Often, when I speak to my clients and prospects, they know what they want, but they don’t have a plan to get it.

For instance, you may want to enroll six new clients in Q1, eight new clients in Q2, and launch a training program in Q3. Those are all great goals, but do you have the underlining strategies outlined to get you there? Without a clear plan, most people will end up throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks and end up wearing themselves out without seeing much in the way of results.

Most coaches only need to execute 2-3 business development and marketing strategies at a time to effectively meet their goals.

The key is to choose strategies that are resonant to you and your ideal client, and that work when you execute them at a high level of excellence (by the way, I’m not talking about the “keep your fingers crossed!” type of strategies, I’m talking about proven strategies that work for your niche).

When I’m making projections about my year, I like specifics. If I want to have four new clients this quarter, what are the 2 or 3 strategies I’ll act on in order to achieve that goal? And how many clients, exactly, do I think each strategy will garner?

The strategies I choose are based on where I am in my practice. I like to use a car metaphor: If I’m tracking with my plan and I’m on target to meet my goal, I’ll keep my car in regular mode and cruise along with the strategies I’ve chosen in my original plan.  If I’m far behind my goal of getting four new clients, I’ll kick it into sport mode and augment my plan by adding short term strategies that I know will bring in more new clients quickly (say, securing a speaking engagement). If my practice is full or I even have a waiting list, I’ll shift into eco mode, and maybe choose to not execute on some strategies or postpone them, like taking a webinar off the plan for that quarter or pushing out a virtual conference I’ve been interested in hosting.

The key is to have strategies that are easy to add in or take out depending on your results.

It’s essentially ebbing and flowing within your business and ensuring that you aren’t wasting your energy on client-generating activities when you don’t actually need clients. And to know how to get into high gear if you need to, if some of your strategies didn’t play out as intended.

With this strategy, you can ride the wonderful wave of your business without constantly worrying about whether you will get the client flow you want. It brings much more predictability into your business so you can focus more energy on being “in” the business and doing the coaching work that you love.

With appreciation,

Tara Butler Floch