Coaching World: Leveraging Technology by International Coach Federation

ISSUE 5 February 2013

Advancing the Art, Science and

Practice of Professional Coaching

Leveraging Technology FoR YoUR CoACHINg CAREER

IN tHIS ISSUE...

ISSUE 5 February 2013

Coaching World is a quarterly digital publication of the International Coach Federation. It is distributed via email and accessible at icfcoachingworld.com. Coaching World is written and produced by the ICF Marketing Department.

Lindsay Bodkin

Director of Brand Management

Ann Jarvis

Marketing Manager

kristin kelly

Marketing Specialist

Stephanie Wright

04 Navigating our Social Media Driven World

Brand Designer

Kristin Kelly

Advertise with us! Please contact Toby Bishop at toby.bishop@coachfederation.org

07 get LinkedIn®!

Donna Schilder, MCC

In the next issue... The “extras” of coaching... coming May 2013!

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily endorsed by Coaching World or the International Coach Federation (ICF). Content may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. International Coach Federation Headquarters 2365 Harrodsburg Road, Suite A325 Lexington, Kentucky 40504 USA Phone: +1.888.423.3131 +1.859.219.3580 icfheadquarters@coachfederation.org

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February 2013

10 How I got 1,000 Facebook Fans (In three Months) Malti Bhojwani, PCC

12 Case Study: tweets gone Wrong Lindsay Bodkin

26 How to Become a Media Star Laurie Lawson, PCC

14 Social Networking Stress to Success Jordan Friedman, PCC

28 global Views: technological tools to Advance Your Coaching Career

16 RoI of Social Media Lisa Ann Edwards, ACC

29 Why You MUSt Build Your Email List 18 give Your Coaching Website a Video Makeover Kristen White

20 Visually Enhancing Your online Brand

Derek Halpern

30 Behind Every great Coach is a Virtual Assistant Ethelle G. Lord

Stephanie Wright

ge 22

see pa

24 Use HUE to Build Brand YoU William Arruda

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February 2013

Navigating our Social When social media channels first emerged on the scene in the early 2000s, they were perceived by many as a fad. Something that would stick around only long enough until the next big thing appeared. But today, with more than one billion users across numerous platforms (TechCrunch, 2012), they are very clearly here to stay. As a coach in today’s technologically advanced world, how can you best utilize these burgeoning social media channels to your advantage? Which platforms should you use? How do you build up your likes/followers/fans? What messages should you share? Read on for the tips and tricks of navigating social media.

Facebook

If you aren’t on Facebook, you should be. This social media tycoon has more than one billion monthly active users—81 percent of which live outside North America (Facebook, 2012). With so many active users, many of your past, current, and potential clients are bound to be there already. Gain loyal followers: You do this by providing quality content on a regular basis. What can you offer that provides value? It is important to post content beyond your business—entice people by posting about coaching, your community and more. Daily, consistent updates keep fans engaged and interested in what you have to offer. There is no magic number when it comes to how many posts you should put out there in a given day or week. Test different strategies to see what works for you. Engage people in conversation by asking questions and always responding to comments and questions on your page.

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February 2013

23% of Facebook users check their account 5+ times daily! Some 80% of social media users prefer to connect with brands through Facebook

77% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies

anD a whopping

acquired customers from Facebook. (Huffington Post, 2012)

Media Driven World Twitter

Twitter is rapidly growing as a social media mainstay. The trick is to sell yourself in 140 characters or less (less is more!). You want multiple tweets in a day, but too many—or too salesy—tweets will cause followers to stop following. Space out your tweets (you can even schedule tweets through a program like Hootsuite) to keep content moving steadily. Getting started in the twittersphere: Seek out colleagues and friends to follow on Twitter. The people you follow will prove to be a constant source of inspiration—it is through them that you will be able to retweet (share) content and you’ll glean ideas for future messaging.

Since the dawn of twitter, there have been a total of

163 billion tweets. In 2012, one million accounts were added to twitter every day. (Huffington Post, 2012)

Post and share content that matters: By consistently providing valuable content in your areas of expertise, people will turn to you as source. Balance out your messaging with retweets of others’ content. Pose questions, post quotations, share articles/blog posts that speak to you. The Twitter feed moves quickly. The nature of Twitter allows you to repurpose your messages and share more than once—this is especially important if your followers are spread across multiple time zones. Be an active part of the conversation. Retweet and comment on posts! If people engage with you, interact! An unfortunate 56 percent of customer tweets to companies are being ignored (Huffington Post, 2012). You don’t want that to be you!

LinkedIn is frequently touted as a powerful social networking tool for professionals and is a great way to connect with past/current/future clients.

2.6 million companies have linkedIn Company pages.

More than (LinkedIn Press Center, 2012)

tips for making the most of yours: have a complete profile page—you want to build trust from the very beginning. Provide enough information so people feel comfortable reaching out to you. Tell your story…why should people care about you/your business? Don’t leave fields blank (this includes all possible contact information you can list)! Add a real photo of yourself—people like to see the person behind the profile. Join and be active: Once your account is set up, you will want to begin networking. There is a plethora of coaching groups active on LinkedIn where you can join in on numerous discussions. Likewise, if leads are what you seek, they can be found on LinkedIn, you just have to ask! Anytime you make a new connection, don’t be afraid to let them know you are searching for a lead.

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Blog

If done well, your blog can be a powerful tool to promote your business/services; boost additional web traffic to your website; and connect with potential clients. Concerned with content? The growth of coaching in recent years has been phenomenal—as such, people are constantly searching for more information about it. In addition to writing about your own business and coaching, talk in broader terms about the profession. Answer those frequently asked questions you have heard over the years. Shed insight into what coaching is and what it isn’t. Talk about the coaching process and how people can determine if it will work for them.

60%

of businesses have a

business or company blog— of these,

35% actively blog

at least once a month. (Blogging.org, 2012)

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS YOU MIGHT CONSIDER USING:

YouTube

There are over 800 million unique visitors to youtube each month (YouTube, 2012). If you create videos, a branded YouTube channel is a perfect way to house your collection. Your own channel allows viewers to subscribe to your content (and be immediately notified of any new videos you post). Through YouTube, it is simple to embed your videos directly into blog posts for use across other social media platforms.

This relatively new platform is all about increasing your business’ visibility. Potential ideas for use include: sharing favorite quotes, books, success stories, etc. Be creative! It was found that 69 percent of online consumers who visit Pinterest have found an item they’ve bought or wanted to buy, compared with 40 percent of Facebook users (Huffington Post, 2012). Also, 43 percent of people prefer Pinterest to associate with retailers or brands; 24 percent chose Facebook (Huffington Post, 2012). Pinterest use continues to grow amongst businesses with the now available Pinterest Business pages. If you have any tips or strategies when it comes to social media usage, we would love to hear them! Tweet them to us using this hash tag: #icfsmtip

Works Cited 1. Facebook. (2012, October). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.facebook.com/: http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts 2. Huffington Post. (2012, November 29). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brianhonigman/100-fascinating-social-me_b_2185281.html 3. LinkedIn Press Center. (2012, September 30). Retrieved December 5, 2012, from LinkedIn: http://press.linkedin.com/About 4. TechCrunch. (2012, May 14). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://techcrunch.com/: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/14/itu-there-are-now-over-1billion-users-of-social-media-worldwide-most-on-mobile/

Kristin Kelly is the woman behind ICF’s social media initiates. She’s the one who keeps you informed through Facebook, shares

interesting articles about coaching on Twitter, and moderates discussions on LinkedIn. She is also the editor of the official ICF blog and manager of ICF’s email newsletters. Kristin has been on staff as ICF’s Marketing Specialist for the last five years. If you have a submission for the blog, email her at kristin.kelly@coachfederation.org.

