The Step-by-Step System to Grow Your Coaching Business By Michelle Schubnel Helping coaches around the world attract great clients and build thriving, rewarding and profitable coaching businesses.
Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Definition... 4 Benefits of List-Building... 4 Develop a Large Pool of Potential Customers...4 Establish Your Credibility...4 Increase Your Knowledge...5 List Management 101... 5 List-Building 101... 5 What Makes a Good Free Gift?...6 Subscriber Relationship-Building 101... 6 The Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence...6 How the Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence Works...7 Key Ingredients for a Powerful Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence...7 Advanced List-Building Strategies... 8 Strategy #1: Use a Squeeze Page...8 Squeeze Page FAQ's...9 Strategy #2: Leverage Affiliates and Joint Venture Partners...10 Alliance Partner Keys to Success...10 Building Your List Off-Line... 12 Leverage Speaking Engagements...12 Growing Your List at Networking Events...12 List-Building Keys to Success... 13 Your Belief...13 Build the Relationship...13 Consistency...13 Be Yourself...13 Do What Works...13 Your List-Building Action Plan... 14 Copyright 2010 by Michelle Schubnel. All rights reserved. This workbook is non-transferable. No part of this workbook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author. For further information please email michelle@coachandgrowrich.com. For more information on the complete Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. Business Building System please visit: http://. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 2
Introduction Dear Coach, Have you ever heard the expression, "The money is in the list?" What this means is that the bigger and more responsive your email list, the more successful and profitable your business will be. (And it's true!) The fact is, growing and nurturing your email list is one of the most important activities you can do in your business. But if you re like many coaches, you are missing opportunities and not taking full advantage of all the list-building tools and resources that can help you maximize your success. This class will help change that. In this class you will learn: What an email list is and why you want and need one. What you need to know about email list management, including the best services to use. The best types of free gift to offer and which ones you should absolutely avoid. What you need to do after people sign up to quickly build rapport and connection so they are excited to receive your emails. How to use a Squeeze Page to dramatically increase your opt-in rate. How to utilize affiliates and joint venture partners to grow your list. How to get the right people in the room at a speaking engagement or networking event to join your list. The Keys to Success for effective list-building and developing a loyal following of people who love hearing from you and happily respond to your offers. Growing a high quality and responsive email list is critical for the success of your business. I encourage you to take what you learn in this class and get into action quickly. Don t worry about making things perfect. Get started now and fine-tune over time. Here s to your success, Michelle Schubnel President Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. Rewarded. Inspired. Confident. Happy. michelle@coachandgrowrich.com Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 3
Definition In this class I use the term list to refer to the email list of people who you regularly email on topics related to what you coach on. Some people think of this as their newsletter list. A good quality list is a list of people who are in your target market. These are your prospects, leads, past clients and probably some friends and family. The email messages that you send to your list can be regularly scheduled electronic newsletters (also known as an ezine) or they can be tips, articles, resources, inspirational quotes, etc. that you send out from time-to-time. You can email your entire list at once (e.g., sending out a monthly newsletter or broadcast email to everyone at the same time) or you can set up an email sequence (often called a follow-up or autoresponder series) where people receive a set of emails that are triggered based on when they sign up. An important goal and one of the principles I want for you to take away from this class is to develop the proper systems and infrastructure so it is easy to consistently grow a high quality list in an ethical way. In addition, when people join your list you want to make sure that you have a system in place to quickly build and solidify your relationship with your new subscribers and that you are conscientious about growing and nurturing the relationship with your subscribers over time. Benefits of List-Building Develop a Large Pool of Potential Customers The people on your email list are your best leads and prospects. When you get good at list-building, it means you are able to consistently grow your pool of potential customers. This is critical for building a sustainable and profitable business. Then, assuming you regularly communicate with your list and provide value, you can turn perfect strangers into wonderful new clients and customers, who will readily invest in your individual coaching, group programs, information products, teleseminars, webinars, live events, etc. Establish Your Credibility When you regularly provide value and share useful information, your subscribers will see you as a resource and an expert. Coaching, like most professional services, requires a level of trust. People want to feel like they will be in good hands if they hire you. Regularly communicating with your list via email is a great way to build the necessary trust and credibility. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 4
