If you’re thinking about starting a coaching business – good choice.
The growth of the coaching industry over the past decade is insane – from $707 Million in 2011 to $1.34 Billion in 2022.
The market is booming. And that means competition is fierce.
That’s why you’re here. You want to know how to grow a coaching business to stand out from the competition. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll share strategies to scale your coaching business fast, so you can achieve financial freedom.
Steps to Scale Your Coaching Business
Maybe you’re starting a coaching business because you love helping others. Maybe you’ve found that you’re actually very good at it. For many people, they’re hoping their coaching businesses will give them the time and financial freedom that they’ve been craving.
Wouldn’t it be nice to set our work hours and have creative control over the way the business is run?
Ironically, the same people who leave their 9-5 to grow coaching businesses end up working 40+ hours a week with sleepless nights.
Why does this happen?
They have a packed schedule because they’re wearing multiple hats at once. They’re posting sporadically on various platforms to get clients. They handle all of their admin tasks. They take on several clients at once, leaving no space to work on growing their business.
The reality is – You need to build structures to give you time and freedom in the long run. When you build a solid foundation, you set yourself up for success in the long term.
Side Note: We recommend getting a mentor or coach early on, so you can 10x your growth. A mentor or growth agency helps you get there faster because they’ve already made the mistakes for you. They know what works best to market and grow your brand.
At Scaling With Systems, we help business owners (yes, coaching business owners, too) with developing profitable client acquisition systems to scale their businesses fast.
Learn more about how we can help you by booking a free consultation call.
Now that we’ve made it clear that it’s important to build your business workflows and strategy so that it can grow, here’s the roadmap to get you there.
Choose a Correct Coaching Model & Style
The right coaching model is important for the long-term success of your business. The style and niche you choose depend on your expertise and how you want to put yourself out there. It’ll also decide what type of clients you’re attracting.
There are several types of coaching models, but we’ll discuss the commons ones here:
- Private Coaching: This is where you sit 1:1 with your clients without anyone else on zoom. It can be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on your offer.
- Group Coaching: Instead of getting on 1:1, you have all your clients attend one coaching call. You can create a system where they ask questions, and you answer them on a first-come, first-serve basis.
- Business Coaching: These coaching calls are directed towards a specific sector, such as team building, leadership building, managing internal operations, or running a sales team. The goal is to get better at one thing to take your business to the next level.
- In-person workshop: Several remote B2B companies meet in person twice or thrice a year to organize company retreats or masterminds. This is the best form of coaching.
You’re putting 50-100 people who’re all entrepreneurs or millionaires in one room for 2-3 days. Imagine the networks you will build and, of course, the revenue generated from those relationships.
The big question is how to grow a coaching business with the right coaching model. We’ve created a list of questions you can ask yourself before deciding on one model and style:
- What makes you want to start a coaching business?
- Who is your target audience, and what are their specific needs?
- What type of results do you want for your clients?
- Do you have any strengths or weaknesses as a coach?
- What resources and tools do you have to support your coaching style?
- Who do you want to be known as in the coaching industry?
Find A Niche For Your Coaching Business
Harvard Business Review posted something interesting on how to grow your online coaching business. It’s the middle-ground between therapy and consulting.
You need to do more than just help people with broad advice. You want to consult with them about actionable strategies, as well as provide support for mindset shifts they need to take.
The goal of coaching is to help people find their path and purpose, improve performance and reach their targets. Since coaching is all about personal and business goals, it’s important to choose the right coaching niche so that you can develop authority in a specialized area.
Coaching people without niching down is going to be more work for you, and likely, you’ll attract people who don’t resonate with the systems and style of your work. They won’t get the results they need, and you won’t enjoy your work as much.
If you’re trying to narrow down your niche, ask yourself these questions:
- Why do you do what you do?
- Do you have a story you think others will relate to?
- Do you have any special skills?
- What’s the problem you’re trying to solve?
- What’s your favorite thing to do?
- What’s that one problem people will pay you to fix?
That way, you can be the authority in this area. Business coaching is a very broad area. But business coaching for startups in the tech space is a great niche to attract very specific clients. You can then develop more clear messaging for your marketing, and processes for the actual coaching programs.
Coaching Business Target Audience
Your niche will tell you who your target audience is. Identify your target audience first because it shows you what message to use to reach them.
Everyone likes personalization. They want coaches who have relatable experiences and stories to tell. Target audiences should be defined based on demographics, background, hobbies, interests, and goals.
Develop an “avatar” for your ideal client. Give them a name, create a story about what they need and want, and add information about demographics like age, location, values, etc.
When you later develop marketing material, like social media posts, you want to create visuals and written text as if you are speaking directly to them. This draws in more leads because people feel like your business was made for them.
Creating Offerings & Sales Funnel
Your website should tell your audience who you are, what you offer, and how much it costs. You can make your sales funnel look clean and streamlined with landing pages, and offer a valuable lead magnet. This is generally a downloadable offer that people get in exchange for providing their details.
