OK – suppose you’ve decided you want to be an ACC (Associate Certified Coach) or a PCC (Professional Certified Coach). How is it done?

The ICF accreditation for Associate Certified Coach (ACC) requires the following:

1. 60 coach-specific training hours. Training must be aligned with the 11 ICF competencies, and at least 48 hours must be interactive with the trainer – either live, or via telephone.
2. 250 coaching hours, of which 225 hours must be paid.
3. Letters of reference from 5 clients.
4. Two letters of reference from ICF accredited coaches who have heard you coach.
5. Passing of an oral examination.

The following is an excerpt from David’s speech regarding FirstFiftyClients.com.

I got an email last week from a woman in London and this was – I get about a hundred emails a day – the most amazing email I’ve ever received in my life. It started off by saying “Dear David, in April of 2000 you sat next to my husband on a plane”. She went on “You may not remember so here’s some details and here’s a photo.” So I brought up the photo, and I called my partner Bronwyn in and I said “Read this – you know, this is amazing, I think I remember this guy, I met him on a plane. It was a lot of fun.”

The email went on to say that this woman had had a really big life experience and now she wanted to contribute to the world, and she wondered if my training school could help her to make that contribution. The next line said “My husband Simon was hosting a conference at the World Trade Center in the Windows of the World Restaurant on September 11th 2001 and his body was never recovered.” She then went on to say she was seven months pregnant at the time and two months later she gave birth to their son. So firstly we were happily reading the email and then we got to this, and what amazed me – after I’d grieved for this guy whom I’d only met for five hours – was, this woman is extraordinary. What she wants to do with her experience is help people around the world move through grief using coaching.

Now we all know that grief is a therapy issue, normally, but she found that coaching helped her to take control of her life and to work out what she wanted, and that’s what moved her. So she’s got a charity set up, she’s got trustees and that’s what she wants to do for the planet. So what I got present to, although I don’t even want to give it a name, (and there are so many words we can give it, – you’ve heard of ‘the spirit of coaching’ and so on) is that the good stuff in coaching is really about people wanting to make an impact on the planet. Yes, no? – are you a bit stunned? I was.

Now, when I stopped saying “I help people close the gap between where they are and where they want to be” which is accurate, but boring for me, and I started saying “I help women who are not ecstatic in their relationships to get everything they’ve ever wanted in their relationship” then I wanted to get on the phone and tell people about it. And a funny thing happened: when I did, when I got on the phone and I told them that, they could think of names.

When I said “I help people close the gap between where they are and where they want to be’ they went ‘mmmm…okay”, but when I said “women who are not ecstatic in their relationship who are ready to have everything they’ve ever wanted”, they would say “Well, Julie would be great for that, and you could call Betty, and Rhonda, yeah”. So it changed, when I decided I was going to say, (because it changes for me, you know, what I say to people) “I work with people so that when they’re eighty lying on their deathbed they have zero regrets”, I had fun with that. And then people go “Huh? Really? What do you mean?” and I say “Well, if you died tomorrow, what’s one thing you’d regret?” and all of a sudden they know what I do.

When you’re ready to do LOTS of trial sessions, to share the value of coaching with people, you’ll need people! This [exercise] will help you develop your lists of people to approach. And, it will help you decide which approach to use for different groups of people. When calling, it helps to do at least 10 in a row so you generate momentum.

Now, write down anyone you can think of who even comes close to the following criteria.

Write down how you will invite each list of people to do a session. For example, with people you feel very connected to, you might be excited to call them straight away, and chat on the phone or arrange lunch.

List A: Anyone who might really enjoy having a coach for 1-6 months (e.g. they read self-help books, attend courses, or are generally willing to take input).

List B: Anyone who might enjoy a quick one off session to see what coaching is all about.

List C: Anyone who you know has a challenge, and you feel you would like to contribute to.

List D: Anyone you would simply love to work with/coach.

List E: Anyone who might know of someone who might be interested in a coaching session.

OK – I think you get the picture. If everyone you know is not on one of these lists, then go back and put them on one of these lists.

What if a client brings up a serious life problem – and I don’t have a clue about how to help her/him?

I learned to distinguish between coaching and therapy and referred clients quickly who needed therapy. With the rest of my clients, I recognized that it was not my job to solve my client’s problems – it was my job to be their coach and support and encourage them as they discovered their own solutions.

How can I possibly convince a company that coaching will impact the culture and the bottom line with no established research to substantiate that?

What was the most disheartening for you while building your practice?

What was most disheartening was not getting enough clients – and wondering if I should persevere or go back to being a consultant. I coped with this by working my fairly small network more and by seeking out a couple of organizations which were active in the coaching field and trying to develop affiliate relationships with them.

Although my early attempts to develop such relationships didn’t lead to any work, spending time developing the relationships did mean I was around people who were active as coaches and this sustained my confidence that my work would eventually expand – as it eventually did.

What was the most interesting or exciting thing for you about building your practice?

The point at which I realized that my practice was self-sustaining and that I no longer felt a day to day anxiety about whether I would be able to pay the bills that month!

Reach: How many possible buyers/clients/customers/prospects know about your product or service?

1. How many subscribers do you have for your E-mail (faxed or mailed) newsletter or broadcast bulletins? Depending on your business, this could be your most valuable asset.
2. How many sets of eyes see the articles you write? Being published, in print or at targeted websites, with your byline, contact information and brief bio may be the best way to expand your reach. This means you have many opportunities for marketing expansion by using specialized print publications, and industry/professional websites and e-zines.
3. How many people receive your mailings? Whether you send a simple marketing letter, an elaborate brochue, a postcard, a fax. Monitor and count the increasing size of your mailing list.
4. How many people attend your presentations, talks, speeches, TeleForums? How can you grow your numbers? Is it the right audience for your product or service?
5. How many people visit your website each day? Do you frequently refresh/update your website? Give visitors a reason to access your site, and reason to return, and measure the traffic. It’s easy to measure your visitor count.