With so many coaches in the market, how can you make sure clients pick you? Classifying your business may be the genius move you’ve been looking for

By Ginny Baillie

You are in a bookshop. You’ve got a bit of time, but you don’t know what you are looking for. You scan the shelves, and the classifications, but nothing jumps out. You go to the tables, that’s a bit easier, you’ve got more visuals, more to go on, but still there’s a lot. So you start looking at the in-house reviews and pick something that’s in tune with
what you like to read.

It’s like this with coaching. The industry has exploded – there are many more of us than there were 10 years ago – so how on earth do people buy from us? Even if we classify ourselves as leadership, wealth, weight loss, strategy, women, business, online business, people are still overwhelmed by the choice. They’re going to move to the tables to get more clarity. What they really want, though, is a recommendation.

What makes it easy for people to recommend you? It’s personal experience or niche niching your business. Niching gives you a classification, not a position on the table or as a recommendation.

The point of a niche is to bring focus to a confusing plethora of coaches. Niche niching deepens this and is intended to build up specialism and confidence. The industry has reached a stage of maturity where it might be advisable to consider being super specific about what you do. If you are too generic people won’t know what you are about.

Before I go any further, I am with you if you are groaning at the thought of having to get even clearer than you were before (or hoping you could avoid this conversation and just coach).

I do suspect that a coach’s aversion to drilling right down to their core niche might be industry-wide and having an impact on the value people charge for their coaching, essentially suppressing prices.

I’m not saying you won’t find work as a generalist, you most likely will, but I suspect you might be overtaken by those who will niche niche. The more specific you are, the more you will be viewed as an expert, and the more you can command the value you deserve.

 

The case for niche niching

  • Build expertise (and confidence)
  • Be recognised for that expertise (and get paid for it)
  • Have a place to focus your marketing efforts (it keeps you sane)
  • Be easily talked about by potential recommenders.

 

Keeping you sane

If you are a coach for everybody, you would never stop. You’d be like a lighthouse that runs up and down the beach trying to be there for all boats, even the ones that don’t need you. Being a generalist is hard work – finding the focus for your marketing efforts was a challenge 20 years ago in a new market, now it’s nigh on impossible.

 

How do people refer to you?

If you tell me you want to…

– sort out your business strategy so you are super clear on vision and what to do next

– work with middle management who struggle with sandwich reporting

– find a high-level coach with the steel to work with your global CEO

– Embed a £1m cultural shift with your change weary company

…then I have someone for you, immediately, instantly a coach I can refer you to pops into my mind.

 

Are you so easily referred to? Do your friends, colleagues, network, know how to talk about you?

Rebecca Hourston, MD of Talking Talent, from whom I first heard the phrase ‘niche niching’, additionally points out that as a sole practitioner you can collaborate with other coaches without them being afraid of conflict of interest. For instance, you offer maternity coaching, you won’t be nicking the senior team leadership development job. They can buy from you, and bring in your expertise, and you can be sure of your value.

She also notes that even if you do zero in, you are still in the market and you can still do other work – this just helps crystalise your efforts. Things will still come to you – it’s your choice if you do them or not.

This links to where you are invoice-wise – it’s hard to say no to something outside of your niche if you need to put food on the table. Acknowledge what’s significant to you. We’ve all got bills to pay and it’s pointless to deny that this plays a role. I’ve taken work that I couldn’t say was in my sweet spot, and sometimes it became something
I wanted to carry on doing (sometimes it didn’t!).

 

Find your niche niche

  • Spend time thinking about your ideal client – get very clear, and you might have a few in different scenarios
  • Be mindful of who is showing up in your business. I once said I would never coach leaders – that I liked middle management – and leaders started showing up and became core to my work
  • Which niche are you drawn to?
  • Play the ‘if I had enough money who would I work with’ game – and then examine how that might work now
  • Brainstorm with your coach friends.

 

Private thinking; Public Communication

Let’s say I really like to work with board-level people who are considered tricky by others, who others think are resistant to personal development, where there may be conflict between executives. I’m not going to advertise that on my website – but it will guide my thinking about what my public communication is going to be. I might also verbally say that to a contact without putting it in writing. Who you are communicating this niche to will be different, but knowing it is key.

I think bravery comes into it – when I first said ‘no’ to a business because it wasn’t my niche I experienced a tremor of fear (but also calm). That led to other opportunities, greater confidence and clarity in myself. I saw that it also helped my community place me in the industry and refer businesses to me.

  • Next issue: Building on existing business