Note: This post will stop you from doing the things that won’t help you get clients, but how to get coaching clients will help if you want to know what to do instead!
I doubt many people have spent as long looking at coaches’ websites or interacting with coaches online as I have over the last twenty years.
Yet, even as the coaching space has become increasingly congested, I still see coaches repeating the same mistakes.
I believe that new coaches look around the internet at what other coaches are doing and then replicate what they see.
They don’t know that the coaches they are modelling don’t have nearly enough clients, and sometimes none at all.
I recently saw a coach request a referral for someone to help them with branding and logo design.
Branding is a huge YES for me; it’s never been more important for coaches.
But I’m talking about the branding that comes from a deep understanding of our client avatar (get The Client Avatar Workbook).
Because it’s that, which helps us define our positioning and craft our messaging.
Both are critically important.
Logos less so.
I’d go as far as to say a logo is an irrelevance for new coaches.
In fact, it’s worse than that. It’s a hindrance.
It makes us think we’re doing something useful or spending our time and money wisely.
But the reality is, we’re not because nobody will ever hire us because of a clever logo.
In this post, I will explain more of the common mistakes that new coaches make in their efforts to get clients.
See if you can guess which ones I made!
20 Things That Won’t Get You Clients (and one that will)
1) Your certifications
Unless you have a relevant, university-acquired qualification, nobody cares except you and your mum.
In an ideal world, people should care about your time and effort to become a great coach.
But if you think we live in an ideal world, turn on the news.
Your ICF accreditation might help you land corporate gigs, but most of the general public has no clue what the ICF even is.
Who’s this muppet doing a YouTube video with all his coaching certificates on the wall behind him in 2009?
Loser.
2) Talking about your coaching modality
Most clients have no fucking clue what co-active coaching is.
Nor do they understand what NLP or EFT are.
All they care about is whether you can help them or not.
Talk about that.
3) Your proprietary coaching framework
I’m sure your “Quantum Success Acceleration Matrix™” is totally different from the “Holistic Empowerment Ecosystem™” the coach down the street is brandishing.
But I have some news for you; the coach down the street doesn’t have any clients either.
Your clients only care about the results you can help them achieve.
You could use fucking witchcraft for all they care.
Don’t use witchcraft.
4) Your passion for helping people
Telling people you’re passionate about helping others is trite, meaningless and vomit-inducing.
It’s a bit like coaches who proudly announce they were put on this earth to coach.
It’s not that this isn’t important that you want to help people, of course it is.
But it’s just that it’s the bare minimum of what clients expect, not something that differentiates you.
Show them how you will help them rather than telling them that you would love to.
5. Your logo
Nobody cares—except maybe your mum.
Weirdly, many coaches think branding won’t help them (it will).
But then they waste time obsessing over the one part of branding that definitely won’t—their logo.
Take mine, affectionately named Barry the Bird.
I love the little guy, but I highly doubt he’s been responsible for landing me a single client in the ten years I’ve had him.
6) Your business cards
For the love of God, it’s 2024, and even your mum doesn’t care.
I haven’t had any business cards printed since 2012, and I can assure you that I am doing okay.
If you’re meeting people in person, set up a QR code and try to look like you bothered joining the 21st century.
7. Your ability to hold space
Holding space is the perfect synonym for all coach-speak.
If you use language on your website that your ideal clients don’t use, then they will always be just ideal clients.
None of them will ever hire you because they have no fucking clue what you’re talking about.
About the only thing the coaches who lead with this have in common is the space they all hold in their calendars.
8. Your deep connection to source energy
Lovely.
Truly.
But you know.
Stop it.
Unless your ideal client loves it, of course (see #6).
9. The ‘As featured in‘ section on your homepage
These may have acted as great social proof in 2012 and earlier, but it’s no longer the case.
Nobody cares about some blog they’ve never heard of once mentioned you.
Plus, they are so ubiquitous on coaching websites that, like banner ads, people are blind to them.
