Last week I had a session with someone who has signed up for the upcoming AJC Coaching Career School. Amongst other things, we spoke about the importance of creating the context for conversations you have with potential clients.
Cold calling or cold messaging is not very effective and tedious. In the school, I encourage coaches to fill their calendars with conversations if they want to grow their business, but that doesn’t mean speaking to absolutely anyone with no context.
I get paid handsomely for what I do and have more demand for my time than I am available, and yet if I offered to speak with someone for a few hundred pounds, most people would decline and look at me like I was crazy. This is because there would be no context, i.e. no reason for them to speak with me in a paid capacity.
This is why I don’t “chat” with people when I am working, but I am happy to help people with a challenge or problem they are facing OR support them in reaching a goal they have in mind. This creates the context for a conversation which could lead to a paid relationship.
I’ll share a brief example which may help:
When I was starting out as a coach, Jamie Smart graciously allowed me to share some audios he had created with potential clients of mine. I would often meet people who could benefit from these audios, which introduced them to the 3 Principles in a very gentle and easy-to-understand way. I would offer to send them these audios if they agreed to listen to them and not share them. If they agreed, this created the context for a further conversation to dive into their insights and takeaways and how this might apply to their particular challenge or goal.
I created many clients using this approach and would do this both on social media and in real life. Context was vital back then, and it still is.
With love and appreciation,
Ankush Jain
Coach and Author of Sweet Sharing – Rediscovering the REAL You
