Executive Coach

Several posts back I wrote about the way by which the world is trying ever so hard to turn us all into statistics. I promised to write about how to overcome this, how to become someone that people do remember, do recognize and appreciate.

I owe the answer to one of my greatest teachers, with whom I recently had the honor of becoming a business partner  - the legendary Marketing Wizard Jay Abraham. Specifically, to what Jay calls his “Advanced Strategy of Preeminence”. Anyone really wishing to learn Jay’s teaching should go over to his website and download the multitude of free materials that Jay gives away without even asking for an email address. What I write here is merely a sketchy summary of the idea.

The Daley Lama, like many others, teaches the value of service to others. Well, so does Jay. Being of service, giving value is the first step. Be it a customer, a friend or a spouse. Make it about them, not about you. Do for them, not for you. Make their best interests a priority, and give huge and lasting value.

But, say Jay, you should not take it for granted that they appreciate the true value of what you are doing. They may not be fully aware of what you bring to them, or why it is special. It is your job to let them know, to teach them, to educate them about what you are doing for them, what is the value in that, why it is important. It is your responsibility to guide the customer to the best option for him. Sometimes this means making him buy less, or differently. Sometimes it may mean telling him to buy from someone else. Sometimes it may mean telling him to buy more and more often, if only then will he obtain the true and best value – not because you will make more money.

Being preeminent is taking the role of enlightened leadership and becoming a trusted adviser to your client – yes, make all customers into clients. Being preeminent is about revering the client – and yourself. Refuse to sell yourself short. Refuse to undermine your own value. Like a parent, say Jay, you do not give your child, nor your client, everything that he asks for, but rather everything that he needs, that you, as his guide, his protector, knows to be best for him.

And you should accept the fair compensation for your efforts, because you are yourself deserving the  same chance to prosper and continue to give value to your clients for the rest of your mutual connection. A connection, say Jay, that you should strive to make a lifetime one.

And because this will be a life long relationships, because you intend to treat this client as a valued friend, there is no sense in waiting for money to change hands before you start to give value. Take the risk on yourself. Act this way, and your clients will remember you and appreciate you. Give value, and educate the client, and you will own him and the world.

And if this sounds like a great receipt for any type of human relationships, that is because it is. Following this strategy will not only make you successful, it makes for fun living.

I just finished answering a question from one of my newsletter-readers and I realized that it had broader relevance, so I decided to post it, pretty much “as is” for everyone’s benefit. This letter came after previous communication in which the reader mentioned a problem in acquiring coaching clients. Below is what I answered -

Hello again,

If I understood correctly, you are describing a copy-writing problem. That is – you are looking for a way to describe your services in a way that will compel the reader to hire you.

Well, I have some tricks for you that I learned from some of the best copywriters of our times.

The idea behind this is that people don’t care about you, or your coaching. They care about themselves and what will they get out of it. So this is what you need to focus on when you communicate with them.

The best way to do it is to try and understand what your prospect is thinking about his problems and about his situation. And the trick I learned to do it is this (it has 3 parts):

1. Imagine that someone who is the ideal prospect for you, a person that needs exactly want you want to offer, is waiting in line for the train in front of you, and he (or she) is speaking with a friend, unaware that you hear what is said, and describes to the friend his problem, his challenge, the very thing that you can solve for him. What will he say? What words will he use? What emotions will he convey about the situation? Try to actually write this down, a few sentences that will convey exactly how your best prospect may describe his problem.
   This is crucial, because unless you understand what your prospects thinks and feels, how he describes and experience his problem, you can not be effective in communicating to him that you have the solution that he craves. The idea behind my “15 minutes coaching” is similar – you are trying to zero in quickly on the problem, on what he really needs, so that you can offer a quick relief and get him as a client.
2. Now imagine that this prospect is about to embark on the train. The train is already standing in the station and you have about 30 seconds to grab the prospect’s attention and convey to him that you are his salvation, that you have what he wants, that he really need to hear all that you have to say, if you only had time. What can you tell this person, based on what you heard him say, that will make him take your business card and actually call you back once he gets off the train? Remember that you have one shot at this, 30 seconds or less to grab his attention and convey a message that will hit right on his triggers, make him understand that you can help him and that he needs to call you.
3. Now expand on this and try to think that he called on you, and you need to convey, in a phone call or in a meeting, or in a letter (it doesn’t matter – the letter is the same sales message, only printed), the essence of what you offer him.

