The coaching profession is on fire right now. There are business coaches, executive coaches, relationship coaches, health coaches, life coaches, many other types of coaches and even coaches for coaches.
According to a 2012 study, 2 billion dollars are spent on life coaching services each year. Billions of dollars are also spent on business and executive coaching. The coaching field is growing as many people are becoming coaches.
In a world with many aspiring coaches, how can a coach stand out and become a great coach, delivering amazing results for client after client?
1. Choose a niche
In order to be a highly effective coach, it’s a wise idea to choose a specific niche to focus on. The possibilities are endless. There are coaches who help postpartum moms get fit, coaches who help people find love and coaches who help business executives become more effective leaders.
If you try to help everybody in the world with problems, you won’t be as effective. Instead, decide who you want to serve and what problem you want to help them solve. By focusing on a specific niche, you can devote time and effort to becoming highly knowledgeable and skilled in that area and your clients will get much more results than if you had just surface knowledge of a variety of niches.
2. Become an excellent communicator
In order to be a great coach, you’ll need to develop incredible interpersonal communication skills. You’ll need to be a great listener. You’ll need to be investigative to get to the root of your client’s problems.
You’ll need to be able to effectively explain the benefits of working with you in order to close sales calls with prospective clients. You’ll need to put aside your judgments during conversations and focus on helping your clients. When you become an excellent communicator, your clients will open up to you more quickly, leading to a faster results for them and a better business for you.
3. Be a sponge
To become an amazing coach, it’s important to realize that there’s always more to learn. Dedicate time each week to learning more about your niche. Read books, listen to the best experts, study research articles and soak up information about your niche.
During coaching sessions, you never know what your client might tell you and when you’re highly educated about your subject, you have more information to draw from to help your client. Commit to being a lifelong learner and continue to implement what you learn and always improve the quality of your coaching sessions. Study, study, and study some more.
4. Improve your own life
Immerse yourself in activities involving personal development or business strategies. If you’re a health coach, work on continuing to improve your own health. If you’re a coach for business leaders, work on continuing to develop your own leadership qualities.
Your firsthand knowledge about transforming your life in the area of your niche can give you a deeper understanding of what your clients are going through.
5. Practice
Gain experience coaching in your niche. When you are first starting out, it can be wise to offer sessions for free to people in exchange for their feedback. This will help you develop your confidence and help you see whether or not your techniques are effective.
Also, when you offer sessions for free, you’ll gain insight into whether or not you enjoy that niche and you’ll learn more about your ideal client.
Building a coaching business takes work and effort, but can be highly rewarding and incredibly fulfilling. Use the above strategies to help you become a great coach.
