you on your diet? I assure you there are many obese nutritionists!
It’s not what we say that will convince clients; it’s what we show them.
Coaches encourage people to dare undertake an exciting project that matches their values, requiring them to be creative, passionate, disciplined, persistent, human, scholarly, patient, helpful, independent, and free. These are what coaches teach their clients, nothing else.
All of these values and professional habits are the elements that will convince clients, not the thousand words in advertisements. It is not enough to know a lot about their field of specialisation or to have a long list of diplomas and certificates. What truly matters is that they are able to apply their knowledge and be a living testimony of what they believe in.
Degrees and qualifications, while still necessary, make no difference and do not guarantee any career success. They can even be counterproductive when arguing for a promotion. Clients are not interested in paper work, they look for results.
The best advertisement for a coach or for a professional counsellor is himself.
His life is his sales brochure.
What he is and how he goes about doing things is the measure of his professional worth. I once had a client from my practice whose turn it was to be certified as a coach. He told me that every thought and action of his private life went through the question: Can I explain to my clients what I think, say and do today? If the answer was yes, he kept going; if it runs to the contrary, it corrected itself. That's what I call "making your private life public.” Brilliant!
Words can convince, but like I said, nothing beats personal example. Let’s be the person we wish to see in the world, not who we think we should be, said Mr. Gandhi: Be the change you want to see in the world.
2
Avoid 12 Beginner Mistakes
I trained as a coach in the International School of Coaching (TISOC, CoachVille Spain) where I learned the 101 errors to avoid in a coaching practice. I would like to share 12 with you:
Expecting too little from your client
You won’t know what your client can do until you ask him three times, each time with something bigger than what you initially asked. In other words, double or triple the goal and see what kind of response you get. Question your client again. In some cases, do not take "no" for an answer if you think the client is capable of much more but is afraid. Remember, they are your clients, not your children or friends. You get paid to expect much from them.
Relying on the client’s payment
If you’re just barely making it financially and you can’t afford to lose a client’s payment, you will not be fully capable of coaching clients. The trick is to have 50% more revenue than you need to cover your professional and personal expenses. This provides a good back-up, allowing you to coach from the heart, not from the wallet. When you care for a person, don’t worry about money, worry about that person.
Seeking your client’s recognition
Coaches never know exactly how their coaching helps their clients succeed. I find it easier not to seek recognition for my client’s success. I find it more useful to try to figure out what difference my guidance has made to my client. I used to feel belittled when clients did not appreciate or recognise the value of my role or wisdom, but that was in the past. Feel happy for your client and don’t seek recognition, even if you played a key role in his success.
Thinking that you have to have the answer
Sometimes you will respond to the needs, problems, and questions of your client
and sometimes you will not. Do not feel pressured to have the answers, unless the client has hired you as an expert on the subject and your role is that of a consultant on that particular subject. If the client pressures you inappropriately, ask him to stop. Suggest that you work together so he can find the answers himself, or else refer him to someone who can help.
Getting emotionally involved with the client
It is one thing to care about your client, but it is another thing to get too close or too involved in his goals and problems that they become your goals and problems. Maintain professional distance but it’s important to still be compassionate and understanding. Bad coaches engage their clients emotionally because they remember a similar stage or situation in their past life, and tend to want to protect the client from feeling the pain, prevent him from making mistakes, or feel sorry for him because he missed an opportunity.
Creating dependency on the part of the client
Coaches create client dependence by doing too much for them, offering too much support, or getting too close emotionally with them. You have crossed the red line when the client’s goal or problem becomes yours. Challenge and support your client continuously so they create their own support structures, networks, community partners, etc; this way the coaching is clean, independent, and stimulating.
Considering the client as a source of revenue
Clients generate revenue, but if you fall into the trap of matching them to a check, they will perceive this as such and probably drop you as their coach. Coaching is a vocation, and is more than a "business." If you make it a business, your income could temporarily increase, but in the long term, it will fall. Coaching is also a relationship. The revenues that flow from it are just by-products of that relationship.
Not practicing what you preach
Your coaching is most effective when you practice what you preach. If not, something is wrong. Coaches tend to attract clients who are ready to reach the same level that their coach has attained (whatever the area or field is). Therefore, to get more and better quality clients, aim for the next level yourself through wisdom, evolution, skills, and professional development. That being said, ask the client to do more than you would do yourself. Why keep your clients at your own level of performance?
Not learning from your client
If you're too busy coaching, you will not learn much from your clients. Make it a point to learn interesting things about your clients:
· How do they think, who or what are their models of success?
• What limits them? What are their barriers to success?
· What are their technical skills, their knowledge of the Internet?
· What are their business ideas, their work habits?
The trick is to be interested in your clients, not to try to be interesting to them.
Not knowing who your ideal clients are
If you have not defined the qualities and desires of your ideal clients, you will not know who should be doing the coaching. It is certainly good to coach someone you feel
