5 Client-Attracting Opportunities You Can Create This Month (Off Social Media)

Health coaches, you can build your signature program all day long, but you need to be attracting clients to your world. In this episode, I'm going to share some killer client attraction opportunities so you can get after it this month. By the way, why is it that every health coach gets certified and turns directly to social media to try and find clients? And I'm going to put the emphasis on try to find clients. As if there's a pool of clients just sitting there just waiting to hire a health coach, you know, money in hand. There's not. Spoiler alert, it's never been like that in all my years of being a health coach, and it's certainly not true today. Social media has its place, yes, and for some health coaches, it has been a direct pathway to clients, but not usually. So, if you're thinking, "Oh, I just need more followers. I need a bigger audience. I need to be posting every day." If you're like, "A big following is the key to getting health coaching clients." Well, today I'm sharing about real coaches in our community who are making huge progress by creating their own opportunities off social media. How awesome is that? They're getting ahead even though they have teeny tiny followings. And I'm even going to tell you about one coach who you would think is really successful based on follower count alone, but behind the scenes, she's never earned a dime. By the end of this episode, you're going to be ready to start creating the kinds of opportunities for yourself that actually lead to clients, not just collect views and likes. Now, I have the distinct advantage of having lots of conversations with health coaches inside my Facebook group, on coaching calls, just getting questions in my inbox every week. Clients don't appear out of thin air. It is very rare that they even come from finding you on Instagram, following a hashtag, watching your real. Uh-uh. That's not it. They come from opportunities that you have to intentionally create for yourself. I know this is marketing, but marketing can be done so many different ways. I think you're going to really like the ideas that I'm sharing with you today because number one, they don't rely on social media. In fact, they don't rely on being online. So, let me tell you about a few of the coaches that I've been talking to recently. Okay, here's the first. This coach has been putting proposals together left and right for various companies. She's connected with these people by networking among business owners in her local area. So, it was like the owner of a interior design firm, the head of the airport authority. Pretty cool, right? These are really big opportunities. And some of these packages that she's putting together, I mean, they're pretty pricey. Now, guess how many followers she has on Instagram? a couple hundred. That's it. Another coach went out of her way to connect with the physician who now wants to introduce her to his whole staff and start referring patients her way. Now, it can be a hard cell sometimes to get someone to pay a health coach more out of pocket than they pay their doctor. So, we've positioned her as a specialist instead. Have you ever been referred to a specialist? They usually cost quite a bit more than a primary care visit. So now she has amazing earning potential with this opportunity. And guess what? She has just about 400 followers on Instagram. So very very modest. Another coach filled her recent workshop. She held it locally at the JCC and now she's got six people who were just immediately interested in signing up for her new group program. She has just a couple hundred followers. And one more. This coach started attending her chamber of commerce meetings and immediately like that she had people coming up and asking how they could work with her. 186 followers. That's all she's got on social media. And again, it doesn't matter a bit. So if you've been like jealous, I think sometimes we can get jealous of the coaches online who have thousands or tens of thousands or even millions of followers. Let this be the proof that you need that none of that is necessary. Does not matter. You can find and more importantly, you can create opportunities for yourself. Even as a brand new coach, even if you don't have social media at all, it's fine. Now, little side note here. All four of the coaches that I was just telling you about, they're all members of Empowered. That's my small group mastermind for health coaches. And I just want to share two of our guiding principles with you. So one is that social media is entirely optional. Use it, don't use it, whatever. That's like my official stance. And two is that conversations are what create clients. So anytime you're thinking, I need more clients, then what you really need are more conversations. And that's what I want to help you create today. So, before we get into our five client generating opportunities, real quick, I want to tell you about a conversation that I had with a coach who did in fact have millions of followers. I