[click_to_tweet tweet=”How to grow your coaching or consulting business from scratch” quote=”How to grow your coaching or consulting business from scratch”]
The five success principles of a scalable coaching or consulting business will help you close more deals and beat the pants off your competition. This report is different from anything else you’ve read before. This is only for coaches, consultants and service providers who are ready to grow their business.
For the first time, we’re going to go to the core of what makes growing a coaching business possible.
Who am I and what makes me qualified to teach you anything?
I’m Charles Kirkland and more importantly I’ve made so many mistakes that by the process of elimination I finally figured it out.
• Known as a thought leader in the world of paid advertising, coaching, consulting and information marketing.
• Founder of the Media Buyer Association and the 4X Client Maximizer System.
• For the past 17 years I’ve helped online entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses while working less.
I became one of the top 100 affiliates at ClickBank. And if you’re wondering what does that have to do with coaching or consulting, it is proof that I know how to get insane amounts of traffic. I also became one of ClickBank’s top vendors, so I know how to create an offer that converts to cold traffic.
But enough about me.
I want you to use this report as a mini coaching session because anybody who’s successful in life has a coach in a specific area to help them get there.
Now this is what you are going to learn from this report today:
• How to create a steady flow of high-ticket strategy sessions, so you can predictably grow your business.
• How to 2x, 5x, and 10x your fees without feeling salesy, so you can create freedom to only work with the very best clients.
• How to avoid burnout while growing your business, so you can finally enjoy the rewards of hard work.
• The new way to create celebrity authority position, so you can become the only viable answer to your client’s problems. Once you have these
5 pillars in place you’ll stop loosing clients to your competition.
Most of what you’ve been taught about growing a coaching or consulting business is actually DEAD WRONG.
I have to ask you:
• Is your business scalable?
• Is your message clear?
• Do you have automation, or is everything done by you?
• Do you have a consistent lead flow?
• Are you seen as the authority?
• And, are you charging anywhere near what you’re worth?
Is This Report For You?
I absolutely do not want to waste your time if this isn’t for you.
• If you’re a coach or a consultant, and you want to break free from one-on-one coaching and learn how to create a scalable, high-ticket signature group, this is for you.
• If you’re a coach or a consultant who has guilt and hesitation holding you back from charging what you’re worth, this is for you.
• If you want to create the unshakable confidence that comes from having clarity about your position and your message, so you can attract high-ticket clients who seek out and are gladly pay your fees, this is for you.
• If you want to jump to the top one percent of coaches and consultants, this is for you.
• If you want to create a steady flow of high-ticket strategy sessions and increase your profits by 2x, 5x or even 10x, this is for you.
• If you’re sick and tired of scrambling around not knowing where the next client is coming from, and you want to create a systematic way to grow your business while working less, this is for you.
Now, let’s go ahead and talk about a CONFESSION here.
I’ve spoken on stage. I’ve been part of some of the top mastermind groups in the world. I hang out with elite authors, speakers, coaches, and marketers.
Consulting Like It’s 1999
When I got started in 1999, I wasn’t the Charles Kirkland that I am now. Unfortunately, I struggled. I ended up reading every consulting book I could find. I bought every sales and marketing tape I could get. I even hired a mentor to help me through the learning curve.
And I actually sort of figured it out.
11 Clients, 30 Days
With some massive action I ended up with 11 clients, 30 days in.
Before you say, “But Charles, that’s great, you know, the massive success…” Not exactly.
I would pretty much take anybody who could pay and I was trading time for money. And if you didn’t have money, I would give you discounts and payment plans. I even had some clients with whom I bartered products in exchange for my time.
Now these people acted like they owned me. I pretty much undercharged for my work because I really had no clue what I was absolutely worth. And I would give them daily reports on my progress.
This might not sound that bad, but when you get more than a handful of clients, this becomes a complete management nightmare.
And, long story short…
Losing Money.
I spent so much time working for these other people, I couldn’t build any assets in my business. I literally worked myself until I became broke.
After three months, You’re Fired!
I fired everybody. My nerves were completely shot. They were frayed. I just couldn’t make anybody happy no matter what I did.
They had no problem calling me anytime they felt like it. It didn’t matter what day, what time – Sunday, Monday, at 11PM or 8AM – they would call and tell me how to do my job. They would read something and they would second-guess everything I did. Plus, they were late paying me.
And I was like, man this is crazy. This is not working out.
