What are the secrets of really successful business coaches and consultants?
There are hundreds and thousands of coaches and consultants out there. But what does it take to be a really successful business coach in this competitive field?
I’m Rebecca and I’ve been running my own six figure coaching and consulting practice for eleven years. I’ve created Tricres to join forces with Nick Davies, who happens to be my brother and has run his own six figure global training and coaching practice too.
Between us, we’ve made every mistake there is to make and been lucky enough to work with some amazing companies. Most importantly though, we’ve created a great life for ourselves and our family, supported a comfortable lifestyle and live in pretty nice homes and we’ve done it without a single marketing funnel!
Secret One of Really Successful Business Coaches and Consultants
Invest in yourself. Between us, we’ve bought tens of thousands of pounds and dollars worth of courses, books and programmes. We’ve invested in learning from the best in the world and we’ve paid for flights and hotels to be in the places where these people teach and train.
We’ve ready countless books, articles and journals and listened to thousands of interviews and podcast and we continue to do so.
Then we’ve distilled what we’ve learned, packaged it up and put our own take on it. Delivered in our unique style, this makes the content come to life and really engage people.
Secret 2 of Really Successful Business Coaches and Consultants
Be more interested in your clients than yourself.
Leave your ego behind people! The clients aren’t interested in you, they’re interested in their own business.
It’s all about them. Focus your questions on the business owner and seek to understand. Don’t tell them about how you’re doing, keep asking them about how they’re doing.
When things go right, make sure you give the client credit for getting it right. Do not be tempted to claim the glory for yourself. This is their journey, not yours. You’re just helping them on the ride.
I like to describe what we do as offering clients a set of keys to unlock their own potential and the potential in their business. They select the key and they use it. Not you.
Secret 3 of Really Successful Business Coaches and Consultants
Content. It’s something we’ve learned over the years and sometimes learned it the hard way.
Clients love content. They want a ‘thing’ to look at, focus on and hold. Give them a model, a framework, a system or a toolkit. Give it a name, make it look good and use it to bring your ideas and your ways of working to life.
Here at Tricres, we’ve created a whole online library of models and frameworks for clients to use. They love them and it makes your life easier when helping them understand the value you’re bringing to their business.
We’re hosting a series of live Q&A sessions so you can find out EXACTLY what we do to be successful, click here to learn more
Secret 4 of being a really successful business coach and consultant
Be really clear on who your ideal client is. Focus on a sector, a skill, or a location and get established in that. Word will spread outside of your niche so you’re not cutting off work, you’re just zoning in so you can perfect one particular area and work outwards from there.
Tricres work well with professional services firms who are disrupters in their field. We also happen to work with other types of businesses because we get referrals, but our core remains professional services.
Secret Five of Really Successful Business Coaches and Consultants
Value what you do. If you don’t value what you do, no one else will.
When you’re starting out, your prices will be lower than when you’re well established.
Even so, don’t undervalue what you do. Make sure you’re pricing your services at a level that reflects your skills, your experience and the real benefits you can bring to your clients.
Don’t be afraid to ask for money and don’t negotiate. Be positive and confident in what you’re charging. If a client doesn’t want to pay, that’s ok, they’re not the right client for you. There are literally millions of businesses out there and some of them will pay whatever it takes to work with you.
Secret Five of Really Successful Business Coaches and Consultants
Have a team around you. Most business consultants and coaches work on their own. This is ok for a while, but you cannot do everything and eventually you’re going to need some help and some moral support.
Your team can be virtual, part time, freelance or your sister-in-law (the Tricres Team Manager is my sister-in-law).
Pay what you can to get the support you need. For goodness sake, don’t do your own tax returns! It’s a waste of your time. Find a good bookkeeper who can keep track of those things and use a modern accounting package like Xero to send out invoices etc.
You might feel that giving your hard earned money to a support team is a waste, but believe me, it’s an investment. Getting others to do the jobs you hate leaves you free to develop more of the work you love.
If you find yourself loving bookkeeping more than coaching and consulting, then its probably time to change the nature of your business!
You can join Nick and Rebecca at a live event – Everything you wanted to know about being a successful business coach and consultant but were afraid to ask
Check our EVENTS page to see when our next free live session is taking place and join us!
