EPISODE 061 | The Benefits of Working 1:1 with Coaching Clients

Welcome to the fourth episode in our six-part Clinician to Coach Series! 

In this podcast series, I'm sharing resources and strategies to help you start and grow your coaching business to consistent $5K and even $10K months without overwhelm or burnout.

In today's episode, you're going to hear me talk about some of the many benefits of working 1:1 with coaching clients, including: 

• Skill development, where we're flexing muscles as a coach that we don’t always flex as a therapist
• The opportunity to validate your idea and fine tune your elevator pitch in a one-to-one setting before trying to sell one-to-many
• Knowing your numbers, specifically your audience size and the industry standard conversion rates for filling a group program
• Fine tuning the components of your program delivery -- while getting paid!
• Building a baseline revenue to serve as a strong foundation for your business

And remember, it's my mission to get this series into the ears of as many OTs as possible! Meaning if you enjoyed today's episode, please tell a therapy friend and help me to spread the word.

If you want to connect with me directly, you can reach out via DM on Instagram @otsgonerogue or by email (simply hit reply to one of our weekly email newsletters).

You can also connect with me by going to our contact form, https://www.otsgonerogue.com/podcast-contact.

For the latest show notes and full episodes, make sure you head over to otsgonerogue.com/podcast. 

If you don't want to miss any future episodes including the upcoming episodes in the series, make sure you're subscribed to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you listen to podcasts. And thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of the OTs Gone Rogue podcast! 

Transcript

Melissa LaPointe [00:00:00]:
Hey, everyone. Before we kick off this episode, I wanted to take a moment, connect with my listeners, and say hello. If you're a returning listener, welcome back. Life has been wild in so many amazing ways, and I've missed you. And if you're a new listener, hi. I'm Melissa, and I am the host of this podcast. In the last 12 months, we've had what can best be described as a significant amount of growth in our business. We're now operating under a new business name, Rogue Consulting Group Inc.

Melissa LaPointe [00:00:35]:
So we have evolved beyond Melissa Lapointe Consulting Services. And in the last year, we have built out a stronger operating system. We've taken on several contracts with larger organizations, in addition to our work with individual clients where we continue to focus on performance coaching and operations consulting. We have been adding to our team, and I am learning each and every day how to confidently step into this role of CEO. I will happily admit that I was distracted this last year on the work that was in front of us, and I didn't have capacity to continue with the podcast. I tried. Oh, how I tried, but it quickly fell once again to the wayside. But you don't get to be at this level of entrepreneurship without mastering the art of falling down, sometimes repeatedly, and picking yourself back up to try yet again, which is exactly what we are doing with this podcast.

Melissa LaPointe [00:01:39]:
So now that we're back on track with our newly revised client growth engine and our operating system in the back end of the business, it's time to put the podcast back into the equation. I have been recording some amazing guest episodes, you guys. I have some solo ones coming out, and it's been a few months, but we have some pretty awesome content coming your way. Can you tell I'm excited? I'm also excited to say that summer is coming up depending on where you are in the world. It's coming up for me, and it's all good because we have enough episodes in our lineup to continue dropping a new one every 2 weeks. So I am committed. I am saying it here in a public setting even when I am on summer vacation, when I am traveling across the country, when I am doing all the fun things that come with summer holidays, you can expect a new episode dropping on the OT's Gone Rogue podcast every 2 weeks. We are back, my friends, and I am thrilled for what's coming down through the pipeline.

Melissa LaPointe [00:02:49]:
Alright. So without further ado, let's roll out today's episode. You're listening to the OTs Gone Rogue podcast, where we inspire therapists to think outside the box and do things differently. I'm your host, Melissa Lapointe. My passion is in helping OT entrepreneurs have a bigger impact on the world while building a life they love and doing transformative work that lights them up. On each episode of the show, I'm gonna share tools and tricks to help you flex your entrepreneurial muscles and grow your business from the inside out. I wanna see more OTs step up as visionary leaders, change makers, and influential CEOs. So let's get started.

Melissa LaPointe [00:03:38]:
Okay. After a somewhat minor hiatus, welcome back to the Clinician to Coach series. This is the 6 part series where I am sharing my best strategies to help you start your coaching business and grow it to consistent 5 k and even 10 k months without overwhelm or burnout. Before we dive into today's episode, I think it is best if we do a recap on the first three episodes of the series. We kick things off with our first episode where we pulled back the curtain on the dark side of coaching. We touched on why health care professionals are burning out. We also talked about the trends and the opportunities in the coaching industry. We talked about the concerns around industry regulation or lack thereof, and you learned some of the potential issues with coaching certification programs.

