This is the second part of this blog series. In the first part, we talked about what personal coaching is and why people want it. We also discussed how to manage time and how segmentation is done.
In this text, we will try to give you ideas on how you can decide your own segments as well as offer you productivity suggestions. Let’s get started.
Your client segments
So, how do you choose your own segment? Well, there are a number of factors you need to take into account. One of the most important aspects is your know-how. Clients usually seek out a coach that can give them guidance towards their goal. To be able to give guidance, the coach needs to know what he or she is talking about. And most importantly, the coach should possess more know-how than the client.
If the client feels that he or she knows more than the coach, it will be difficult to trust the guidance that is given by the coach.
A second factor is your motivation. Are you interested in knowing more about this client segment, are you eager to learn more if needed? Are you ready to expand your knowledge base if your client segments demands it?
Your motivation can be divided into two different motivational factors, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic refers to external rewards (or punishments) such as money, fame and praise. Intrinsic refers to internal rewards, such behaviours that arises within yourself that simply feels naturally satisfying to do.
I guess you have already figured out which one of these you should focus on. Even if money and fame is great, you should try to work with a segment that feels nice to work with and is something you enjoy doing. If you do that, there’s a fairly good chance money and fame will follow.
Besides know-how and motivation, things that you can control yourself, there are two other aspects that comes into play, that are more difficult to control. These are supply and demand.
When thinking about your segment, do you think that there are big demands for a service like yours? And what are they willing to pay? If you would start your coaching in this segment, how many competitors would you have? Would there be a market share for you in this segment?
You should try to answer these questions. If the situation is challenging, you either need to change segment, price or location somehow. Or then just offer a kick-ass service that no-one can resist and compete with.
Get productive
When you have chosen your client segment, it is time to start planning the service. What you want to do is to create a client path that every client in your segment can go through. By doing this, you guarantee that every client gets a great service. The client path should be based on the segment’s wants and needs. The path tries to find factors in the service that can be described and repeated for everyone.
To create the client path, you can think about it like this, that you should be able to teach another person to offer your service.
Start with describing the service. Who is it for, what do they get, what does the service contain, for how long is it active, what is the target and so on.
Now think about every step you take when you deliver your service to a client. Maybe you write a contract, maybe you gather basic info about the client, have a start-up meeting etc. A good idea is to divide your work into what you do before the client starts the service, what you do in the start-up phase, what you do during the service and what you do when the service ends.
Ask yourself, what work is always done in the same way and what work changes from time to time?
The work that is always done the same way, is there a way to make this easier and faster? Can it be automated somehow? For example, if you write a contract with your client, can you pre-create a template where you just fill in the specific details?
Or if you have a start-up meeting with your client, can you before having the meeting send a questionnaire with questions you always ask to the client, and then during the meeting discuss the client’s answers instead of spending double the time doing both?
Think about these kinds of things. Try to see the service as a process that can be created beforehand. It’s not very easy, but I’m sure you’ll find activities that you can improve somehow.
I will end this text with one final statement. Even if you can pre-create a lot of things, please remember the individual you are really serving. You can not state that you are giving personal coaching if you just give the exact same training program to everyone. Try to create a good mix that helps both you and your clients. A mix where everyone feels like winners.
Are you interested in knowing more about this topic?
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