29 Jun 2 Proven Marketing Strategies to Fill Your Calendar With Coaching Clients

2 Proven Marketing Strategies to Fill

Your Calendar With Coaching Clients

Back when I was the Director of Marketing for my family’s business, I tried countless ways to get new leads and sales…but I always had little to no results. 

 

I can’t even begin to express how hard it was to show up every day without a real marketing plan and strategy in place that actually worked. I felt so much pressure, and honestly like a failure. 

 

I mean, I went to college for Marketing…but I felt so unprepared. 

 

It wasn’t until I discovered something called a sales funnel that brought order to chaos and I started creating real sales from my efforts.

 

So, if you’ve tried a bunch of different ways to grow your business, and everything feels random and like nothing is working together, then read on because what I’m about to show you, they don’t teach in college. 

 

Why Coaching Websites DON’T Work Well to Create Leads and Sales?

 

I had been taught by marketing gurus of today that you had to have a website with really clear messaging in order to get new leads and sales.

 

Well…that’s a BIG FAT LIE. 

 

I know, because I spent many months creating a beautiful website for my family’s business that I was so proud of…and when I showed it to my old-school uncle (our V.P.) he told me it was “just a fancy online brochure”. 

 

That phrase crushed me, but he was actually right. 

 

Websites aren't meant to grow your business, its meant to display it

 

To show you why that’s true, let’s take a look at this simple image I drew of a typical website layout. 

On a normal coaching website you’ll usually see:

• A logo in the top left corner
• Links across the top navigation bar like “Contact Us”, “Pricing”, “About Us”, “Login”, ect
• Beneath that, some text called a Headline and a Subheadline with a Call To Action button underneath, that might say something like “Watch Video”, “Schedule An Appointment”, “Start Free Trial”, “Download Free Resource” etc. 
• Then underneath all of that, you might see some links to products, content, testimonials, etc.
• And more

The reason why websites don’t work to grow a business is that there are too many places for someone to go!

 

If they have all of these choices to make, they are most likely NOT going to take the action that you want them to, which in this case is becoming a prospect and a client. There are too many choices and without simple and direct guidance, well things won’t go the way you think they should on a website.

 

Another way to put it is: A confused mind says no.

 

Coaching Websites Confuse Visitors by having Too Many Options

 

Think of it like this…

 

A friend of yours is coming over to your house, but you didn’t give them good directions.

 

On their way, they came to a fork in the road. They are going to pause for a moment, and choose to either go left or right. One of the roads leads to your house, but it was up to them to choose. The chances of them choosing the correct road are 50/50.

 

Now imagine your friend came to a road with 20 forks in it. They are going to be really confused, frustrated, and either turn around or guess and most likely take the wrong road and never make it over to your house. 

 

Your website is the road with 20 forks, and since someone visiting it has too many options to take, they don’t take the one you want them to and they’ll never become a lead or a paying customer.

 

So, it looks like this image below. Each arrow represents a link click and someone going away from your intended action. If someone has multiple options to choose, they don’t have a good path or directions.

If someone lands on your website, they have all of these places to go, and rarely do they choose to book a call with you, or buy a product the first time. They’ll most likely leave after 3 seconds because people have a super short attention span. (apparently, Goldfish can focus longer than we can, who knew)

 

This is why if you ever run ads to a website, you don’t get good results. Visitors will take the wrong action, instead of taking the action you want them to take. Yes, I’ve done this before and learned the hard way.

 

Which is why we eliminate all of the noise, options, and confusion with a sales funnel.

 

Why Sales Funnels Work BETTER Than Websites

To Get Coaching Clients Online

Since a website confuses people with too many options, a sales funnel only gives someone a single option to take per page – and since we’re talking about business growth, that single option is to become a lead.

 

The goal of a page will give a single option or offer like:

• Download this Free Resource
• Book a Call
• Buy Now, ect.

 

But we don’t ever combine all of those, because it will confuse people. It’s really important that the page only gives 1 offer.

 

In our analogy of the forks in the road, a sales funnel is like having a straight and narrow path to your friend’s house, with super clear directions.

 

2 Proven Sales Funnel Strategies That Will Fill Your Calendar With Coaching Prospects

 

Ok, now that we’ve covered why websites don’t work to grow your business, and sales funnels do, let’s go over 2 funnel strategies that book calls with coaching prospects. What I love about both of these strategies is that they keep working 24/7. While I was on a vacation with my family (currently remodeling this bad boy) I still had leads coming in for my business because these are in place. You can add these to your business as well!

Well, what is a Coaching sales funnel? What does a sales funnel for coaching look like?

 

First off, you’re probably wondering what a coaching sales funnel is?

 

A sales funnel is simply a series of web pages that help to generate leads and customers by taking them down a single, thoughtful path – I’ll call it a “funnel” for short. 

 

Someone lands on a single page, and if they take that action, they’ll see the next page. I’ll show you what it looks like below.

 

Strategy #1: The Fill Your Coaching Calendar Funnel

I love this strategy because it works to build your email list and book a strategy call with you. 

This funnel came straight out of the Get Client’s Funnel Program, which Ron and I launched a few months ago, and is now cranking out leads and booking calls for the clients who went through it. 

Let’s look at the section called “Sales Funnel” in the image above. The 3 boxes represent the web pages of the funnel. 

Page #1: Coaching Opt-In Lead Magnet

 

People are way more likely to engage with you when you offer something for free. If you were to even charge a penny, you would have a lot fewer people buy from you rather than if you give something away for free. This gives someone a chance to trust you as an authority by giving them value upfront. There are studies to prove this, but I won’t go into this now.

 

The goal is for a prospect to give you their contact information in exchange for something of really high value, for free. 

 

The free resource is a marketing term called a lead magnet.

Often times the lead magnet is a free resource like a:

 

• Report/Guide
• Toolkit/Resource List
• Quiz/Survey
• Cheat Sheet/Handout
• Video Training

 

When someone downloads, they are added to your email list – side note: email is still the #1 way to sell online – it still outperforms social media followings.

 

As soon as they click the Download button, they are brought to the 2nd page in the Fill Your Calendar Funnel

 

Page #2: Coaching Thank You Page + Scheduler

 

Immediately, they’ll see a message confirming that their download is on the way to their inbox, but to check out the free video training below. 

 

We call this video the “Shock and Awe” video. Its whole goal is to get someone excited enough to book a call with you by adding additional, unexpected free training. 

 

Below the video, they’ll see a scheduler that is linked to your calendar. A visitor can book a call with you right there. 

 

If for whatever reason they don’t book a call with you, a series of automated emails go out that remind the prospect why you can help to transform their lives. The emails follow up with the prospect, so you don’t have to.

 

Page #3: Coaching Session Confirmation

 

Once someone books a call with you, they are taken to the next page in the funnel that tells them their call is confirmed.

 

On this page, we’ll put a thank you video telling the prospect how to prepare for the call and inviting them to dive a little deeper in the meantime by joining a Facebook group, reading a blog, listening to a podcast, or even purchasing a low ticket product. 

 

The Traffic Source to Find Coaching Clients Online

 

Now that we’ve covered the 3 funnel pages (or steps), let’s look at how you fill the funnel with targeted prospects.

 

I mentioned earlier that sending people to a website doesn’t work to generate leads because they have multiple options to take.

 

When you send someone to the Opt-In page of this Fill Your Calendar Funnel, they only have one choice – download your free resource. 

 

Do you see how it makes more sense to the prospect, and how they are more likely to take the action (download your free thing) if there aren’t a bunch of other options in their way?

 

You can fill your funnel in many ways:

 

• I like to start by sending prospects to funnels with an existing following on Facebook, Instagram, etc, as well as their email list. This saves money and you can still see really great results. 
• You can also create content like a blog, podcast, YouTube video, and give a call to action at the end to download your lead magnet.
• Of course, running paid ads is going to be the fastest way to fill the funnel, but also the most expensive. 

 

There are many ways to fill the funnel with traffic, but these are just a few. 

 

Follow Up Emails to Get Coaching Clients

 

Here’s a fact: not everyone that visits your funnel is going to book a call with you after they’ve downloaded your lead magnet. That’s why it’s really important to have an automated follow-up email series in place to send out for when they don’t book. 

 

With this, someone receives a series of emails from you, clicks the link, and goes back to the page. Having this set up will greatly increase your chances of filling your calendar.

 

The follow-up email series only sends out if they don’t schedule with you and stops sending when they do, so it doesn’t annoy the prospect. 

 

The emails that go out are typically very conversational and do a good job of reminding them that you can help them get out of their pain by booking a call with you. 

 

Let’s Look At A Real-Life “Fill Your Coaching Calendar” Funnel Example

 

This Petra Gordon’s funnel. Petra is a Widow Support Coach and recently completed the Get Clients Funnel Program with us here at Christ-Centered Coaching. She is now booking calls through her funnel with prospects and starting her coaching business off on the right foot. She’s an amazing woman of God, who truly has the Lord’s heart to help widows. 

 

This is Petra’s Coaching Client Opt-In Page:

The whole goal is to gain a lead and build the email list. When someone enters their email address, they’ll get access to her video training.

 

Here is Petra’s Coaching Thank You + Scheduler Page:

There’s a simple message confirming the download is on the way to their inbox, and she created a great “Shock and Awe” video sharing her heart-wrenching story and helps widows understand the turnaround and healing she’s had and how she can help them too. 

Below the video, someone has access to her calendar and can automatically book a call with her.

 

After they book, it takes them to the final page.

 

Petra’s Coaching Confirmation Page

Petra gives a simple thank you message and invites them to join her private Facebook group to give additional value and support.