Melissa LaPointe [00:04:38]:
Last but not least, you learned that there's more to the conversation in terms of what we need to consider as health professionals who are navigating the coaching space. In the second episode, we took the conversation a little deeper. We looked at what coaching is and what coaching is not. More specifically, we unpackaged how coaching is different from therapy and how consulting is different from coaching. My intentions with the second episode of the series were simple. If you're going to be offering coaching services, I want you to have the confidence and the clarity in the role you are playing as a coach. I want you to be able to clearly articulate and describe what it is you are providing in this coaching program or through this coaching service. I want you to feel confident in how you're navigating that gray area between coaching in the online space as a licensed regulated health professional.

Melissa LaPointe [00:05:41]:
And I want your consumers or your coaching clients to have a really clear understanding of what it is that they are receiving through this coaching relationship. In the 3rd episode of the series, we leaned into the business side of things, or more specifically, we talked about navigating the startup phase of a coaching business. This included the steps you need to actually start that coaching business, how to get clear on your numbers, including how to pay yourself. We talked about why validating your idea is one of the most important steps to starting a business. We talked about questions to ask when talking to your prospective clients and how to fine tune your elevator pitch. Alright. So we've set the stage. We have a really solid foundation.

Melissa LaPointe [00:06:34]:
And if you're new to the series, if this is your very first episode listening in on this series, you may want to hit pause and actually go back and start with the first episode. Your call, but I would suggest listening to them in order. So today is all about the benefits of working 1 on 1 with your clients as a coach. Now before we get too far into this episode, I have to acknowledge what so many of you have been hearing repeatedly in the online space, that you need to stop trading time for money and that you need to step away from 1 on 1 services if you're going to leverage your business in any way. I hear that all the time. I'm targeted by ads all the time. I open up Facebook, and I see this promise of having a sold out coaching program without ever doing a single discovery call, or how I can go from being fully booked up in 2 seconds while on the beach. You know, needing to go through any 1 on 1 clients without you know, it's this passive income leveraged offer and kinda drives me crazy.

Melissa LaPointe [00:07:49]:
I'm not gonna lie. So I just think that this is some dangerous business advice that's going around, and it's impractical at best. I realized that choosing my words carefully, because I know that working 1 on 1 is often deemed unsexy, and we see all these people, you know, you're no longer trading time for dollars, and you're no longer looking at this hourly rate. Don't get me wrong. You've heard me talk about this in past episodes. I'm not saying we should be doing this direct time for money trade in a one off coaching session. I don't think that's practical, and I don't think you're actually helping your clients when you're offering these one off coaching calls with someone you don't actually have a long term coaching relationship with. But for the purpose of today's episode, I'm gonna try to rein in my rants on what's currently happening and focus more on practical information.

Melissa LaPointe [00:08:49]:
Let's talk about the benefits. Because part of the reason why some of this information is impractical at best in terms of jumping right in, doing coaching programs, doing leveraged offers. That's what I wanna get into today because I think there's so much value in 1 on 1 support in working with 1 on 1 clients. So let's get into it. The first reason is an obvious one, and it all comes down to coaching skill mastery. There are skills we need to develop as a coach. There are muscles that we don't always flex as a therapist. I am a little tired of hearing therapists preach that we are naturally good coaches.

Melissa LaPointe [00:09:39]:
Not all therapists are good coaches. I'm not saying you don't have the potential to be, but coaching is different than therapy. There are skills you need to develop. Active listening, asking powerful questions, thinking in terms of powerful questions, not recommendations, establishing clear boundaries and communication guidelines when working with someone. It's different when you are in a virtual location independent coaching relationship with someone, versus when you have someone coming into your office. It's different, and these are skills, these are workflows, these are boundaries, these are guidelines you need to develop. Another important skill is holding space during difficult conversations. Again, doing this via a zoom call versus being in the same room with someone, it is a different skill.