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February 2013

get LinkedIn®!

LEVERAgE LINkEDIN to BUILD YoUR CoACHINg PRACtICE You go to networking event after networking event, meet lots of business people, but when you get back to your office you leave the business cards you collected on your desk. They seem to multiply. Lurking in dusty little piles. From time to time you look at them, and think: Who are these people? What did they want? Were they interested in coaching? You know you need to do something with all of those business cards! But what? One of the biggest mistakes coaches make is not maintaining a personal connection with their valuable business contacts. But there’s a free tool that can help! LinkedIn® is a business-oriented social networking site that enables users to stay connected with their business contacts and create new business relationships. Why LinkedIn? Because linkedIn has 187 million members, who have an average income of $109,000 (40 percent of which hold a position of manager or higher). And LinkedIn is one of the most used social networks in the world, with an average of 2.8 visits per member per month.

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February 2013

What Can LinkedIn Do for You? LinkedIn can help you connect with important business contacts on a regular basis and it can help potential clients find you. All you have to do is type in the names of your business contacts and send a “LinkedIn Invitation” to them (or better yet, scan the business cards and upload them in batches). Once a business connection accepts your invitation, they become part of your LinkedIn network. LinkedIn is a contact database on steroids. It’s got a wealth of information on each contact: • • • • • • •

Name Contact information Picture Headline Work and education history List of connections (who they know) Recommendations and information on the writers of their recommendations • Group memberships • Status updates Each piece of information will help you in a different way. Their picture can help you recognize them at a networking event. Their work and education history can help you see what you have in common (e.g., you both went to UCLA or worked at United Healthcare). Their work history can help you see if they are part of your target market. Their group memberships can help you determine if they can help you access your target market.

What LinkedIn Can’t Do LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful tool. But business won’t magically appear just because you’re on LinkedIn. As Chef Gordon Ramsey of “Hell’s Kitchen” has said, “... business doesn’t just come and sit on your lap, you’ve gotta go looking for it and if you don’t you’re going to fail.” So that’s why most people have a LinkedIn account, but don’t get much out of it. LinkedIn is not a replacement for the inperson contact needed to build business relationships, rather it’s a tool to enhance relationship building. You still need to talk to people on the phone, meet with them for coffee, see them at networking events, or at the very least, send them a personal note via LinkedIn or email. You still need to interact with them on a human level.

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February 2013

How Can You Use LinkedIn to Build Business Relationships? Maintain connection: 1. Send “LinkedIn Invitations” to every quality contact you meet. Personalize the invitation to build a foundation for the relationship: “It was nice meeting you at the MGMA Meeting. I enjoyed our discussion about Pay for Performance. I would like to continue to build our business relationship and am inviting you to link with me on LinkedIn.” Build relationships: There are many ways to use LinkedIn to build business relationships, for example, you can: 1. Review a contact’s LinkedIn profile, once they accept your “LinkedIn Request,” send them an email highlighting the experience, education, or connections that you have in common. 2. Review a contact’s LinkedIn profile before a phone call so you can target questions to address their business needs. 3. Take a contact’s LinkedIn profile with you to coffee or lunch and use it to build rapport. 4. Review the profiles of key people in a networking group, prior to attending an event, to: • Select people to look for • Help you recognize them • Prepare questions to initiate meaningful business conversations Meet new business contacts: There are many ways to meet new business contacts on LinkedIn. You can find them in: • • • • •

A “people” Search A friend’s connection list A group A comment they made in a group or the “answers” section They can also find you in one of the ways listed above

How You Can Use LinkedIn to Enroll Clients Once you become more active on LinkedIn, you will begin to get more “LinkedIn Invitations” from people. Converting them from a stranger to a client does not have to be a difficult process. Here’s an example of the process I use: 1. Let’s say a woman named Sara sends you a “LinkedIn Invitation.” 2. If you don’t know Sara, look at her LinkedIn Profile (occupation, work history, education and connections) to determine if she is a potential coaching candidate.

3. If Sara is a potential coaching client, write a LinkedIn email to her to ask for a “get to know you” phone call. NOTE: Don’t accept her “LinkedIn Invitation” until after the call and make it easy for her to schedule the call by offering three times you’re available. If Sara doesn’t look like a viable candidate, either accept the invitation (if being linked to her could be beneficial) or archive it. 4. Before the phone call, review Sara’s LinkedIn Profile and create questions to build rapport: “I really enjoyed attending UCLA, did you?” And uncover her pain points: “What keeps you from accomplishing what you want to accomplish?” 5. Come to the call with curiosity and the intent of building a business relationship with Sara.

10 Ways to Be Active on LinkedIn

6. On the call, ask: “What attracted you to send a ‘LinkedIn Invitation’ to me?” If she is considering hiring a coach (I get this response about 25 percent of the time): • Ask: “What is compelling you to look for a coach?”

Being active on LinkedIn helps you appear higher in LinkedIn “people” search results. If you spend just 90 minutes a month taking the actions on this list, you will see an increase in your profile views and coaching service inquiries.

• After letting her know how coaching can help her with her issues, make an attempt to enroll Sara into your coaching practice: “Are you ready to sign up for coaching?” • Or if you sense she’s not ready to enroll or your enrollment attempt fails, offer her a sample coaching session. OR If she isn’t looking for a coach: • Ask her questions to uncover her pain points. • Tell her how coaching can help her.

1. After each networking event, scan business cards, upload contacts to LinkedIn, and send a “LinkedIn Invitation” to the people who seem like quality connections.

• Offer her a sample coaching session. (I have enrolled many clients this way). 7. After the sample coaching session, ask if it was helpful. If it was, ask if she would like to engage you as her coach, explain the pricing, and give her three options of dates/times when she can start her coaching sessions. 8. When she chooses a date and time, send her your welcome package.

Weekly 2. Endorse a connection.

Works Cited

3. Write a comment in a group.

1. LinkedIn process: www.linkedin.com

4. Write a status update.

2. Gordon Ramsay quote: I wrote this down while watching the show. Here a reference to it: http://ventstation.blogspot.com/2007/12/marketing-advice-from-gordon-ramsay.html

5. “Like” or comment on a connection’s status update.

3. Definition of LinkedIn from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_ term/0,2542,t=LinkedIn&i=60336,00.asp

Monthly 6. Revise or add something new to your profile. 7. Write a recommendation.

Donna Schilder, MCC, Leadership, Career, and Business Coach

8. Request recommendations and approve them to add them to your profile.

(and Coach U Graduate) is the creator of the “6 Weeks to More Success Through LinkedIn” Video E-Course: getlinkedinnow.com. In the E-Course, in teleseminars, and in individual coaching sessions, Donna helps coaches and businesspeople leverage LinkedIn to get more clients and/or job offers (with step-by-step instructions for the online process and real business strategies). In addition, Donna coaches executives, consultants, coaches, and public speakers to break through what blocks them from achieving wild success.