Remember that in order to sell you need to answer 4 questions, whether he actually asks them or not:

1. What are you offering?
2. What’s in it for me?
3. How much will it cost?
4. Why should I believe you?

Your sales pitch should answer all four questions, and do so clearly, fully and as vividly as you can. And you must always remember – he doesn’t care about you, he doesn’t care about your education or history (aside of what it means as proof for question 4). He only cares about himself and what he will get out of this transaction. So you need to speak about him, not about you. Speak not about the coaching process, but about what results he can expect to get out of it. Don’t elaborate too much about you, and what you did in the past, but rather show him how you can do the same for him, how you can get similar results for him.

And last – use risk reversal tactics. That is – you want the prospect client to know that he is safe, that if he doesn’t get what he wants, he will not be paying for nothing. I always try to agree with the customer on a results-based compensation. If I don’t get him the result, he doesn’t pay me. It may sound scary, but it is great marketing, and it actually focuses the coaching process and helps it to succeed – because it is clear from the start what “success” means.

Good Luck!

Shmaya

Novice coaches, like many self-employed freelancers and small business owners, often make the basic mistake advertising in a newspaper or flyers. Newspaper advertising typically costs thousands of dollars, and distribution of leaflets is also an not particularly cheap. Therefore, in most cases the advertiser is trying to lower the costs and instead of hiring a professional graphic designer and copywriter he tries to concoct the ad text on the word processor, add some public domain clipart and pat himself on the back for being smart. That is, until after publication.

After a day of staring at a silent phone the smart guy starts to wonder if something is wrong. After a week, he excuses himself by thinking that “the ad was not displayed on a good place” without trying to really understand why he failed. He then tag the whole thing a waste of time and money, and moves on.

What most advertisers do not realize is that advertisement is no more than “salesmanship in print”. Advertising is designed to increase sales. Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, but always the goal is increased sales. So before starting in this direction, it is better to check whether the basic conditions for sale were met:

Is it clear who is the prospect at which the advertising is aimed? Are such prospects exposed to the advertising media that you’ve chosen? Will the wording of the add cause the prospect to read it?

Is the proposal clear? Does it answer the prospect’s needs and wants? Is the value for the client real and clearly articulated? If the customer was standing in front of you and you talked to him instead will he be convinced?

What objections the customer may raise to you? Is your advertising built to neutralize them?

What action you want the customers to take after being exposed to the ad? Buy? Ring? Go to your website? Physically come to meet you?
Does the advertisement contain a clear and call to the customer to take this action?

If the client takes the action will he find himself on a planned easy path leading to purchase? Does the voice mail really work? Are messages logged and someone gets back to the customer? Does the online purchasing form works?

Have a sufficiently large sample been tested and does the results prove that what you think about the answers to previous questions is true? Were the experiment results analyzed and properly understood, and the campaign repaired and tested again before launching the full priced campaign?

If you do not have good answers to these questions, do not try to advertise. It is a pity to waste your hard-earned money. The less sure you are about the answers, the more important it is for you to employ good professionals who could ask you the right questions and not just take your money for an elegant but useless graphic design.

I happen to be quite good at assimilating information into knowledge, so I do well with books and online courses. It allows me to follow the teachings of many successful people that I would never have had a chance to meet in person. I am grateful to all of them for their continued contribution to my life and success.

Most of those I learned from I no longer follow. I mastered whatever they had to offer, and moved on. But a few of them are so prolific, so far reaching, so rewarding, that I keep coming back for more. Indeed, I often have to stop myself from purchasing more and more information that I couldn’t possibly use right now, and try to pace myself.

One of those unique teachers is Mark Joiner. Mark is sometimes labeled as an internet-marketer, and a very successful one he is, but in truth he is much more than that. He is an original thinker. He takes the “everybody knows it” and critically dismantle whatever it is down to it’s core, exposing false beliefs and unfounded assumptions along the way. He then identifies the true principles that govern the situation, and re-assemble those into a neat, orderly, simply understood knowledge that anyone can easily learn and apply.

Tested truth and simplicity appears to me to be the core strengths of Mark’s teachings. Indeed, he labeled his core system “Simpleology”. I use it often, and am always happy to get more of Mark’s stuff on the (frequent) occasions when he releases new material.

