The Basics For One-on-One
Coaching Session
Personal coaching done well will result in tremendous benefit to your client as well as a good source of income for you and your business. Done poorly, one-on-one coaching can hinder your client’s success and make them less willing to pay and even cause problems with attracting new coaching clients in the future.
So, how exactly do you do one on one coaching?
Let’s walk through the process together.
We start off by taking an example.
Picture this - a 40 year old female client who has tried every diet, product, program to lose weight without ever achieving any significant lasting result.
She has now approached you to coach her through her problem.
Sidenote - These guidelines
can be applied for any niche you may be involved in.
Here are the steps you’re going to guide your client through :-
1. Find Exactly Where Your Client Stands.
Help your client figure out where she is, right now. She can’t realistically set goals until she knows where she’s at.
In this case we know she wishes to lose weight. So, this would mean weighing in, measuring key body areas, determining their BMI and maybe even measuring body fat. A visit to the physician would probably also be necessary.
2. Help Your Client Define Her Objectives.
Your client needs to know precisely where she’s headed.
What is her ultimate goal? And in what timeframe does she want to accomplish it?
Your client might want to lose 40 pounds over six months. That would be her specific objective.
3. Help Your Client Create A Plan To Meet Her Goal.
At this stage, you’re going to ask questions. Do it in a conversational manner and use active listening skills. You’re not (yet) offering any advice, merely digging for information about what the client is prepared to do to reach her aim.
Good questions include :-
"What do you think you need to do to get what you want?"
"What have you tried to do in the past to lose weight that worked?"
"Have you tried anything only to find yourself back to where you started?”
4.
Help Identify The Client’s Strengths And Weaknesses.
Your client may
already be taking some action by herself. Aid her to determine areas
where there’s room for improvement.
In addition, help her pinpoint
what she’s already good at, and that maybe she can even do better.
These may well help to speed up the process.
Ask her what she thinks she needs to be good at to achieve the result she’s looking for.
Does she need to discipline herself in her eating habits? Knowledge about healthy foods?
More visits to the gym? Get enough sleep?
5. Help Your Client Optimize Her Surroundings To Encourage Success.
Let your client become aware of those factors in her life that both hinder and help her attain her goal.
For example, she may need to rid her house of (and stop buying) chocolate snacks and sugar loaded confectionery and replace them with fresh fruit. She may regularly go out to lunch with co-workers and order large lunches - she can switch to carry a homemade lunch or commit to ordering less fattening meals. She can reduce the hours in front of the screen and go for a brisk walk instead.
6. Empower Your Client To Overcome Self-Doubt.
Your client has fears, insecurities and doubts that she’ll have to overcome if she wants to be successful.
These may come from stuff other people have told her about herself, absorbed every word and got stuck with those diminishing beliefs.
Ask your client what’s holding her back from obtaining what she really wants, whether or not that’s a true limitation and what is it doing to her. Ask her who would she be if she didn’t think negatively about herself.
For example, she may think that her weight problem is genetic, or that it has to do with her bone structure. She might have been told it’s unrealistic or impossible to get down to the weight she was in college.
Encourage her to challenge and overcome her apprehension in order to keep moving forward towards her goal.
Things To Take Into Consideration
One concept for you THE COACH to remember is that THE CLIENT has to
do the work. You can’t do it for them. Your client can’t get the
results she wants by doing nothing.
Ideally, but depending on
their objective, you’ll sign clients up for a 6 to 12 month contract,
rather than on a month-to-month basis. This will help them stay
motivated for change. In many weight loss cases, one of the reasons
people give up is that they don’t see the desired results in a short
period of time. That long-term commitment enables them to stay on track
as they progress whilst tackling hic-cups along the way.
Do
your best to build a relationship with your client. Be honest, be real,
be transparent. Don’t be afraid to open up and show some of your own
flaws. Recount stuff you struggled with. It will resonate heavily with
your client. The more you connect, even as early as your first
introductory session, the more likely for your client to get the result
she’s striving for.
As you proceed through your coaching journey, you’re going to get to know more and more about your target market. Eventually, you’ll be able to incorporate that knowledge into your marketing - e-mails, newsletters, free offers. You’ll see patterns of common problems that may have never occurred to you.
For example one common culprit for weight gain is stress. Some people are so stressed out that the body is not able to absorb the food they eat.
There
may be emotional issues such as fear, anger, worry, frustration. This
makes us reach for quick fix simple carbohydrates making us feel good for a
little while until we crave for more.
Others have health concerns like constipation or consume large amounts of liquid calories without realizing it.
So, keep your eyes and your options open. You may have to tackle their concerns from other angles as well.
By
paying attention to their needs, you'll be able to better connect with
your clients - you'll be able to speak their language. This will boost
your credibility.
As you go along, become established and start to see clients achieve success, ask them for testimonials. Few things will attract coaching clients more than the power of word of mouth from satisfied customers.
Being A Coach vs Having A Coaching Business
Ok, this is important. Please, I want you to make a distinction between being a coach and having a coaching business.
Being
a coach is one thing. You become trained on how to be a coach. Plus
training gives you confidence and helps you to improve your coaching
skills.
When you’re in business, you also need to be thinking about your marketing - how you’re going to market yourself, your services and your business. You need to have a plan of action that lets you attract clients in order to build your business, establish your expertise and build a positive reputation.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to do all of the heavy lifting on your own. As you grow and have more and more clients, you can assemble a team of coaches to handle your clients. That is, you can hire other coaches to do the actual coaching work and give them a share of the profits.
Promoting Your Services
Initially, many coaches feel uncomfortable to offer their services at a price. After all, what you do helps people. You might feel greedy and guilty asking for a fee. You supply all your good stuff without expecting a lot in return, because you know you’re making someone’s life better.
This is especially common for those of us who don’t come from business-oriented families. Many have been raised with the idea that you make your living by working for a salary and the idea of charging a fee for services seems unnatural.
Some coaches have their own set of self-doubts. You may think you’re not confident enough or competent enough to serve your clients. Others may feel pushy or fear being rejected. Don’t let these limitations hold you back. If you do, you’ll never make any real money.
Our work has value and we need to be adequately compensated for it.
Marketing today is all about training and inspiring others to succeed. It’s about sharing your knowledge and teaching what you learn – at a price. Establish yourself as someone who’s worth spending money to spend time with.
Be mindful of how you package and offer your services. In your
marketing campaigns sell your work as a means to an end of their problem
not coaching time.
If you haven't already, develop a marketing plan for your business. At first, you may find this process challenging. So start simple and with what you're good at.
Do what feels right for you. Perhaps you know how to spark a good discussion on social media sites like Facebook or maybe you’re a talented blogger. Take those pieces, put them together and you may have just started to create an online marketing plan for your coaching business.
Then, as you move forward tweak and shape. Figure out what’s working for your clients and what’s not. Identify the marketing elements that are getting the most response and focus on making those better.
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