One of the terms that stands out for me in terms of last year’s focus in the business development world was that of the marketing funnel. The marketing funnel is a term that describes the ways you invite prospective clients and customers into your orbit.
The funnel simply looks like an inverted pyramid or a funnel. The top is wide, scaling down to the bottom. If you have a copy of the Coaching Business Builder you can work through your own funnel on page 8.  I've also included one here to the side bar.
 
We can explore the funnel on two levels –

1. What’s our mix of products and services at each layer of the funnel? 
2. What are we doing at every level to bring people into the different layers of the funnel – building deepening layers of awareness, relationship, purchase and advocacy?

We will look at each level from the perspective of what you are offering in terms of your products or services. Then we’ll look at it in terms of how you are building relationships.

At the top of the funnel we have those items which are free or no fee. This is the widest part of the funnel and it is geared to attract the most amount of people.  It’s also the place where we want to build brand awareness around our different products and services. The focus at this top end of the funnel is to ATTRACT new people and to share with them what you have to offer at a FREE or LOW FEE way. It’s an opportunity to spotlight snippets of what you offer.
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At this level we might include things like:

• A downloadable checklist or template to support our clients
• Blog posts or Instagram feeds
• A daily challenge (5 days) to support clients in taking action towards their goals
• Facebook Live calls or Community Calls where we discuss some of the more common questions opportunities, challenges and resources for our focus of work
• Delivering a webinar for a larger association or group

The goal here is to start building a connection and conversation with people.

What do you have at the widest part of the funnel - FREE or VERY LOW FEE, focused on ATTRACT?

At the next level of the funnel, you will have low priced offerings. Again, the purpose is to continue the conversation, and strengthen relationships and start generating money. It is often to help people consider your services at a lower price point and start the conversation with you. They will get more than a taster and probably get an experience of what your services can provide for them.

At this second level, which is geared to get people to CONVERT to a higher level or next product, this might include:

• A book
• A short e-book bringing together some of your blog posts in a compendium
• A short video-based course highlighting some of the tips or latest research around the topics you coach around
• A longer challenge (7 days for example)

At this layer you are starting to share more about your business, the philosophies which underpin it and who you are and what you offer.

At the third layer, ENGAGE, we have mid-priced programming. This is perhaps where your live offerings of retreats or group coaching might reside. At this point, people are making an investment into your offerings, and they are likely to become a fan of what you offer. They are the ones who are likely to move to even higher priced items, now or later.

There may be a next layer where people work with you on an ongoing basis on mainstream offerings. For some coaches this is where your regular one-on-one coaching will reside, or retreat day with a team.

Finally, at the top end of the funnel (the smallest part), where it is likely at the highest rate, and most intensive (or highest touch) work – you have the CONNECT phase where these people are likely to become the ADVOCATES of your work. They are the “RAVING fans” or people who will buy everything you have to offer.  This might include a face-to-face piece of Intensive work with you through a Weekend Program OR a VIP Day.

Exercise:
As you consider your business mix for your work, what would you put in each of these layers? Which programs could benefit from some attention and/or need to be developed?

All the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - GroupCoachingEssentials | Potentials Realized 
Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join us for an upcoming ICF-CCE approved program including Group Coaching Essentials (8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs), or the PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training (24 CCEs). 
What's possible if you take daily steps on your business for 60 Days? Join our 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator program here!
Author of Effective Group Coaching (2010), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Check out my author page on Amazon for all publications.
Email: [email protected]

What’s in your business mix?
​
As coaches we may be offering a variety of different products and services as part of our offerings. Building onto our conversation about business development, a coach may have a variety of things in his or her business mix.
 
Earlier research done by the ICF in 2013 found that at that time 94% of coaches offered one or more other services in addition to coaching. Find out more about that study here.

What are the types of services you are offering?

Consider the following:

• Individual Coaching
• Group Coaching
• Team Coaching
• Consulting
• Assessments
• Counselling
• Workshops
• Retreats
• Webinars
• Contract Training
• Facilitation Services

​There may be a variety of things you offer. What do your clients indicate that they want from you?

