How to Pick a Coaching Topic that SELLS

1. Intro: Welcome to How to pick a coaching topic that sells. I'm really glad you're here because I believe that you have wisdom that can change lives. This could be problems that you've overcome in your own life, advice you often give to other people, especially if this is advice they often come to you for because they recognize you as someone who knows about this stuff and positive outcomes that you know how to get that others want. This could be challenging experiences that you know how to navigate, that other people don't that you've achieved in your life that other people want, but they just can't figure out how to get. So as long as you have something like this, something on this slide that you can help other people with, you do have wisdom that can change lives, even if you're just starting out. So you are in the right place if you want to turn your knowledge into a coaching or training program. You want to know if there's a market for what you're offering before you spend hours upon hours creating it. You don't want to feel pushy, awkward, or invasive when doing market research. You don't want to be one of those weird people who just pops into some stranger's inbox, like, Hey, what are your biggest struggles in the area of thing you have no business asking about? And you do want to create relationships that can not only help you to do this market research, but actually lead to future sales. So I'm Stephanie O'Brien, author, editor, and coaching program creator. I have written 14 novels, four of which were good enough by Adult need Standards to self publish. The others were teenage practice. I created a training program in as little as one month, and most of the networking contacts with people I meet in networking events, people I meet in groups, they're happy to hear from me. They're happy to see me in their inbox, and they actually respond to me. So in this class, I'm going to give you five steps you can use to identify the parts of your expertise that people will happily pay you for, figure out where your ideal clients are hanging out and how to connect with them, and discover what they need to hear in your coaching package and in the marketing that leads to it. So you can design a coaching program and a marketing message that your soulmate clients find irresistible. But in listen to, I'm going to help you pick your topic candidates and boost your confidence. So be sure to tune in for the rest of the class. I look forward to helping you to turn your wisdom into a life changing coaching program that sells 2. Are You Qualified to Coach On This?: Welcome back to How to pick a coaching topic that sells. In this lesson, I'm busting a myth that might be stopping you from sharing your wisdom. And that myth is that you have to be a top expert to make a difference. You might have been comparing yourself to other people who have been on the news, who have six or seven figure incomes, who have been in the field a lot longer than you, who can help people with more of the steps in their journey. But the reality is you don't have to be the most knowledgeable person in your field to make a difference. You just have to be the most knowledgeable person in a room full of your ideal clients because it's not your fellow coaches you're marketing to. It's not them that you're trying to help. It's your ideal clients who don't already have your field of expertise in their heads. So if you know how to solve a problem that they care about and create an outcome that they desire, then you can help them. In fact, sometimes just being one step ahead of them, being relatively new to your field can actually be a good thing because when somebody is so familiar with a field that it becomes second nature, they sometimes forget what their clients don't know. This can result in them giving incomplete or overly broad instructions because they just assume that their clients know what they know. But if you've recently been in your client's shoes, you remember what it's like to be them and you can meet them where they are. One example I often see is mindset coaches. They say stuff like, figure out what your limiting beliefs are or figure out what stories you're telling yourself about these circumstances. Well, if you're not familiar with how to self diagnose, if you don't have strategies for analyzing your own conclusions, you're not going to know what's a limiting belief and what's a fact, what's a story you're telling yourself, and what's just what happened. So they forget that their clients don't know how to do this. They tell them what to do, but not how to do it, and this results in their clients not knowing how to actually get results. So being newer to your field and remembering what it's like to be your clients, what they do and do not know how to do can actually help you to identify with them more, to understand what they need, and to explain it in terms that they can understand. That's not to say more experienced coaches can't do that, but the higher level of experience can create a disconnect between them and their clients. So as long as you can help people to take one step on their journey, and that you can actually explain how to take that step in a way that they can understand and implement, you can help them. So this course is an example. Picking your topic a niche isn't everything, but it's a necessary step. So I'm not helping you to take your entire journey. I'm not helping you to create your entire course in this one class. But picking a topic that sells is one necessary step without which the rest isn't going to work. So even by helping you take this one step, I'm helping you. So I encourage you to stay tuned for lesson three because your next step is going to be determining what steps you can help your clients take. But for now, I want you to stop and think about what is it that you can help your clients with, even if it's just one step and ask yourself, have I been telling myself that I can't help people just because I'm new? Have I been assuming that because I'm not a top guru, I can't help other people? Have you been selling yourself short and failing to realize just how well you can connect with your clients and how well you can explain things to them simply because you're in a position where you understand them and can relate to them. I encourage you to reflect on that and please be sure to tune into Lesson three. 