G-BLLC06DBK9 520165642414387 12 | Future Pacing to Attract Clients - Women in The Coaching Arena

Episode 12

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Published on:

1st Jun 2023

12 | Future Pacing to Attract Clients

Future Pacing helps clients visualise their future and feel motivated to take action towards their goals. Jo shares two types of future pacing techniques, positive and negative, and emphasises the importance of combining them for a powerful call to action. She also addresses ethical concerns

Introduction [00:00:00" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">00:00:00]

Jo Lott introduces herself and the topic of future pacing to attract clients.

Dare Greatly event and future pacing [00:00:27" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">00:00:27]


Jo talks about her recent Dare Greatly event and how future pacing can help people visualise themselves in opportunistic times of the year, such as summer.


Positive and negative future pacing techniques [00:02:24" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">00:02:24]


Jo explains the two types of future pacing techniques: positive and negative, and how they can be combined for a powerful call to action.


Future Pacing Techniques [00:10:17" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">00:10:17]


Jo Lott explains how future pacing can be used in various communication channels to attract clients and encourages listeners to implement positive and negative future pacing techniques.


Ethical Concerns [00:10:17" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">00:10:17]


Jo Lott addresses the ethical concerns around future pacing and emphasises that it is all about good intentions to help clients move forward.


Call to Action [00:11:16" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">00:11:16]


Jo Lott urges listeners to use future pacing to inspire people to seek help sooner and transform their lives.


Useful Links

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Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

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Transcript
Speaker:

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, and I'm on a

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mission to help brilliant coaches build brilliant coaching businesses.

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

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

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Hello.

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Welcome to episode 12 of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I had my Daring Greatly event yesterday, and it was so wonderful that I really

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wanted to share a bit about future pacing because I'm hoping that now my event has

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happened once people are future pacing for the next one, and others are painting

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the picture of what it felt like to be there, which will help me to arrange

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my next one and gain more attendees.

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So that gave me the idea of today's episode on future

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pacing to attract clients.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1: So there's no better time to discuss

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future pacing than this next few months because we are coming up

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to summer and future pacing allows people to visualize themselves in

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the most opportunistic times of year.

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Future pacing allows people to visualize themselves in moments of the year.

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Like this summer, we have a expectation of how things are gonna look that summer.

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Same about things like Christmas or New Year.

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We start thinking, what will things look like by this time next year?

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So that's what we're gonna dive into today.

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So first, let's talk about what future pacing is and why it's so powerful.

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So like I mentioned my event, I didn't go into my event thinking about future

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pacing, but what I've seen come from the event is genuinely future pacing for more

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people to want to attend in the future.

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So future pacing helps us to paint that picture for our ideal clients of the

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future, and it allows them to see the results that they could achieve, feel

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what it would feel like to be there.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-3: It's about painting a picture,

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which allows them to step into

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that picture and hopefully step into it enough

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that they actually want to do something about it and sign up to work with you.

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There are two types of future pacing techniques we will

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talk about in this episode.

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So firstly, we'll talk about the positive.

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Let's start with a positive.

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This approach helps people to visualize what the desired

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result will look and feel like.

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So one powerful word to use in your communications, social media posts, even

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when you're talking to people is imagine.

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So that allows our imagination to start running wild.

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So for example, imagine if you had work you loved and could

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pick the kids up from school.

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Imagine if you were in great shape by summer.

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Imagine if you met that partner so you could actually take them to that wedding

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that you've got at the end of the year.

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It helps people to think, oh, that would be so good, and they

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can see that moment of time.

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So that's what we're doing here by articulating the desired result,

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such as walking into summer with that partner on your arm or with that new

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role, then we help people to really envision themselves in that scenario

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enough to do something about it.

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It's like when my amazing clients say, what if it's not as good

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as I paint the picture of.

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I'm like, well, yeah, but can you imagine if all marketing just dumbed

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down how good that this might be?

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So would you go into a gym if there were that picture of a flabby person

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on the poster, or do you want to think, wow, you know, it is possible

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for me to be really fit and walk in inspired to look like that poster model.

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It's the same with a car.

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Like they don't show you the advert of the car broken down on the side of

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the road or the car looking like an absolute mess after your kids have like

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thrown their crisps around or something.

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They show you it when it's shiny, when everyone's happy,

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when everything is going well.

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So I know it's really hard and it's definitely something I struggle

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with too, painting the picture because what if it doesn't happen?

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Like this is not within my control.

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There are so many things out of my control.

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But again, with all marketing, it's about really helping people

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to believe that it is possible.

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And most of the time these things are possible.

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If you wanted to have a really clean, shiny car or all year round,

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you can, you've just gotta actually clean it and do a little bit of work.

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So it's the same when your people come and work with you anything is

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possible for them, but it depends on the actions they take and how much

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energy and commitment they put into it.

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So I do feel you on the nerves about painting the picture, but this is the

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world we live in and we want to help more people to actually get coached

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and transform their lives and to do that, I believe that we need to get

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really good at marketing and sales.

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Like the rest of the world is really good at marketing and sales.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-2: So let's move on to the second type of

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future pacing, which is the negative side.

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So this technique amplifies the pain or negative consequences of not taking

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action because we rarely stay still.

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People either go forwards or they go backwards, like.

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If you, for example, flounder in your coaching business, then in three

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years time you will have lost a lot of confidence, lost a lot of money,

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and will probably go back to your job.

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Versus if you do something about it, you will remain hiring confidence.

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You will be taking regular action.

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The majority of people that come and work with me are two to three years in.

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They are at rock bottom.

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They are desperate to make this work, and I always love it if, if somebody

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joins quite quickly because then they, they are not battered down by this point.

