Hi Christine-Ann,
You are right on with the whole marketing vs. selling philosophy, especially in the services biz. And I believe that any service professional, especially coaches, are problem solvers where we can look at a situation from a consultative perspective and determine if we're the right aspirin for the pain.
Any specific tips for the other members on the frequency of your follow-up with potential clients? For example, how often do you send out your newsletter? And when would you send a follow-up email to someone who didn't hire you after the initial free session?
Thanks - look forward to your feedback,
Brenda

Brenda, once I've given a free consultation I send that client an email just as soon as I've put down the phone, whether or not they have hired me. I use encouraging, supportive language that is empathic, and at the same time I underscore their strenghts. (They have to know that they CAN make the changes they seek.) I also ask them if they'd like to be on my Newsletter list, and tell them that they may read archived copies on my site, and then let me know. This affords them an opportunity to get to know me through my writing over time. Check this out at http://www.consciousconnections.com/newsletter.html

About 1-2 weeks after the initial consulation, I'll send a short additional "How are you doing?" email. I'll also send this kind of email to those who have inquired about my services but never taken me up on my offer for a free consultation.

My newsletter goes out once a month. I send additional communications to remind people about upcoming classes I'm giving. By the way, I have a Friends Corner in my Newsletter in which I share information about other people locally, whose work or business I want to support.

Sometimes I send a short additional communication about a community event that I'm organizing. i.e. I organized a Peace Vigil to commemorate the 4th Anniversary of the Iraq war.

I may also send a short message if something moves me,and I want to share the idea, video, or article with my subscribers.

So in reality, I touch base with my subscribers more than once a month.

Hi Christine-Ann -
These are great tid-bits for other members - and you certainly are incorporating consultative/expert into your marketing. It sounds very value-add and experience driven so your subscriber and potential clients can get a feel for you and how you can help them. From experience, I've seen that you need to "touch" someone with your marketing at least 7 times before they make a purchase decision holds very true, especially for service professionals.

Again, for the benefit of other members, do you find that it works well in obtaining new clients over time? After they get to know you? Do you face any challenges with not signing on a prospective client after the free consultation and would like to?
Thanks again for sharing these great tips!
Brenda

Hi Brenda,
In response to your question:

"Do you face any challenges with not signing on a prospective client after the free consultation, and would like to?"

The critical phrase here is "and would like to?" Everyone could be seen as a prospective client, but not everyone is. Thomas Leonard, the "grandfather of coaching" used to say that only 10% of people are coachable. However, I believe that we have to take a more narrow view in trying to understand and apply his statement to our real-life marketing efforts. For instance, how do we measure that 10%? Ten percent of which demographic?

If we use a random sample of 100 people, and presume that 10 of them are coachable, we'd probably be disappointed if we didn't get 10 clients out of the 100 that had some kind of contact with us either in person, on the phone, or via our emails and newsletters.

If we use a narrower sample of 100 people who've done a lot of personal work, and believe that they are ready to really push the envelope, we might find 10 who would take up our offer of a free consultation.

I say "might" because oftentimes even when a person believes that they are ready to take the next step in their personal and/or professional lives, they really aren't ready. They still have a fear of change, and the reasons are often completely unconscious. So, this reality will knock out about half, or more. For purposes of our example, let's say that you are left with 5 "potential" clients.

No matter how brilliant you are, and how wonderful the clients felt during and after the free consultation, perhaps only 1 of them will actually have the disposable income to hire you as their coach. This is why we can never take their not hiring us personally. It's not about how much we'd like to sign them up, or even how much they'd like to work with us. It’s just a practical reality of life.

So you can see how important it is to continually increase your opportunities to put your ideas in front of the right kind of demographics. Here’s where the PeopleJam community will be a real help over time, because we are attracting the kind of people who are interested in personal and professional growth and success.

At the end of the day, I believe that it’s about whether or not a client’s spirit is ready to work with ours, at a particular juncture in both our lives, or at all. It’s about what we can learn from each other. If our spirits resonate, AND it’s the right time on our respective journeys to do the work, then all obstacles will fall away.