One of the challenges I have experienced as a coach in the transformation space is the disconnect between the sales and marketing processes and the coaching process. Traditional marketing tactics focus on helping potential clients hone in on the problems that they are experiencing and allowing them to see how you are the right person to help them solve their problems.

Coaching orients us to empower our clients to actualize their potential to solve their problems, create the changes they want to implement and actualize the possibilities they want to create in their lives.

So, how can we envision our Marketing process as a service in empowering our potential clients to embrace their potential for change that we support in our coaching work?

The key is to envision our client’s journey as a change process that extends before and after our coaching work with them. The Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change created by Prochaska and DiClemente in Changing For Good provides a resource for envisioning this process. Even though the change process can be modeled in many ways and beyond the realm of behavior, this model is a great anchor for both the practical and conscious changes that come into play when people embrace their desire to change an aspect of their lives for the good.

The Transtheoretical Model for Behavioural change breaks down five stages in the behavioral change process.

• Pre-contemplation: In this stage, people are not ready to make a change and are not even aware of the potential negative consequences of their current state. They may know that something needs to change, but they are largely unaware of the consequences of things continuing as they are and have plans to change.
• Contemplation: This is the stage where people are aware that they have behaviors that they want to change and are seriously contemplating the possibility of changing them.
• Preparation: The information gathering and planning stage before making the change.
• Action: This is the stage in which people modify their behavior.
• Maintenance: This is the stage where the change has been implemented, and people work to prevent returning to the previous behavior.

This is a very brief overview of these stages. Still, these stages can help visualize how our coaching services and our “marketing as service” help our clients navigate the initial stages of activating their potential for change.

Usually, a client will seek out a coach once they choose to act towards their goals. The coach serves as one of the key ingredients in helping them through their change process and in the process of maintenance as well. However, clients often seek out or start connecting with the marketing content of a coach during the contemplation or even pre-contemplation stage through the preparation stage.

So, your marketing efforts are part of helping your clients understand their symptoms, contemplate the process of creating change, and prepare to leap. When ready to claim their change, they can step into working with you!

With this process, you can visualize your marketing process as part of your potential clients’ change process AND see your marketing and sales both as a service to the world and a vehicle for the thought leadership that inspires your potential clients to embrace their potential for change.

How does this shift your perspective on your marketing process? And where might you be able to serve your potential clients better to engage with their change process while deciding if you are the best fit to support them?

Cheering you on,