3. Choosing Your Topic Options: Welcome to lesson three of how to pick a tooting topic that sells. In this lesson, you'll determine which subjects of expertise you have to choose from. So here are some questions you can use to create your list. What problems have you solved for yourself or for others? What positive outcomes have you created for yourself or others that people want but don't know how to get? What subjects do you know a lot about and enjoy talking about that people can use to improve their lives? And what challenging experiences if you learn to navigate smoothly? Like, for example, one person I know, she's been through cancer, so she knows how to navigate the cancer journey and recovery and dealing with the grief and the loss and the struggles that come with it. You're having trouble coming up with something, examine these areas, relationships. What can you help people within the area of relationships? What about mental health? What about physical health? What about time freedom or time management or energy management as some people use as an alternative? What about money management? Once they have money, how do they manage it so they can keep more of it and use it more efficiently? Choosing or growing a career that makes you happy and gives you the income and lifestyle that you want, founding or growing a business that once again makes you happy, gives you the income you want, the lifestyle you want, the impact on the world that you want. Caring for kids or elders or sick people, especially if you didn't expect to what about technology? Can you teach them about technology? Or how about politics or activism? Can you help them to pursue and effectively implement the causes and strategies that they desire? So those are just a few examples. If your area of expertise is not on that list, write it down anyway. These are just things to get your brain juices flowing. So your homework for this lesson is to write down all the problems that you can help people solve. If you have any trouble thinking of a problem or thinking of a solution that you offer, look at that list, and write down all the positive outcomes you can help them get. The more you can write down these positive outcomes in terms of the actual results that people get to the actual experiences they have as a result of working with you in their day to day lives, the better and as I said in lesson two, even if it's just one step of their journey, still write it down. Even if all you help people do is score that first date, you don't actually help them get married, you just help them score that first date or you don't help them to fully fix their health, you just help them to fix one aspect of their health, still write it down because this is still something they need, and, you know, for all you know, it might just be the one and only thing they need from you. So yeah, make sure that you write that down and then tune in to Lesson four. 4. Discover Which Topics Are In Demand: Hey, congratulations. You've made it to Lesson four. In this lesson, we'll look at the list of areas in which you can help people and see which ones are in demand. So if you're lucky, there might already be clear signs of what your audience wants. Otherwise, you'll have to do more market research. So here are a couple criteria you can use to see if your topic is in demand. Criterion one is, do people already tend to come to you for advice about this topic? This could be just in conversations, maybe they DM you about it. Maybe they send you emails. If people are just randomly coming to you for advice about this topic or recommending you to other people for advice about the topic, then you're already known as an expert in this field. Criterion two is, is there a problem you often hear people complaining about that you know how to solve? Even if they're not complaining to you, if you see this complaint coming up over and over again, then this is clearly something that's on people's minds. Bonus points if they're already spending time and money on ineffective solutions because this tells you these people are motivated to solve this issue, and they're willing to invest in a solution. So if your topic meets either of those criteria, then you probably already have expertise that you know you can sell. But if not, don't despair. There are several reasons why people might not spontaneously tell you their problems or desires. Maybe it's too painful for them to bring up or they're just not ready to face that pain. Maybe it's too personal, and they're more of a private type of person. Maybe they find it embarrassing. Maybe they feel like they can fix it themselves and they want to try fixing it themselves before asking for help. Maybe they're afraid of being swarmed with pitches. There are some things that I could probably use in my business that I'm afraid to post about on social media because I just know I am going to attract piranhas. Some of them may think they can't afford to pay for solutions. They might overestimate how much it'll cost or underestimate how much they can afford to pay because maybe they just aren't prioritizing it or they're spending their money on things that aren't as important as this solution actually would be to them if they really thought it through. Maybe they don't realize just how important it is to solve this problem. They don't realize just how much it's messing