2020 Business Development Series Session Descriptions - International Coaching Federation
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ICF Converge 2023: Expanded Registration Options Available
COVID-19 Resources for ICF Coaches
  • Build Your Brand

    Making the Most of ICF BDS – Welcome to the Future!

    William Arruda

    We want you to maximize the value of BDS2020! In this live session, our host, William Arruda, will let you know what to expect from the program. He’ll review the four-week core program and the entire year-long list of activities. He’ll also share his insights from previous sessions and best practices for making the most of this practice-building opportunity. You’ll leave the session with your personal plan for turning the insights you’ll gain into a plan for your practice. And there will be lots of time for Q&A, so come to the session with all your questions!

     

    Build Your Brand. Grow Your Practice.

    William Arruda

    Personal branding is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s an essential skill for every coach. It provides the sense of stability, empowerment and recognition you need to succeed in today’s competitive, global marketplace. Personal branding is all about being yourself—your best self—in support of your clients and your practice. In this live session, Personal Branding Guru William Arruda reveals his proven, three-step personal branding process so you can learn the secrets of building and communicating your winning personal brand. Living your brand helps you increase your confidence and use your innate strengths and skills to expand your visibility with your ideal clients. This helps you fill your practice and earn what you deserve for the value you deliver. Personal branding gives you the mandate to live authentically and integrate who you are into how you deliver your coaching offerings. William shares his findings from working with thousands of coaches over nearly two decades in this highly interactive, informative and actionable presentation.

     

    Discover Your Coaching Niche

    Moderator: Karen Cappello, MCC

    Panelists: Gideon Culman, PCC, Anna-Marie Watson, PCC, Ellen Kocher, ACC, Grace Thomas, PCC

    Having a coaching niche can make the difference between having a profitable coaching business or spending years trying to find clients. With a clear niche, you will have a steady stream of your ideal clients that are seeking you, fill your programs and courses with ease and have more time for self-care and relaxation.

    Yet determining a niche is perhaps one of the most perplexing and stressful decisions for a coach. Join Master Coach Karen Cappello to learn the simple steps to defining a coaching niche that will allow you to have a thriving and profitable business with clients that you truly love to work with. Karen will be interviewing highly successful coaches on how they determined their niches, with practical wisdom that will support you in your own discovery.

     

    OnDemand Content

    360Reach Analysis Coaching

    360Reach Action Commitments Planning

    5 – 10 minutes each

    William Arruda

    Your brand – although based in authenticity – is held in the hearts and minds of those who know you. You need to validate your self-perceptions with feedback from others so you can understand your brand from the outside in. You have completed your 360Reach Personal Brand Survey, now what?

    Your 360Reach report gives you information, but it doesn’t have value for you or your practice until you analyze that information and take action as a result of what you learn. In this 2-part 360Reach video coaching series, you’ll learn how to glean the greatest insights from your external feedback and take action as a result. In part 1, William Arruda, the creator of 360Reach, will take you through the six-step process so you can identify key learning that’s critical to your success. In part 2, he’ll show you how to turn that learning into a focused activity plan. First, you’ll create your brand aspirations; then, you’ll craft your personal branding action commitments along with a focused action plan.

     

    The Real You (Microlearning Sessions)

    5 – 10 minutes each

    William Arruda

    Identify Your Secret Sauce

    Personal branding is about differentiation. If what you offer is the same as other coaches, what would make a prospective client pick you to be their coach? In this brief video, you’ll learn how to identify your brand differentiation and use it to stand out and attract the attention of your ideal clients.

    Use Your Superpowers

    What makes someone use superlatives to describe you? All strong brands are known by what they do best. In this brief video, you’ll learn about the importance of strengths and how to turn your signature strength into a superpower – one that will help you reach your goals.

    Put your Passions in Your Practice

    We’ve all heard the adage “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” And it’s true. But how do you connect your passions with your work? And how can you use those passions to expand the success of your practice? In this brief video, we’ll explore those questions and help you identify ways to link what you love with what you do.

    Identify Your One Word

    Strong brands are known for something, not 100 things. That’s what makes them recognizable and memorable. Yet distilling all your brilliance into one word sounds daunting. In this brief video, you’ll learn how to make your brand potent and powerful by identifying and living your one word.

