For many coaches, getting consistent clients can feel like a challenge.

How do you help people trust you with their lives and hard-earned money when they don’t know you yet? Especially when there are so many other coaches out there offering their own brand of transformation and results?

In this post, I’m going to show you how to design a lead magnet that converts. 

We’ll cover some of the best lead magnets for coaches, and how you can customize these popular lead magnets to attract more aligned clients for your coaching business.

Why Lead Magnets Work

As a coach, your challenge isn’t convincing other people to hire you. Your challenge is to build know-like-trust with your potential clients, helping them see you as an expert.

Before any person becomes a client, they will want to:

1. Know You: Your potential clients need to know you exist and that there is a solution to their problems. Knowing you helps them realize that they have an opportunity to experience those solutions with you.
   
2. Like You: Your potential clients need to resonate with you, your message, and your approach to transformation. You can help them feel seen, heard, and connected to a real person by building authentic connections.
   
3. Trust You: Your potential clients need to trust that you can really help them experience the results and transformation they want. You can help them see you as an expert with unique perspectives and real solutions, while focusing on serving your audience with value.

The fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to help potential customers know-like-trust you and get more coaching clients? Effective lead magnets.

Put simply, a lead magnet is a free incentive offered to your audience, often in exchange for their email address, to:

• Offer value to your target audience by solving a problem or addressing a need (Know)
• Build relationships with potential clients by allowing them to connect with you and your work without any risk or investment (Like)
• Position yourself as an expert by giving potential clients the chance to experience the transformation or insight you offer (Trust)

The lead magnet you offer in your business will help you:

• Attract a larger audience of people who are looking for solutions
• Grow your email list, generating leads even while you sleep
• Build relationships with people who are already interested in what you have to offer
• Convert your target audience into paying clients with more ease and less struggle

While there are many types of lead magnets you could choose from…

There are 3 strategies that the best lead magnet ideas for coaches use.

How to Get Life Coaching Clients: 3 Lead Magnet Strategies for Coaches & Examples

1. The Big-Picture Overview

In this method, you give a bird’s eye view of your whole system.

Explain the obstacles that your client is facing and the benefits they stand to gain. Give an overview of the process you use to get them from where they are to where they want to go. Challenge them to look beyond their current circumstances or situation and see bigger possibilities.

Focus on demonstrating how your methods and message are unique. Your ideal clients will naturally resonate with what you offer in the specific way that you offer it.

Think About:

• How are you different from all the other coaches who are working in your field?
• How does your system help your clients in a more specific, deep, or comprehensive way?
• Why are the other methods you’ve seen less effective than what you’re offering?

Examples of lead magnet ideas for life coaches that work best with this strategy:

Roadmap or Framework: Give your target audience a glimpse into your coaching framework. Show them their potential with an overview of the journey from where they are to where they want to be. Offer value and insight that demonstrates how you can be the trusted guide to get them there!

Checklist or Cheat Sheet: Offer a quick, easy-to-implement guide to help them reach their goals. This could include broad steps to reach a goal, tools and resources, habits or activities, or even journal prompts.

eBook or Guide: An eBook or guide is an opportunity to offer big value on a broad topic. Give your potential clients a big-picture understanding of a struggle or challenge. Demonstrate your unique approach without giving all of the answers. Instead, guide them to the next steps they can take with you to dive even deeper.

2. Solve One Small, Specific Problem

In this strategy, tell your audience how to take an action or make a change that will start to benefit them right away. Answer a question that’s at the top of their minds, or offer deep insight into one aspect of their current situation..

Focus on being very specific, clear, and offering real, measurable value. To work well, this kind of lead magnet should be something your audience can actually apply, beyond intellectual understanding. Then, you can explain what else they need to know and how they can get that knowledge by working with you.

Think About:

• What is the first step your audience can take to solve their problem?
• What is one specific problem you could help them solve that would make a real impact in their lives?
• What is the most common challenge your audience has to overcome before they can move forward?
• What is one skill your target audience could master that would have a positive impact on their lives?