Indeed, one of the things Mark teaches is the importance of giving value to your customers, thus activating the law of reciprocity. The same one that makes me want to tell you about Mark’s latest release, not because it benefits me in any way, but to honor our “Gentleperson’s Agreement” .

This time around, it is Simpleology 202 – The Simple Science of Real Money & Financial Stability. I haven’t had a chance to go through it yet, but I bet it is going to be another Joiner Blockbuster. And the cool thing is – you can get it for FREE! Just click this link and go there.

If you already know Mark, you are sure to go there and grab it. And if you don’t – I envy you the joy of first sight when you get your free Simpleogy account and realize what wealth of useful information and tools awaits you.

Shmaya

P.S. – if the link above doesn’t work, just go to Simpeology.com

Once upon a time people lived in a tribal society, in small villages, tiny towns where everybody knew everybody. It wasn’t always ideal, but it did have one clear advantage; every person was an entity, someone. The neighbors knew him by name, knew who he or she is, knew something about the family, the history of that person. Every human was unique, special in a unique way.

Today, most of us live in huge cities where one building may hold more people than an entire town, and we know practically nothing of our neighbors. We mostly have no idea what is the name of the supermarket worker, who was the guy that fixed our flat tier for us, or what is special about the taxi driver that took us home yesterday. Certain researchers found that most people are incapable of really knowing more than a few hundred people, and in essence can not deal with large numbers other than as abstracts. Maybe this fact is at the basis of the social pressure applied on all of us in modern society to become a statistical datum; a ‘function’ rater than a person; a ‘customer’ rather than ‘Irene Robinson from 4122 North Pine Drive, which happens to be a wizard in dealing with youth suffering from social difficulties’; a ‘salesperson’ rather than ‘Joseph Gordon, the one guy that manages to convince every customer that he really needs the 30% more expensive option, and still come back for upgrades twice a year’. In short, the world is trying to make each of us into a commodity.

And when it does, we notice, and it makes us feel awful. We hate being just ‘another cog in the wheel’. We hurt when the customers shows us no appreciation and won’t hesitate to buy from someone else. We feel bad thinking that there is nothing special about us, that we are easily replaceable, that no one would notice if we disappear and someone else will take our place. Look around you and you will see the desperate attempts of so many to be someone, to be unique, even if in a negative way, just not be like everyone else. From tongue-pierced teenagers to provocative politicians, the world is filled with human peacocks, wildly waving their synthetic feathers in hope that the attention they get will fill the void inside them.

Many a coaching client feels the same; unappreciated by their employer, unappreciated by their customers, or even by their families. Even in my executive coaching I often come across such managers. To their workers, they appear authoritative, significant and dominant. To themselves, they are often perceived as having little choice, being pressured from both up and down. They are often frustrated from their inability to pursue an independent policy or lead their areas of responsibility according to their personal values and beliefs. Many are desperate for support, for some way to succeed in their own way, rather than according to what a higher boss dictates. Many others are so captive in these feelings that they forget to check and realize that they generate the same feelings in their underlings, their customers or their family members.

This is why I believe that one of the most important things that a coach can do for his client is to help him identify his unique value, and to fully and daily express his unique personality; to help the client turn from ‘just another someone’ to ‘a very special and unique individual’.

How to stop being a statistical insignificance and become a person? How to become the one that his name is known, that his contribution is recognized, that is the subject of personal appreciation, affection and loyalty?

Of this, in the next post.

Really – is it easy for your prospect to make business and become a customer?

This question came up very strongly to me recently, when I was wrestling through the bureaucracies of several intertwined financial institutes involved on enabling online credit payments on my sites. Israel, where I live, is definitely not the best place in the world to go for good service. I always knew it, but it became apparent when I started working with US based companies, and felt the difference.

I think that it is very important to try and make it easy for your prospect to make business with you. You make more money this way, and also gain better advocates in the market and a kind of dignity that comes from having people praise you for something you strived to achieve. I tried to explain this to some of my colleagues, and I think it all boils down to one principle:

What I am about to say is a generality, and therefore inaccurate, but it is my impression.

In Israel, whenever I have a difficulty, most vendors treat my problem as just that – MY problem, that they are willing to help me with. Some more than others, but still, this is my problem. The instruction manuals, the websites, the procedures, appear to be aimed at what is convenient for the vendor’s system.