  • Build Your Tools

    Personal Branding for expanding your coaching business in 2020

    Amalia Sterescu

    If you are new to coaching business or you want to expand your current business, it is time to have an assessment of your online presence, a scan of your current strategic network and an inventory of your personal branding practices in order to be able to expand your business, to reach new markets or new customer segments!

    In this session we will cover:

    • Why is important to invest in your personal brand in order to promote your coaching practice, stories, customer cases.
    • How to select the best communication channels for your personal brand, how to balance your efforts and resources in order to be consistent.
    • How to perform your own online presence assessment in order to define the best action plan for your personal brand enhancement.
    • Public Speaking as a channel for enhancing your personal brand: tips and tricks
    • Elements of strategic networking

     

    Behind the Curtain: A behind-the-scenes look at branding digital platforms

    Stephanie Wright and Tracy Sinclair, PCC

    Join Stephanie Wright, a brand consultant and graphic designer, and Tracy Sinclair, PCC, as they discuss the process of bringing Tracy Sinclair Ltd. to life. Tracy will share about her experience and learnings from working with a brand designer and Stephanie will give a behind-the-scenes look at some of the processes she uses with her clients. Along the way they’’ll be sharing tips and tricks on how to apply your own brand to digital platforms, creating a cohesive experience for your audience.

    OnDemand Content

     

    Unique Strengths Marketing: Authenticity Beats Boring

    Jan Markel, ACC

    30 Minutes

    There is thin line between marketing disaster and real coaching success. It all comes down to how you tell your story.

    In this session full of examples, you will learn:

    • how to stop chasing clients with all the boring phrases that every coach uses
    • how to define your unique strengths and show them to the world
    • which approach you should avoid (oh my, it is sooo common)

    And of course, you will learn how to juggle one orange. It matters! Why? That’s my secret. Come to this lesson to reveal it.

     

    Branding Your Unique Brilliance

    Maria Glenn, PCC

    30 minutes

    Imagine this scenario playing out at a networking event near you:

    Coach 1: Hey, nice to meet you! What do you do?

    Coach 2: I’m an executive coach.

    Coach 1: Oh, me too!

    Coach 2: Really? Well, I love to work with emerging and high-potential leaders.

    Coach 1: Yep, me too!

    Coach 2: I also work with executive clients on their impact and positive sphere of influence.

    Coach 1: Umm…yeah…ah…me too (voice trailing off)

    Have you ever struggled with separating yourself as a coach from all the other coaches out there?

    The key difference that makes you special and uniquely you is YOU!

    By utilizing our foolproof, three-step methodology, you will leave this session with the ability to clearly and concisely articulate your unique brand that will create a buzz and attract the clients that brought you to coaching in the first place.

     

    Writing Your Bio (Microlearning Sessions)

    3 – 5 minutes each

    Marie Zimenoff and Susan Chritton, PCC

    3 Key Phrases

    Start building your coaching story with hands-on exercises to move past the fear of a blank page, plus see examples of how a few key phrases can turn into a powerful bio.

    Your Fun Facts

    Make your bio connect by going beyond the usual information shared – while still considering your context and audience. You’ll see a variety of examples to help visualize what you could say to put some intrigue into your bio.

    Adding Structure

    While all bios are – and should be – unique, sometimes it helps to start with the formula you’ll learn in this session. Plus, you’ll also see examples of how the formula turns into a bio you want to read.

    Connecting the Dots: Themes & Entry/Exit Lines

    Learn how to pull all your information together for a cohesive bio (or suite of bios for different audiences) while capturing a reader’s interest at the most important points – the entry and exit of your bio.

    Step-by-Step to a Bio that Connects

    If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to start, this session will give you a step-by-step process for preparing, writing, editing, and designing your bio.

    Beyond the Bio: Using Stories for Magnetic Marketing

    Learn the art of telling stories that capture the attention of your potential clients without feeling like you’re being pushy or salesy! See examples of how other coaches are telling magnetic marketing stories.

    Beyond the Bio: Share Stories with Confidence – Make Your Client the Hero

    Get a step-by-step process for capturing stories so that you never have to struggle to market your coaching practice again!

  • Build Your Business

    Quick Start ROI: 5 Proven techniques to win new clients by using data

    Lisa Ann Edwards

    Whether you’re a newly minted ICF coach or a seasoned professional, you know you need ROI to prove your coaching gets results. Yet, ROI formulas sound so complicated, dry and uninspiring! In this fun and practical session, you’ll learn how to get started today, using data you already have— even if you’ve never sold a single coaching engagement— to influence coaching buyers and decision-makers.