9. Join a group.

Quarterly 10. Upload your email database and send “ink Invitations” to selected contacts.

Connect with Donna on LinkedIn, donnaschilder.com, and @GetLinkedInNow

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February 2013

H o W

g o t

1,000 Facebook Fans (in three Months)

Never before has there been such an open space for anyone to have a podium to express themselves. In the past, only thought leaders, authors, or celebrities could get up on a stage and share their thoughts and opinions, but now with Facebook anyone can do it. So as a coach, how can you use this platform to spread positivity and simultaneously build your brand? From committing to your status updates to creating ads and ‘promoting’ your posts, growing your Facebook page requires a strategy. Here I’ll share my secrets to developing my Facebook fan following.

Declare It on and o±ine

In my latest personal development book, “Don’t Think of a Blue Ball,” I explain how the process started for me by making a declaration. “When you want to do something and you decide that you will, you will. Since I learnt how powerful the power of declaration was, I started to achieve everything that I dared to declare. When I joined the social networking site, Facebook and created a Facebook Page, I declared that I would have 1000 ‘Likes’ in three months. And I did it 15 minutes before the date that I had declared it for.

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February 2013

When you declare and announce it to people in your community—you give it power and it attracts the support of that community.” Since then my page has received more than 5,000 likes in less than two years. As a life coach, we know how to coach ourselves out of fear and into courage. Taking action, making declarations and moving forward in spite of the fear, which after all is only “false, evidence appearing real.” When we make a declaration like this, we are managing our own accountability, we have set a goal and we are designing actions, which are integral attributes of an ICF coach being authentic and competent. Walking the talk, is how we inspire people rather than “telling” them what to do.

Communicate Directly on Facebook Daily

I used to find this hard to do because in the past I had associated Facebook as “wasting time” but Facebook is not a game. It is a place you go to meet and interact with real life people and the only way to gain “likes” or fans is to be interested and engage with other Facebook users. I take about an hour in the morning and then another 30 minutes at the end of the day to look through other people’s profiles and I like or comment on them, then I find something that I am inspired by and write a line or two on my Facebook page. Be sure to truly engage, remember that

these are real people with thoughts and feelings and they have a message to shout out as well, they want to be heard not just bombarded with your inspirational words or your sales pitch. I learnt this lesson from Katrina Kavvalos—(Social Media Coach).

Be an Active Listener

icon below your post and set the budget for that particular post, starting from $5. I usually go for $20-$30 each time and receive at least 40–50 new views and page “likes.” This is far better than advertising the page, as it is promoting two things for the price of one. You have the potential to receive a “like” and you already have the viewer “engaged” and interested. This has worked wonders for me and I use it every time I want to promote a workshop, my book or a new video. There are many tools out there to measure how effective or influential you are being on Facebook including Edgerank and Klout.

Browse through profiles and see who your friends and potential clients “like.” Go on and “like” a few pages that interest you at first and then over the next few days, see if you really do “like” their posts. I found that I needed to reduce the number of pages I “liked” as it became too much Word of caution, there are a lot of sites that offer for me, so I went through them again after a while to get you more likes for $5 or $10 or more, these and “stopped liking” the ones that I didn’t really are not real and they do fall out eventually. You enjoy, keeping my list of “liked pages” to very few are better off having fewer engaged likes than that I truly did “like.” These should usually be many silent ones. made up of people you admire, you “Be sure to truly engage, remember that these are real people aspire to be like, with thoughts and feelings and they have a message to shout you have learnt from and even your out as well, they want to be heard not just bombarded with peers. Read what your inspirational words or your sales pitch.” they post daily and “like” or even “share” To conclude, don’t separate people you meet when you appreciate or agree with them. People face-to-face with people you meet on Facebook. who like your page want to see and read content Some of my best connections and clients have and it does not necessarily have to be all your come from Facebook. They are resourceful own original stuff. They need to see that you are individuals just like you and are enjoying this human like them on the same playing field and incredible new platform where each and every you too like and admire others. one of us has a voice to declare, to share and to have an opinion. The “like” key is powerful, the comment key, even more so but the one you Although you can build your “likes” organically, really want to get your users to click is the “share” it does help to set aside a monthly budget for Facebook Advertising. It is one of the most key, for that shows that you have influence. Think comprehensive and specific target market aimed about why someone would want to “share” your tools I have ever come across. You can design post on their profiles before you post anything. ads or you can just simply click on the “Promote”

Invest a Little

Malti Bhojwani, PCC, is the founder of Multi Coaching International (1999). She is also an NLP practitioner and is trained in

Ontological Coaching. Her latest book, “Don’t Think of a Blue Ball,” has gained international endorsements and is available online. As a coach she aims to serve, not fix or help, through her personalized sessions, virtual coach program, YouTube videos and her writing. For more information visit maltibhojwani.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, or follow her @MaltiBhojwani.

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February 2013

Case Study:

tweets gone Wrong How to redeem your brand after a twitter fiasco

In just 140 characters, you can really do some damage. Just ask Anthony Wiener, the U.S. Secret Service or Kitchen Aid. For Wiener, his reaction to his accidental tweet ruined his brand but the other two discovered the key to bouncing back was pretty simple. Lets take a look at how the organizations handled their maddening mistakes. A Secret Service employee didn’t realize he or she was logged into the oﬃcial Twitter account when this was tweeted,

Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can’t. Deal. With. The. Blathering. @SecretService Kitchen Aid sent an insensitive tweet joking about President Obama’s late-grandmother to their 24,000 followers.

Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president.’ #nbcpolitics @KitchenAidUSA Obama had mentioned in a presidential debate that his grandmother died in 2008 just before he became president.

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February 2013

While there is a delete button to get rid of rogue tweets, it can take a bit of time to update in the feed. However, keen twitter users have been known to take screen shot of offending tweets with their phones. Chances are someone will see an offensive tweet before it disappears. So how can one undo damage done in mere seconds? Own it and apologize. One thing drastically changes how the Twittersphere reacts to these insensitive tweets—a sincere apology. Denying just digs a deep hole and excuses will put a target on your back. Anthony Wiener knows that all to well. He’s the U.S. Congressman who accidentally tweeted evidence of his internet affairs. After denying it and blaming hackers, Wiener finally resigned. The American public dubbed the incident “wienergate.” Both the U.S. Secret Service and Kitchen Aide issued formal apologies, but another company handled their Twitter snafu so well that they received donations after the incident. This tweet appeared on the oﬃcial Red Cross account:

Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogﬁsh Head’s Midas Touch beer… when we drink we do it right #gettingslizzar.

Brilliantly, the company followed up with some humor.

We’ve deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we’ve conﬁscated the keys.

A few donations followed, including one from Hootsuite, the social media dashboard that the Red Cross employee was using when she accidentally tweeted from the company account instead of her personal one. Twitter is a great way to directly communicate with people about your brand. Consumers expect brands to be relatable, and twitter allows that interaction. Take advantage of it! Be present by actively using your Twitter account and responding to people who tweet you. But one word of caution, think before you tweet because that delete button won’t always undo a twitter fiasco.

