Part 3: The Top Five Actions that Have Made My Clients Successful
It’s my 14th year of being a full-time coach! OY! That makes me old. But it also makes me wise (if I do say so myself!). And in honor of this glorious year I am writing a series of articles to take the confusion out of business coaching.
If you missed the previous articles — check them out below. And please stay tuned for parts 4 and 5 to learn even more.
Part 1: What is a Professional Business Coach? An Explanation of a Business Coach’s Role
Part 2: How Do You Pick a Good Professional Business Coach? The Six Questions You Must Ask
One of the things that breaks my heart is meeting women entrepreneurs at my events who have spent a ton of money on coaching, but just didn’t know how to best use their coach.
Coaching is a two way street, which means that you have to actually know how to best work with a business coach to get amazing results.
Over the years, I’ve coached thousands of clients, and taken people from being newbies in their businesses to generating 6-figures, multiple 6-figures, and 7-figures. Here are the five actions that have made my clients successful:
1. Participate (even when it’s hard)
Usually when you start a coaching program — you are excited! You may talk about how you are going to make the most of the experience, participate in every class, ask questions, really show up. But then the honeymoon phase wears off.
In order to make change in your business you have to do stuff outside of your comfort zone. Stuff that you weren’t doing before you hired your business coach. But stuff that you have to do now if you are going to make the money you want, especially since your expenses are higher. For some people this looks like doing sales training. In another’s business, it’s letting go of team members that aren’t working. For others it’s learning the importance of time management. Everyone’s “hard stuff” looks different.
Usually at this phase you want to quit. And sometimes you do — you stop showing up for classes, you skip calls, or don’t listen to your coach. Or you stop preparing for calls or being open to feedback. Maybe you decide you don’t like your coach any more or start blaming her for your business not being successful enough. Maybe you start looking at other coaches or buying other business programs — unconsciously hoping to get back into the honeymoon phase with someone else.
It is completely normal to have a love/hate relationship with your coach. Or anyone that pulls you outside of your comfort zone for that matter.
But the key is to keep showing up, no matter what. And to communicate honestly about what is going on (see point 2).
That has been the secret of my most successful clients — they just keep showing up — even when it’s hard. And when they are scared. Even when they haven’t done the work. Even when they want to quit. And we build a relationship of trust. One where they can lean on me to help them keep going and push them past their comfort zones. But also listen to what they need in the moment and create a nurturing and supportive environment when needed too.
TD Jakes has an amazing quote about relationships, “You come home when you’re in love. You come home when you’re not in love.”
That’s true with your business coach as well.
2. Communicate Honestly
Many of my private clients have worked with me for 5 years or more. We’ve built those relationships not based on perfection, but based on honest communication.
If you are working with a business coach privately and you are finding that you are frustrated with the results, coaching style, pace or content of the program — please talk to that person. No one is telepathic — and your coach can’t read your mind. Ask for a conversation outside of your regular coaching time.
And without blame or anger, simply state what you want. Then work with your coach to find a way to create it together. Don’t be afraid of offending your coach — though it may happen. Also be open to the fact that your coach may give you some advice on where you are blaming or feeling insecure, and could use some up-leveling in your own thinking. Understand that what you are doing could actually create a radically different experience for you — and be the breakthrough that both of you need.
If you are in a group program, most likely you will be not be able to shift the content of the program. But you could give that coach (or her support staff) your suggestions. Or speak to her support staff about how to best use the information for your business. Or upgrade to work with that coach privately to get a higher level of support.
The key is to always approach these situations without blame or anger — but in a spirit of collaboration to make things work. Not with a desire to quit, but one to make it better.
Remember — in order to embody this energy you can’t wait until you are at your last straw! You’ve got to be proactive with making things better early in the process.
3. Ask Questions and Get Support OFTEN!
My private clients receive unlimited email access to me. My group clients can post an unlimited amount on Facebook and receive support from me + my coaches. And across the board — my most successful clients are the ones that email me multiple times a week (if not daily) and/or post on Facebook multiple times a week (mostly daily).
