Coaching Business Ecosystem Playshop
Hi there! Coach Dave here with you.
On 2020-03-26 I led a 2-hour virtual playshop with a lively group of CoachVille members on how to grow your coaching business ecosystem.
We didn’t get through the entire model during the interactive playshop so I recorded a few parts after the event.
Two uniquely valuable aspects of this recording are:
a) It is conversational so it draws you in.
b) I talk through examples of each section with different coaches so you get a personal example.
This page contains the playbook, audio and complete transcript of the event.
Playshop Outline
1) Co-create a safe space for play
2) Your Coaching Business is performance art
3) Co-create Your Business Ecosystem
4) Your Performance – Possibility GAP = the core of your coaching business
5) Your Coaching Method
6) Your Branding and Messaging
7) Your Marketing Method (recorded after the event)
8) Your Sales Method (recorded after the event)
9) Your Player and Partner Magnets (recorded after the event)
10) Debrief
The Playbook
Here is the Audio
In the upper right is a button where you can download the audio if you want to listen and walk!
BIG Freedom Membership
A quick promotion… 😉
The membership is a 6-month program where you will create your ecosystem – as well as your playfulness and energy alignment – in a super fun step-by-step co-creative environment. The group calls will be dynamic and energizing like you hear on this playshop!
Details about the membership here!
Your Business Ecosystem Playshop Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
coaching, people, coach, ecosystem, create, play, conversation, call, share, business, marketing, messaging, big, idea, method, group, branding, speak, nourished, write
SPEAKERS
Michael Stammer, Nancy Miller, Group, Evelyn, Henry Daas, Rich, Deborah Benoliel, Mary McClements, David Buck
Welcome
David Buck 00:02
All right, hello to you. So great to have you here. coach Dave here with you. And I’m excited to host a business ecosystem playshop and to CO-create with you today. We are going to have a lot of interesting conversations. And, really, I would say plant some seeds, have some Imagineering and really start to create a vision for a new version of your coaching business. And that could be a new version that’s a little different than something that’s already awesome. Or maybe it’s a total refresh. Or maybe you’re just starting out. All scenarios are welcome.
A Coaching Business is Performance Art
The structure of this and the kinds of conversations we’ll have will be awesome for wherever you’re coming into this; As an artist in creating a new version or upleveling your art in some way. And that’s a really big point, just as a precursor into this conversation, I am really honed in on this notion that coaching is performance art. It’s a co-creative act between you and your players. Currently many of the ideas for business in the field of coaching have come from industrial age concepts; you know, like efficiency and productivity are how to be successful in business. And many of those ways don’t fit well for a coaching business because a coaching business is not industrial, it’s not inherently efficient. It’s co creative. It’s much more like being a performance artist. That’s what being in business as a coach is about. It’s about creating your music is one part of it, finding your audience is another part becoming a great performer is another aspect. This is a more accurate way to describe being a professional coach in business than the, you know, industrial models that we all grew up with.
So we need that practice thinking and seeing in this new way. And so this is one aspect of this conversation that we’ll have is to think: alright, what is my art? So you think of your business as performance art. And then we add this notion that we’re calling a business ecosystem. This would be, you know, metaphorically speaking, creating your art and, and planning a show, right? So, whatever form or art you resonate with, like a musical performer, you create some songs and, and put together a show for your audience and find your audience and invite them to the show. You know, that would be a good way of thinking. And so what we’re, going to talk about today is creating of your art and refining it, refreshing it and how to find your audience. And I’m calling this your business ecosystem just to give it a feeling of a lightness, and an feeling of, you know, there are many parts, and they have to play together; they synergize they harmonize.
David Buck 04:15
Right. So maybe I am mixing metaphors of an ecosystem creating a performance or maybe business orchestration? I don’t know. But anyway, hopefully you get the idea you can play along in this conversation.
So what we’re doing today is we’re going to walk through some of these ideas, and some of these different elements of a thriving ecosystem. This is your art. And we’re going to just play with some of these ideas and have you create a vision of your next version, your next vision of your art.
A Warm up for BIG Freedom Membership
And then along with that, this is this is a warm up if you want to participate with us in the BIG Freedom, membership. It will run in a six month cycle. So the idea is I’ll be hosting something like this every couple of months and inviting people to join and then play with us for six months to actually create what you envision in this in this playshop. So it will be really fun and you can do that if you like but even if you don’t, you can still have an awesome experience with us now in creating your vision and then playing with it from this day forward.
Three Elements:
1) Ecosystem Creating 2) Play Together 3) Energy Alignment
Okay, there’s actually three different core elements of this big freedom idea, one is this idea of ecosystem that we’re about to play with today? A second idea is, is this going deeper into this idea of playing together. And so playing together might be more like the performance side, like so you wrote, you’re writing songs and you’re putting shows together. And then there’s also a way of being the performer and honing your performance skills. So that would be the playing together part. And then there’s the underlying energy side, which is important to any endeavor. So the third element is called playing with your energy alignment, and creating alignment between who you are and who you need to become, and your dream and your vision. And then aligning your conscious mind your non conscious your beliefs, your values, your environment. All of these things have to get into an alignment and when they do, then things start to happen much easier and faster and in the flow. So I’m going to be hosting three of these conversations one are happening now about the ecosystem. One is going to be about the performance and playing side. And then the third is about the energy. So that’s just gives you the context.
Okay, so we have an amazing group of coaches here today. And I’m very excited to be with you. And we’ll do this as we do all Coachville gatherings, a combination of small group and big group. So what we’re going to do next is we’re going to jump into small groups and have a just a little conversation with your group to get to know each other a little bit. And to be cognizant, or appropriate to the situation that we are in and this global pandemic. It’s a very interesting time. That’s one way of saying it. This is a very interesting topic. And so we are going to just have a quick conversation in the small group. I’m also just going to start us off in a moment with a short visualization so we can gather our energy and our presence to really be here today. And then we’ll, we’ll jump in, in this place up, have a lot of fun together.
Safe Space Visualization
Okay, so with all that, if you are in a safe space where you can close your eyes, that would be great. If you’re not in a safe space where you can close your eyes then that is okay, you can leave your eyes open. In either case, please just take a few deep breaths and bring yourself present to this conversation.
David Buck 09:04
Okay, and our intention today is to co create a safe space for playing safe space of judgment free awareness and presence. A space where we can feel safe to share our dreams and our fears. a safe space where we can activate the ancient power phrase “Abera Ca Dabera” – I create as I speak. I create as I speak. And together by providing each other with this safe space of listening, each of us has an opportunity to speak our imagination to speak a new version of our business to speak a new version of ourselves. And to remember that the world is a playground. And we are here to play.
Alright, thank you for doing that with me. You can open your eyes if you have them closed.
David Buck 10:30
Alright, so I’m going to get it organized into small groups. And in the small group, I would like you to say hello, you’ll be with this group throughout the event. So, we will be in this particular kind conversation for about another hour and 40 minutes. And we’ll go through a series of conversations, big group and small group.
What is your growth opportunity regarding the global pandemic situation?
So within your small group now just say hello to your group, introduce yourself. And what I would like to you to share with your group just to create a focus for today is: Whatever you are experiencing in your world, and wherever you are in the world as it relates to the global situation. But you’re all in your own unique version of this situation. How would you describe the growth opportunity that you have right now. What is your growth opportunity, and it could be related to the situation or how you’re relating to it or your personal life or your business life, whatever feels right for you to share about? What do you see as the growth opportunity For you, right now.
David Buck 12:10
All right folks, we’re gonna call a little timeout here. Hold on. Okay, great conversations happening all around the room. Let’s take a moment next and have a few people share if you’d be willing to share the short version of your growth opportunity in a phrase or two. So if you’d be willing to share, please raise your hand. Just give us what is your growth opportunity right now? with yourself your business your situation. All right, Henry, so great to have you here. Go for it. I see you upgraded your hand to a three.
