Learning how to get new executive coaching clients can be incredibly tricky, especially if you are just starting out in the executive coaching niche.
In this article, I will show you how you can reach and engage C-suite executives without limiting your marketing efforts to industry events only.
3 Steps to Get Executive Coaching Clients
Step 1: Clarify Your Offer
Before you can start your search for prospects, you want to make sure you have the right offer to present to your potential clients.
This means that you need to know exactly who your clients are.
The first thing you want to remember is that executive clients are often very time-poor.
They usually do not have time to go through the details of a long pitch or even listen to your full elevator speech.
Whatever you are sharing with your potential clients needs to be as concise as possible.
Executives tend to make very important decisions very quickly.
If they don’t immediately see the value of your offer, you don’t stand a chance – no matter how good the rest of your marketing plan or your actual offerings.
If you want to make an impression on high-level executives, you can’t just present them with a list of benefits and hope something sticks.
You need to show them how your offer will change their life.
Ask yourself: how is your offer going to completely transform the way they run their companies (and lead their lives)?
Paint as vivid of a picture as you can while keeping it short and sweet.
Step 2: Find Your Potential Clients
Physical Channels
The first place to find executive clients? Industry events.
What events does your type of executive go to? What are they interested in hearing about? Can you connect your offerings to any of these interests?
Event marketing is the tried-and-true way of getting executive coaching clients.
However, it is not very scalable and can be very costly, especially if you are just starting out in the executive coaching business.
Digital Channels
Digital channels are much more scalable than physical channels. They can work incredibly well for coaches and experts in all industries.
However, there are many other executive coaches competing for your prospects’ attention in the digital space. Therefore, you have to know exactly where (and how) to approach them online.
The Best Places to Find Executive Coaching Clients Online
LinkedIn is the number one place executives talk business, plain and simple.
If you want to go with a direct approach, start a conversation there.
Feel free to invite your prospects to connect. However, make sure to personalize your message with something relevant to their work or life.
Remember, your potential clients are very selective about who and what they spend their limited time on.
If they receive a generic LinkedIn invite, they will likely toss it out.
Website
Instead of reaching out to potential clients, you can get them to come to you by focusing your attention on developing your own website.
However, this is a long-term strategy that may not work if you do not have a proven track record in executive coaching, impressive testimonials, in-depth case studies and other powerful content to share with your audience.
In addition to that, you are going to need serious SEO skills to make your website rank highly enough for high-level executives to find it.
If you are a coach or consultant for executives, you may think your potential clients are not on Facebook… But they are!
While they may do most of their business on LinkedIn, CEOs still spend time on Facebook because this is where they connect with family, friends, and people with similar interests.
The number one way to get executive clients from Facebook is to engage them in conversation about their interests outside of the workplace.
What do they spend their free time (and money) on? What are their hobbies? What’s important to them outside the boardroom?
Examples include golf, yoga classes, retreats, cars… The possibilities are endless.
If you can think of a hobby or pastime an executive might enjoy, there is probably a Facebook group dedicated to it.
Another way to think about this is to think about how executives are changing the way they run their companies (and their daily lives).
Many executives are taking a much more mindful, even spiritual approach to their workday. And, joining Facebook groups is related to this topic.
You can find some of these groups by simply typing the word “executive” or “CEO” in the Facebook search bar.
Step 3: Build Trust
Joining the right LinkedIn communities and Facebook groups is just the first step of connecting with your audience and exploring your target market’s problems.
Keep in mind that these are not the people who will download free reports willy-nilly.
They are looking for someone with a proven track record and in-depth knowledge of their industry – in short, someone they can trust.
To build trust with high-level executives, you need to have a very deep understanding of the obstacles they face in their daily lives.
You want to showcase your expertise by adding value to the conversation. You want to show them that you relate to these obstacles, and can actually help them move through them.
It all comes back to knowing your audience.
For example, a well-thought-out Facebook challenge may actually work for a newer executive who is looking to try a more mindful approach of running their company.
The higher you aim, the less time your target audience has – and the more outstanding your approach will have to be.
It doesn’t mean Facebook challenges can’t work for you. It just means you have to execute them to perfection!
Need Help?
Getting executive coaching clients is not an easy task, but don’t feel like you have to limit yourself to traditional marketing methods like industry events or LinkedIn outreach!
Facebook can work for executive coaches – you just have to know how to use it right to build trust with your potential clients.
Want to learn more about growing your executive coaching business?
Super valuable, thank you!