Virtual delivery for coaches

Potential for your coaching business

What if I told you that you could run a one-day virtual workshop from your office - eight hours online with 10 people all paying the same rate as your face-to-face expertise – and the client will be delighted with the results?

What if I told you that you could deliver your coaching programmes virtually - rather than the companies you work for having to fly participants in for two days with you – and get rave reviews?

You’ll notice I emphasise the response of the individuals. Like me, I am sure you've endured brilliant thinkers’ appalling webinars, great material dreadfully delivered. It’s not enough to use on-line resources – you must make them as effective as face-to-face as you can.

Recently, I delivered an amazing development programme to nine corporate participants from across Europe using a virtual platform. I would have preferred face-to-face but two reasons made me offer to do it virtually with the client:

What I was training them to do they would most likely have to offer virtually as well. It seemed more useful to them to get super comfortable and effective with the medium.

We were doing something pioneering and, as with many of these things, the travel and accommodation for them would have been prohibitive and would've bumped the project well over budget.

Those two reasons were enough and I didn’t even consider the considerable margin improvement for me. But, by not having to travel, I increased my profit and I wasn’t away from home as much – in fact I got a week of my working life back.

Although my hand was ‘forced’ in this situation, it opened my eyes to the potential. I was aware of colleagues of mine doing great work (i.e., the one-day strategy workshops). I invested in understanding what can truly elevate this medium.

There are two essential components in my view:

• Excellent source material

• Firm education of the participants in using the mode of delivery

Your material must be compelling as virtual delivery will expose flaws more, not less, if it is not. My friend who runs the one-day workshops is an expert in her field and knows what she's doing (her turnover, btw, on that day, starts at $40,000). The second point about education is key. You must spend time educating participants on how to use this medium. I’m not talking about functionality. I’m talking about connection.

When coaching virtually, you’re up against a lot of distractions. It's amazing what is a small disconnect in a face-to-face meeting can become a big disconnect online (i.e., quickly checking an email). Being late is disruptive and small external noises are magnified. You'll need to get good at cleaning all this up.

I now virtually deliver one-to-one intensives as well as group work. We behave exactly as we would face-to-face in that we take breaks, we go for a wee, we snack, we get more coffee. We never ever disconnect though, we simply turn the mike and video off – it makes a difference.

Let’s presume your material and skills are excellent but you want to make the shift to virtual connection.

• Be brave, it feels weird when you first doing it but it’s not a strange beast, behave as you would in the room.

• Charge the same as, or close to, face-to-face rates, nothing has changed in the value you offer.

• Pick your virtual platform. I use Zoom. I find it more stable than Skype and it has a breakout room facility that is great for dividing groups and having more intimate conversations. Get your mum, mates, colleagues into a virtual meeting and mess about with the functionality so you completely get it. Nothing disrupts a meeting more than a host who is klutzy on how it all works. You’ve got to be super smooth and able to guide your participants around any technical issues calmly and easily.

• I use a note I’ve developed to inform participants on how connection works virtually, and there are points on the note that they’ve usually not considered. If you’d like a copy to use with your clients, email me.

• Consider dressing your background. I have a corner of my office for virtual use with flowers. Avoid looking like you're in the witness protection programme with a plain, non-window background (trust me, sitting in front of light is a bad idea).

• Think about the angle at which you sit. Laptop users beware, you can appear as if you are looking down into the meeting. If you experience this, buy a laptop stand or be creative - I raise mine on my grandmothers’ old books... I always wondered what to use those for.

• If I start a big programme virtually, I send materials through the post (and a snack pack). I think it is nice to have something tangible when all else is virtual. Also, clients often forget to print materials prior to the call and it’s distracting while they look for them online mid-session.

The final point to make here is I am not talking about developing an online product in this article. I’m talking about your flexing what you already do and consider delivering it virtually. You can have greater geographical reach, expand your margins and work with companies on their accommodation budget restrictions and no-fly policies by confidentially declaring it can be done brilliantly virtually.

Make it a passion of yours to get good at this.