24 | Creating Amazing Coach-Client Relationships

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Hello and welcome to Women in the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone): and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1: I know that when you prepare to enter

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the arena, there is fear, self doubt, comparison, anxiety, uncertainty, shame.

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You can tend to armor up and protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone): Hello, welcome to episode 24

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of women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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In today's episode, I'm talking about how to create amazing

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coach client relationships.

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And have lasting impact because if you can build that relationship with

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your client, then they will be more likely to stay on and work with you.

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They'll also be way more likely to refer you on to other people.

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Before we dive into the strategies, let's talk about why this is so important.

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So, this is a super easy one for me because my audience are coaches who know

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how important it is to build relationships starting by listening actively.

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Giving your clients the space to express themselves, their goals, their

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challenges ll make you the number one person in their life because many

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people just don't know how to do that.

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So know that you are good enough just by providing that space.

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They will gain masses from talking to a brick wall about

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their problems for an hour.

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So imagine how much they will gain from talking to you, who can

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actually listen, but also deepen their thinking with questions.

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Know that even just providing that space, if you did nothing

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else is so, so valuable to them.

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Next up is empathetic communication.

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And actually, I don't know if I learned much about this in my coach training.

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It comes naturally to me personally, but there was a lot of talk about not stepping

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into your client's shoes too much.

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But personally, I really think it helps for someone to feel heard and understood.

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And we learn a lot about not reflecting back.

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About why am I talking?

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So if you have nothing to say, it's better to be quiet than speak.

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But actually I personally enjoy hearing my thoughts back.

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And somebody really helping me to feel understood.

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When they feel understood, they're obviously more likely to open up fully

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engaged in your coaching process.

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Third up is establishing clear expectations.

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So clarity is key in any relationship.

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Outline your coaching process, your role, your client responsibilities,

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your responsibilities.

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And then that really sets the stage for a great partnership.

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I do this on an onboarding call where I outline my responsibilities to them,

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how they can maximise their investment.

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And I'm very clear to avoid any problems coming up further down the line.

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Point four is tailoring coaching to their individual needs.

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As, you know, as a coach, every client is unique and their needs will vary.

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Lots of people ask me about creating a signature coaching program, which is

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what we do in my program and how they can vary it if that person doesn't have those

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exact needs and that's absolutely fine.

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That's the benefit of doing one-to-one coaching.

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That you can really, really tailor what you're offering.

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And even in group coaching, you can tailor to exactly what they need.

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I sure do this in my program.

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I'm not going to force somebody to go over their niche again.

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If they feel like they've already nailed their niche, we

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will move on to the next thing.

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So you will be able to create systems that mean that that

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person can keep moving forward.

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I will say personally, like for them to know that I genuinely

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care about them and their success.

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And I remember what they've said previously.

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And those sorts of things can make a huge difference to people.

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I read an amazing book.

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I would highly recommend it called the E-Myth when I was on holiday recently and

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they did this case study about a hotel they stayed in and how amazed they were

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when their exact newspaper got delivered.

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And just small touches that make such a big difference to ensure that

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they know that you care about them.

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Will make a massive difference in building that relationship and that trust.

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For example, I will send voice notes to my clients to check in, see how they are,

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or congratulate them on certain things or send a card if they've made progress

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on something that's important to them.

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So small things make a big difference.

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And 5 consistency and support.

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Regular check-ins.

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Progress assessments.

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Encouraging messages to help them to keep them momentum up.

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Often you may be the only person who is cheering them on and they may

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really, really need your support.

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You could also say provide additional resources like worksheets, or you

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could suggest books that they might need to read to deepen their learning.

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6, celebrate that achievement.

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So celebrate all of the victories, no matter how small.

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I always asked my group, like, what are their wins?

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And sometimes people can say, I really just don't know.

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I haven't got any clients in the last week.

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And I always say, it's not about that.

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I'm celebrating that I actually went for a walk this lunchtime,

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like, what are you celebrating?

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Look for those wins.

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It doesn't need to be the big things.

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If you do not celebrate and notice the small things you will also not

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celebrate and notice the big things.

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Celebrating that achievements can also help you to gain great

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case studies or testimonials.

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So instead of asking people to give you a testimonial and it'd be kind of

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another thing on their, to do list.

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How about inviting them to reflect on their journey with you?

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This helps it be valuable for them.

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And also it helps you to get an amazing case studies.

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You can say your story is truly inspirational for so many.

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I would love to reflect on your journey together and build it

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into the form of a case study?

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Would you be up for that?

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And I guarantee you, you will get way more response rate than

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asking someone for testimonial.

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Finally let's cover how you may wish to continue working with them after

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your initial coaching engagement.

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What I like to do with this one is position it upfront.

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So if, for example, people wish to stay on in my program after their initial six

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months, I say right at the beginning, if you want to stay on afterwards, I'll

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get in touch with you closer to the time and ask if you wish to stay on

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for a further period for a small fee.

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So everybody knows that they can stay on, should they wish to.

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So you can position that at the beginning of your relationship.

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What really helps is for you too frame it as it's been a while since we first

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set out your goals, would you like to have a call and make a new plan with me?

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If they are up for that, then you can review their wins?

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What are they proud of?

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Why is it a win for them?

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You can look at their participation and engagement in the programme, what

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they did well, what they could have done better knowing what they know now.

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Then you would talk about their challenges.

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So what are the biggest challenges right now?

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Because even if the original problem has gone away, life is full of

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challenges and there will be more.

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How do they want things to look in, say six months or years time?

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You may wish to outline their top three challenges for the next 90 days.

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And then if you wish to help, you can then outline two or three main points

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that would help them to meet those goals and say, Would you like more help?

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You could outline maybe a monthly rate based on the price of your previous

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package or if they wanted less help, you can obviously amend the rate to suit.

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I hope you found this episode into unlocking coach client relationships for

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lasting impact for you, your business, and most importantly, your client, helpful.

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These strategies go beyond coaching techniques.

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They are about creating a really authentic, supportive, long lasting

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relationship to feul growth for your client and for your business.

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Let's summarize where we went today.

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So firstly, we talked about the foundation of strong connections.

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Second, we talked about empathetic communication.

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Next up, we talked about establishing clear expectations.

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Then tailoring coaching to the individual needs.

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Then we talked about consistency and support.

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Next up was celebrating achievements.

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Finally, we talked about how to propose an ongoing relationship

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should you and the client wish to.

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By applying these strategies, you are on your way to making a profound and lasting

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impact for you and for your clients.

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So thank you for joining me on today's episode.

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If you found these insights valuable, don't forget to share this

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podcast with your coaching cohorts.

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I'm feeling terribly guilty.

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I called it women in the coaching arena.

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As I know, there are many men listening to, so hello, you are welcome.

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And as I say, at the end of every episode, trust yourself, believe

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in yourself and be the wise Gardner who keeps on watering the seed.

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Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mass of free resources on my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.