Whenever I raise a question, an issue or a complaint with a US company, they treat it like it is THEIR problem. They take responsibility for my problem, even when they really are not responsible for it in any way, even if it was just my misunderstanding of even my misguided action that put me where I am. Israeli companies give me what they owe me, sometimes not even that. US companies often gives me more than they have to, and they make it easy to do business with them.

I find this really strange, since on a one-to-one basis, US employees are usually not encouraged to show initiative, so this agility is built into the procedures. In Israel, workers often deviate from the procedure based upon their own judgment, and it will often be acceptable, even expected that they do so (i.e. – in any unforeseen circumstances). Yet this rigid American system produces better response to my unique needs than the loose Israeli one.

So my take is this – review what you are doing, and make sure that you design your business to be ideal from the perspective of your customer. Your products and services, your support systems, the information package, everything. Make it easy to do business with you.

Success!

Shmaya

Happy 2010! May it be a successful year for you and all those you care for.

For me, this year is starting with a wonderful gift; My new book “Rapid Executive Coaching” is finally out in the stores.

What is Rapid Executive Coaching? It is a novel approach based upon the understanding that in today’s market, our coaching clients appreciate fast results more than anything. Coaching is already a faster method then most, yet it can be made faster still. As a coach, I strived to meet the same challenge that, as a manager, I myself set to other consultants: “How fast can I have results?”

Well, I believe that I do have a proper answer now. Together with my friend and teacher, Raymond Katz, the developer of the “Results-Focused Coaching” method, I developed a new approach that will allow a client go into the meeting room with his coach in the morning, and come out at the end of the day with a clear understanding of his situation, his strategic objectives, his critical outputs, a definition of his most important goal and a clear path by which to achieve it. One day coaching is finally here. This is “Rapid Executive Coaching”.

Regrettably, this book is only available in Hebrew at this time. But I already started to translate it, and I hope to have it ready in English in 3-4 months. Stay tuned to this Blog, and you will be the first to know when this useful tool becomes available to you.

My 2010 started with a bang. I hope yours will be just as exciting!

Success!

Shmaya

Imagine yourself standing on a river bank. Your prospect is on the opposite bank. If you can make him cross over to your side, he will buy your coaching service (or your product), But the river is wide and noisy; how will you make him notice you? How will you make him cross over?

To capture the prospect attention, we put up signs, and upload WebPages and posts and whatever. Let’s assume we got his attention and he noticed our wonderful offer. A whole river of doubts is still between you. You must help the prospect cross over to win his money.

It is a classic beginner’s mistake to assume that a great offer is sufficient to get the customer to buy. But what happens when the prospect review’s the offer, and doesn’t fall forward with his wallet open? They are dumbstruck. They are totally baffled, and all they manage is to stand there making fish sounds. Why does this happen?

Sometimes, the offer is really not that great, or it may be the wrong prospect. Often the problem is that the prospect was left stranded on the other side of the river of doubt.

Purchasing is emotional. Research shows that decisions originate at the deeper, emotional parts of the brain. Only after the decision falls is the matter transferred to the frontal lobe for rational analysis. And when you consider emotions, you must take the Amygdale into account. The Amygdale is a tiny part deep in our brain, and it is tasked with identifying risks and dangers. Any new situation may pose some level of danger. The Amygdale reviews it first. Only if it perceives that there is no danger will it transfer the matter to the frontal lobe for rational processing. This is why fear of exams is so disabling. We can’t seem to think straight, because as long as out Amygdale stresses about the test, it will not allow the rational brain to take command and display all our hard earned knowledge. We must first reduce the level of apprehension. Only then will we be able to focus on the exam itself.

When you are offering someone a 5000$ coaching program, his Amygdale is immediately active; There is definitely a risk here. This is a lot of money. Will you be worth it? What will the I need to give up to raise this sum? Will I not come through a looser?

As long as the prospect’s Amygdale is in command, your well phrased rational for buying your services is wasted. There is not point in giving more data about the benefits, and a 10% price reduction will not do the trick. Your prospect isn’t there yet. He isn’t in the buying mode yet. He is still beyond the river of doubt. The thing to do now is to reduce the level of perceived risk, to bring up confidence; only when the prospect feels secure enough will he be able to really consider your offer.

So, what will help?
In the physical world it may be a warm smile and soft colors. It may be a reassuring voice and a firm handshake. It may be an atmosphere of competence and success, or the fact that the prospect knows you have been doing business for 30 years. The best is always a good word from a trusted authority. In some cases, people trust their friends so much they will buy something just on their say-so, without even checking the price.

