Wendy McCallum (01:36)
Hello, hello, happy almost new year. I am trying something different today and I'm really excited about this episode. So what we're doing today is a virtual business retreat. Now, if you are listening to this podcast when you're out for a walk or a run or you're driving in the car and you don't have the ability to write anything down right now, that is totally okay. Keep listening. You're gonna get a lot from just experiencing this, taking it all in.
I want you to notice what resonates with you. I wanna notice where you get a little light bulb moment or your intuition kicks in and you think, that's me, I need to be focusing on that thing. That's what's missing for me. Just pay attention. When you get back home and you have the opportunity to sit down, set aside maybe an hour of time, you can listen to the podcast episode again. I want you to download the little workbook that goes with this episode. This is for everybody listening. Download the workbook, it's in the show notes.
That workbook is going to take you through all of the questions that we're gonna be talking about today. All of the four compass points in your compass business framework that we're gonna be discussing today. It's gonna give you a really easy visual way to see your business and see the four main pillars of a solo printer coaching practice and help you identify where you're doing well, where there are some gaps or there's some room for focus and a little more attention.
and then some really clear practical action steps that you can start taking in each of those areas. So if you're on the road, if you're out right now, don't worry about it, keep listening. If you're at home, you might wanna hit pause, print that workbook, and then come back to this podcast and work through the workbook as you're listening to the podcast. Up to you how you do this, there's no real wrong way to do it, but I do just wanna encourage everybody.
to download that workbook and work through each of these things themselves. It's probably gonna take you about an hour to work through the questions if you're doing it thoroughly. And I think you'll find it's incredibly valuable. I wanted to do this today because I know that not everybody out there has the benefit of a business coach, somebody like me in their pocket. So a lot of you guys are listening to this podcast and you're either not ready to invest in a business coach yet or you don't know who the right person might be for that.
Or maybe you have had a business coach in the past and you're focusing on other things right now in your business. But I wanted to give you the opportunity to have a coach take you through a reflection and planning exercise for the new year. And we're going to do that together here. So bear with me. This episode is probably going to be slightly longer than the usual coaching edge episode. But we are going to go through all of the
pieces of the framework and also through the reflection questions and the action item suggestions that are included in the workbook. We're gonna do that here live on this podcast. Okay, so welcome to the final Coaching Edge episode of 2025. I don't know where 2025 went, but as I said, we're doing a virtual business retreat today and I'm gonna take you through a guided reflection using what I call the Compass Business Framework.
So this is a really simple but powerful tool that helps you to both visualize the four main pillars of your business and also assess what's working and what's not and where to focus your energy going forward. So this is gonna be a really powerful exercise for everybody to do, okay?
As I said, there is a worksheet that goes with this. Please go and download that from the show notes and be using that as an accompaniment to listening to this episode or go back to it later and work through it on your own time. We're gonna move through the compass together. So as you can imagine, the compass has four points. It has a north, it has a south, it has a west, it has an east. We're gonna talk about how each of those represents a pillar of your business and how keeping...
on what's happening in each of those areas and continually revisiting and auditing and working on those areas is what builds a thriving, sustainable coaching business. By the end, you're gonna know where you're strong, where you're maybe drifting a little bit off course, and exactly what you wanna focus on next. Okay, so let's talk about the Compass framework for your business. Again, it's a simple little analogy I like to use. Imagine a compass, four points of the compass. Your business has four main pillars that make it work. These are,
These are the key components that I always am thinking about and reflecting on. This is how I organize my own business in my head. It can be tough when you're the solopreneur and you're doing all of the things to keep things organized. I think this is a really good metaphor or way of looking at your business. So each direction on the compass represents a distinct phase or pillar of your coaching business. We have the north. This is where people come in, the top. That's your funnel. That is how you...
create visibility and get out there and get people seeing you and finding you and pulling people into your world, into your funnel. That's the north. We have the east. This is what we do with those people once they come into our world. How do we nurture them? How do we connect with them? How do we build that like no trust and warm them up for the paying offer? Okay, that is east. We have the south. Once we have warmed them up, how do we deliver
value in a sales call in the sales process and convert them with confidence. So this is really all about like the sales process for you. That's the South. This is usually where coaches are feeling the most uncomfortable in their business models. We're going to talk about that. So that's the South. And then we have the West, which I like to think of it as like the wild, wild West. It's the uncharted territory. And this is the actual delivery of the content, right? How do I move through?
