This is the “Age of Networking.” Whether face to face or via social media, you can connect with more people in a single day, than your grandparents could in a lifetime. This makes networking key to the success of your coaching practice. But you’ve got to do it right.

Make the People You Meet Your Coaching Practice’s Unpaid Recruiters

The secret is not to try to convince the people that you meet at networking events to use your services directly. They may be put off if you seem too pushy. Timing is also an issue. Unless they are thinking right then that they need a coach, there is a good chance that your message won’t appeal to them.
Instead, turn these people into unpaid recruiters.

Create an Elevator Pitch that Becomes a Secret Weapon for Your Coaching Practice

Your new elevator pitch, which will make building your coaching practice easy, contains these parts

1. Your name
2. Your title
3. Your company name (optional)
4. A very specific description of your target client
5. A very succinct description of the benefit you bring them from their perspective
6. An invitation for them to refer target prospective clients to you

Your elevator pitch should last about a minute, so create one that is between 160 and 200 words long.

You Must Turn on Their Radar to Get Their Help

The last part of your elevator pitch has to turn on their “client-seeking radar” which is their reticular activator. Their reticular activator is the part of their brain that filters out all the things that are not valuable for them to notice – which keeps their brain from getting completely overwhelmed with all the inputs that come from their senses. By explaining exactly what an ideal prospective client looks like and how they might express their need for the help you can provide to them, you are programming the reticular activators of your new client recruiters. The next time your recruiters overhear someone say they need what you can provide, the recruiters’ reticular activators will fire off and send the message to their brains to pass your contact information to the prospect and suggest that they give you a call.

Do this over and over, and you will create a whole army of recruiters helping you build your coaching practice!

Give this strategy a try and see for yourself that it works. If you liked this coaching tip, leave a comment or use the handy bookmark buttons below to share it with others on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. Thanks!

Dave Iuppa
JTS Advisors Strategy and Accountability Coach