14 Effective Strategies For Coaches Looking To Grow Their Business

As a coach, an essential part of one’s business is to help people or companies meet and surpass their goals. However, just like carpenters can ironically have the worst furniture, coaches might find themselves fueling others’ success and ignoring their own.

Coaches need to remember that they also have a business and seek their own success to grow their reputations as mentors for the business community. The success of their own companies is the most crucial testimonial they can have for the strength of their coaching methods.

Below, 14 members of Forbes Coaches Council investigate the techniques that coaches can employ to grow their business and why those strategies are effective.

1. Diversify Your Services

Having a growth mindset that innovates and learns allows a coach to expand territory and diversify to keep business relevant and fresh. This is about who you serve: onboarding new clients or reaching a variety of industries, etc. It also looks at providing different services: one-on-one or group coaching, training and speaking, published books and classes, etc., to help meet needs on many levels. – Christy Geiger MCC, CPCC, Synergy Strategies Coaching & Training

2. Expand Your Expertise

Becoming a certified coach supervisor is an effective way for experienced coaches to grow revenue. Offering professional development support to other coaches expands the universe of potential clients. It creates opportunity for supervising internal coaches for organizations. Still a novel profession in North America, coaching supervision provides opportunity for speaking and educating other coaches. – Barrett McBride, Ph.D., MCC, Barrett McBride & Associates

3. Create A Strategic Business Plan

Every business should have and use a strategic business plan. I’m not talking about downloading a template from the internet and filling it out. I’m talking about building a long-term strategic plan with goals, objectives and initiatives designed to consistently move the business toward its strategic vision. The plan is broken down into an operational one-year plan and implemented quarterly. – John Knotts, Crosscutter Enterprises

4. Surround Yourself With Successful People

Invest in mentorship and high-level mastermind groups. It’s one of the fastest and most powerful ways to grow, discover and move past your blind spots, and get challenged to new ways of thinking and problem-solving you haven’t yet considered. Masterminds activate what I like to call the “Rising Tide Theory,” meaning when you are surrounded by others who are doing well, it almost forces you to do the same. – Shameca Tankerson, Command More Sales

5. Invest In An External Coach Or Consultant

I stopped counting how often people approached me with a “my job is X but weirdly enough I cannot do this for my own business.” I think that this is the most normal thing on this planet. So, when you feel stuck or need some fresh, new ideas, hire an external consultant or coach for a few hours to get some fresh, new approaches into your business. I regularly do that and it always helps. – Dr. Natalia Wiechowski, Think Natalia

6. Know Your Numbers

Not only should coaches know their target annual income, but they should have a plan on how to achieve it. Sourcing projected income by service (for example, executive coaching, resume writing, interview preparation, etc.) and comparing forecasts to actuals is a cornerstone activity to commit to regularly. The results can be opportunities to reward one’s own work, as well as to direct new efforts. – Garrison Leykam, Garrison Leykam LLC dba DESIGN YOU

7. Develop A Sales Funnel

It is important to constantly upsell so that you are able to ensure that you are getting the highest profit for your business. The best way to upsell is by developing a sales funnel that will allow your client to grab all the items they need, but usually forget to ask. This is effective because you are able to give quality service to your client without sounding salesy. – Stephannie Addo, Dr. Stephannie Addo Enterprises

8. Reach Out To Your Centers Of Influence

As a coach, the best thing you can do to grow your revenue and profit is to reach out to your centers of influence (COI) and ask for introductions. An effective way to convert potential clients is through credibility, and that is built through referrals. When a COI makes an introduction, it increases the probability of converting the prospect because of the transfer of trust from the mutual COI. – Jon Dwoskin, The Jon Dwoskin Experience

9. Have A Specific Business Development Day

Setting aside one or two days a week to work on business development is important. Be intentional about not scheduling clients on specific days. For me, that’s Mondays and Fridays. It doesn’t necessarily mean staying in the office. This is a good time to schedule podcast invitations, writing assignments or networking, which are great ways to increase your visibility and revenue. – Frances McIntosh, Intentional Coaching LLC

10. Ask For Referrals

The easiest strategy to grow your revenue and profit is to ask for referrals. I do this when a client expresses satisfaction during a session. At the end of the session I simply say, “Today you mentioned you were really satisfied with coaching. I build my business on referrals. Do you know anyone I could help like I helped you?” When they mention someone, I ask if they would make the introduction. – Susan K. Wehrley, BIZremedies

11. Secure Powerful Testimonials

Today everybody seems to be over-surveyed, over-asked and over-demanded when it comes to feedback, reviews and testimonials. As a coach, I know that it can feel awkward to ask this question because coaching is not like buying a typical product, and value is often realized over time and behavior. But ask you must. You can still let your client’s comfort and confidentiality reign, but ask you must. – John M. O’Connor, Career Pro Inc.

12. Partner Up

Partner up with other consultants that have parallel practices in a slightly different specialty that complement your offerings. In this way, you can provide value-added services to your clients, bringing in other subject matter experts that could represent a more complete solution for your client, while still focusing on your core competencies and providing a more robust offering to clients. – Debbie Ince, Executive Talent Finders, Inc

13. Be Ahead Of The Game

As a coach, it really pays to keep abreast of the latest theories and developments in your key area of interest. Armed with this knowledge, you can continuously enhance your programs so that they are always fresh and relevant. Clients love this. Not only does it save them precious time, they also see you as someone who has their “finger on the pulse.” This is great for business. – Gabriella Goddard, Brainsparker Leadership Academy

14. Go ‘Backstage’

Take one day a week out of sight. This is the day for reflecting, reviewing what is and isn’t working and updating your strategy. How effectively are you acquiring new clients and retaining those you have? What is one new approach that can help you scale? When is it time to raise your rates? How well is your business serving you? Go backstage to focus on enhancing your success. – Brian Gorman, TransformingLives.Coach