Increase Your Knowledge Whether you write articles and develop your own content, or you forward resources and useful bits of information, in order for you to consistently provide value to the people on your list, you need to stay on top of your game and continually increase your own knowledge. The fact is, when you make the commitment to regularly provide value to your list, you force yourself to invest the time and energy to research topics and then write about them or forward on what you learn, as such your own skills, knowledge and confidence will grow. List Management 101 For as little as $15 per month you can use an online system to manage your mailing list and the sending of your emails. If you are serious about growing and building your business, this is an investment you ll want to make sooner rather than later. One of the big benefits of using a service, is that it automates the subscribe/unsubscribe process. In addition, many ISPs (internet service providers) limit the number of people you can send an email to as a way of preventing spam. This makes it challenging to email your list through your regular email vs. using a paid service. Email management systems are easy to use, have templates that make it simple to get started and feature tracking capabilities so you can see who is opening your emails and clicking through on your links. See a list of some of the best Email Marketing Systems available and my personal recommendations at: /resources. List-Building 101 One of the most fundamental and effective list-building strategies is to offer a free gift in exchange for getting a person's name and email address. Your free gift can be a special report, a top ten list, an audio download, an ebook, a video, a checklist, a template, etc. The most common way to offer your gift is through a sign up form on your website. Ideally, the sign up form is prominent on your home page and then is also on the sidebar or in the header of all of your other website pages. If you don't yet have a free gift available on your website, please make this a priority! Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 5
You see, once you invest the time and energy to develop your free gift and get a sign up box on your website, you create a list-building vehicle that works for you 24/7. This is a critical component that you need to get in place as soon as possible. What Makes a Good Free Gift? The best type of free gift is something you can offer that will help your ideal clients solve a big, pressing problem as quickly and easily as possible. Your goal is to deliver a powerful nugget of value quickly. For ideas, think about the types of free gifts you've signed up to receive. What have you found valuable? What can you develop that can quickly and easily address a big problem that your target market has? A big mistake that coaches make with their free gift is they create something that is too big, long or elaborate and therefore utilizing or consuming the free gift feels like a chore. Don t make this mistake! Keep your free gift relatively simple. You can always add more value and provide more content and information after they sign up. Subscriber Relationship-Building 101 What happens after a person enters in their name and email to get your free gift is critical for effectively building a loyal subscriber base. Perhaps the person receives a thank you email with details about how to access the free gift and then gets the next regular broadcast publication. (i.e., getting the next newsletter or email you send out.) While this isn t terrible (at least the person is receiving a thank you email), there is something else you can put into place that will have a HUGE impact on how quickly and solidly you develop the relationship between you and your new subscriber. The Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence When someone signs up to get your free gift you need to assume that the person is a complete stranger and they know nothing about you and what you have to offer. You really don t know anything about them either, other than they were interested enough in your free gift to give you their name and email address. This is your golden opportunity! You can create a powerful and engaging sequence of email messages that systematically gets sent over a period of time to every new subscriber who joins your list. This is so important because without an effective system in place, what often happens is someone will sign up to get your free gift and join your list, get busy, forget about it and Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 6
then when they receive your next newsletter they unsubscribe because they feel no connection to you and in fact might even report your email as spam because they don t even remember signing up on your list. Instead, compare that to this optimal scenario: A person signs up for your free gift. She immediately receives an email that not only gives her the details about how to access the free gift, but it warmly welcomes and acknowledges her. You make a personal connection and start building a lasting relationship. This scenario is possible when you create a sequence of email messages, often called an AutoResponder or Follow-Up Sequence, where you connect, give value and quickly establish a strong bond between you and your new subscriber. How the Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence Works 1. You need an email management service that enables you to create an AutoResponder or Follow-Up Email sequence. Virtually all of the popular and reputable services provide this functionality. 