Melissa LaPointe [00:10:39]:
I'm not saying there's not some carryover, but it's a different skill to develop. These are some of the many skills that we are developing as coaches, not therapists. It's a different type of working relationship, and it's often based, again, on interactions via a screen. Doesn't happen overnight. And if you're not confident in your skills in a 1 on 1 setting, Why do you think you can do this in a group? Why not practice flexing those muscles and getting confident in your delivery while supporting one client at a time? Now I am not trying to rain on anyone's parade here. I'm all about spreading your wings and challenging yourself, but I am also a big fan of creating a business model that's sustainable in the long term, and that means pacing yourself and being strategic in your efforts. Another reason why we want to lean into 1 on 1 work as a coach comes back to this concept of validating your idea and fine tuning your elevator pitch. I really encourage you to stay focused.

Melissa LaPointe [00:11:54]:
Now I know I sound like a broken record, but 0 to 10. So any type of service, any type of offer, stay focused on getting those first ten paying clients on refining your sales system for selling 1 to 1 before you shift gears and try selling 1 to many. We're gonna master some skills, and then there's audience size. So at the time of this recording, when it comes to 1 on 1 discovery calls, I have a 75% close rate. So that means that if I have 3 spots opening up for 1 on 1 coaching, I am fairly confident that I can fill them through 4 discovery calls. I don't need a big audience for that. On the flip side, if I were to run a larger group program, let's say, with 24 people, I would then turn to my email list. I would promote this offer through a series of emails.

Melissa LaPointe [00:12:58]:
An industry standard for a program you're launching via email is a 2 to 5% close rate. So that means that in order to get 24 sign ups, I would need to have my audience built up to a warm list of anywhere from 480 to 1200 people. So I just went from 4 discovery calls to a warm email list of up to 1200 people. Now I could also try running a bigger launch. You may be thinking, well, it's not just email. What about social media? What about if I run a Facebook group or do a webinar? And you're right. A bigger launch, a more interactive launch that involves social media and a sales event, such as a webinar or maybe a 5 day challenge. So in that scenario, it is a lot more work in terms of project management, in terms of juggling several balls in the air at once.

Melissa LaPointe [00:13:52]:
But often your sign up rates will go up as well. So industry standard for a multifaceted program launch, you're looking now at 5 to 10%. So meaning, in order to get 24 sign ups, I would need to have an engaged audience of, let's say, 250 to 480. Okay. Maybe seems a bit more feasible, unless you're just getting started and you don't have an email list. Right? Unless you're just getting started and maybe you have 10, 20, 200. Maybe you have an email list, but you are pivoting. It's a different type of service or a different type of offer.

Melissa LaPointe [00:14:29]:
And those are industry standard rates, meaning it doesn't always go that way. It might be a time of year. Your audience might be burnt out. There may be different things going on. There may be some major world event that happened to go down the day before your launch. So you also need to be prepared when things don't work out quite as you had hoped. So one of the challenges, and I have coached many people through this, where they have great intentions of running a group program, They go through a launch process, but they only get 3 to 4 people who sign up or 1 to 2 people. What do you do then? Do you still host live group calls knowing that there may be times that no one shows up or an interactive training with one person? What if a Facebook group's part of your offer? Facebook group with 3 people, not super fun for anyone involved.

Melissa LaPointe [00:15:34]:
Speaking of program delivery. So this leads us into another huge benefit to working with clients 1 on 1. So working with clients 1 on 1 will give you not only the chance to test out different components of your program, flex your muscles in terms of onboarding, in terms of program delivery in general, setting up some workflows, but you get to do all of this. You get to build out assets in your business while getting paid. So you can get inspired by your individual clients. You can learn about their needs, about their pain points. You get to learn more about the gaps and what you need as supplemental information to your coaching calls. You get to do all of this.

Melissa LaPointe [00:16:22]:
So what are the gaps? What is needed to help them achieve transformational results? And you can get direct feedback. And the best part about all of this is you're creating resources for someone where they don't have to be branded and fancy. You can get away with something as simple as a Google Drive folder and Google documents, and again, get feedback from your clients. You want to make sure that the resources you're creating are actually beneficial to your program and beneficial to your client before you invest this time and money and effort into making something pretty, into the aesthetics of what you're doing. Speaking of money, we are going to wrap this up by talking about the last benefit that I'm gonna highlight when it comes to working with clients 1 on 1, and that is revenue. So running a business, even when you're in the start up phase, it takes money, and it is really, really important to know your numbers. This includes the baseline revenue you need to be generating in order to pay, not only yourself, but also your bills. So I strongly recommend that when you're in the early stages of business, put your head down, build up a baseline revenue before you lean into this idea of selling one to many, before you lean into leveraged offers or group programs.

