No matter the type of coaching business you have - leadership, life, business, or another type - there is one thing that rings true, you need clients.

Getting clients for a coaching business is both one of the hardest and easiest things to do in all of business. There's this duality of difficulty and ease that seems to conflict within the industry. To illustrate this, one simply needs to look at the coaching landscape where some coaches have clients clamoring to work with them... while other coaches can't seem to get any clients whatsoever (despite tremendous effort).

What gives? And, what's the big difference?

Believe it or not, there often isn't any substantial difference between the two. The most notable difference between them tends to be just one simple thing - their marketing systems.

When you see a coach who has a business that seems to run on "easy", you can best bet that they have built themselves an exceptional marketing system.

No, that doesn't mean that they worked with some social media ad agency that delivers leads to them like magic. It means that they have taken the time to perfect "The 7 Foundational Laws Of Marketing That Every Business Must Follow" and have shaped their business to work within the laws.

First and foremost, every coach who ever hopes to have a fighting chance at finding success must obsessively learn The 7 Foundational Laws Of Marketing That Every Business Must Follow. There is no way around it.

Once a base understanding of these laws has been established, then we can move onto the next steps that are more specific to the coaching business.

In all honesty, the coaching business is one of the easiest business models to find success in. That's because the model has been battle tested and proven by many thousands of coaches over centuries (yes, the coaching business has been around that long).

Here's the framework:

In the olden days, like 20 years ago, every good coach on the face of this planet did one of two things:

They would get themselves up on stage (or behind a camera) and teach their audience about a topic. They would go on and on about their experiences and expertise in that topic - giving their audience just enough to be convinced that they really knew what they were talking about.

Then, almost without fail, they would switch gears, stop teaching, and begin laying the foundation for what would come next. They'd begin telling stories of times where they struggled, all the things that they tried in an effort to overcome that struggle, and what it cost them (financially, emotionally, and otherwise) to finally figure things out. Then, at the opportune moment, they would tell their audience to take action.

They'd run some version of the pitch of "if you want _____ then you need to _____, now!". And people did. They took the action that they were told to take.

But why did they? What drove them to action from just a bunch of stories?

The book Expert Secrets is probably the most in depth tome of knowledge on the "why" and "how" of what drives people to action in the coaching business, but here's the short end of it: people want shortcuts in life.

Everyone wants to achieve their goals in less time, and a coach who has "been there, done that" and achieved the success that others want will always be in high demand. That's because a coach - one who has been through the struggles and came out the other side (with results) - is the best shortcut that any person can buy.

By telling their audience about the struggles they went through, everything that they tried in an effort to overcome those struggles, and what the financial and emotional price tag was of figuring the answer out on their own, the coach proves that they:

It is for this reason that telling the story of how you found the answers for yourself will be the base of your marketing as a coach. Your stories prove the four points above.

So, once you realize that as a coach you are a shortcut for your clients and need to tell your "origin story", your marketing becomes a whole lot easier. Simply be like the coaches of the olden days, telling stories of how you came to be in the position you are now. This will prime your audience to resonate with you and want to work with you, which will be the first step in preparing them to actually BUY from you.

If you've ever had the chance to walk the aisles of Costco and do some people watching, you've likely subconsciously learned a very important lesson - more people will buy something if they've tried it.

But it's not just the cookie aisles of Costco where this is true:

Time and time again, human psychology lends itself to the "try before you buy" mentality. So don't overlook it.

Even Tony Robbins, the most successful coach the world has ever known, uses this strategy to help his team sell coaching. He gives away free coaching sessions with his team of coaches who deliver 60 minutes of value to anyone who's interested. No questions asked, if you want the coaching, you get it.

So, if it's a good strategy for Tony Robbins' coaching business, you should probably be doing it as well.

After you've told your story and given a sample of your work, it will be time to make the sale. This is the moment where you get to ask your prospective client "would you like to continue on this journey so that you can achieve _____?".

In many cases, that simple question will lead to a handful of your prospects saying "yes". A certain percentage of those who resonate with your story and found value in your sample... will buy from you.

But not everyone will.