with a client, how do I move a client through? And once a client's finished with me, what's the next thing that they're looking for and how can I fill that gap and create that content? So it's all about designing and delivering content in a way that creates value but also meets your client at whatever the next stage or problem is for them so that you can serve your clients really well.
get lots of great word of mouth and referrals from your existing clients and also retain them. So have something else to offer them. So those are the four points of the compass. Again, north is top of funnel. That's your visibility. That's how you pull people into your world. East is how you nurture those people once they have come into your world and warm them up for paid offers. South is how you get them into a paid offer. That's your sales process. And west is how you design content and build that client experience.
but also retain those clients by creating more resonant programming for them and continuing support options, okay? So we're gonna start with North. This is again, the top of funnel. How new people find you and enter into your world. In my world, my top of funnel is a combination of a few things. The main top of funnel product that I have is this podcast, right? So,
This is a way for people to come into my world cold. So most of you, when you listen to your first Coaching Edge episode, did not know me at all. But you found me somehow. You found me through maybe a search in iTunes or Spotify, or maybe you saw a random post where I was talking about an episode, or maybe somebody you know said, hey, I've been listening to this podcast. But you didn't know me at all when you came in. That's a top of funnel.
And of course, I deliver a new episode every week. So it's a really good top of funnel because there's continuous contact with you, points of contact. Every week there's a new point of contact for you. I also have other things up at the top of my funnel, including a lot of really great free resources for coaches. So if you haven't...
gone and taken advantage of those yet, you can go and find those at wendymichellum.com. There's a little page on the business coaching side of things that's free resources and low ticket offers for coaches. They're all there. There are loads of them. Those are master classes, there are templates, there are checklists, there are all kinds of things there that you can grab that are really, valuable. Those are my lead magnets or freebies. And then I also have some low ticket offers there. So a couple of things that are really low priced like
$27, $17, that kind of thing, very high value. And I also host occasionally live, low ticket workshops through the Coaching Edge Workshop Series or ⁓ master classes. So those are all the ways that people come into my world. That's my north, okay? I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job up in the north right now. I've got that down, but you may be thinking, don't have that, right? So.
What we're looking for is sustainable visibility. And that's why I love the podcast, for example, because there's a new episode every week. So I'm staying visible that way. It doesn't need to be constant content like the podcast is, but we are looking for like consistent connection. So a way that you stay connected with people. And so again, it can be a combination of things that you use up at the top. So here are some reflection questions for you on this pillar, on your North pillar.
What are the main ways that people discover your coaching work right now? How are they finding you?
What channels feel most aligned and energizing for you? So which of the ways that you bring people into your world feel the best to you, but also like which of the ways that you could bring people into your world feel most aligned for you? Let me give you some examples of ways you could be bringing people into your world. Obviously, hosting a podcast as I've talked about may or may not be in the cards for you, might be something that you're just like low key thinking about, but haven't been ready to commit to yet, but you could think a little more about that.
It might be your lead magnets or freebies, as we talked about. It might be guesting on other people's podcasts. That's a great way to bring people into your world, introduce yourself and your services, your offers. It might be through social media. Again, not my favorite platform for most of us just because of the unpredictability of the algorithm right now and the fact that you actually don't own your audience or your platform and it can be taken away from you at any time. But for most of us, it's a complimentary platform. Most of us are using it sometimes.
So it could be social media, maybe you love it, maybe you're really great at creating content on social media. If so, God bless you, that is not me. It might be live workshops or events that you're hosting. It might be referrals. That might be something that might be a good thing for you to start working on if that's not in place for you. How can you start connecting with people who would be really great referral sources for you, who maybe serve a similar audience to you, but do not provide the same service as you?
It might be collaborations with those types of people, it might be collaborations with other coaches, it might be guesting in other people's membership groups or guest coaching in other people's programs. There are so many different channels that are top of funnel channels. So which of those feel most aligned and energizing for you? And then ask yourself, what's been most effective for me in the past year and what has felt like a grind?
Now you're not necessarily gonna ditch the things that feel like a grind, but this might help you to reprioritize resources a little bit. So if there's a area, part of your top of funnel that does feel like a grind for you that you hate, maybe that's an area that you might wanna think about outsourcing. So for example, social media is that for me. And then maybe that frees up your resources to do more of the stuff that just feels really aligned and resonant for you. I I love this podcast. Hopefully that's clear.