Henry Daas 12:56
Well, I know it’s been so long since I’ve going on with the coach Dave. I’m sorry, I’m a slacker. I forgot the priority levels. So yes, I raised it to a 3. So obviously, there are abundant opportunities. You know, as a business coach, clearly, lots of lots of people are very concerned about their businesses. So there’s huge growth opportunities in that arena. And I’ve also started recently a course and I wrote a book on Financial Intelligence and just launched my financial course in February, just as just before the sky was falling. I think there will be huge growth opportunity because let’s face it money if it wasn’t on everybody’s mind before, it really is now. So now that people have time on their hands and are and are hunkered down like myself, I’ve been just sending the book out to free to people and saying, now you got time to read, so read. It might help you Yes, outside. And it’s bittersweet because it is a crisis and people’s lives are in jeopardy. So I don’t want to be cavalier and say, Oh, this this crisis is a is a wonderful marketing opportunity. I think that’s a little glib even for me. {Yeah}, I want to keep that in mind.
David Buck 14:20
I appreciate that. I think we’re all dancing in that space of how to be, you know, confident in what we have to offer, especially as Life Coaches, I truly believe our time is now and in the coming months after this global pandemic is going to have a lot of people wanting to look at life in a new way and approach their life in a more fulfilling manner; more purposeful. So our time is now and it’s a wave that’s going to be coming. And we also want to be appropriate to the situation. So we’re all dancing in that space.
Henry Daas 14:56
Yeah. One other note. I’ve just recently also decided that I’m going to offer my business coaching for free to, you know, sort of some select groups that I work with at least until the crisis pass sort of a philanthropic twist on it just to just to help people out.
David Buck 15:18
Sure. Great. Very generous. Well done. Thank you, Henry. Okay, so growth opportunity. Let’s get a few more Nancy, go for it.
Nancy Miller 15:29
Hi, um, you know, I just want to share that I was thinking this morning, that I can’t think of a time where the whole world has been concerned about the same thing really have to be on the same page more or less, doing some of the same things as being more closed in more concerned about the world without about spreading rumors in different ways. So I think that’s an Interesting thing going on right now, if we could is about being one world in this, you know, we’ve traveled all over which has spread things but maybe not felt one with the people even that we traveled to see. So I think that’s interesting. And we have a world community that we can reach out to, which is also interesting. So as an author and coach, I’m just, you know, my business has gotten slower. I think there are new ways to show ourselves to reach out and connect. So I’ve been thinking about that and really looking for being motivated really to get on with some more writing articles of encouragement and information and sharing more of what I do in a free ebook and coaching a limited amount and finding more ways to connect online with writing groups and LinkedIn and connecting with people that might be…
David Buck 17:06
Hold on one second one second so those are great actions. Love those. But what is the growth? Is it growth just to do new things that you haven’t done before? Or do them with more enthusiasm or more clarity what’s the actual growth opportunity
Nancy Miller 17:23
With more enthusiasm, motivation and time. I don’t know how to get away when you’re going here and doing this and so maybe more focus on {okay.} I need to do. Okay, that was a good question. So more focus. I’m gonna write that down.
David Buck 17:47 (What growth is)
Right, very well done. Thank you Nancy that is Very good. Yeah. So there’s clearly lots to do, and lots that can be done, but growth means you’re doing something new. doing it in a new way. Doing it with a new approach, doing it with something that’s a growth curve for you. So it could be more vulnerability, more confidence more. What right what’s the growth? So that’s, that’s, that’s good. Awesome. Nancy, thank you for playing with me there. That’s excellent. I have someone dialed in from 909. Who is this?
Evelyn 18:25
This is Evelyn. {Hi, Evelyn.} Hi. It’s been a while since I’ve been with Coachville. But I {great to have you back.} Yeah, me too. Me too. I think now is time to reassess. And, you know, I think stop and smell the roses and declutter and start putting systems in place now and find out what’s working, what’s not working as an author, speaker and coach, but I think my growth opportunities to review my information of course from CoachVille, but I put together maybe a few speeches like, you know, 15 minutes, is what I get out there on different topics, and show them their emotional relationships that they have with their stuff. And that’s why they procrastinate and how to get out of that deep hole they dug into, and spending more time looking for stuff instead of, you know, finding it and doing that task.
David Buck 19:25
Nice. Thank you. Well done. I think that’s a great idea. So one growth idea there, that Evelyn is talking about is creation, create some new things for people in this time. And share them more boldly, perhaps more broadly, or with more focus. For some people growth means being more focused and specific; for some people growth means bigger audience, bigger, broader expression. It growth could be either one, right? It’s not like there’s only one way to grow. Growth doesn’t always mean bigger; growth can mean tighter focus. It depends on you. All I’m encouraging everyone to do is look within, to what you feel this moment is calling for calling forth from you. What is your growth, opportunity, and then step into it. Okay, well done. Thanks, everyone who shared thanks, everyone who’s got your hand up.
We’re going to move on to our next conversation. As we move along here, let me do a quick poll. I would love to just get a read on the group. Could you please press a five if you have the PDF playbook, and press one if you do not have the PDF playbook? Either one is okay. I just want to get a sense of who Who wants what I did send it out to the coachville member news. And also to the CoachVille center for coaching Mastery Connect group is a link to the PDF. So if you can get into your email while we’re talking here, you can get access to that. It’s not essential. I’m going to talk through everything but there’s some visuals that might be might be valuable for you. Okay, so it’s about 50/50.
What an Ecosystem is…
David Buck 21:29
It’s not “just one thing”
Okay, excellent. Great. All right. So let’s talk about this. So the idea of this gathering is this ecosystem and starting to think about how your business requires many- many isn’t the right word- but a number of elements to all be playing well together. And I think that’s an important concept because oftentimes, when we are marketed to, about, you know, for different programs, there’s always the gist of it is like something to the effect of: what you just have to do this one thing and when you just do this one thing, all of a sudden you’re going to have unlimited high paying clients pounding on your door. And I think that’s a little bit troublesome because then it gets everyone thinking, Oh, am I missing out on the one thing? What’s the one thing? Dang, I need to find out the one thing and that’s maybe why people market it that way. It’s like: “Oh, I just need this one thing.” But it also creates this false narrative that if you just do the one thing, it’s all gonna happen and that’s just usually not the case and less for you. You’ve got everything and only one thing missing but that’s not usually the case. Usually, it we need a lot of things to be playing together in order for our businesses to thrive.
So one of the big ideas in this BIG Freedom group is that over the period of six months, we’re going to step by step co create all of the necessary things. And then if you’ve got all of the necessary things, there’s many additional things that can really help that you can put your attention on creating. So that over time, your whole ecosystem keeps evolving and evolving with you and keeps getting more finely tuned both to you and who you are becoming because you’re growing. Your business elements need to grow. But also your audience can evolve over time you need to create different things for your audience as your audience evolves. And that goes along with this idea that business’s performance art. You may find new audiences over time, your voice may change over time. And so that’s the idea of the ecosystems, you keep growing, keep growing.
Draw Your Ecosystem on the Playbook Page
Okay, so what I’d like you to do next is we’re going to take a few minutes, and I want you to if you have the playbook, there’s a page six that says, What’s in your ecosystem. If you don’t have the playbook, it’s okay if you get a piece of paper and something to write with, you can do this exercise just fine. And what I’d like you to do is just take a few minutes and either write words or pictures. When you imagine your ecosystem, what are all the what are the main elements that come to mind? You know, if you think metaphorically, if you think of the ecosystem of the earth, you know, there’s trees, there’s sun, there’s the water, there’s animals. Animals, eat the plant, see how animals breathe, the air, the sun feeds, the plants. There’s all these different things that are co creating this environment together. So I’d like you to think of what are what are the elements that you’ve got? You’ve got clients, you’ve got marketing, you’ve got, you know, how you’re coaching, there’s all sorts of things. So I don’t want to give it all away. So just think, and play with that idea. So on a piece of paper, like I said, in words or pictures, I’m going to give you two minutes, just draw it out, draw out your what you imagine is in your ecosystem for your business. All right, go for it.
