Week 41 Oct 6 - 5 things high income earning coaches do differently to grow their client base
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[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Business of Executive Coaching Podcast. I'm your host, Ellie Scarf, a senior executive coach with over 17 years experience coaching, which I now bring to my role as a mentor and business coach to other executive coaches when it comes to coaching business. I have done it all. So I've grown coaching businesses solo and in partnership.
I've been an in-house coach and I've been an associate coach. So when I talk about selling coaching to corporate clients, you know I'm sharing from a place of experience and empathy. I work with coaches now through my group coaching program, the Corporate to Coach Accelerator, where executive and leadership coaches grow their businesses with more corporate clients.
Listen in for lots of practical tips, inspiring stories and prompts to grow your business your way. Okay. Now before I dive into the five things that high income coaches do differently to grow their client base, I just wanted to share some exciting updates with you. I've got two to share. The first is that I am running a free [00:01:00] live masterclass in two weeks time, and that is on Tuesday, the 21st of October, potentially Monday the 20th if you're in the US And we've got two time zones, so it should capture everyone wherever you are in the world.
This masterclass is called The Business Growth Playbook for Executive Coaches, your Pipeline to Consistent Clients. The premise of the session is really to break down the executive coach pipeline, which is all of the foundations and systems that you need in place to build a predictable pipeline for corporate clients without constantly selling.
So if you've ever turned on your computer and thought, I know I should be doing something to get corporate clients, but what. This session is for you. Most executive coaches either struggle to get started, so they're worried about credibility. They hate the idea of being salesy. They don't really know what works, or they're struggling to grow when the clients aren't coming in as expected.
LinkedIn posts feel like shouting into the void. [00:02:00] Business development feels overwhelming or ad hoc. Both of these paths lead to the same frustration. You are working hard, but you don't have a clear system that consistently fills your pipeline with the right clients. And so this session is going to show you the map of how to fix that.
So what you'll learn is we're gonna cover the executive coach pipeline, which is the simple, repeatable structure to take the stress and confusion out of your business development, the core process behind consistent clients. So how to operationalize your sales and marketing so you know exactly what you need to do each week, replacing ad hoc effort with a system.
So a move from guesswork and random acts of marketing to a process that reliably fills your pipeline. And why a framework beats hustle and how that's how clarity, structure and rhythms give you confidence that your business development is actually working. And of course, we'll talk about how everything is in context and how LinkedIn is really just part of a holistic process as [00:03:00] a coaching business owner.
Now, you came to coaching to do impactful work, not to spend all day posting on LinkedIn or worrying where your next client is coming from. So this session. Is your opportunity to set step back, see the big picture, and build a sales and marketing system that supports the business and the life that you want.
I'd love to see as many of you there as possible. You can sign up now for this [email protected] slash pipeline or the link in the show notes. Now, if you have ever been to any of my master classes before, you know that they are always jam packed with real value. So. You can rest assured that there'll be a lot of real practical information that you'll be able to take away and implement soon.
And these masterclasses always get really positive feedback. So, you know, do sign up and come along. The second update, which is very exciting, is that doors to the corporate to Coach Accelerator will be opening after that masterclass on the [00:04:00] 21st of October, and there will be an extremely compelling bonus to join and think a very large discount on the price it.
If you book a call to discuss with me whether the accelerator is a good fit for you at that time. Now, you can wait until the masterclass, learn a little bit more about it and wait until doors are open and book in a call with me. Or you can book in a call now to make sure that there's a time that works for you and to secure your discount when doors officially open.
Potentially even get in a bit early so you can find the link to learn more about the accelerator in the show notes. And you can also book a call directly at. Ellie scarf.com/book a call and that is also in the show notes. Okay, so in today's episode, I wanna share five things that high income earning coaches are doing to grow their client base that others aren't.
And I hope that some or all of these are things that you can take action to progress in a small or large way. [00:05:00] Immediately. So as you listen, I want you to think, what could I do in a small way to progress this? What could I do in a large way to progress this in the short term? So really think about what it is that you could do ASAP.
Okay. So the first thing that high income earning coaches are doing to grow their client base is that they are selling to corporate clients and not to individuals. And you've probably heard me talk about this. This is something that is near and dear to my heart. Because I know that it is associated with the highest income earning potential for you as an executive coach.