Lindsay Bodkin is the Director of Brand Management at the International Coach Federation. She joined the staff in July 2012

and has since helped strengthen ICF’s content development. She has worked to create new and relevant material for brochures and has helped create a new content strategy for Coaching World. If you’re interested in writing for Coaching World email her at lindsay.bodkin@coachfederation.org.

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February 2013

S o cial N e t w o r k in g

Stress I

Success

was, and still am, one of those

people who’s not especially

interested in keeping up with real friends on social media sites, or opening the door for old high school pals to ask what I’ve been up to since 1983. But, succumbing to that pervasive social and professional pressure to get on the social networking bus—and fearing that not doing so would be bad for my business—I got my butt on Facebook.

After a couple of months of passive participation of just waiting for friend requests, I received a message from my former babysitter, Sue, who I had not seen or talked with since the end of the Vietnam War and the epoch premiere of “Jaws.” Sue was prompted to say hello after seeing “stress management speaker” on my Facebook profile. It turned out that Sue worked for an enormous midwest company that was looking for stress reduction programs. Sue set up a meeting, I made my pitch, and Sue’s company is still one of my most reliable and rewarding clients five years later. Social media stress and other techno-tension impede the real potential for Google+, FourSquare and Facebook friends to help us learn, market, network and sell. Based on social media trends, it seems like a wise business investment to spend a little time addressing whatever’s fueling the digital dissonance. No matter one’s sources of stress, the first step on the path to reducing or eliminating it, is answering this question: What is it about a situation, activity or person that causes you to feel unsettled, disinterested, overwhelmed and even ill, and therefore less likely—in this case—to latch on to LinkedIn and face up to Facebook? When social media pops up as a stressor for my workshop participants—I always ask this important first question: “What‘s stressful about it?” Their five most uttered responses are below with accompanying stress-busting advice.

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February 2013

1. “I don’t know where to start.”

Goals are gold whether your objective is to make your first social media move, or to improve the process and payoffs of the social media work you’ve already done. Answering these two questions will make your social activities more manageable, efficient, and informative to the stress-reducing strategies to follow. • What areas of your professional practice would you like to strengthen? Professional connections? Referrals? Methodologies? Marketing? Collaboration and partnerships? If your answer is, “All of the above,” pick one or two areas that are most important right now. • Within the areas you identified as priorities for strengthening, list a few specific goals under each. For example, professional connections would be number one for me, so I would sub-divide that priority into, executive coaches, career coaches and wellness coaches.

2. “It’s overwhelming.”

It can be, if you let it. There are hundreds of social networking sites, but the vast majority of them aren’t for you. How many channels do you have access to on your cable TV system? 100? 400? More than 1,000? Do you know what all of them are? Of course you don’t. You know the channels that interest, entertain and satisfy you. You no more need to know every social media outlet than you do every cable station. Now, take that list of your professional goals and find the social media platforms that seem most likely to help you reach them. Hint: they are probably Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

3. “I don’t even understand how Facebook and Twitter work.”

Information helps us feel more in control, something that stress strips away. Information and answers also better equip us to make decisions and progress, which is why getting some social networking smarts will help keep you calm throughout. Good news: teachers and tutorials abound! Identify people in your personal and work worlds who can give you a Twitter and Facebook 4-1-1. Another hint: your kids, or someone else’s kids, may be the best instructors. Libraries, schools and computer stores often offer classes. And of course the web itself is a fine information font. First search for something such as, “list of popular social media sites.” Then, put those names in the YouTube search field followed by “tutorial” to find videos that will take you through the who, what, why, etc. of each.

4. “I don’t have time to learn and stay on top of social networking stuff.”

By acting on earlier suggestions, you will have already reduced the time you’ll need to spend on your daily or weekly social media management. The potential payoffs of social networking equal those of creating a website, attending conferences, publishing e-newsletters or reading professional journals. If you’re spending time on one or more of those endeavors, then also commit to doing the same each day or week for your social media. Put this commitment in your calendar at a regular time as you do with client sessions, teacher meetings and in-person socializing.

5. “You need an assistant to help you manage it all.”

Great idea and you’re in luck! There are a growing number of free social media management tools that double as stress managers. TweetDeck and Hootsuite are two pioneers that allow you to schedule your posts, pick and choose which of your social media pages to send them to, and quickly see who’s saying what on topics of your choosing. The dashboard interfaces of these tools will help you feel like you’re driving your social media bus rather than just getting tossed around in the back of it. You can also get an actual or virtual assistant, to help you get and keep a social media life. There are a lot of reasonably priced freelancers who will create posts, connect you with peers, and keep you in the know about all-things social networking. This doesn’t get you off the hook, it only gives you breathing room to focus on other priorities.

As you contemplate these strategies and build your social networking activities, keep a balanced, stressbusting perspective. Social media is only one part of your practice. In-person business development still matters, and your work online is definitely a process.

Jordan Friedman, PCC, a.k.a. The Stress Coach is a global stress management speaker, trainer and former director of Columbia University’s health promotion program. His Stress Coach U teleseminar is part of ICF’s Continuing Coach Education offerings, and trains coaches, educators and other professionals to teach their clients and students stress reduction techniques to help make their work with them easier and more successful. Jordan is the author of “The Stress Manager’s Manual” and co-author of “The Go Ask Alice Book Of Answers.” Jordan provides free how-to videos, exercises and other resources for coaches, trainers and stress-relief seekers at thestresscoach.com and dotcalm.me

Coaching World |

February 2013

RoI of Social Media: What can you measure?

As more businesses invest an increasing amount of their precious time and efforts in social media, there’s a growing debate about whether or not it is possible to measure return-on-investment (ROI) of social media campaigns. While this article is not about how to creative an effective social media campaign, it will help you determine what to measure to determine your success. The ROI Methodology™ levels of evaluation provide an excellent framework to measure and evaluate the success of your social media campaign (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Levels of Evaluation.

Level 1: Reaction/Satisfaction and Planned Action

Follower’s reaction, satisfaction and planned action related to your social media campaign.

Level 2: Learning

Follower’s learning, changes in knowledge, attitudes or understanding of you or your offer through Social Media.

Level 3: Application, Behavior or Implementation

Follower’s action taken toward desired changes in behavior or implementation.

Level 4: Business Impact

Changes in business impact variables such as revenue, customer retention and cost reduction.

Level 5: ROI

Compares financial benefits to fully loaded costs.

Before you can even begin to measure ROI of Social Media, you must first identify the intent of your Social Media campaign: Why do you have a social media campaign? Business Impact Whether you are a self-employed coach, or the marketer of a coaching organization or coaching school, you can identify the intent of your social media campaign by asking what business objective—monetary impact—do you hope to accomplish with social media? For example, • Is your objective to turn your followers into buyers? • Is your goal to help you retain existing clients? • Are you trying to increase revenue from existing customers? • Would you like to utilize social media as a more cost effective way to distribute information about your upcoming events?

