First Five: simple sales for thoughtful coaches

Welcome to Planet Coach! And yes, this is for you 🙂

Congratulations on choosing an incredibly fulfilling and meaningful profession. I know that when you are starting your coaching business, it's tempting to get your website sorted, choose brand colours and get some fancy headshots. And while all of these things are so fun, you don't need any of them to get started: you need clients.

My heartfelt advice is to work with 20 paying 1:1 clients - this will tell you everything about the kind of coaching you love and the particular clients you are delighted to support. You'll also get so much practice at actually running your business.

First Five is specifically designed to help you enrol clients - you don't need anything except yourself!

Without knowing your specific circumstances, I can't honestly say. Maybe you aren't doing anything 'wrong'?

What I can offer is that money comes from people. This means we really need to know our people - particularly how our coaching helps and why they would choose to invest.

We also need to know ourselves. Underneath all our training and experience, we coaches are messy, imperfect humans doing the complex thing of running a business.

What you believe about this is really worth reflecting on. How do you feel about selling your work, receiving money, and being more visible than the average person? That might tell you something about what's happening.

We spend a module of First Five exploring your Self-belief and how you can resource yourself while you do the brave work of inviting folks to coach with you.

Maybe? But at some point, you are going to have to try selling!

After my waiting list got too big, I worked with a fantastic business coach (Ellie Swift), who helped me clarify my strategy and marketing - it was invaluable and I loved our two years of working together.

However, even with that support, I still had to sell my offers to my people. In the end, it came down to me and another human on a call, trying to work out if we are a good match, in a way that was respectful and kind to both of us.

If you know that you need to get comfortable with selling and this approach feels good to you, First Five will help.

Maybe? But at some point, you will need to have a conversation with your prospective client!

I know how seductive it is to believe something or someone can make this easy. Who among us hasn't fallen down the rabbit hole wondering if maybe we're just missing the right crystal, meditation cushion or light codes?! And when we find that thing, abundance will flow.

The thing is, our clients don't care about any of this. They just want to know if we can help them. They want to know we are someone they can trust with their vulnerabilities and uncertainties. Mostly, like all of us, they want to feel seen and understood.

And all this seeking means you miss the real magic of supporting yourself to be able to do this sales thing, which IS full of uncertainty and has no guarantees. But it is a skill you can learn, and there is nothing like it. Being able to create the emotional, intellectual, emotional and financial rewards from your very own enormous brain and heart?! THAT'S the lottery win.

My nudge is to put your whole-hearted energy into serving your clients. This is especially important in the sales process. First Five will help.

The short answer is: there is no catch.

I believe deeply in the impact of our collective contribution. I don't believe in competition - I want us all to win.

Running a business has been the self-development journey I never realised I was signing up for. And it has made all the difference to trust that I have valuable offers that my clients will absolutely pay for.

I have learned so much over the years, not just about how to sell, but how to do this in a way that reflects my values, and feels really 'clean' to me. The coaches I know want this too.

I've shared aspects of my approach over the years, but after having the same conversations with so many talented, big-hearted coaches, I wanted to pull this together into a logical approach.

My intention is that you find First First both financially accessible and simple to digest because I want you to be implementing your learning! Tweaking and refining, so it fits you.

I've yes, I've seen those expensive programmes too. I've bought a few of them!

And because I've been around since before the internet had ads (Generation X representing), I've spent many, many years watching the online business world grow up around me.

Many sales and marketing courses can be traced back to Jeff Walker's Launch Formula (which I have bought and used aspects of in the past). Marie Forleo was an early graduate, so if you've ever worked with a B-school graduate, you've also been a student of Jeff's. Kelly Diels wrote a great post about the Launch Formula 'mental triggers' approach and why we should do better.

My intention is that you make your First Five investment back on your next Sales Call.  

Before your next Chemistry Session (or Introductory Call or whatever you choose to call this), watch the Simple Sales Calls video, and you'll be able to use this approach immediately.

First Five is designed to be implemented now. 

You get access to all content as soon as you enrol. There are five modules, each with a 20-30min video lesson and supporting notes, templates, scripts and top tips, in the First Five Playbook.

I'd love to chat. Please get in touch, and we can take it from there.