I just fired everybody. I got rid of the clients. It didn’t work out.
2nd Try: Group Coaching
Then I tried a group coaching setup but I had to put my information marketing business on hold. My information marketing business at this point was very successful, but I felt like group coaching was the way to go.
Building a Webinar
I spent a boat load of money on working with a copywriter to create this long webinar that was guaranteed to convert. The PowerPoint presentation looked great.
Ran Ads
I thought that it was going to be a home run so I cranked up the ads and used the templates the copywriter gave me.
Personally I did not feel authentic running these ads.
But he kept telling me how good everything was, so I followed his advice. I ran the ads for the week and got 351 sign-ups.
Poor Leads
I’m sure your thinking, “Charles, that’s wonderful.” Well, no. Not exactly. I ended up with a bunch of booked strategy sessions with people who were not even remotely qualified.
When you get on the call and within five minutes you realize the prospect is not even remotely qualified, it’s a disaster. The amount of time I wasted on the phone was a killer.
3 weeks
To make it worse, I spent about 3 weeks of time – building the webinar, running the ads and doing the strategy sessions. And then to add insult to injury…
Remember me?
• Some people didn’t even remember we had a call scheduled.
• Others just told me to call back when it was more convenient for them.
• Even more missed the call completely.
Free Advice
I was pretty much giving free advice. They just wanted to pick my brain and tell me how valuable the call was.
When a client tells you that, it really means they’re not buying. And you’ve just given them a $1,000 education at your expense.
Money
They would tell me that they were broke, they did not have the money until next week, they had to ask a spouse, they already joined somebody else’s coaching program… If you can name it, they had an excuse for it.
Working For Free
Others wanted me to work for free and pay me after they had success. That’s like looking at a stove and saying as soon as it gets hot you will put some wood in it.
And even worse, the few people that did join expected me to do the work for them. This was group coaching, not let-me-be-yourpersonal-VA. It felt like I was the bank.
I Was the Bank
One client wanted a 50% discount because he was broke. Then he used a premium black card to make a payment so he could get the points for his Hawaiian vacation in two months. (And yes, I felt like a you-know-what at this point.)
I Dreaded the Calls
These group calls would go on for four to five hours straight, with just six people. The questions were the same ones over, and over, and over. Every week it was the same. I would tell them you need to go do this – x, y, and z.
I would give them the same advice over and over. They wouldn’t take action or they blamed me for it or wanted me to do the stuff.
It was crazy.
I had some people who missed the calls and wanted me to make it up, one-on-one with them and their assistant. Or, they wanted me to stop the clock and just pick up the group coaching whenever it was more convenient for them.
One person wanted a refund because they showed up for 10 of the 12 calls. Others wanted me to email them my list or promote their product.
After three months, I ended it.
Ready to Give Up
I was ready to give up. I spent way more money than I made with this group coaching. I had a massive amount of opportunity cost from putting my existing, profitable information marketing business on hold. And, this is when it really hit me.
Making Mistakes
As Robert Kiyosaki would say, “In the real world, the smartest people are people who make mistakes and learn.” I’ve already made about every mistake that you can possibly make, twice – not once, but twice.
Starting Over
I decided to start over and learn everything I could. I went to coaches and consultants who were not in the IM niche and were not selling how to be a coach to coaches.
That was one of my problems. Those are the people I bought from.
While they have great products (and I’m sure that there’s a certain percentage of the people they can help) trying to be a coach to coaches is probably a losing proposition.
And when you’ve got people who are selling this in the IM niche, next week they’re selling PLR articles. The week after that they’re selling how to create an information marketing business. The week after that they’re selling how to groom your chia pets for profit.
Studying
I had to go to the real experts. The people I would have to learn form had to be making at least seven-figures and living the lifestyle I wanted. I see a lot of people through the Media Buyer Association. When you get to know these people, they’re working 60 hours a week.
They may be making seven figures, but there’s no way possible they can enjoy it. They’re unhappy with their lives, they’re just stuck on the treadmill. I did not want that to be me.
They had to have a track record of getting results year after year.
Unfortunately, a lot of these coaches have had very little success, or they’ve had success in the short-term. Having a short-term success is not the same as having major success.
I wanted to see people who’ve had successes through economic upturns, economic downturns, and who have a long track record that can prove to me that they’ve been there.
I studied like crazy. I bit the bullet and jumped in with both feet. I read and watched everything I could get. If they could do it, so could I.
