Many coaches are looking to fill some kind of group programme. This could be anything from a retreat to corporate training to an online group.
Most know I have successfully filled groups for many years, including the AJC Coaching Career School or my Powerful Men’s Immersions. But they sometimes struggle to do the same.
To ensure that your group programmes always fill, here are some of the tips and facts I’d like to share in no particular order:
1 – Start by designing a group that you would want to attend
It might sound obvious, but if no one is joining your group, perhaps it’s not very interesting or intriguing for people to join. There would be certain groups I would want to be a part of and certain groups I would never be interested in joining. If I would like to attend a group, chances are high that other people would also want to do the same. My Powerful Men’s Immersion started because it was nothing like that existed and it’s something that I would have liked to attend. The same thing is true with my programmes over the years for coaches. They are designed to be something I would pay to participate in as an attendee.
2 – The first person you need to enrol in any group programme is yourself
If you’re not excited about the programme you’re selling, chances are other people won’t be either. This ties into point one: if you’ve designed something outstanding, you can get excited and enthusiastic about it. This enthusiasm will come across in any of your communication with people who might want to attend. If you enrol yourself, you will be able to have other people sign up to your programme via your genuine excitement for the programme.
3 – Don’t hold back
Once you’ve created a great programme and are excited about it, don’t hold back in telling people about it. This differs from one-on-one coaching, where a more personalised and individualised relationship-building approach is more effective. When selling a group programme, you can be more direct in selling it.
4 – Make it visible
If you are on Facebook, change your cover photo to reflect the group programme you’re enrolling for. The same is true for other social media channels. Make sure that if someone checks you out on social media, it’s clear that you’re selling a group programme and where they can go to sign up.
5 – Share all about it
If you have an email list, make sure your email list knows about the programme you’re running and has the links to sign up.
6 – Give the content away
Take advantage of the next point: If you have a sales page, ensure that you spend time and energy making the sales page on your website for your programme great. I used to rush this part of the process, and it was to my detriment. Now, when I run a group programme, I ensure the sales page is not just good but it’s valuable for people and contains content that would help people in some way to get the change that the programme is promising. I used to see sales pages from coaches with just a whole load of text without giving away any of the programme and I want to make sure I do the opposite. With the sales page for the AJC Coaching Career School, for example, there are links to interviews with faculty who deliver the masterclasses for the school. People can watch them for free without signing up to any email list and get an experience of the school.
7 – Leave people with an experience
It is fair to say “no one attends a group they haven’t already attended”. This was a piece of advice that Steve Chandler gave me years ago. It sounds strange, but you need to go beyond just telling people about your group and selling it. You have to provide them with an experience of it. There are many ways to do this, from creating content about what is shared in your group, doing webinars, and giving clips of you speaking at your last group if you’re rerunning it. You can get creative around this. You can even do this in a one-on-one setting, where when you have conversations with people, don’t just talk about the programme; give them an experience of what it might be like to be in the group.
8 – Limit the number of attendees
Set a limit on the number of people you want in the group. I suggest you are on the side of caution. So many coaches try to fill a group and have set themselves a real stretch target about the number of people to get into the group. I suggest that instead of doing that, have a number that you know that you can quite comfortably fill rather than going for a bigger number to push yourself. This will make you feel more at ease whilst filling the programme and is more likely to lead it to be sold out which will encourage people next time to sign up early and give you a reputation for someone who’s very much in demand.
There are a load more tips and ideas I could share with you, but here are some that will be helpful for you in filling your next group.
There’s another powerful audio file I want to present to you where I share an effective way to be direct with your clients and how it will benefit their lives. You can access this audio over the button down below. I highly recommend you listen to this.
With love and appreciation,
Ankush Jain
Coach and Author of Sweet Sharing – Rediscovering the REAL You