    Lisa will walk you through:

    1. Why data is the key to illustrating what coaching is, and why it makes an impact.
    2. How to avoid the three most common myths of ROI.
    3. The specific steps to identify your existing data, even if you’ve never completed a coaching engagement.
    4. How to pinpoint the data that illustrates your niche and coaching differentiator.
    5. Clear-cut examples from top executive coaches who get results with data.
    6. BONUS: The secret to illustrating ROI and the monetary impact of working with you to influence coaching buyers.

    Monetize Your Coaching Expertise: A step-by-step process for your sales conversation

    Connie Kadansky, MCC

    A lead is a prospective client who has expressed interest in your coaching services. They are not a client until you convert them into a client. The only way to convert them into a client is having a sales conversation — not a coaching conversation. Sales is not a dirty word. It was what writes your paycheck! Sales and coaching skills are similar. For example, whoever is asking questions is in control.

    Sound familiar? A masterful coach call unfolds organically. A masterful sales conversation unfolds organically.

    You will:

    • Begin to fall in love with the sales conversation
    • Learn a proven 6-step process for your sales conversations
    • Witness two demos of the process that organically unfolds into a sale
    • Discover the mindset that sets the stage for a thriving coaching business

     

    OnDemand Content

     

    Be Irresistible: How to attract the clients you’re meant to serve

    Jeffrey Shaw

    30 minutes

    One of the hardest parts about building a coaching business is resisting the desire to help everyone. Or to help others see the value in what we do so they can have the breakthrough they want.

    It turns out, it’s not our job to prove our value to anyone. It’s our job to find the clients that already value what we do. That resonate with us. The most efficient way to grow your coaching business and have the greatest impact is to work only with your ideal clients. We do that with brand messaging and marketing that speaks the Lingo of your ideal clients. When that happens, your ideal clients feel like you “get” them and they fall in love with you!

    Find out how to have a competitive advantage from brand consultant and photographer Jeffrey Shaw by learning to see your clients the way a photographer sees their subject. How speaking their Lingo with brand messaging is like a portrait on display that creates a connection to your desired audience. Once you see branding through Jeffrey’s lens, you will attract your ideal customers because you will be speaking their Lingo.

    Are you ready to work only with ideal clients?

    • Discover the secret to defining your ideal client
    • Learn 5-Steps to make your ideal clients feel seen and speak their Lingo
    • Find out how to say the right things to the right people to attract your ideal clients!

    B-School for Coaches

    Peter A. James

    30 minutes

    Simon Sinek states that “working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion.” I can only assume that you are here because you are passionate about this skill that we possess in coaching. But now, let’s look to take this passion and convert it into a viable revenue stream. In this business planning session, Dr. Peter A. James will take you through what you need to initially think about as a business owner, how to set goals, plans, and strategies; and then how to accomplish them.

    Disclaimer: Business will not just happen. It will take repetition, effort, and intention. (If this you, then come on in and let’s get to work.)

    I. Business Planning Overview (Business Model Canvas).

    II. Marketing/Sales (Promoting Yourself).

    III. Customers & Competition (Know them both well).

    IV. The Investment (Yes, in order to make money, you have to spend a little money.)

    V. Your experience/background/unique (Who you were before coaching will assist you as a coach). Includes a SWOT.

    VI. Resources to get you started (ICF).

     

    Business Plan (Microlearning Sessions)

    Peter A. James

    3 – 5 minutes each

     

    Marketing: Niche, Landscape, Plan

    We should always be marketing. We should always be selling. But don’t be deceived, we do need a strategy for both.

    Coach Training (life-long learning)

    The person who stops studying merely because he or she has finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what the person’s calling. The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge. ~Napoleon Hill

    Your Network (Who is in your tribe?)

    Without someone to challenge you in your thinking, to have you consider what you don’t know that you don’t know, and to be your accountability partner, it becomes easy for us to slip into a “business as usual” mindset.

    Comfort Zone: Get out and meet people in person (industry associations, executive round tables, law firms, executive clubs, other coaches, associations)

    As you stretch yourself, your comfort zone will continue to expand. Therefore, we must train our minds to continuously try new things and go to new places in order to defeat our self-limiting beliefs . . . and accomplish our loft goals.

