If I could give one piece of advice to beginning (and some experienced!) business coaches alike, it’d be this: STOP over-servicing coaching clients.
Now I can already hear the protests: “But I have to ‘over-deliver’ or else I’ll lose my coaching contracts! I can’t keep clients around unless I hold their hand through the whole process!”
Nonsense.
If you think this way, remember: you’re a coach, not a consultant. Consultants get paid for time and deliverables; coaches get paid for value provided. If you’re having these kinds of problems with your clients, it’s because they don’t believe in you as a genuine coach. You’ve positioned yourself as some sort of laborer, NOT a genuine expert.
It’s time to change that if you want to stop over-servicing coaching clients.
And it starts with your own self-belief.
Your Knowledge Is Value
You have to realize that your time, your experience, your expertise, are inherently valuable. That you really CAN make a difference in your clients’ businesses. And that as a result, you deserve their undivided attention.
Look, as business coaches, our inventory of time is all we’ve got. When managed properly, we can create a significant income selling it. When managed improperly, we give away our most valuable resource for free, setting ourselves up as employees without benefits, subject to the whims of the business owner.
As business coaches, our inventory of time is all we've got. When managed properly, we can create a significant income selling it. When managed improperly, we give away our most valuable resource for free, setting ourselves up as employees without benefits, subject to the whims of the business owner.
So stop driving to your clients’ offices or coffee shops for consultations. Don’t drop everything when they call with a question or a problem; let them know you’re busy, and schedule a follow-up.
Do the majority of coaching sessions over the phone. Face-to-face coaching quadruples the amount of time it takes to service your clients. Between travel time, small talk, and meeting and greeting other team members, what should be a 30-45 minute coaching call can turn into a 90-120 minute excursion!
Only then will you begin to command the kind of respect you deserve.
Of course, this is only one of seven strategies for maximizing your time and positioning yourself as a true expert that I cover in our free ebook called How To Become a Business Coach. Grab your FREE copy now.