Examples of lead magnet ideas for life coaches that work best with this strategy:

Workbook: A workbook is a practical tool that can encourage your audience to take action. Help them work through a specific process, solve a specific problem, or experience a quick win. Tell them how working with you can help them experience even bigger wins and greater transformation.

Challenge: Online challenges allow you to guide your potential clients through a process of learning and transformation for a pre-set number of days. It increases engagement and helps your audience experience quick wins and real shifts. It should address a specific problem or topic, and can include: daily emails, daily livestreams, video lessons, daily prompts or activities, a private group or membership, etc.

Workshop, Webinar, or Online Course: These types of lead magnets allow your potential clients to experience working with you through a more in-depth experience. These build know-like-trust by allowing you to position yourself as a teacher and expert, and help your clients experience profound insight and real transformation. 

(Note: This is one of the approaches we most recommend to our certified coaches as a part of our Rapid Client Attraction System!)

3. Revealing the Problem They Didn’t Know They Had

Many times, a client is aware that they have a problem, but they don’t understand the root cause. Your lead magnet can reveal and explain the hidden problems that are actually holding them back.

By doing this, you can demonstrate that you understand their experience to a degree that other people don’t. Then, explain what they need to overcome those deeper obstacles and how you can give them the missing pieces.

Think About:

• What root causes does your target audience need to address to experience the results they want?
• What hidden problems do your ideal clients tend to miss or be unaware of?
• What are the biggest “ah-ha” moments people who work with you tend to have?

Examples of lead magnet ideas for life coaches that work best with this strategy:

Free consultations & Discovery Calls: Create an opportunity for potential clients to have a powerful, 1×1 conversation with you. Help them gain insight into their experience or problem and provide a safe space for them to be open and honest. Help them see the cost of NOT addressing their struggles, especially those they might not even have realized are keeping them stuck.

Quiz: One of the most popular lead magnets you can create is a fun quiz or assessment that leverages our natural human desire for self-discovery. The results of the quiz can highlight the gap between where potential clients are now and where they want to go. Position your coaching program as a possible solution to help them bridge that gap.

Case Studies: Help your clients discover previously hidden problems and root causes by reading or hearing about someone else. Not only will they be able to relate to a person with similar problems and struggles, but they’ll also glimpse the possibilities available to them. Be sure to highlight the transformation and position your coaching program as the difference-maker, reminding your clients that it could do the same for them.

General Rules for Lead Magnets to Increase Your Conversion Rate

1. Be sure that any lead magnet you create offers clear, easy-to-understand value. Tell your potential clients what result they will experience with your lead magnet and why they want it.
   
2. Create your lead magnets from the perspective of your ideal client. Ask yourself what type of magnet would appeal most to them. Align the value you offer with their challenges and desires. Meet your potential clients where they are.
   
3. At the end of each of your free materials, give a clear, specific call to action. Tell your audience what link or button to click, what form to fill out, or exactly how to take the next step.
   

Not sure how to set up the lead magnet you’d love for your business? Click here for more in-depth instructions on designing and setting up your lead magnet.

How Do You Get More Potential Clients to See Your Lead Magnets?

Now you know how to create free content that catches peoples’ attention and makes them want to work with you.

But how do you actually get people to see your lead magnets?

Simply putting free material on the Internet doesn’t guarantee that the people who need you will see it. How do you drive traffic to your articles and videos, increase engagement on social media, and get people to download and sign up for your valuable content?

I want to help!

In my free eBook, How to Enroll 10 New Clients in 90 Days, you’ll learn:

• Client attraction and enrollment secrets revealed from leaders in the life coaching industry
• Why most coaching certifications do not provide the proper training needed to grow your business
• How to conduct heart-centered sales while serving your clients needs and staying true to your sacred calling

If you’re ready to take your coaching business to the next level, download your copy today!