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So it's not quite as hard as it is when someone has lost all

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their confidence and is desperate.

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This needs to work this month because I've already spent years.

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So yeah, for me and my clients, that is my version of negative future pacing.

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Which I don't use that often, but it does really frustrate me.

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So I think I should use it more often because people think that

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there is no hurry to take action, whereas the only person missing out

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when they don't take action is them.

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So yeah, I, I really like negative future pacing.

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I have just convinced myself of this.

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So with regards to your clients, what are they missing out on by not taking action?

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So for example, they will reach New Year's Day again, not having changed roles.

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If for example, you were a career coach, like what is it they're

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missing out on and what is the negative consequence to them of

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-4: not taking action?

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That they're getting more and more and more

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depressed, or are they gonna burn out?

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Like what is gonna happen if they don't take action towards their goal?

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The next exciting point is harnessing the power of both approaches.

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So by combining both positive and negative future pacing, it's

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a really powerful thing to do.

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So I often do this as a call to action.

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So imagine if in the next 90 days you had implemented and actioned all of the

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elements in my program and were gaining clients and your business was thriving

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or are you happy to in 90 days be in the exact same position as you are now?

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If not, drop me a message.

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So that's a version of using both positive and negative future pacing together

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because it's good to remember that we buy to avoid pain or to move towards

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pleasure, usually to move away from pain.

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So I was talking at my Dare Greatly event on Friday about the bleeding neck issue.

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Like unless it's a really serious issue, sadly people are just going to limp on.

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So if it's a sprained ankle you help them with, so wanna live a happier

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life, you know, that's, that's nice, but it's not causing me enough

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discomfort to take huge action.

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And sadly, most of us don't.

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We all want to be the one to help people to avoid that pain.

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If everyone just was coached all of the time, then we would

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all be much happier people.

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But most of us only seek support when it's at critical level.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-5: It is serious.

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And for example, if you have that bleeding neck, you need to go to

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hospital right now and sort this out.

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You cannot limp on any further.

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So I had the good lesson about this, cuz again, I want people to come out of coach

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training school and come straight and work with me because I know that there is

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a massive gap between coach training and having a successful coaching business.

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But at the point that people leave coach training, they don't know this yet,

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they don't know that it's really hard.

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So me trying to kind of save my earlier self and save my previous

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clients, you know, all the pain that they've been through, trying

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to do all this on their own.

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It just doesn't work.

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These people are excited to build their business.

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They have no idea that it's gonna be a little bit tough, and there's a lot

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to learn and there's a lot of stuff to overcome outside their comfort zone.

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They don't know that yet.

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So that is why genuinely people do wait often a year or two

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prior to really seeking support.

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And there is nothing I can do about it.

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They will only come to me when they are in enough pain that they really

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need to sort this out right now.

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Or if I can inspire them enough to think, let's make this easy for you.

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I can help you show the way, and you can do that through positive future pacing.

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So to summarize today's episode, future Pacing is a remarkable

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tool in copywriting, videos, sales calls, all communication, social

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media, your newsletter because it allows people to see their future

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and compels them to take action.

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And I encourage you to implement these techniques and see the impact

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they can have on attracting clients.

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And there's a slight question mark in my mind and I'm wondering

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if you are thinking it too.

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So I think I will address it.

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Is this ethical?

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Because are you kind of playing a game to make people believe something

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that isn't true or to stir the pot to make them feel like, oh my

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God, yeah, I'm really stuck here.

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But I just don't think so.

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It's all in the intention.

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As long as your intention is good, which I know as a

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qualified coach, it will be good.

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You want to help them to move forward.

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And sadly, we all stay stuck for way longer than we need to.

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So if we can do anything to inspire people to actually get help sooner and

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really make the most of their life and not spend years sitting there thinking they

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have no option but to be really unhappy.

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Then I think it's our duty to get really good at this stuff and

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help more people to actually book coaching and transform their life.

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So I hope you will be using future pacing.

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I cannot wait to hear.

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In summary, we covered both positive future pacing and negative future pacing.

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Both are super powerful and you can combine them to use them together.

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So yeah let me know if you use these and if it has a result for you.

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

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yourself and be the wise gardener 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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Please come and say hi to me on LinkedIn or Instagram and let me

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know how you are getting on in your coaching business and how you are

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gonna go for your dreams this year.

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My name on LinkedIn is Joanna Lott and on Instagram is at Joanna Lott Coaching, and

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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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Thank you so much for listening.

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About the Podcast

Women in The Coaching Arena
Helping compassionate coaches to grow their coaching businesses with practical and emotional tools so that more brilliant coaches build brilliant coaching businesses
Are you a coach who's passionate about making a difference and building a thriving coaching business? Join Joanna Lott, a business mentor and ICF certified coach, as she shares practical and emotional tools to help you succeed in the coaching arena.

In each weekly Thursday episode of The Women in the Coaching Arena Podcast, Joanna provides valuable insights and actionable advice on various topics, such as business strategy, marketing, mindset, energy and entrepreneurship. Whether you're just starting or have years of experience, this podcast is for you.

You have a gift that needs to be shared and Joanna is here to help you do it.

About your host

Profile picture for Joanna Lott

Joanna Lott

Joanna Lott helps coaches stand out and get clients - with honesty not hype.

She has 20 years’ experience of working within HR and Governance in trade unions and financial services.

After qualifying as an ICF Executive Coach she set about learning everything she could about business, sales and marketing and quickly built a profitable career and executive coaching business around her young family.

Other coaches started asking her how she did it, so she’s supported 35 coaches in the last year alone to help them to build their business and get clients so they can make a living doing work they love.