2. Write 3-5+ email messages that will be delivered to your new subscribers. 3. Determine and set up the schedule for your email messages. For example, if you have 3 email messages, your schedule might look like this: a. Email #1 Sent immediately b. Email #2 Sent on Day #2 (two day after the person signs up) c. Email #3 Sent on Day #5 (five days after the person signs up) Ingredients for a Powerful Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence An effective Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence is about establishing a connection, showing up as a real person who truly cares about the new subscriber, supporting the person in consuming (using, taking advantage of) your free gift, continuing to add value and be of service and then making an offer or issuing a specific invitation. Here s a model of what to include in each message of a 3 part Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence: Email #1 Send immediately after sign-up 1. Welcome and acknowledge. 2. Provide details about how to claim free gift (e.g., download instructions). 3. Offer suggestions on how to consume or utilize your free gift. 4. Share a little information about yourself focus on sharing information that relates to what you coach on. 5. Inform about future communication, e.g., in addition to the free gift you ll also be receiving tips, strategies and resources via email or a subscription to my newsletter, etc. 6. Let them know you ll check-in in a few days. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 7
Email #2 Send 2 days after sign-up 1. Begin by reminding them who you are and why you are email, e.g., Michelle here with a quick check in about 2. Add a nugget of value. You can do this by reiterating an important point from your free gift, asking a powerful question, providing an additional resource, checking in on a recommended action step, etc. 3. Share a client success story that relates to what the free gift focuses on. This provides inspiration for the reader and helps build your credibility. 4. In this email you can also share a little more about yourself and your story. Remember, one of your big goals is to build a strong bond and connection. Sharing about yourself is a fantastic way to do this. Email #3 Send 5 days after sign-up 1. Begin again with a quick reminder of who you are and why you are emailing, e.g., Michelle here. I thought of something you could really benefit from 2. Add a nugget of value and/or share a client success story. 3. Make an offer. You could invite the person to have a complimentary coaching session with you, you could share about a product or home study course you have available, etc. Your series could be much longer, but if you have at least 3 email messages, that s a great start. The optimal number of emails also depends on how frequently you regularly email the people on your list. Advanced List-Building Strategies So far you have learned list-building fundamentals. Now it s time to explore some of the advanced strategies that enable you to enjoy massive growth in your list, often very quickly. Strategy #1: Use a Squeeze Page Having a Squeeze Page (also called an Opt-In Page or Landing Page) is an incredibly effective list-building tool, yet very few coaches take advantage of it. So what exactly is a Squeeze Page? A Squeeze Page is a one page website that has a singular purpose: to get the visitor's contact information, typically this is the person's name and email address, in exchange for you giving them a free gift, such as a special report, video training, audio download, etc. Squeeze Pages are so effective because there are no other options for your visitor. No Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 8
articles or blog posts to read, no information about you or your business. Instead, the person either enters their information or they leave the site. (And if they leave without entering in their information, that's totally fine! It simply means they aren't a good fit and wouldn't have become a customer or client anyway.) Now perhaps you're thinking, "I already have a website with an opt-in box on the homepage where people can enter in their name and email to get my free gift. Isn't this better than a Squeeze Page?" If this is you, first I want to congratulate you for having an opt-in on your homepage where people can sign up to receive your free gift. You rock! The question though, is how high is your opt-in rate? (Your opt-in rate is the percentage of your website visitors who sign up to get your free gift through your sign-up box. If you don't know your opt-in rate, this is an important statistic to track and one that is easy to determine using Google Analytics - a free tool that can easily be integrated into your website.) You see, the average opt-in rate for a typical coaching website with a sign-up box on the homepage is well below 10%. On the other hand, it's not uncommon for a Squeeze Page to deliver sign-up rates of 50% or more. For example, I used a Squeeze Page to register people for a recent free teleseminar and my opt-in rate was 67%. Think about that for a minute. Instead of 10 out of 100 visitors signing up, you can have 60-70 people out of 100 (if not more!) signing up, assuming of course that you have a good Squeeze Page and a valuable free gift that appeals to your target market. Squeeze Page FAQ's Question: I already have a regular website with an opt-in box on my home page. Do I need a Squeeze Page and if so, how would I use it? Answer: If you already have a website with an opt-in box you're in luck because it means that creating your Squeeze Page will be easy. You already have your free gift and email management system in place. All you need to do is create your Squeeze Page and focus on sending new visitors to that page. For example, let's say you have the opportunity to give a 60 second infomercial at a networking meeting, instead of giving out your regular website address, invite the audience to get your free gift and share your Squeeze Page address. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 9
