16 April 14 - Your Offer Suite
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[00:00:00] Hello. So here at the Business of Executive Coaching Podcast, we are in April, 2025, and this month our theme is back to basics. This month is all about foundations, and specifically we're going to dive into the all the fundamentals or some of the fundamentals I should say, that you need to have in place that is going to make.
Everything in your business go more smoothly. They are. Some of this part of it is things you need to think about and decide. Some of them are tools you need to have in place or assets, but all of them are really crucial building blocks that you need for other parts of your business. Like always, we're going to be super practical with this series.
I want every episode this month to give you some tips that will make your business better, your life easier, and your impact greater. So what we're gonna cover is identifying your ideal clients, defining your offers. Building your coach bio and creating your sales [00:01:00] pipeline. So while we can't go into detail and exactly how to do those things, I'm gonna give you high levels, some thoughts, things you need to consider, and things that you should put in place in order to really support a flourishing business.
I encourage you to keep coming back this month for all of the episodes, or go back to prior episodes if you've missed some. Because all of these foundations build on each other so they all matter and they all flow somewhat sequentially. So who is this series for? This series is for you if you are just starting out in your coaching business, and it is for you if you have been in business for a while, but you have a sense that there are some steps along the way that you might have missed and you feel like there could be some merit in in spending a bit of time going back to the basics, I wanna be clear when I say basics, that I don't mean oversimplifying business growth with a trite.
Five steps to success kind of plan. Absolutely not. I mean, let's take a look at some of the foundations and then you can apply those in the [00:02:00] context of your business, which is where a lot of the complexity comes in. I would also like to make an invitation and an offer to you today if you are in a place where you want to set up your business foundations with structure and support, so you can do it quicker and without reinventing the wheel.
Or if you want my eyes on your business, your assets, and to give you practical advice on your specific context, I wanna invite you to join the corporate to coach Accelerator, which is the only way that I currently work hands-on with coaches. So the accelerator is a 12 month right, so we're gonna get to know each other really well.
A 12 month program that helps you to build a plan to get to your next 10 corporate clients with less than five hours of marketing per week within an incredible community of coaches. The accelerator is the place to come if you want a regular place to get coached on your business needs, wherever you're at in your business growth cycle.
And we have weekly group coaching, group coaching calls at three different time zones, so you can always have a [00:03:00] chance to ask questions. It's also the place to come if you want a structure to put in place to help you with business fundamentals. Business setup and business growth specifically in the corporate or leadership or executive coaching space.
So we have three standalone courses, so pieces of curriculum that help us with all of this. So we have the Corporate to Coach Blueprint, which is a 36 lesson eight module digital course. We have the 90 day quick start challenge where you set up all of the foundations of your business in 90 days, and you can get feedback on all of your assets as you develop them.
And we also have the Business Development Accelerator where we put in place the processes and disciplines to get your next 10 corporate clients. It is also the place to come if you want to check that what you are doing is best practice so you can benchmark with other members. I offer video reviews and feedback on all of your assets.
Things like your bio, your website, your LinkedIn profile, your offers, and so much more. The [00:04:00] accelerator is also the place to come to be part of a group of people who are in the same. Place and who have the same ambitions as you. So business ownership can be really lonely, and having a weekly connection point with peers is really incredible.
There is so much more inside the accelerator. Think tools, templates, master classes, guest interviews. We even have a private podcast feed with all of our group coaching calls, so you don't miss any gems that happen on the calls that you don't attend. So my invitation is to join us inside the accelerator in April.
And my offer to help make this an absolute no brainer, is to start with a no commitment, one-on-one coaching call with me, where we can identify one of your business foundations so I can give you some live feedback on it, or we can identify the foundations of your business growth plan. So we'll make sure that no matter where you're at in this call with me.
We'll make it valuable and we'll make sure you walk away with some really practical and tangible advice. We can also discuss whether the accelerator [00:05:00] would be a good fit for you. In my experience, most people that I speak to are a good fit. There aren't a lot of people listening to such a specific podcast that aren't in the right category, and many who I meet go on to join the accelerator.
