Why coaches struggle to sell (and it's not what you think)

Hello and welcome to The Business of Executive Coaching Podcast. I'm your host Ellie Scarf, and I am here to do two things with this podcast. I'm here to share practical advice, and I'm here to share stories from coaches who are out there doing it, to show you that not only can coaches build businesses serving corporate clients that are profitable, flexible, and purposeful, but also to show you that you can do it too. I think as coaches working with organizational clients, we will create a positive ripple effect far beyond our work, and My job, as I consider it, is to take all the business advice out there combined with 20 years of experience as an executive coach and share what really works and what really matters when you're growing these sorts of businesses so that you can change the world one client at a time. All right. So today is one of my very favorite topics to talk about, and that is what gets in the way of coaches selling their services. And firstly, it isn't what you might first think. So, Often coaches tell me that the reason they aren't selling is because they don't have, you know, a PCC or an MCC certification, or they don't have enough coaching hours, or they haven't got a certain certification or assessment accreditation, or they haven't done a certain type of course. And another thing I'm hearing a lot of recently is that coaches are saying they're not selling because the market is really tough right now. And so this second one, yes, it's true, the market is tough, but I don't think it's the reason why coaches aren't selling and why they're struggling with selling. And nor is the fact that you don't have a certain certification or accreditation. So the question is, why are you struggling to sell your coaching services? And there are 4 things, in my opinion, that predictably get in the way of coaches selling their services to corporate clients. And it may be that you have one of one of these in particular that stands out to you, or you might have two or even all of these. And as I go through them, I want you to just really notice what stands out for you because that is where I want you to place your attention. And I would just encourage you to focus on removing one of these barriers at a time. So when you identify your biggest derailer when it comes to sales, as I go through this list, I do encourage you to head over to LinkedIn and just drop me a message telling me that you listened to this episode and which one is the priority for you and how are you going to go about removing that barrier? Because I know that external accountability matters in this space and you'll particularly see that as I go through a few of these. And also, if you send me this message, I'll see if I've got any additional resources, any other podcast episodes, for example, that I can send you to help you out. Okay, so what are they? The 4 biggest sales struggles that I see are related to identity to fears and shoulds to strategy and to consistency. So what do I mean? So the first one I mentioned is identity, and what I mean by this is, do you truly and deeply identify not just as a coach but also as a business owner and all that comes along with it, including sales and marketing? Or are you fighting against sales and marketing being part of your job description? So I hear a lot of coaches say to me, I hate sales, I hate marketing, I just want to do the coaching. And the truth is, I get it. I also even now sometimes think, can't I just do the work? I just want to be in a room with my clients doing the good work. But reality is that no one who is in business gets out of sales and marketing, right? We don't, it's not optional. And so if you are struggling with allowing that to be part of your identity, you are going to struggle with sales. And this is going to be partly because of your story around selling. So your baggage, if you like, it may be that growing up you had a lot of messaging that was shared with you about salespeople being bad, about money being bad. Bad, or, you know, the money— money's got a pretty bad rap, doesn't it? In certainly in media and in messaging. So you might have that, or you might have watched a lot of, a lot of those movies as a kid, you know, things like, I think about Matilda and, you know, Harry Wormwood, the used car salesman, or perhaps you watch Glengarry Glen Ross and you sort of got that always be closing mindset. Now, if you have all of these negative connotations, this negative mindset about what it means for sales to be part of your job, then of course it's going to show up as avoidance, as procrastination, because we have very clever brains that will do whatever they can to help us avoid this thing that we feel very negatively about. And so if this is you, the way forward is of course to do the mindset work, right? To do the self-coaching, to get yourself a coach who can support you with mindset. You know, certainly that's something we do a lot in the Accelerator, but you may also want to build in identity-related actions into your day and week, right? So it may be, I am a business owner who does marketing on a daily basis, right? Or I am just somebody who enjoys sales conversations, right? So a bit of thinking about what are the performance-enhancing thoughts that you could focus on rather than those automatic negative thoughts. Now, I'm only touching on this, right, in terms of ways forward. Of course, this is a huge topic. I