Question: I'm a new coach and I don't have a website yet. Which should I do first, a "regular" website or a Squeeze Page? Answer: Although this may seem counter-intuitive, you'll get better results if you focus on doing your Squeeze Page first. Put your energy into creating an irresistible free gift and develop your Squeeze Page. If anyone asks you can tell them your main website is still in development, but in the interim you've created a simple website where they can go to get your valuable free gift. Question: Will people really enter in their information on a Squeeze Page? I hate those! Answer: Yes, people will enter in their information... IF you have a valuable, compelling free gift that addresses a big problem faced by your target market. Strategy #2: Leverage Affiliates and Joint Venture Partners Once you have a Squeeze Page in place, the next step you can take is to form relationships and alliances with people who serve the same market as you do. An ideal outcome would be for your alliance partner to send an email to his list that endorses you and what you offer and then encourages his readers to get your free gift. The link to get your free gift should take them to your Squeeze Page. This is key! With an enticing free gift and a well-designed Squeeze Page you can easily get an opt-in rate of 50% or more. If you send people to your main website, even if you have a powerful opt-in box, it s rare to get more than 20% opt-ins and most sites get opt-in rates significantly lower than that. We have a complete Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. class on how to achieve maximum success with Strategic Alliances, so I m not going to go into all the details here. Instead, I ll focus on the main Keys to Success. Alliance Partner Keys to Success 1. Create a Win-Win-Win You win because you are recommended to a large group of people in your target market, some of whom will sign up to get your free gift. One powerful alliance could enable you to grow your list by hundreds and even thousands, practically over night. There are many ways alliance partners can win. For example, you could send an email to your list about him and what he offers. You can pay a commission on sales made to his referrals. He can win by being seen as generous and caring for introducing you as a resource and sharing such a valuable free gift with his readers. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 10
The people who opt-in to your list win by getting your free gift and having the opportunity to be part of your community and receive valuable information, tools, resources, support and connection that you deliver primarily via email! 2. Give Big Financial Incentives The majority of alliance partnerships involve giving commissions or making affiliate payments. In other words, your partners will be much more likely to send an email to their list if you will be offering a paid product, program, training, etc. to the people who opt-in to get the free gift. This is often done when launching a new product or program. The ability to also massively grow your list is one of the huge side-benefits. The higher the ticket price of your product/program, the bigger commissions you can pay. The fact is, alliance partners are motivated by the financial upside. Make your commissions as big and juicy as you can. To do this your price point should be at least $500 for your product/program. The $1,000-$2,000 range is ideal. Commissions vary widely, from 10% - 50% or more. I recommend you choose the highest commission rate that you can. It s fun to send out big fat checks to your affiliates and alliance partners. I paid out more than $18,000 in commissions as part of a successful product launch and my #1 partner received a $4,000+ check. It was exciting for me to send them out and let me tell you, my partners sure love seeing an envelope from Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. in the mailbox! 3. Make It Easy You need to make it very easy for your alliance partners to promote you and what you offer. First off, you need a system to track and manage the referrals. This is typically called an affiliate program and this functionality is an advanced feature that is available in most e- commerce/shopping cart systems. Basically, the system generates unique affiliate links for each alliance partner. Then when people opt-in to get your free gift, the system knows who the referring alliance partner is based on the link that was clicked. You provide your alliance partners with pre-written emails with their unique affiliate link included that they can then easily send out. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 11