won't name names, but she's even published a book, like actually published by a publishing house and translated into 13 different languages, I think. I thought, wow, you know, she doesn't need my help. She's wildly successful, obviously. But behind the scenes, she revealed to me that she had never earned anything as a coach. Shocking, right? She made very little money, but it was all just through book sales. You don't make very much from book sales. And that's it. Zero clients. So much for followers, right? So much for vanity metrics. So, let's spend time creating conversations instead because conversations lead to clients. That's right. Write it down. Say it with me. conversations lead to clients. So like two of the coaches that I told you about earlier, the first idea is to start attending networking meetings, you want to look for small business or industry specific networking or location-based groups like your chamber of commerce, for example. Now, some people do great at networking events. They love them. High fives to all my extroverts out there, but I'm gonna say this for my fellow introverts, okay? Networking events like make my skin crawl. Can't stand them. The best way that I've learned to navigate these situations is this. I try to become insanely interested in other people because I don't want to just walk around the room pitching myself and talking about me and kind of like all this bravado. I hate that. So, I ask questions instead and I pretend the whole event is about getting to know them. And people love to talk about themselves. So, this is pretty easy. You can even ask them a coaching question or two. Like, get into it. Eventually, they are going to ask what you do and it's going to be an easy opening. Remember that Maya Angelou quote? I'm sure you've heard this. She said, "People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." So, it's a great way to make a first impression by making someone feel like you are so interested in them. If the idea of networking kind of gives you the heebie-jebies like it does for me, just go with the intention to simply connect with other human beings. And then I like to find a reason to email them the next day, like here's that recipe I mentioned, or here's that article that we were talking about. that followup like that real again human connection that goes a lot further than giving the perfect elevator pitch. Okay, the next idea is to connect with your local community centers. Like my client who booked out her workshop at the JCC, I've seen lots and lots of coaches teach classes and hold seminars because these are like eager to learn, eager to participate groups. They do stuff like this all the time. The community center probably holds lots of events, right? So, they know how to promote them and they know what's going to go over well with their audience. They know how to fill the room. That is so key. Workshops really are the best way in my opinion to initiate conversations because you're going to get to interact with your potential clients directly. And just by being the person who's holding the workshop, it's like you're on the stage. There may not be an actual stage. So literally or figuratively, you're on the stage. You are automatically seen as an expert. And I got to say, community centers are just the beginning. So think outside the box here. The key is to find the right venue and deliver a workshop that quickly builds your audience's trust in you. And to help, I have got just the thing. It's called the right room. Now, I created this for health coaches and it gets rave reviews. It's my 7-day plan to help you pitch, book, and deliver workshops seamlessly. It even comes with templates for your workshop and the emails that you need to make it happen. You can get it right now at a listener only price at healthcoachpower.com/room.

And that actually leads me to the next opportunity that you can create for yourself because it's kind of parallel. So, similar to holding workshops in your community, you can hold workshops within corporate settings. They can even be over Zoom for corporations who have employees all around the world. When we talk about getting in the right room, this could be the right room for you, especially if you come from a corporate background or if you're specifically targeting corporate folks or a particular industry. Now, the upside to corporate settings that I love is that everybody in the room has a job. And that means that they have a paycheck. And that means this audience is more likely to be able to hire you. They have the resources. You know, it's more likely than if you hold a workshop at the public library. You know what I mean? But regardless of where you hold your workshop, the most common question that I get from health coaches is how much to charge. Now, listen. For most health coaches, this isn't an income generating activity. It's an opportunity generating activity for you. So, pricing can be rather nuanced. And for more on how much to charge, check out the right room. Again, that's at healthcoachpower.com/room.