have lots of resources on mindset in the podcast, and similarly, a lot of the work I do with my clients inside The Corporate to Coach Accelerator is about this very thing. Like, how do we work through it practically to get to the point where we feel like sales is just part of the job description and we can make that part of our identity as well. So, as I mentioned, send me a message on LinkedIn if this is you. I really get it. And I want you to know that you are not alone, but if you don't work through it, it's absolutely gonna show up. It's gonna get in the way of you being a great salesperson who brings in clients consistently. The second sales struggle that I see is, I've called it fears and shoulds. And I'm not 100% sure that this isn't a subset of that first one around identity, but I wanted to pull it out separately because it is a big one, right? So I hear a lot of fears on repeat and the sorts of fears I hear on repeat are things like, oh, I don't want to be seen as salesy or I really don't want to put myself out there. I don't want to post content. I don't want my photo on the internet. What if someone thinks that I am using my connection with them to exploit them to sell? And so related to that is a should, and I hear a lot of shoulds on repeat as well. And the shoulds I hear are things like, well, I should just be able to get clients without having to actively sell, right? Through referrals, through words of— word of mouth. I should be intrinsically good at this, and if I'm not, it means that, well, maybe I'm just not meant to do this work. And I really— it's really sad that because it represents a really fixed mindset that people have in relation to sales and marketing that often coaches don't have in many other areas. And the truth is, sales, marketing, this is something we have to learn. It will not come naturally to you. You've got to put out there, put yourself out there. You've got to do the reps. You've got to learn the strategy. And it is never something— do not give yourself any— don't criticize yourself if this is not something that comes naturally. You have to learn it. Everyone has to learn it. So the way forward, again, you might need to do some reflection work, right? And the reflection work is on, you know, what are those fears, what are those shoulds that you are grappling with? But you also have to couple that with action. And particularly to get past these fears and shoulds, the sorts of actions and sorts of approaches are you need a willingness to just start the learning curve. Because what I observe is people waiting, waiting until things are perfect before they start, whereas in fact it is the starting and the learning curve that is going to allow you to be better. I also recommend embracing a B+ mentality, right, to help combat this perfectionism that I see so frequently in coaches. And that means when you're putting things out there, a post on LinkedIn, an outreach message, something like that, rather than feeling like you have to do A+ work, right, that every message has to be like perfect, a, you know, golden star, that as soon as you get something to B+ or to, you know, 75% of good enough, then I want you to post it. And I don't want you to think about it after you do that. Another way you can use this idea is to give yourself time boundaries. So to say, okay, I'm going to write this post, I've got 15 minutes to do it, and as soon as that timer hits, it's getting sent or scheduled or whatever it is, and I don't get to edit it again. So, you know, that is a real action-oriented approach as well. You might also need to build yourself a bit of a gradual exposure therapy plan, right? So you shouldn't expect to feel comfortable posting a selfie with a bit of vulnerable self-reflection on day one, right? Maybe you start by sharing an article you like. And then we build from there. And that works for content. It works for outreach. Just that idea of building up over time rather than expecting yourself to jump off the— jump in the deep end straight away is a much better approach. So basically, when you're grappling with fears and shoulds, I want you to do the mindset work, but also action and experimentation are the orientations that will serve you best to get past that hurdle. The third one is strategy, right? This is the third struggle that I see so many coaches have. So if you don't have a clear strategy or a clear system for how you are going to get clients, it makes sense that sales is going to be hard because while there is some art to client acquisition, a whole lot of it is science, right? It is process. It is strategy. Some signs that strategy might be behind the struggles you are having with sales could be that you don't know what your sales funnel is, that you don't have a pipeline, that you don't track your data, and that when you sit down to do your marketing, inverted commas, you find that you are deciding each time you sit down what you are going to be doing. So if this is you, then you need a few things. So firstly, you need to understand what your sales funnel is, right? So how do people in your orbit go from become— being a lead to becoming a client. And you need to know then what are all of the stages that they predictably go through in a buying cycle along the way. And all the way from how do you get new warm leads through to how do you have sales conversations. And you need to track your data, right? Those are the key things you need to do. Now, of course, this is a