How Coaches Can Use Audio
to Reach More Clients

Sure there’s a recession, and yes, the federal government is trying to find ways to fix it quickly, but as a smart business owner, you know that the solution isn't coming from the capitol...it's coming from us. It’s up to us to do what small and medium-sized business owners have always done...get smart about spending our money in order to expand the reach of our offerings.

Right now, the industries that are seeing a level amount of revenue are the recession-proof ones: auto mechanics, plumbers, used-car dealerships, crime-prevention, etc. The industries that are seeing growth are the ones to whom out-of-work people turn when they're looking to improve their skills, their image, or explore other options in employment. Life coaches, sales coaches, business coaches, and speech coaches are all in demand right now as the unemployment numbers rise and people look for ways to stand out and get hired or re-tool for the next career option.

Meanwhile, coaches are looking for ways to help more people without having to add more hours to their workday. That's where using audio teaching tools can be very helpful to both the coaching community and to the unemployed, making for a win-win situation.

There are many quick ways to make audio teaching tools available to coaching clients. One solution is to take coaching articles and turn them into audio e-courses. Perhaps a coach wants to beef up a newsletter subscription list…offer a series of weekly audio tips for job-hunters and send them out as a bonus in exchange for their addresses. This is a great way to build a newsletter subscription base and a loyal following of potential clients, and to remind them to re-visit the coaching site for more good information. Some coaches are even building secure log-in areas to their websites and offering online audio/PowerPoint training, with weekly or monthly telephone coaching in addition to the e-course. And coaches who've written books can quickly have audio books produced, meaning even more people can be exposed to their training and helpful information.

These are all methods that coaches can use to re-purpose existing tools, increase the number of clients they have time for, and increase their bottom line.

A few things to keep in mind if you're a coach and are thinking of adding audio to your offerings:

1. Hire a professional. One way to know if they know audio is to ask at what bit rate they’ll be recording and saving. Recording should be at 32 bits and saving should be at 160 kb per second. The lower the bit rate, the worse the audio will sound. For instructional audio, it's important that the quality of the audio doesn't distract the user from being able to learn the intended message. You want audio in mp3 format that sounds nearly as good as if the person was in the room with you, and a high bit rate is the way to accomplish that.
2. Use music in the opening and closing segments of each recording. It makes the presentation sound polished and gives the listener confidence that the coach is one of the top in the field.
3. Never offer any piece of audio for any reason at all that doesn't include a way for the listener to find you and your website. That should always be in the closing segment, and sometimes in the opening segment, as well. Your audio products should always contain your branding and contact information.

The above suggestions are things I've done for some of my coaching clients, and I'd be delighted to help you with them, too. As always, if I can answer any questions for you, don't hesitate to contact me. I'm Sandy Weaver Carman, owner of Voicework on Demand, Inc. and you can email me by clicking here.