David Buck 26:32
Keep going, keep drawing. Again, it can be words it can be pictures, what is your ecosystem of your business? And again, this is fun this is play so think playfully. All right, one more minute. If you’re a little bit stumped by the idea, don’t worry. We’re going to be talking about it together in a moment.
David Buck 27:48
Okay, good, a little moment of creation. So if you have an insight or a question or anything that came to you trying to think of your business ecosystem, please raise your hand. Maybe you had a cool idea or something came to you. I’ll share an example that came up the last time I did this exercise, So Kerri is great coach. She was sharing how, you know, she, she loves to do coaching within organizations where there’s an opportunity to do a big culture shift. Okay. And when she was originally thinking this, she was thinking, Oh, I need to be around companies that have great cultures. But as she was looking at this from an ecosystem perspective, it occurred to her: No, that’s actually not what she needs. It’s companies that have great cultures that don’t need her work. See needs to be around companies that have bad cultures. So it’s sort of quirky, to think Oh, I need to be around companies that have cultures that are not that good for people. And where there are enough people in there that really want to change that. Then I get called upon. So if you think about the kinds of players you coach, what are the conditions that create someone that would really want to coach with you? So that’s just a concept to think about ecosystem in a different way. Okay, so let’s get a few ideas together in the big group. Deborah, go ahead.
Deborah Benoliel 29:37
Yes, thank you, coach Dave. I have five little drawings in my in my playbook right now. That I drew are is cool. One of my dream is to introduce coaching within the school system. So I have access to different schools with my two daughters and all the friends around So I’m thinking that when I’m going to be ready, I could reach out to the director of the schools and try to see how we can partner together so that they could introduce coaching. That is number one. Number two, I drew something that looks like wellness studio here in Miami, there’s {I would love to see your picture of a wellness studio. That sounds awesome.}
Deborah Benoliel 30:28
So the idea is for me to reach out to all these different wellness to do yoga, etc, to see how I could partner with them. And the third one that I drew is, it looks like it’s basically a venue so that I could offer the slide I could do speaking engagements in these venues. I only have one year old, but I could consider other venues to do that. The fourth is social media platforms. I drew the icons of Facebook and Instagram so that I could create more visibility for myself. And the last one is a flag of a French flag so that I could remember that I could coach in French as well as in Spanish to expand and see how I could offer my coaching services to more than one speaking language.
David Buck 31:23
Well done. Awesome, Deborah, that’s highly creative. I love it. You did that exercise Very well. Well done.
David Buck 31:32
All right. Someone dialed in from 646 Maybe had your hand up inadvertently. All right. elka Go ahead. Okay. {No, I clicked one earlier because you didn’t connect to the group.} Haha, okay. You should be connected to the group now. All right, well, good. Anyone else? Anyone else have a question or an idea to share? Okay, Rich Go for it.
Rich 32:18
You just had one little thing that I thought might be interesting for folks to think about what kind of came to me, you know, the standard ones, you know, online presence, you know, Presence and who’s helping me market myself who’s promoting me, those kinds of things that I kind of, you know, not a lot of excitement around those. But something kind of excited me a little bit was this idea of creating a community out of which (Nice} people may or may not, you know, hire me, but I love the idea of creating a community and that would be something that nourishes me as well as anyone who comes with me. Whether they’re working with me or not, and just having that community be something that feeds the other stuff.
David Buck 33:07
Nice! okay, that’s really good Rich because you said the operative word which is: FEEDS. Right! In an ecosystem there’s feeding; there’s nourishment that it comes as a natural part of the process. So this is a beautiful idea. So, you put your energy into a community, creating a community of people that care about something similar, or want to learn about something similar. And then by nourishing that community, certain people in that community then sort of bubble up to 1-1 coaching with you, and then that nourishes your financial situation, and it becomes this symbiotic relationship. And then The people who coach with you can become the superstars in the group and that that inspires others to want coaching. And it a mutually beneficial ecosystem. And that’s exactly the idea that you want to think of. So how do you create acommunity, and participation and value? These are all essential elements in an ecosystem. All right, that is well done.
So let’s just go into the groups. I’ve reorganized the groups a little bit. So say hello to the folks that you’re with now, and to share what insight Did you have or what’s one item of your ecosystem that came to you, when you think of nourishment and how to things need to feed from each other, nourish each other. So share an insight or an idea that you have about your ecosystem from this little exercise. All right, the microphones are on Go for it.
The Magic of Co-Creation
David Buck 35:15
Alright folks, we’re gonna call a little timeout here. Hold on just a moment. All right, great. Really, really good conversations happening around the room. Well done everyone. I love how everyone is just really listening and asking each other good questions. It’s, it’s really good, really good. That’s the beauty of being in a co creative space. And because sometimes you get the magic, when you’re listening to someone, sometimes the magic happens when you’re speaking and just sharing even if you don’t know what you’re going to say that’s the idea of the abracadabra you just speak and then it come. So yeah, that’s the beauty of these kinds of gatherings for conversation, and you can hear it happening all around the room. So that’s awesome.
The Performance Possibility Gap ~ The center of your coaching business ecosystem.
David Buck 36:01
All right, so let’s take the next step, we’re going to now look at some of the big picture items of a coaching business ecosystem. And the big picture items are, one is what I call the performance possibility gap. This is the centerpiece of any coaching business, which is, what is the thing that you help people play better? Or what is the dream you guide people to pursue? That’s what coaching is, it is guiding another person. It is a relationship that is one to one or one to few? You are guiding that person toward their dream of playing something better. And people tend to put these in categories. If you think of where you’re an athletic coach, Well, you’re either a basketball coach or a baseball coach or what have you. Then in the life coaching world, you’re a life coach, a business coach or a leadership coach. And those are broad categories and obviously there’s many nuances. Similarly, if you are an artistic coach, you might be a dance coach or a piano coach or a voice coach, or a poetry coach. There’s all different kinds of coaches: you have a thing you love to help people play better.
David Buck 37:28
And that’s called the performance possibility gap. Performance means you help them do it better. And possibility means you help them pursue their vision, their dream of if they see a possibility for themselves, and you guide them toward that dream. So the first thing that’s the centerpiece of your ecosystem, everything else feeds into this or off of this. So the other core elements are your coaching method. How do you help people pursue that dream? Then there’s your messaging and branding. How do you share about it? How do you share about this dream you help people pursue and the skills you help people develop those messaging and branding, your version of that. Then there’s marketing. How do you get that messaging and branding out into the world into being visible, being seen being trusted, that’s all the marketing things that you do. Then there’s the selling conversations when someone is interested in coaching with you because they’ve seen your marketing, or met you somewhere and now you’ve got to be able to sell it. And then and you and you can kind of see how all these things come together. Because the way you sell it is going to be based on your coaching method. You know, what you can help people do so that’s what you sell. All of these elements play together. And they each require some time and attention to cultivate. To get clear on who you coach and what dreams you help people pursue, get clear on your coaching method, how do you uniquely help people? Get clear on your messaging? How do you speak about it? These are all topics, you can just keep exploring over and over again, every couple of months refresh; give a fresh coat of paint to everything in your business and just keep doing that. As you grow and evolve, your ecosystem grows and evolves.
The Performance Possibility Gap Page in the Playbook
David Buck 39:42
So what I’d like you to do next is go to the next page in the playbook. Wwith regards to what we call this performance, possibility gap there are a few things I want you to write down You might draw a piece of paper with a quadrant of four squares. In one square, I’d like you to write some keywords that describe your ideal player. Then, in the square to the right, I’d like you to write down a few ideas about the dream you help them pursue. Then in the bottom, the left would be some phrases that describe their current situation. Like what is where do they find themselves what is their current ability, their current situation? And then in the bottom right square is how do they imagine playing better? What do they want to do better? So they have a certain ability now, what do they imagine they can do and to do way in a better way. So those are four areas. is just to write some phrases in.
