Use Relationship Marketing To Ignite Your Wellness Coaching Business
It’s Time to Overcome Your Wellness Coaching Business Barriers
Wellness coaching begins with understanding the psychology of the decisional ambivalence prospective clients struggle with…
… and ends with you taking action to educate and inform prospective clients in bite sized pieces. Just like you’re on a journey to build your coaching business, your clients need cohesive step-by-step approach to built in trust in you and your offers.
You can attract more prospects and sign more clients in your wellness coaching business when you put psychology and relationships first.
If you’re like most of the health and wellness coaches I’ve worked with over the years, you’re passionate about helping those who desperately need powerful “wellness coaching” solutions.
You would think that the fact that you may have expertise and credentials would inspire them to choose wellness coaching, but research shows the struggle goes much deeper than that.
It’s an interesting pattern I’ve seen in the “wellness coaching” industry for years.
You would think that everyone suffering with anxiety, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, diabetes, weight gain etc. would want to feel better, right?
They do, but gaining entrance into their sacred world is both art and science.
Why Fear Prevents Clients From Choosing “Wellness Coaching”
You would be mistaken if you think they don’t want help.
That’s what your mind tells you when you get tired of working really hard on your business, working a job and caregiving for many.
I get you on a deep level.
When you’ve done everything you know…it takes a bite out of your reserves.
Reality: Clients want to have healthier bodies, minds and spirits, but they have been struggling with the emotional toll of chronic illness and likely depression.
After struggling long-term, they are very hesitant to disturb what little balance they’ve established in their lives. That’s why your wellness coaching strategy might not be breaking through.
That was my story when I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome among other health issues.
I desperately wanted help, but worried that there would be negative consequences that I couldn’t ever right again. I didn’t want to be disabled again.
Not everyone has a crazy mother to drive them crazy enough to find a way, like I did (blessings hidden in the bullcrap!).
It takes a ton of energy to keep going when you’ve been coping with chronic illness, so your client attraction methods need to come in through the back door rather than trying to convince them from your services page or in a short networking visit.
So, while “wellness coaching” solutions might make sense to them, they’re afraid of “rocking the boat,” so they leave and keep looking instead of landing and starting their holistic recovery with you.
Working with doctors & chiropractors to bring in traffic and in my years as a leader in the field of Psychology, I’m keenly aware that most prospective clients aren’t even aware of what causes their suffering.
They’ve been sold on medicating symptoms instead of addressing root causes for decades.
That’s why ‘how and when’ you communicate your wellness coaching offerings has to overcome their unconscious training one message at a time – see below.
Address Underlying Fears To Build Wellness Coaching Credibility
While the right information can be helpful in raising awareness, it doesn’t get up and under the hood of long-term habits.
It takes a different tack to wake prospective clients out of their trances and get them on board with necessary lifestyle changes.
That’s why it’s important to understand Stages of Change from Psychology and how they inform the Buyer’s Journey. In short, new clients seeking services are in the awareness stage of change, so you need to be careful to pace and stage your wellness coaching messages to match their stage of readiness in your marketing campaign.
Simply put:
Prospective clients won’t choose “wellness coaching” as a solution until you address the inner psychology that controls their ability to consider an alternative.
Honor their natural decision-making process, so they’re first motivated on the idea of very simple change BEFORE being introduced to higher end “wellness coaching” solutions.
How do you honor their natural decision-making process, and gain wellness coaching clients in the process?
RECOMMENDATION:
Remove prices and services from your wellness coaching website and create a simple relationship marketing campaign.
I know – I really said that, but it will make sense in a moment.
Slow Down & Gain More Interest In Your Holistic Approaches To Health
So what can you do instead of listing services on your wellness coaching website?
After all, you’ve got coaching solutions and your coaching website is where the rubber meets the road.
However, think about going on a first date and telling a prospective boyfriend or girlfriend EVERYTHING you have to offer up front.
No mystery.
No curiosity evoked.
In fact, whoa, right?
No second date.
That’s what happens when you give all your “wellness coaching” solutions away up front.
It leads prospective clients to think they’ve seen everything, make a snap decision in the 5-7 seconds before they surf to the next option.
Let’s stop that pattern and get prospective clients to WANT to learn more about you and the incredible wealth of knowledge and skills you can bring to their lives.
Introduce Your Services In A Relationship Marketing Campaign
I’d like to see you dramatically improve your rate of re-connecting with prospective clients, so I’m sharing some tools to help you better understand the role of Lead Magnets in relationship marketing.
Relationship marketing is all about having more than one shot at gaining interest and inviting people into your “wellness coaching” services. .