As a listener, I love doing podcasts. find it fun. I find it relatively easy now that I have a really good structure in place for it. And I just love the flexibility of it and the fact that I can be really responsive to things that are happening, questions I get from people. And I've tested the podcast model a couple of times. my data from that.
those experiments tells me that it is a really great top of funnel for me. It works really, really well. So I love podcasts and that is a very aligned channel for me. What's aligned for you? What's been most effective for you? What feels like a grind? How could you simplify or focus your energy in 2026 in terms of this north piece of your business, your top of funnel? What do need to do? Action ideas? I've got a few for you.
choose one top of funnel focus for the first quarter of 2026 and do that, just one. So it might be, okay, I'm gonna do a live workshop every quarter and I'm gonna do my first live workshop or event in the first quarter of 2025. That's my focus. It could be like, oh, you know, I've got this like podcast, I put an episode out once every three weeks or four weeks, but I'm not consistent with it. I'm gonna commit.
to getting consistent and getting an episode out every two weeks or an episode out every week. But I just want you to pick one thing that's top of funnel and focus on that in the first quarter of 2026. Because sometimes that's all it takes. It's just the focus and you start to see, wow, this works, this pays off, this is working. And that will give you the motivation to keep doing it. Another action idea in this area is to refresh your freebies.
So take a look at your current lead magnets or free resources, what still works and what doesn't work. What is a little bit weak or lame, needs a little more substance to it. Maybe you have a PDF that you could add a couple of videos to. ⁓ Maybe you have a masterclass that would be a lot better if there was a workbook that went with it. Like take a look at those free resources that you have right now. How can you make them even better? And are there any that are ready for retirement?
that are just not relevant anymore or just not very good. Maybe you need to do a brand new lead magnet this year. Maybe that's your focus for 2026. Okay, another action idea is to identify one collaboration or guest opportunity every quarter of next year. So identify one place where you can go get in front of a new group of people and share with them what you do.
So that might be a wellness presentation at a business or for your book club or a local teacher's group. It might be collaborating with another coach and getting in front of their audience if they coach in a different area than you do, but serve a similar niche, for example. It might be, you know,
applying to be a speaker at a local conference that's happening. So there are lots of different ways to do that, but that's a good action idea. I also want you to think about auditing your social channels. This is so important. There's so many coaches that I work with who have a bunch of social channels going and some of them they pay zero attention to. They just don't have the time or the energy and they also don't enjoy that social media platform. Do a little audit.
Like the amount of effort that's going into it, is it paying off at all? Is this even worth it? And I really encourage you to think about what else could I do with that time? So you might think, it's only two hours a week that I spend doing these reels on, you know, whatever. But it's not about just the two hours a week. It's about what else could I do with that two hours? So could I generate significantly more back?
if I was doing something else with those two hours. Like have a think about that. It's something we don't think about enough. We just keep these things going and they're really like doing absolutely nothing for us sometimes. So do an audit on your social channels. Okay, so that's your north. That is your visibility and reach your top of funnel. Let's move next to the east, which remember is what we're gonna do with these people once they come into our world. How do we nurture them? How do we build like, know and trust with these people?
who have come into our world kind of cold through our top of funnel Northstep. So how do I do this in my business? Well, there are a few different ways that I nurture people once they come in, whether it's a coach who's downloaded one of my free resources and gotten onto my newsletter list, or it's you as a podcast listener who's come into my world. Maybe you've downloaded a freebie after listening to a podcast and now you're on my newsletter list. Maybe you're not on my newsletter list, in which case come and join my newsletter list. Best way to do that.
is to go grab one of the free resources that I'm gonna talk about in this episode. And when you do that, you'll be added to my newsletter list. I have a weekly newsletter that goes out to my newsletter subscribers. It is very focused on creating value and not being spammy and salesy. So I shared with my audience this summer that I was done with all the, you know, getting inundated with sales emails from people. I was done with this, all this like the rhetoric out there about, you know,
just like basically it's your fault if things aren't going right in your life. I don't like any of that. I wanna be delivering content on a weekly basis that is upbeat, that is positive, that is really valuable, and that is not salesy. That is in alignment with who I am. So I have a newsletter that goes out every week. It starts with a story every week. It's usually a personal story that's somehow connected to the podcast episode of the week, which is the next thing I talk about. I tell you what the podcast episode is about, give you a little summary of it, provide you with a link to go listen to it.
And then I provide something that I only provide in my newsletter, which is coaching edge action steps. And those are usually three or four things that a coach who has listened to the episode of the week can go and apply in their own business that week. And then there is a little section that tells you what's going on in my world, which sometimes will be about an offer or an upcoming open house or something like that. Or maybe I've created a new freebie that I want to offer my existing newsletter list. So that's a weekly newsletter. I also have
warm like a warm-up sequence for new people who come in so this is like a welcome sequence of emails that gets sent out to people when they opt into my newsletter and it's really good so if you haven't already go and sign up for one of my free resources and watch the emails that come we're currently reviewing them and we're probably gonna be doing some editing to them but it's a very well thought out if I do say so myself welcome sequence not designed to sell designed to build like no trust
At the very end of the sequence, I mentioned that, you know, we start talking about the BBB and tell you about the BBB, but it is not in any way like a press sale, like, ooh, 50 % off if you join tomorrow. And the first, however many emails of the sequence are really designed to help you get to know me a little better, for me to hopefully get to know you a little better, like I'm trying to create some kind of back and forth conversation with my new people. And also to...
give you access to all of the other resources that you might not know about that I have that are free, including telling you about this podcast and trying to identify like some top episodes that you might want to listen to and that kind of thing, all designed to build that like no trust. So a welcome sequence of emails that are automatically sent when somebody comes into your top of funnel is a really great way to do that nurturing into the like no trust. But I also have the weekly newsletter that gets sent out.
I also have low ticket workshops and events that I offer to people on my newsletter list. Things like the Coaching Edge Workshop Series, those get offered to people on my newsletter list and that's how most people find out about those things and end up at those lower ticket, high value events. Another way to build like no trust and nurture. And then of course, the open houses that I host every couple of months for the BBB where you get to join a live office hours call.
get some free business support, get to know me, meet me, I get to know you a little bit, you meet some other members of the BBB community, figure out whether the vibe is the right vibe for you and whether you might be interested in joining the BBB. So that's the other thing that I offer. And then finally, I do reach out to past clients. So I do nurture people who are still in my world, but I'm no longer actively working with them by, you know, I pay attention to, for example, their social media. So if it's a coach that I've worked with,
in the past, I'm gonna continue following them on social media and if I see them offering some cool new thing, I might send them a DM and say, wow, I'm so excited that you finally did this thing. I remember when you were talking about that when you were in the BBB. Or I might send them a note and give them some, a little bit of sort of free strategy or advice on something like, hey, I noticed you did this thing. I don't know if you know this, but if you do this, then you can amplify how many people see it by blah, blah. So.
I'm just connecting with them and staying connected with people that I used to work with, but that who are no longer in any of my paid offers. And that is very deliberate and part of every week for me. So those are all the ways that I nurture people who have come into my funnel. So questions for you. How do you do that? How consistently are you showing up for your email list, your community or your past clients?
Another question for you is, am I creating content that deepens relationships by sharing like more personal stuff, stories, insights, behind the scenes, glimpses? There's a reason why I include story in most of my newsletters and it's because that is what builds the like, no trust, the best. This podcast does it pretty well too. You're probably like, I know this person is, you know, I feel like I know her a little bit because I listened to her ramble on, hopefully not.
But ⁓ every week I listen to her, right? So are you sharing anything personal? Are you sharing story? Again, remember share from your scars, not from your wounds. But I love to tell people when I screw up because I think it builds instant connection for them. They're like, ⁓ she is human and she's not perfect and duh, of course I'm not. I make mistakes all the time.
So are you sharing those types of things? Are you creating content that deepens the relationships or are you just keeping it really surface level, professional? There's a place for that as well, but I do think we need to consciously and mindfully be deepening connection and personal stories are really great way to do that. Do I have a welcome sequence that sets the tone for new people coming into my world, new subscribers? That's a great thing to be thinking about.
How am I helping people see the real value of what I do before they ever pay me? This is really what this pillar is all about. It's about demonstrating your value, your expertise, your special sauce before people pay you, before they come into your paid offers. Building that. How am I doing that? Action ideas in this area? First, update your welcome sequence.