So again, I’m going to just give you two minutes to write down some key words. Describe your ideal player, describe the big dream they want to pursue. That’s in the right lower left their current situation. Bottom Right. How do they imagine playing better, and just write down some key words that capture the essence of what you do right now as a coach.
David Buck 42:22
One more minute. 30 seconds. All right, excellent, amazing how long two minutes is when, when it’s quiet? Wow. Two minutes felt like a long time. Okay, so let’s, let’s, let’s talk us through. So if you would like to share your idea or explore it with me for a moment or ask a few questions, any of those things, please raise your head or I’ll play with a few people one or two people now just to get this clear, and then we will go into our small groups that explored for a moment as well. So if you’d like to explore this with me, please Raise your hand. And I’ve got Michael Michael, go for it.
A Performance Possibility Gap example with Michael
Michael Stammer 44:05
Thank you. And two minutes, not a long time while you’re typing furiously. {Good to know. That’s good awareness.} Thank you very much. Where do I start? Let me just start with current situation. Stuck in overwhelm, which is almost a universal state I run into. I know been on a few zoom calls with some really, really sharp people and things are happening in their businesses that they never thought would happen. So yeah, what they want to do is, do better and want to move quickly. and pursue the dream of three fold. Do good, have fun, make money. Which by the way I have the website: do good, have fun, have fun, make money. So what that gives me you know – it’s thanks for the exercise – It really clarified a lot of, you know, the WHO, THE what and the where. {Yeah, exactly.} And the How makes itself apparent?
David Buck 45:20
Yes. Yes. In a good coaching conversation the How comes to life.., exactly.
Michael Stammer 45:27
And in a good ecosystem.
David Buck 45:29
Yes, right.
45:31
That’s one of the things that…
David Buck 45:34
Tell me a little Michael, just tell me… No, it’s a great it’s really good. I appreciate what you’re sharing. Share with me a little bit. You said, you’ve been on zoom calls with some really smart people is that how you describe your ideal players is really smart people who are up to something big,
Michael Stammer 45:48
you know, the business growers who either own the company or have an ownership mindset and they, they haven’t, they’re they’re tuned in on doing something good. It’s not just about getting the money they want to make a difference. And I was on a call this morning is actually it’s usually a monthly meeting and they are in the area, they moved it to a zoom call. And a guy that I’ve known for quite a while I mentioned in the small group he, you know, the dental supply business. He actually manufactures dental stuff through 3d printing. Well, dental dentists aren’t practicing right now. {right} He’s stuck doing semi essential work that nobody uses, but he still we still got the capacity. So part of my mandate right now is how do I find people who need 3d printing? And guess what Mr. Dyson in the UK is now he’s on a 10 day turnaround and doing 15,000 ventilators. {Right} Well see. That’s how this stuff starts popping up.
David Buck 46:53
Yeah, I love it.
Michael Stammer 46:55
But the idea of the ecosystem. Dave? {Yeah.} It’s not about our it’s not about just our business. It’s the people and it ecosystem exists. And it feeds itself. {Correct.} Thank you for that. I just, you know, a perfect terrarium lives within itself.
David Buck 47:15
That’s right. Exactly, exactly. And so if it’s not living within itself, something is missing. Mm hmm.
Michael Stammer 47:23
And this whole, this whole idea of moving towards an ecosystem. Well, wow, how big Can you make it?
If Financial Nourishment is missing, then something is missing in your ecosystem!
David Buck 47:32
Yeah, right. Exactly. Right. No, it’s really good. Thank you, Michael. Well said, and I think that’s the key point. So and you might think, you know, just as an example, you might think, okay, I’m really helping a lot of people but I’m not making enough money. All right, well, then something is missing in the ecosystem. That is cultivating people that have the desire to invest in themselves, the ability to invest themselves the ability to trust you that you can guide them where they want to go. So something is missing in your ecosystem, if it’s not bubbling up those kinds of people that cover the financial side. You might be doing great service and really helping people and that’s awesome. And then if the financial side isn’t working, then something is missing. And then that’s the next one. That’s the opportunity to say what’s missing in my ecosystem? Where are the people who want to invest and ready to invest in me and coaching? They’re not coming to the surface. So, okay, let’s figure out what’s missing. And then that is probably something you know, around one of these elements, either the person or the performance possibility gap isn’t clear, or your coaching method isn’t clear where your branding and messaging isn’t matching your audience. There are all sorts of places you can look, right?
But you just need to start with the idea that in a good ecosystem, everyone is nourished, everyone is nourished fully. So if you are not nourished, financially, something’s missing. Alright, so there are maybe several things are missing. So then you have to start planting more seeds and growing and exploring and figure and figuring it out. And the point of all, you know, big point of this is you can figure that out easier in a conversation with other people than you can just sitting by yourself trying to think that’s, that’s a big, big point.
All right, so we’re going to go into the groups and just share what did you see for yourself. Share about your ideal player or the dream they want to pursue. Or share an insight that you got excited about. You might not have time to share the whole thing. We’re just going to take a minute each. So for four or five minutes for the whole group, take turns sharing what you want to share about your performance possibility gap.
David Buck 50:16
All right, the microphones are on Go for it.
David Buck 50:30
Alright, let’s call a little timeout here. Hold on. Good stuff, everyone. great conversation. And again, this is about planting seeds for your future. Okay, your vision. So what I want you to start seeing is, okay, I see where I am and I can improve in this area. I need more clarity and this or that. All right, so that’s your that’s the aim of these kinds of conversations is to get some sparks like oh, Yeah, this isn’t quite working or this I need to improve a little bit or this is an opportunity of growth for me. Okay, so that’s really well done great stuff in the conversations all around. So we’re going to move to the next step, or next element, I should say. Again, this is ecosystem so everything plays together.
Your Coaching Method
David Buck 51:20
So the next step is to talk about your coaching method; which is how do you guide your players towards their dream. What are some of the things that you do that are unique to your coaching or your personality or your gifts or the talents that you’re here to share in the world. Now your coaching method could be kind of a guide of how you coach players or how you start with your players. Your coaching method also includes your pricing and packaging. It could include how you put together group programs or one on one programs. And this part of the ecosystem model also includes your business operations. You know, how do you get started with new players? What do you send the players when they sign up to make them feel confident that they made a good choice? There’s a lot of little pieces here. Okay? Not a lot. There are several little pieces here. And the idea is just to use this conversation to notice where you have some gaps. Like oh: “my pricing needs to be upgraded”, Or I want to add a group program, Or I’m just getting started and I don’t know how much to charge. It’s all good. Wherever you are, is good. This idea of this conversation, and looking at these points, is to notice what you need to create next. Because that is all we can ever do is what is next. You can’t do everything all at once. You can just do what is next for you. So we’re going to take a few minutes and I’m going to walk you through this. So if you’ve got the sheet, you can see it, it’s the red one. If you don’t have the sheet, don’t worry. I’m just going to talk you through the elements and just write some ideas down as I’m talking.
So the first thing to write down if you’re doing the quadrant again, upper left is what is my current coaching method.
David Buck 53:35
So what are some phrases that describe how you do what you do? Do you have specific exercises you do? Do you have a 12 week coaching package that is pre planned? Is your method just to show up and let the magic happen? It’s okay, whatever your method is, but how do you help people pursue their dreams? Write a few thoughts down about that. And as you’re writing that, on the right side of the page is what you want to create. So on the left side is what is and on the right side is what you want to create. So maybe your one on one method is clear, but you want to create a group program. Or maybe your pricing is good at this level, but you want to create a higher price program. So write ideas down like that.
David Buck 54:49
And then the next part on your coaching method {the bottom part of the quadrant} is how do you play now how do you feel about your coaching abilities? Right now. Is there anything about your coaching that you imagine playing better? Or do you see: “Oh, I can coach this kind of person in this situation, but I want to be able to coach someone doing something bigger, more impactful.” Or maybe you might say, I seem to be able to coach well if price seems pretty low, but the price gets higher than I don’t feel confident in my ability. So I imagine being able to coach more confidently at a higher price. So that would be something for you to recognize about your coaching method.
David Buck 56:07
Okay, so if someone would like to share with me a little bit about your coaching method, how you do what you do or how you envision what you want to create, let’s get an example to play with together. So if you’d be willing to share your current example and your or your vision of what you imagine, please raise your hand.
A Coaching Method Example with Mary
Mary McClements 56:39
Mary McClements.
David Buck 56:41
Mary Hello. Hi. Great to be with you. All right, let’s talk about this. Just give me the one-liner on the dreams you help people pursue
Mary McClements 57:00
Currently, I’m doing mostly career coaching and I’m helping people get to a career that is more meaningful and more fulfilling. brings them back to who they really are. And I do this through sitting coaching in person virtually on zoom over the phone and walking and it’s usually a six week or a six session package.
David Buck 57:29
Okay, so your current method is a six second a six seconds, six second package six second coaching. Yeah, awesome.
Mary McClements 57:38
How ya doin’. Great, okay!
{Laughs}
David Buck 57:43
You’re awesome. Go get that job. You got it. All right. So just describe a little bit about how you do what you do. How do you do it? How do you get them there?
57:57
Well, right now they’re all coming through co-operative. In collaborative with Amy Magyar, so they do all of the marketing. It’s amazing how many people contact me but I help them. I start by going through kind of like a personal inventory, their change resistance. There often it comes into limiting beliefs. We talk we do the Clifton Strength Finders and we unpack those. It comes back to the limiting beliefs often. And then it starts to go into I have them start really researching. It’s like me research like researching about me, themselves and then possible jobs. So you know, it’s our careers. It’s a lot of kind of talking about values.
David Buck 58:51
Sure, great. You help them get clarity on themselves, clarity around their beliefs, their limits, and then some reason to find the opportunities that match and the courage to go for them something in that ballpark was what I heard. So that’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah, that’s good. That’s good. You have a notion of sort of – not sort of – you have a notion of how you guide someone toward that dream. Now is there anything that comes to mind about what you want to create? How would you like to enhance your method in some way?
Mary McClements 59:26
Yeah, so I would love to do and if you know me, you know that I have a lot of interests and I often have a hard time really diving into just one I like to dive into a lot of things but small group programming small group coaching within with another coach or solo but I like the idea of with another coach, workshops for organizations, whether it’s higher Ed or businesses, especially around Clifton strengths. {Okay, great.} And then there’s the hiking / adventure coaching, which I’m hoping that Nick Devlin and I are going to be partnering on. We just had a conversation. So that’s a big piece of it too.
David Buck 60:11
Awesome. Great. So those are new, new territories you want to bring your method to. Yeah, I like it. And when you think about how you coach and your current abilities, you’ve got the abilities that you have, but let’s just focus on is there anything you can imagine about how you could coach better? What is your growth in how you coach?
Mary McClements 60:39
Yeah, you know, I really love the idea of kind of power in numbers and bringing that small group idea, you know, it’s not it’s not just the relationship between me and one person. It’s the it’s the group relationship, which is a sub the ecosystem in my in my brain And, you know, so I also do restorative justice circles in my other world. And I feel like that model could that model of kind of like a circles of peace or healing through restorative justice can be transferred to coaching and I’m still kind of figuring that out. But I feel like a combination that that in the outdoors, with the hiking coaching, like there’s, yeah, that’s how I’d like it better.
David Buck 61:31
Alright, sweet. I love it. So this is great. When you listen to Mary, you can see she’s got an idea where she is. And she’s got some vision of how she wants to incorporate some new ideas into a coaching some new ideas and who and how she’s coaching. And that’s awesome. That’s what you want. You want to have clarity on where you are, and imagination of where what you want to create next. That’s perfect. That’d be like, you know, if you were performing Artists, maybe you, you are really good at piano. And I’ve heard of different performing artists talk about how they’re really brilliant at one way of playing piano and then they go and find a new coach who’s gonna help them expand and broaden into a new style that they want to add to their music. And that’s the same thing here. As a coach, you can keep adding to your style; adding to the types of options you have for the performances that you create.
Okay, so, in your group, we’re going to do the same thing that I just did with Mary. Share a little bit of what you do now and what you imagine doing. Paint a little picture on both sides. How you guide people toward their dream now, and what are some elements or some thoughts about what you want to create over the next six months. All right, the microphones are back on take turn. Have fun, go for it.
David Buck 63:19
Alright folks, we’re gonna call a little timeout. Hold on just a minute. Okay, really well done everyone. I love the CO-creating that I’m hearing as I’m walking around. {the virtual room} I hear people sharing and coming up with ideas. I hear your conversation partners asking questions, challenging, encouraging. This is really good. This is what happens when you get really creative people together. And this is what this is. The point is that you get some ideas when you sit by yourself but you get so many more ideas when you’re speaking and when ideas are popping with other people. That is juicy. Well done.
Your Message and Branding
David Buck 64:01
Let’s go to the next step. Now as I was popping around the room, I heard a lot of people moving in this direction. Some of you have already started talking about this. And this is a natural thing that comes out of how you coach people. You’ve got the “who” and you’ve got the “how”. And now the next step is called messaging and branding, which is, how you talk about it; how you share about it. So what is your messaging? How do you describe who you coach and what you help them achieve? So that would be your messaging and who you are as a coach is your branding.
Take a stand for something
And depending on where you are in terms of your business – if you’re relatively new, that would mean one thing but if you’ve been doing this for a few years – if you’ve kind of stagnated you are ready for a new level of messaging. I coach a lot of people in this situation. Usually what that means you need to take a stand for something. You need to speak up with more focused intention: This is why I’m coaching. This is who I’m here to coach right now. This is why it matters in the world. That is what it means to take a stand for something.
You know, when you’re just starting, you can say, Hey, I’m a coach, this is what I do. This is who I coach, and you can attract people, enough people at that level. Taking a stand is a natural step when you want to get to where you’re charging more and you’re having a bigger impact or coaching people that are at a higher level. As you coach, you keep coaching higher and higher levels of people. Some because you coach them up and you stay with them some because you grow and you’re just ready for bigger players. But usually that level of what we might call bigger requires taking a bigger stand and a bigger purpose a more clear intent of what in the world are you doing and why and why do you think it’s so important?
CoachVille’s evolving stand as an example
David Buck 66:14
So one example might be that I could give for myself at CoachVille, for example, for a long time our brand was: Hey, you want to become a coach, come the CoachVille it was great. We’ve got a lot of great stuff here. But as there’s been more people in the coaching field and more coaching schools, we had to take a stand at a higher level. And so, eight years ago, we changed up our focused intent to coaching is about play. So if you want to think about coaching as play, you want to play better and you want to help other people play more play better, bringing out their creativity and resourcefulness etc. If you groove with play come with us, because we think play is what it’s all about. So that’s taking a stand at a higher level. Other schools say, hey, if you want to learn neuroscience using neuroscience is where it’s at. And you want to come with us because we think coaching is all about neuroscience. Okay, great. So some people groove with neuroscience while other people groove with play. So that’s an example of as you evolve you usually get to a point where you need to take a stand, and then your stance can evolve. Now, at CoachVille, eight years after play, now, we’ve evolved even further, hey, coaching is like a performance art. And you’ve got to bring your artistry, but you also need to learn how to play your instruments and we’ve got to learn songs and we shifted our whole thing into having these methods and definitive guides and all this stuff that comes along with the idea that, hey, it’s performance art. And there’s a way to learn performance art. And you can learn that way, here with us. So that’s another example of how our stand has evolved.
