Book Summary: “The Prosperous Coach”

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Book: The Prosperous Coach by Steve Chandler & Rich Litvin
Reviewer: Bobby Powers

My 3 Biggest Takeaways

You shouldn't "get" or "attract" clients, you should create them.

Getting clients = Hunter-gatherer approach, outdated because it puts all of your success in the hands of other people
Attracting clients = Marketing-based approach, passive way of building a business
Creating clients = Showing potential clients the power of the work so they'll want to spend more time coaching with you
"My business plan has become one line: Meet fun and interesting people. My attention is on building relationships and coaching people and making bold proposals. I enroll my clients by coaching them."
"Now, I'll never meet with a potential client for less than two hours. And all I ever do to 'sell' is to create a powerful coaching experience."

Prioritize relationships, not marketing

"The popularity of social media had somehow made me forget that it's all about relationships."
Their strategy is not based on marketing. "It's a formula designed to build a relationship. Not even relationships, plural—just one relationship at a time. Honoring the individuality of the person in front of you."
"Schedule conversations. Fill the day with conversations until your client list is full."

Be willing to tell your clients what others won't.

"Show your clients what they cannot see. Say to your clients what no one else would dare to say. And you will have all the clients you ever desire."
"It doesn't matter who your client is, they are paying you to be one of the few people in the world who is willing to say the things that no one else will say."
"Challenge how your clients see the world. They do not need your sympathy. They do not need you to be their friend."

"The coaching profession has a problem that is two fold: there is a low bar for entry and a high bar for success." -Steve Chandler & Rich Litvin

Selected Quotes & Ideas from the Book

"It's lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they can't do great things, so they aim for mediocre." -Tim Ferriss
"Overcome the notion that you must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary." -Uta Hagen
Struggling Coaches vs. Pro Coaches
- "The Pro coach knows there is no such thing as a high-paying client. Your fees are just a filter for the clients you'd love to coach."
- "The Struggling coach thinks confidence is a requirement before taking action. The Pro coach knows that confidence is a result of taking action."
- "The Struggling coach seeks more and more credentials. The Pro coach knows that credentials are irrelevant because the only question clients ever want an answer to is: Can you help me?"
"Safety is the enemy of success. Be proud of your mistakes. Take a risk. Fail spectacularly."
"People pay you not what they decide your coaching is worth, but what you decide your coaching is worth."
Fearless Disciplines
- "No cold calling. Use or create inner circle connections."
- "Know the half-life of enthusiasm. Act quickly."
- "Do not use email (for persuasion or confrontation) in the act of client acquisition when phone or in-person options are available."
"Great businesses have always known that the magic is in building great relationships. Coaching is no different. And for you and your career, that is very good news."
"Get a coach. Because you can't take a client any deeper than you have gone yourself."
"Even talking to a lamp post every evening would be beneficial to a person."
"Do not be afraid to ask an innocent question like, 'Is this something you would like to do?'"
"Limitation creates value. When something is limited, its value goes up."
"Please keep in mind that you are the coach. You are the one considering adding someone to your list of clients. You choose clients based on their coachability—it's not the other way around."
"Have coaching be something you consciously and deliberately get better at every single day so you know you are moving toward greatness."
Step-by-Step Process: Connect -> Invite -> Create -> Propose = CLIENTS
- Connect: Who would I love to speak to?
- Invite: Be a professional coach, not a social one ("Would you like to experience a powerful coaching conversation?")
- Create: Serve them so powerfully they never forget your conversation for the rest of their life.
- Propose: Are you in? Hell yeah or no
2 Great questions that change everything for a coach who is creating clients:
- Would you like some help with that?
- Who do you know?
"Don't close a sale—open a relationship."
"Please don't let anyone hang up or walk out the door if the last words you exchanged were about money. It's okay to go directly into the money issue, but then allow that issue to take you back to what your prospect wants and what his or her opportunities really are. You always want to leave your prospect inside the highest context of possibility."
"Magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect." -Teller (of Penn & Teller)
Key Components of Fearless Coaching
- "Say boldly what needs to be said. And hide nothing. You are not there to be their friend."
- "Go deeper...Every client has a goal behind their goal."
- "Be okay with silence."
- "Invest in yourself...I have invested hundreds of hours and over a quarter of a million dollars to receive very deep coaching from some of the world's most impactful coaches."
"The only reason to give a speech is to change the world." -John F. Kennedy
"Yes and no go together...So if I know how many no's you got last year, I'm in a much better position to tell you how many clients you have."
"You only ever have one client to worry about. This client. The one in front of you right now. One of the biggest mistakes coaches make is to think in terms of plural. Singular is all there is. The client in front of you right now."
"Coaching is increasingly recognized as an essential part of professional and personal development."
HBR reports that coaching is now a $1B/year industry.
"Choosing to make good money and choosing to really make a difference in people's lives will be the same thing. They go together. You can't pull them apart."
Wake up every morning asking yourself the question, "Who can I serve?"
"Steve and I have a friend who is a coach who fills his practice every year by writing a few handwritten letters to the five to ten people would absolutely love to coach that year. Each letter is so personalized with so much attention on that individual that they cannot help but be moved by this man."
Don't charge per hour.
- "When people pay a coach like you they pay for everything you've ever done, because you'll be bringing all that to the table. Not to mention all the books you've read, seminars you've attended and the other work you do (including being coached in profound ways) to make yourself the best coach you can be. So she's paying for that too."
- "A woman once saw Picasso doodle on a napkin in a restaurant and she went over to his table and asked him how much she'd have to pay to have that napkin. He said, '$20,000.' She said, 'What?!? I watched you, and it only took you five minutes to do it!' He replied, 'No madam, it took me my whole life.'"
"Exponential growth looks like nothing is happening, and then suddenly you get this explosion at the end." -Ray Kurzweil
"Nobody said that change has to be slow or even hard. To live an exponential life, you have to be willing to do things differently and be open to the possibility that everything you want is closer than you think."
"Slow down to speed up success...Space is where miracles occur."
"Practice regularly setting aside time for yourself to do nothing. Put time on your calendar for committed, quiet, creative time. And practice making this time as important a priority as a meeting with a client."
"Stop tracking and celebrating your billings. They are out of your control. Instead, celebrate the amount of money you make in proposals. Proposals are in your control. Billings are not. Increase your proposals and your billings will follow."
"No. Of course coaching is not all about the money. But the money you make is all about your coaching. Money is a result of your impact, your service and your creativity. Increase one or more of these factors and your life will transform. And so will the lives of your clients."
"Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily..." -Dr. Thomas Szasz
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman