Master the Game of Creating Clients

To become highly successful as a coach, it is not sufficient to master Deep Coaching skills. It is essential to also master the game of Creating Clients (in fact, to be highly successful, you need to LOVE creating clients as much as you love coaching clients)

In the recording below, I am privileged to coach a very authentic coach called Nick Smith. Not only is he extremely courageous to share himself and his fears so openly and vulnerably, he has actually shared this recording with his own coaching clients.

Early on in the interview, you can feel his pain, as Nick says “I do all these interviews and coaching and training – and nothing changes. And I get to the point of saying, What is this all for? I work hard; I put a lot of energy and thought into it. But for some reason, there’s no payout… I just want my coaching to provide for my family – so we don’t have to worry about gas money or food money or anything else…”

Neither Nick or I had any idea where this coaching conversation would go before we began. It turned out to be an extremely powerful conversation that runs for an hour and a quarter. Nick shares his deepest fears and his greatest desires.

Over the course of the session, I illustrate a number of extremely powerful distinctions around Creating Clients. Click on the link below to listen to the audio and follow the discussion as you read my notes below:

Here are some of the questions I send to my Apprentices to review a coaching call like this:

1. What did you like about the coaching session?
2. What would you do differently?
(Coaching is an art not a science – there are always ways to do things differently)
3. If you were his coach, what would you do in your very next session together?
4. What was I doing with him?
5. What coaching skills was I using?
6. What did I miss?
7. What did I catch that you may have missed, yourself?
8. What is holding Nick back the most, right now?
9. Which distinctions and principles did you hear me refer to?
10. Which one distinction would be most useful to you in creating your next client?
11. Which distinctions or principles would you like to know more about?

NB. Use the notes below, as you listen to the call, because I annotate the principles and distinctions, minute by minute:

0:00	In the introduction you hear Nick own that even as a coach himself, he is not able to see his own blocks. And then I have to work hard (and use humor!) to bring him back to the question, “What would make this an amazing conversation for you?” Plus, if you listen carefully, you can hear I am a little nervous at the start of the call
3:40	Notice how Nick struggles to focus on his clients’ successes. He acknowledges one client for doing what others are not willing to do. That’s Nick’s very own edge and he doesn’t yet see it.
15:16	Listen to Nick’s energy: its really hard for him to receive my acknowledgments. And notice how he feels heard when I really ‘get’ his frustration.
16:40	Nick begins to really open up about his world. And he is EXHAUSTED. “It sucks…” he says.
19:35	“…the reason most coaches are not successful is that they spend more and more time doing what they love: coaching. And less and less time doing what they find challenging: selling coaching. And the truth is that if we don’t sell what we do, then no one will buy what we do. Which is the reason that 80% of coaches make $20,000 a year or less.”
20:40	A powerful distinction between selling yourself vs selling what your clients really, really, really want…
23:00	Nick comes alive as he describes how he sells WITHOUT SELLING! Important distinction: selling coaching as an experience vs selling coaching as a concept.
24:42	Steve Chandler’s TWO BOXES MODEL for creating a successful coaching practice
27:40	The Power of a Conversation: How do YOU sell a car, Nick? “I don’t really know much about selling cars! And what’s funny is the less I know about cars, the more, I sell…”
29:10	Make it a GAME! And the secret formula for Creating Clients: Invitations >> Conversations >> Proposals
31:40	The Boom-Bust Cycle that most coaches don’t even know about
36:44	Nick was doing a million dollars a year in sales. So why is he struggling as a coach?
37:17	Nick asks for High Flame Coaching! And I point out where he is putting all of his attention on himself, when people around him are desperate for support.
43:11	How I created my first ever $25,000 year-long client.
46:40	White Space: Why I slow it all down, and take a step back and resist my urge to have him creating clients right now. And how we are amused to discover that the best way for Nick to create clients, is to say NO to a coaching client.
49:41	Have Your Fee Be The NO. And double your rates – and watch your clients’ commitment double, too.
51:45	Notice how Nick is still thinking that his fees are about HIM. And why I am currently creating $150,000 to pay my next coach for a year of coaching – and what a $150,000 fee has done for MY level of commitment.
54:50	Nick gets EXPOSED: “Have you ever had a coach?” If you don’t believe in coaching enough to invest in your own coach, why would anyone ever invest in YOU?
60:30	The power of the question: “What’s the first TINY step you’d take?”
63:00	A Life-Changing Exercise: “What ENERGIZES You? What DRAINS you of energy?”
64:42	The Power of Silence: I think we’re done. But we’re not! And why a 2 hour conversation is a such powerful way to create clients.
67:35	The Old Fashioned Approach - and why humor and curiosity are your two greatest gifts when you are ready to create clients.
70:27	SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP. And why I was like a puppy on a slippery tile floor!
74:36…	I thought we’d stopped recording. But we decided to leave it in. Listen to the impact of the call on Nick.

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