I finally figured everything out, and I want to teach you the five pillars of profits.
Five Pillars of Coaching Profits.
Business is like baking a cake. You have to put the right ingredients in at the right time. Even if you’ve got the right ingredients but put use them in the wrong order, it will not work.
These are the 5 steps and the order they come in.
• We need to have a scalable business model.
• We need to have a clear message.
• We need to be seen as the authority.
• We need to be using marketing automation.
• We need to have a consistent flow of leads.
Scalable Business Model
First of all, you absolutely have to stop trading time for money, so you can get freedom. If your income is tied to a time clock or how many hours you bill, you’re pretty much stuck. You end up burned out and hating what you do.
You probably think your business is different and your clients don’t want a group model. I’ve heard so many people tell me, “Well Charles, they don’t want a group model.”
If they don’t want a group model, that’s fine. But there are people who want one and are willing to pay for it.
Stop trading time for money.
Trading time for money is how most people get started because it is the easiest strategy when you are starting out. You charge xnumber of dollars for y-amount of time, and your income hits a wall very fast. It’s a deadly trap.
The better you become, the faster you get results. Now you’re delivering greater value for less money. That doesn’t become a winwin or a scalable situation. It robs you from making the biggest impact.
When you’re working by the hour or working one-on-one, you can affect one person or two people. When you do a group scenario, you can affect 30, 40, 50, even 100 people at a time, or more. So keep that in mind.
Are you working so much, that you don’t spend time to grow your business?
Does that sound like you?
You’re just too busy working in your business to really get a chance to do anything. It’s like you’re constantly giving, giving, giving your best to your clients. You end up burned out.
Burn Out
You end up giving the same advice over and over to every new client. And worst of all is you don’t get to grow, because you’re never challenged. You’re working with the same problems over and over. And eventually, you just sound like a broken record. And your clients can tell that. Clients feed off your energy. They feed off your emotion.
One of the problems that a lot of people tell me is they can’t do group coaching because their business is unique.
Your business is not different.
Some clients will require one-on-one services. But make them pay for it. When you do one-on-one, you’re losing the opportunity to teach as a group. So keep that in mind.
Clients just want the fastest way to the solution to the problem. They don’t really want to go buy a drill. They just want a hole in something.
Clients just want a solution to the problem. They don’t care whether it’s group coaching, one-on-one or what. They just want the outcome. They are buying the outcome.
There are ways that we can incorporate group coaching with some one-on-one, certainly. If your prospects only want one-on-one coaching, make them pay for it.
You absolutely need to make sure they are willing to pay for it because you don’t really have any leverage when you’re doing one-onone coaching.
Leverage
Do you want to work with five people, one-on-one, for $100/hour every week for a total of $2,000 per month? Unfortunately, I’ve looked at some statistics, and a lot of coaches and consultants don’t bring home $2,000 per month in revenues from their core business.
Or do you want to have 30 people paying you $4,000 to $8,000 for an eight-week group coaching?
We’re selling the outcome. Your client knows that in eight weeks the problem is solved versus working with you, for some unknown amount of time.
• Eight weeks – We’ve got a patented system, tried and true. We can solve your problem. And after that, if you need one-on-one or if you need additional stuff, we can certainly work with you.
• Or do you just want to keep hammering away until it’s fixed one day?
Between these two options, I want a solution to the problem.
I’m going to choose the eight weeks to solve my problem. I don’t want to choose the let’s-keep-going-until-it’s-fixed option. I want to know that there’s a timeline and a road-map.
Obviously, you would not drive from Charleston, South Carolina to California without a roadmap. You’d want to know if it takes 20 hours or 30 hours, where are the stops, what are the milestones. When you’re doing one-on-one coaching the client does not know how long it’s going to take.
Having a Clear Message.
So many consultants, coaches, and service providers don’t have a clear message. It sounds like they’re everything to everybody. You have to have a clear message that can become your big idea.
Here’s a quote from the father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy.
“You will never win fame and fortune unless you invent big ideas. It takes big ideas to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.”
Look at some of the companies that have become the leaders in this 21st century, you’ll see they have very clear messages.
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Invent stuff that people couldn’t even imagine. And once you invent it, they’re like, how did I live without it? Develop the unshakable confidence that comes with having clarity about your message. That’s very important.” – Steve Jobs
When you have a clear message you only attract high value clients because they do not want a muddled down message. They want a solution to the problem. These people will gladly pay for the best.