up their lives or how much better their lives could be if they solved it. And maybe they've paid for ineffective solutions before and don't want to risk it happening again. So how do you connect with people who aren't really advertising their need for you? Step one is to see where your ideal clients are hanging out. Here are some examples of places where you might find them. Groups on social media sites. For example, you can search for them with keywords like coaching or mothers depending on what kind of people you're serving. Another is forums or subreddits, other places where people can congregate that are dedicated to your area of expertise, especially ones that are geared toward sharing tips or solutions. Because this is a place where people are already coming when they have questions and need answers. Another is offline groups such as groups for new mothers, and another is the comment sections of articles, videos, or social media posts on the topics you want to teach on. So step two is to watch for indications of what people need this can include people saying, Oh, I needed that advice in the comment section because this tells you the topic of the content is something people needed to learn about. People say, I have that problem, or I had that problem, people asking questions that you can answer, people seeking clarification about something the article, post or video said, and people saying, this won't really help me or I can't use this because insert reason here. That's a good one because it indicates where people need help, but they're not being served by existing solutions. Now, two important notes here. One is, do not hijack other people's posts or videos, et cetera, and go straight to selling. Brging into somebody else's platform or their convent section, et cetera, and immediately pitching your stuff is generally seen as tacky, rude and desperate. I hate it when people do it to me. I'm pretty sure everyone else hates it when people do that to them. You're not there to hijack their post. You're there to see what kind of help people need. So if you see someone express a need for help or answers, tell them you think you can help and ask if you can offer some advice. Do ask first because this shows respect for their boundaries, and it kind of gets them into yes mode by getting a relatively easy yes right out of the gate. So that way, you're not just barging in with unsolicited advice, you're offering to see if you can help. And another is the goal of this is not to mimic the voices of the other coaches or content creators whose stuff you're looking into. See what works, learn about the principles behind it and draw inspiration from it. But if you find yourself comparing your work to theirs and taking every difference as a flaw, stop. That's the devil talking. People will choose you over other experts in your field because they resonate with your personality and your teaching style. So don't cover that up by mimicking someone else. This not the point of this exercise. And honestly, if you mimic someone else in your marketing and then they actually start coaching with you, they're probably going to wind up weirded out and disappointed because they thought they were working with one person when they're actually working with another. So you still be yourself. We'll learn, take it as a buffet. You take what resonates with you, take what works for you, and leave the rest. So yeah, the point of this exercise is to see what problems and needs people have, especially when the problems and needs aren't really being served by other solutions. What outcomes they want to create, especially ones that other people aren't helping them create and what information or help they are not already getting from other experts. But this is just to see where they hang out and what problems they're discussing publicly. So what about the problems they don't publicly discuss? So in the next video, I'm going to give you some ways to get more in depth information without being invasive or spammy. I'm going to give you some strategies for actually making connections with people for building relationships. And these relationships can lead to sales or referrals. So definitely be sure to tune into the next video. In the meantime, I encourage you to go online and see if you can find any videos, forums, groups, et cetera, where your ideal clients hang out. 5. Booking Market Research Calls: Welcome back to pick a coaching topic that sells. In the last lesson, you learned about some places where your ideal clients might be seeking answers. You learned how to see what problems they're discussing publicly, but what about the needs, desires, and challenges they don't post or comment about on the Internet? So to get a clear, detailed picture of what they really want, I suggest you actually talk to them. I'll share a couple of ways to do that. But first, let's lay the foundation for this. People are busy and they won't always give a chunk of their time to a total stranger. So your first step is to stop being a total stranger. Establish relationships with the people you want to talk to. So here are some things you can do to establish relationships. For one thing, make posts in relevant online groups, giving tips and advice. This will help to establish you as an active, involved person who's trying to help and who is, in fact, an expert in your field. Another is to comment on other people's posts, ask and answer questions, and give feedback. Show that you care about what they're saying in the group. And online or offline, in conversations, comments or DMs, ask people about topics they brought up and things they're interested in. You don't just go barging in straight with your agenda, pay attention to their agenda, pay attention to what they're interested in and what they want to talk about and interact with that. So these specifics differentiate you from spammers. Some people