The ability to ask questions and reach out for support does not come easy for many of my clients. Some were raised in households where it was considered weak to ask for support. Or they were told it was impolite to ask too many questions.
Some of my other clients have come to me after being in business for themselves for 15 years — and they just aren’t used to asking for help on anything. They are used to making all of their decisions immediately and alone.
You could be in any of these categories. Wherever you are — know that the first step to getting help is asking for it. In order to train yourself to ask for help more often — perhaps set up a time where you email your coach every Monday and Friday — so you get in the habit of writing to her, no matter what (or posting on FB).
Another exercise I do with my clients is make a list of all the different areas where they could get support from me.
Here’s some circumstances where you could use your business coach for support:
- Deciding what to spend money on
- Deciding on what to do or launch next
- Hiring, training, firing and staff issues
- Planning out what comes next
- Looking at copy — emails, sales pages, opt-in pages
- Creating copy — subject lines, headlines, names and titles
- Working on proposals
- Brainstorming new ways to get clients
4. Celebrate All Your Wins
I’ll never forget when one of my clients came to me and announced with pure joy, “I have 3 clients in my group program!” I hesitated before I answered, just to make sure her joy was real. But then I celebrated with her, “3 clients is amazing!” She went on to offer scholarships to 2 other people so she could run her group program with 5 people in it. She was absolutely thrilled.
And she went on to continue growing that program every time she offered it. Today it has more than 50 people in it every time it runs.
The thing is — she could have been upset that only 3 people joined. But she chose to look at every step forward as a celebration. This mindset is CRUCIAL throughout your business.
Even today when we are in the middle of a launch and I feel like I don’t have enough people who have bought, I remind myself to dance around in celebration of the people who have bought.
This is also true in celebrating non-numeric wins. One of my clients did her very first webinar and only 10 people registered. No one showed up to the webinar — and she did the whole thing anyway, for practice and integrity. We celebrated madly on the next call. She had done it!
It is in celebrating every win that you bring in even more personal success. You also fend off disappointment — which will cause you to work at half capacity and rob you of your joy.
This one is a big one! Please step into it. This is the one that EVERY SINGLE one of my most successful clients has embodied. Celebration of numeric and non-numeric wins at every single step.
5. Take Massive Imperfect Action — Do What Your Coach Says
One of the things I tell all my clients is that hitting your goals happens when you combine imperfect actions with great coaching.
Action + Strategy = Results
Many people confuse actions with movement.
Movement is learning how to do a skillset — it is planning, reading a book, taking a training, blocking out the time.
Action is actually doing the work — doing the sales training, giving the talk, going out to meet people, picking up the phone.
Movement is safe.
Action is scary.
Movement is necessary to create confidence and readiness to act.
Action creates results like more time and money.
I put this point last because it is the most obvious one — yet it is where so many students fall. They stay in a place of movement — learning, planning, thinking, organizing, getting ready. Instead of moving into a place of action.
And it’s such a shame!
Because the whole reason you hire a business coach is to be able to take the risk of taking MASSIVE UNCOMFORTABLE ACTIONS and then having someone to catch you when you fall!
My most successful clients did the uncomfortable, even when they weren’t ready. Even if they weren’t sure what to do or how to do it. And then they came to the call and they shared their results.
And from there we course corrected, game planned and changed direction where needed. This is the best way to use your business coach — get clear with her on what massive actions you should be taking. Then TAKE THEM! And report back with the results.
Two keys to remember:
- You must be a good listener to hear the actions.
- You must be organized in your note-taking to be able to remember the actions.
I suggest using Evernote — an online note taking software to take notes in. Create a notebook with your coach’s name on that and use it every time.
To recap; here are five actions that have helped make my clients successful when working with a professional business coach:
Participate (even when it’s hard), communicate honestly, ask questions and get support often, celebrate all your wins, and take massive imperfect action.
I know these steps aren’t easy or overnight. They are a work in progress for myself and every other business owner. But they will make your work with your business coach so much better and way more fun! Here’s to an amazing business coach for you — and so much success for your business! For more support and resources to help you succeed, join our Facebook group.
