If you'd like to position yourself as an expert coach, Jo Lott shares five ways to go from coaching novice to industry leader. She emphasises the power of authentic storytelling and the importance of showcasing real case studies to connect with potential clients. Jo discusses the significance of mastering money mindset and the value of investing in coaching. She also explores navigating the coaching industry landscape, overcoming imposter syndrome, and the future of coaching. Jo concludes by encouraging listeners to trust themselves and reach out to her for further support.

The Power of Authentic Storytelling [00:02:34]

Using case studies and personal stories in marketing to showcase client transformations and attract potential clients.

Mastering Money Mindset [00:05:07]

Exploring the importance of charging appropriately for coaching services and the benefits of clients investing in their own development.

Overcoming Common Coaching Challenges

Jo talks about the common challenges facing coaches.

The future of coaching and the need for a blended approach

Discussion on the emerging trend of micro-niching in coaching and the demand for a blended coaching approach that combines industry experience with pure coaching techniques.

Useful Links

Download the 12 ways to get clients now

Learn about The Business of Coaching programme

Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

Rate and Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Women in the Coaching Arena helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you’re kind enough to leave a review, please do let Jo know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: joanna@joannalottcoaching.com

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Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty, shame.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1:

Welcome to the 28th episode of

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women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here today.

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I am creating a medley of

information using the data from

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my most popular podcast episodes.

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So, what are the most popular episodes?

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Trends and predictions in the coaching

industry has been downloaded the most.

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Next up.

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Was four steps to tackling

imposter syndrome.

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So if you are feeding any of

these feelings, Take that as

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a sign that you are not alone.

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Reaching financial

independence as a coach.

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How long does it take.

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13 ways to get clients today.

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Why most coaching businesses

fail and how you can succeed and

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finally selling to corporates.

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So today I am pulling together.

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Various information to really help

you to move forward, taking that data.

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So thank you so much.

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For listening, and it's just wonderful

to really know what you are interested

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in so I can create that for you.

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Here are five ways to go from

coaching novice to industry leader.

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First up is the power of

authentic storytelling.

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People love hearing real case studies.

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My episodes from Natasha and Kate, my

two clients were also very highly rated

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because I think it's interesting to hear

from other coaches and the real story and

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actually hear them share their experience.

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So your clients will be

looking for the same.

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One thing I teach in my program

is the power of case studies.

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Not testimonials.

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No one really cares about a

testimonial that looks like it's

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been typed by you on a canva post.

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What people really care about is hearing

the A to B transformation that someone

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has had on their journey with you.

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So anything you can do to weave

those personal stories and case

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studies into your marketing

will be really, really powerful.

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One of my clients often

does this in her marketing.

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If you can share the real story

and I know your clients might

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not want their names shared.

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But my client, he does this

often really does the rewards.

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Here's an example.

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Before working with me, Zoe spent a

lot of time in her head debating what

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course of action was best to take.

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And hadn't really crystallized how

to go about building her business.

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This led to frustration, poor use

of time and started to impact on

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her self-esteem and motivation.

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We worked on Zoe's offer and

she successfully sold her group

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program, which has brought, her

20 emerging leaders to coach.

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We worked on what sales strategies and

marketing are a perfect fit for her.

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We covered how to use LinkedIn

effectively, how to use Canva, how

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to create lead magnets and email

nurture sequences using mailerlite.

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So she also gained the back office stuff

to ensure her systems were effective.

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By at the end of our programme zoe was

really clear that she was selling to

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businesses rather than individuals..

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She sewed into two organizations in

our six months of working together,

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along with some individual clients.

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She now knows exactly how

to market her business.

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She has had that mindset shift

from her business, being about

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her, to her business, being

all about her ideal client.

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Alongside her current 20 emerging

leaders that she is coaching she

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also now has a pipeline of interested

organizations who she is nurturing.

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More likely to gain another contract

when her current contract finishes up.

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Zoe said that despite 15 years

marketing and insights experience,

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this isn't something she could have

done on her own and she has made so

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much progress in such a short timescale

working with me through this program.

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So there is me modeling how you can

showcase your client stories rather

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than anything about the person saying,

you're a really great person and you've

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got great listening skills and you hold

great space because sadly your paying

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client doesn't really care about that.

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They care about the thing that

is their top of mind, problem.

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I hope that helped to hear how you can

make those testimonials into case studies

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and make them way more powerful so they

actually convert followers into clients.

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Okay.

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So Step two is mastering money mindset.