    Financials: P&L, budget, goals.

    One of the top reasons that small businesses fail is financial management (cash flow problems). Let’s look to overcome these problems ahead of time.

  • Build Your Platform

    Creating Thought Leadership as a Coach

    Dorie Clark

    The best way to grow your coaching practice is to make prospects come to you—and when you regularly create and share thought leadership, that’s exactly how it works. In this session, Duke and Columbia University executive education professor Dorie Clark (who has written more than 200 articles for the Harvard Business Review and 250+ for Forbes) will share the strategies she’s developed to codify, create and disseminate high quality thought leadership. You’ll learn how to:

    • develop interesting ideas that will attract prospects to you
    • identify relevant outlets to share your work
    • leverage your social proof and turn leads into clients

    Social Branding – Using Social Media to Increase Your Visibility and Credibility

    William Arruda

    In a world where your clients and prospects learn about you online before meeting you in person, your virtual brand is one of the most important assets of your coaching practice. But creating a great digital first impression is just part of it. Being social media savvy is your key to standing out and attracting the attention of your ideal clients. But with so many social media tools now available, how do you know where to focus? In this presentation, Personal Branding Guru William Arruda takes the mystery out of social media, helping you create an easy-to-execute plan to be visible, available and valuable online. It starts with your LinkedIn profile as the hub of your digital branding strategy. Your LinkedIn profile needs to differentiate you from myriad other coaches. LinkedIn is also crucial for advancing your thought leadership, building relationships with clients and the media, and growing your practice. In this session, you’ll master the proven process that has helped thousands of coaches catapult their practice to new heights, along with special tips and tricks to help you integrate LinkedIn and other social media into your comprehensive brand communications plan.

    OnDemand Content

     

    How to Take the Scary Out of Social Media (and put the simple in!)

    Ora Shtull

    30 minutes

    While we all know that social media provides an excellent way to communicate with our markets, we can find it intimidating or time consuming. We often wonder if our efforts have any impact on our business development. In this session, NYC Executive Coach Ora Shtull shares how she uses social media to build her brand and offer value to her target audience—without the stress. Join her to discover how you can enhance the impact of your social media activity, enjoyably and efficiently!

     

    Defining Your Unique Method: How to Stand Out To Attract and Land Your Ideal Clients

    Jeanine Blackwell

    30 minutes

    The first step in defining a compelling point of difference is to notice what you do differently that produces different results. The reality is that multiple certifications aren’t enough when many other coaches have similar credentials. Getting clear on how you communicate your unique approach and how you get results is critical to standing out in all the online noise. We are going to walk through how to get clear on your method and what you need to do to leverage it to attract clients and create revenue-producing products such as online courses.

    What we will cover:

    • The 4 things you have to be clear on to position your work as high value and stand out in all the competition
    • How to create one offer that you can repackage into multiple offers without constantly customizing for each client
    • How to position your method as your competitive advantage in your marketing, packages and proposals
    • The Experience Method product and pricing model to position a low, medium and high offer for both private and corporate clients

    Social Media (Microlearning Sessions)

    3 – 5 minutes each

     

    How to use the power of Stories to build your brand on Instagram

    Marina Vishnyakova Nazarenko

    Instagram Stories offer amazing potential for coaches looking to build their brand. Watch this video to learn how to make your Stories communicate the values of your business and create real engagement with your followers.

     

    Make the most out of video to promote your brand on Instagram

    Marina Vishnyakova Nazarenko

    Learn how to successfully use live streaming videos on Instagram to build a genuine connection with your audience and convert your followers into your customers.

     

    How to become an EPIC Storyteller on Facebook

    Jason Goldberg

    Use these three simple but powerful techniques to create POWERFUL stories that build authority, connection and trust with your social media followers!

     

    Look Fabulous on Video

    Brighton West

    Video is the best tool for connecting with clients and potential clients online. But many coaches are leery of using this technology. Brighton will share tips like where to look, where to place the camera, what should be in the background and more – so that you look fabulous every time you show up on camera.

     

    How to use LinkedIn as a Client Magnet

    Ora Shtull

    Your potential clients are likely to check you out online before they meet you in-person. In this micro-video, Executive Coach Ora Shtull shares three secrets to building a powerful LinkedIn profile that attracts and wows clients—and makes them want to work with you, even before they’ve met you!

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