24 | Creating Amazing Coach-Client Relationships
Relationships build your business (and are the key to happiness!).
Jo emphasises the importance of actively listening and providing a safe space for clients to express themselves. She discusses the significance of empathetic communication and establishing clear expectations. Jo also highlights the value of tailoring coaching to individual needs and showing genuine care and support. Consistency, support, and celebrating clients' achievements are additional keys to maintaining a strong coach-client relationship. She also covers how to continue the coaching relationship once the programme period finishes.
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to Women in the Coaching Arena podcast.
Speaker:I'm so glad you are here.
Speaker:I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor and ICF accredited coach
Speaker:Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone): and I help coaches to
Speaker:build brilliant businesses.
Speaker:Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1: I know that when you prepare to enter
Speaker:the arena, there is fear, self doubt, comparison, anxiety, uncertainty, shame.
Speaker:You can tend to armor up and protect yourself from vulnerability.
Speaker:In this podcast, I'll be sharing honest, not hype, practical and
Speaker:emotional tools to support you to make the difference that you are here for.
Speaker:Dare greatly.
Speaker:You belong in this arena.
Speaker:Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone): Hello, welcome to episode 24
Speaker:of women in the coaching arena.
Speaker:I am so glad you are here.
Speaker:In today's episode, I'm talking about how to create amazing
Speaker:coach client relationships.
Speaker:And have lasting impact because if you can build that relationship with
Speaker:your client, then they will be more likely to stay on and work with you.
Speaker:They'll also be way more likely to refer you on to other people.
Speaker:Before we dive into the strategies, let's talk about why this is so important.
Speaker:So, this is a super easy one for me because my audience are coaches who know
Speaker:how important it is to build relationships starting by listening actively.
Speaker:Giving your clients the space to express themselves, their goals, their
Speaker:challenges ll make you the number one person in their life because many
Speaker:people just don't know how to do that.
Speaker:So know that you are good enough just by providing that space.
Speaker:They will gain masses from talking to a brick wall about
Speaker:their problems for an hour.
Speaker:So imagine how much they will gain from talking to you, who can
Speaker:actually listen, but also deepen their thinking with questions.
Speaker:Know that even just providing that space, if you did nothing
Speaker:else is so, so valuable to them.
Speaker:Next up is empathetic communication.
Speaker:And actually, I don't know if I learned much about this in my coach training.
Speaker:It comes naturally to me personally, but there was a lot of talk about not stepping
Speaker:into your client's shoes too much.
Speaker:But personally, I really think it helps for someone to feel heard and understood.
Speaker:And we learn a lot about not reflecting back.
Speaker:About why am I talking?
Speaker:So if you have nothing to say, it's better to be quiet than speak.
Speaker:But actually I personally enjoy hearing my thoughts back.
Speaker:And somebody really helping me to feel understood.
Speaker:When they feel understood, they're obviously more likely to open up fully
Speaker:engaged in your coaching process.
Speaker:Third up is establishing clear expectations.
Speaker:So clarity is key in any relationship.
Speaker:Outline your coaching process, your role, your client responsibilities,
Speaker:your responsibilities.
Speaker:And then that really sets the stage for a great partnership.
Speaker:I do this on an onboarding call where I outline my responsibilities to them,
Speaker:how they can maximise their investment.
Speaker:And I'm very clear to avoid any problems coming up further down the line.
Speaker:Point four is tailoring coaching to their individual needs.
Speaker:As, you know, as a coach, every client is unique and their needs will vary.
Speaker:Lots of people ask me about creating a signature coaching program, which is
Speaker:what we do in my program and how they can vary it if that person doesn't have those
Speaker:exact needs and that's absolutely fine.
Speaker:That's the benefit of doing one-to-one coaching.
Speaker:That you can really, really tailor what you're offering.
Speaker:And even in group coaching, you can tailor to exactly what they need.
Speaker:I sure do this in my program.
Speaker:I'm not going to force somebody to go over their niche again.
Speaker:If they feel like they've already nailed their niche, we
Speaker:will move on to the next thing.
Speaker:So you will be able to create systems that mean that that
Speaker:person can keep moving forward.
Speaker:I will say personally, like for them to know that I genuinely
Speaker:care about them and their success.
Speaker:And I remember what they've said previously.
Speaker:And those sorts of things can make a huge difference to people.
Speaker:I read an amazing book.
Speaker:I would highly recommend it called the E-Myth when I was on holiday recently and
Speaker:they did this case study about a hotel they stayed in and how amazed they were
Speaker:when their exact newspaper got delivered.
Speaker:And just small touches that make such a big difference to ensure that
Speaker:they know that you care about them.
Speaker:Will make a massive difference in building that relationship and that trust.
Speaker:For example, I will send voice notes to my clients to check in, see how they are,
Speaker:or congratulate them on certain things or send a card if they've made progress
Speaker:on something that's important to them.
Speaker:So small things make a big difference.
Speaker:And 5 consistency and support.