Building Your List Off-Line So far we ve focused on list-building online via the web. Now let s look at how to successfully grow your list offline at speaking engagements and networking events. Leverage Speaking Engagements Any time you speak, one of your primary goals should be to grow your list. Imagine how quickly your business would build if at every speaking engagement all of the right people in the audience give you their contact information and permission to send them email. There are a number of ways to achieve this: 1. Do a raffle by collecting business cards. 2. Offer to send out a free gift, resource, copy of your presentation, etc. and collect business cards or use another method to get their name and email address. 3. Use an audience feedback form that asks for their name and email if they would like to get your free gift and also receive a complimentary subscription to your newsletter. If you want to automatically subscribe everyone to your mailing list you MUST tell them that when you invite them to give you their contact information, e.g., If you d like to enter the raffle just put your business card in the basket that is being passed around. Even if you don t win <the prize>, you ll still be a winner because everyone who enters the raffle will also get a complimentary subscription to my popular electronic newsletter so we can stay in touch and I can be a resource to you. Growing Your List at Networking Events Networking events can be an excellent way to grow your list, especially at events where you have an opportunity to stand up and share for 30-60 seconds about your business. In this scenario you want to use the time to introduce yourself, the problem you help clients solve and then invite the audience to receive your free gift as part of the solution. You can do this by collecting business cards (best) or giving out your Squeeze Page URL. In addition, when meeting new people who fit your target market, specifically ask permission to add them to your mailing list, ie: May I add you to my newsletter list as a way for us to stay in touch? Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 12
List-Building Keys to Success We re in the home stretch! This class has covered a lot of information and if you re brand new to list-building it can feel a little overwhelming. The secret is taking it step-by-step. I encourage you to embrace these Keys to Success and then take time right now to write out your List-Building Action Plan. Use the worksheet at the end of this workbook. Your Belief Really believe that when someone opts-in to your list that they are receiving a huge gift because you provide so much value to your subscribers. My friend and colleague puts it this way, I really believe that when someone joins my list it s like they ve just won the lottery because I give so much value to my readers. Build the Relationship More important than the size of your list, is how responsive it is. Are people opening up your emails, are they clicking on links and responding to offers? The way to increase responsiveness is by building the relationship. When you have a Getting-To-Know-You email series and then regularly communicate and provide value via your newsletter or email messages you ll be in good shape. Consistency Determine your publication schedule and stick with it. Increased frequency (e.g., once/week) is dramatically more effective for developing a responsive list then only sending something once/month. It s also much better to have each email/newsletter focus on a single topic as opposed to a huge newsletter with several articles and sections, etc. Be Yourself They come for the content, they stay because of the personality. Be who you are and share about yourself, your experiences, what s going on in your life, etc. Find someone who does this in a way that appeals to you and then model that person. Do What Works Pay attention to the emails you open and read that you get from being on someone s list. What do you like about them? What appeals to you? Why do you open and read them? Since you are probably in your own target market, it s likely that what works with you will work with your target market. Model what works! Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 13
Your List-Building Action Plan Hopefully you see the benefit of growing your list in order to build a thriving and sustainable business. Use the following pages to plan out your next steps and then take inspired action! My reasons for wanting to grow a large and responsive email list are: Email Management System: If you have an email list management service in place and it s working well for you, great skip to the next question. If not, write down your action steps for choosing an email list management service and specify by when you will complete each step. Your Free Gift: If you have a free gift in place and it is working well for you, great skip to the next question. If you don t yet have a free gift or the one you have is not as effective as you d like, write down your action steps for creating and promoting your powerful free gift and specify by when you will complete each step. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 14
Your Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence: If you have this in place and it is working well for you, great skip to the next question. If you don t yet have a Getting-To-Know-You Email Sequence in place, or if the one you have is not as effective as you d like, write down your action steps for creating and implementing a powerful email sequence and specify by when you will complete each step. Advanced List-Building Strategies: Is an advanced strategy, such as creating a Squeeze Page or forming powerful alliance partnerships in your future? If so, write down your action steps and specify by when you will complete each step. Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 15
List any concerns or challenges you have about growing your email list: Identify specific strategies and actions you will take to overcome any concerns or challenges you may have around list-building: Summarize what you learned and your key take-aways from this class: Coach & Grow R.I.C.H. and Michelle Schubnel 2010. Page 16