Relationship Marketing - A People Focused Marketing Strategy - Virginia Berger

Relationship Marketing - A People Focused Marketing Strategy

The inspiring speaker for the Professional Coaches Alliance July meeting was our very own VP of Technology, Adal Bermann, founder of Warm Leads Today. As a website designer, marketing consultant, and content creator, Adal was well-qualified to share the topic, “A Simple Recipe to Enroll 5 New Clients Each Month.”

Adal’s marketing strategy is based on his belief that business is about people, about building relationships and honoring each person as a VIP. He reviewed some of the traditional ways coaches have tried to reach audiences, such as cold calling and direct mailing campaigns, which he’s not a fan of. In the last decade, digital marketing has become popular with the arrival of Google, Facebook, and others. Purchasing advertisements on these sites works, but is expensive considering the low conversion rate. Another method Adal called “post and hope,” has some value depending on the content coaches share and how they follow up with interested people. Adal’s method, which he considers the best of what’s technologically possible, is social selling, using mainly LinkedIn or Facebook.

The first step in this strategy is to believe in your value as a coach, or you’ll hide. Practice builds confidence, and one way to get this is to offer free coaching sessions. Adal suggested scheduling about three of these a month and following up with an email with a Google or Yelp review form for them to fill out.

Once you’ve established your value, move to the next two steps, identifying your ideal audience and where you can find them. Go where they are, whether it’s Facebook or LinkedIn, and optimize your profile on these sites, adding testimonials and stories of people you have helped.

You’re now ready to connect with these ideal potential clients by building an online relationship in some way - friending them on Facebook, commenting on something they have posted on LinkedIn, sharing a resource or some anecdote that they might relate to.

Once you’ve gotten to know them a bit, invite them to a virtual coffee on Zoom. During this 15-30 minute meeting, open yourself up, be vulnerable, and create safe spaces into which they can expand. Before leaving this conversation, schedule a second call, the enrollment call. Adal illustrated the importance of allowing the person to share some of their suffering and need for support in this call before asking them to make the emotional decision to spend money on coaching.

After sharing this “simple recipe” for enrolling new clients, Adal described a system for getting referrals from satisfied clients based on the book, Raving Referrals. When your client has had some great breakthrough or other success, ask if he or she can think of anyone else who would benefit from coaching. Request a three-way introduction with that person. If this leads to a new client, make sure to demonstrate your gratitude to your referring client in a way that would provide the most value for him or her. This is better than setting up an affiliate program and paying for a referral. Adal ended with a reminder to nurture our audience, those on our mailing list or other followers.

We had lots of takeaways and action items to share in our final breakout session. President Tom Teague said it well when he complimented Adal for his “integration of systems with a personal touch.”

Summary by Virginia B. Berger

The Baby Boomer Retirement Coach