Creating Trust
As we all know, creating trust with our clients and potential clients is imperative to successful coaching. If you can establish a certain level of trust with a person before they work with you, then you are well on your way to creating a plethora of happy repeat customers. You can do this through your website, most notably through your writing, particularly if you include a blog on your site. There is only so much you can say on static pages, but a blog allows you unlimited opportunities to illustrate how you connect with your potential customers. You can write many different articles and tell endless stories that express your understanding of and your kinship with your visitors.
Acknowledgment
Your website is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge your current and potential customers. You can start by having some copy on your home page that acknowledges the new visitors’ bravery for even seeking you out. That in itself is often the biggest step for some potential clients. Being acknowledged for that action can lead to more steps that result in their hiring you. You can also include encouraging words to show them that you will be their cheerleader whether they hire you or not. All content of this kind is positive and motivating for potential clients. For current clients, you can have a separate page just for them, cheering them on in their transformation process. Possible clients will be able to read that page as well and discover just what kind of great coach you are, because of your willingness to acknowledge publicly your current clients’ achievements and progress. Acknowledgement is very powerful as we know – and it helps create trust.
Powerful Questions
Asking powerful questions is one of our most valued skills in coaching, as it has the ability to change a client’s thinking from one of being stuck to one of forward movement. One powerful question can change the entire course of a client’s progress and transformation. You can demonstrate your skills of asking powerful questions on your website by writing blog posts in which the titles of the articles are the types of questions you might ask a client. This is the beauty of a blog – you can write posts that simulate dialogue with a client, and show your skills at getting them to a solution that works for them. Get creative! By writing posts that mirror a session with a client (fictional, of course!) you can give potential clients an idea of what it would be like to work with you. They can determine from these dialogues if there is a match or not, which works well both for you, and for them. If they are not a match, you avoid spending time on discovery sessions. If the visitor thinks you could be a match for them, you have a greater chance of securing them as a client since they will have already seen an example of how you work.
Powerful Listening
Another example of motivating website content is an exhibition of your powerful listening skills. We know that when a client feels truly heard and understood, it creates trust, can inspire change, and identify heretofore unseen blockages. One way of showing your powerful listening skills is by creating fictional letters from clients (or using real ones, as long as you have permission) and posting them and your responses, in blog posts. The format would be similar to an advice blog. Your [fictional] responses would be written with the express purpose of displaying your ability to listen to a client to find out what is important to them, what energizes them, what holds them back. Similar to the powerful questions dialogue, a letter/response format gives you the chance to show just how well you hear and understand your clients and can read between the lines. You have the opportunity in your “answers” to paraphrase what the client said and repeat back to them what you believe you heard so that you can show you understand their meaning. This type of content is invaluable on your site as a way to demonstrate to your potential clients how effective a coach you can be.
Creating Action
Creating action is imperative on your website. Did I say imperative? I meant IMPERATIVE. There is no point in having a website at all if you are not going to get any action from it. So you must create and inspire it. Just like you want your clients to move out of stuckness and into movement in your coaching practice, of course you want them to move from “uhhhhhh…. I dunno…” to “hellz YEAH!” on your website. Because that, boys and girls, is how you make change the world. You have to get your clients moving. For you and your website, that means hitting the “buy now!” button, or filling out a contact form, or downloading a free gift, or sending you an email inquiring about your stellar services. If you don’t get them moving on your site, then you might end up out of business. And no one wants that!
How do you create action on your site? By having a “buy now” button under your products for sale. By having a contact form through which they can send you a message. By having your email or phone number or address on your site so they can blow up your computer or cellphone or mailbox with excited inquiries. By having a downloadable free gift and email subscription form on your site so they can acquire your awesome goodies. These things all create action. That, and motivating content, but we’ve covered that already. Make sure you have calls to action on your site! Believe it or not, some people forget these incredibly important vehicles for movement. Those are the people who are out of business before they start.
Gratitude
Don’t be afraid to show your clients and potential clients some love on your site. Thank them for showing up there and giving you even two seconds of their attention. Heaven knows, the competition for it is immense. I mean, when they could be watching Netflix or YouTube or doing just about anything else, they have given your site some of their valuable time. Make it worth their while! Thank them. Thank your existing clients by giving them their own page of gushing appreciation. Don’t be insincere, but show some gratitude for allowing you to earn a living doing what you love. For the new visitor, instead of a horribly annoying pop-up that asks him/her to give you something, how about having one that simply says “Thanks for giving me some of your time! I’ll make it worth it – click here to see how” or some such. You can be creative and fun with something like that, but keep your customer in mind. Remember that however you choose to show your thanks, it’s always about them, not you.
These are only some of the coaching skills you can demonstrate on your website through your content. There are others, and it will be up to you which skills you want to focus on. The point is, if you are struggling with coming up with effective and engaging content for your site, or even an irresistible design, you have to look no further than your own brilliant coaching skills to find it. You just have to remember that you are a coach – and that everything you need to know is already inside of you. The rest will flow from there.
Final tidbits
Below are some websites that I think are great, that show excellent coaching skills and are clear in their message and intent to serve their clients, in their respective fields:
melissacassera.com – publicity and sales
marieforleo.com – starting a business
boostblogtraffic.com – boosting blog traffic!
acoach4u.com – life coaching (design isn’t so great, but the content is compelling)
marcandangel.com – getting happy
sandiamorim.com – igniting change
advancedlifeskills.com – life skills for successful living (unfortunately the blog isn’t the home page, but it should be)
themiddlefingerproject.org – smart business advice/copywriting/sales
At the end of the day your website should be about your clients and potential clients, not you. That is the core message of this article. Just like your coaching business is all about your clients, so should your website reflect that mission. It’s all about them, baby!