For example, if you run a fitness coaching business, you might create an Ebook about why rest is important for muscle development. People input their email to download the Ebook.
Once you have their email, you send automated email blasts that give more valuable insights, and eventually, a CTA for them to work with you 1-1. The best sales funnels always relate back to the magnet. So you could say, “if you want to identify the right workout and rest schedule for your personal needs, I can help you with that.”
Priorities and Work Schedule
Schedule rebels; we have news. Sure, you want to have a more flexible work schedule. But how do you get there? Careful planning. Hear us out.
It’s your schedule, so you decide what it looks like. But, all entrepreneurs know that having no schedule for their day and week will often lead to procrastination and a decline in productivity.
Ensure that you prioritize tasks that will make the biggest impact on your business, and make sure that your schedule allows you time to work on the creative development of the business.
That means setting aside time to brainstorm other programs and offers. This is where hiring a VA or delegating work to other employees is super helpful. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck overworking without being able to grow your coaching business.
As a business owner, you want to work ON your business, not IN it..
Have A Solid Client Onboarding Process
Onboarding is more than just passing over an agreement form to your new client. It is the complete process for clients to go through from the first discovery call to the first coaching session. That means, before you even sign them, imagine they’re a client.
Send them follow-up communication and material swiftly. Demonstrate your professionalism from the start. That already gives the prospect the experience they’d have if they worked with you.
When they sign up, you need an initial welcome email, client intake forms, coaching agreements, payment methods, and scheduling software. And then, any other material, tutorials, and worksheets that they can look at before your first call.
When you have a clear onboarding process, your clients know what’s coming next, which builds trust and leads to success. How does this help grow your coaching business? Your happy clients will continue to work with you (client retention is great for growth) and they’ll share about your work. Word-of-mouth marketing is a free and effective way to grow.
Grow Your Coaching Business With Ads
We get this question a lot: How to grow a coaching business on digital platforms with ads?
You need to advertise your coaching business through the right channels. Based on your niche, you’ll find the right advertising channel. Ads will help you reach your target audience and build a brand identity to get clients.
Whether you’re just starting or have been in the industry for a while, you need the right marketing strategy.
Here’s how to grow a coaching business with proven advertising methods:
1. Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is how you’ll achieve your marketing goals and promote your coaching business.
Here’s how to use a marketing plan to grow your coaching business:
- Define your target audience: Decide who your ideal client is and what they want (needs and preferences).
- Do market research: Collect information about your target audience, your competitors, and the industry.
- Set marketing goals: Decide what results you want with your marketing, such as increasing brand awareness or getting more leads and sales.
- Choose your marketing channels: Decide which channels you will use to reach your target audiences, such as social media, email marketing, or paid advertising on YouTube, Google, Facebook, etc.
- Develop your marketing strategy: Choose a plan that fits your marketing goals and target audience, like content marketing or influencer marketing.
- Create a content plan: Plan how you create and distribute content that fits your marketing strategy and resonates with your audience.
2. Facebook And Instagram Ads
3.71 billion people use at least one Meta app every month. This is why running ads on social media platforms is a great way to get traffic from your audience. You can easily get your brand name out there.
We’ve outlined a few steps you can follow to grow coaching business with paid ads:
- Set advertising goals: You must know your end goal before starting. What do you want to achieve through running ads? This can be getting more sign-ups, website visitors, page views, or opt-ins for your email list.
- Choose an ad format: There are multiple ad formats that you can choose from. You can go for story ads, video ads, square images, or landscape image ads. Test multiple formats to find which works best to grow your coaching business.
- Create your ad: Facebook and Instagram have ad creation tools to help you design your ad to match your advertising goals.
- Launch your ad: The next step is to launch your ad campaign. Keep a check on its performance using metrics such as reach, impressions, and conversions. This’ll let you know which ad format is bringing better results.
We have some helpful tips on how to make Facebook ads work for you, in this article.
3. Google AdWords
When you’re targeting specific keywords, this is a good pay-per-click method. Keyword examples can be “interview coaching” or “spiritual life coaching.” You can reach potential clients and grow your coaching business with Google AdWords.
Follow these steps to set up your advertising campaign:
- Use Google AdWords targeting options to find your ideal customers based on keywords, demographics, location, and interests.
- Decide on a single call to action that takes them to the next step in the funnel. What happens once people see your ad?
- Choose your ad format. You can create text ads, image ads, video ads, responsive ads, product Shopping ads, call-only ads, and so much more.
- Once you have an ad format, use Google Adwords’ design tools to structure and create your final ad.
- Set your daily budget and bids for your AdWords campaign, including your cost-per-click and how much you’re willing to spend.
- Launch your AdWords campaign and track impressions, clicks, and conversions to track its performance.