Lead magnets help you gain traction by sharing your coaching solutions AFTER you have an email address.
Rule #1: Educate Prospective Clients About The Origin of Their Problem
Give Free Information in Your Blog. End an informative blog post with a lead magnet – see below.
Then follow up with at least 6-8 emails that gradually lead prospects from learning about the origins to how your wellness coaching solution is better than how they’ve been trying to solve their problem.
Remember: Speak to their underlying fears, uncertainties and objections to doing things differently as respectfully as possible. When you touch their emotions, they’ll feel your authentic presence guiding them.
Not a writer at heart? Don’t worry, just sign up for someone offering similar “wellness coaching” services.
Don’t copy their emails, but use them to stimulate your own email copy. Studies show that 6-8 email touches are essential in deepening their connection to you and sense of trust in your solution.
Check out this post by Hubspot for an excellent Email Writing Guide.
Don’t forget to put a testimonial in emails after the 2nd email. That builds credibility and helps them see how others who weren’t sure were helped by your solutions.
Remember, do your best. Perfect is great, but done is much better!
Join a great email autoresponder company to send your emails.
I use aWeber, because it’s easy to learn and I like easy. http://www.aweber.com/ – Note: I do not make a commission off of this link. I offer it freely so you can hit the ground running.
Rule #2: Use Lead Magnets to Build an Email List For Your “Wellness Coaching” Service
Do you know what really drove sign ups 10 years ago? Newsletters.
Now the sign ups are extremely low and newsletter readers have low conversion rates for “wellness coaching” (unless your specifically targeting the elderly). Most people don’t have time to read them and there’s no urgency or SINGLE call to action.
Choose simple to create but effective lead magnets that make a difference:
- Checklists – Example: 7 Step Checklist for Reducing Adrenal Fatigue Flare-Ups. It’s short, powerful and reaches right into a prospective “wellness coaching” clients health trauma and offers hope.
- Short Guides/Reports – less than 5 pages (with images)
Don’t over do it. Lead magnets are to be short and to the point and just a snippet of what you would offer if they were your paying wellness coaching client.
- List of resources or tools
Ex: Create a list of the resources you use to inform your work – create a short paragraph for each one (that’s related to your wellness coaching steps) and why it’s important to your reader and the link to the site/tool. That’s it – one page and done.
- Cheat Sheets
Example: 5 Simple Steps to Lower Your Blood Pressure Without Expensive Medications
- Audio/Video Download or a Mini-Course
It’s easier than ever to create audio’s and videos. Rather than have the video on yourself, consider using Power Point slides that you flash through when you’re talking.
Want an even easier way to create free videos for your wellness coaching business?
These kind of videos hold attention better because there’s both audio and visual, which helps reinforce the information and your energy! There’s a free service that makes this a snap. Adobe is great. Get started here: Free Simple Video Creator.
Need a little video coaching? No problem. Just click this link to get your copy of my Video Sizzle PDF – scroll down the page to get your free copy of simple strategies to make your videos soar.
Remember: Wellness Coaching Starts Well Before You Enroll Them As A Client
For specific information on how you can personally tailor your wellness coaching messages with your blog posts, contact me here:
To Your Brilliant Success,
Dar
Make Webinar Sales Soar With These 3 Tips
Beth Hayden from Copyblogger struck gold again with her “Boost Webinar Conversions With These 5 Tips.”
Once again, she reminds us of the power of effective sales copy.
While she doesn’t come right out and say it,your webinar sales process starts as soon as prospective client reads your sign-up form.
Step One: Boost Webinar Sales With Better Sign Up Forms
Create a riveting webinar title and convey a promise that speaks to your webinar audience’s biggest and most hopeful outcomes.
“Don’t be afraid to use words like: shocking, amazing, unknown secret etc. All of these words get readers to stop long enough to examine the rest of your webinar copy.”
It’s what jolts them out of online indifference and into a state of curiosity.
List ONLY 3 power-packed benefit bullet points on your sign up page.
Highlight the big benefit webinar takeaways. Focus on the benefit of the benefit.
Don’t focus on sit-ups. Focus on the six-pack abs that will garner lots of positive attention. That’s what they’re really after.
Last but not least, harness the power of a compelling webinar call to action.
Sign up now!
Step Two: High-Connection Makes Webinar Sales Soar
Before you get into the meat and potatoes of your content, make sure you take 5-10 well-crafted minutes to share your story.
Beth Haden’s article: accurately directs you to “describe a situation where you struggled with something and then figured out a way to break through that problem or issue.”
Just don’t leave it at that. Be aware of your audience’s deeper need.
