Lead Generation – Creating Business Opportunities

Developing a successful independent practice involves helping the right people and organisations understand what you offer, how you can support them and why your services are valuable.

For many career development professionals, marketing can feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable. Yet effective marketing is not about aggressive selling. It is about communicating clearly, building relationships and making it easier for those who need your expertise to find and engage with you.

This interactive workshop will introduce participants to practical marketing principles, including the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action), marketing funnels, email marketing and the journey from initial interest to paid work.

Participants will explore how to communicate the features and benefits of their services, build relationships with individuals and organisations, and create opportunities for regular work, including contracts that can provide a more dependable baseline income.

Through discussion and practical activities, participants will begin developing a realistic approach to marketing that fits their professional values, preferred audiences and way of working.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

•    Understand key marketing principles, including AIDA, marketing funnels and email marketing, and how they apply to independent career development practice.
•    Distinguish between the features and benefits of their services and communicate their value to prospective clients and organisations.
•    Identify practical ways to raise awareness, build relationships and generate enquiries and opportunities for paid work.
•    Recognise how individual clients, organisational partnerships and recurring contracts can contribute to a sustainable independent practice.
•    Develop a simple, achievable marketing and lead-generation plan.

Target audience

Independent career development practitioners, career coaches and advisers who want to develop their understanding of marketing, improve lead generation and create a more sustainable flow of business opportunities.

Speaker

Carolyn Parry RCDP FCDI is an award-winning career coach, author and founder of Career Alchemy, with over 25 years' experience in career development. A former President of the Career Development Institute (2021–2023), she was named UK Careers Adviser/Coach of the Year in 2017.

A TEDx speaker and author of Change Your Story and Supporting Achievers to Unlock Sustainable Career Success, Carolyn combines extensive professional experience with practical insights from establishing and running her own independent coaching business.

Her work includes developing research-informed career development programmes, coaching frameworks, publications and digital resources. She is a Fellow of the CDI and a Registered Career Development Professional.

This session supports the following CPD outcomes

•     Networking and Partnerships
•     Career Development Practice