And the main reason why the highest income earning coaches are selling to corporate clients is that they're following the money. Now, we know that of leadership and executive coaching budget that exists in the world, 99% of it is being spent by corporate clients and maybe one, maybe 2% is being spent. By individual leaders.
And so it seems to me that it is a [00:06:00] fairly straight, logical decision that if you wanna tap into this budget, this pool, this opportunity that you need to be marketing to the right people. And if you're only marketing to individuals, you are missing that opportunity. I think these high income earning coaches also recognize that there is a leverage in corporate clients that doesn't exist with individuals, and that leverage is really that for every corporate client that is in your orbit.
There is the potential for that client to grow into something much bigger than it is, and that could be more coachees. And you know, when I say coaching, obviously I'm including, you know, you might also have an offer that is facilitation or team coaching or strategy or training. I'm including all of those opportunities here.
And so with a corporate client, you can get more of what you've done, right? Different coachees, different subject matter, different teams. And you can also expand to different types of work. So let's say [00:07:00] from coaching to leadership development or from team coaching to individual coaching. And you have the opportunity to build an ongoing partnership with the same investment of business development time.
And so I think that high income earning coaches really recognize that leverage and they lean into the efficiency of working with corporate clients. They also recognize that their experience, particularly if they're in the usual corporate to coach, you know, model, they recognize that this is where their experience makes most sense because they are valued for that experience.
They have additional credibility. And so, you know, their understanding of the complexity of working in organizations is naturally appealing to corporate clients. And then I would also say they sell to corporate clients and individuals because they make a decision not to let fear or, you know, insecurity to some degree.
[00:08:00] Limit them to working with individuals because it feels less threatening than marketing to corporate clients. So, you know, it doesn't mean that they don't feel this fear, right? They absolutely do High income earning coaches, and I put myself in that bucket. You know, we feel. The same degree of, you know, imposter phenomenon or fear, anxiety, all of the above.
But we are willing to do it anyway, right? And willing to sit with that discomfort and that fear. And because we are anchored to bigger picture of why we're doing this work and why we want to, you know, both the impact we wanna have on our coachees and the organizations we work in, but also. The impact we wanna have on, you know, providing for our families and building these lifestyles that we want to build.
So they sell to corporate clients rather than individuals. The second thing that high income earning coaches are doing to grow their client base that others aren't. Is that they are seeing LinkedIn [00:09:00] as part of the ecosystem and not the whole event. It can be very tempting when you're growing your coaching business to be very singularly focused on LinkedIn.
Now, what I'm not saying is that you should be on Facebook or Instagram or anything like that. No, absolutely not. I don't, that's not what I mean. What I mean is that they view that. LinkedIn is one place that their network exists, but they also have a strong network outside of LinkedIn and they have the potential to grow their network outside of LinkedIn.
But I think authentic networking is a lot more enjoyable, and I know that for members of my accelerated program, there's a real focus on how do we show up in these networking events in a way that is both authentic and beneficial to our businesses. So when I'm talking about networking, I don't mean networking with other coaches, although I don't not mean that.
Right. That's [00:10:00] also, that's great and we should be in communities of coaches as much as we can, but I mean that really intentional networking with our ideal clients. And usually that means networking events that have a, an industry focus, right. Of our ideal clients or sectors, you know, the sectors that they operate in, so networking in those spaces.
It may also include, you know, going to conferences either to attend or to speak or to be on panels. They also really nurture personal networks and they do things like, you know, connecting with people who might promote them in different ways. So. That might include guesting on other podcasts, right. So ideally, again, industry focused podcasts rather than coaching focused podcasts.
So I think it's really important that they view that LinkedIn is part of the puzzle, and in a way, LinkedIn is a way that they capture a network, but it is not the only source of their network. So, [00:11:00] you know, not that we do of course, grow our network in LinkedIn. It's a very important piece. But if we think of that funnel of leads coming into our pipeline, they're coming from LinkedIn, but they're also coming from all of these other places.
And you know, the network, the connections, the leads that we build. From things like networking, conferencing, you know, podcasts, personal networks, those are very warm people. So we want to be, you know, consistently generating those. And I think that the highest paid, highest income earning coaches are doing that well.
The third thing that they're doing is that they are using their unfair advantages. And they are not shying away from them. And that means really leaning into their differentiators, their advantages, their, the things that position them at most competitively, and they don't hide from it, right? So this includes things like a professional background, you know, you will have.