Speaker:Regular check-ins.
Speaker:Progress assessments.
Speaker:Encouraging messages to help them to keep them momentum up.
Speaker:Often you may be the only person who is cheering them on and they may
Speaker:really, really need your support.
Speaker:You could also say provide additional resources like worksheets, or you
Speaker:could suggest books that they might need to read to deepen their learning.
Speaker:6, celebrate that achievement.
Speaker:So celebrate all of the victories, no matter how small.
Speaker:I always asked my group, like, what are their wins?
Speaker:And sometimes people can say, I really just don't know.
Speaker:I haven't got any clients in the last week.
Speaker:And I always say, it's not about that.
Speaker:I'm celebrating that I actually went for a walk this lunchtime,
Speaker:like, what are you celebrating?
Speaker:Look for those wins.
Speaker:It doesn't need to be the big things.
Speaker:If you do not celebrate and notice the small things you will also not
Speaker:celebrate and notice the big things.
Speaker:Celebrating that achievements can also help you to gain great
Speaker:case studies or testimonials.
Speaker:So instead of asking people to give you a testimonial and it'd be kind of
Speaker:another thing on their, to do list.
Speaker:How about inviting them to reflect on their journey with you?
Speaker:This helps it be valuable for them.
Speaker:And also it helps you to get an amazing case studies.
Speaker:You can say your story is truly inspirational for so many.
Speaker:I would love to reflect on your journey together and build it
Speaker:into the form of a case study?
Speaker:Would you be up for that?
Speaker:And I guarantee you, you will get way more response rate than
Speaker:asking someone for testimonial.
Speaker:Finally let's cover how you may wish to continue working with them after
Speaker:your initial coaching engagement.
Speaker:What I like to do with this one is position it upfront.
Speaker:So if, for example, people wish to stay on in my program after their initial six
Speaker:months, I say right at the beginning, if you want to stay on afterwards, I'll
Speaker:get in touch with you closer to the time and ask if you wish to stay on
Speaker:for a further period for a small fee.
Speaker:So everybody knows that they can stay on, should they wish to.
Speaker:So you can position that at the beginning of your relationship.
Speaker:What really helps is for you too frame it as it's been a while since we first
Speaker:set out your goals, would you like to have a call and make a new plan with me?
Speaker:If they are up for that, then you can review their wins?
Speaker:What are they proud of?
Speaker:Why is it a win for them?
Speaker:You can look at their participation and engagement in the programme, what
Speaker:they did well, what they could have done better knowing what they know now.
Speaker:Then you would talk about their challenges.
Speaker:So what are the biggest challenges right now?
Speaker:Because even if the original problem has gone away, life is full of
Speaker:challenges and there will be more.
Speaker:How do they want things to look in, say six months or years time?
Speaker:You may wish to outline their top three challenges for the next 90 days.
Speaker:And then if you wish to help, you can then outline two or three main points
Speaker:that would help them to meet those goals and say, Would you like more help?
Speaker:You could outline maybe a monthly rate based on the price of your previous
Speaker:package or if they wanted less help, you can obviously amend the rate to suit.
Speaker:I hope you found this episode into unlocking coach client relationships for
Speaker:lasting impact for you, your business, and most importantly, your client, helpful.
Speaker:These strategies go beyond coaching techniques.
Speaker:They are about creating a really authentic, supportive, long lasting
Speaker:relationship to feul growth for your client and for your business.
Speaker:Let's summarize where we went today.
Speaker:So firstly, we talked about the foundation of strong connections.
Speaker:Second, we talked about empathetic communication.
Speaker:Next up, we talked about establishing clear expectations.
Speaker:Then tailoring coaching to the individual needs.
Speaker:Then we talked about consistency and support.
Speaker:Next up was celebrating achievements.
Speaker:Finally, we talked about how to propose an ongoing relationship
Speaker:should you and the client wish to.
Speaker:By applying these strategies, you are on your way to making a profound and lasting
Speaker:impact for you and for your clients.
Speaker:So thank you for joining me on today's episode.
Speaker:If you found these insights valuable, don't forget to share this
Speaker:podcast with your coaching cohorts.
Speaker:I'm feeling terribly guilty.
Speaker:I called it women in the coaching arena.
Speaker:As I know, there are many men listening to, so hello, you are welcome.
Speaker:And as I say, at the end of every episode, trust yourself, believe
Speaker:in yourself and be the wise Gardner who keeps on watering the seed.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.
Speaker:I have a mass of free resources on my website joannalottcoaching.com.
Speaker:That's Joanna with an A and Lott with two T's.
Speaker:joannalottcoaching.com.
Speaker:And I'll also put links in the show notes.
Speaker:Let me know if you found this episode useful.
Speaker:Share it with a friend and leave me a review, and I will
Speaker:personally thank you for that.
Speaker:Remember to trust yourself, believe in yourself and be the wise Gardner
Speaker:who keeps on watering the seed.
