A few years ago I had a brand new client. Let's call her Jane. Jane was a life coach, and, as a life coach, was on a mission to make everyone's lives better. Everyone was Jane's potential client - she didn't really have a defined target market.
She told me during our first session that since everyone wants to have a better life, everyone is her potential client. Jane's rates were relatively low, but even with her low rates she had a very hard time finding clients.
What was wrong with Jane's marketing? Pretty much everything. But mostly, her strategy of working with everyone was really not working.
Our first course of action, therefore, was to define a target market for Jane. In the beginning she was hesitant. She will not be able to meet her goal of helping everyone if she narrows her target market, she told me.
As we worked together, however, we found that there was a specific group of people that
Jane really enjoyed working with. She loved being a career coach for women and she loved helping women move on to a better and more profitable careers.
Jane started calling herself a career coach for women. After working for a few months she also decided to increase her rates and started charging more. And guess what - she was able to get more clients at the higher rates because she narrowed down her target market! After some time she was getting so many client requests that she started doing group coaching and she started a waiting list for people who want to work with her!
As you can see, narrowing down your target market can be very effective for a coach.
Here is what we learned from Jane:
- Saying that everyone is your client is actually detrimental for your business. When you narrow down your target market you are going to get more clients!
- Everything you do should be extremely targeted. Once you are clear on who you are and who you serve, you are going to get many more people who want to work with you.
- Niche, niche, niche! After Jane defined her niche she found the people she loved working with and those people started coming to her, wanting to work with her!
Take action in your coaching business today! Find a profitable niche for your coaching business, and redefine your brand and other marketing materials to communicate with your new niche.
Want to become successful like Jane? Learn more about how to find
your coaching niche online in FREE Report, "How To Get Coaching Clients Online" at
http://www.coachingkitchen.com/coaches/