A lot of people tell me that they can’t do that because they will limit their market.
Guess what?
You need to limit your market.
Unshakeable Confidence.
Unless you know exactly who you help, your message is watered down and absolutely attracting nobody. People tell me, “I’m a life coach.”
That doesn’t cut the mustard in today’s world. You sound like a generalist, Jack-of-all-trades who can be purchased like a commodity. The same way I go to the store and decide which brand of milk I’m getting based on lowest cost is how I would decide to hire you.
Answer this for me.
Do you want to be the social media coach to anybody with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal? Or, do you want to be the content positioning strategist who exclusively works with seven-figure business coaches?
Now, let’s imagine that I’m looking at hiring somebody and I’ve got two options: one person over here who says, “I’m a social media coach,” or the other person who says, “I’m the content positioning strategist who exclusively works with seven-figure business coaches.”
The first one is a dime a dozen.
There are millions of them.
I am picking the second one because they sound like a specialist who can get the job done with less problems.
Unfortunately, often we don’t believe in ourselves enough to create a clear message.
We don’t believe in our ability to help people. We have this nagging voice in the back of our minds discouraging us.
Which will they choose, the generalist or the specialist?
Guess what? They hire the specialists. The generalists starve. The specialists thrive. Limit your market so you can be seen as the authority figure with a message that grabs your prospect’s attention.
Unfortunately, so many people are just in the “me too” business. You have to be a specialist. Nobody wants to hire a generalist. Everybody wants to hire the best to solve their problems.
When you have a message dialed in 100%, you sound confident and powerful with your offer and attract higher fees and better clients. People who have money who are willing to pay you are not paying for a watered-down message.
They’re paying for a specialist with a clear, concise message that offers to solve their problem.
Authority Positioning
Be seen as the authority. People respect authority. When you have the authority positioning, it makes you the thought leader. Just having a doctor’s coat on will make people follow you.
You don’t even have to be a doctor, but just having that coat will have people in the hospital following you, no problem. We’re conditioned from birth to follow the rules, respect authority.
Niche Celebrity and Authority
We have two categories here. We’ve got a niche celebrity and we’ve got an authority. When you become a niche celebrity and an authority figure, you get the lion’s share of the market, leaving the copycats to fight for the table scraps. You do not have to be Dr. Phil to have success.
Create your own celebrity status to your small world of prospects. We’re not trying to create celebrity status to everybody who watches television. We’re trying to create a celebrity status to a small segment of your niche.
Having that clear message will help you segment who that niche is. Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton – they’re famous for being rich. They show up somewhere and people throw money at them. And you have way more to offer the world than these two ladies, I believe.
You have to learn how to toot your own horn. Unfortunately, most of us are taught from birth to be modest. Don’t brag.
Your prospects will repeat what you say. Like I tell people, I’ve been one of the top 100 affiliates in the world, been one of the top vendors. I don’t say that to brag. But when I say it, other people will begin to repeat it. As they repeat it, it becomes legend. And we’re going to show you how to do that.
Maybe you and your wife have had a fight. Your wife doesn’t want to talk to you anymore. She just turns her back on you and doesn’t want anything to do with you.
Do you want to go to your local therapist who happens to be the world’s greatest marriage therapist, or do you want to go to Dr. Phil, pay the dude six-figures and get on a lengthy waiting list. Is he really better than the guy down the street who works with this problem every day?
The reality of it is, people would rather pay Dr. Phil insane amounts of money because he is a celebrity and an authority. Your local therapist – he’s probably an authority, not a celebrity.
Because he doesn’t have the celebrity positioning, there’s no way he can compete against somebody like that. And interestingly enough, the thing that most people don’t understand is demand can be created.
One of my neighbors runs a car lot. He said, “People will absolutely come in and haggle you to death over $50 for a Honda. People will literally get up and walk out of the dealership over $50.”
Interestingly enough, if you are trying to buy a high-end car like a Lamborghini or Ferrari or even a Porsche you have to get on a waiting list. You have to be pre-approved. Often you have to be a previous owner.
When was the last time you saw an advertisement for, “No credit, slow credit. Come on down to Bob’s Ferrari lot!” Nope, that doesn’t happen.
These high end cars sell for more than sticker price and there is often a waiting list. This proves that demand can be created. But yet people will walk out of a Honda dealership over $50. Keep that in mind.
Now think about this.
How do we create demand?
