Now I know the term good money is different for everybody but for the sake of this post, let all just agree that good money refers to a healthy six figure consistent monthly income.

Over the years as I worked with my clients I’ve discovered three key mistakes entrepreneurs just starting out as coaches, consultants or trainers in Nigeria make that consistently hinders them from reaching their full potential as highly paid experts in their fields.

Mistake #1: Focusing on content and not results

Your clients don’t care about coaching, consulting or training.

The only things they care about are solutions to THEIR problems.

Unfortunately most beginner coaches and consultants forget this and seem to think that the more information they share the more, the happier the client will be.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Clients don’t want more information.

They only want results.

The only way to prove to them that you can deliver the results they want is to share with them a step by step system that delivers that result.

That’s why it’s very important to create a Distinctive Solution System and use that as the basis for building your business.

People today are overwhelmed by information.

There’s simply not enough time to sift through the data to find that one nugget of information that make a difference in the quality of their lives.

That’s where you come in.

Your distinctive solution system is information distilled and filtered through the lens of your experience and perspective and presented to your client through a step by step process that solves a very specific problem that your clients want solved.

Focusing on providing a Distinctive Solution System to your clients and not just a barrage of information is what positions you as a trusted advisor and leading expert in your field.

Mistake #2: Focusing on transactions and not relationships

The real money in this business is not in the amount of training, coaching or consulting products and services that you sell.

It’s in the quality of relationships that you build with your market.

Fall in love with your clients (I mean keep it professional people! No hanky panky!) and not with your products and services.

Most people don’t like being sold to.

But virtually everybody loves to buy stuff that solves one problem or the other for them.

When times are hard and things are tough, the only things that clients want are solutions that will help them eliminate their dangers, capture their opportunities and reinforce their strengths.

The only way that you can provide value at this level is within the context of a relationship.

Multiply the quality o the relationship your have with your market and you multiply your income, influence and impact in the market place.

Like Dan Sullivan once said:

The old saying goes, “Time equals money,”but this is not true. Time has never written you a single check. Rather, relationships equal money. All the checks you’ve received and all the new opportunities you’ve been offered have been because of the relationships you’ve developed.


Mistake # 3: Pushing promotions instead of guiding conversations

One of the things I learned pretty quickly about this business was the fact that conversations lead to clients and cash flow.

The quality and frequency of conversations that you have will determine your business results.

Most beginning coaches, consultants or trainers in Nigeria when they start of, concentrate on sending as many proposals as possible.

Pretty soon they find out that they are wasting their resources.

At this point they do either one of two things:

First they realize their strategy is wrong and try something else…another form of promotion.

Or second they keep right on banging their heads on the wall in the hope that some day some how things will change.

If instead of focusing on just promoting stuff to the market place we focused on just two things

1. Listening to the market to find out what they want
2. Educating them to see how our offering would solve their problems

We would see a whole different quality of results.

So there you have it. The three mistakes beginning coaches, consultants and trainers make.

Let me know your thoughts. - See more at: http://www.victorbassey.org