Group Coaching makes some coaches and clients nervous. I’m not exactly sure what it is about sharing our deepest desires with a group of people that makes us sweat and shake. Do you think it’s simply the fear of judgment?

I have to admit stepping out from the sacred space of my one on one sessions and onto that conference line with a group of people awaiting my coaching left me feeling a little queasy at first too. The pleasure quickly took over and the feeling I just jumped off a high cliff edge subsided. Group Coaching could be your ticket to more time freedom in your life and quicker results for your clients.

Is that enough reason for you to bite the bullet and take a leap of faith with me?

I Would like to Own my Very Own Time Machine

What if I told you that I knew a secret that would allow you to have more time in your life, increase your new clients monthly (with no extra time from you) and get your clients to take more action?

Would you do whatever it took to invite that time machine into your life?

Well my friend the secret is Group Coaching. By becoming a group coach you can coach mass amounts or people at one time. This means you provide the same value as a coach and charge a slightly reduced coaching fee. In the one hour you would normally change one person’s life you transform many.

I Don’t Know What to do to Start a Group Session

I began my first group coaching by starting a mastermind group for my current clients. As part of their monthly coaching package they receive admission to a group coaching held on a free conference line (www.freeconferencecall.com). I hold this group the first week of each month. I began by picking a general life coaching topic that could apply to everyone. Topics that went well were time management, setting standards, health, relationships or anything I recognized was a common trend between my clients that month. During the call everyone introduces themselves and what they are working on in their life right now. At the end of the call we finish by setting a goal and commitment to be held accountable for throughout the month. It is as simple as that to get started.

How Does Group Coaching Add Time to my Life?

The Group Coaching call replaces one of my clients accountability check in calls each month. This means instead of coaching 15 people for 15 hours that week I now check in with all 15 in one to two hours.

Group Coaching sessions are open for new people to join each month. It is an easy, set way for me to invite new prospects to experience what it is like to receive coaching from me. This is also a live speaking testimonial for new clients to see the results my current clients are getting. The best part is that once my clients are ready to move on from coaching they choose to stay a part of the group, for accountability, at a small monthly fee. So I not only save that 15 hours a month coaching, I now save hours prospecting and marketing.

Does it Really Help my Clients with Their Results?

My clients have all come to know one another through our monthly meetings. They are able to collaborate and share resources in ways that are not available in one on one sessions. In many of our group coaching calls they will coach each other through encouragement, feedback or sometimes just listening to the other’s complain. You’re standards increase when you have more people to check in with on your commitments. I have also had clients find success through connecting with one another in compatible collaborations toward their goals.

Don’t Let Your Fear Keep You From Success

Did you know that fear and Excitement have the same genetic make up? Maybe that queasy feeling you labeled fear is excitement. Start to get excited about coaching a group. Weather you are coach or client, group coaching could be your ticket to a higher level of success.

You have a gift to share! The more you can reach at one time, the merrier. Invite everyone to set his or her Resolutions with you in a powerful accountability group. Start off your New Year with a Bang! It’s your time to Share and Shine.

Jeannine Yoder
Life Coach
Writing team, Coaches Training Blog Community

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

To win it all with group coaching, you have to get the best for each of your clients and for you. To do this, you have to do the group stuff in groups, and the individual stuff one-on-one. I am talking about optimizing it for each of your clients and for you, as well. That is: better results for each of the members of the group, at a lower individual cost, with more total dollars in your pocket. Sound good? It is. Read on.

Group Coaching Is all about Doing the Best for Each Individual Client

By doing the group stuff in a group, and doing individual stuff in generous one-on-one sessions, the group coach minimizes their time and cost investment, and at the same time, thrills their clients with great results at minimum cost. So, decide the things you can do best in the group – the things where group dynamics are working for you, and decide the things best done individually. Do that and you are on your way.

Now Clearly Define the One-on-One Stuff

Yes. Think it through. The trick to group coaching is to understand what are those things best handled individually – let’s say personally – for the greatest impact. Spend the time and effort to really hit the homeruns! You clients get it and will really appreciate it.

So Here Is the Math

Zero in on two numbers: cost per client and your dollars per hour — two different sides of the same coin. Assuming you are delivering terrific results for each client, the lower the cost to each client, the more clients you will have – if you do it right and word gets around, it will go viral. That is the ultimate pay off in group coaching, which means that when the word gets around, you may never have to look for a new client again.

Would you like an endless stream of new coaching clients? Simply fill out the form to the right with your first name and email and I’ll send you free videos with step-by-step blueprints for generating a massive income from high paying coaching clients.

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

If you think group coaching is all about the economies of coaching six to eight people in a single session, then you are missing the point. Coaching a group is all about the group – that is, the dynamics of the group are what can make this coaching format great.

