I hate testimonials. I don’t read them and they annoy me when I have to scroll past them. However, I use them in all my marketing materials. That sounds odd, but testimonials are one of the most effective marketing techniques for internet marketing. The conflict between my opinion and the marketing facts is a great reminder for me that good marketing material should not be about the seller, but should be about the buyer. I use testimonials because they work and are one of the most important sales techniques there is.
The reason that testimonials are vital to your business success as a coach is a psychological principle called “social proof”. It is part of human nature that we need to belong to a group. We want to be included. This drive may not be conscious and yet it is very strong. Testimonials give us a sense that someone just like us belongs to this group and so we are more likely to want to “join” as well. A second part of social proof is the idea of “following the crowd”. When you attend a big concert or ball game, you don’t have to think about how to get to the right place, you can just follow along with everyone else. When you are selling a product or service, it helps if the purchaser doesn’t have to think hard about whether it is a good decision and can follow the crowd. Click here for a long transcript on social proof by internet guru, Jeff Walker.
Using the concept of social proof in your marketing leads to the use of testimonials. It is easier to decide to spend your money when you see that others have already purchased. People look for evidence that others may have made this same decision and that it turned out successfully. The most powerful social proof is from someone that you perceive as being just like you. Most successful marketing campaigns have enough testimonials to adequately cover the demographics of the target market.
Let’s look at how to use testimonials successfully. It is not too soon to start collecting testimonials with your first coaching clients. Have a conversation with them about how the coaching is helping. Ask questions. Get the client’s permission to use their words in your marketing material. The content of your testimonials needs to contain how much your customer likes your product, of course, but the most important part of the content is the results your customer achieved with your product. Help people write their quote so that they are specific and clear. It is much better to have someone say, “I lost 10 pounds and lowered my blood pressure 10 points in the first month of our coaching” than to say, “I am much healthier now than before I began coaching with him”.
Since you are trying to create social proof with your testimonials, it is important to make the author of the testimonial as real as possible. The best testimonials have full names and locations with them. They have a picture of the author. They include a live link to that person’s website if that is applicable. I have had good success with generating testimonials for my popular products by reminding my clients that they also get publicity and an incoming link to their website by providing the testimonial for me. By all means, put the idea of social proof to work for your business with the use of testimonials.
About the author - Janet Slack of Life Adventure Coaching is a specialist in helping new coaches, therapists and consultants create the thriving business of their dreams. Sign up for her free weekly business tips for coaches at www.biztipsforcoaches.com and make sure to check out the testimonials there.
A sampling of recent articles, press releases and news items on the coaching profession:
PCAM announces their fifth annual conference Battle Creek Enquirer, MI- Aug 15
“The coaching profession continues to blossom here in Michigan as well as globally. With over 100 member coaches in our state, the Professional Coaches …
New Research Reveals Increased Credibility and Positive Returns … CNW Telbec (Communiqués de presse), Canada – Aug 15 14 /CNW/ — More than ever, organizations are using executive coaching to enhance performance across the enterprise by grooming high potential employees, …
Business coaching field grows amid client struggles Spokane Journal of Business, WA – Aug 15 One such coach, Kevin Weir, a Spokane Valley franchisee of Australia-based ActionCOACH, says the tough economy has boosted his client load significantly, …
Tightrope: A good coach can get you back in the game USA Today – Aug 12
Enlisting a coach can be an important part of your entrepreneurial support system. From what I’m told prices can start at a couple hundred dollars a month …
For Those with Stake in Future, Business is Booming Palm Beach Post - FL, United States – Aug 11 Jana Krause, a life coach at Alternative Pathways Life Coaching, said her Lake Worth business has increased 20 to 25 percent since the economic downturn…
25 Secrets of Success Melbourne Herald Sun – Australia – Aug 10 Life coach Dominique Bertolucci, author of Your Best Life (Hodder Headline), agrees: “Enjoy the life you have today. Just because there are aspects of your…
Businesses Should Evaluate Leadership, Too The Post-Standard - Syracuse, NY, USA – Aug 9 This is being done by offering professional assistance, typically through leadership education and executive coaching. When managers are supported and made…
Unemployment Rises But Don’t Let It Affect You By George Sierchio – Aug 8 The game is not even close to being over. Revisit your marketing and client management plans to make sure you keep making money.