So, if you'd like to increase the rate that you convert your prospects into clients, you will need to give them a compelling reason to continue.

Most often, the best reasons that you can give them will be tied to urgency, scarcity, and a bonus. To put this in other words, you need to instill the belief in your prospect's mind that if they don't act now then they will miss out on their opportunity to "shortcut" their results because:

This is a cornerstone of human buying psychology. Urgency, scarcity, and a bonus have been statistically proven over time to increase sales. Individually, they give prospective customers a reason to buy. Together, they give prospective customers a compelling reason to buy that is hard to say "no" to.

So, try adding them in to your closing process. And, if you'd like to learn all the ins, outs, and tricks for how to do so, the grab a copy of the book Expert Secrets so that you can learn from countless others who have successfully added these elements into their sales process.

One of the cardinal marketing sins that many coaches make is that once a person says "no" to them, they drop the person off their prospect list and stop marketing to them.

This is a HUGE mistake (hence the classification of a "cardinal marketing sin").

If you have spent money and/or effort to acquire the attention of a prospective client then it makes absolutely no sense to intentionally drop them from your marketing. If they showed enough interest to give you their contact information once, then you might still be able to keep building up their interest until they become a buyer (or re-buyer).

It costs you next to nothing to keep them in your marketing campaigns, so keep them.

The fact of the matter is that a good portion of people will take their time when buying something that costs a hearty amount of money (which most coaching does). They'll sit on the fence for weeks, months, or even years before they make the decision that they're ready to buy.

Because of this you should keep marketing to them with email, direct mail, SMS, and other media over time so that you hold their attention and increase their trust in you. Eventually, a handful of them will be ready to buy.

Over time, if you follow the steps up until this point in the article then you will find yourself in a position where you have an audience - a list of prospective customers who are all sitting on the fence consuming your marketing content and deciding whether or not they should buy from you. This audience will be the most valuable thing in your entire business.

That's because an audience gives you a roster that you will be able to pull people out of the spectator seats from and into your coaching chair.

But in order to do that, you will need to give them a reason and opportunity to raise their hand in the air and say "I'm ready". In the marketing and sales world, we like to call this giving them an offer.

There are a million and two different offers that you might make them, but that's beside the point. The main takeaway here is that you need to make them offers, lots of them. The more you can make, and of different kinds, the better. That's because not everyone will raise their hand for the same reason. They're all individuals with unique lives; what interests one person enough to raise their hand might not interest another at all.

You have to recognize this and make enough offers with different kinds of hooks and outcomes to get them to say "yes" to something. If you only make one offer and cross your fingers in hopes that it works.... then the chances are that you will fail as a coach (sorry for the harsh reality).

The good news is that as you make offers, and do it well, you will fill up your calendar with coaching calls. Over time, as you get busier and busier in your business, you can charge more per session, and can also begin to hire other coaches underneath you.

One of the most powerful tools in any coaches marketing arsenal is referrals. People who have been referred to your coaching business often will skip the step of trying to decide if you're legit and ask to work with you right away. It's a beautiful thing, really.

The only problem is that referrals don't always happen on their own. They require a little bit of subtle suggestion, and sometimes direct asks.

But before we get to that, any suggestions and direct asks that you make will be moot if you don't first have something foundational set up in your business - results.

If your clients aren't coming away from working with you saying "wow!", then you're not ready to ask for referrals. That's okay, though. Most coaches don't start out with this; the "wow" factor takes time to build and refine in a business. So, keep working on it (if you haven't already got it). Follow the first 5 steps in this article to keep clients coming in while working on your delivery systems for giving your customers the most amazing of experiences.

Once ready for a referral system, that's when you can start:

These easy referral marketing campaigns will bring people to your door, with cash in hand and ready to work with you.

Success in the coaching business doesn't always have to feel so hard. By following the 6 steps outlined this article to set up a true marketing system, you can build yourself a coaching business that runs (mostly) on "easy".

As a quick recap of the 6 steps, you should:

If you want to dive in and learn even more details about how to set up a coaching business that thrives then grab a copy of the book Expert Secrets and become an expert in your specific niche/industry.

Happy coaching!