Become A Certified Coach » Ask Barbra

How To Coach a Client When Nothing Seems to Help

Barbra — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:24:18 +0000

Of all the coaching materials that Thomas Leonard produced in his lifetime, the How To Coach Anyone (HTCA) series of 68 lessons is my very favorite. In fact, I’d venture to say that much of what I know about coaching was learned from those lessons. The first lesson that Thomas wrote was on how to coach the “stuck” client, which I think speaks to the importance of this issue.

Last week in our pilot program mentor coaching call Jacqui asked how to coach a stuck client when nothing they are doing seems to be working. She gave as an example someone working on weight loss, who never seems to be able to lose weight. Or a new business owner who is marketing the heck out of their services but still hasn’t got clients.

That’s a big question, and not an uncommon situation. The answer is covered in detail in this article: How to Coach Anyone, Lesson #1 by Thomas Leonard. Enjoy!

Perfectionism and Blogging

Barbra — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:23:13 +0000

One of the pilot program coaches sent me a desperate email today. My responses are in bold and italic below:

Hi Barbra.

I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with regards to blogging and need your guidance here ..

1. How often does one need to update … daily? Weekly? it’s entirely up to you. give yourself a reasonable goal, such as once or twice a month

2. Should there be a ‘flow’ of thought? Or just random but ‘habit change’ related? the latter

I guess here’s my ‘habit’ of perfectionism (doing it right first time!) rearing it’s head resulting in me ‘procrastinating’ – but I do like to make sense of what I am doing and I feel a little mentally untidy about this blog thing.

What about doing a diary style, like I have been doing with the pilot program? Just write about what you are learning and noticing about habits.

I realise the website is not the not the be-all-and-end-all but there has to be ‘something’ happening on my site … my friends are anxiously waiting to see what I produce … Help!!!!!!!!!!

Remember what I said – the blog is the least important thing in this program. If you don’t want to do it, ignore it for now and concentrate on your networking and relationship building.

Rookie Life Coach? You Can Still Sound Experienced (Because You Are)

Barbra — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:14:01 +0000

Today one of the pilot program coaches send me this email:

I have been working through the eight marketing questions to develop my own replies.

I have a problem with the “What’s your background” question.

I may have had many years in the corporate/training and development environment and perhaps ‘coaching’ (in one form or another) came naturally to me BUT I am very much a ‘rookie’ life coach with little real coaching experience. How does one get around this?

Answer

I would say “I have had many years in the corporate training and development environment where a big part of my job was to bring out the best in people. I’m now using that experience as a life coach.”

How do you answer the “what’s your background” question? Please share in the comments section below.

Tips for a Complimentary Coaching Session

Barbra — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:24:49 +0000

My office, and happy honeysuckle

One of the pilot program coaches sent me this email today:

I am corresponding with a new potential client. Do you have any good advice on handling complimentary coaching sessions and getting them to buy? Please let me know. Thanks!

Here’s the reply I sent to her:

Don’t try to accomplish too much
Don’t give advice
interact as a professional, not as a friend
have an approach that you can describe – not just “we meet and play it by ear, whatever comes up”. People feel more secure and hopeful knowing that the coach has a plan.
Don’t be afraid of offending the potential client – if you hear or sense something that you think might be a blind spot for them, point it out in a neutral manner. That will provide huge value to them and differentiate you from “talking with a friend”
Have a couple of frameworks (ways of looking at the world) or quotations “in your back pocket” to pull out and offer where appropriate. For example, if someone is talking about wanting to do something but being afraid of the risks, I’ll present the framework “risk is always reducible”. If the client seems intrigued by that idea, I’ll coach them on ways to reduce the risk of the venture.
Before the session, practice out loud the language you will use for asking for their business. Something like, “Susan, what has been of most value to you from our session today?” … “Great, I’m glad to hear that OR Yes, I heard you make that shift too. That’s the type of progress that my clients typically make every session. Would you like to sign up for coaching now?” Be proactive, don’t wait for the client to bring it up. It’s your job to do that, not theirs.
If the client wants to think about it, that’s fine. I usually say “That’s a good idea. Getting started with coaching is a big decision. When would you like me to contact you to follow up?”
Don’t try to accomplish too much (I know I’ve already said this, but it is deliberately repeated). Keep it clean and simple for the client. There will be a lot of buzz going on in their head. If they can experience three things from your complimentary session — 1) feeling heard, 2) getting one new way of looking at their situation, and 3) getting a sense of hope – then they will hire you.

Will the Coaching by Example CDs Help You Pass the Test?

Barbra — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:47:14 +0000

I received this enquiry today:

Coach Bob T Moran told me about you, and I think I am interested in your 9 cd series. He said if I become a member of the IAC, I could get a discount on the cd’s. Is that correct, and how does that work? I couldn’t find anything about it on IAC website. I am currently in a coach training program, and am wanting to further my learning, but do not want to invest thousands of dollars more right now. I may be interested in the IAC certification. Do you think I need to take the full School of Masteries Program eventually, or will your cd’s and any other program you may suggest help me pass the test?

My reply: Nice to hear from you! The discount for IAC members is $150 off – so it would be $197 vs. $347. The discount is available on the membership page of the IAC website.

What I would recommend for you would be to get the CDs and listen to them. If after listening to them you feel confident that your coaching is at the masterful level, then go ahead and send in your tapes for certification!

If you are unsure whether your coaching is at that level (and many people are – it’s hard to be objective about your own skills), then I would suggest you get an objective evaluation of your coaching by someone who is well-versed in the IAC certification process. People I can recommend are Doris Helge, Nina East (both of whom taught in my training program when it was active) or anyone associated with Julia Stewart’s School of Coaching Mastery. This evaluation will probably cost you in the $150 – $200 range.

Based on the results of the evaluation, you’ll know whether you need to take further training. If you do, I highly recommend the School of Coaching Mastery. You may want to check out their website for free classes as well – I know they have some really informative ones.