A group coaching model that is extremely easy to implement
A group training program can be really hard to do or really easy to do. Some of the common things I hear when I recommend that a client begin group coaching are:
1) I don’t have time to talk to dozens of clients every week
2) I don’t have time to spend 5-10 hours a week writing lesson plans
3) I cannot be available 24-7 via email
4) It just takes too much time.
5) It’s a lot of work technically to do it.
And the thing is, they’re all valid – because so many of the older models might have worked that way.
In fact, maybe as you read this list you’re thinking, yes, that’s me – I want to start a coaching program, but it just seems like too much work.
So let me ask you this:
What if I show you a way that you can train 100 – 1000 clients in just 2 hours a week and they get almost the same results as if they were working with you 1-1?
If that would be awesome, if it would make you feel like “yeah, I could do that,” then read on!
Because I’m going to show you a super simple coaching model that really works.
Before I get into it, I want to address one concept: and that is the idea that group coaching does not produce the same results as 1-1 coaching.
The thing is, training itself is not what produces results.
Your customers’ ACTIONS and deployments bring them results.
The biggest reason that 1-1 coaching usually produces better results than group coaching is that with 1-1 coaching, the client feels obligated to finish their work before your next scheduled call.
How many times has your client said to you, “yesterday I remembered that I didn’t finish the task you gave me and thought about canceling today’s session, but instead decided to work late into the evening to get the job done” or something similar?
The thing is, if this client had participated in group coaching, he probably wouldn’t have gotten the job done.
But does group coaching or client motivation really get the job done?
Your customer needs to step up and do the work themselves. You are a coach, not a babysitter. You are a coach, not a high school teacher. It is your clients responsibility to get the job done. He needs to learn how to manage his time and learn to focus. You can teach him these things, but he has to do it.
You are a coach, not a personal assistant, personal planner or watch.
Now, here’s the thing, if you’re willing to limit yourself to helping just 20 clients at a time when you have the ability within you to change possibly millions of lives (I mean, how many people NEED what you’re helping?), then probably not you need to do group training.
But what if you knew that RIGHT NOW there are 1,000 people in your circles who you could greatly help – as long as THEY take personal responsibility for their results?
So yes, 1-1 coaching leads to better results. But it’s not because of the teaching (think about it, if you have 20 clients, over time you’re working with all your clients on the same 95% of the material you’re working on with everyone else, right?) So that means only 5 % of your individually trained material is unique.
So why do 1-1 coaching for a 5% difference? Instead, why not just hold a group coaching session that trains the 95%, then open up a group Q&A and anyone who needs a unique 5% solution can talk to you personally?
When you do this, you open yourself up to the possibility of actually HELPING 100-1000 people instead of limiting yourself to your own ability to deliver 20 hours (or less) of quality 1-1 each week?
(And before I give you the model – let me say this – maybe you have 100-1000 group coaching clients, PLUS 1-1 clients who really need personal attention because they want to do much, much more than you coach most clients, and they really need more personal attention to go beyond your average client. They’re willing to pay more for your time. And you’re willing to coach 2-5 clients 1-1 at a time. And that’s okay. My belief, however, is that most of your coaching can – and should – be done in a group setting. Read on to see how easy it is.)
Here is the pattern:
–> One group coaching call 60-90 minutes per week.
In this call, you teach a topic for 45 minutes. The rest of the time is spent on training, answering questions, etc. Clients learn EXACTLY what they need to learn and can talk to you just like 1-1 – but you don’t teach 1-1.
–> After the call, you send a recording of the conversation to your customers via an automated response. This takes 5 minutes.
Each week, you record the 45 minutes of training you do and add it to the autoresponder campaign you created for new clients so that all new clients are consistently exposed to every lesson you’ve ever taught.
This allows you to literally duplicate yourself, as you only teach one topic once, and whenever a client needs instruction on a topic already taught, you simply send them to that recording.
And they can always come to the live chat.
This general coaching program with 100-1000 clients only takes 60-90 minutes per week to actually deliver, plus about 10 minutes per week of organizing the emails in your autoresponder to deliver coaching clients.
That’s less than 2 hours a week.
You can help hundreds of customers instead of 20.
It only takes you 2 hours a week instead of 20.
And if you REALLY want to work with the 2-5 1-1 client, you can.
Do you see how easy this can be?
It really can be that easy!
This is what I do.
This is what my customers do!
And you can too!
Now you might have questions like these:
1) Well, should I offer email access?
Answer: you can if you want. But you don’t have to (and with 1000 customers you can’t answer all your emails, so with a lot of customers, no, if they want a question answered, they just have to come to the call [which they should come to anyway, right?]) Fair enough?
2) Do I offer skype access? I do not. Skype distracts me a lot. Skype is only useful to me for pre-planned specific conversations where skype would be faster than the phone. But if you are watching your skype box 24-7, can you say DISTRAAAAACTION!
3) Do you do a delivery webinar or teleseminar?
Answer: Here’s the thing: I often find that new trainers want to offer webinars for their training. They think it’s more personal. Then they spend 5 hours a week preparing a powerpoint and realize that 99% of everything they teach can be spoken instead of shown. If you REALLY need to show something, record what you want to show and send the recording before the conversation in an email. Get your customers to watch the video before the live call. They can ask questions about anything they want during the conversation.
Also, a webinar means you MUST be online for the conversation. This means you must have a good internet signal. This means you have to transcode the recording, upload a bulky mp4 file, and let’s face it, it can take hours of your or your assistant’s time. PLUS your customer needs to WATCH the video every week.
I use teleseminars instead. Many reasons.
1) I don’t need to prepare a powerpoint.
2) I don’t have to be online (I’ve done coaching calls from Costa Rica, on the road, in my car, walking in the neighborhood, when I was out of town traveling and my car was in a shop, from a ski resort, and many other places). With a teleseminar, I simply call the dial-in number and I’m soon on the call.
3) The recording is done automatically by my teleseminar provider. This means that within 5 minutes of finishing the coaching conversation, I can email my coaching clients with the recording.
I don’t have to upload, download, transcode, deal with 400MB, nothing.
If I don’t want to, I don’t have to think about my coaching call until next week.
The system is easy when applied in the manner I have just described.
You can easily train 100 – 1000 clients in a productive group call, 2 hours per week total participation from you, the whole program runs almost entirely on autopilot except for 2 hours per week from you.
And you get to live the rest of your week, focus on finding new clients and really enjoy the entrepreneurial life you thought you’d have until now!
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