4. Email marketing
Email marketing is a great tool to grow your coaching business. If you’ve built a client list, send them regular emails about your business. You can use email to upsell, promote your blog, and tell people more about yourself.
How to grow a coaching business with email marketing:
- Build your email list: Get email addresses from potential customers by using opt-in forms on your website and lead magnets. You can also funnel prospects from social media into your email list with CTAs and lead magnets.
- Segment your list: Put your list into segments based on interests, behavior, or past purchases.
- Create your email content: Design and create emails relevant to your target audience that fit your marketing goals.
- Use an email marketing platform: You need an email marketing platform, like Mailchimp, Aweber, or Active Campaign, to manage your email list, send emails, and track results.
- Personalize your emails: Who doesn’t love extra effort? Include the recipient’s name, location, or other relevant information to make them feel more relevant.
- Schedule and send your emails: Send your emails when your target audience is most likely to be active and engaged.
5. Podcasts
Podcasting is a great way to reach your target audience and advertise your coaching business. These steps will help you grow coaching business from scratch:
- Find your listeners. Figure out who your ideal client is and what topics they are interested in.
- Choose your podcast format. What type of podcast do you want to create? You can choose from an interview-style podcast, a solo podcast, or a panel podcast.
- Plan your content. Create a content strategy that connects with your audience.
- Choose a hosting platform, such as Anchor, Buzzsprout, or Libsyn.
- If you want your podcast to sound professional, get a microphone, headphones, and a mixer. This’ll help you to produce high-quality, engaging podcast episodes.
- Upload your podcast to iTunes, Stitcher, and other podcast directories. Get your podcast out there by using your website, social media, email marketing, and other channels.
Coaching Business Automation
Coaching business automation refers to automating repetitive or manual tasks in your business so you can focus on more strategic or high-value actions.
Here are a few reasons why coaching business automation is useful to grow coaching business:
- Improved efficiency: When you automate time-consuming tasks such as sending emails or tracking client progress, you create more space for decision-making. You can focus on needle-moving activities for your coaching business.
- Increased scalability: Automation can help you scale your coaching business by letting you serve more clients or offer more services without hiring more people.
- Better customer experience: You can offer a better customer experience by automating tasks like booking appointments, finding resources, and getting support.
Automated Email
Email automation is a must-have when it comes to simplifying your outreach and client nurturing processes. This is how it’ll benefit your business:
- Lead nurturing: Use email automation to send an automated email series to people who’ve shown interest in your business. In these emails, you can tell prospects more about your coaching business, build trust, and convert them into paying clients.
- Client onboarding: This makes the onboarding experience so much better for the clients. Send welcome emails, appointment reminders, and other important information to new clients.
- Upselling and cross-selling: Promote complementary coaching services or products to your existing clients to increase your revenue per client.
Learn more about email marketing tactics in our article about ActiveCampaign.
Calendars To Book Your Appointments
Using calendars to schedule appointments is a great way to manage your coaching business and save time and resources:
- Integrate scheduling software: Choose a scheduling software that syncs with your calendar, such as Google Calendar or Calendly, to automate appointment scheduling.
- Set up availability: Let clients book appointments that work for both of you by setting up your availability in the scheduling software.
- Share the booking link: Send your clients the booking link via email, your website, or social media so they can book a time easily.
- Automated reminders: Set reminders, so clients know about their upcoming appointments, and you’ll reduce the risk of no-shows.
Automated Reports & Integrations
In a coaching business, automated reports and integrations can be a game changer, giving quick insights, streamlining workflows, and boosting productivity. These reports will help you check various metrics, such as client progress, marketing, and business performance.
Integrate different systems, such as CRM and email marketing, to reduce errors and improve overall processes. Plus, automated reports reduce manual reporting time. This gives you more time to serve more clients, improve your processes, and onboard new clients.
Grow Your Coaching Business: FAQs
What are the 3 C’s to grow coaching business?
The 3 C’s of coaching refer to the three key elements that make up a successful coaching relationship: Connection, Conversation, and Change. These three elements work together to create a transformational coaching experience.
What is the 80/20 rule in coaching?
The Pareto Principle says 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your activities. If leaders want to transform their teams and performance, they should change how they set goals forever.
How to grow online coaching business?
The first step entrepreneurs should take to grow coaching businesses is to find who their ideal client is. When you have your target audience in mind, you can create an offer that resonates with them. Focus on promoting your coaching business through digital platforms. You can run ads on social media or send promotional emails to your list.
Wrapping Up: How To Grow A Coaching Business
Several business owners are stepping up into the coaching industry.
It can take time to grow your business from scratch. With the right strategies and mentorship, you can run your coaching business successfully in no time.
We often recommend our clients invest in professional help early on when developing their sales funnels and nailing their marketing messages.
We’ve helped thousands of business owners and coaches like you go from making $0 to six figures (and more) in record time. Want to learn more? Book a free consultation call with our team today.
