Five Simple Strategies to Reach More New Clients

Many new-ish coaches hesitate to talk about what they do, self-promote, or otherwise approach others to — gulp! — sell coaching.

Understandably so — these people are amazing at focusing on others and not so keen on attention to themselves. They hesitate to get out there and don’t do the work to reach clients.

So, after building a website, I’d often stay “on the team” to help the coach increase online visibility so they can grow their income.

In this post, let me share five simple, timeless strategies to get the ball rolling, especially if you’re new, need something doable, and have fears floating around.

If you’re a talented, caring coaches who hesitates to get out there but know you need to, then get in touch with me for help.

Clients out there, just a connection or two away.

And they’d work with you if they had a chance to meet you.

You’ve probably had a few paying clients already. They came from people you already knew OR a friend of a friend. That’s how most coaches get started. They tell everyone and new clients show up. But that water well soon runs dry. So you need to keep pumping it and build your pipeline to bring new ones with less effort.

To help hesitant coaches take action, I often tell them this …

Being a human means we have a need to grow — a need to face challenges and overcome them. Everyone could use some support, especially on the diffcult goals. So, you just need to reach more people and let them know about what you do. So, find ways to get past the resistances and fears, and build in consistency. That’ll get you far.

Kenn Schroder

I’ve tried cold calling, inbox messaging, and even paid advertising. They all worked to a small degree but were short-lived and clumsy. Better is gaining trust, legitimately by providing helpful content online to my networks. I attract clients who want my help, not invade people’s spaces trying to convince them to hire me.

I think this approach is great for coaches who value trust and integrity — something you’ll need from your clients if you want to coach them well.

The five strategies …

ACTION 1. Post daily to one platform, but do it SWIFTLY.

Social posting can waste time if it’s off-topic or if you end up dilly-dallying for hours. So, we’ve gotta be smart about this.

Post daily, quickly, first thing in the morning, in 10 minutes or less. Set a timer or do it just before another appointment so it forces you to stop. Daily is good to both form a habit, and show up in a “social way” like we do with family, friends, and coworkers.

Keep to the right topics. Talk about how to overcome the pains and struggles your ideal client has. Give helpful thoughts, bits of inspiration, and real-life stuff if it’s related. Avoid sharing your cupcake recipe.

Right now, we need “doable” tasks to get you into action. The rest will come.

ACTION 2. Write a “mind shift” blog post each week.

Don’t write a book! The goal here is to create new outreach habits for you that are sustainable, and you can get fancier over time. I like aiming for 3 laptop screenfuls of text, or 6 mobile phone scrolls.

Mindset is a big deal to clients. When your clients have Aha! moments, they get excited, they get motivated, and they are eager to take action toward goals. So, for each blog you write, share a new idea or perspective that’ll create a mental shift for them.

Some examples …

• Teach them that good health is a lifestyle, not a quick fix
• Show them how looking at both dreams and nightmares helps motivate
• Help them learn to investigate failures to uncover the next smart move

Tie your blogs to pain points. With all content, you need to stay on topic. Recall your clients top struggles, challenges, and pains.

ACTION 3. Email your list weekly using THIS rule of thumb.

Subscribers are very special contacts. They gave you their precious email address, granting you access to their private little message safehaven. Just think about it …

• Email is where you reset passwords.
• All other accounts use your email address.
• Your inbox holds longer messages, attachments, travel details, and more.
• It’s searchable, so you need to keep it safe.

A rule of thumb. You can start by simply sharing your weekly blog post. For starters, I’d send it in full as text. If there are visuals, you can send an HTML email, or send them a link to the post at your website. 

Sell now so you don’t have to later. Think of these emails as “pre-selling” because you’re gaining trust. When you offer coaching to your list, they’ll be much easier to get signed up.

ACTION 4. Follow up with THESE people weekly.

Dedicate time for “Follow Ups.” With all the stuff on your plate, it’s easy to lose track of client opportunities. So, like Santa Claus, I like making a list and checking it twice — and see who I need to follow-up with each week.

These people:

• Follow up with new leads weekly
• Message referral sources monthly
• Message past clients / old leads quarterly

For potential clients (new leads), get them into a call. With people showing interest, invite them to a call, and then if you talk for a long time, make an offer to coach them. If it’s a NO for now, follow up again in 3 months. There’s more to this so-called enrollment process. But for now, follow up and invite.

Keep their dreams alive. When I reconnect with people, I always want to hear about their big dreams. Not only do I love it, but someone’s gotta keep their dreams alive 😉

Remember, out-of-sight is out-of-mind, especially today.

ACTION 5. Take your best clients to the NEXT LEVEL.

Here’s another gold mine. When you study sales, business, and marketing, there’s this —> It’s MUCH easier to sell more to an existing client than to sell to a stranger. That’s because they already trust you.

Don’t trust strangers. At least not until they cease to be foreign, and become familiar. That’s why we build our social following, why we keep an email list, and write blog posts. To make ourselves easy to approach, and remove that “stranger danger” vibe.

GO BIGGER with your current clients. Which of your clients is amazing, who you could message with a, “I was thinking. What if you doubled your goals?” or perhaps, “I was wondering, what would the next level look like for you?” or simply, “Hey, is it time to aim higher?”

This can warrant higher fees, or a longer engagement, or even less time on your part as you challenge them to self-coach and find answers.

Take them to a next level with coaching, support, goals, accountability, etc — and raise your fees to match that. If the next level is truly NEXT LEVEL for them, it’ll be worth a lot more than your coaching feel. Help them aim high.

In Summary — Get out there, and earn that TRUST

Clients love working with talented coaches that they know, like and TRUST.

And trust builds with positive interactions over time. If you can stay visible, especially to the people already around you, opportunities will come.

Put in the effort to engage with people, keep in touch, share helpful info, and offer to coach them.