How to Get Clients for Your Health Coaching Business

May 19, 2016

Imagine your name is Bob. You’re 47 years old, you have a beautiful wife, two wonderful kids, a lovely dog and a career you enjoy. Life is great is except for the nagging pain in your right pinky finger. It started as a minor irritation but now has gotten to the point where it’s affecting your work and your sleep. As you lay tossing and turning one night, all you can think about is the pain. Then suddenly you decide it’s time to get up and take action. You kiss your wife and sneak out the bedroom. The dog is confused and follows you downstairs and into the kitchen. You open up the lid of your laptop and open a new browser window. Google appears.

What are you going to search for?

Doctor [Your Name Here] Ultrawellness?

Optimal Health Nutrition Coach?

Of course not. You’re going to search for “right pinky finger pain” or some variation of those words.

So why is then that so many practitioners, good ones, create websites that are all about themselves?

You know the site I mean. The one with the picture of the practitioner on the front page, possibly wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope around their neck. There’s a list of credentials and a longer list of health complaints the practitioner "specialises" in. The list includes virtually every condition known to man. Think about Bob reading that page. Is he going to be excited? Now imagine Bob’s delight as he discovers your series of articles talking about the most common root causes of right pinky finger pain and what you can do about them. Bob is so delighted with what he’s found that he wants to wake his wife to share the good news. "Finally! Someone that understands me" is what Bob is thinking.

Being specific about who we’re talking to is something we’ve done by accident at Nourish Balance Thrive. I’m a master’s athlete whose health fell apart in pursuit of the upgrade to pro mountain biker racer. Not everyone we work with is a mountain biker, but everyone is an athlete (even if they won’t admit it).

Starting a new health coaching business is about more than being a great practitioner.

Of course, you must be qualified to help people, but if you’re not specific with your marketing, you’ll end up helping nobody. You only have to walk down the street anywhere in the US to recognise how many people need help with their diet and lifestyle, but did you know that 50% of naturopaths never see a patient? 60% of acupuncturists go back to a previous career after less than three years of work? And yet at the same time, as of last year, there were three billion people online, and we know that there's another three billion people that are coming in the next five years or so depending on what study you read. There is no shortage of people that need your help.

This is but one of the many lessons I’ve learned as a result of completing the Practitioner Liberation Project. Listen to this interview with gut health guru and marketing conversion expert Jordan Reasoner to discover some of the others.

Click here to sign up for Jordan’s webinar.