How to Find Clients as a Life Coach

Life coaching is perhaps one of the most fulfilling careers you can choose. There’s something just so rewarding about helping someone find their true path in life, giving them the tools they need to overcome all obstacles and achieve their life goals.

When you meet a client for the first time, they’re usually a stranger, you know nothing about them, but you ask, you listen, and you draw on your experience and skills to impart your wisdom.

By doing this, may just have a profound, transformational effect on their life. That’s certainly something you can be proud of.

It’s a career you can look back on and know you did something good with your life.

But becoming established as a life coach can be difficult if you don’t have prior business experience.

As you grow your business, and have a history of successfully helping your clients, you will hopefully enjoy some valuable word-of-mouth recommendations, but even then, it’s rare that a business can survive on personal recommendations alone. You need to be able to find new clients and keep new business coming in on a regular basis.

Let’s take a look at how to get life coach clients….

There is not one simple method for getting new clients, and it’s always wise to explore as many avenues as possible.

What works for one life coach, may not work for another.

Don’t be afraid to try new ideas, and test out new marketing concepts. Eventually, you’ll find what works best for you, the options that give you the best ROI for your marketing budget, but you must keep exploring options as trends change, and new avenues become available.

Have a stylish and functional website

Having a website is imperative for any business. It should be a useful resource fully explaining all the services you offer and it needs to prominently display the ways in which a potential client can get in touch with you.

We recommend all our students use Squarespace to create their life coaching website. It’s simple and affordable. If you’ve tried Squarespace before and don’t like it, then consider Wix.

All your marketing materials, including your business cards, will feature your website address, so your information will always be easy to find. You don’t want to lose a potential client because you didn’t give them enough information to be able to find your details at a later date!

Your website needs to look professional. If it looks amateur, this will reflect on the quality of your services.

It also needs to be perfect with regard to spelling, grammar and ease of use. Any mistakes could cast doubt on your professionalism and attention to detail. We always use Grammarly – there is both a free and premium version which is worth using.

Ask past clients to leave reviews and write testimonials

When you successfully help someone, often they’ll be happy to leave a review on sites such as Google or Trustpilot or write a testimonial that you can feature on your website or social media channels.

It’s always a good idea to ask for these when your help and advice are still fresh in the minds of your clients, so don’t hesitate to get in there and put in your polite request.

Recommendations and reviews do speak volumes – and there are tricks on how to ask for them successfully.

Make the best use of social media

Of course, social media is fantastic for advertising any business, so you should be sure to have a decent presence on as many social media channels as you can manage.

Running social media campaigns well can be a lot of work, so you could also consider handing over your social media marketing to a professional agency.

They will understand the market and will find the perfect balance of posts to ensure your content is well-received, helpful, and beneficial to your audience.

Discuss your business with anyone you meet and always carry business cards

As a life coach, it’s likely you’ve got a personality that people take to. You come across as likeable, and you easily make friends.

This skill is something you can use to your advantage!

Whenever you meet someone new, don’t forget to let them know what you do for a living. You can of course turn the subject around to this by first asking what they do!

Don’t overdo it, they don’t want a sales pitch, but if you end the conversation by handing over your business card, you just never know where it may lead. Look for opportunities wherever you can.

Boost your skills with life coach courses

Anyone searching for a life coach will check out several websites or social media accounts before they choose the one they feel will work best for them.

While the criteria for this may differ from person to person, there are some factors that will always put your business ahead of the crowd, and one of those is being well-trained.

While anyone can set up a life coaching business, not all life coaches have taken a life coaching course, so this is a good way to show that you have the edge over the competition.

Become a certified life coach

What’s even more impressive, is if you have a certificate with which to prove your credentials.

Not all life coaching courses offer certification on completion of training, but it’s certainly beneficial, so when you’re choosing which life coaching course to take, it’s worth checking to make sure it will reward you with a certificate.

New clients are more likely to hire a certified life coach than one who has not taken this extra step.

Don’t lose out on business by not going that extra mile and getting certified.

Look for networking opportunities in your area

As we’ve already discussed, talking to people is one of the best ways to spread the word about your life coaching business, so networking events could be great for your business.

It’s a chance to tell a multitude of people about the services you offer, enabling them to put a face to a name and learn more about exactly what you do.

Of course, it could be beneficial in other ways as you meet up with fellow businesspeople who may be able to help you by sharing business advice or marketing tips and tricks.

You might also meet people who offer services that could be useful to you such as web designers or marketers that could help you market your life coaching business.

Discover different advertising spaces

Check out all opportunities to advertise. Some channels become saturated, and you may find that Google ads or Facebook advertising just isn’t working for you, or you simply want to explore other avenues.

Look for more niche openings. Does your local shop display ads for local businesses? Are there any local magazines or online directories you could feature in? Could you sponsor a local event, a theatre production or a sports team?

Don’t overlook the small, local advertising opportunities, you could find you get a lot for your money.