Make sure it's matching your current voice and your current offers. Are there new things that you could be including in your welcome sequence? Did you start a podcast? Have you told people in your welcome sequence about that? Did you create a new free resource that people who've already come into your world might love to participate in? Go back through your welcome sequence if you have one and make sure that it's up to date. And if you don't have one, create one. Start with three emails. It doesn't need to be a 10 email sequence right out of the gate. Start with a few emails.
just get this started. And remember, the goal of this is not to sell. The goal of this is to create connection and to build that like no trust. And frankly, if you try to sell with your first email, you're not gonna create trust. It's gonna do the opposite. Another action idea, commit to a realistic cadence for a newsletter. So if you're somebody who hasn't started sending a newsletter out, that's okay, don't panic. What can you realistically commit to? Maybe it's once a quarter.
That's how I started. had a seasonal newsletter that went out in the beginning. Maybe it's once a month, maybe it's twice a month, maybe it's weekly. But just make sure that whatever you commit to, you can actually reasonably carry out. You can always add more newsletters to the frequency, like you can increase the frequency, but it's harder to cut back. People are expecting something from you once a month. So committing to that and actually executing that is a great action item. plan one or two.
low ticket, value-based points of contact in 2026. So what do I mean by that? Maybe it's a workshop, maybe it's an event, maybe it's a Q &A, but something that is a low ticket thing, or it could be higher ticket, I guess, but it has to be really valuable, but just like...
something that allows people to gently come into your world and get to know you better. And in a perfect world, it's a live thing. So this, for example, would be like a coaching edge workshop. So just last month I did the Lead Magnet Lab. It was only $27 for a two hour workshop and there were less than 20 people on the call. So it was a really great opportunity for me to build some real, like no trust with people and get to know people's businesses a little bit with very little investment or commitment on their
Can you offer one or two of those in 2026? Start thinking about that. Also experiment with, and this kind of ties in with that last one, but a small community building idea. So this is probably gonna be free, but just something that gives your people an opportunity to get with you somewhere, right? So it might be a coffee chat or a mocktail hour or a live Q &A or an open house.
⁓ Or maybe you open up one of your coaching calls and other people can come in and see what coaching is all about. I mean there are different ways to do this, but how can you create an opportunity for people to feel more connected with you? So those are some ideas. Okay, so now once people like, know, and trust you, we're talking about moving south on the compass down to the sales part. And if you're taking a big swallow right now because you hate sales,
I hear you, this was probably the area of biggest friction for me for the first half of the time I've been running my coaching business. But once I figured this out, it changed everything for me. So we have to talk about this, okay? So the South pillar of your compass is conversion and building confidence in sales.
We want to be taking the interest, the like no trust that you've been building in that East pillar. We want to be taking that and turning that into income. And we want to be doing that confidently. We want to be doing that authentically. And we want to be doing that sustainably. And that requires you to not only build your own confidence in your sales process, but come up with some systems that work for you. This is a great area to be really reminding yourself of the beta mindset.
I have tried so many different things over the years in terms of a sales system for both my one-on-one coaching and group programs that I've run. I'm always in beta mindset around sales. I'm always tweaking and changing things. So for example, if you've always had your prices on your website, what if you experimented with taking your prices off your website? Does that change the number of people who actually get on calls with you? And does it make it easier for you to talk about pricing if you have had 25 minutes on a call?
to build like no trust with this person and actually offer them some real value before you get to the pricing conversation. I don't know, you don't know. That's probably something that you need to try in order to ⁓ find out. You're really gonna need to be thinking about in this area, whether there are mindset beliefs, mindsets or beliefs, I guess, that are keeping you stuck, that are working against you when it comes to sales. This was for me like,
I had some epiphanies in this area. actually worked with a coach around some of this stuff at one point because I could tell it was holding me back. I had some deep rooted stuff around scarcity and around what people could afford and also about what it said about me if I charged more for my services. And I needed to work through all of that stuff because it was making it really hard for me to actually create sustainability in my business because I was not comfortable charging what I needed to be charging. So,
⁓ What are the beliefs or the mindsets that are keeping you stuck and what work might you be able to do to help make this more easeful for you and more comfortable for you? I also want to say like it's a reminder of this. I talked about this in the last podcast episode, but it's totally okay to change your mind. Just a reminder. So you can do things one way and then change it. So if you have been doing your discovery calls one way, you get to change that. If you don't know how to do a discovery call a different way,
go and download my free resource for coaches that's called something like the discovery, like self-confidence discovery call template. It is my approach to discovery calls. I have done the experimenting for you and this is a system that works incredibly well for me for conversions. Okay, so go out there and start trying new things. The beta mindset is your friend when it comes to sales. You have to find what feels comfortable for you. In the early days, I was doing what I was told to do.
