiting beliefs that prevent you from even trying to get clients or steer you in the wrong direction.  Here are some of the most common limiting beliefs:

• When money’s involved, things get weird.
• If I ask for money, it’s about me getting money.
• People don’t want to pay for coaching.
• When people pay for coaching, I am taking their money.
• If I get a paying client, it’s a win for me but a loss for the client.
• When a potential client decides not to hire me, they are rejecting me.
• It’s about me.

These kinds of mental messages can keep you from ever even pursuing a new client.  The way to overcome the mental roadblock is to get clear what exactly your beliefs about getting clients are.  Be honest with yourself.  Write down the messages you’re telling yourself and what the impact those messages is having on you.  It will take some time to audit your limiting beliefs but doing so will be well worth the effort.  Once you have detailed the beliefs and their impact, determine what the truth is for each belief.  Find ways to remind you of the truth and replace the negative mental messages with more accurate and more helpful ones.

Systems Roadblock.  Getting clients does not happen through luck.  Sure, a client might fall in your lap from time to time, but luck is not a way to grow a sustainable coaching practice – even a part-time one.  Without systems, your attempts to get clients will hit a wall of ineffectiveness.

A system is a repeatable and reliable way to do something.  When it comes to getting clients, you’ll need systems in four areas:

1. Niche.  You have to be clear what kind of coaching you offer to what kind of clients who are looking to solve what kind of problems.  Once you know your niche, your systems help you stay informed and connected to the issues of importance to your niche.  My coaching niche is business leaders, so I have a system for identifying and understanding organizational health, organizational change, and leadership best practices.  Knowing your niche also opens the door to the other three areas where you’ll need systems.  For example, networking gets MUCH easier when you know your niche.
2. Networking.  Remember, people do business with those they know, like, and trust. Networking is how people get to know you.  And you’ll need a system for networking.  Your networking system needs to include activities that you are willing to do and might even look forward to.  It will also include some things you wouldn’t otherwise do if the system didn’t direct you to do so.  You might consider creating systems for asking for referrals (and following up on those referrals), offering workshops, or attending events.  Keep it simple and remember: the goal of a networking system is that you and potential clients learn about each other and you can follow up.
3. Nurturing.  What should you do with the people in your network?  You should nurture the relationships.  When you provide value and show interest in the people in your network, they will go from knowing you to liking and trusting you.  A system for nurturing might include a value-filled email newsletter, meeting for coffee to learn more about the person and their situation, sending helpful resources and articles that address their situation, or inviting people to a free workshop related to your area of coaching.  A key to nurturing is that it is not a negotiating action.  The goal is not to sign up a client immediately after a coffee meeting, but to develop and deepen the quality of the relationship.
4. Negotiating.  Some of the people in your network will express interest in working with you.  Negotiating systems involve asking for business and taking the necessary actions to help someone navigate the decision about being your client.  Your system might include using tools such as a needs analysis, following up with a proposal, having a standard contract, and how you get the first session scheduled.

Motivation Roadblock.  You can have the best systems in the world and have your mental game on target, but if you fail to execute, none of that will matter.  Your systems tell you what to do and when to do it, but you’ve got to listen and obey.  This means you need to recognize and overcome the motivation roadblock.  The motivation roadblock can take on various forms:

• Poor scheduling and prioritization
• Procrastination
• Getting distracted
• Lack of specificity in your system
• Confusion about how an action connects to the bigger picture
• Bumping up against a mental roadblock that hasn’t been fully removed

To keep your motivation where it needs to be, treat motivation as a known and manageable resource, not as a mystical muse that comes and goes at will.  This is another place where having a system can help.  My system for keeping motivation high includes regularly checking in with my mission, values, 10-year goals, and one-year goals.  I also regularly talk through these elements with those who are close to me, including my teammates and wife.  I watch videos, read books and blogs, and listen to podcasts geared toward stoking my motivation.  Instead of waiting for my motivation tank to magically fill up, I work to keep it filled.

The road to having plenty of clients has some roadblocks, but fortunately you are the kind of person who can overcome roadblocks!  As you do so, be sure to reach out to me and the other members of the CAM team to let us know about your victories and your progress.