How to Build an Email List, No Matter Where You Are Starting From

Show Notes

Recently I did a webinar and we got a couple of questions, which was amazing. So this episode is for Maggie and Catherine. The two questions we got were, what if I don’t have an email list already? So let’s talk about that and then what should the free gift be for your email list?

And to get emails in reciprocation to you giving some value.

Start With What You Already Have

So even if you’re starting from ground zero, you probably find you do actually have contacts. You have your networks. You have your social media. You have people that you knew in your past career. You have family members. There are so many people out there that either would like your services or potentially know people that would like your services.

So the first thing you need to do is look at your email. So whether it’s in outlook, Gmail or however you look at it, who is emailing you? Who are you emailing from your previous life? Or they could be people that are potentially wanting to partner with you, because that can be a great missed opportunity as well, is people are looking for the inclined.

So start by looking at the people you already know. How are you contacting, who are you in touch with and holidays in touch with you? So the easiest way to start your database is to actually look.

Building Your Database

So we talk a lot about content management systems. Cms’s. But if you haven’t got that don’t go out. Go buying another shiny object. There’s lots of free ones or low cost ones. And depending on what system to using, you probably find you actually already have them.

But if you don’t just start with a simple Google sheet, start by writing down the person’s first name and then in another column, their last name and then their email address. And then it’s also great to have a couple of other columns like where did you find these people? How did you know them? When did you contact them last? That sort of thing.

But by separating out the first name and the surname, it means that when you do go to upload it into a site, nice, it will actually be able to personalise, because there’s nothing worse. When you get an email that says, hey, whatever’s on the side of your email address, which is great if it’s your name. But quite often we don’t do it.

So I get them, hey, coach, I know that they haven’t segmented the list properly, so start up with the best practice in mind and that will make it so much easier.

You Don't Need a Huge Audience

So one of the biggest myths I hear is you need a huge audience to be successful as a coach. You don’t. Even some of the biggest coaches making a lot of money comparatively don’t have a huge audience. You have a look at their socials and they’ve got thousands of people on them, and they’re getting ten, 15, maybe even five comments.

And some of those people are making literally millions of dollars. So looking at somebodies system from the outside is not always a good way to do it.

So start with what you’ve got. Who knows you? Who is out there, and look at your LinkedIn. If you haven’t got a LinkedIn profile, that’s probably the next thing you need to be doing.

And start by reaching out to people that you’ve known in the past, people from previous jobs, people from social activities, and just let them know what you’re doing. You’re not trying to sell to them. It’s not salesy. It’s just. Hi, Cathy. Did you know I’ve started my coaching business and I’m serving these people? Be great. If you could introduce me to somebody or if that’s even twice before you just reach out and say hi, Cathy.

It’s great. We haven’t talked for a while. I just want to let you know what I was up to now.

So you don’t have to keep waiting. You don’t need to have a huge list to get started. You don’t need to have the fanciest website to get started. You don’t need to have every social media platform under the sun. And in fact, those things are probably going to distract you.

So what you do need to do is actually start actually get that email list. So even if it’s five people, ten people start by reaching out.

What Should You Send Your Email List?

And then what are you going to actually say? What are you going to send them? Thousands of people struggle all the time thinking about what it is that they’re going to send to their audience.

So just pick one person. If you’ve been around it all, you’ve heard me talk about the rule of one. So one person gave them a name. How can you help them? What is their problem and what is your solution?

It never wants another boring newsletter, but they do want to know about case studies. They do want to know about the stories of things that helped and how it worked for you.

One of my best posts that I ever did was about fishing. I was walking along the beach with my husband and we saw some people fishing, and he immediately said, they’re not going to catch fish. They were throwing up way too far out. And the fish were right close to the beach where we were walking. You could see them, and these people had completely missed it.

And that’s quite often what we do when we’re trying to cast an email.

think about some story. Somebody you’ve helped a situation and if you really starting from scratch, you’re probably your own best case study. So how have you got over this hurdle? How are you helping other people to get over this hurdle?

Be Specific About Who You Help

What is the one problem that you can help people? So don’t go really broad. We know that we want to help everybody, but how often do you get email messages that are so generic that you’ve got no idea what you do?

And I was talking to a fellow coach the other day, and we’ve known this lady for a very long time, but the way she articulates her coaching, it’s very difficult to say, hey, I want to send this person to you.

So make sure that you are quite specific about the way you help. So do you help specific genders? Do you help specific age groups? Do you help people located in a specific area? Do you help them with a problem?

So I help new coaches to create thriving businesses. And you got that? I’m established coach. That’s my second avatar. I help establish coaches that have got stuck and need a hand to get their business up and running again.

So you can have more than one avatar, but you need to have a very clear message, and you need to make sure that you’re not trying to help, that the person that’s on the way left and the person that’s on the way right, it not trying to help black and white, because the only going to end up in the middle and it’s going to be gray and nobody’s going to be going there.

So just pick one person and start there.

Creat a Free Gift or Lead Magnet

Ask what can you send them. What is five questions that will clarify how to build your coaching business. For instance how to solve that problem.

Checklists are amazing. Why? If you’ve got a book, the first chapter, there’s so many things that you can do if you haven’t got a book. Or maybe it’s make a small book like five pages of value, then remember you’re adding value. You’re not trying to sell them on the first day.

So quite often we want to hold back our best stuff. We think we only want that for our paying clients, but unfortunately, that’s also a myth. Because if you’ve got something free and you don’t think it’s good, you think it’s garbage, then what are you going to think that the paid things are like?

So making sure that you are actually giving your best stuff, but you don’t have to give them the whole how. Tell them the three ways to find a coach this way. Tell them that five things that you might like to do if you’re trying to lose weight.

Offer Free Coaching Sessions

Another great thing is showcase your coaching. So it might be a free 30 minute coaching, but if you do that, make sure it is actually coaching and not disguised as a discovery session. If you are offering a free 30 minute session, then make it a free 30 minute session. Don’t disguise it as a discovery call.

Match Your Gift To Your Offer

If you are offering something that’s totally different to what your offer is, then that’s not going to work either.

So it needs to make sure that it is in line. So it could be something about visibility. It could be messaging, it could be conversations. It could be confidence. It could be marketing momentum. This some of the things that I can offer you and they because they all aligned with me.

So what are the things that align with you? What are the practical ways that you can help your people?

Promote Your Free Gift

A great way to get your free gift out once you’ve got it, is to ask other people to promote it. And that might be in a case of a client marketing. You might give them a small percentage of what you’re going to charge for your clients.

And you might go, oh, I haven’t even started charging yet. But like I said before, if you can get two, three, five or in a corporate situation, then that could be worth thousand dollars for you.

So just think of it as part of your marketing and don’t be afraid to make it a win win for everybody.

Another great way to get out there is to do speaking, and there’s lots of online opportunities. And that also would like a free gift. And that way you can help to build your list too.

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