Listening to client needs can be a valuable recipe for success. If you are not hearing things directly, try these other approaches:

• Host a focus group (virtual or live) to find out from past clients their perceptions around:
  • Current challenges and opportunities (for people like them/their industry/their role)
  • Trends they are seeing
  • Service needs/requirements
  • Focus areas
• Do a survey
• Ask people to review a white paper you may have written – commenting on not only the content you have provided but also what other topics they would recommend you cover.

As you think about your work this year, what is in your business mix? What else do you want to make sure you continue to offer?

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - GroupCoachingEssentials | Potentials Realized 
Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join us for an upcoming ICF-CCE approved program including Group Coaching Essentials (8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs), or the PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training (24 CCEs). 
What's possible if you take daily steps on your business for 60 Days? Join our 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator program here!
Author of Effective Group Coaching (2010), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Check out my author page on Amazon for all publications.
Email: [email protected]

It's almost the start of a new decade and with that, it might be time to do a "refresh" on your toolbox.
On a practical business level, there are many areas I like to have a variety of resources in, including marketing, design, and communication. As I thought about all my creative projects this year, I was aware of how many of these tools have become standard fare in my work.
Here are the top 10 go-to resources I used this year in my remote business:

Zoom - My absolute go-to for any sort of client communication. Some days I spend upwards of 5-7 hours  leading groups, holding individual coaching calls and also leading meetings with members of my project teams. Zoom has many "Bells and whistles" including breakouts, and annotation, which may be available with the type of account you ahave.

Rev and Temi for transcription. As someone who leads dozens of hours of training and calls a week, it's important to be able to quickly transcribe many of these videos and audio calls. Both services are great, and at a different price point. What could be important to transcribe? How is your speaking creating new content for your business?

Lumen 5 - Lumen 5 has been my go-to for years in terms of transcribing blog to video. IT's always a nice change to be able to include video content, instead of just written media. Check them out at : https://www.lumen5.com

AdobeSpark - AdobeSpark is another option for great video creation. Check them out and consider how you might use them in creating some new video messages.

Loom - If you want to do a demo or lead people thorugh your screen, nothing beats loom. I've incorporated a few loom videos to take people around the Conversation Sparker website, and it has led to sales! Check it out.

Dropbox - I've been a dropbox user for years and it's where I house most of my videos to share with groups I lead.
​
Teachable - Teachable is the back end of what I use to house my on-demand programs as well as the backbone for my annual programs. I've found it to be a very scalable framework for both on-demand and live programming. Check out what the Coaching Design Studio has to offer - and perhaps join us for 2020 programming which will include the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator, and the annual Learning Lab and Design Studio, and the Coaching Biz Growth Lab (meets on Friday afternoons).

Mighty Networks - Earlier this year I created the Conversation Sparker Zone over at Mighty Networks. It's a community hub for people to connect around group and team coaching issues, business development as well as virtual and remote work. Check it out and join in on the conversation!

AdobeStock and Unsplash - For all things graphics I leverage my subscription through AdobeStock and also turn to Unsplash for photos to use in design. They usually get incorporated into any design work in Canva. 

What are the things you use on an ongoing basis?

We'll be exploring these, and many other resources to help you thrive in your business next year, starting on January 1st with the 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator. Part on-demand program, part live calls (Mondays and Fridays), you also have access to me for a weekly laser 1-1 call throughout the program which runs January 1 - March 1, 2020. Hope that you will join us!

With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton - GroupCoachingEssentials | Potentials Realized
Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Author of Effective Group Coaching (2010), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Check out my author page on Amazon for all publications.
Email: [email protected]

If you are looking for  coaching skills development through CCE approved programs - I’ll be kicking off the first Group CoachingEssentials CCE approved program on Friday January 10th at 1015 am ET. This 8.75 CCE program also includes weekly 1-1 time with me (15 min each week). Is 2020 your year to get your groups going or expand the number of groups you are doing? Whether you are new to group coaching or stepping into your next year, there’s always something to learn – I hope you’ll join us. Reserve your spot here.
Also starting in January are two groups of the Virtual Facilitation Essentials - a Friday group and a Monday group. If you want to see many of these tools in practice, and get experience in using them. Consider joining us for this virtual train-the-trainer.