Mix or Match, but Make It Work

There are three elements to constructing your group for successful group coaching. First, look for common interests. Second, look for a balance of expertise. Finally, look for a mix of positive energies.

Nothing Common about Common Interests

There are many things that can establish common interests. For example, members of the same network marketing business have a common interest. Members of the same profession have a common interest. People of the same age or same nationality. People with the same handicap, disease or height. Or people who all hate or are hated by the same enemy all. All of these have common interests. The key is not to limit the group by your own limited thinking. Try letting the group define the common interest.

Expertise Can Be Balanced by Diversity or by Sameness

People may join a group to be with people who are of the same expertise. They may find comfort in knowing that they are all in it together, as they explore and expand their horizons. On the other hand, people may come to a group looking for complementary expertise. An accountant may join a group composed of a lawyer, a marketeer, a sales person, and an HR specialist – all of whom are hoping that an accountant will finally join their coaching group.

Positive Energy Is the Single Most Critical Element in Successful Group Coaching

There is nothing that can kill a group or your success with group coaching faster than introducing negative “can’t-do” energy into the group you are coaching. This may be the single most critical thing you must manage as you assemble your coaching group. In some cases, you may have to block the entry of someone who might seem to have every other reason to be there. In other cases, you may have to engineer the exit of a current member of the group. In either case, deftly executing this maneuver my just be your most important skill in doing successful group coaching.

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Group coaching can reduce the cost of coaching. It can be less intimidating than one-on-one coaching. And there is the benefit of the “mastermind effect”. But the greatest advantage of coaching groups comes when you are building high performance teams.

Launch the Group Using Assessments

Using assessments launches your coaching group with a bang. As the coach, you can share insights into the group’s members and their interaction that even longtime team members don’t have. This magic gives you instant credibility and can move you from newcomer to the inner circle in a single session.

Define the Roles and Rules within the Team

High performance teams are often referred to as “well oiled machines”. And somehow that seems to make sense, but what does it actually mean? It means that each part knows what they are and what they are supposed to do. It means that each part knows the other parts and what their jobs are. It also means that each part is ready to provide what the other parts need to be successful. Each part can depend on the other parts. And a generous slathering of oil reduces friction to a minimum.

Now think of a typical workplace team. How in tune is each person to their fellow workers? How much is each person there to provide just what their fellow workers need to succeed? How much – if any –emotional “oil” is there to help eliminate friction?

Most teams will benefit tremendously by working through the roles and rules of the team. Group coaching is the best way to help your client do this.

Use Group Coaching to Get Your Client Moving in the Right Direction

Once your client’s team is a “well oiled machine,” it doesn’t help much if it is moving rapidly in the wrong direction. Through group coaching, you can not only help all the members understand the overall business goals and their part in achieving them, but as a coach, you can also show each team member how working together they can satisfy their own four fundamental needs (the needs for love and connection, significance, variety and certainty), but how helping other team members satisfy their needs, they can best achieve their own fundamental needs. And once this happens you have just super-charged your client’s well oiled machine!

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Far more often than not, meetings are a complete waste of time. The leader doesn’t do their homework. Attendees come unprepared. And there are never enough ham-and-swiss-on-rye sandwiches to go around. Unfortunately, your clients enter your group coaching sessions in a meeting state of mind.

Don’t Facilitate. Agitate.

It is critical from the very first moment to interrupt their “meeting mindset.” You have to startle them into consciousness. And you don’t do that by “facilitating.” So unless you hold your group coaching sessions in a hot tub, your first goal is to establish yourself as THE COACH. Establish a higher standard of achievement. I always ask myself: “What would Vince Lombardi do?”

Ask the Tough Questions. Then Wait for the Answers

Now this is the tricky part – a real balancing act. You are not the “BOSS” – that’s the one at the head of the conference table – and you probably are not a coach with four season contract. So how do you make both the boss and Vince proud of you? EASY! Remember that the person asking the questions is the one in control. So in your group coaching, just keep asking those really tough questions. And then wait for your clients to come up with the answers. You do your job. Make them do theirs.

In Group Coaching, It Pays to Have a Winning Record

Businesses are in business to make a profit. Profits come from satisfying customers and controlling costs. Each of these comes from successfully implementing excellent business plans. Your clients call you in and will be happy to pay you the big bucks, if your group coaching makes a MEASURABLE difference in their achieving their goals – I mean profits. So if you want to have your contract extended, you better know how they are keeping score, and when they look at the scoreboard they all say to themselves: “Way to go, Coach!

By the way… you’re invited to claim your FREE step-by-step “Life Coaching Business Blueprint” video toolkit. Just go HERE now to get your life coaching business blueprint videos.

