ICF 2016 Business development series – It’s a wrap!par Gisèle Aubin, PCC
If you had the opportunity to sign up and take the 2016 Business development series, you are now wiser, smarter and better equipped to take care of your business.
It was a very rich series.
If you did not have that opportunity, here is in a very, very condensed summary, the outline of what was said. Hopefully it will inspire you to participate next year. I highly recommend it.
The series contained 8 webinars, 2 each week for a period of 4 weeks. So, yes, I agree. It is a serious time commitment but time well spent, believe me. In addition to the 2016 webinars, we also had access to the highlights of the 2015 series.
Week #1 was about setting your strategy: A dive into personal branding. In a nut shell: Find out who you are and flaunt IT!
Week #2: Understanding your audience: All about niche. Do you find it? Does it find you? Whichever way you get to it, IT is the path the success. Go deep and narrow.
Week #3: Making the connection. Time to go public and be seen on line, more particularly with LinkedIn. In the end, the same rule applies to your public image as to your prom night: You want to make sure you look your best before showing up.
Week #4: Increasing your revenue. Well, that is the ultimate reason why one takes this series don’t you think? 3 very successful coaches share their paths to success. Interesting and liberating because in the end, it is the uniqueness and authenticity of every one that is the main component to our success. In other words we all have the right ingredients, we just need to mix them well.
For me, the most exciting part was the realization that there is no cookie cutter approach to a successful practice. In developing your business as in everything else in life, authenticity and uniqueness continue to be the richest element.
Practically speaking it is first about knowing who you are, what you want, and how badly do you want it. The series gives you tools to make it all happen.
There were hundreds of participants. One of them was Dave Walker, one of our most recent ICF Quebec member. Dave shared with me some of his takeaways and I am glad to pass them on to you:
I am new to coaching and the ICF and the world of entrepreneurship for that matter. Three months in, to be more specific, so the timing of the ICF business development webinar series was perfect. It turned out to be a real eye opener for me. The BDS was a well- structured approach with great content, great presenters and lots of sharing of ideas. I have already started to action many myself and I have a long to-do list with more. I am sharing a few of my key takeaways below in the hopes that it inspires others to take advantage of these types of learning opportunities in the future. I have done my best to narrow down my list to a top 3:
- I liked the way that we were constantly reminded that the “everyone is unique philosophy of coaching” applies to us as coaches and how we develop and execute our personal brand and marketing and communications strategy. If you don’t like to write, then don’t, if you don’t like to cold call, then don’t. Come up with a plan and approach that works for you and inspires you. One you enjoy doing.
- Coaching is a commodity but YOU as an individual coach are a Premium Brand. Your personal brand should be reflective of who you are. Don’t try and be someone you are not. Be authentic and be yourself. Seems a bit in line with the philosophy of playing to your strengths. Besides, people will likely pick up on those who are not being sincere.
- On the personal brand front, what I found most helpful was being encouraged to conduct a 360 survey that allowed me to compare what others thought of my personal brand. I now feel much more comfortable in my understanding of my attributes and how I am perceived. The tool that William Aruda provided us access to was so helpful in facilitating that exercise.