hugely light touch on a very big topic. Uh, my intention here is to help you recognize if strategy might be missing or lacking, and if that could be what is getting in the way. And if so, if you are lacking those things, it makes sense that your sales is going to be so much harder. Now, if you want to go deeper, I'm your girl. I'm going to share a few ways at the end of this episode to get more info on how I can help you with that. The fourth reason coaches struggle with sales is consistency. So let's say you have your identity clear, your mindset sorted, your strategy locked in, but you are still struggling with generating sales activity and actually creating new clients, I am so sorry to be the person to tell you this. And yes, this is tongue in cheek, but you have to keep doing it and you have to do it again and again, and you have to probably do it more than you thought or more than you want to, and then you need to do it some more. So consistency and volume with your outreach, with your lead generation, with your content-based nurture is what is going to make or break the best sales strategy out there. And you, you will know if this is you, right? And my advice is that you know yourself best. So ask yourself what you need to get into action consistently. Now, for a lot of people, it is external accountability. Uh, that is the reason why I have built an accountability channel into our community inside the Accelerator. Members post at the start of the week what their commitments are for the week, including specifically their business development and marketing commitments, and then we follow up with them at the end of the week. So it is a small action, but it is very effective, and it makes a big difference in building that consistent action on the things that really matter. It's also why my clients really value coworking sessions that they set up with their peers, or body doubling, you could call it, in order to get that work done consistently. And I know that some of our clients come to our LinkedIn coaching calls as like a LinkedIn workroom, right? And they do their LinkedIn content creation while the coaching happens and they chime in if they need advice. If you are driven by external accountability, then build it in, right? Build that into your system. It may be that you need an accountability coach. Maybe you need a community like the Accelerator. Maybe you need something else. But if you are someone where external accountability is not the thing, you might be very self-motivated, right? So you might be a person where so long as something makes it to your calendar, it is like gospel. So if that is you, then be sure it is in your diary every week, every day. And we aren't aiming for perfection, right? So it's okay. But if we get 80%, then you are doing fabulously. Alternatively, you might be a person who needs, because this is not like a, a task that you're inherently passionate about, you might need to be more connected to the why of this work, right? Or the why of the marketing work to stay motivated. And so if that's you, then, then read your goals, read your mission daily, think about your big picture or build a vision board, right? That you save to your desktop, something that keeps it front of mind for you, especially when you're getting down to those tasks. Okay. So, as I've said, you probably have one of these that rings most true for you. Maybe it is the identity piece. Maybe it's the fears and the shoulds rattling around in your brain, or perhaps you just don't have a good strategy yet. Or you may know that it is consistency and volume that is letting you down. As I mentioned, head over and let me know on LinkedIn. I'm there as Ellie Scarf. What your biggest challenge is. I'd love to know what is getting in your way. I also want to share two potential pathways as to how I can support you if you want to go deeper into a sales and a mindset strategy that is going to get you building a healthy pipeline of coaching clients. And the number one always is my passion. I run a 12-month group coaching program called the Corporate to Coach Accelerator. It's for executive and leadership coaches and consultants aiming to build their pipeline of corporate clients specifically. I would love to talk to you if you would like to go deeper into this and build your sales strategy. You can check out the details of my program, the Corporate to Coach Accelerator, over at www.elliescarf.com/cca, and you can book a call straight from that page or head over to elliescarf.com/bookacall. Secondly, I am running a free masterclass on 16th of July, the 15th if you're in the US or Canada, and I'm doing it for the last time. And that is the 3, the title of the masterclass is 3 Ways to Use LinkedIn as a Tool to Get Your Next 3 Corporate Clients. This masterclass, I've run it a number of times. It gets the best feedback. We go into sales funnels, outreach, network growth, network analysis, so much more. It's really good. And I don't know when it will be back. If you'd like to come along, head over to elliescarf.com/linkdinclass, and we'll include these all in the show notes and drop me a message on LinkedIn just to let me know that you're coming so I can welcome you in personally. On that note, thank you for being here today. I'll be back with an amazing guest next week. If this episode's been helpful to you, I'd be so grateful if you would rate and review it on whatever platform you listen in on. Thanks again and see you next week.