Thomas Chalmers and Russell Borland
Have you got a business strategy in place? Make sure it covers the interplay of your target market and the services you offer within it
One of the key things to consider when building your coaching business is your strategic focus. This can be driven, for the most part, by the intersection of:
- The market you are seeking to target, ie, the type of clients you wish to work with and where they are
- The services you offer clients in your target market.
Their interplay will influence the number of potential sales opportunities:
Potential sales
opportunities
Broad target Mid Higher
market
Niche target Lower Mid
market
Services Narrow Broad
offered range range
In theory, the greatest number of potential sales opportunities lies in the top right-hand quadrant, where a wide range of services are offered in a broad target market. Conversely, the fewest sales opportunities are in the bottom left-hand quadrant, where a narrow range of services is offered to a smaller, niche market sector.
Of course, not all sales opportunities translate into work for coaches. So, while each quadrant can support profitable coaching, the business model will vary from quadrant to quadrant. Coaching businesses operating in the top right quadrant are likely to rely heavily on technology in delivering their services, with relatively ‘light touch’ client relationships. (In the retail sector, Amazon started in the top left quadrant by only selling books to a broad market, and have since moved to the top right, selling a very wide range of products.)
Thomas and I wanted enough time to develop deep coaching relationships with our clients. We also wanted to establish our reputation as a leading practitioner in our target market. This led us to establish our company, Leading Figures, as a boutique/specialist coaching consultancy operating in the lower left quadrant.
In terms of market sector, we decided to concentrate primarily on clients in the finance and professional services sectors: banks, fund managers, accountants, actuaries and lawyers. We each had a number of existing clients we could build on. We also find that clients like the fact we know their sector. Narrowing the market also gives us focus in everything we do: from honing our coaching skills and undertaking research to business development – all are aligned to the needs of clients in the finance and professional services sectors. This helps build on our brand in these sectors.
We do have clients outside these sectors, such as technology companies, local government and charity organisations (often referred to us by existing clients), but our focus on growing our business remains aligned to our original target market.
Our main service is on leadership coaching to individuals and teams. Our aim is to focus on those most relevant to our clients and to excel at delivering them. The strategy that best suits you will depend on several factors, including overall lifestyle needs, whether you drive your business alone or with others, and mode of delivery (face to face or virtual).
Take time to work out your strategic focus. It’s a fundamental building block that will help guide you in building and growing your coaching business into the future.
- Thomas Chalmers is a co-founder with Russell Borland of Leading Figures. Thomas is a chartered banker whose previous careers span 10 years in commercial banking followed by 14 years as owner/partner of a seafood business. Russell was previously at Hymans Robertson where he held a number of senior leadership positions including firm-wide managing partner.
- www.leadingfigures.com