The New Year is one of the best times to jump in as a new coach since everyone has new beginnings on their minds. Many people come up with New Year’s resolutions and goals, or just generally have the feeling that they want to start off the year with a fresh start. When you start a wellness coaching practice at this time of year, you become the perfect person to help wellness seekers get their year started on the right foot.
It isn’t the easiest thing in the world to start a wellness coaching practice, though. You’ll need to know a thing or two to help you create programs and offerings that attract your ideal clients. Plus, people that need your support must have access to you and there need to be paths to find you easily.
We’ve put together some of our best tips to help you find the right clients at the time when they need you the most.
New Year’s Tips to Start a Wellness Coaching Practice
1. Create value.
If you’ve got a website, that’s a great start. But too many coaches think that ideal clients will magically find their websites and fill out their contact form. That’s just not how client relationships are built.
To connect with those ideal website visitors by offering as much value as you can to them up front. You need to clearly explain how you can help, give them samples of how their lives can improve, and then built trust through friendly content.
Don’t position yourself as “trying to get clients.” Instead, approach your marketing from a place of wanting to be genuinely helpful to every person who comes across your website. Feel generosity and concern for their well-being, then offer as many tools as you can for free. This helps website visitors feel at home with your values, skills, and personality so they can take the first step toward becoming a client. When you lead with value, you will put together the pieces that create success as a Wellness Professional!
2. Use education instead of marketing.
Holistic-minded coaches often shy away from marketing, saying that it feels “icky” and strange. Thankfully, you don’t have to use old-fashioned sales tactics to convince people to work with you. Instead, you can work hard to offer education that will brighten their lives and make them want to spend more time learning from you. Marketing without the ick!
The best way to educate your potential clients is to provide a supportive platform where they can learn from you before becoming a client. Then they can get a taste of what you’re all about and how you can truly help them. Hosting a workshop in your local community is one of the best ways to educate people in a style that also allows them to get to know you better. You’ll have the opportunity to get into real conversations with people and learn more about your ideal clients.
Using education instead of marketing is a win-win for both you and your ideal clients. It builds your credibility and provides people with tips to support them right away. If you’re a perfect fit, they’ll be excited to consider taking the next step to work with you.
3. Be supportive, not salesy.
After connecting with someone who feels like they might be a great fit for your coaching program or services, be cautious about getting excited and going into “sales mode.” Instead of immediately trying to sell your services, focus instead on being useful and supportive.
You can do this by asking questions to learn more about the person you’re talking with. Find out what their challenges are and what they’ve struggled with and for how long. Ask them what they really want to work on and achieve next in their life. Discover what they think might help them get there. When you turn a sales call into a discovery session, you are going to be 10x more effective.
Check out how to attract more clients with discovery sessions here!
After actively listening and learning more, you can then determine if you truly are the right coach for them. By offering support in this way, you’ll more naturally flow into a conversation about how your services can help them achieve their goals and overcome their struggles. This is a more effective way to make sure they’re your ideal client and to build up their enthusiasm for your services.
4. Reconnect with past clients.
It’s much easier to work with a client that already knows you than it is to find a new one. At this time of year, people are ready to work on their challenges and commit to big changes in their lives. They are willing to work with a coach to take their goals and dreams to the next level.
When you work with past clients, you get to build on past successes. They already know and trust you, and have achieved goals with you. You can help them move to the next level with new goals and even more wellness.
For past clients, you can offer a special coaching session to learn more about their current needs and what they hope to achieve next. They’ll feel cared for and will be more interested in working with someone like you who has expressed support and concern for their well-being.
5. Offer a New Year’s jumpstart program.
With so many people focused on creating big changes in their lives for the new year, it’s an easy sell to offer them exactly what they already want. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just use your current coaching program and tweak it just a bit to focus on helping people achieve their New Year’s goals.
You can change the name of your discovery session and signature program to reflect this theme, while still keeping the key aspects of what you typically do with clients. You can offer a special incentive or pricing to help clients make big changes in the new year. Use this opportunity to show that you understand your clients and are willing to go the extra mile to help them become who they want to become.
If you would like more tips and insights into what it takes to become a successful wellness coach in the new year, check out this article!