The Limits of Coaching TrainingZone.co.uk - Bristol, UK – Aug 6 The role of coaching in relation to its fellow disciplines is also an important distinction to make, according to leading executive coach Gladeana McMahon…
Kathy Mallary is a marketing strategist and business development coach who specializes in helping professional coaches find a lucrative niche and create signature coaching programs and products. Discover how to build a thriving one-of-a-kind coaching business at www.spiritspring.com
As I have worked with a number of coaches that create and market their eBook product or products, not one of them considered that when someone purchases their E-Book, that it may be potentially distributed without them knowing about it. That means someone is getting their E-book for F*REE! You’re losing money here!
If you are using a digital download platform, like 1ShoppingCart, where you also can have a purchaser process their payment for the E-Book, it will allow them to download it within 24 hours. After that, the download link will no longer be active. Even when the purchaser does download the product and save it to their hard drive, it’s no longer protected. It can still be distributed illegally. So even 1SC’s secure download feature is not full-proof.
After researching a large number of digital product protection platforms, I narrowed it down to two options that you can consider:
Both of these platforms support 1ShoppingCart and the merchant accounts most everyone I know uses (and that’s Authorize.net). How it works is that when the product is purchased, the software captures the IP addresses of the computers that the product is downloaded on. So if someone decides they want to email your product to someone else which is considered theft, the product will not open on the other computer it is sent to. This eliminates those thieves trying to get access your product for F*REE.
Now it depends on how many of these products get sold each month that will determine the cost. Book Guard Pro starts with a trial of $2.87 for 30 days and then a charge of $17 per month is charged to your account. With Secure Ebook, you get a 30-day trial, then you purchase the software for less than $15, but then you have to purchase a pack of activations, depending on the number of books you think you will sell. Both products look like they will serve you well, but when you look at it on a cost standpoint, Book Guard Pro may be the most viable option. I must caution you, though. Book Guard Pro does have on occasional download glitch, but could be avoided if the purchaser has been provided adequate download instructions.
So stop losing money on your products that you worked so hard to develop! Protect them online and make the sales you REALLY deserve.
About the Author: Aletha McManama is a Virtual Assistant to Coaches, Authors and Speakers and the owner of DC Virtual Office Solutions.
She specializes in areas of web design and maintenance, shopping cart development and integration, blog design and maintenance, eBook compilation and packaging, ezine and newsletter development, article submission and more.
Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Simon Allard on one of my favorite subjects: Marketing a coaching business (specifically, sales funnels and multiple streams of income). Listen to the interview for free here.
I thought I’d outline some of the tips we discussed here on the blog, only instead of doing the predictable thing and listing what TO do, I figured it might be interesting to look at this from the “what NOT to do” perspective.
First: “Tell me again, what’s a sales funnel and why do I need one?”
A sales funnel is simply a way to describe how you get, keep and grow the lifetime value of customers. It defines the stages that people move through in your business and the strategies you use to help them move from one stage to the next.
Without a well-planned sales funnel, you’re much more likely to have gaps in your marketing system — and gaps can be fatal.
So if your business is not what you want it to be – if your list isn’t growing; if getting clients seems harder than necessary; if your marketing is landing on deaf ears – check to see if any of these techniques for wrecking your sales funnel sounds familiar.
7 ways to wreck your sales funnel
#1: Just say no to a target market.
What do you say when someone asks, “Who do you work with?” If your answer begins with “Anyone” or “Everyone,” or if you can’t outline the problem that your business helps them with in a simple sentence, your market is probably too broad. And the broader your market, the less relevant you’ll seem to individual prospects.
Unfortunately, a broad market is something few self-employed coaches can afford. It eats into your profitability, because proving that you’re relevant to a variety of people with widely different goals and needs takes more time and effort.
It’s far more profitable (and easier!) to focus on a well-defined target market – a group of consumers who share certain key characteristics, including a common problem or goal. You’ll find that it’s easier to connect with potential customers and help them get the results they’re looking for.
Bottom line: Make sure you have a clear understanding of your target market and the problem that your business solves.
#2: Blend in.
This is the Information Age; as consumers, we’re constantly bombarded with information through all kinds of media. Think about it: of the thousands of ads that you’re exposed to every day, only a couple hundred might register for a few seconds, and an even smaller fraction will stand out enough to actually grab your attention or stay with you for any length of time.
We’ve learned to tune most of it out, like so much background noise; we have to, or we’d go nuts!
The thing is, if you don’t rise above the noise, your market will simply never hear you. You need to stand out. You also need to make your message ’sticky’ so people don’t forget you in ten seconds.
Bottom line: Have a strategy for standing out and holding the attention of your market.
#3: Put junk in your freebie.
Some coaches grab any old stuff that’s laying around and dress it up as their freebie. They’ll dig up an article they wrote last year or string together ten random quotes and call it a ’special report.’ It often doesn’t have anything to do with their customer’s coachable issue or the coach’s approach to solving it. It’s just free junk.
