Marketing Case Study: How Coaching Bought My Sports Car

Hey everyone

 

It has been a while since I have posted a case study but I feel now

is the time. If you haven't seen my other forum posts, you might want

to check them out as well.

 

In this post, I am going to share with you what I have done and still

do ,in my coaching business to generate business.

 

The media wants you to think everyone is broke. Don't fall for that. Dan

gives plenty of proof in his newsletter that there ARE people succeeding.

 

In the time span of 2 1/2 months, I was able to pay cash for my sports

car with the money I have made from coaching. If you would like to see

the car that coaching bought, you can see this blog post.

 

http://www.48days.net/profiles/blogs/the-car-that-coaching-bought

 

I want to share some things that have worked for me and that anyone wanting

to make money from coaching can apply.

 

1. Start With A Reason Why Or Purpose

 

I can't stress this enough. This is what will keep you going when things are

boring or slow. It can't be a generic reason like "I want to make money".

 

It has to be a strong, emotional reason. The car that I mentoned earlier is

something I have wanted for 3 years but I didn't want a car payment. I LOVE

this particular car. I could tell you everything about the car.

 

Yours might be a car. It might be to become debt free. It might be to make enough

money to go on an Alaskian cruise with your spouse or family.

 

It doesn't matter what it is, it just has to be strong and deep rooted.

 

2. Stories Sell Facts Tell

 

Here is a quiz for you:

 

The Bible is a book of _______________. (best selling book of all time)

 

People Magazine is filled with _____________ of people's lives. (best selling magazine)

 

Reality television is about ____________ of people's lives. (every station is filled with them)

 

The chicken Soup series is about people's ______________. (best selling book series)

 

If you said stories then you are right.

 

Instead of telling people how great you are, use stories from clients to do it.

 

Here is how I am using stories to sell my coaching.

 

I teach people how to sell good and services using social media and the internet. Jordan

and Steve are clients of mine from Michigan. I took them from $300 a month to $4,000 in 10

months.

 

I then got them on the phone and interviewed them on how they did it and exactly what I

taught them. I now use that 100% content interview to presell prospects on hiring me.

 

You can listen to the interview here to see how I did it.

 

http://www.byoaudio.com/note/Cdgnp3MQ/

 

I will send prospects this interview so they can get to know me and see that I know my stuff. This

is a very nonthreatening way of selling yourself with no pressure.

 

Sit down with some of your clients and interview them. Don't make it salesy. Straight content is what you want. You can download audacity to record the call. I do it on skype using a plugin called call graph.

 

3. Market To Your Buyers

 

One of the things I would read about years ago was an existing customer is 6x more likely to

buy from you than a new customer. I wasn't sure that was true until I looked at my paypal

account a few years ago. Sure enough, the same people would by my new products or services.

 

As far as my coaching practice goes, once someone has hired me at least once, I let "select" clients

know about my Elite 12 coaching program which is only reserved for 12 people per year. I have

an extremely high closing rate with these clients because they know what they get when they

hire me.

 

The key is to make sure to market back to people who have handed you money first, instead of spending most of your time trying to find new ones.

 

4. Use Entry Level Products

 

Sometimes people want to get to know you more before they fork out money to hire you as their coach.

 

One way to do this without spending time with tirekickers is to develop low level information products

that are $20 or less so they can see what it is like to work with you.

 

You can see an example of how I do it here: www.ResaleRightInterviews.com.

 

The great thing about low ticket products is they don't have to ask their mom or spouse if they

can spend $20 or not. It is an impulse.

 

Another benefit is you make passive income from the products you create.

 

5. Over deliver

 

As I mentioned before, marketing to buyers is very important. It is important that you take care of your clients.

 

What I do is send my clients a thank you gift immediately after they hire me. They receive a thank you card and either a box of brownies or a book. I use www.sendoutcards.com/works to send this to my clients. They LOVE the unexpected gift. Dan uses the same system.

 

I don't stop there. 21 days later, they receive another card from me with a 24 hour recording that they can listen to of me interviewing Jordan and Steve just in case they haven't seen the audio postcard.

 

You can listen to the recording by calling: 512 827 0080 ext 2120

 

This is actually all automated using SendOutCards. I set it up once and it works over and over.

 

6. Respect Yourself

 

Make sure you can ALWAYS walk away from a prospect although you might want the money right then. If you don't feel like there is a good fit, then don't let them hire you.

 

Also, if they want to nickle and dime you then walk away as well. You only want people who value what you do. Respect yourself!

 

7. Move the free line

 

One of the things that I do is move the free line as one of my clients says. I conduct free 30 minute strategy sessions with my prospects.

 

I give them A LOT of value and help them with their biggest challenges. I even go the extra mile and offer to record the session if they like.

 

Does everyone hire me from these sessions? Nope. It doesn't matter. I am still helping people and the ones that do end up hiring me make it all worth it in the end.

 

Another benefit of doing free consultations, and this is a very important one, is that you can do market research on your prospects. I ask them questions like, “how did you hear about me?”, “What made you want to book a session with me?”. Things like that.

 

Asking those questions has done wonders for my business. I hone in on what people are responding too and don't just guess. I call it trimming the fat. Very powerful.

 

In closing, I hope this case study helps someone who is wanting to make money from coaching but hasn't quite found success just yet. Make sure you take action and apply what you learned from this post.

 

Don't be shocked if you start having people hand you their Visa. :-)

 

Please ask questions and make comments below. I would love to hear from others.

 

Dave