Track These 3 Numbers

Show Notes

We have been talking a lot about getting clients. We have been talking a lot about conversations and conversions. Today we are going to carry on the theme, but in a slightly different way. Your coaching business might feel unpredictable, but I’m going to give you a way to make it a little easier today.

Numbers Matter in Coaching

Let’s think about the numbers. Numbers are really important. It’s a great way to stop the drama. It’s a great way to say, hey, this thing’s not as bad as I thought it was. Or maybe it actually is and here’s some reasons why. So we are not talking about tracking 20 metrics or multiple dashboards. Just three numbers.

Why is this important? It’s because it stops that drama. It stops that mind spinning of “this is not working, I’m not a good coach.” Often when we are talking about numbers, we think that it could be confronting that way. We think that maybe we have to go back to school and it’s like doing math. Well, no, it doesn’t have to be. But it can help us stop the excuses and it can really help us to dial in to where the gap might be and what the problem might be that we are actually having.

So you don’t need to track a whole stack of different things and it doesn’t need to be random. You don’t need to rely on what I used to call hope-and-pray marketing, because there is a system and well, it can make your life so much easier. It can help you to stop overcorrecting, because quite often when we find something that’s maybe not working as well, we really want to run at it in full speed in that direction. Tracking can help to stop that emotional swing there, the high highs and the low lows.

The Three Numbers That Matter

So what are these numbers that you’re going to be asking? What are the three numbers that really matter?

1. Conversations

How many conversations have you had today, last week, last month, this quarter? Are you actually getting out there and talking to people? Telling them that you are a coach, telling them what you do, telling them how you can help? Have you followed up on those people that have already raised their hands?

It may have been at a networking event. It may have been literally getting a haircut and having a chat with somebody and somebody saying, “Hey, yeah, I’m interested in that.” It may have been at a corporate mixer. Wherever it was, make sure that you are following up with those people and the online ones as well. Those LinkedIn connections, the DMs in your Instagram or any of those sort of things, make sure that you are following up. Following up with past clients as well, the ones that have finished a while ago. Maybe it’s the right time for them to restart. Maybe they know people that need a hand and because you are not top of mind, they are not recommending you.

So that’s the first number that you need to be checking: how many conversations are you having, new or restarted conversations?

2. Invitations

So we have had those conversations. You be sending out that email newsletter. Do we have a P.S. on the bottom of how people can work with us? Do we have a direct ask in some of our emails? Do we have direct asks on our socials? Are we being invited to panels or summits? Are we talking on those and offering that free gift or the direct ask, depending on what their rules are? And when we are out in public or online networking, etc., are we letting people know that we have programs available, one-on-one coaching, apps, whatever it might happen to be?

Quite often when we are busy and we are doing a lot of stuff on social or in-person networking, however you are getting your clients, people might think that you don’t have any space, that you don’t have any room, so they might even bypass you. So let people know that you do. And remember, waitlists are an amazing thing to do, especially when you are coming up to launches and program restarts, that sort of thing.

3. Conversions

So you have gone out there, you have told people who you are and what you are doing. You have made the invitation. You have asked them and let them know that you have an offer. And then how many people are saying yes?

You might have been on a panel event and you have dropped your free gift. How many people have actually downloaded that free gift? How many people have then gone on to ask for a sales call or have connected to get some more information? Those numbers are really important, because slight tweaks on some of those things can make a huge difference.

Track and Use Your Data

So making sure that you are tracking those numbers. And then what do you do with those numbers? Well, you need to write them down. Data, whether it’s on a piece of paper if you are old school, spreadsheets, whatever way you need to track them. But making sure that you are tracking that. And that data can be gold over time because you can see: is it a seasonal thing?

So sometimes it might be a case of running up to a particular season. In my other business, the digital marketing agency, we have a client that, running up to school holidays, is huge. It’s really big. One school holiday season is not so big. That’s really cool, because then they can start looking at those flows. And then it may be a case of doing more connections in the school holidays. It could even be a case of running a special. But with that data, you have got those decisions to make and you can make them.

Adjust and Improve with Data

So think about those three numbers: your conversations, your invitations and your conversions. That’s it. You don’t have to map a whole stack of different numbers and the patterns will appear. Quite often they can appear quite quickly. So you can see if you are not having those conversations, if you are not making those offers, and then the conversions, and then just change it by 1%, which can quite often make a huge impact. Such little tweaks can make it so much easier for you. And it makes it so much easier not to have those emotional swings when we get to “nobody’s buying.”

You can say, “Oh, I didn’t actually make any offers this week. I didn’t have any conversations. Or I had a lot less conversations than I normally do.” Or, “Everything’s fine, the universe is amazing, it loves me. Oh look, I’ve just been to an expo, a workshop or whatever, and I’ve connected with a lot of people.” So think about that.

And then you can also start to build in those things. Is your way of getting people actually being in front of people in person? Is it online? Is it your emails that work really well? And then you can amplify what that is, and then of course build your ecosystem around that as well. And it stops the drama.

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