Melissa LaPointe [00:17:58]:
There's something to be said about having consistent recurring revenue that's coming into your business while you're building out other programs or offers. I can tell you now, it is much easier to get into a state of flow. It is so much easier to be creative when you don't have your back up against the wall, when you're not laying in bed awake at night wondering, can I even pay for that subscription next week? Can I even pay for our hosting platform, for my email? Can I pay for my groceries? I haven't paid myself in 4 months. And if I don't get at least 4 people in this program, do I have to get a job? What does that even look like? Right? These are all thoughts that can very much go through, I would say frequently go through people's heads when they're in business. So take me for example. In the last 18 months, we have had way more than one occasion where we've slowed way down on email marketing, where we pulled back on social media while focusing our efforts on the behind the scenes. Now I'm not saying that is the way to do it, but we've had some pretty big pivots where we had to hit pause and set up a stronger operating system and set up a stronger infrastructure based on the pivots, based on the changes that we were experiencing in terms of business growth and evolution. Now did I stop generating revenue during these periods of growth and transition? 100% no.

Melissa LaPointe [00:19:31]:
Did I stop marketing? Again, no. Word-of-mouth is our primary marketing tool. I was still I still continue to get referrals even without marketing, without social media and email. Behind the scenes, I have not stopped doing client work. So even though we've gotten quite quiet at times, we are still doing a lot in terms of program delivery. We continue to work with a number of 1 on 1 clients, and then we have our larger contract obligations that we continue to do. And I'm telling you, it makes it so much easier for me to work on program delivery, on developing offers, on building out the infrastructure, knowing we still have money coming into the pipeline, knowing that we can still pay bills, we can still pay me, it makes such a world of difference. Now in the early years of my coaching and consulting business, I didn't always practice this way.

Melissa LaPointe [00:20:36]:
It's led to a lot of time in the early years, especially. I spent a lot of time in Feaster famine. So a lot of money would come in, and then it would trickle in slowly. And I wasn't the best at budgeting out or planning for those months when it would trickle in slowly. It was really challenging, and it led to a lot of unnecessary stress in terms of finances, in terms of personal health and development, in terms of relationships. Like, it just sucked. I was to mince the don't need to. It just sucked.

Melissa LaPointe [00:21:18]:
It wasn't a fun way to be in business. And you know what? It didn't have to be that way, and I sure wish I knew then what I know now. But I have learned so many valuable lessons, and I will continue to share this information with my listeners in the hopes of helping you to overcome or better yet to avoid some of the costly mistakes that I made in my entrepreneurial journey. Alright. So there you have it, folks. This episode was short and sweet, highlighting some of the many benefits of working 1 on 1 with coaching clients. We've talked about the importance of coaching skill mastery where you can flex your muscles and practice in a one to one setting before testing the waters with a larger audience. We also talked about having the opportunity to validate your idea and fine tune your elevator pitch in a one to one setting.

Melissa LaPointe [00:22:14]:
This then carried over to audience size, where I hope you have a better understanding of how much easier it is to fill your 1 to 1 openings before you jump in. You know, do those discovery calls first. Flex that muscle. Develop that skill before you start trying to fill openings in a group coaching program. And then there's program delivery. It is so much less stress in creating resources, in rolling out different program features for one client, knowing you can get their direct feedback versus this idea of creating a beautifully curated handout that's going out to the masses where the content may or may not even be hitting the mark. And last but not least, we talked about the benefit of having a consistent revenue stream in your business month after month, which gives you some breathing space to actually think about and develop your next offer. Alright.

Melissa LaPointe [00:23:13]:
Let's officially wrap this up with a bow. I love doing this deeper dive with you on coaching, and I hope that you're finding this information to be of value. So in the next episode, we are going to focus on marketing and how to actually get more of those paying clients. Last but not least, for those of you who are chomping at the bit in terms of that leveraged offer, we are going to be talking about how to take your business to the next level with a signature coaching program. In the meantime, I do have a quick favor to ask. So we are working incredibly hard behind the scenes on ramping things up again with the podcast. So if you enjoyed this episode, it would make the world of difference if you could go to Apple or Spotify and click follow. Better yet, if you wanna be a total rock star, I would love for you to leave us a review.

Melissa LaPointe [00:24:12]:
By clicking follow or leaving that 5 star review, it really helps us to get in front of more thought leaders and visionary OTs who need to hear this information, who would benefit immensely from knowing that they are not alone on this journey of going broke. Alright, my friends. Thank you again for tuning in. Take care, and I will see you in a couple of weeks.