Use that valuable space to start building genuine trust.
I wonder which daft bastard still has this on his website?
10. Your offer of a free tips, advice and updates newsletter
Most people would rather hand over their first-born than their primary email address for nothing in return.
The last time people it was possible to get people to sign up for a newsletter without a lead magnet was when people were stressing over Y2K.
You must have a lead magnet, but not an irrelevant lead magnet….
11. Irrelevant lead magnets
Yes, have a valuable, relevant lead magnet that helps people and starts the trust building process.
But nobody wants the first five chapters of your autobiography.
Not do they want a book on what to do with soap scraps?
Amazingly, my lead magnet is called How to Become a Fully Booked Coach – spooky, eh?
12. Your fancy-pants CRM Software
I’ve known coaches with no clients shell out hundreds of dollars on CRM (customer relationship management) software to help them manage…er…nobody.
Some even signed annual contracts with companies that supply coach-specific CRMs.
There can be value to having a CRM, but I’ve never met a coach yet who needed one to begin with.
I still don’t have one, almost 20 years after starting.
And I have no intention of getting one.
13. Posting motivational quotes
in 2007, I found a guy in Ukraine on oDesk (what is now known as UpWork)
It was in the days before Canva and Pinterest, and I wanted some motivational quotes with my company name, A Daring Adventure, on them.
Unbelievably, in hindsight, I paid him a dollar a pop for crap (the design, not the quote, the quote is still my all-time favourite) like this…..
Designed self development quotes back then were somewhat a rarity on Facebook.
Even so, it was an utter waste of my time and money.
14. Posting the same content across multiple platforms
It’s fine to be on multiple social media platforms if you have lots and lots of time and no clients.
But each platform’s algorithm is different, and each audience is different, so posting the exact same content will not work.
You are far better doing one, maybe two, platforms really well, than just regurgitating the same content across ten platforms to a chorus of crickets.
15. Your picture with Tony Robbins
The guy has been photographed more times than the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and my sister-in-law’s kids combined.
Yes, he’s tall and has very white and very large teeth, but having him tower over you and grinning like a loon will not make people want to hire you.
The same goes for Jack fucking Canfield, or any of the other OGs of self development.
If you have a picture of the Dalai Lama high-fiving you, then that’s fine; go ahead and use it.
16. Your morning routine
Just because you wake up at 4:00 AM to meditate and journal while you sip a flat white before hitting the gym doesn’t mean clients care.
They’re asleep… like normal people.
17. Your “free strategy session“
If the traffic hitting the page offering this is warmed up (meaning they already know and trust you), and you’re an excellent salesperson, knock yourself out.
Otherwise, you’re demonstrating how little you value your own time.
You are also simultaneously price anchoring the prospect to zero.
Check out my post on discovery calls for coaches.
18. Your pets
Nobody cares about your fucking pets.
Unless that is, you make them part of your brand.
Even then, it’s debatable.
So, ya know. Do as I say, not as I do.
19. Your photos from exotic destinations
Unless your job is to help your clients earn lots of money, quit posting pictures of you sipping cocktails whilst sitting in an infinity pool overlooking the ocean.
it looks douchey and not likely to resonate with the average person already stressed by their normal life.
20. Pictures of mountain tops
Seriously, stop it,
If I see one more mountain top on a coaching website, I will hurl myself off one.
I get the symbolism, but nobody will hire you because of your cunning use of cunning imagery.
And the same goes for beaches, sunsets and piles of smooth pebbles balancing on top of each other.
Wrapping up
I bet some of the above are mistakes you are making.
I am guilty of more than half of them at some point, but I learned from experience and missed opportunities.
You can avoid wasting your own time, money and energy by if not avoid these things entirely, then at least recognising that they probably won’t bring you paying clients.
Oh, I almost forgot, what is the one thing that can help?
Hiring your own coach who has done you want to do.
Ya know, me.
