The Secret Tool to Bring More Money into Your Coaching Biz | by Ruby McGuire

Okay, so I won't keep you in suspense like all of those "The Secret to…" webinars and posts you come across. Let's get to it!

"Group Coaching" is the secret tool. It's a fantastic way to grow your coaching business. It's basically a method of coaching, delivered to a group of people interested in particular coaching topics.

It's great when you're starting out and want to connect with new people that can then become your potential clients, and as your business grows it's a brilliant way to add another income stream to your business.

I started running group-coaching sessions called Cappuccino Coaching Sessions when I first qualified. They were 2-hour sessions on various coaching topics, such as procrastination, confidence, values, goal setting etc. In the sessions we covered one topic, with lots of coaching questions, some coaching exercises and often a worksheet.

Here are 7 Great Reasons to Get Started in Group Coaching for your Business:

1. Improve your coaching skills, knowledge base and confidence!

• Try out new topics, exercises, techniques and ideas, and find out what works and what doesn't!

2. Build your confidence

• Group Coaching is fun and it's a great way to get experience and really learn about your clients goals, issues and more!
• Experience grows confidence. And the quicker you build your confidence the quicker you build your business.

3. Grow your reputation in the local area, make new connections

• To sign-up for coaching, people need to know, like and trust you.
• What better way to build trust and your reputation than to help people learn something new about themselves, to create change in their lives and move forward?

4. Use Groups to introduce people to coaching when they don't really have a clue what it is

• How many times have you tried to explain what coaching is to people and they just don't get it? Let them try coaching and experience what coaching is in a low-risk group coaching session with you instead.

5. Figure out what topics you enjoy working on, and what resonates with potential clients

• Through coaching groups and trying different topics you'll learn what subjects you love.
• You'll also get to see firsthand which topics energise and really connect with people - and those that don't.

6. Figure out who your dreamie clients might be

• Through coaching groups you'll also meet lots of people - and you'll be able to figure out who your dreamie clients are.
• Knowing who your dreamie clients are saves you time, money and energy.
• And when you're clear on who you are and what you offer you're going to be putting the right message out there and attracting the right people.

7. Offer more affordable coaching through groups - and get new one-on-one clients

• People pay less for group coaching than they do for one-on-one coaching. In addition, you leverage your time by coaching many people at one time.
• And better yet your group coaching sessions help bring you one-on-one paying clients too.

What about the practicalities of Coaching Groups?

Importantly, you need to decide on how many people you want in your group: Up to 8 attendees makes for a really nice group where you have time to give people more individual attention. If you have done any kind of training you can also manage a room of up to 30 people, by getting people to work in groups. It's all down to how well you can manage group work.

The type of venue needs to be quiet and confidential. Ambient noise is fine, but if you're having to shout over the coffee machine then you might want to find a better place.

That brings me nicely into the skills you need to be able to run a group coaching session. Group Coaching sessions are based around key coaching concepts like asking questions, listening for responses, paraphrasing, feeding back to the group and more.

Other Skills You'll Need to Run Coaching Groups include:

Write good content

• Pick a topic of interest to a number of people.
• Don't use jargon, keep the concepts challenging but not too advanced.
• Be sure to sprinkle fun in along the way so that the sessions don't become too heavy.

Know how to facilitate a group

• Building rapport in the group is vital, something I'm sure you're familiar with through one-to-one coaching. But as well as you building rapport with the individual attendees, you'll also need to help build rapport between the attendees too.
• Notice the energy in the group. If it's dipping, mix up your pitch, tone, pace and content to shift it where required. Take a break if you think your attendees need time out to process.
• Bounce ideas around with the attendees, opening up their conversations while ensuring each attendee knows their contribution is valuable.
• Manage the group dynamics. This includes dealing with the chatterboxes, negative nellies if there are any, the quiet ones that don't talk and potentially awkward silences. (see the end of the article for an article on how to handle 12 different types of difficult participants)
• Notice what isn't landing right – and be prepared to clarify where you need to.

Think about different learning styles

You will notice in a group that different people learn in different ways, so you want to take that into account. Based on Kolb's experiential learning cycle, Honey & Mumford identified four key ways in which people learn. Here's a very quick snapshot:

1. Activist – learns by actually doing (prefers doing and experiencing)
2. Reflector – learns by digesting the information and reflecting on it (they sit back and observe and reflect)
3. Pragmatist – learns by planning next steps, having a go, trying things to see if they work
4. Theorist – they need the theory – the background info, to understand the reasoning

So when you plan your group coaching session, plan for these different styles in and you'll be onto a winner from the start.

Final Thoughts

Group coaching is a fantastic way to build your business, for so very many reasons. I hope after reading this article you'll be considering how you could bring this into your business.

I wonder… will group coaching become part of your business model?

So what about you? Are you ready to start working on your mindset, and stop being invisible? Let's work on visibility to get you more profitable. It's time that you and your fabulous business were seen, both on and offline. If fear is the thing holding you back, then you'll love my new programme, Fearless Visibility Divas – it's time to become a fearlessly visible, fiercely profitable, and hugely impactful solopreneur.

If you liked this article on Group Coaching by Ruby McGuire, you may also like:

• 3 Ways to Help Motivate Your Coaching Clients! | By Ruby McGuire
• 12 Types of Difficult Participants in Group and Team Coaching & How to Deal With Them | By Jennifer Britton
• 9 Ways to Market Your Workshop or Group Coaching Program | By Jennifer Britton

Contributing Author:

Ruby McGuire is a Business & Mindset Queen, certified by the IAPC&M. She's an expert Coach, Mentor, Trainer, Speaker, and Author. Her passion lies in empowering clients to lead their businesses like royalty. Through her guidance, they develop leadership skills, cultivate a success mindset, and attract dreamie clients. Ruby's on a mission to simplify life, opting out of social media marketing for her coaching and mentoring business to enjoy Scotland's beauty. Visit her pretty online home, Rock Your Fabulous Biz, for insights like her Mini Guide to Marketing Without Social Media.

Ruby's also a Certified Zentangle Teacher, so you'll often find her 'tangling'. Explore her artistic side on Ruby 2 Shoes Design, where she showcases her crafts and offers Zentangle®️ workshops. She also runs ZenFlow Workshops Beginner Zentangle®️ Workshops for Corporations & Charities. When not immersed in work, Ruby indulges in books, card-making, and quality time with her family, including her beloved dog and chickens, all accompanied by a delicious Whittard Vanilla cappuccino!

Learn more about Ruby & see all their articles here >>