They do this because they don’t understand the real purpose of a free sample. They think they’re just giving something away to get people on their mailing list, but a proper free sample does much more than that: it introduces your approach and pre-qualifies your leads so that they’re more likely to become customers.
Instead of putting free junk out there for anyone who happens to wander by, offer something designed to make a real impression on your particular target market, something that gives them a real taste of your signature approach to their problem. Leave them thinking, “Wow, I would have expected to pay for this level of value, and instead, I got it for free! I wonder what else this coach has to offer…”
Bottom line: Offer a generous free sample that introduces your approach to solving their problem.
#4: Ignore your prospects.
A prospect is someone who has opted in to your mailing list, but hasn’t bought anything yet. They trust you enough to give you their email address, but not enough to give you their money yet.
People buy from businesses that they know, like and trust. In other words, they buy when they feel they have a relationship with you.
So one of the best ways to wreck your sales funnel is to simply ignore your prospects. Give them the special report and then leave them alone until you’re ready to promote your next teleclass; harass them with emails about the teleclass for a little while, then leave them alone again.
Whatever you do, don’t send out a newsletter on a consistent basis. And if you REALLY want to shoot yourself in the foot, don’t use a list management/auto responder system like Aweber.com or 1shoppingcart.com; instead, keep all your leads in your personal address book and try to remember to add and remove subscribers by hand.
(Just don’t be surprised when you’re blacklisted as a spammer.)
Bottom line: Put a system in place to automatically capture, manage & keep in touch with prospects over time.
#5: Paralyze your customers with lots and lots of options.
This is where people tend to go a little overboard about the whole ‘multiple streams of income’ thing. They start dreaming about passive income and suddenly they’re whipping out ebooks and audio programs left and right. Before you know it, they’ve got sixteen pages of products, and every product has at least three bonuses.
And their prospects have a slight headache and a dazed look on their faces as they quickly click away. Because there’s too much; they can’t make up their mind.
The main objective at the introductory product level of the funnel (level 3) is to convert prospects to customers; passive income is the icing on the cake. To convert more customers, more quickly, your goal is to remove as many barriers as possible; keep the price low, remove risk with a money-back guarantee, and make a compelling call to action – promise the customer some relief from the problem they’re struggling with.
And don’t confuse them with too many options. Because when they can’t decide what to buy, they DON’T buy.
Bottom line: Offer a low-cost/high value introductory product that addresses the customer’s #1 problem and gives them some relief.
#6: Leave money on the table.
Here’s something that few coaches realize: One-to-one coaching isn’t the most profitable level of your sales funnel. Yes, it’s the most expensive level (level 5), but it’s also the most time-consuming and the most limited in terms of how many ‘units’ you can potentially sell – because you’re the only one who can deliver this particular service, and there are only so many clients you can work with at any given time.
So where’s the most profitable level of the funnel? It’s level 4, after introductory products, but before the premium coaching level. The objective at level 4 is to keep and grow the value of customers via high-value, moderately priced products and programs, especially do-it-yourself programs (homestudy programs; toolkits; audio programs), group coaching programs and membership programs (coaching clubs).
A significant number of the people on your mailing list today will NEVER buy 1:1 coaching. They’ll hang out on your list, happy to get whatever you give away for free or perhaps buy some of your introductory products, but they either can’t afford or simply don’t want 1:1 coaching.
However, some of them MIGHT buy something a bit more expensive than an ebook…if only you had something to offer in between levels 3 and 5 in your sales funnel.
If you don’t offer it, they can’t buy it from you. If they want it bad enough, they’ll just go buy it from someone else.
Bottom line: Offer mid-level products and programs for the value shoppers.
#7: Hide the silver.
Do you know what the single most valuable asset in your business is? It’s YOU; your expertise, knowledge, connections, and especially your time and attention. Without you, there is no service. You are your own golden goose.
Unfortunately, none of those concepts (expertise, knowledge, connections, time, attention) is tangible. You can’t actually see or touch them, which makes your premium services seem less ‘real’ to customers.
But it’s actually not that difficult to package your premium services in a more tangible way, by including value-packed features and benefits and by creating a graphic image for the coaching package.
Don’t hide the value of your premium program just because it’s less tangible; showcase your coaching services to get more clients.
Bottom line: Create an attractive premium coaching package for customers who want customized or exclusive access to you.