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“Why do you have a social media campaign?” Behavior, learning and reaction Next, working backwards from business impact through the levels of evaluation, consider what behaviors would indicate that you are moving towards your business impact objective. At this level, we are looking for behaviors that relate to the business impact objective. From behavior, take the chain of impact one step further, and consider what do followers need to learn in order to apply or implement the desired action or change in behavior you are seeking. Finally, what type of reaction do you want to create with your followers? For example, a humanitarian organization seeking to raise funds through social media may create outrage or compassion about the problem they are working to resolve, in an effort to inspire action, which will eventually lead to raising funds for their organization. Chain of Impact example To illustrate an example of how the chain of impact might work for a coaching organization, imagine a coaching organization is using social media as a cost effective way to enroll participants in their programs. The overall business impact objective is revenue from registrations through social media. From there, we build the chain of impact. For example, followers who click on links to request more information about an upcoming event,

are taking action (Level 3) towards a business impact goal of revenue (Level 4) from registrations. Not everyone who clicks on an event link will register, but clicks on event links indicate that followers have learned (Level 2) enough about your offer that they want to take action (Level 3). Only when they have registered and paid, have they moved to Business Impact (Level 4). Reaction (Level 1) to your event may be measured through likes, comments or re-tweets and shares. While this example does not reflect the creativity and fun reflected in our experience of social media, it does represent the practical business reasons and application for developing a social media campaign. After you’ve determined what you are hoping to accomplish with your social media campaign and what you will measure, then you can add your own creativity. one next Step you Can take Measuring the ROI of any project requires effort and in some cases it may not be worthwhile to measure the ROI of some programs. In the end, you may decide your main objective for your social media campaign is simply to be available. Like having a telephone number, an email address, a business card, or a website, you may decide the primary objective of your social media campaign, is simply to be… present. But, if you do nothing else, at least clarify the overall purpose of intent of your social media campaign and align your investment of time accordingly.

Lisa Ann Edwards, M.S., ACC, is a partner of Bloom Coaching Institute (BloomCoachingInstitute.com), an organization

that advances coaching effectiveness through research, tools, training and consultation on ROI of Coaching. Lisa’s coaching work has demonstrated as much as a 251 percent return-on-investment and has been shown to lift employee engagement nearly 20 percent. As head of Talent Management for Corbis, a Bill Gates’ privately owned global media company, Lisa was responsible for designing and implementing effective talent development solutions such as leadership development and coaching programs to ensure talent engagement, improve talent retention and serve to feed the talent pipeline. Lisa is a frequent contributing author to trade publications and has authored or contributed to several books, including “Measuring the Success of Coaching: A Step-by-Step Guide to Measuring Impact” and “Calculating ROI” (ASTD Press, 2012).

Coaching World |

February 2013

Give Your Coaching Website a

Video Makeover Four Key Video Strategies That Will Engage Your Clients and Promote Your Global Message

As a coach, you probably realized early in your business, that it’s important to have a strong synergy between your clients and yourself. This connection makes it easier to have a dynamic impact in the lives of the people you support within your coaching practice. But here’s the challenge, how can we present ourselves authentically in our promotional materials, while still using marketing strategies and language that expands our client base? When clients are looking for a coach, they often find you through one of three main channels: (1) a speaking engagement, (2) a referral from a friend/colleague, or (3) a visit to your website. These three modes will always be at the top of the list in magnetic marketing for new people. Now, with the innovations in video marketing, your website can be working for you around the clock and around the globe in a strong, intimate and personal way. The reason speaking and referrals work so well is because your clients can get an immediate and direct sense of your passion and expertise. Websites, on the other hand, have traditionally lacked this ability to connect. Until recently, most personal coaching websites would consist of a flat, one dimensional, online “brochure” about your coaching services with stock photos and general sales language describing your events, retreats and group programs. These brochure websites generally offer a subscription to a monthly newsletter in exchange for an email address from a potential lead. The brochure websites also include a biography about your coaching credentials and, if it’s a well-crafted, brochure website, a few written testimonials from happy clients. My apologies if your website still falls within this “brochure” description, however, stay with me, I’m about to offer an alternative to shift your perspective. But, first a few quick questions, OK? If you’re really honest with yourself, how effective is your current website? What do you offer new people who visit your website? Do potential clients get an immediate sense of who you really are as a person within 30 seconds of landing on your home page? If your website does very little to build your coaching practice and to generate a steady flow of new clients, then I gently suggest it may be time for a video makeover. Here are four key videos to engage your clients and broadcast your personal energy to easily attract an avalanche of new business.

#1 The Home Page Magnet Video Goal: To build your list and establish rapport This video has three basic parts. Every great video opens with a question, or two, directed towards your ideal clients. Why? Because a question invites engagement and the right question can open the door immediately to a lasting coaching relationship. Use this simple exercise to generate some ideas. Take your favorite client, describe their struggles and pain in bullet points, and then create a series of questions about their pain. For example, if you specialize in weight loss and body image. Here would be the opening questions in the video. Have YOU been off and on a diet for the last six months, two years, or even five years, and now you’re just tired of all of the confusing messages about your weight and your health? What would it feel like to make peace with your body shape and finally lose the stubborn weight once and for all? Use the words YOU and YOUR in the opening question. Speak directly to one person, try not to speak to everyone. The next part is to introduce yourself in one power sentence. Hi, I’m {name}, I have a {describe your signature system} that will get YOU to {Transformational Promise} in these # steps, #months.

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The third part is a very clear call to action. Just enter your name and email on this page and I will give you the {small powerful exercise that is a piece of your big program} to get started today, Right now and its my gift to you. Give away some of your best stuff! This video is 60–90 seconds in length.

#2 Thank You For Watching Video Goal: To invite clients to take the next step in your business funnel Once clients give you their name and email, they have already agreed to invest a part of themselves into interacting with your business. This is a perfect time to send a short video asking them to take another step with you. Tell them about your discovery sessions, your next group coaching class or invite them to your retreat. This video will come immediately after the sign up for your FREE coaching exercise opt-in. It can also include instructions on how to get your download. This video is 30–45 seconds in length.

#3 Here’s How I Can Help You Right Now for FREE Video Goal: To give people a small taste of your business This will take some thought and planning. What is a piece of your business that can stand alone as a transformational tool? For example, my gift is 22 On Camera Tips from the Media Pros. I’m a media coach and a former journalist and this is a snapshot of some tools people can use right away to create a better on camera presence and to have confidence while creating videos. Hint, return to the earlier questions about your ideal clients main points of pain, and create a FREE give away that address directly their obstacles and challenges. This video is two to five minutes or it can be a series of short videos delivered by email.

#4 What Other People Love About Working With YOU Goal: To establish social proof and build credibility Bottom line, video testimonials work. In this era we live in, people want a degree of social proof. Just use your telephone camera and follow this simple testimonial blueprint. Please tell us your name, the name of your business/website. Where you were when we started working together and where you are right now. Would you recommend you as a coach to someone else on this similar journey? This video is 60 seconds in length. Think of each video as a traffic signal. They direct the people who visit your website to take actions that help them make the decision to become your clients. Try out the concepts above and don’t worry about making it perfect. See how the videos convert, and then make some more videos. Once your get the hang of it, it’s easy to create fresh, innovative content that invites people to get to know you personally. Video is a global connector that allows you to be in several places all at once reaching out to the clients who are looking for a coach, just like you, to help them take their life or business to the next level.