which was sell hard and get the credit card, like close the deal before the call ends. That felt so awkward and uncomfortable to me and it backfired every single time. Over the years, I tried different things. I tried taking my prices off the website. I had my prices on the website. I tried not talking about the price very much. I tried talking more about the price. I tried all the things until I arrived at, actually that is not the problem here. The problem is not my price. The problem is,
how I am talking to the client before we get to the price. And the other problem was I didn't really believe in the value of my coaching in the early days. And so I had to really work on building my confidence around that. So you've got to identify what the blocks are for you and start working on those. This is going to be the most impactful work you do as a business person. This will change everything for you. It changed everything for me. Okay, so reflection questions. These are again in the workbook that goes with this virtual retreat. But I want you to think about these things. How do I feel about my pricing?
Do I feel clear and confident about it or do I feel really wobbly about it? It's making me really uncomfortable. Go and do the one-on-one pricing masterclass. It's $17. It is the most bang for your buck of any of my low ticket offers and it is available at wendymichellum.com under the business coaching, on the business coaching side of the website under the free resources for coaches tab. That is a really great starting place for you if you are struggling with your pricing, if you're not sure if your pricing is too high or too low.
or you really struggle with talking about your price, or you don't believe in the value of the price that you have set and it feels really icky to you to be charging what you're charging, watch the pricing masterclass. It will change the way you think about pricing, I promise. Okay, another question, what's working and what's not working for me in my discovery calls or my sales process? Again, there's a bottleneck somewhere probably, there's a stumbling block somewhere, where does it start to get uncomfortable for me on a call?
What do I find myself feeling? When do I find myself feeling kind of gross? Take a look at the discovery call template that I have. Again, another free resource for coaches. It's a really great tool. And you have to create your own comfortable approach to calls for sure. But I think it's helpful to look at what other people are doing that works. Just to open your mind up to the possibility that there's a different way to do sales than what you were taught.
because there is, I promise there is, and it feels so much more comfortable to me. What mindset blocks come up when I talk about money or value? We already mentioned that one. Do I have clear next steps for people who are ready to buy? This is really important. Like what do you say to people at the end of the call if they're like, I'm in? What's the next step? Do you know what you're going to say next? I say, great, let's get your first call in the books right now, open up your calendar, I'll open up mine, I get them booked in, and then I tell them I'm sending them the bookie link to pay.
right after the call so that they can register and they will get access to their online content. And then sometimes I'll also direct them to a module of the online content that they get when they work with me and tell them to get started there and work on that between now and when we meet next, right? So I have a very specific structure that happens afterwards. If they say I'm not ready to get started yet, I want to think about it. I say, totally, I get it. Would you mind getting back to me within?
48 hours because I have limited space in my coaching practice and I'll just wait to hear back from you before I fill this spot. And I'll probably send you a reminder if I don't hear back from you in two days that are you cool with that? And they'll say, yeah, absolutely, totally understand. So you need a structure and a process at the end of your discovery calls. Action ideas, review your discovery call process and then track your conversions. This is so important. Do you know what percentage?
of people who get on sales calls with you, pay for services with you, actually turn into paying clients. You should know that and you should be working actively to improve that. If it's 20%, try to get it up to 35 or 40 % this year. If it's 50%, try to get it up to 60%. This is where you are leaving money on the table and this is where it takes, like it is worth it to put the work in and to experiment with the discovery call structure and to try some different things and get some support.
Okay, gather testimonials and feedback. That helps to strengthen your confidence, which helps you to feel good about the value of your programming, which makes it a whole lot easier to talk about the price, trust me. So that's a good thing to start doing. If you haven't gathered testimonials and feedback, make a little plan for how you're gonna do that next year. I have a really specific structure that I use and that I teach inside the BBB for gathering really phenomenal testimonials. You can start by just doing some reach out to your past clients.
Try to get them on a call instead of just sending them an email and have a conversation with them about their experience coaching. And if they say something nice about you, that's so great. I'm wondering, would you be willing if I just put that in writing what you just said, did my best job to put that in writing? If I send it to you for review and editing, would you be willing to let me use that in future marketing? Right? So start gathering those if you're not gathering them yet. Revisit your pricing.
