Instant Credibility

It's not easy building and running a successful coaching business. There are all sorts of coaches out there and it takes time to build your reputation and credibility. But credibility is essential to your success so you have to be willing to take action in order to build it. As mentioned earlier, you can build an online presence and that will help with building social proof but you have to go even further than that. And one of the best ways to do that is by writing a book.

You're probably shaking your head, thinking no way. I don't have time to do this. I don't know what I'd write about. It's too hard to get a book published. Nope, I just can't do this.

While these used to be good excuses, in this day and age they're not. With all the technology advances and access to things like Amazon, writing a book is a lot more doable today than it ever used to be. Gone are those days of having to find a publisher to pitch your book to and waiting to see whether they'll accept it or reject it. Now, it's just a matter of writing the content - and if you've already been blogging for a while, you have a wealth of content available for repurposing.
 
There's just something that screams expert when you can say you're an author. This builds a level of credibility that can't be beat. Think about it: anybody can set up a blog and start sharing their expertise on a topic. Anybody can write articles and submit them to directories or share on other blogs as a guest expert. Anybody can be a guest on a podcast. But not everybody will put in the time and effort to become an author. If you take the time to do this, not only are you building your credibility, but you're also a step ahead of many others in the market. That’s the power of publishing a book.

And think about how credible you’ll be when you take books with you to a speaking engagement or in person event, where your dream-coaching client may be. Handing someone a book rather than a business card makes an unforgettable first impression. Or maybe you have a chance to meet with a prospective client who is local - wouldn't you want to be able to hand them a copy of your book? Talk about an extremely powerful way to show your expertise and credibility!

As you can see, writing a book is an excellent way to build your credibility and now is the perfect time to do it.

How to Make Saying “Yes” a No-Brainer

The next strategy for landing your dream client is to make saying yes to your coaching services a total no-brainer.

Stop and think for a minute.  Have you ever been to a website before where it was so busy (a gazillion navigation buttons, a bunch of different options to buy one product, a notification to do this or wait, do this instead) that you could not choose which button to click?  What did you do? More than likely you went away without doing anything, including spending any money with them!

A confused person doesn't know what to do and instead of doing something, they do nothing instead. And that's not what you want for your coaching business.  You want people to have clarity about what you're offering and clear guidance on how to get it.

So, how do you achieve this?

You have to give your prospective clients a very clear call to action.  This means don't give them a bunch of different options to choose from or things they have to think about.  Keep it simple!  Spell it out for them.

Another way to make saying yes to you easy is to play on their emotions.  We're not talking about being manipulative here, but instead playing off of one very normal emotion all people experience - regret.

For example, you can play on this emotion of regret by letting your potential clients know that if they don't act now, they'll miss out on the special price.  If they don't act now, they’ll find themselves regretting the decision because when they do come back they’ll see the price increase.  You can also do this by mentioning to the prospective client that you only have one opening available right now for a coaching client.  Again, if they don't act now they’ll find themselves regretting that decision when they come back and you can't take them on.

 

All in all, when it comes to making the “yes” easy, it's just a matter of playing off their emotions in a positive way, and showing them (by your social presence/proof, expert articles, guest expert appearances on podcasts, etc.) you have the solution they're looking for.  And once you've closed the sale, put it in writing for them.  Have them sign a contract.  This will spell out exactly what they're getting and leave no area for questioning.