CoachStart - Inner Firewalking

Who You Coach

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

There’s nothing wrong with coaching, or attempting to coach everyone. OK – spouses, lovers, and family are generally accepted “no-coach zones”, but don’t let the fact that it’s challenging daunt you. If your “client” is truly willing to be coachable, and you will suspend your opinions, judgments and agendas, it doesn’t matter who you are. One of my amazing UK clients, Sarah, coached both her mother and her father, and they both paid her! Her father is progressing in leaps and bounds and his colleagues keep remarking on the difference in him.

To make a difference to your confidence, however, it helps if you gain some clarity around types of people you would like to make a difference to. For example, I found that I love helping women realize that it’s OK to want more in a relationship and helping them to get it.

Coaching Principles: Suspend Your Opinions and Judgments

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

Coaching is not advice. It’s coaching. As a human being, you will have opinions regarding what a client should do. But you need to be really clear about when this is your opinion, versus helping them get clear for themselves on what they should do. At different times, your client will want both.

“Should I break up with my boyfriend?” A coaching response might be: “What is best for you?”

I had a client looking to make extra income. She was actually considering applying to work for an escort agency. My initial reaction, which I stifled, was — “Surely there’s an alternative to prostitution!” But remembering I had my coaching hat on, I asked her why. It seemed she didn’t have any moral judgments about it, and thought it might actually be an interesting experience. She did have other options, so it wasn’t coming out of desperation. In fact, I discovered the main thing holding her back from pursuing this avenue, was worrying about what a future partner might think of her — which I don’t find a powerful reason for any decision! In the course of time, she made her own decision not to follow that path. But she wasn’t stifled by the judgments and opinions of her coach.

Find What the Client is Comfortable Paying

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

So how do we marry the first two principles? How do we take on as many clients as possible, yet value our services, and get as much revenue as possible?

Simple: Ask the client what they’re happy to pay!

Consider the following role play I might do with a new coach playing the part of a prospective client:

Scenario 1

Client: “How much do you charge?”

Coach: “I charge $300 per month.”

Client: “Well OK – how do we get started?”

Scenario 2

Client: “How much do you charge?”

Coach: “I charge $300 per month.”

Client: “Hmmmm….well I don’t think I can afford that right now, but I appreciate your time.”

Coach: “Well let me ask you, IF price wasn’t an issue for you, would you be interested in working with me on this issue for 2-3 months?”

Client: “Hmmmm… yes – IF price wasn’t an issue, I suppose I would.”

Coach: “OK – since I’m still building my practice, and I want to coach you, I’m happy to make an investment in this. In fact, right now, the money isn’t that important to me. So tell me, what would you feel comfortable paying?”

Client: “Well I suppose $150 would be OK.”

Coach: “Great, if you’re willing to commit to working with me for 3 months on this, I’m willing to take you on at 50% of my fee for that time. At the end of that period, we can revisit it.”

See how it works?

What a Coach Provides – Part 2

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

a) Challenge to expand the thinking process and make bold new decisions.
Someone daring you to go further than you ever have before is also an extremely powerful way to break old habits and forge new boundaries.

b) Direction in times of confusion, opinion and if necessary, advice.
Once again, the power of a fresh set of eyes to interpret a new perspective on a situation is often invaluable during the coaching process.

c) Brainstorming to flesh out new ideas.

d) Acknowledgement and validation
This cannot be stressed enough. The coach who only focuses with the client on what is missing and what needs to be done, deserves to lose the client.

Here are some interesting statistics from a past ICF client survey:

* Role of the Coach: 84% believed that the major role of the coach was as a sounding board, whilst 78% focused on motivational aspects. 56% viewed their coach as a friend, 50% as a mentor. 46% viewed their coach as a business consultant, with 41% as a teacher.

What a Coach Provides – Part 1

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

A coach will provide many things during this process, such as:

a) Access to ideas the client may already hold, but is not yet aware of.
By viewing the situation from a different perspective, the coach is able to lead the client in an exploration of ideas that he/she may not have previously considered.

b) Clarity around what the client actually wants.
What does it look like? In which country? How many? How often? How would you feel?

c) A sounding board for new ideas.
Providing a safe place to suggest new ideas is an essential aspect of the coach’s role, in that this encourages the client to step beyond their current situation, unlocking a world of new, unexplored potential.

d) Support in big decision making.
Encouragement in walking new paths is essential to build the courage to continue beyond the safety of what is known. The coach can help the client grow and develop their own individual strategies and solutions.

Hot Invitation

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

How many times are you at a party, meeting, in an elevator, etc., and someone asks you what you do? This is an excellent opportunity to invite someone to experience coaching with you. However, firstly you must give them a REASON or INCENTIVE to do so. Secondly, you must extend an INVITATION!

A HOT INVITATION is one extended when you are already talking to someone, and coaching comes up (as opposed to a warm invite where you call someone you know to discuss coaching). You’re on the spot — here’s an opportunity to turn a conversation into a trial coaching session.