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Group coaching can leverage time and increase income. Sounds great. But, not if you sacrifice the quality of your clients’ coaching experience. Follow these tips and you can get the best of everything.

Don’t Let Your Clients Hide in the Crowd

Coaching clients are torn. They come to coaching to get personal help and attention. But since this is sometimes painful, they also like to duck when the spotlight comes their way.

One approach is to have a systematic way of working with your group. Don’t always ask for volunteers or let your “big talkers” dominate the conversation. If members of the group don’t want to get involved use light hearted humor to draw them out. Once you have engaged a reluctant member use simple questions that lead to deeper more personal questions.

Mix and Match in Your Coaching Group

By controlling the mix, group coaching can be much more productive. Consider including only women, only men, people of a certain age group, marrieds versus singles, people from a single area or job within a company, or people randomly selected from across the organization. Occasionally, restructure your group dividing it or blending two groups together for variety. This dynamic approach can add to the energy of the group, and encourage participants to feel more comfortable opening up.

Go Hybrid for the Ultimate in Group Coaching

Combining group and one-on-one sessions in a single program can give you the ultimate results. For example, you might have three sessions each month. During the first week, have a traditional group session. During the second and third weeks, have shorter one-on-one accountability sessions. These can be done by a few coaches so while each client has single accountability coach, you can lighten your load. If you like, you can add a guided mastermind session on the third week of the month, for added value and variety. The result is dynamic, interesting, impactful and efficient coaching, that is only possible with carefully planned group coaching!

Would you like an endless stream of new coaching clients? Simply fill out the form to the right with your first name and email and I’ll send you free videos with step-by-step blueprints for generating a massive income from high paying coaching clients.

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Group coaching is one of the best ways to leverage your coaching time and energy. It’s a one to many strategy rather than a one to one strategy, which means that you get paid by many (hopefully) clients for presenting your content and coaching only once.

Your Group Coaching Strategy

As a group coach, you need to plan your calls in advance. What exactly is the purpose of the calls?. Do you want to provide information and content on all the calls, some of the calls, before the calls? Is there a curriculum to follow with a beginning, middle and end? Or do you want to give your clients a more free-form experience by responding to whatever the group members bring up on the call? Will you provide accountability to help keep your clients moving forward? Will there be discussion and interaction amongst the participants? There is no right or wrong way to organize group coaching calls. Whatever serves your clients best is right.

Providing Content

For many group coaching programs, you might want to provide some education or content to your clients before the actual calls. The JTS Master Coach Council meetings are an example of this system. There are videos to watch before each call, and the calls are an opportunity to get coaching on the content. If there is something particularly critical in the videos, master coach Jeff Sooey, who runs these calls, reviews that content at the beginning of the call for anyone who hasn’t watched the videos yet. That way everyone is up to speed before the questions and coaching begin. Another way to handle this might be ask for a commitment from everyone in the group to review the materials before each call. Then hold them accountable.

As Always, Success Depends On The Right Mindset

When you commit to starting a group coaching program, commit totally. Once you set a start date, you need to make that group happen. There’s no looking back! Reverse engineer your planning so that you have sufficient lead time to develop your marketing and materials, and to launch your program. If you don’t have as many clients enrolled as you want, appeal to those who are already enrolled to bring along a friend who they think would benefit. Or make a special offer of some sort. When the start date comes around, though, run the program even if you only have two or three people in it. That’s how committed you need to be.

No matter how many or how few people come to your program, making it happen is an act of creation. Respect yourself and the process, feel proud of what you have accomplished, and learn from your mistakes. And be sure to leave a comment and let me know if these tips are helpful to you.

By the way… you’re invited to claim your FREE step-by-step “Master Coach Blueprint” video toolkit. Just go HERE now to get your master coach blueprint videos.

Dorine G. Kramer
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Have you ever thought about creating a group coaching program, but didn’t know where to start? It’s simpler than you might think, and this post will show you how to get your very own group started. There are just a few steps that are crucial to make sure your coaching program is a success.

Group Coaching Made Simple

1. Get a conference line that allows you to record calls, such as FreeConferenceCall.com. Make sure you record and save each call. At the beginning of each call they must press a key to acknowledge they are being recorded. You should also put an agreement to be recorded in your coaching agreement that they sign.

2. On the first call, have each participant share their top 3 goals. Spend a few minutes with each of your coaching clients to make sure their goals are not only clear to you, but to the rest of the group as well.

3. Once everyone is clear about what they want out of the group coaching program, ask individuals what result they would like to get out of the call. Spend 15-20 minutes of laser coaching for each request. Although each client is unique, the issues that most people face are universal and everyone on the call will receive value. When you transform one person you will shift the others on the call as well. Remember the last time you passively watched a movie that made an impact on how you felt and thought about something?