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This was another popular episode

alongside the, how long is it

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going to take me to reach financial

independence as a coach episode?

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I definitely struggle with money

mindset and it's something I have

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worked on and consistently work on.

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I'm not sure you ever get to the place

where you can stop doing this work.

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On really acknowledging what a gift

it is that I am giving to people.

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I have personally night tests that

when I m undercharging I am kind

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of resentful or I'm holding back.

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Whereas when people join my program,

it's like they are in my world.

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They are my family.

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And then I feel that what they are paying

is enough for me to be able to show up

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as my best self and be able to provide

the service that I want to provide.

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You want to be able to do the same.

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What I also notice from my program and

I am so, so lucky that nearly all of

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my clients show up every single week.

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So the problem with the membership model,

which I don't personally like, because

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I am part of, I dunno, four memberships.

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I can't quite recall.

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Far too many that I should cancel.

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But I just don't login and

your clients will be the same.

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Yeah, you might get that one that

prioritizes a low cost membership

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or a free coaching session.

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But you will have so much greater success

when people have actually got skin in

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the game, they've actually invested a

good amount of money to work with you.

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So they will show up,

they will take action.

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They will get way better results.

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So yeah, it's been a journey for me.

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Whilst there is the odd exception cause

I do NHS leadership coaching, which I

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absolutely love, the employee doesn't

have to pay obviously, but the people

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I have coached through that have been

the most committed, amazing people.

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So it's not always the case.

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But when you are trying to do favors

for people and reduce the cost in my

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experience, it doesn't help either of you.

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Third topic today is navigating

the coaching industry landscape.

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In the trends and predictions in

the coaching industry episode three.

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I shared my own research of how

many coaches there are out there.

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In December, 2020, when I searched

LinkedIn for the word coach,

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there were 1.6 million results.

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A year later, December, 2021,

it had gone up to six and a half

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million results for the word coach.

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And when I last searched in

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results for the word coach.

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So in just two short

years, It has grown 407%.

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People calling themselves, coach.

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And I realize it is an

unregulated industry.

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So not everyone may be actually coaches,

but this is what you are up against.

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If your ideal client is looking

for a coach now, this is

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why we need to up our game.

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Niche down and be something to someone

versus being just another coach

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out there who can't differentiate

yourself from the marketplace.

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Nearly everyone joins my program

without a niche, or some people

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might think they have a niche, but.

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It's not my idea of a niche.

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And I have seen the greatest

success with those who are brave

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and courageous enough to niche.

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And often it is a journey.

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Zoe, for example, who I mentioned

earlier, went from working with agencies

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to working with insight agencies.

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So you can micro-niche.

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And then before you know it, if you are

an insight agency, There is no one else

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you would want to work with because,

Zoe specializes in Insight agencies.

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So if they are comparing Zoe

to another coach who is just

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a general leadership coach.

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They're going to think, oh, Zoe

obviously gets our industry because she

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specializes in our type of organization

and it has paid off for her as I

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mentioned earlier, she has gained those

corporate clients and the best thing

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is now she has insight agencies on

her books and many other relationships

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with insight agencies building, she

will become known in that industry and

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soon start to get referred for work

without having to pitch for it as such.

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So, yeah, it's super exciting because

I think the hardest part is obviously

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gaining your fast few contracts and

then you can become a bit more known

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and you will start to attract that work.

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Our fourth point is overcoming

common coaching challenges.

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The episodes that prompted

this point was episode 23.

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Why most.

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Businesses fail and how you can succeed

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and episode six four steps to

tackling imposter syndrome.

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So on this one, I think it's about

courage, which is one of my top values.

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It does take courage to choose a niche, to

create an offer, to decide to be something

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to someone, rather than nothing to no one.

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To take a stand.

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To share your views.

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And that really is what it

takes to build a business.

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If you are being vanilla, sadly, you won't

be able to attract people's attention.

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And I know that feels really hard.

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It's not a natural thing for me either

but all we can do is really tune into.

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What you have got to say and

how you can help and what you

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would love to hear from people.

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I just saw a post online

right now on LinkedIn.

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Oh sharing, you know, the highlights of

the week and their low lights of the week.

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So that's interesting because you're like,

oh no, they lost a contract this week.

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Oh gosh.

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poor them Because usually you

only ever see the highlights.

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So anything you can do to really stand

out, do something different, have an

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opinion will really, really help you.

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But then comes the imposter

syndrome, which often stops this.

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Because then you may think,

who am I to do this work?

