How Can Coaches Best Use Information Products to Grow their Practice?

Get a bunch of coaches in a crowded conference room at one of my Coaching Super Summits, and there’s always one who will ask this question: “Can Information Products Replace Coaching?”

What do you think? Can self-help books and tapes replace the real interaction with a coach?

Writing in response to my New Coaching Manifesto, perhaps Ronnie from Israel submitted the most controversial and insightful comments. Ronnie writes:

“E-zines, cds, teleclasses, ebooks, group coaching calls, books and more books on the same topics…Who has the time to buy and read all this stuff anyway? And how many books on the same topic with a very small angle shift does our world really need anyway? Are we writing books just to say,” I have a book so interview me on the radio?” Sure, we all want to expand but there is no escaping the essence and the deep-seated importance of the one- on-one coaching that can change a person’s life and make a difference. Is that not the reason that most of us came to coaching in the first place?”

Ronnie, I appreciate what you’re saying. I had similar concerns a few years ago. What I discovered on my journey to building a coaching business, however, is that product development is not about stopping to coach individuals. The purpose of developing information products is three- fold:

·  Creating credibility on a certain subject

·  Leveraging yourself by creating different ways of getting the benefit of your expertise

·  Grow a company that doesn’t rely on your presence

This means you need to think like a business person. Otherwise, what are you building? Will it last? Will you be happy trading time for dollars 10 years from now? Or can you “bottle” your expertise and allow it to live on -helping people – for years and years, even after you stop coaching personally? Ronnie raises more interesting questions:

“I think the real challenge is how to do this in such a way that you don’t keep rehashing the same thing as everyone else. The business that runs without us, is it really worthy of that? A business that has our true value, expertise and “essence” and does not become a pile of autocontracted, virtual assisted, teleclassed, laser-coached and people who have “trained” with us for a weekend and so on…I think coaching is one of those professions that are really from the “heart” and really quite “personal”. That is where the value is created. It is really quite different than most other types of consultancy, if you ask me. So we have our work cut out for us to be creative, be economical but not at the expense of what our value is really all about…”

Wow, I am so glad you bring up these issues, Ronnie!

First of all, let’s talk about creating rehashed products. The key is in YOU and how you make it unique. Remember the “X” factor? It also applies to your personal story, background, emotions, and how other people relate to you. Someone might hear about the law of attraction a thousand times, but when they hear it from YOU, they’ll say, “Wow, I never heard it put it this way, she’s really good.” So, personality in business is important, and capturing it in products and in process is very important.

It’s not one or the other . . .

I am not saying that you should stop coaching and start creating products, not at all! Whatl I am suggesting is that “capturing” your coaching process in a product allows you to offer it to people who:

a) Can’t afford coaching

b) Aren’t ready to hire a coach

c) Don’t fit your ideal client profile

It gives you a choice in your business, and it gives your customers a choice of how to work with you. Would I love to be coached by Toni Robbins, Brian Tracy, or Donald Trump personally? Absolutely! Do they have the time to coach everyone who comes along? Not humanly possible! That’s why they developed programs and products that allow them to transfer their “magic” through other people and methods. Their businesses can function without them. Donny Deutsch, on the other hand, is irreplaceable. That’s because the brilliance of his business is in his interviewing style and the unique personality he brings to “The Big Idea” show. (Although, I am sure that all his TV appearances will become a lifetime video archive for entrepreneurs for years to come.)

Another view . . .

Here’s one coach who sees product creation differently. Annette Reissfelder from Germany writes:

“I love and thrive on the live interaction with highly motivated clients who have great ambitions. BUT: I can (and will) produce “products” to attract media interest, so that I am being invited to the right type of conferences, getting interviewed by the right people and magazines, or being asked to contribute to business dailies.”

Aaaahhhh…Music to my ears.

Bottom line is that the need for individual coaching will never disappear (heck, I just hired two coaches myself!), but it should be the LAST thing you offer to people! Leading with coaching as your primary service simply devalues it in the prospects’ eyes. Make people “jump through “hoops” to get to you personally. Only then will you get an ambitious, committed, passionate, and driven client who will succeed with you by her side…while building a rewarding and profitable business.

I don’t see any other way to think about it. Do you?