Products can be a popular line of revenue in and of themselves. We’ll take a closer look at this in future months but take a look around at what other businesses similar to yours offer. This might include:

• Books
• Workbooks
• Online courses
• Live courses
• Video series

There are many different ways you can go with product development.
Do you want it to be:

• Digital or Something Tangible?
• Book? Course? Support?
• Low Price? High Price?
• Introduction to your work? A Standalone?

Questions to consider when  you think about products:

1. What are your clients asking for?
2. What do you wish you had and could provide for clients?
3. What processes and approaches have you developed that could be a stand alone?
4. What might provide a nice passive revenue for you?

​Best wishes,
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC - Potentials Realized
Author of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010) and others
Join us at the Coaching Biz Growth Lab this fall to focus on your business consistently. We meet the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month from 3 - 4 pm Eastern
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

Speaking is a great way to get known, build your network, and show your work in action.
As someone who speaks to groups and organizations more than 50 times a year (mostly virtually), here are five things to consider in creating a WOW presentation:

1. Understand your audience: What is important for them about the topic you are speaking on? Consider the topic from their frame of reference. What are the key takeaways or exploration points they are going to find valuable? In any speaking topic there may be a range of angles/points of view you can approach the presentation from. What’s important for the audience you are speaking with?
2. Connect your audience quickly: We often talk about the WIIFM – What’s In It For Me? Whether we are a leader or a presenter, connecting people to WHY something is important and relevant to their world is foundational for engagement. We usually have a very small window to get people’s attention and keep it. What’s going to make this a valuable use of their time?
3. Open – Body – Close. The structure of your presentation is critical and forms the pathway of moving people through the conversation. In speaking we often say there are three components - the open, the body and the close. If’s often referred to as “Tell me what you are going to tell me” (the open), “Tell me” (the body), and “tell me what you told me” (the close). What are the soundbytes you want to include in the open and close? Are there 2 - 3 main points you want to make sure you reinforce throughout?
4. What’s your call to action? An often-overlooked part of presentation is the call to action. What do you want people to do next? Are you asking them to create an action plan? Do you want them to check out a resource or program you offer? Do you want them to join you at your newsletter or Facebook page? What’s the call to action?
5. How do you want to make people feel? In speaking we often say that people remember how they feel but not what you said. What’s the feeling you want people to leave your representation with:

• Inspiration?
• Motivation to try things out?
• Confidence?
• Clarity?
• Connection?

​Speaking can be a great way to start the conversation with your clients. It can be as interactive and dialogue based, or one-way as you would like. Regardless of whether it’s in person or virtual, I hope that today’s post gets you thinking about some of the practicalities and considerations when speaking.
​
There’s more for you to consider around the marketing strategy of speaking in Section 3 of the Coaching Business Builder. If you have a copy of the book, be sure to read through and work through the exercises on pages 77 and 78 of the Coaching Business Builder.

Enjoy your conversations!
Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.
A quick reminder that the Coaching Business Builder/PlanDoTrack Facilitator training begins on July 9th. This 18hour virtual train-the-trainer program will equip you to deliver your own training with clients. Grab a last minute spot!

 Each month I am providing a series of daily action prompts. The Coaching Business Builder suite is grounded in the notion that "Consistent Action + Daily Steps = Momentum". With this in mind, I created this year's 2019 1 Biz Step a Day series.
This month, in July, the theme is Signature Programs!
Also known as our body of work, this might include a program, a book, a process. What do you want your signature program or body of work to be?
This month, I hope you'll follow along with the daily prompts...let us know how it's going over at the Conversation Sparker Zone
I  hope that you'll enjoy this month's Check it Off themed 1 Biz Step A Day. You can download it here.
Be sure to share with a friend, and let them know about the Planner, and associated resources!