Kristen White, is an award-winning television journalist and anchor. She is the host of a recently launched TV show, “The Ripple Effect,”

which focuses on personal development and airs in six U.S. markets. She is a transformation author, media trainer and Entrepreneurial Coach. Kristen hosts Live from the Universe with Kristen White on Vivid Life Radio and is the creator of InstantCelebrityAcademy.com. She specializes in helping authors, speakers, coaches, and entrepreneurs connect to their market with a powerful and unique authentic voice using video, online radio, and webTV. Kristen has interviewed many people, including Donald Trump, President Bill Clinton and Johnny Depp. She has also appeared on Oprah. Find out more at coachkristenwhite.com. An abbreviated version of this article was first published in ICF’s Daily Conference Newsletter at the ICF Global Conference in London this past fall.

Coaching World |

February 2013

Visually Enhancing Y o ur Online B rand

In the age of infographics, Instagram, and Pinterest, images are becoming increasingly important in our branding. Images are popping up everywhere and begging for our attentionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;especially on our mobile phones and devices. Having good visual branding on the web and social media allows your customers to immediately connect with you. Without it, you are leaving them to guess whether they are connecting with the correct profile. Here are some tips for how to visually enhance your online brand presence.

100% more time

Visual content drives engagement. In fact, just one month after the introduction of Facebook timeline for brands, visual content (photos and videos) saw a

Source: MarketingSherpa, http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/ how-to/videos-attract-300-more-traffic#

Source: Simply Measured, http://simplymeasured.com/blog/2012/03/27/theimpact-of-facebook-timeline-for-brands-study/

Viewers spend

on pages with videos on them.

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February 2013

65% increase in engagement.

Start with a strong foundation.

Resources

A great logo and identity is the foundation of your visual brand. Work with a graphic designer to create a visual brand that speaks to what you do. Make sure all your print and web materials match and use your logos/icons consistently. Use the same profile image across all platforms for consistency and recognizability.

Stock Images: istockphoto.com shutterstock.com sxc.hu thinkstockphotos.com Photo Editing: fotor.com pixlr.com picmonkey.com

Use professional, high-quality images.

Helpful Hints

Images can work to enhance your brand or further confuse it. Choose photos that speak to what you do. Use a stock site if you do not have any professional, high-quality images of your own. Invest in a professional headshot if you don’t already have one. You are a professional and should look like one.

Facebook Profile Image: 200 x 200 pixels Facebook Timeline Cover Image: 851 x 315 pixels Custom Twitter Background: 2000 x 1200 pixels Twitter Profile Image: 128 x 128 pixels

Create shareable visual content. Create or share infographics, use Instagram to share snapshots of day-to-day business to share on Facebook and Twitter, share industry photos and videos, or post your own short videos. (See Kristin White’s article on page 16 for more video advice.) Start today by sharing the infographic provided on the next page!

Why Coaching Works

There are an estimated

47,500 professional coaches across

the world bringing in an annual income close to

each year.

Use backgrounds and cover images to send a message or give information instead of just using a pretty picture. Facebook’s new Timeline and Cover Photos place a much bigger emphasis on images than ever before. Use them to convey a message about your brand.

99% are satisfied

with the overall experience. How

Utilize visuals on social media platforms.

ly rapid ? Beca so u orks! it w se

ching gro coa wn as

Increased Productivity

In fact, 96% indicated they would repeat the process given the same circumstances that prompted them seeking a coach in the ﬁrst place.

Professional coaching explicitly targets maximizing potential and in doing this unlocks latent sources of productivity and eﬀectiveness. At the heart of coaching is a creative and thought-provoking process that supports individuals to conﬁdently pursue new ideas and alternative solutions with greater resilience in the face of growing complexity and uncertainty.

70%

61%

57%

51%

Improved Work Performance

Improved Business Management

Improved Time Management

Improved Team Effectiveness

Positive People In the face of uncertainty caused by workforce reductions and other factors, expectations remain very high. Restoring self-conﬁdence and self-trust to face the challenges is critical to meet organizational demands.

80% Improved Self-

73%

67%

72%

Improved Improved Relationships Communication Skills

Improved Life/Work Balance

Return on Investment The coach-client relationship generates learning and clarity for forward action with a commitment to clear measurable outcomes. Coaching offers a good return in investment for individual clients and offers a significant return on investment for companies.

68%

Individuals that made back at least their investment

86%

Companies that made back at least their investment

Source: ICF Global Coaching Client Study

coachfederation.org 1.859.219.3580 icfhq@coachfederation.org

Formed in 1995, today the International Coach Federation (ICF) is the leading global organization, with more than 20,000 members, dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high professional standards, providing independent certiﬁcation, and building a network of credentialed coaches. We exist to support and advance the coaching profession through programs and standards supported by our members and to be an authoritative source on coaching information and research for the public.

FREE Infographic! Turn the page to view the infographic, Why Coaching Works. You may download it at icf.to/WhyCoachingWorks. Share it with potential clients to provide them with research about coaching efficacy.

Stephanie Wright, is ICF’s Brand Designer. She joined the staff in August 2012 and has since helped strengthen ICF’s visual brand. She was an integral part of releasing ICF’s Brand Manual and has been working with ICF Chapters to help them strengthen their brand identity in alignment with ICF Global. Whenever you come across a beautiful brochure, a pretty ICF website, or a visually stunning edition of Coaching World—you can thank Stephanie! Find more of her work at swrightcreative.com.

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February 2013

ly? Be d i p a r ca o s u

99% are satisfied

orks! it w se

with the overall experience. H o w

n i h g c g a row o c n as

Why Coaching Works

In fact, 96% indicated they would repeat the process given the same circumstances that prompted them seeking a coach in the ďŹ rst place.

There are an estimated

47,500 professional coaches across

the world bringing in an annual income close to

each year.

Increased Productivity Professional coaching explicitly targets maximizing potential and in doing this unlocks latent sources of productivity and eﬀectiveness. At the heart of coaching is a creative and thought-provoking process that supports individuals to conﬁdently pursue new ideas and alternative solutions with greater resilience in the face of growing complexity and uncertainty.