Is it still okay? Your prices are gonna change guys. So if you've had the same price for coaching for the last five years, it's probably time for you to look at upping your prices. First of all, inflation, the market, all the rest of it, but also you're better. You're better now. You have more to offer. So look at your pricing. Does it need to be increased? Does it reflect your current expertise? Practice, maybe you got a new coaching certification. Have you thought about that?
and has that been incorporated in pricing, right? Practice talking about your offers out loud because the more you talk about your offers, the clearer you get on who you help with what problem and in what unique, special, saucy way you do that, right? Like you need to be able to say that clearly and you have to practice doing that in order to deliver that with confidence. Okay, so that's the South Pillar. Now we're gonna move to the last pillar, which is West. As I said, it's like the Wild West. It's the place where you are.
being really responsive and you are constantly paying attention to what's happening and creating more things. Okay? So this is how you deliver value in your offers, how you keep your clients engaged and how you inspire longer term relationships with people. And there are lots of different pieces to this. So retention of clients is a key piece of sustainability. I have clients who I work with now, who I've worked with.
my gosh, some of them I've with 10 years ago and they come back and continue working with me. I offer a new program, they're excited about it, they come back into my world, right? So retention is a really key piece of this. You want to have continuing options for support for people. And you wanna know what happens right after the first sale, but then also what happens after that offers up, right? The way that I do this in the BBB,
is that I have first of all, a continuing membership option. So when people finish the first year of the BBB, which is the initial commitment to the program, they get to stay on as continuing members. If they love the program, they love the weekly strategy support, they wanna keep working with me on a monthly basis. And there's a different fee for that, that is a lower fee. And that's how I encourage people to stay in the BBB. And I have lots and lots of coaches who stay.
And then after a couple of years as continuing members, there's an even better offer that comes up for people called the alumni membership where the price drops by, ⁓ my gosh, like it's probably almost two thirds. And it's just a way that I reward my long-term alumni people and also give them kind of a no-brainer reason to stay in the community because I love having them in there. So that's how I provide content on the business side of things for people.
When I was doing one-on-one coaching, I had what I would call a backend membership or an alumni membership. And that was a group that I ran for women who had worked with me one-on-one, but were looking for continued support and community post their one-on-one coaching relationship with me. And I loved that. And I recommend that everybody thinks about doing that because it's a really easy way to fill a group because those people already like, trust you and are actually looking for a way to stay connected to you. So it's a pretty easy sale.
And you also have vetted these clients and you will know whether they're a good fit for that community because you've been working with them one-on-one. So it also creates a really lovely group coaching environment usually because everybody feels comfortable with you and you know that these people are probably going to be good fits for each other inside of the group. So that's also an option for continuing support. Anyway, it's an area where you can get creative and there are lots of different things I've done over the years, but I just encourage you to think about it. What do you have?
Do you need to create an advanced program? So maybe you take people through, let's say it's like Divorce and Separation 101, do you need to have a like Life After Divorce 102 program that you create an offer for those people after they're finished and have solved the initial problem that you helped them with? So here are some reflection questions. Where am I over delivering or under delivering right now? Just take a look at what you've got out there in terms of content and offers.
What's the client experience like from the beginning to the end? Like put yourself in the client's shoes. What does it feel like? Do you at some point just disappear from their lives? Do you ghost them at some point inadvertently? And if so, how do you fix that? How do you fill that? Do you have a simple feedback or testimonial system in place to gather testimonials? This is so important, as I said earlier. How could you extend your client's journey? So what could you add on? Could you create that alumni offer group?
Maybe there is an advanced program or a next step course or program you could create or some kind of a continued support option like I have in the BBB with the monthly membership. Action ideas. Here's what I'm gonna recommend you think about. Audit one of your programs or services for content flow and client experience. How does it feel to be that client? Are there places where that client is missing information where you could fill the gap? Is there a point where your connection
starts to dwindle with that client, is there something for you to offer them after that program that you or do you need to create that? Another action item, add an end of program feedback form or celebration call. So some way to gather feedback and testimonials. That's something I could talk about for an hour, but ⁓ I have lots of ideas around how to do that. But for now, just what do I have in place and what could I create? What structure could I put around that to make sure I'm not forgetting to get really great feedback?