come into my inbox like, Hey, I love your profile, and then proceed to make it really clear that they have never read a single syllable of my profile. Like, Hey, I love your profile. What do you do? If you'd read my profile, you would not be asking that. I laid it out really clearly. So you talk about the interests they've shown before shifting to your agenda. You can say Talk about one of the posts they made. Hey, I love what you said in your post about this, or I love what you said in your cover image. I love what you said in your intro. I notice you serve people in the area of this. I'd love to learn more about that. To show them by mentioning these specifics, you show that you are, in fact, paying attention and that you are a real person who actually read their stuff, not just some bot, maybe scraping a few keywords off and sending copy pasted spam. So the goal of this is to show that you're an expert, show interest in your potential clients as human beings, not just as dollars in your bank account. And, just show them that you're someone who actually gives a crap about them, not just someone who's trying to sell to them whether or not they actually need it. So when you're choosing online groups, seek ones that let members DM other members, as long as they don't just jump straight to pitching. I think if you just go into pretty much any group and starts pitching into people in the DMs, you're going to tick people off. You're probably going to get kicked out. So some groups are more lax about that than others, some will allow you to do some DMs as long as it's not spammy or pitchy, others just say do not DM the other members, period. So pick ones that'll let you DM as long as you're not spammy about it, and as long as you're actually seeking relationships instead of just cold pitching. So once you've established relationships with your expertise, go ahead and ask for advice. There are a couple of ways to do this, and I suggest using both. The end one is to ask the group as a whole. You can make a post in online groups or ask during group conversations offline. Focus on asking for help, getting info, and getting better at helping people. Don't just focus on seeking chances to pitch because if people feel like you're just waiting for a chance to pounce, they'll pick up on that and they'll get uncomfortable. So for this phase, just focus on getting info, seeking help, getting better at helping people, and understanding your ideal clients better. So here are a few things you can ask about. One is the proposed names of your coaching program. I've actually found this surprisingly insightful when it comes to what kind of topics people want to hear about and what they consider to be important. Another is people's biggest challenges in your area of expertise, but bear in mind you might encounter some resistance to this one just because people are wary of being pitched. So some people will answer this one, some people won't they could wave a magic wand, what outcome would they want? If there was absolutely no limitations, if they weren't bound by their circumstances, what would they want to create? So keep a record of who said what verbatim. Verbatim is especially important because you can use this phrasing in your market for SEO, relevance and relatability. The more precisely what you write down matches what they're saying, the more likely it is to match what they're typing into a search engine when they're looking for answers. And be sure to notice recurring themes, if a lot of people are bringing up the same problems or expressing the same desires, that's a good sign that you've got something that a lot of people are going to be interested in. Method two, of course, is to get more in depth info through market research calls. Depending on the group's rules, you can make a post that says, I'm doing some research on insert one or two sentences about what you need to know, and I need X number of people to help me out. So if you could jump on a 15 minute call with me so I can ask questions, nothing for sale, please DM me. Thank you so much. So if the group rules allow it, DM people, especially ones who have actually interacted with your post and shown interest in what you're doing. So I'll start with the people who engaged with your posts and comments and people who look like they might be your ideal clients. Send to these people friend or connection requests, and once you're able to send them a DM. So when DMing people, please make sure to say how and where you met. Don't make them search. Don't make them dig for this information, give it to them straight off. Why you're contacting them so they don't have to try and guess. For example, you could say, Hey, thanks for liking my post in group name. That way, they know that you're both members of this group, and you're contacting them because they like your post. Or you could say, I loved your post in group name and then tell them specifically what you liked about it because once again, this differentiates you from the spammers. So after establishing rapport, here's a script you can use to request a market research call. I'm working on putting together a coaching program on Insert your topic here. I was wondering if you could help me by answering some questions about insert what you need to know, for example, the challenges people run into when seeking their soul mate. Would you be able to jump on a 15 minute call with me? There's nothing for sale. This is just to help me better understand how to help people. So if they agree, either send on your scheduling calendar or offer a few windows of availability, be sure to state the time zone. You don't delay the process by making them guess what time zone you're in. So now you know how to get market research calls. In the next lesson, I'll cover what you should say during the calls. So please make sure to make note of those scripts. You'll save those scripts where you can easily find them. And if you're already in these groups, you start participating in those groups, start posting, start interacting with other people's posts, and start establishing relationships. So next time I'm going to tell you what to say during the call. You can actually learn about your ideal clients in more depth. 