70%

61%

57%

51%

Improved Work Performance

Improved Business Management

Improved Time Management

Improved Team Effectiveness

80% Improved Self-

73%

67%

72%

Improved Improved Relationships Communication Skills

Improved Life/Work Balance

68%

Individuals that made back at least their investment

86%

Companies that made back at least their investment

Source: ICF Global Coaching Client Study

coachfederation.org 1.859.219.3580 icfhq@coachfederation.org

Use HUE to Build Brand YOU

E i g h t W ays t o U se C o l o r t o Ge t N o t iced by C lien t s

The days of black and white TV are long gone, while black and white printers and electronic correspondence are more recent relics. Let’s face it, greyscale is quickly being replaced by vibrant color. Yet most marketing and communications from coaches I see are either devoid of color or use color inconsistently. Color is a valuable tool in your personal branding toolbox that helps express your brand attributes and create emotional connections with clients and prospects. It’s especially valuable on the web—where you don’t have the option of connecting with clients personally. When you have a strategy for using color and apply it consistently, you become memorable and differentiate yourself from other coaches. Many global brands use color to stand out. Think Coke, UPS, IBM and Tiffany & Co. You can too! Color is the most effective element in your personal brand identity system (which also includes fonts, logo, images, textures, etc.) for standing out; but to be truly effective, you must use it consistently— especially on the web. So how can you use color to communicate about your practice? First, a word of caution. When I suggest that you use color, I am not recommending making your website look like a giant rainbow or a bag of skittles. You must make a focused plan on how you will employ color as a tool to stand out, get recognized and bolster your brand. Of course, you must first identify the color that best represents your personal brand. It’s not about choosing your favorite color, it means selecting the color that reinforces your personal brand message. You can watch this video: bit.ly/brandcolor and see the sidebar on the next page for ideas. What color best expresses your personal brand attributes? If you don’t know your personal brand attributes, you can get those who know you to share their feedback with this complimentary assessment: www.reachcc.com/360v4register

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February 2013

Once you know what color best expresses your brand attributes, use it consistently in your communications with clients and prospects. Here are some ideas for using color on the web as a way to stand out:

Here’s a brief summary of colors and some of the attributes they convey: Red. Use red to express action, passion, power or courage: bit.ly/brandred

1. Use it consistently on all web sites where you can customize the look (for example, YouTube lets you choose the color palette for your channel).

Orange. Use orange to express determination, encouragement, strength or productivity: bit.ly/brandorange

2. Use it as the primary color in your ‘YouHub’ (about. me, flavors.me, etc.). 3. Apply it to your website, Blog or Vlog.

Yellow. Use yellow to express optimism, positivity, energy or vision: bit.ly/brandyellow

4. Include it in your Twitter background. 5. Customize your Facebook page with your signature color.

Green. Use green to express the environment, calmness, growth or rebirth: bit.ly/brandgreen

6. Use your brand color as the background for your headshot or avatar that you post alongside your online profiles (in LinkedIn and other social media).

Blue. Use Blue to express trust, reliability, integrity or truth: bit.ly/brandblue

7. Use it in your videos—as a background color and/ or for the intro/outro. Or, do what IBM does, use the letterbox style which features a band of color above and below your video. Here’s an example: youtube.com/watch?v=6paItEm2AF4

Purple. Use purple to express luxury, spirituality, inspiration or dignity: bit.ly/brandpurple

8. Include it in your email signature in all correspondence with clients and prospects. Color is powerful because it exudes brand attributes and makes you memorable. Are you using color appropriately on the web to stand out?

William Arruda, dubbed the Personal Branding Guru by Entrepreneur, is the founder of Reach Personal Branding, author of the

bestselling book “Career Distinction” and “Ditch. Dare. Do!” and developer of the Reach Personal Branding Certification Programs for coaches. His website is williamarruda.com.

Coaching World |

February 2013

I pick up the telephone and someone on the other end introduces herself as Kelly, assistant to “NBC Nightly News” with Brian Williams. After confirming that this isn’t one of my warped friends playing a practical joke, I settle in to find out what Kelly wants. An interview with me and one of my clients to talk about retirement coaching—that answer doesn’t surprise me as much as it should. It is following an article in the October 8th issue of The New Yorker where I was interviewed as a Retirement Coach. Although done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, retirement coaching came through as an up and coming inevitability. That article also was the impetus for an interview with BBC Radio earlier this month. Suddenly I’m a media star and enjoying every second of my 15 minutes of fame. So how did I make all this happen? Here are some tips that coaches can follow:

Get out there! Wherever you see an opportunity to talk about the benefits of coaching, do it. Speak at public functions, offer to provide a Lunch-and-Learn seminar for a corporation, volunteer at an event in the name of coaching, offer your services to a non-profit organization. Let everyone know you’re a coach. Say it loud and say it proud.

Get involved with your local ICF Chapter. Serve on the Board. The opportunities for public exposure are greatly increased if you are a part of a bona fide organization. And don’t forget all the connections you are going to make with other coaches. Priceless!

Don’t confuse “Can you…?” with “Are you capable of…?” If someone asks you “Can you do something?” assume they are asking “Are you capable of doing something?” Of course you are. Say yes! Whatever they are asking you to do, you’ve already had more training than most people, and as a coach you deal with

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February 2013

unique situations every day. If you don’t know exactly how to do whatever it is, learn. And keep in mind that coaches are flexible and creative entities. Use those talents to conquer new challenges. 4

Become an expert in your field. Coaching institutions are always encouraging students to define their niche. This is when that advice really comes in handy. For example, if you are dealing with college graduates making the transition from school to workforce, let every college, vocational school, career center, job training organization, and employment agency know what you’re doing and how you can help their clients. Become the go-to person for your field.

Write an article for a local newspaper, submit an editorial comment to a magazine, increase your social media presence (especially LinkedIn), start a blog. Do anything that is going to get your name in print.

Create your own radio show. This can easily be done free of cost at blogtalkradio.com. In the upper right-hand corner, they have a “Create My Radio Show” button. Before you click on it, be prepared: • • • •

What kind of show do you want to do? How long? How often? For whom? Come up with a great title and write a short blurb promoting your show. Pick five key words that will bring people to your show (self-help, coaching, career development, etc.) Buy a good quality headset

Have a couple of practice shows and then invite a guest. Suddenly you’re a radio host.

Consider hosting a television show. All 50 states plus the District of Columbia have public access stations. Google “Public Access TV Stations US” to find out where they are located in your state. There are also public access channels in Scandinavia, Western Europe, Canada and Australia, as well as “open channels” in Germany, Sweden and Norway. These stations were designed to fulfill some of the social potential of cable television. Most of them offer FREE use of equipment, personnel, airtime, and training programs to help ordinary folks make their own programs from conception through final editing. Your venue awaits you! All you have to do is decide what kind of show you would like—Interview? Panel? Call-Ins? • • • • •

Get a schedule of current programming and decide where your show fits in Request a meeting with the Head of Programming Write a letter, make a call, get an application, take a training class—just get your foot in the door Bring to the meeting a clear concept of the purpose of your show and why the public would want to watch it Throw in some of the great statistics that ICF Global has compiled to let them know how widespread and popular the field of coaching has become

The secret is to make yourself known, put yourself out there, and most importantly have fun while you’re doing it. Conquer whatever fear you have of public speaking—the more you do it, the easier it gets. And after you have done all this, be prepared to wait. I had been hosting a television and radio show for a couple of years when The New Yorker contacted me for an interview. It took about nine months for the article to actually show up in the magazine. I’m still waiting for the “NBC Nightly News” and BBC Radio interviews to air. But I know they are out there and so am I!

Laurie Lawson, CEC, PCC, has been coaching for eight years (eljny.com) and is the Past President of ICF New York City

Chapter. She’s the Executive Producer of “Coach World TV,” Creator/Host of “Coach Chat Radio,” as well as a Writer/Reviewer for Electronic Link Journey, a published author, and a U.S. trainer/distributor for Points of You, The Coaching Game. Connect with Laurie on LinkedIn.

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February 2013

global Views: What technological tools do you use that most advance your coaching career and why?