4. Begin and end each call with some accountability from everyone. At the beginnings of the calls go through the list of people who committed to action at the end of the last call. Just knowing that they are committing in front of a group is enough to motivate most people to get things done, in a peer pressure way. If you have good accountability skills, this portion of your group coaching calls will be even more powerful.

5. Post your recordings on a secured website for your clients. If you go through 3 topics in a single call, then create 3 separate posts. Give each a catchy name that describes the result they should get from the session. Within a few months you will be well on your way to creating a valuable library.

The Key Is To Get Started

Some people are hesitant to start group coaching programs because they don’t feel that they know everything. In many ways, it’s not so different to coach in a group. Just make sure you are there fully for your clients and the results they want, and don’t allow yourself to make the sessions about whether you are nervous or not. You will grow as a coach along with your group.

By the way… you’re invited to claim your FREE step-by-step “Life Coach Salary Secrets” video toolkit. Just go HERE now to get your Life Coach Salary Secrets.

Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Group coaching is a great way to leverage your time, as well as provide value for clients who can’t afford your usual coaching fees. The value of group sessions goes beyond financial. By participating in a group, your clients can provide inspiration for other in the group and also receive accolades from the other participants. This type of peer group can create real synergy in the lives of your clients, and often long term friendships are formed. If you are serious about starting your own group coaching programs, however, there are some important things you must address.

Adding Value to Your Group Coaching Programs

1. Know your clients. It’s hard to get to know individuals in a group coaching program. What I do is run a series of assessments on every participant such as D.I.S.C. and Values Assessments. It’s crucial to know what their style is and what the value when they

2. Create an environment where the participants get to know each other. Some ways you can do this are to have each client share their top 3 goals with the group and allow 5 minutes at the beginning of the call for people to share any big wins or challenges since the previous call. When people know each other in the group, they feel more comfortable opening up and sharing.

3. Create a website where you can provide resources. This is a great value add. If you don’t have any material you can start by posting replays of the group sessions. You can even edit each session down to a few separate posts and give them titles so people can search for a result that may have been covered in a previous session.

Consider That What You Are Offering Is Priceless

Many coaches don’t value their own group coaching programs. When you consider that you create access to coaching that almost anyone can afford and at the same time provide the benefits of an empowering peer group, it can be a powerful addition to your other coaching programs.

Hope you took some great value out of this post today! I’d love to hear your feedback, so make sure you leave a comment with your thoughts or questions. And also, you can click on the Twitter button below to retweet this article… Thank you!

Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Designated Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business

Marketing your life coaching business is really a two step process. First you need to find out what people want, and then find a way to give it to them. Oversimplified? Not really. Finding out who your target market is and what they want can be the million dollar question. And finding out how your life coaching business can deliver it to them can be just as complicated. Do they want one-on-one coaching? Group coaching? A home study program? Before you offer group coaching or any other products or services, you need to check in with your clients to find out what they really want.

From Group Coaching to One-on-One Sessions, You Have to Find Out What Your Clients Want

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The first step to marketing your life coaching business is to find out what people want. There are lots of ways to do this. You could just walk up to people and ask them, create a survey, or create a focus group. There are also ways to meet potential life coaching business customers virtually through social networks such as Google groups, Ning.com, Yahoo Groups, Facebook and YouTube. YouTube isn’t just about videos, by the way; there groups of people who follow certain videos and gurus on that site. These groups or communities are great places to look for people who might fit into group coaching.

Life Coaching Business Marketing Has to Focus on Your Solutions

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The second step to marketing your life coaching business is to let your clients know you have what they want and can deliver it to them. Communicating this information is key. You have to connect the dots for your potential clients to see you as their solution. And each group or community will have their own language, needs, and values. Just like you would learn some of the language of customs of a country’s people before you travel to their world, you want to make sure you know your group’s language, needs, and values before you present yourself or your group coaching as their solution.

Group Coaching is One Way to Get to Know Your Clients Better

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They key to finding out which products or services your life coaching business is going to provide is to again ask your clients. Hang out with them. Get to know them, whether you do it virtually, live or via telephone. And the best way to become friends is to offer value. If they feel that filling out a survey will help you give more value to them; they will happily take the time to fill out the surveys or answer your questions. You can find out if they would even be interested in group coaching, or if they would prefer another format.

You might have a lot of reasons why you want to offer group coaching in your life coaching business, but the only reasons you clients will want to hear about is how it benefits them. The more you understand what your clients want, the better you’ll be able to provide it for them.

Colette Seymann
JTS Advisors Bi-Designated Strategy and Accountability Coach

Technorati Tags: Group Coaching, Life Coaching Business