David Buck 68:11
So what I’d like you to do is think about you and your coaching and I want you to describe what is your current messaging about who you are and who you coach? How do you describe it? And then what I want you to create your next vision. What is the new? Do you have any Inklings or thoughts about what is the new level of the stand you need to take to rise up as a coach; to refresh, rise up, get bigger, get more focused, whatever it that looks like for you, what’s your new level, what’s the bigger stand or the bigger purpose or the clearer intention that you think is next.
So just take a minute as we’re talking this through to start a new piece of paper {or the Playbook page} about messaging and branding. So you’ve got, what is your current messaging on the left? And then on the right is what you might want to create a vision that you have. This includes all of your content, what content pieces are you creating? What kind of signature keynote can you give? What success stories can you tell? These are all elements of your messaging and branding? And now, this is NOT how you’re going to share them or where are you going to share them? That’s the marketing piece. So this is the “what” of your content? What is your keynote? What are Your success stories. And then the marketing is where do you put those out into the world? How do you put them out into the world? Maybe your Instagram, maybe you’re a public speaker or maybe you’re a combo. That’s marketing. Okay. Right now we’re just talking about the messaging. So just as I’m talking here, write down a few notes about your messaging, where it is on the left, where you envision it going on the right.
David Buck 70:37
And like I said, one of the things that I have found in helping a lot of coaches with their messaging and branding, you know, when it’s time for a refresh, it usually requires being a little more or a lot more courageous and bold with taking a stand for something that you care about very much; and having the courage to message around that thing. You know, like if you have seen some of my writing and, you know, different articles I have written for Choice Magazine, you know that for a little while now I was always writing about: hey, coaching is not work. It’s not an intervention for problems. Coaching is about play. So that was my messaging in wherever I was writing different articles and magazines and podcasts I was on. Now I’m talking about coaching is performance art. It’s not just questions, it’s not answers. It’s co-creation. How do we co create that coaching? So now in podcasts and articles when I’m speaking this message, I’m taking that step.
So as an example is there anyone who would be willing or interested in sharing with me your current messaging? And then maybe an inkling of what your messaging wants to become; what is your next level in your messaging? Just to give us a little example to play with anyone? Rich excellent. Go for it.
A Messaging and Branding Example with Rich
Rich 72:30
Kind of hoped someone else would jump on, but I’ll jump because…
David Buck 72:35
Well done rich. Courage. I love it.
Rich 72:39
Yeah, I’m thinking, you know, maybe other people will be in a similar situation feeling a little stuck with this. My, current messaging name of my business was awaken the magic coaching and consulting and I was looking for people who wanted to, you know, have life in their business and what they’re doing to be more magical. I was living next to a grade school at the time and just see these kids outside playing every day and like the world was just magical for them. {right} And I’m like, where do we lose that? So that’s where it was. Now I’m coming back to it. I coached full time for about a decade. And I’m coming back to it now after some illness. And now it feels like here’s where I’m stuck; Where I’m just throwing myself out there for the learning opportunity for everyone else. {that sweet.I know I get you, I appreciate the courage to take to do that. So thank you for doing that. Go ahead.}
I’ll give you what I have. But I haven’t got it, like nailed down. And so what I do know is that I feel passionate about taking this time and what’s going on right now as an opportunity to shift the way we live on the planet and really look at how do we you know live in a way that’s more unified, you know, this is bringing everyone together and you know, and more sustainable in terms of the human footprint on the planet, you know, like, the pollution levels are down and the dolphins are back and, you know, the swans, in Venice. If you’re not human, this is fantastic. Everything that’s happening between humans and the planet, getting humans more balanced to the global ecosystem. So how do I put that into a message where I want to work with people that want to create a more resilient, sustainable, even regenerative human presence on the planet and more of a unity consciousness. I’m not sure how to make that into a marketing or branding message.
David Buck 74:53
Well, one thing I can tell you is, I think you just did. I get it. That’s awesome to me. You can’t say all that maybe on a business card, but in a conversation you could. But the first step is you have a direction; an imagined direction. You want to formulate your messaging in a new way around coaching people who are ready to take bold steps for sustainability in the earth, more unity in our human consciousness awakened to not just trying to survive, but more awakened to the impact we have on each other and the planet. So you said some really compelling things there. Just knowing that that is what you care about is powerful. So your messaging would start to be take a stand for: hey people, this is how we need to live. We need to create businesses that are true to that. That’s in that ballpark. That’s a very compelling story.
Rich 76:21
Yeah, I hear you. Create businesses that are aligned with that, that definitely resonates for me. It really landed when you said that I feel it in my heart, you know, just moving. We know how the corporate presence on the planet affects the planet kind of thing. And folks could do a course correct there from the high level down. Then things could really shift. I think things need to shift in a really powerful way. And finding a way to message that and encapsulate that would be powerful as a brand. Iit still seems like a very fuzzy area.
How to clarify a fuzzy message…
David Buck 77:09
Well, this is great. It is. It is fuzzy. Okay, that’s correct. But that’s how it starts. It starts fuzzy, then the next thing you do is, you talk to people about it. And as you talk and hear how people respond to your notions that you share you notice when does your heart start to buzz and when does it get bored? And if it’s buzzing, probably those are the words that you really want to emphasize. This is how you move into a new messaging and branding place. It starts with a vision that is fuzzy and it moves into clarity, through conversation. That’s how it happens. But it has to start from your heart. You have to feel like this is what I stand for now.
Your message did really well for a long time. Let’s awaken the magic, let’s be more magical and creative. That was awesome. It was good for the time. But the times are calling for something deeper. And now I’m working with leaders who want to think about their whole business from this point of view of unity consciousness and earth sustainability. There’s a lot to do there. You’ve got to change culture, you’ve got to change product, you’ve got to change sourcing. There’s a lot to do. It’s going to take courage, it’s going to take guidance, and I’m with you every step of the way. Let’s do it.
David Buck 78:36
Something like that. Right. So yeah, that’s the gist of it. So as you say those kinds of things to business leaders you’ll find out how to say it in a way that makes people say: Wow, you’re right. Okay. Can we talk on Friday? I’m free at three o’clock. Let’s do it.”
Rich 78:55
Yes, sounds great when you say it.
David Buck 78:58
Nice. Okay. Well, I’ll send you the Audio, You just take it and run with it.
David Buck 79:07
Rich, thank you so much for playing with me. That was beautiful. It was really good. I appreciate you. It’s time for what you what you aim to do. It really is. All right, that’s awesome.
So we’re going to do back in your small groups. Each of you take a turn sharing a little bit about where you are, and where you imagine you can go. And again, it could be fuzzy right now and just like we said, it doesn’t matter if you’re not clear on it. Of course, you’re not clear. It’s in your imagination. It’s taking time to form. I want you to just share something about where you want to take a new stand, something that matters to you; where you want to move into with your branding with passion and purpose. Okay, so we’ll go back into groups. Just take a minute or so. Abracadabra, just have fun talking together and creating it. All right, the mics are on, go for it.
David Buck 80:14
All right. So we ran out of time during the live play shop, to go through the last few items of the business ecosystem. So I have recorded this after the class after the play shop, to add into the recording so we can have a complete play shop on the audio.
You Marketing Method
David Buck 80:40
So the next element that we’re going to explore in our ecosystem is the marketing method. Now, here’s an important thing when we think about ecosystem, the messaging and the branding. That’s the What you want to share in the world. Your marketing method is how you get your messages out into the world to be seen and trusted. Okay, so many “businessy” things, smash those two things together. And I think it’s much better if you separate them out understanding that each one is a creative act, to figure out what you want to say – sort of like in the performance art metaphor is finding your voice. And then the marketing would be finding your audience. Okay, so your messaging your branding, that’s your voice that’s about you, and your, your success stories and all the things that are about you what you do, and your content. That’s the messaging. Marketing is the finding the ways to put it in the world so that you can find your players and your players can find you Alright, so that’s one important distinction in the ecosystem, the marketing is the getting it out there and getting yourself out there. Okay?