And specifically, if you're curious about 85% of the people that I meet with decide that joining the accelerator would be a great move for them. So if you do decide to join, after booking a call with me during April, I have a special offer for all my podcast listeners, which is one month free on your membership, which means that you would join for 12 months, but you get full access to coaching, reviews everything for 13 months rather than 12.
So if you think this sounds like it'd be interesting to you, please head to the show notes and book a call directly or head over to LinkedIn. Tell me you came from the podcast and we can book it in directly there. I really look forward to meeting you soon and talking about my very favorite thing, which is, and I'm not sure this is surprising given how much I talk on this podcast.
But the, [00:06:00] my favorite thing is talking about you and your businesses. So let's dive in now.
Hello. So today we are talking about your office suite. Now building out your office suite is really answering two questions, which is what do you sell? And just as importantly, what don't you sell? , so you might say to me, why are we talking about an office suite? , obviously what I do is coaching, so that is what I sell, and you are right.
And that may be where you land with this. You may have a coaching offer, you might have more than one coaching offer. , you might have a series, a suite of coaching offers that's very common. , but I wanna normalize that. I would say I. 90% of the successful executive coaches that I come across. So people who are in my network, people who I work with, people [00:07:00] who are in my program, 90% of them have an offer or offers that is other than coaching, right?
So coaching is not the only thing that they sell, and I want to normalize that because it can be hard to visualize how you're going to build. A full-time income purely on coaching. And the reason that it's hard to visualize is that it's often not the case. So I think that not only is it common to have more than coaching offers in your your suite and your suite being the things that you sell, I think that actually to be sustainable, you need to have offers beyond coaching.
And maybe this is controversial. I, don't think so because there's not many people who come to me who are like, I only ever wanna do coaching. There are, some. And, and that's great. , but I think sustainability actually comes , and risk is [00:08:00] managed, , a little bit better when we have other offers as well.
And there are reasons for that. The reasons why I think it's sustainable and why it manages risks is that I. Offers other than coaching tend to have different payment cycles. So whereas coaching can be something that is payable and delivered over a long period of time, , something that is for example, , delivered in a day, , is more like chunky revenue.
So coaching might be our consistent revenue. , and things like, , yeah, facilitation, running retreats, those things tend to be chunky influxes of cash and that really helps in terms of sustainability of your business. I would also say there's different intensities of different offers. So whereas coaching that requires some of you frequently in terms of the energy, the preparation, what you bring to your business, , there are also offers that.
Need more of you, right? So they need you very intensely, but for a short period of time. And that difference in the [00:09:00] variability in the energy requirements can be actually quite, , quite helpful when it comes to, you know, oscillation and energy management over time. , and also a lot of coaches, and certainly I put myself in this bucket.
We like variety. So doing, , different things really plays to that, that desire for novelty. , , and you know, not wanting to feel like we get too same old, same old in our business. So why then if I'm saying we should have a variety of things. Why am I saying that we need to define our office suite?
And that is a really good point because while I say we need to have offers that's not just coaching. , I do think we need to keep it within certain boundaries. And my recommendation to my clients is usually that it's good to have about. Three offers in our, our office suite. There may be more, but you may not actively choose to promote them and there may be less, like you might be a two offer person, , and that's fine.
It is [00:10:00] all about what works for you, but I think it's important to define them within these parameters of having just a few that we focus on because. Of the value of having that focus and that clarity. Because when we have focus, when we can say, okay, I do , this, and this, it allows us to be a lot more targeted in how we go to market in the messages we're putting out there in our thought leadership on our post, on LinkedIn.
It allows us to be clearer when we are sending outreach messages, all of those things. So it's really important because of that focus that it gives us. And if you're anything like me, you'll probably relate to this because I feel like for many years of running my business, I would build anything for anyone, right?
So if you wanted a program on design thinking, I built it. If you wanted a leadership program that [00:11:00] included, , mindfulness but not feedback, you got it. I'd build it. And so I built programs on all sorts of things for all sorts of people. It was ultimately very bespoke. And while there was value to that, because I was.