Over the internet you need to use similar approaches as much as you can. Make your website appear trustworthy. Show you are a real person – add a good photograph and contact details. Better yet – put up a video of yourself. Add recommendation from past clients, add success stories and “as seen on TV”. Give a lot of information. If possible, allow the prospect a free trial, and of course, a clad-iron money-back guarantee. Every such item is another stepping stone thrown into the river of doubt. Throw in enough of those, and the prospect will be able to cross over and become a client.

I bet you didn’t even know that you are in the business of building bridges…

To your success!

Shmaya

Most people do not network well, me included (though I am trying to improve). For me, the difficult part was always about “what is this networking for, really?”

Everyone knows that you do not go out and try to recruit people when you need something. It doesn’t work like that. The “How-do-you-do-I-need-something-from-you” approach is doomed to failure. You interact, build relationship, trust. Then maybe you can ask for things.

But if you don’t ask for anything at the beginning, what is the point of becoming connected? I always felt like, if the person would ask me “why do you wish to get connected?” I wouldn’t have a good answer. “I’m not asking you for anything” isn’t really a reason to communicate.

Last week I attended a lecture about networking, and it finally set my mind straight. The only thing to do when networking is to seek out what this person needs, and to do your best to fulfill this need.

It is a paradigm shift. Not only “don’t ask for anything at first”. It goes beyond that. It goes into giving, serving, spreading value, without calculations or book-keeping about who may or may not have returned a favor.

Brilliant. This is something I can understand. This makes sense. I want to know you, because I want to help you. And help means not only give what I have, it means giving the person what he needs. Doing so often involves other parts of your network, thus connecting people, making your net stronger, more active, better. “What can I do for you?” – great way to network.

Networking. Not what I thought.

And you?

Hi – I hope you get to read this post in time.
Look, this may sound a little odd to you at first, but please bear with
me a little and read this through OK? This is important.

Most people read this blog because they are interested in coaching, and probably in coaching as a business, as a way to make a living.

So am I. This is why I have been studying Internet Marketing
a lot. I probably spent over 2000$ in the last 3 months alone on
information products and courses.

And everywhere I go, whichever marketer I learn from, they all
speak with total admiration of two people : Jay Abraham and Rick Schefren.
They appear to be The Top Guys everyone is looking up to. The Gurus. I mean – the stories are that they make millions of dollars online. People look up to them as if they were Half Gods of business or something.

Now I think I understand WHY.

These two, they managed to convince over 50 (!) top business
Leaders: Marketers, Businessman, even Coaching Gurus
Like STEFAN COVEY! (7 Habits of Highly Effective People – still
The best book about coaching, ever) – to participate in
A 6 weeks series of seminars where they will each share
his best strategies for success.

And it is FOR FREE! Jay Abraham and Rick Schefren
Are inviting me, you, anyone - to listen in for free.

People like us (well, I like me, really – I don’t know who you are) – we will never have a chance to Listen to these guys like that. We are talking about people that charge 2000-5000$/hr for their time, if you can even Get them to consider coaching you at all…and now
We have a chance to listen to each of them gives his best ideas to us – at no cost at all.

You know what – Just read on what the invitation say –
They probably say it better than I do.

Rick Schefren:
“…Yeah, you read that right. More than 50 of the
world’s most brilliant business and marketing
minds. All in one place. And all ready to help you
achieve the success of your dreams.

For six unforgettable weeks, you’ll sit at the
feet of the masters in a series of intimate panel
settings, listening intently as they reveal their
most closely hidden secrets for building a mega-
profitable business.

Seriously–this “Group Think Tank” process has the
capability to increase your profits by up to
1,000%–or more–before the year is over.

And the best part about it? The COST.

Because, well….there is none.

That’s right–you can get six weeks of in-depth
mastermind training from the foremost experts on
marketing and business building…for no charge.
…”

But you gotta hurry. Rich and Jay are only
allowing a certain number of people inside. And
since the entire industry is buzzing about this,
those spots will fill up in a heartbeat.

So go here NOW and grab yours.

I’ll see you there… I’m not going to miss this for the world.

Shmaya

P.S – Please Please forward this out to anyone you think may
find it interesting. This is too good a chance for anyone to miss.