What's In Your Toolbox?

You've followed a dream to motivate others to achieve their goals by establishing yourself as a coach or trainer. You may even have evolved a speciality - weight loss or life coach perhaps - and have a handful of clients. What are the tools you need to succeed as a coach? Next to your training, marketing and promotion are some of the most important skills a business owner has.

Personal networking and word of mouth are the most effective marketing strategies for coaches and trainers. Here are some other marketing strategies and tools you can use to attract more clients and send you on your way to becoming a top coach.

• Website. There is a plethora of options for web development. Aim for a website that’s easily updatable to keep the content fresh and improve your search engine optimisation.

• Social media. Why limit your networking potential? Go virtual and network with the whole world. The biggest three social media sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. An online presence is a must so that can clients can find you and, even more importantly, refer you. Developing a social media strategy is a proven way of driving traffic to your website or blog.

• Client management system. As an excellent communicator you are adept at collecting details of potential clients wherever you go but those details need be effectively organised and maintained. There are a variety of Client Management Systems (CRM) that can be utilised for this including Act!, MS Access, FileMaker Pro, and MS CRM and other online databases. A comprehensive client management system is essential for building long term relationships with clients. Don't underestimate the simple act of sending out a birthday card. A well-organised database will help remind you when they are due.

• Communication. It’s important to keep in contact with clients and potential clients on a regular basis whether this is through an ezine (email newsletter) or blog. Set up an autoresponder to ensure emails are responded to in a professional, timely manner. Or use the services of a virtual receptionist for a more personal response.

• Print. While it's tempting to purchase existing business document templates, designing your own communication tools will help cement your brand. Diagnostic tools, online surveys and event flyers are more effective if they are easily recognisable as yours.

• Freebies. According to a 2009 marketing survey by The Coach Academy, 53% of coaches that have been in business for more than five years utilise free seminars workshops and/or teleclasses to attract new clients. This is very effective way of gathering names for your client management system. Animate your session with a professional PowerPoint presentation to cater for visual as well as audio learning styles.

If you're establishing yourself as a new coach you want to spend your time coaching and attracting new clients, not learning html. And you want your marketing tools to be as polished and professional as they can be in order to reflect your excellent coaching skills. This can be a challenge if you aren’t familiar or confident with the relevant software.

Fortunately there is a solution. All of the above can be outsourced to experienced experts. Top coaches don’t try and do it all themselves.They outsource the administrative aspects of their business on a contractual basis to qualified, experienced support staff and get on with doing what they do best - coaching.
As a coach, you understand the importance of developing relationships. Rather than deal with a number of different specialists for each outsourced task, Virtual Assistants are becoming an increasingly attractive option. Virtual Assistants are, like you, self-employed business owners. They work independently from their own office providing administrative, creative, and/or technical assistance as and when you need it. They understand your products and services and grow with you because your business is their business.

It’s not always easy to delegate part of your coaching practice after putting so much time into developing it but once you outsource the tasks you least enjoy, you’ll wish you’d done it sooner.

The CoachesVA team of Virtual Assistants was established by Colleen Amos and Debbie Corlet to provide a complete solution for the specialised needs and coaches and trainers. Visit http://www.coachesva.com.au for more information.