The “story recipe” for soaring webinar sales needs to be peppered with anticipatory moments that seed your audience’s minds with curiosity.
It’s all about peppering your story with elements that draw people toward your coming offer. This move ensures that no one hears tires screeching when you transition to your webinar sales pitch.
When you help webinar participants feel connected to you, they’ll WANT to know how to get more of you in their lives.
Step Three: Earn Your Webinar Sales Pitch
“You can “earn” your selling time by delivering useful, unique, relevant content. Then exude confidence in your offer, and take your time explaining your product or service.” I love how Beth Hayden really laser focuses on what really counts in her Copyblogger article.
Your webinar sets the stage for your offer.
When done well, you “earn” your selling time, because you’ve spent time up front “earning” trust through service.
Nothing is more powerful for building rapid online trust, credibility and sales than client-centered webinars.
Step Four: Embed “Hooks” in The Webinar Sales Funnel and Presentation
When done right, the “hooks” you embed in your webinar sales funnel are the keys to attracting, engaging and keeping webinar participants glued to their computer screens.
“Without hooks, there are no sales. I am not talking about the painful, metal hooks used on a fishing trip. I’m talking about the emotional, personal and highly targeted mental hooks that are going to get into the minds of your audience and stay there.”
Scale My Business laser targets how to employ hooks and 15 other sales elements to frame your “selling time” for maximum impact.
Ready to take your webinar impact and sales to new heights?
Find out how to super-serve your audience and super-size your webinar sales today.
To Your Phenomenal Success,
Tools That Fuel True Client Engagement
Website Strategies for Health and Wellness Businesses
Marketing wellness in addition to all of the work you’re doing in your health and wellness business is a tall order. After all, you probably have a website and give out business cards, right? That helps people find your website and learn about you and the helping and healing services you offer.
Your Website Needs to Embody the Hear of Your Message
What if I told you that there’s a way to market with your website that embodies the heart of your service while also building you a wonderful stream of potential clients checking out what you can offer?
You know what a bigger stream of people can do for you. The more people in the stream, the more bites you’ll have on your fishing line (if you have something their hungry for!). The more opportunity to not only get the word out but also land a few big ones while you’re at it. We’re all fishermen and fisherwomen in life. While we like the hunt of it at times, other times it’s just exhausting.
If you’re in business for yourself, you know the long list of roles you play and gauntlet of tasks you perform everyday to keep all the balls in the air. So, it’s vital to have your website working FOR YOU even when you’re too tired to work!
Your Website is the Hub of All Effective Online and Offline Marketing
Your website can be one of the most critical tools in your marketing belt. Your website serves as a platform to share knowledge and tools with your visitors so that they want to pursue a conversation with you about taking the next step.
What we know about a website that brings in lots of visitors and converts them into paying customers, is that many of them aren’t flashy. In fact, they appear to be a basic website, but are very well planned from their very inception.
The business owners and their web developer carefully research keywords for their website to connect to their clients search for help. They review the words and phrases that are used most often online.
Why?
Even local customers search for help online. 66% of them look for a website as a sign of credibility.
Then they weave the website together from valuable keyword threads into a site that serves people at their model of the world. So the website feels like a safe place to land.
This can feel like a disconnect for wellness professionals who are used to using their own comfort language on their website and other marketing pieces.
That’s exactly how I used to market. It felt as if creating the website was a creative expression of who I was. I shared the many modalities that I was trained in and led from my own perspective. Back then, I just didn’t see how the words I used on my website was a way of honoring the journeys of those I most wanted to serve.
The truth is that most clients don’t search for the name of what you do or your specific training.
Use Client-Backed Keywords on Your Website To Attract Clients on Autopilot
They search using words that express the pain and frustration they’re having in life. For instance, a top keyword phrase is: “how to reduce stress.”
If you can convey that you can help someone reduce stress without going too much into your methods and training, and stay focused on their “lived reality” in your marketing message, you’re more than half-way home. How you use the keywords on your website and where you place them is both an art and a science.
Using the client’s language and writing your website pages as if you were sitting in the room teaching your client face to face will help visitors get off the fence and say yes to exploring a helping relationship with you.
They’ll sense from your words and examples that you really do understand and they’ll feel as if your hand is reach out across the web to them. It won’t matter if they’re a local client you’ll see in your practice or long-distance client. They’ll feel seen and heard. And that’s priceless.
If you’d like to know how you can find and utilize the keywords to make your website a client attraction asset in your business, just leave a comment below. I’d love to hear who you’re serving and how you serve people in your specialty.
To Your Prosperity,
Darlene