Kathy Mallary is a marketing strategist and business development coach who specializes in helping professional coaches find a lucrative niche and create signature coaching programs and products. Discover how to build a thriving one-of-a-kind coaching business at www.spiritspring.com
This is Part 3 of a 3-part series on my 3 favorite and most effective marketing methods. For me, these techniques result in new clients, speaking and training opportunities. This month is about conducting complimentary consultations. Here are links to read Part 1 and Part 2.
TECHNIQUE #3. Conduct Complimentary Consultations
Do you offer free coaching sample sessions where you deliver great coaching and then hope your prospect hires you? And have you seen good results with your prospects hiring you? If so, you are all set. If not, here’s a technique for that first call or meeting with a prospect that, for me, produces greater results and can give you more confidence with selling. Yep, that is what you are doing or need to be doing. This is the answer to having a sales conversation that feels like coaching!*
The complimentary consultation is a structured visioning session that allows you to demonstrate how you would work with the prospect if they were already your client and culminates in a sales conversation. My recommendation is that ALL your marketing efforts funnel into this complimentary consultation. Consider this consultation as step 2 to any marketing effort. Whether you use speaking, writing, offering free taste teleclasses, networking, or advertising, this is a powerful tool to help your prospects and you both determine if your services, philosophies, programs and personality are a good fit.
The cool thing is this is true for individual coaching, group coaching or any program you offer… including getting hired by a company to deliver training or consulting. This is format can be your guide to any sales conversation using a coach approach.
The consultation can be held as a 40-60 minute telephone or in-person meeting. This meeting allows prospects to experience who you are, get a feel for what it’s like to work with you and get clear on what you offer. This meeting allows you and them see how and if you can help them reach their goals. This is a sales conversation without the icky sales feeling.
Here are a few keys to having a successful conversation that leads to prospects hiring you.
Make it clear who your ideal clients are and the solutions you deliver when you invite people to this meeting. Be selective so you can do your best work and only talk to prospects who fit your ideal client criteria! When you invite someone or a group to sign up for this session, say,” I do my best work and want to work with people who fit [this population] and who are serious about making positive changes.” Feels powerful to say it doesn’t it?
Have an outlined general agenda on paper and share your plans for the call at the beginning. Ask for your prospect’s agreement to the agenda. I’ve never had anyone disagree.
It is very important to say, while reviewing the agenda, “If we both feel there is a good fit, then I’ll ask you to be my client.” Put the money question out on the table instead of letting it lurk in the background, distracting both of you from being present.
Here are recommended agenda items to include. This is where your coach approach shines forth without coaching in the traditional sample session way. Your goal is to:
Find out where your prospective client is today in the area of their life in which you specialize, where they’d like to be, what seems to be standing in the way. You’ll have opportunities to coach them as you help them identify these pieces. Many are not clear what they want and why they are not getting where they want to be.
Tell them how your program works (define your “program” or typical coaching processes first!) and the outcomes you deliver. If you can help them, say so! Give them some idea of where you would start. Tell them you want to work with them and why.
Ask them what they need to know to make a decision. Let them ask about costs. Customize a program that fits them if needed.
Allow room for questions along the way.
This approach provides an easy transition into the sales “talk” without it feeling like selling. Ths tool will help you feel more confident because you have a plan for the call. Your prospect will be nodding their head “yes” with relief that you have a plan for the call and for your coaching to get to their desired results. Saying “yes” to working with you will be a natural conclusion if you genuinely have a good fit and your prospect knows what to expect and how your plan will help them. In this call they begin to get to know, like and trust you.
TAKE ACTION!
Create an agenda that is prospect-focused like the one described here and then invite and book 3 complimentary consultations. Notice what works and what doesn’t. Go get 1 new client out of 3 calls. It is doable! Write to the author at gail@inspiredchoice.comfor tweaking if needed.
* I credit learning the core of this process to Michael Charest, of Business Growth Solutions, and several great coaches and marketing teachers along the way, topped off with the Gail touch!
Gail Sussman Miller ofInspired Choice, teaches women solopreneurs and small business owners how to love marketing obstacles and overcome them with ease. She offers a recording of a one-hour teleclass on “4 Steps to Conduct Complimentary Consultations That Sell” here, which includes a call outline to make successful non-sales sales conversations a habit!
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Kathy Mallary is a marketing strategist and business development coach who specializes in helping professional coaches find a lucrative niche and create signature coaching programs and products. Discover how to build a thriving one-of-a-kind coaching business at 
Kathy Mallary is a marketing strategist and business development coach who specializes in helping professional coaches find a lucrative niche and create signature coaching programs and products. Discover how to build a thriving one-of-a-kind coaching business at 