, you know, offering something that was extremely customizable. The downside was that it felt like I was reinventing the wheel every time I was delivering to a new client. Now, if I had my time again, what I would do is, what I'm recommending to you is I would define my offers in, say, three buckets, right?
So it might be that I had , a coaching offer, executive coaching offer. A team or group, , development or coaching offer and a leadership development offer. And within those, there are sort of options that people could choose that made it feel very customizable, but with things that I already had prepared and in my, in my pocket so that I wasn't, , recreating the wheel and so that I was [00:12:00] clear when I was going to say no.
Because that was always an issue for me as well. And I know for a lot of my clients, , that is not an easy thing to do. So, , you know, then the question arises, well, if I define three offers, does it mean then that I can't take other opportunities , that come to me? And particularly in the early days, I would say absolutely not.
. This doesn't restrict you, but there is a difference between what you are going to promote and what you're going to market and talk about and sell, and then what you are willing to do if an opportunity arises. So I would always say remain flexible so that you can, , work and respond to needs, but be focused when it comes to what you are putting out there, what you're promoting, and what you're marketing as you get, you know, busier and more solid in your business.
I think it will be that you can then start saying no to things. I don't want you to do that too early. If you are getting really good opportunities and you're happy [00:13:00] to do the work and they're paying well, , but eventually there will be a point where you will say, no, this is not work. I do. And for me , that , you know, I had a few of those boundaries, which were things like.
I didn't want to deliver other people's content. So if they, you know, I found it much easier to deliver modules that I had written myself, whereas delivering modules that someone else had written, I found quite difficult. , so, you know, and then as always, and this maybe this is my, my coaching hat. We define these three, but I want you to hold it lightly and hold it flexibly because what will happen is that your office suite will change over time and it'll change for a few reasons.
It'll change because you get clearer on what's important to your clients and what they actually need, not what you think they need. It'll change because people are paying you for things, , and they're not the things that you thought that people would pay you for. , and it'll change because your interests change.
The market changes. Your clients change, right? So you need to be flexible and adaptable. So hold [00:14:00] it lightly, but give yourself those constraints of having some definition to make life easier for yourself when it comes to promotion and marketing. So what am I actually talking about when I talk about the offers you might have in your office suite?
So some of the things you might sell include coaching, and within coaching there are many different types of coaching offer, right? So you might have. , coaching offers that are targeted at senior executives, some that are targeted at middle managers, some that are targeted , at targeted, at new managers.
You might have a group coaching offer. You might have a team coaching offer, and those two are different. You might have a team development offer. You might have a facilitation practice where you facilitate certain types of training, or you might facilitate strategy days, for example, or meetings or retreats.
You might also have a consulting offer where you go in and you are, you know, really. [00:15:00] Offering consulting based on your professional expertise. You might do fractional work, and fractional work might be where you go into an organization for part-time and you act as, like, for example, head of HR or head of marketing.
So we call that a fractional CHRO, fractional Chief HR Officer, or a fractional CMO Chief Marketing Officer, a fractional whatever. Right? So you. Go in there and they don't necessarily need to hire a, a whole headcount, but they might hire you as a consultant to fill that role , in a certain small amount of time.
, so, , and you can be a fractional anything, to be honest. , so yeah, fractional work, you might have an offer that is speaking, right? So public speaking, speaking, , at conferences, speaking for events, depending on your background. , there are really endless options you might do, done for you services, right, which is where you go in and you, actually do some work for them.
It might be that you deliver a set of policy [00:16:00] documents or a change management framework or something like that. You may have eBooks that you sell. You may have worksheets or digital tools that you sell. So there's all sorts of things that could be in your unique office suite. And so the questions that I'm about to share with you are questions that I want you to ask yourself to help you define your own office suite.
, but before I do that, I want to introduce this sort of filtering concept, right? Because how do we decide what might be in , our office suite, whereas what is just too far out of. Out on a limb, , that we wouldn't consider. And so the concept that I want to introduce to you is this idea of offers that are coaching adjacent.
