In this post: Here is the real reason people don’t buy health coaching as well as two powerful questions you can start asking yourself to attract more clients now.
(And what questions to stop asking!)
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What Your Clients Buy Instead of Health Coaching
Let's talk about why people really don't buy health coaching. Have these thoughts ever run through your head? Like a nonstop playlist on repeat, like a little monkey on your shoulder where you're feeling like:
“How do I even reach new clients?”
“When will I have enough clients to do this full-time?”
“Where are the clients who going to pay for health coaching?”
“Why does everyone else seem to have clients except me?”
“How do I get more clients?”
Do you have these kinds of thoughts? Here's the thing that people miss.
It is not the question you should actually be asking. This is the question that actually gets to the root of it all.
“What questions are keeping my ideal clients up at night right now?”
That's the question you want to be asking. So instead of playing the other questions, looking for this like endless loop, we want to actually turn your focus to the kinds of people you're excited to attract and have a question that is going to bring an actual solution.
“What are they looking for?”
“What does your ideal client care about?”
“What's in their head at night?”
“What would they do anything to solve in their lives that you could help with?”
“What are they Googling when they wake up at 2:00 AM?”
The secret is thinking about how you can help your future clients rather than getting stuck in the loop of obsessing over where to find them and how you're ever going to get work as a health coach.
This is a total mindset and energy shift that can fuel you towards the right steps that actually do result in new clients. And not just any clients, the BEST clients for you. Working with people who are truly a great match for you is what makes a coaching business fun and sustainable. You want to put yourself out there and attract more of them, right? It's what will have you waking up excited to get to work and connecting with new people every day. You look forward to your coaching sessions and you will look forward to your marketing.
You need to answer these two questions to attract your ideal clients: What problems are keeping your clients up at night and how can you help them solve those problems?
Write those two questions down. Those two questions are part of the formula that helps you really define your target market and get clear on how you're actually going to connect with people who will be dream clients. And at the end of the day, it really is about the connection.
We can get so wrapped up in what we, as coaches and business owners, want.
We want or need money. We want or need plans. We want to need security. We want or need, you know, to know exactly what to do. And all of that is fine and good. However, leading from that way, actually, repel clients. People can feel the difference.
If you're sending out messages and emails from a place of, “I need this!”, it can actually come across as forceful. It leaks into the impact of the kind of words you use in your marketing.
People want to know that you get them.
They want to know that you can help them. And if we're being honest, they're mostly focused on what they need. So if both you and your ideal clients are wrapped up in your own individual needs, then it's not really creating a place of connection.
So as a coach, as a business owner, it's your job to understand their needs to meet them there. You are both actually obsessing about their needs, reach them at that same joint place of connection.
That's why we ask, I would say the questions again. What problems are keeping my ideal clients up at night? What problems can I help them solve? You want to get obsessed by these questions. And everything you're doing in your marketing is for your one ideal client.
I often actually have a photograph of my ideal client sitting above my laptop. And I am literally obsessed with creating my content for them. Because when you know the answers to these questions, then you're going to be able to market yourself in a way that actually resonates with your ideal clients and a way that they're just going to find you, it's resonant.
Think about how people shop for things. If I go into a shop and I'm looking for, say, a lavender essential oil, because I want to relax. I'm looking for a solution to a pain point. At first, I was focused on feeling stressed. So I need to relax, I want stress relief. And then I'm like, I want a healthy solution, instead of wine or whatever it might be. I don't go and say, “Hmm, I'd like an essential oil today” for nothing.
This is the same with health coaching. No, one's like, “Hmm. I'd like a health coach.” They have a problem that they would like a solution to. Speak to the solutions your ideal clients are actually Googling for.
Thinking about what I just said with the lavender example. I wanted a combination of stress relief that was natural and healthy. So what might've been keeping me up at night before I purchased that lavender oil. Maybe I was worried about how the lack of rest and sleep from stress was affecting my performance at work. Maybe I was worried about how it was affecting my health, my relationships. Maybe I was feeling overwhelmed by how many things are falling through the cracks because I was showing up unfocused, stressed, struggling to get through to-do lists. Maybe I'm feeling frustrated and maybe even bitter when I'm tired and try to take time for myself. And I still can't relax. I might've been worried about an increased dependence on substances to get through the day and looking for a natural alternative.
In my example, a product like essential oil can provide some relief. And that's why I, the customer buy it because I want relief to my pain point. And you as the coach offer a bigger option there, a bigger solution, and something more long-term, more sustainable.
Take this a step further and speak to that. Something integrative, life-changing, stress-relief strategies that you won't find in essential oil. You can take that even bigger. You can speak to your ideal client's reality. Be clear, be direct. This is how connection starts because the truth is people don't buy, seek out and Google “health coaching” or “wellness”. They don't go buy wellness tablets, right? What they look for always is a solution to their current problem.
So I talked before about how we all have a little soundtrack play, a little monkey that sits on our shoulder and talks at us. Your ideal client's soundtrack might sound like,
“How can I stay asleep at night?”
“How can I wake up rested?”
“What kind of exercise should I be doing when I'm already feeling burnt out?”
“How can I lose weight without having to stop myself?”
When you learn to understand that little voice of your ideal client, then you can actually speak to their problems and their solutions.
And this makes connections with ideal clients, really from a place of alignment and integrity. You go then from yourself, a health coach to saying things like
“I help women sleep eight hours a night and wake up fully rested.”
How clear and direct is that?
I thought I'd give you an example today from one of my clients, Tiffany Drake. When she started out, she was feeling comfortable on video, being in front of others, on social media, sharing about her life. And the trouble is that she didn't feel as confident explaining what she did as a coach, especially when it came to inviting them, to actually work with her, to book a discovery call, which is the point of your marketing.
And when she learned to do this, it took her social media to a whole different level. It's not just about sharing pictures of your puppy or your travels or what you're eating for breakfast, right?
You're entering into the energy of being an expert in your field, letting others know clearly and directly what you offer. She was often worrying too much about what people thought rather than what does her ideal client needs.
Through the process that we teach at UPswing Mastermind, she recorded a video and said,
“I help people achieve a healthier diet and lifestyle. Feel free to message me if you want to chat over the phone and discuss the services.”
Now, I think “healthy diet and lifestyle” is still actually pretty unspecific. But what I'm showing you here is that once she understood the ideal client, she was actually able to turn her marketing to be more direct. Tiffany booked a discovery session only hours later. So that full strategy is something I teach in detail in UPswing Mastermind. But notice how Tiffany stopped worrying about what she needed to do or what she wanted people to think. She turned it around to communicate with and connect with her ideal clients and really specifically offered them a pathway for support on a complimentary session.
She put the focus on the needs of her clients as a way to say what she did as a coach.
It's effective. She still books clients with confidence that way to this day. And so do many, many women using the UPswing formula.
Can you feel the difference? I'm shedding a lot here today. Knowing all that, it's your turn to give it your best shot! I would love to hear in the comments, your answer to the two questions I posed today:
What problems are keeping your clients up at night?
How can you help them solve those problems?
I would love to see you get your marketing messaging so much more specific in a way that will actually book calls.
Love,
Amanda xx
PS. Ready to create a purposeful package in your coaching business - and learn how to charge in a way that gets clients booked in with ease? Click this link to get instant access to the FREE training >> https://training.amandajdaley.com/packages