6. Discover What Your Clients Really Want: Welcome back to pick a coaching topic that sells. Now you know how to get people on market research calls. So what do you actually say on those calls? I'm going to give you a list of questions you can use. One is, what are the biggest challenges getting away of you? Describe the outcome you want. The biggest challenges getting in the way of you, finding your soul mate, creating a business that's successful, creating your coaching program. What are the biggest challenges? Another is, if you could only solve one problem, what is the first and most important one to solve? Three, is, what do you not have that you need to have in order to get that outcome? Four is, what solutions did you try that didn't work and why did they not work? For example, someone who's trying to lose weight might say that they couldn't lose weight because they were stress eating. They were so stressed that they just couldn't stop eating those fatty foods or maybe they have a hormone issue that causes them to keep on gaining weight even when they do eat lean. What solutions did you try that did help, if only a little, and why were they helpful? This can help you to see what is actually valuable to your clients and what you might be able to improve upon and do better. Another is, what solutions do you wish were available or what would make this process easier for you? And maybe there are some accommodations that they need or some explanations, some clarifications that nobody else is giving them. If you could magically create your ideal outcome, what would that outcome look like? And be sure to stress that, this is a world of magic where anything is possible. You're not bound by your current circumstances, you can just make anything happen whatsoever, regardless of what you're currently dealing with. What problems do you think it would solve for you if you actually achieve that outcome? And you could take them through some of the areas that I listed in an earlier lesson, you know, relationships, health, money, time, impact on the world, life satisfaction, lifestyle. What problems in the various areas of life do you think it would solve for you if you achieve that outcome? And what would the impact be on your life and the lives of the other people affected, like your family or your clients if you reach that ideal outcome? Now, if I got ahead of myself there, this is a good place to explore that. What are the various areas of life, relationships, money, health, et cetera? What would the impact be on all these things? And ten is why is it important to get this result soon? If you were still dealing with this problem or still blacking this outcome a year from now, would that be okay? Why would it not be okay? What impact would that have on you? How would your life be so much better if a year from now you actually had this outcome that you wanted and were no longer dealing with this problem. So this will help them to understand why it's a priority for them to take care of this and that it is, in fact, not okay with them if they're still struggling with this problem a whole year from now, which they might very well be if they don't work with you. So this can help them to move from maybe someday I'll deal with it, or I kind of think I might need help with it too, you know what? Actually, I need to deal with this now. So this will help you to understand what it is they want, why they want it, so you can address their actual priorities and how getting it or not getting it will affect their lives. You can use all this to choose your topic and in your marketing later. So even if they express interest in working with you, please keep your word. Don't sell to them during the market research call because that can damage their trust. You don't want to be a person who says one thing and then does another. So if they do say that they want to learn more about your services, schedule a follow up call and do your best to actually schedule the call while you're on the call. Otherwise, they might lose momentum. They might lose your email. You're going to end up spending a lot of time on follow ups that you really could have avoided if you'd just scheduled the call right away while you were on the call with them. So congratulations. You now have a strategy for choosing a coaching topic that sells. So let's briefly recap your action steps. Choose your candidate topics. Look at the problems you can solve, the outcomes you can help create, and the challenging life circumstances you can help people navigate more smoothly and easily and with less stress. See which issues people are already asking or complaining about toward you. Now find groups that include your ideal clients, participate in these groups, and establish relationships. Invite people to market research calls via posts and DMs, ask questions to better understand their struggles and desires. So your homework is to schedule five market research calls via the strategies that I gave you in this lesson and share the results in the class projects, minus any identifying details. I don't want first class names. I don't want their links or anything unless they gave you permission. Just share the results in the class projects minus these identifying details. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments. I'll be happy to help you out and make sure that you get results from this. So thanks again for tuning in. If you have any questions or need any help, let me know in the comments and be sure to post the results of this process in the group projects.