So coaching adjacency is important because there is a lot of power in offers that support and lead into each other, right? So for example, coaching and facilitation and leadership development and, , strategy day facilitation. [00:17:00] They are all adjacent offers. And the reason they're adjacent is that they, you sell it to the same decision makers, right?
So the sorts of people who would bring you into, , run a leadership training session are the same people who might hire you to deliver coaching. , the offers that build credibility with the same people who might be interested in different offers. And often they are. Offers where the other offer is a natural next step.
So for example, if I come in and I run leadership training, then coaching is often a natural next step. Or if I come in and I coach a leader, then doing running a team program with their team is a natural next. So the. Offers need to be related to each other. And I call that being coaching adjacent. So that might mean if you said, well, , my flower arranging business is something I'm very passionate about, can I include that as one of my offers?
, I would say, well, [00:18:00] maybe if your clients are in , , , the floral business or the wedding business, yeah. Maybe. But most likely there's a little bit too much of a distance because someone buying flower arrangements isn't necessarily going to see the work you do in flower arrangements and say, oh yeah, I think that means you would be a good coach for us as well.
So keeping things, , connected and adjacent , is very important. Now, it doesn't mean they have to be typical. So one example I've seen with one of my current clients. Hello. If you're listening, , this is a great example is that she is a coach and does fractional HR work, but she's also a yoga teacher.
And this is actually quite adjacent a coaching adjacent offer because often the people say L and d or HR who are deciding to bring in a coach are also running wellbeing programs in their organizations. [00:19:00] People who might come to , a yoga program offered to professionals are often likely to be in a role in an organization where wellbeing is valued and promoted.
And coaching could be something that sits alongside that very easily. So look for offers that are coaching adjacent. So what I wanna do is I wanna share seven questions, actually seven questions that will help you. To that. Well, to ask yourself, as you define your offers, they'll help you to define your offers, and I want you to ask yourself these questions to help you go through that process, to ideally end up with a set of, let's say, three offers that give you some clarity.
So the first question is, well. What do you already have in your office suite? And by that I mean, what services have you sold? Have you delivered pro bono? Have you done as an associate, , this, or , even offers that are things you have done in your [00:20:00] professional role , that where you've. It's been a responsibility of yours in your role.
, and I think that's really important to remember. 'cause we might say, you might be tempted to say, oh, well I haven't done anything. I haven't done anything. I'm just starting my business. But in fact, if I look back, I'm like, I. Okay. Well, did you facilitate training in your professional role? Well, yeah, I did that, but that doesn't count.
Yeah, it absolutely counts. , I've been coaching in my professional role. Yes, that counts too. So those are the things that are already in your office suite, and the first thing I wanted you to do is write all of those down. The second thing is to think about, well, what else might you like to offer? So you probably have a lot of ideas.
If you've started a business, you've been in a professional career for a long time, you probably have a lot of ideas of what you could do and things you could do better. , different ways you'd like to offer services and create outcomes. So I would suggest writing those down too. Do some brainstorming.
Give yourself some real creative space to do this as well. [00:21:00] The third question is, well, what? Could you offer that is going to solve your ideal client's biggest issues or challenges, right? So you might say, well, what I love to do is team coaching. But actually, if you think about your ideal clients and their biggest issues, you might realize that what they really need and what will make, you know, really turn the needle for them, is they need some tactical training for , their new leaders, right?
They need to learn how to give feedback. They need to learn. How to have difficult conversations. So they need some training, and that might be something also that you could add to your list. The next, , four questions are really filtering questions, right? So we've gone wide, that's our flare phase. We've brainstormed, we've downloaded, now we have to do, apply a filter to those to figure out, well, what offers am I actually going to, , put out there into the world?
So the first filtering question of course is, well, which ones do you [00:22:00] actually enjoy and are you excited to do? Is it something that you're going to enjoy still in three months? In three years, in 10 years? Course you can change your mind at any point. Well, unless you're in the middle of delivery. But think about, well, what actually lights you up?
