Expand your client base by offering ‘business counseling’

"I like to deal with fairly high level entrepreneurs," he tells us. "They have to have at least a moderate six-figure income--$250,000 and up. They want to increase their income, and to have balance in their lives."

When he started business coaching a dozen years ago, boosting his clients’ income was the primary goal. "But I got tired of just helping people make more money. They weren’t really working on their emotional and spiritual issues. Now, I’m interested in helping people come to a center in their life experience. If that means making a lot of money, too, that’s great."

Selman had 10 years experience in sales and marketing before getting his psychotherapy credentials. So moving into business coaching "was just common sense. I had a lot of good sales training; I’ve done sales training seminars; and I’ve had a lot of training in leadership development. So it was just a natural outcome of the work I was doing."

Clients come to him with specific business problems. But what it usually comes down to, Selman says, is a lack of focus. How many phone calls are they making that don’t lead to appointments? How many appointments do they go out on that don’t lead to a closed deal?

"A lot of these people tend toward ADD. They’re unfocused and they need someone to hold them accountable." One of Selman’s counseling specialties is addictions--which he says are pervasive in the business community, particularly among the highly successful.

And most have more than one addiction. "Obviously, if there’s any kind of addictive behavior taking place, it’s taking you away from your game plan in terms of your business. And if they’re unfocused, there’s a lot of wasting time calling on potential customers who aren’t ever going to buy. It’s about time management."

Sometimes, he adds, the addiction is work itself. In any case, they need to achieve a balance in their personal and work lives.

"One of the things I do is create a game plan with goals way beyond what they’ve imagined before...I’d like to have someone who says, ‘I’m making $200,000, and I want to make $350,000.’ And I say, ‘What would it take to make $750,000?’ Suddenly they have to start thinking very differently. They’re not going to come anywhere near numbers like that if they keep doing what they’re doing.

"If we’re looking at $750,000, I’d rather they fail and make $450,000, or $500,000 than succeed at the $350,000 and only accomplish that."

His coaching contracts run three months. Services include a weekly one-hour phone conversation, plus emails, for $250 an hour. That’s the minimum. "If someone’s making $5 million a year, I’m not going to work with them for $250 an hour."

Naturally, Selman’s first business clients came to him as the result of contacts he had from his days in sales. Now he tells us that his Web site, www.barryselman.com, is his top marketing tool. He’s given it an extra push by hiring a consultant to optimize his standing in search engines. Plus, he spends $200 a month on Google AdWords.

He had been paying for a listing on PsychologyToday.com, but dropped it--finding it unhelpful in promoting this niche.

In his therapy practice, Selman has at least one group going all the time, sometimes on addiction, sometimes on relationship issues. The groups meet once a week for 90 minutes and members pay $250 per month to participate. There are 7-10 members per group.

When it comes to individual therapy, he charges $125 for a 50-minute hour.

Occasionally, he’ll do a combination with clients--therapy and coaching. "But usually when it’s a combination like that, the therapy that’s taking place is more supportive counseling, rather than deep emotional work.

"I might have a client who is a big earner, and we might focus a little bit on his business. But in that case I’d rather focus on the emotional part. I don’t want to mix the two if it’s deep emotional work."