“My knowledge on Twitter was minimal when I joined the Conference Steering Committee for ICF Global 2012. Thanks to my marketing colleagues I learned about handles, hashtags, trends… Twitter has enabled me to connect with coaches all over the world through 140 character messages. It’s a quick, easy, focused way to get messages and share opinions. It gives visibility to my business in a way I would never have envisioned. Through Twitter I have shared my values of fun, equality and truth. In turn I have connected with like-minded people in the most unusual ways. Thank you ICF Global 2012 for the learning!”

kish Modasia, PCC United Kingdom

“Regarding social networks, Facebook has been the most intensive way to communicate with relatives, potential clients and collegues. Skype is maybe the most important tool to be present in all the opportunities I have regarding teleconferences, seminars and, of course, attending clients in virtual mode. As to promote the coaching profession in Uruguay, blogging was the first step to open communication and network development. Today, Twitter is a main stream of communication, regarding not only the personal activity, but also the ICF Chapter communication and its link to Facebook! What is missing? Knowledge and time to support the actual demand that takes to make good use of technological tools.”

gerardo Silbert Uruguay

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February 2013

“The business of coaching has changed so much since I first started coaching in 1996. Literally wherever I am, through my smartphone, I am able to handle all aspects of conducting business. I build my business through Facebook ads, Twitter, LinkedIn and online scheduling software provided by Genbook.com! I use Hootsuite to schedule my social media posts to provide ongoing support to my clients when I’m on not able to be immediately available to them and I use Skype for my calls whenever possible. My smartphone and social media contribute to my practice being more vibrant and dynamic than ever before!”

Barbara Walton, MCC, Ph.D. United States

Why You MUSt Build Your Email List (And How to get Started)

If you’re not building an email list, you’re making a huGe mistake. Back when I ran ad-based websites, I thought to myself, “why would I EVER want to build an email list?” I didn’t want emails. I wanted page views… because more page views meant more ad revenue TODAY! To put this in perspective, had I built an email list, when a publicly traded company approached me to buy out my blog, I could have asked for 7 to 10 times MORE money than they originally offered. How dumb, right? Fast forward to today, I see people making the same mistake I made years ago. Instead of building their email list, they’re focusing on pointless things like social media… or worse… page views (STILL!). And that’s why I want to share this new video with you where I share why building your email list is VITAL.. and how to get started with it. Why Email Marketing Trumps Social Media Marketing A lofty claim, I know. But when you see the data I have in this video, it will all make sense.

This video first appeared at SocialTriggers.com. Derek Halpern’s website is designed to teach people to use psychology to create loyal subscribers to your brand, persuade people to buy your products, and encourage people to share your content and website.

Derek Halpern founded Social Triggers. Derek is an expert marketer and entrepreneur who has been featured in publications like Forbes and the Huffington Post among others. After building several successful websites in various niches (entertainment, fashion, etc.), he’s refocused on what he loves most: building and marketing businesses. He developed his approach to marketing and over the past few years, it has helped him build a few wildly popular websites, one of which attracted more than 1,000,000 page views in a single day. More specifically, he uses the perfect blend of data driven marketing (conversion rates, academic research, and personal case studies) and content marketing to get traffic, attract customers and sell products online. Visit SocialTriggers.com to find out more and follow him on Twitter @Derekhalpern. Coaching World |

February 2013

Behind Every Successful Coach is a

Virtual Assistant Tips for ensuring the best fit for the money: Set up a Skype or telephone interview with a minimum of three VAs. Request résumés and check each candidate’s experience and education level. Evaluate the cost/salary of each candidate in relation to their training and experience. Contact references for each candidate. Sign an agreement with the candidate you choose specifying that you can cancel their services with a five-day notice of termination of services.

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February 2013

Two winning assets of a great administrative virtual assistant (VA) are effective communication and executive professional presence demonstrating integrity, aptitude, and a positive attitude. Three basic rules I like to follow and encourage others, including my VA, to adopt are: (1) say how you feel; (2) ask for what you want; and (3) don’t do what you don’t want to do. With these three guidelines from transactional analysis in place and understood, work can progress and there is open communication. Before interviewing VAs, it is a good idea to write down the tasks you expect them to do for you. These expectations are invaluable information. I have had several assistants over the last two decades, and with each experience I learned more and more about what to do in order to hire the right individual. I had a tendency to be impressed with the first interviewee, but often received unsatisfactory work as a result. One time I hired a VA only to learn that she did not own computer or a copier! Now I make sure I interview a number of potential candidates before I make my final decision. VAs often exaggerate their credentials, and a solid interview separates experienced VAs from those just starting out.

Based on their answers, determine whether they are a good fit for you and your business or endeavor. Things to watch out for: •

Don’t be misguided by advertisements of $4.50 per hour for a VA based overseas. The hassles of working with someone so far from your time zone are not worth the savings, especially if their first language is not the same as yours.

•

Be prepared to pay $25.00 to $50.00 and more per hour for a great VA, or a minimum per month retainer fee.

•

Get your work organized to minimize delegating work to your VA.

•

Categorize your email subject lines as “Do ASAP,” “To read,” or “To discuss” for your VA.

•

At the first glitch or sign of reticence on the part of your VA, bring up your concerns.

There are many advantages to hiring a VA. They are independent contractors, so you don’t have to pay for benefits and their compensation is a business tax deduction. You also don’t have to create office space for them, and you don’t have to train them to do the work that they are capable of doing. Behind every successful professional coach there is a great virtual assistant who is bright, creative, and demonstrates professionalism. You can simply search the internet for experienced VAs, and by following the tips above you should find a perfect match for your business. A request posted at the International Virtual Assistants Association’s website will return more than enough leads. In your request, be specific about the geographic area where you prefer your VA be located. For example, I specified New England because I live and work in Maine. You will receive applications from many interested and qualified VAs who are worth considering (and who already have their own office equipment!).

Suggested questions to ask a virtual assistant applicant: 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. What is important to you in life/work? 3. How do you face challenges/ conflicts in your work as a VA?

Ethelle G. Lord has a Doctorate of Management in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix. She is former president of the Maine Gerontological Society in the State of Maine, and is currently president of Remembering4You.com and a Professional Alzheimer’s Coach, offering Alzheimer’s coaching and consulting through its businesses. She is a professor of organizational behavior at several universities. She is married to Maj. Larry S. Potter, USAF retired, and lives in Mapleton, Maine. She is available for presentations, training, and Alzheimer’s coaching and consulting. Dr. Lords’ ten-year experience as a family caregiver originated with her husband, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in January of 2003. In that decade she has seen a daily influx of new Alzheimer’s cases. She realized there is an urgent need for a change in perspective in regard to providing individual and institutional care for individuals living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and founded Remembering4You based on this vision.

Coaching World |

February 2013

The International Coach Federation is looking to up its game. We are continuing to revamp Coaching World with higher quality content to make it a go-to digital magazine with advice, tips and tools for professional coaches. We want to recruit the best in the industry to participate. As we continue to launch an improved Coaching World, will you partner with us to advance the professional coaching industry? Submit an article that meets the requirements to our editor, Lindsay Bodkin, or just send her a note to inform her youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in contributing at lindsay.bodkin@coachfederation.org.

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