Talk about the impact you can make. If I see your ads 24/7, and I see those ads through repetition, guess what?
Seeing the ads again and again, and on different sites, makes me think you’re everywhere. You are like a diamond. You are valuable. Demand is artificially created.
Because of that, your price goes up. And remember, we’re not doing this for the whole world. We’re just doing this for a small segment of your audience. And interestingly enough, people are happy to pay more to celebrity coaches.
People are happy to pay celebrity coaches whatever they want because they are a celebrity and an authority. So, keep that in mind. If you’re fighting for the table scraps, this is something that will make a massive impact on your business.
Marketing Automation
If I had a dollar for every coach, consultant, or service provider who told me that they aren’t using marketing automation, I would own a small island somewhere in the Caribbean.
Marketing automation is portrayed by the people who are promoting it as a big bad monster.
It’s actually not difficult. It allows you to skip the day-to-day stuff. It gives you freedom. It gives you more time to enjoy life and grow your business.
Marketing automation has been talked about like it’s the big bad wolf and it’s going to hurt you. It’s far from it.
Day to Day Stuff
Just look at this one example. Imagine if following up with your prospects who sign up but don’t show up for a webinar happened automatically.
We can actually do predictive modeling. If you’re hosting a webinar:
• You could follow up with leads who watched your webinar.
• You could follow up with leads who left the webinar early who didn’t see your offer.
• You could follow up with leads who watched the webinar until the end, because they’re your most engaged prospects.
• And you could even follow up differently with leads who did not attend your webinar at all.
You can use different messaging for all four of these categories, and you can get an exponentially higher results.
Automation will buy you time. It makes sure nobody slips through the cracks. How many times have you gotten a lead or a call and it just slipped through the cracks? It happens to a lot of people.
Plus, you can do what’s called lead scoring. Start looking at the quality of every lead and it will tell you who’s going to be the most likely to convert.
Simple or Complex
You can make this as simple or as complex as you want.
You don’t have to go crazy with automation. After you get it figured out, then go into far more complex automations.
Automation actually makes things personal.
Unless you want to personally email everybody who does a different action on your website, you need to use automation. It will massively increase your conversions because people feel like it’s personal to them.
And at the end of the day, all your prospects are concerned about is what is in it for them and how does it make them feel.
Consistent Lead Flow
You’ve noticed we’ve saved consistent lead flow until the end. Unfortunately, most coaches end up working backwards. They think all they need is more leads.
The problem is, if you put more water in a leaky bucket, guess what happens? It drains out faster, creating a bigger disaster.
If these other pillars aren’t in place, having more leads will be a disaster.
Don’t be scared of paid advertising.
You have to know who your best client is and where to find them. You don’t want to attract the wrong people in your funnel like I’ve done in previous coaching programs.
You need to use qualifiers in your ad copy to repel the wrong people that are not going to be the a good fit.
Forecast your Growth
You also need to start looking at how to forecast growth. When you can turn your lead flow on and off at will, it gives you predictability in your business.
Once you understand your close rate, then you know how much each person is worth. Is each person that you’re talking to worth $100, $1,000, $5,000?
Unfortunately, so many coaches, consultants and service providers who I talk to don’t use paid advertising.
Most people start their business using referrals from a warm audience. But the problem is that it’s not predictable or scalable. You can’t grow a successful six or seven or eight-figure business on that.
The only way to create consistent lead flow is with paid advertising. Start small with a proven framework and start building your lead flow from there. That’s the most important thing.
Do the Math
Let’s do the math here. Let’s say every 100 clicks gets you 20 leads. Out of 20 leads you end up with 10 strategy calls. Every 10 strategy calls equals three sales. What are three sales worth to you?
Once you know the numbers, you can start to predictably grow your business.
Five Pillars of Coaching Profits
These are the five pillars of a coaching, consulting, or service business. They must be done in this order. How many times have you tried to increase your lead flow and it didn’t work?
You need to have a scalable model.
You need to have a clear message with a big idea that cuts through the noise.
You need to be seen as the authority and a celebrity.
You need to use marketing automation so you’re not manually having to do everything.
And only at that point should you focus on consistent lead flow.
If you’re a coach or consultant who wants to make a positive impact and grow your business, you might be wondering how you can quickly and easily set up your business to run on these five pillars.
Talk soon,
Charles Kirkland
P.S. In business it’s never who has the best service; it’s the person with the best marketing that wins. Business is a winner-take-all game.
