The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Clients are generally people:
- Wanting to change something in their life
- Wanting more of something
- Tolerating too much
- Wanting to switch careers
- Wanting to improve their career
- Looking for a bigger goal
- Desiring to achieve something faster
- Who are bored
- Who feel something is missing
- Who realize they can be much more successful with outside input.
They include:
- Executives
- Managers
- CEOs
- Housewives
- Professionals
- Creative people
- Entrepreneurs
- Small Business Owners
Below are some solid statistics from a past ICF client survey. While the data is several years old, the general characteristics are still relevant today, although we might expect a trend towards more lower-income and non-professional clients embracing coaching:
- 65 of the respondents were male (31%), and 145 were female (69%).
- Average age was 45 years, with respondents being within the age range of 24-67 years of age.
- Most were employed as professionals.
- Education gained: 82% had gained degrees, with one third gaining a Masters degree or higher.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Coaching is essentially a conversation between a coach and his or her client, starting with the aim of helping the client to live a fulfilling life. This is most often achieved by helping the client:
(a) Set goals that will add significantly to your client’s life (or as I like to say, and ‘put a BIG smile on your face’).
(b) To achieve those goals.
In this way, coaching can be broken down into two halves and this is a great way to communicate coaching to prospective clients.
You may also help the client live a more fulfilling life by helping them to increase their level of self-awareness. This alone can help someone move forward in any area.
Of course, sometimes the client may want to achieve a specific goal that the coach may not agree with (that achieving that goal will not add significantly to that person’s life). In such a situation, the coach may point this out — either immediately, or over time — and will still be willing to work on achieving the goal.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
What holds back most coaches in the early years is lack of confidence. The best way to bust through this barrier: coach fifty people! It doesn’t matter if it’s just a practice session or if it turns into three months of coaching.
Clients are “gold” for you – no matter what the fee. So don’t let your fee or lack of confidence stand between you and coaching many people.
Every client you have gives you:
- The feeling that you are really a coach, not a fraud
- A practice that looks a little more busy (“Sorry — that time slot is not available.”)
- The potential for referrals
- Free training!
- More and more confidence with every session you do, and lastly
- Possible revenue — either immediately or down the track
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
People love their stories! They love their past, reasons, and complexities, perhaps because they validate who they think they are.
As a coach, I’m not interested in 90% of the past. I don’t want to know why you spent 5 years in an unhappy marriage or the list of complaints you have about your boss. I’m more interested in what you want, and – what you’re going to do about it. It’s a conversation about the future, rather than the past. Many people can describe exactly what they do not like about their lives. However, when asked how they would like the situation to look, more energy is required. Our job is to have them look in that direction.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Most coaches are willing to answer some of your questions, and even do a free trial session before you sign on. Some good questions to ask are:
- How long have you been coaching?
- What training have you had?
- How many coaches have you mentored or are you currently mentoring?
- What kind of results have you had?
- Can you provide email addresses of a couple of coaches you’ve worked with?
- What is the most important thing you will provide to help me build a successful coaching practice?
Lastly, you want to feel comfortable with this person. Interviewing, trialing or studying up on one to three coaches should be sufficient. They no longer have to be in your country – just make sure if they’re overseas that they are willing to cover the cost of phone calls or factor this into your monthly fee.
If you’re concerned about the investment, consider what your return on that monthly investment might be. In most cases, you only need two to three paying clients to cover the cost of your mentor coach. And if your coach can’t help you increase your client list by MORE than two to three, something’s missing! Also consider the cost of NOT hiring a coach.