And everyone will have, as a result of your professional background, inbuilt credibility with certain groups or certain [00:12:00] organizations or certain types of roles, certain industries. And so that is your unfair advantage. So for example, for me, you know, my experience as a lawyer. Was an unfair advantage when it came to marketing coaches and facilitation and team coaching into law firms and in-house legal teams and judicial bodies, things like that.
And so you know what an unfair advantage is, experience you have or potentially an employer or a brand name that you have on your resume. That is particularly valued by certain groups, and it may be that you know smaller organizations than the ones that you are in really value your experience because you can, you're perceived to have exposure that is at a higher level than what they have.
And then another unfair advantage that I think the most successful coaches often use is that they're not afraid to tap into their personal networks. Now, I love [00:13:00] saying this to coaches because I could just see like white wash across the face of so many of them when it's like, oh my God, are you gonna make me sell to my friends?
And that's not what, I mean, it doesn't have to be a, you know, a really predatory sell, you know, buy my stuff kind of thing. But it does mean, you know, asking for connections, asking how your friends and family and personal networks can support you or promote you or, you know, no pushiness, just to a real willingness to, to be helped and to be supported by your networks in the same way that you would support them.
So the fourth thing that you know, high income generating coaches are doing differently to grow their client bases is that they think and act with a systems orientation in order to save time and emotional energy. And so I think that's because they recognize the need for efficiency when it comes to [00:14:00] sales, marketing, business development.
On a few levels, right? There's a time-based efficiency, but there's also an energy and an emotional efficiency because there's potential for this work that we do in sales and marketing of our businesses, particularly if we're starting out. But you know, really across the business lifespan, there's a potential for it to be extremely emotional and heavy and to be, you know.
Accompanied with a lot of rumination and stress and anxiety. I think the highest income earning coaches recognize that we need to be efficient by firstly having, you know, really good, you know, tasks and routines and habits, but also. You know, building processes that take us out of the emotion to some degree.
And so they focus on building great systems comprised of these two key things. One is strong foundations and you know, foundations being great assets that they can reuse. Things like your website, your coach [00:15:00] bio, your LinkedIn profile, your pipeline, your network pipeline, segmented network pipeline, for example.
And they have. Routines and rituals, right, that ensure that the highest impact activities get done with minimal emotional labor, right? This sort of wasted emotional energy that can come from overthinking. So they need to put in a. Place strategies to put constraints, time constraints, and you know, different benchmarks, things like that.
And those rituals and routines are generally like a clear set of tasks that we know will consistently generate real conversations with potential clients. And that means things like outreach, it means content that is gonna consistently speak to your ideal clients. It means efficiency, so you're doing it within a reasonable amount of time.
And inside the corporate to coach Accelerator, we're aiming for this to be, you know, like a five hour a week commitment into your marketing. So yeah, that's 0.4. They think and act with systems to save time and emotional energy. [00:16:00] And then number five is really that they double down on their warm outreach.
Right? You have heard me talk about outreach, add infinitum, and. This is why, because it is a characteristic of the highest income earning coaches. These coaches are focused on outreach consistently. It is a daily practice, and I don't, you know, like yes, there is room for, you know, let's apply the 80% rule.
If you're doing it 80% of the time, that's brilliant. But it's a daily practice to ensure that they are doing a certain volume of outreach. And they're tracking outcomes so that they are figuring out what works, what doesn't, so that they're consistently improving the quality of the outreach so that they're getting greater results from it consistently.
So they're doing outreach, they're doing it consistently, and they're getting better at it. And I think they recognize that if you have a limited amount of time, right? So let's say you don't have an hour to [00:17:00] put into your marketing, let's say you have 10 minutes, the place you should spend that time is outreach.
So the five characteristics of the highest income earning coaches. What they're doing differently to generate clients consistently. Now, I've already mentioned it, but if you wanna learn more about the overarching framework that high earning coaches are using, then come along to my masterclass on the Business Growth Playbook for executive coaches and learn how you can build a predictable pipeline of corporate clients without constantly selling.
So you can just head over to elliescarf.com/pipeline, or you can find the link in the show notes. So have a great week. Do some more outreach more than you think you should, and I'll be back next week to share some more ideas.