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Who am I to have this opinion

because there's people out

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there with PhDs in the subject.

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I looked up the start once, which is

something like 82% of the world's data

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has been created in the last two years.

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So whilst we may think of

an expert or someone who has

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studied this field for 20 years.

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Things are changing and everything

is so much faster paced.

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You can become an expert in 12 months.

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If you go all in, share your

research, share your learnings,

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share the things you're reading.

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Keep talking about your particular

topic and you really will position

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yourself in your industry.

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If you are brave enough

to choose an industry.

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So know that your skills and experience

have positioned you to do this work.

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I don't have a marketing degree,

but what I do have is real life

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experience of learning this on the job

and marketing my coaching business.

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I have worked with marketing experts

who are unable to help because

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they don't understand what coaching

is and how you need to sell it.

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And that is my unique strength

from doing this myself.

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In executive coaching, career coaching,

business coaching, and now helping 65

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plus coaches in a paid capacity to do

this plus many people on my podcast

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and trainings and discovery calls.

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So I have gained that experience and

I have positioned myself as the expert

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because I'm sharing my learnings whether

they are from a study of thousands of

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people over thousands of years or whether

they are my real life experience from

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last week and the client I helped and how

I saw what we did impact her business.

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So, I don't know about you, but I

would much rather that real life

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experience than textbook experience.

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So know you have everything within

you right now to offer to people

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and everyone feels just like

you with the imposter syndrome.

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That is my greatest learning of

becoming a coach is that we all feel it.

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So we might as well just get over it

and start being ourselves and showing

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up as our authentic version of us.

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My fifth point was the future of coaching.

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What's next?

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From my experience.

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I am noticing is micro-niche.

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I know niching is hard enough,

let alone micro-niching.

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But as I've alluded to in this episode,

that is where I have seen my clients

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gain the greatest level of success.

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I also think there's a way more

blended approach to coaching that

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people really want, because what

I've been hearing from my clients is.

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People are coming to me because

I have their experience.

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And then I'm doing this pure

coaching thing where I'm not

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sharing anything with them.

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And I'm starting to feel like they are

getting a bit frustrated and saying, I

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chose you because you're from my industry,

you know, the challenges I'm facing.

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And I'm just like feeling a bit

frustrated that I'm not getting more.

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So I do think sadly, because that is

not what we learned in coach training.

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I appreciate, I am an ICF accredited coach

and I do know the rules, but sadly, if

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this is what the market wants, and this

is what your ideal client want, you might

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want to play around and find a way to

deliver what they want to move forward.

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I know I have a business coach who takes

a really coachy approach and I must admit

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it does drive me nuts because I think.

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I've kind of come to you

because you've grown your team.

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You've done all the things I want to do.

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I just want you to sort of send me your

spreadsheet of like, what do you delegate

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to your team and how do you do this?

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And often she takes a more coach approach.

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So, yes, well, sometimes that's great.

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And I do have another coach who

is more of a kind of pure coach.

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But I think depending on what you're

going to that person for, you may need to

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really think why are they coming to me?

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Is it because I have industry experience?

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And insights that I could share with them.

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And if so, Oh, am I going to

work this out with that client?

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So let's summarize today's episode.

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First, we talked about the power of

authentic storytelling, how you can weave

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those case studies into everything you do.

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Next up, we talked about money mindset

and how people paying for coaching

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is actually a good thing for them.

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As well as for you.

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Next, we talked about navigating

the coaching industry landscape.

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We talked about trends and

predictions in the coaching industry.

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How the amount of coaches

has increased dramatically.

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And so how you have this huge

opportunity to stands out, make a

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difference, be something to someone.

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Next we talked about overcoming

common coaching challenges.

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Like being courageous enough to niche and

courageous enough to share your message.

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Overcoming that imposter syndrome.

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Knowing that everyone feels like that.

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And you just need to be yourself

and really, really go for it.

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Finally, we talked about the

future of coaching what's next.

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And I shared that what I'm

seeing is that trend of people

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wanting more than pure coaching.

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And so to be innovative in your

approach, figure out ways that

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you can navigate this challenge.

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So, thank you so much for joining today.

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This episode, combined the elements from

your most favorite podcast episodes.

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If this episode was helpful, Drop me

a line on LinkedIn as Joanna Lott.

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I would love to hear from you.

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Or leave me a review and I will

pesonally thank you for that.

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Like I say at the end of every

episode, trust yourself, believe

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in yourself and be the wise Gardner

who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

285

Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.