Thanks - Jennn

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010), From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching,
Host of the Coaching Biz Growth Lab(TM)  - a coaching group for coaches
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

One of my favorite activities over the last few years has been to create a summer project list of small, and larger tasks, to complete in what some find to be a quieter time. There always are lots of project possibilities in the summer months. Have you considered:

• Updating your website
• Incorporating a new system
• Catching up on the reading you have piled around your office (or bed)
• Taking time to plan for a new program
• Writing some blog posts (and getting ahead of the curve)
• Creating a content calendar for your business
• Writing your newsletters for the next few months
• Starting a new series on Instagram

Some useful questions to consider as you go to decide what projects you want to put attention around:

• What have your clients been asking for?
• What are your key goals this year?
• What new activities would support your action and achievement of these?
• What projects would you like to move off of your “TO DO” List?
• What milestones would you create for yourself so that this is completed before the end of the month, or the end of the summer?
• What resources do you need in order to be successful with this?

For some more inspiration around this topic, listen into this 20 minute video I did last year on 2018 project ideas – check it out on my YouTube channel.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Building in regular pause points is invaluable in supporting focus, action and reflection. Kolb’s cycle of learning is commonly referred to as a four-step process known as ERGA – Experience, Reflection, Generalization and Application.
​
Key to learning, according to this model, is that we take a “pause” to build in reflection after having an experience. It is this pause that allows us to cull learning and insights which we can then apply to other areas of our life and work.
There are many different ways to reflect including:

• Retreat programs
• Short writing activities – 2-5 minutes where people MindMap or note their learning
• Mid-point evaluations with clients
• Quarterly Reviews (see the article below)

 
Last month at the Learning Lab and Design Studio I was reminded of a great book called the Women’s Retreat Book by Jennifer Louden which is chock-full of great resources for creating and leading your own retreats. You’ll want to check it out.

Other resources you might want to explore:
Create a Pause Via Quarterly Retreats Using these questions (Coaching Tools Company Article)

Undertake a quarterly review process with me (30 minutes - VIDEO). Be sure to grab your pen and journal for this one!

Wishing you all the best,
​Jennifer

PS - For those of you who want to bring some of this into your work, consider joining me on July 9th for the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training. I'll be leading a group of professionals through 6 x 3 hour facilitator virtual training sessions in July so you can lead this work with your own clients. More here.

​Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Check out the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series of daily prompts for your work and business over on  Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder.

The tagline at the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder is that Consistent Action + Daily Steps = Momentum. In other words, action creates action. This is key for business success today. What does momentum mean in your business? Like the metaphor of a rolling stone, more energy is required to get the stone rolling, and then it takes a life of its own.

Practically:
Make a list. Do things consistently. Figure out what the best rhythm for the project or task is going to be.

In many creative projects it is easy to think that we don’t know where to go, when often it is more important to just get started and see where the creative process ensues.

While starting new tasks may take a lot of effort, over time these actions become habits and “how we do things”.

Resources:
Momentum: How to Build It, Keep It or Get it Back – Michael McQueen

Best,
Jennifer

In today’s VUCA world, disruption is more the norm that the exception.  This often means that what worked last time, will not work this time. Experimentation can therefore become a useful philosophy and habit. With the rapid pace of change, new industries, new jobs and new approaches are springing up on a regular basis. What have you tried lately? Are all your old approaches working as they used to?

How to practice it:
On a regular basis (i.e. each quarter), consider what would be useful to learn and/or experiment with (tools, processes, practices, skills etc).

An experiment could involve trying something new out, tweaking an approach you have been using for a while (i.e. instead of doing a Facebook Live in the morning, what about trying it in the evening?).

Why it can be valuable:
There are many applications for experimentation in business. It can help us get into a pattern of trial and error, helping with diversification. Given that things are changing so quickly it may mean that we are better positioned for new, and unseen, options.
​
A and B testing, where you pilot two approaches at once, has become a popular approach for many marketing initiatives, to see which one gets more engagement and traction.

Questions to consider:

• What do you want to experiment with?
• What is needed?
• Where could experimentation benefit your work?

Resources:
Carol Dweck: Growth Mindset (check out her concept of Not Yet)

Best wishes,
​Jennifer