I always tell my coaches that coaching as a practice is not a one-size fits all deal. You can’t just have a single approach when dealing with clients of different backgrounds. You have to know how to strategically maneuver yourself around the client’s hurdles and allow him/her to see the blind spots and take action in addressing them.
As a Global Master Coach in Life Coaching, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Timeline Therapy, I mix and match coaching disciplines to meet the client’s needs based on his profile and ensure that potentials are recognized and results maximized. That is why creating your own coaching program is very important if you are to coach professionally.
Here are some tips which can help you jumpstart yours:
Be clear on the aspirational benefit. Branding wise, it’s best to be clear about what the client will get once he/she gets you as a coach. Simplify this and make it very relatable. My coaching platform is called #bestmeever which focuses on self-actualization and personal breakthroughs geared towards becoming one’s best. Quite self-explanatory. Remember to be clear first before you try too hard to become clever when you craft this. A single, solid and highly aspirational brand benefit is suggested so that communication is streamlined seamlessly.
Be comfortable with your own coaching model and coaching tools. Find a coaching model which works best for you and your intended market. Remember, you must be able to apply the coaching model you plan to use to yourself first and to your test subjects before you even launch your own coaching program professionally. Here’s the good news: if you get certified by a legit coaching institution, each one has its own coaching model. It’s up to you how you will be able to inject your own style to it as you coach. Also, it is best to create your own coaching tools. There are a lot of free tools online but hey, creating yours will allow you to strategically tailor-fit each to the client’s journey and to your brand’s personality too.
Narrow down your niche market. Quality over quantity. Choose the right market who will benefit fully from your coaching program. As coaches, our results speak for ourselves and testimonials are powerful tools for marketing yourself. Profile your client well. Again, you can’t be everyone’s coach but you will always be the right one for a specific niche, based on your experience and expertise.
Create a journey-friendly structure. It’s all about the journey they say. So ensure that your coaching program will have a structure that will allow your client to reflect, understand, gain clarity and take responsibility for his actions through guided sessions with each having its own objectives, and mini milestones in between, say on a monthly basis. Having such will enable you and your coachee to celebrate small wins as you journey together towards bigger ones ahead.
Package your program attractively. Streamline all your communications and promotions and ensure that you are able to position your product as a great value for money offering consistently and cohesively. Utilize a multi-platform approach tailor-fitted to the media consumption behaviors of your target market to ensure proper information dissemination. Give it an aspirational feel without over promising.
Creating your own coaching program takes a lot of time and effort to ensure that the final output delivers the right results to the right audience.