Strategy #2: The Application Funnel

I love this strategy because it qualifies leads for you, so you don’t have to spend your valuable time and energy on trying to help someone who won’t actually value your time in return.

Page #1: Coaching Client Application Page

The reason people love the application funnel is that it allows you to screen people before jumping on a call with them. You can ask some really pointed and questions that generate very detail-rich responses. In fact, the way you ask the questions help to prime someone for the call so they really realize how badly they want to end the pain that they are currently in, and how you can help solve it for them. 

 

You don’t want to ask a bunch of close-ended questions that give a Yes or No response. Close-ended questions start with “Can”, “Did”, “Will”, or “Have”. Though they do have their place, it’s good to mix it up with open-ended questions to get specific details from your prospect of how you can help them.

The beauty of really powerful open-ended questions is that you can get to know someone really deeply, quickly.

 

I would recommend spending some time in prayer and asking the Lord what some really good questions are to ask to help you understand your prospect more. 

 

I was getting a haircut once and we all know how surface-level barbershop conversations can be. I began asking the Lord what questions I could ask my barber to get to know him better, and simply asked him what I heard Him speak. Within moments, my barber began pouring his heart out to me, and I just listened and kept asking questions when needed. At the end of the haircut, he said “this is the best day I’ve had in 3 years!” He’d kept all of that cooped up inside for too long. People just want to be understood, and questions help do that. 

 

Another reason why an application funnel works is because it repels people who aren’t that interested – which means that people who do fill out your application are VERY interested in getting your help. 

 

If someone sees your application and doesn’t take 5 minutes to fill it out, they wouldn’t be a good client for you anyways. 

 

But someone who does fill it out is ready to get their problem solved and is much more likely to receive value and become a paying client.

 

Here are a few questions I used with a client that helped CrossFit Gym owners eliminate expensive bulk printed shirt orders

 

• Why is eliminating your merchandise overhead important to you NOW?
• How long have you held on to old merchandise that won’t sell? 
• What do you believe is the BIGGEST obstacle that has held you back as it relates to your merchandise? 
• How would eliminating your merchandise overhead change your business moving forward? 

 

When prospects completed the whole application, they were so excited to get on a call with my client. They couldn’t believe what he was offering and how it solved their biggest problem – leftover shirt inventory. 

 

They basically closed the deal themselves and were his best clients. 

 

Tip: use the application responses as inspiration for understanding you prospect better – learning their pain and what would help them solve it. Refer back to the responses often for copywriting inspiration.

 

We also present some powerful testimonials on this page to reinforce how you help people get real results. If you’re just starting out, you can skip testimonials for now, and add them as you get them. 

 

Page #2: Coaching Session Scheduler

Once someone fills out the application, they are taken to the next page in the funnel where they can book a call with you. I like to use a program called Calendly, that syncs with your calendar, so you get appointments scheduled automatically from the funnel with no extra steps – pretty great!

When someone books a call with you, you’ll get notified and reminder emails are sent out. I like to have calls on Zoom and connect it with Calendly to save me from having to send out the invite manually.

 

Page #3: Confirmation

 

Once someone books a call with you, they are taken to the same confirmation page as above, which again, thanks them and presents a next step.

 

Let’s Look At Petra’s Coaching Client Application Funnel

Here’s her coaching application page:

Petra is incredibly gifted and skilled but new to the coaching industry, and doesn’t have any testimonials yet. That’s ok, she’s still booking calls with people. When she has results, she can always add the testimonials onto this page.

 

Here’s Petra’s Coaching Client Scheduler Page

This is a pretty simple page. It doesn’t need much, because if someone is seeing this page, it means they’ve already filled out the application and are really invested. Once they book a call using the embedded Calendly app, they’ll go to the final page in the funnel.

 

We Use The Same Confirmation Page

I’m a big fan of keeping things clean and as easy as possible. This confirmation page is the same as the one in the first funnel. When someone books a call, it takes them here to invite them to Petra’s Facebook group.

 

Are Coaching Websites Dead and Get Coaching Client Funnels The Future?

I’ve heard people say websites are dead, and I wouldn’t agree. Websites still do serve their purpose to display your business, house information, and content, etc. 

 

A funnel functions to build your business by helping you work with the people God has called you to.

 

Implementing these strategies is how you book your calendar full of coaching prospects. 

 

So, what now?

 

I’m offering a free coaching session where you will see how this funnel, or another funnel strategy will work to build your audience, impact people God has called you to, and prosper your business. 

 

I can only work with a few people at a time, so book a Free Funnel Discovery Call with me here: https://www.christcenteredcoaching.com/apply

 

Be blessed, 

 

Jordan Hoopingarner

“Funnel Expert & Christ-Centered Coach”

 

 

P.S. Want our team to build you a custom Get Coaching Clients Funnel? The cool part is with only one client, a Coaching Sales Funnel pays for itself.

Learn more about how you can get coaching clients online by booking a Free Funnel Discovery Call