What is something that you're interested, if you are a little bit, , stuck on this, I would encourage you to read the book, , the Big Leap by Gay Hendricks, where he talks about your zone of genius. As opposed to your zone of excellence. I think that can be a really interesting lens to apply here is to think about, well, which ones really tap into this energy source in me?
Where doing them is going to not only help me to have great impact on my clients, but also to provide. A sense of meaning and satisfaction and joy for me that I don't get out of things that maybe I'm good at, but I don't particularly have that same sense of intrinsic, , satisfaction from. So which ones do you actually enjoy?[00:23:00]
The next filtering question. And my fifth question is, I. What are you good at and what are you perceived to be good at? Now, these are two slightly different questions. The first is, you know, what do you know that you're good at? And I'm assuming that if you're listening, you are probably a great coach.
You've probably been told you're a good coach over the course of your career. You've probably done a lot of coach training. It's something that feels natural to you. So coaching might tick this box really simply, but what else is there that you're good at? And then I want you to think also, what do others perceive you to be good at?
And this includes people from your professional network, not just people who you know you'd be marketing to for the first time, but people who who have come across you in your professional background. What did they view you to be good at? Like what do they do? They, would they say. Or Yeah, was, was a fantastic leader or would they say, yeah, she could really do good training, or she had a really good strategic mind.
, you know, what are you [00:24:00] perceived to be good at? And so this is things that includes coaching, but also in your professional background, right? So don't, don't forget about the value of your professional background. Question six. And another filtering question is, well, does it make a positive difference in the world for an individual or for an organization?
, and the reason I add this is that most coaches I talk to are not only motivated by. , the income generation or the growth business growth, , that they're pursuing, they are also motivated by making a positive difference in the world. So add this as a filter, if that's important to you. Which of these things actually is going to, , you know, make a positive change, , for an individual and organization, community or the world.
And then my final filtering question is, will people pay for it? And this is a tricky one because often people will tell you that they like something, but it doesn't mean that they would pay for it. So [00:25:00] when we, if we wanna go beneath the surface of this question, I mean the only way we can really know if someone will pay for it is if someone has paid for it.
, but we can hypothesize and we can hypothesize in a few ways. The first . Is it perceived to be valuable? Right? Would somebody buying this understand that it adds value, that it is quantifiably valuable to them in their role or their business , or personally, . , and one way I like to think about it is we've gotta avoid falling in the trap of trying to sell vitamins.
And sometimes , this is more about the marketing of the offer than it is about the choice of the offer. , but similarly, we really don't wanna be. Putting out offers that we like, but our clients aren't actually interested, , and don't want to add interest to. So does it add value? Is it perceived to be value valuable?
You can do some research, which I highly recommend actually asking [00:26:00] people like what do they think about this? , and then this idea that I think is helpful , is the offer a vitamin or is it a painkiller? , because I have found the hard way that offers that are vitamins are much harder to sell, it is hard to sell something that we know is going to prevent a problem in the future than it is to sell something that helps someone solve a problem that they have right now.
So. Maybe this is just framing of your offer, but when you do filter through, think about, well, is this gonna be, you know, a bit of an uphill battle to sell because it is a vitamin rather than a painkiller. Okay. So I hope that's been helpful. , inside the Corporate to Coach Accelerator, you know, I provide a huge amount of support around this process of offer definition.
, , it's usually a process that takes a little while and, , you know, people coming into the accelerator will go through a module in our 90 day quick start program. Will help them , to define it. We've got a little [00:27:00] worksheets to help you work through a lot of these questions we've asked today.
, we'll discuss it in group coaching often, quite a lot. And one of the, , the things that's available to people who are part of the accelerator is that they can send me , their assets and I include their reflections on their offers to me. And then I will send them personalized video feedback on those.
So this can be quite a detailed process, but if you are interested in learning more, , book a call with me, a strategy. Call with me at the link in the show notes to talk about your offer. Or you can send me a LinkedIn message on. Yeah, sorry, a message on LinkedIn and I'll send you the booking link, , and we can talk about both your offers and whether the accelerator might be a good fit for you in order to help you, , do this for your business.
So thanks for listening in, and I will see you next week.