How the playsheets are structured
David Buck 82:09
Now other thing about these play sheets that I didn’t mention live when we were in the playshop that it occurred to me afterwards. When you look at them, there’s a, there’s a structure to it. So, on the left side of the play sheet, this is what you would call NOW – your current situation. And on the right side of the play sheet, this is your imagination. This is your vision. This is what you see yourself – envision yourself – creating. And it’s powerful to see both. What do I have now? And then how do I envision what I’ll have in the future six months from now. So that’s the left and the right now the top and the bottom of the quadrant. The top part of the quadrant is about creating. The bottom part of the quadrant is about becoming or playing. It’s more of the Who and the How. It’s about your qualities, your skills, how you play, how you imagine playing better in all of these realms.
The Marketing Playsheet
David Buck 83:17
Alright, so with that, we’re going to do a little walk through now on your marketing portion of your current and future business ecosystem. So as I walk this through, write some notes on your sheet. So when you think about marketing, this is again being seen and trusted. How do you put your message into the world? And there are certainly many ways of doing this. But they all fall into a few categories. It’s speaking it’s writing. It’s networking, and relationships. So you have social and Face-To-face networking, you have speaking, this also would include your speaker and media kits that you can make available to people who want to have you speak or that you can send to people who book speakers. There’s also joint ventures and referrals. These are all ways of marketing. There are many platforms. Finding platforms and creating platforms are ways of being visible. Alright, so you want to think of right now, how do I play this visibility part of the game? How do I get my message out there? So for example, with CoachVille, we have our website and we do Google search engine optimization. That’s one of the ways we play in the marketing we try to make our webpages visible and find-able within the search engines, We’re also listed on the ICF website. That’s a place where we can be seen. So people are looking for Coach training, they find the ICF. And then they can find us.
David Buck 85:12
And we also have referrals. We encourage and appreciate when our students and alumni share about us; which they do often. So these are our ways of marketing. That’s different remember, then our messaging, the kinds of content that we put out, that would be our messaging. You want to write down what you are doing now. And then what do you envision? It’s always important to have a plan for how you want to grow your visibility, what is the next arena you want to explore and play in, in terms of being seen and trusted?
Then, in the lower half of the quadrant, you think about playing, playing your marketing. So when it’s time to get your message out there or go and do a talk or reach out to a potential joint venture partner, ask a client for referrals. How are you at that? What is your level of play there? And not only your level of play, but your level of playfulness? Do you feel playful? Does that feel fun? And then if it doesn’t, which for most people, that’s a growth opportunity, right? That’s a growth opportunity. Then how do you imagine playing better? Can you envision yourself being at ease with Joint Venture Partners or being at ease with reaching out to organizations that hire speakers like you or have your message And just being able to step up and say yes, of course, I can come and give a keynote or give a short talk or do a lunch and learn or whatever, whatever that would be.
David Buck 87:13
One other thing about these play sheets, you know, now that you’re having a little more time maybe looking through them, there’s an area on the bottom of each sheet called idea pops, and follow up actions. And these are just places to hold your ideas. So if you’re in a place of really thinking this through and, and writing ideas down, if you get an idea pop up about something that doesn’t fit on the page, just put it on that idea pop section, or if an action item comes up, I gotta remember to call so and so. Just put that in the follow up actions and you can go back through the sheets afterwards and everything will be right there.
As another little note, as we’re talking here know as a I talked about in the actual play shop portion. I strongly believe in the power of CO-creation and talking it through with another person. So, if you’re listening to this and doing these play sheets and going through this, think about doing it with a friend or invite a friend to participate with you. Or after you get done doing this and writing ideas on your own, call up someone and share what you’ve come up with. Just speak it and you’ll be amazed at how much more clear it will be after you speak it. That’s why coaching works after all. Okay, so I’m going to give you a little moment there just to finish that up.
Your Selling Method
David Buck 89:02
Okay, next we’re going to go to the selling portion of your ecosystem. Selling is how you connect with people and stay connected with potential players to demonstrate value; making sure you are seen and valued by the people you’ve already met. So it’s an interesting thing, when you think about selling, there are many aspects of this. As a professional coach, you will have the obvious one which is your exploratory conversation or whatever you call it. I like the term exploratory conversation. But once you have met someone through your marketing, then when they become interested in learning more about what you do, and you have any conversations, after they’ve met you, that’s all In this context called selling. Now, an interesting thing about this as well, is oftentimes people don’t realize, websites and email. These are selling, okay? Getting people to your website, having people find your website. That’s marketing. Once they’re on your website, they’ve met you now. Now you’re selling. Your website is selling. Your email list: after someone meets you or finds you, and joins your email list that is selling. How they met you how they found you, that’s marketing. Once they’re on your email list and you’re emailing, however often you do, every email you send, that’s selling, that’s moving people toward hiring you as a coach. So social media is a little bit of a hybrid, the people that are already following you or connected to you, as you share with your friends and followers that’s selling. The one thing about social media that is marketing is when people pass it on or share; it can ripple out to more networks. So that’s why social media is really thought of as marketing is because of that ripple effect that it’s easy for people to refer and share and forward. And that’s it’s common practice in social media. So social media is it’s a little bit of selling with the people who already follow you and it’s a lot of marketing with the way you can be seen by new people.
But again, we’re now we’re talking about the selling portion. So you want to think about all the things you are doing once someone has met you to move them along to hiring you and in coaching. Wow. This is a big deal because very few people that you meet are ready to hire you right now. That doesn’t happen very often but it does happen sometimes. Most of the time someone meets you and is curious about coaching, but then as they see you over time and read more of your things and watch other things you put out there, they grow closer and closer to the point where they’re ready to hire you as their coach. So the sales process and coaching actually can be pretty long. It can also be very short, you could meet someone and they could be just totally enthralled with what you’re doing and the importance of it in their life and hire you of course that happens. But also it happens later, three months, six months. I’ve had people call me that had been listening and reading my stuff for 10 years. 20 years. had a guy hired me not long ago, who has known of me and what I’m doing for 20 years, and then hired me. 20 years! Okay, so it’s a long, that’s a long sales cycle. But this is possible. So you just want to you want to be aware of that.
That’s the thing about coaching a coaching business, it is always important to remember that you kind of have to hang in there because it does sometimes take a while. But people you meet and you leave a good impression. You inspire them, you add value to their life in some way, sooner or later, many of them will come around. So the longer you stay in the game, the more possible it becomes to thrive. Because of this accumulated effect of people you’ve met, people you’ve added value to. And you’re always selling and it’s important to be comfortable with that.
AHSTIPT = Always Have Something To Invite People To
Also on the play sheet, you’ll see This little bubble with AHSTIPT. What the heck is that? Well, that is an acronym for one of my most favorite selling techniques, and it’s called always have something to invite people to. I’ve been teaching this method to coaches for 20 years, always have something to invite people to. And you know, the most basic thing would be an email newsletter that you send out periodically. But you can also have a regular Facebook thing that you put out or a regular teleclass that you teach; just something that happens every month, preferably or every quarter. You can have a quarterly meetup or dinner or luncheon or something for people that you know and your clients. Something that people just know is happening and they can come to it and you can always have something to invite people to. So they can continue to be around you, experience you and understand the value that you provide.
The Selling Method Playsheet
David Buck 95:08
Alright, so think about how you are selling right now what is your current selling method? And again, that includes how you conduct your exploratory process. And it also includes how you stay tightly connected to people once they’ve met you. This includes follow up. This includes a CRM system; customer relationship management system. How are you staying in touch with the people that you have met or that have found you? It’s such a challenge.