when I'm finishing up with a client or a group. Create a next step offer for returning clients. So what's the thing you can create to keep people in your world so that they don't leave to continue to support those people? What do you need to create in terms of an offer or a program? And then maybe think about, and this is kind of related to all of the pillars, but maybe think about one professional development investment for the next year.
for the coming year. I always invest in something. It's usually business training of some sort, often very specific business training so that I can come back and share that with my BBB coaches. for you, it might be more general business coaching and support, or it might be, you know, there's this area where I really, really struggle. Like I'm terrible with social media, so I want to take a course that helps me with the basics of social media. Or maybe it's your actual coaching skills that are feeling
iffy to you and you need to look for a program that's going to help you build your confidence as a coach. Although you know, if you've been listening to this podcast, that the way to build confidence fastest is to get out there and coach. But what could you invest in in yourself next year that might help with your business growth and development and identifying one of these pillars or directions on the compass that feels weaker is a good way to identify what professional development
might be most valuable for you in the coming year. Okay, so we have now traveled around the compass, north for visibility, top of funnel, east for building like no trust and connection with people once they come in, south for conversion to a paying client, the process for that, and west for content delivery and continued content for your clients. Just some bigger picture questions to leave you with at the end of this episode.
Which direction feels strongest for you right now? Where do you feel the most off track? That's a good area to start in, in the first quarter of 2026. And if you could improve that area in the next 90 days.
which of these, I guess, let me rephrase that. If you could improve just one of these areas, just to help you focus on one, let's say come up with a couple areas that are weak, just one in the next 90 days, which is gonna make the biggest impact? Again, a way to look at that is like, what is closest to the money and the joy for me? You should be able to identify where there's a bottleneck happening that is leading to less money in your business, right? And also,
where it feels the most uncomfortable to you right now. That's another way to think about it. So go through your workbook, but then I want you at the very end, I want you to use this framework and the workbook that goes with it to name your
quarter one focus, like the thing you're going to focus on in the first quarter of next year, and then just write down three small doable steps that are going to get you closer to that goal. So I don't want them to be big overwhelming things. I want them to be things that feel like, yes, I could get these done with a little effort and I can get them done in the next week or two. Write those down. And remember that you don't need to fix all the things all at once. And if you got to the end of this workbook and you're
thinking, my gosh, there's so many areas where I could use work in my business. First of all, join the club. That's how it feels to me every time I do this exercise. I think of all kinds of new things. And secondly, remember, one thing at a time. You are probably the only person in your business right now. You can only do so much. But the exciting thing is, is there are lots of areas probably after this little mini virtual retreat that you're thinking are worth some focus. Pick one of them.
and start there, that will get you one degree closer to being aligned. And that's how you do this. It's like one small change after another. You build systems slowly in your business and you get yourself to a place where you feel like you've got really pretty solid footing in all of these four pillars of your business. If going through this reflection exercise and the workbook showed you that you would benefit from some more support and strategy and maybe community,
and brainstorming in all of the compass directions. That's a really common place for people to find themselves frankly after this type of an exercise, but also that's exactly what we do inside the BBB, inside my business building bootcamp. I am working with my coaches on helping them strengthen all four of these areas. All the time we are talking about different creative ways to do that. All the time we are talking about common mindset blocks that keep people stuck all the time.
And you can learn more about the BBB at the next open house, which you can register for through this link, wendymcallum.com forward slash BBB. And I'll put that in the show notes as well. We have a open house upcoming in January and I would absolutely love to see you there. Just a reminder, always for open house people, there's a really big bonus when you sign up for the BBB post an open house. So it is worth coming to the open house.
to find out more about the BBB and meet some people inside the BBB, but also to make sure that you qualify for that bonus. Because if you're about joining anyway, you might as well come to the open house so you don't miss that. Okay, I hope that was helpful. It was really fun to do that. I may do it again next year. As expected, it took a little longer than most podcast episodes, but that's the way it goes.
I hope you enjoyed this virtual retreat and I would love if you would share with me what you've learned from this. You can always reach out to me by sending me an email at wendy at wendymichallum.com or reach out to me on socials on Instagram at Wendy McCallum Coach. And let me know which of your four pillars is the pillar that you're going to be focusing on in Q1 and what your action items are for Q1. Where you're to be focused, where you're excited to start doing some more work. Happy.
New year to everybody and I will see you in 2026 inside the Coaching Edge. Thanks for listening.