But right now, we're going to move on to the next client attracting opportunity that you can create for yourself, and that's referral partners, which when it works, it usually works with a doctor or a practitioner who also has a cash practice. So, that's something to look for, meaning they don't take insurance because you don't take insurance. So, it's just a little bit more aligned with how health coaches operate. just sort of a mindset thing that if someone comes, as I mentioned earlier, like from their 20 or $30 co-ay doctor, they're expecting that same type of setup for whoever they're referred to. But if they go to a cash practice and they're used to paying out of pocket, you know, hundreds, thousands of dollars, it's more likely that they'll be willing to pay for your help, too, and that there's somebody who can afford it. Now, remember how I just said, I think several times that conversations lead to clients. In this case, it's the conversation that you have with the practitioner. That's what's going to open the door here. What problems are they having in their practice or with their patients? What's frustrating for them? What do their patients need that they aren't able to provide? It's important to know that it sounds tempting, but doctors aren't legally able to receive kickback or commission as far as I know, at least in the United States, like if they refer someone to you. So, that can't be the arrangement. They need to be motivated by other factors. Find out what that is for them. What do they want to see happen with their patients that's not happening? And if they are a cash practice, remember that means that they are more of like an entrepreneur themselves. Even if they can't take commission, maybe you could, for example, hold a workshop in their space that brings their audience, their patients in, but also new people in the door, and that would be of benefit to their practice and yours. You want to make it a win-win. The next client attracting opportunity I want to talk about because you can create this for yourself and you can do it this month just like everything that I'm talking about today, but this one's one of my favorites. I love love love guesting on podcasts. I mean, I do a podcast for years now. I've been doing a podcast. Of course, I like appearing on podcast, but hear me out. Even if you've never done a podcast before, it's not as hard as you think it is. First of all, again, it's going to appeal to my introverts. It definitely appeals to my own introvert side because I get to do it from home. And this is great for everyone. Podcasts, they last forever. So, even if I'm on a podcast this week, that show continues to have listeners. It exists, you know, ongoing months, even years later, people are going to listen to it. Podcasts are also a great way to practice public speaking without being in front of a big group. You can practice honing your message knowing that if you mess up, there is this beautiful thing called editing. So, you don't get that in real life. You don't get that in when you're standing up in front of a crowd or doing a workshop. Editing, it's lovely. The trick here is to find podcasts that are right for you. It's kind of similar to finding the right room for an event. You want to know that you're getting in front of the right people who, you know, people who need and want the sort of help that you provide. You don't even need to stick to health podcasts. Please don't stick to just health podcast. By the way, you can contribute and you can really stand out when you do some sort of health topic with a show that's all about motherhood or a show about women in tech. or what if you popped up in a podcast that was all about climbing the corporate ladder? You might find some excellent clients that way. So, the key here is to find podcasts that are actively publishing. So, make sure the last one that they published is within the last month or so. You also want to make sure that they routinely have guests because not every show does. And then you want to track down the contact information for the host so you can get in touch and pitch yourself. When I say that, you might be thinking, why me? Why would anyone book me on their show? Just little old me. I need you to remember this. Just like there are new health coaches and health coaches with small followings and little old me syndrome. There are podcasters who are in the same boat. They're also new. They're also small. They'll be psyched to have you bring great content to their show. And finally, a client attracting opportunity that is right in front of your nose is to reconnect with people that you already know. Former clients, old co-workers, professional contacts, neighbors, like literally anyone. You don't have to go to a dedicated networking event to network. And the same principles apply here. Become infinitely fascinated with someone else. That's your way in. Ask them questions. Become their biggest fan. That's easy. I mean, I don't know if you've noticed, but people are really amazing when you get to know them, aren't they? And they're naturally going to ask about what you're up to because that's what friends do. That's what people do. You don't have to pitch yourself. just share about your latest project or how you just booked that workshop downtown. They're going to be interested to know more. By the way, that is one reason, a really important reason that it's so important to always have something coming up, like something on the calendar that you're planning or that you're working on so you can talk about it. Now again, if you need a plan to make this happen, go to healthcoachpower.com/room

for my 7-day plan to attract clients without social media. And of course, like not every conversation is going to lead to a client, obviously. It's not like one conversation equals one client. I wish it were that easy. But the more conversations that you have, the more connections you make with real humans, the more you do open up the doors. I'll see you next time. And if you have questions for me, I'm at michelle@healthcoachpower.com.