Marketing is hard, okay. Marketing is hard, finding new people and getting people connected to you is hard. But once you have them, now you’re in the selling portion which is also hard. But it’s a different kind of endeavor to continue to stay connected to people until they’re ready to hire you as a coach. So again, think about what you have right now. Maybe you have a simple email list or you have a basic conversation you do for exploratory. That’s great.
Next is your vision; what would you like to add to that process? Maybe you could get more proactive with staying connected to people, maybe you could be more proactive with creating some quarterly thing, you can always invite all of your prospects and potentials to; could be a quarterly webinar or quarterly meet up of some kind or whatever it might be. Just think of something you want to add.
Okay, now, in the lower half of the quadrant is how do you play. So when you’re in a sales conversation, when you’re doing your exploratory, are you oozing confidence? Are you at ease making offers? Or is that a challenge? Okay? If it’s a challenge, then you say, all right, right now I’m just okay with making offers. But I could imagine myself just being so smooth and refined with how I engage and how I make offers and just feeling like Yeah, I got this. People love my coaching. I love selling it. You could imagine yourself that way. So that’s what you want to do here. Just create a picture of yourself being really awesome in the selling conversations, awesome in the in how you maintain relationships with everyone you’ve ever met. So when they are ready to hire you they can find you. Alright, so that’s sales. A big part of any business of course, and it’s it’s an essential part and it can be a really fun part of your coaching your coaching business ecosystem as well.
Your Business Player and Partner Magnets
David Buck 98:11
All right now the last part of this is what we call magnets. This is a culminating force that is part of your ecosystem. And there are two types of magnets. There are player magnets and partner magnets. Alright, so a magnet is: what is your thing that draws people to you? In CoachVille, our main player magnet is our membership. All right, the CoachVille membership with all the resources in there, that’s our main magnet that draws people to CoachVille. Then they get acclimated, and then eventually, many of them want to be in our school and become a student. Okay, that’s our main our main magnet. So what’s your what’s your main magnet? What’s the thing that draws people to you? So you can think of what is it now.
And then you imagine what could it be? What would I love to have together six months from now, that would just be the thing that draws people to you. There are many possibilities for what your magnet could be. It could be a resource, a membership, something you’ve written, something you do, just whatever your cool thing is; whatever your awesome thing is. that’s of great value. That’s going to be your main magnet.
And then there’s your partner magnet. What makes people who meet you want to be a part of your world a part of your team recommending you and referring you and telling people about you. What do you do that gets people really wanting to recommend you? What is it now? What is it in the future? Now for a coaching business… I would say the main thing that’s a partner magnet is the willingness and the ability to have great coach approach conversations with people. So that even if someone is not going to hire you, if you do some kind of an exploratory session with them or clarify your dream session with people, just something you do with people that makes them feel: “wow, this person is good, they know what they’re doing. I would be happy to recommend them. Even if I’m not personally hiring a coach. I get what they do, and I recommend them wholeheartedly.” So what is that for you?
Our example at CoachVille is our Deep Dives. We do a monthly Deep Dive and Coach Deanna hosts them. And what we find is that a lot of our students and alumni share about the deep dive with other coaches that they know because it’s an easy invite.It’s fun. It’s easy. And it is participation. You get a taste of CoachVille. You get a taste of the community. So that’s just a thing. That has been really helpful for us in in having our alumni become partners for example. So think about for you. What do you have right now that in endears you to partners, and then envision what might that be six months from now?
David Buck 101:56
All right, so I’m going to cut this back over to the live audio for the final debrief. And thanks hopefully you enjoyed this. Alright folks, we’re gonna come we’re gonna wrap it up there. Take a moment and thank your intrepid conversation partners.
Debrief
David Buck 102:41
All right, so good. Okay, so this has been awesome. I want to hear some thoughts about what has been your experience? The idea of this playshop today was to get a picture of what an ecosystem is. Get something started toward having a vision of what you want to create next in your life as a professional coach. And also just get the experience of being in a co creative space; and the value. There’s value of being able to sit down and think and write down stuff. And there’s also value in being able to talk it through with people who are in the same pursuit. And that’s really what this has been about in this playshop.
So let’s take a few minutes now. And I would love to have you share anyone who’d be willing to share what was your experience of doing this? What was your insight or your takeaway, either from some of the ideas or just from the experience of CO-creating? So if you’d be willing to share that, please raise your head.
Evelyn 103:59
This is Evelyn again, {Evelyn. Yes. go ahead.} Yeah. well, personally, I like the group coaching, because sometimes they think of something that maybe I didn’t think of. And so that helps motivate me to move forward and direct. Maybe I didn’t know. I needed to go.
David Buck 104:21
Right. Yeah. Right, because you don’t have everything in your own mind. That’s where that’s why there’s other people in the world. Very handy.
Evelyn 104:31
I keep thinking of that saying two heads are better than one. But in this case, I think just group coaching i think is phenomenal. Because you get a lot of views.
David Buck 104:42
Exactly. Thanks, Evelyn. So fun. Great to have you with us today. Let’s hear from Nancy. Nancy…
Nancy Miller 104:51
Hi, I just wanted to say I thought working in the group was great. I think we saw similarities in trying to Have a balanced ecosystem and uniqueness in the ways we’re approaching it. And so I really enjoyed this group process.
David Buck 105:09
awesome. Great. Nancy, so fun. Great to have you with us today. And 802 is Mary Mary. Go ahead.
Mary McClements 105:19
Hey, yep, yeah, great for me not just because of the group, but I’ve kind of happily fallen into a pattern with my coaching collaborative, where I’m one of the career coaches and during this time that you know, we’re all at home I’m like, Okay, this is it. Now I need to start working on my website. I need to start really – I’m a subcontractor for this coaching collaborative – and I really need to step up to the plate with my own. And so I was able to focus on that versus where I have been niched in with the coaching collaborative. So really cool to go through this, this process. Yeah.
David Buck 106:06
Awesome, great. That’s the idea. To have a place where you can explore your own vision, your own imagination where you want to go. It’s not easy to do that by yourself. It just isn’t. But in a group, it sparks and once you get sparked in the group, then you can go and do stuff. You know, you just need that catalyst. Oftentimes, to get that get a little clarity and a little spark. Awesome. Henry, go ahead.
Henry Daas 106:36
Thanks for doing this. Coach Dave. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been on one of these calls and it just reminded me of how much I really enjoy them and how thought provoking and how much fun they are. So it might be the cabin fever talking but I don’t think so. I think it was really a nice opportunity to share with some really smart and, and powerful coaches. So, Thank You
David Buck 107:08
Yeah, well said thank you, Henry. That’s exactly right. Yeah, that is the value. So perfect. So thank you all so much for being here today. It was great and I loved it. I really appreciate everyone who shared and had the courage to speak up and co create with me in these conversations.
David Buck 107:32
We have a bunch more of these planned over the next week or so. And as the as the pandemic rolls we’ll add more. And just love to have you come and participate in any of these conversations and then in April, we will be starting the new program, the BIG Freedom program. If you’re a member of our school, you can jump right in at no additional price. And it’s very inexpensive for members {who are not students} who are who are early adopters. The early adopter price is really sweet. And you can see that also on the website, just click on the Big Freedom button at the top of the page. And so either way, you know, we’d love to have you.
David Buck 108:20
And in addition, we will be having – at least for sure during this time, -many conversations that are totally free. Jump in; participate; co create, and just enjoy the profound belonging that we’re always playing for here at CoachVille. All right. So again, thank you very much. It was really sweet to be with you and I wish you all a great rest of your day.
David Buck 108:50
So one of our new things you do you haven’t been coachable for a little while at the end of class. We say with each other that we are going out to play. Alright I’m turning on the microphone and let each other know that we’re either going out to play or stayed in to play, but just as long as it ends with play, that’s good. Okay, so the microphones are on
Group 109:30
Going out to play!!!