What are the best tips for coaches? How can you build your client base over time?
Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin offer some actionable tips to improve and maximize your skills and what you offer to your clients. Just a few of those tips include taking joy in the process, taking a client-centered approach to your work, and reframing rejections positively.
Discover more of Rich Litvin and Steve Chandler’s coaching tips below.
Tip #1: Take Joy in the Whole Process
Many coaches adore the coaching aspect of their job, but they dread the client-building aspect. The first of Rich Litvin and Steve Chandler’s coaching tips is that you need to take equal joy in both of these activities because they’re both essential to your job. After all, you can’t coach if you don’t have clients, and there’s no reason someone would want to be your client if you’re not an effective coach.
(Shortform note: The idea of taking joy in the entire coaching process, including client acquisition, relates to the concept of intrinsic motivation. In Drive, Daniel Pink argues that true motivation comes from autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He suggests that when people are intrinsically motivated, they perform better and experience greater satisfaction. For coaches, finding joy in all aspects of their work can enhance their intrinsic motivation. By reframing client acquisition as an opportunity for growth and connection rather than a necessary chore, you can tap into this intrinsic motivation, which could lead to greater success and fulfillment in your practice.)
Tip #2: Devote Yourself to One Client at a Time
Chandler and Litvin also recommend that you focus on one client at a time. Don’t set a goal of getting a certain number of clients; instead, think about acquiring clients as a one-at-a-time process. Your goal is to wholly devote yourself to one client, sharing in that person’s every desire, until your work with them is done. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should only have one client at any given time, but in the moments when you’re working with them, they should be the only thing that matters.
(Shortform note: Being fully present with each client aligns with the concept of mindfulness, which involves maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. One study of mental healthcare professionals shows that practicing mindfulness can reduce emotional reactivity, enabling professionals to listen to clients more attentively and think rationally and enhancing the quality of professional interactions. By practicing mindfulness, you may be able to give your clients more clear-headed advice and support.)
Tip #3: Take a Client-Centered Approach
Remember that coaching is about your client, not about you. Chandler and Litvin explain that everything you do should be centered on helping your client and drastically improving their life. What matters is what the client wants and how they’re going to get there. What doesn’t matter is what you want or need. In fact, clients shouldn’t feel like you need them at all; they should feel like they need you.
| Giving Your Client What They Need According to Coaching Type Taking a client-centered approach also means assessing your progress based on what your client’s feeling rather than how you’re feeling. Experts emphasize that you should give your client what they need in the current moment—and what they need isn’t always mind-blowing insights. If you spend the whole session discussing things that aren’t directly related to the main problem they’re seeking coaching help for, don’t assume the session was wasted. It could be that your client just needed someone to vent to in that moment, and providing them with that can help them be ready to dive back into the hard work in the next session. However, this advice somewhat clashes with Chandler and Litvin’s assertion that you shouldn’t spend your session commiserating with your client. Finding the balance between these two pieces of advice may depend on the type of coaching you do, so consider whether venting is an appropriate use of your and your client’s time in the context of what they’re looking for in your coaching relationship. As explained earlier, the authors focus on executive coaching and career coaching, which may not be as appropriate for venting. However, if you’re a mental health coach or a creativity coach for example, venting may be a productive use of your coaching session. |
Tip #4: Get Your Own Coach
Additionally, Chandler and Litvin recommend that you invest in coaching services for yourself. As a coach, you already know how valuable and important the work is. And since your coaching is devoted wholly to your clients, you can’t coach yourself. This means you need to work with someone else who will devote all of their attention to drastically improving your life. This will not only bring you greater success as a coach, but it will improve your coaching skills as well.
(Shortform note: The authors’ recommendation for coaches to invest in coaching services for themselves is supported by the principle of reflective practice. Widely recognized in professional development literature, this principle emphasizes the importance of ongoing self-reflection and continuous learning for practitioners. Additionally, this approach aligns with the concept of experiential learning, which posits that direct, personal experience is a powerful tool for enhancing understanding and skill development. By engaging in the coaching process as a client, you can deepen your understanding of the coaching dynamic, improving your coaching skills and effectiveness.)
Tip #5: Constantly Build Your Client Base
Chandler and Litvin explain that many coaches fall into the trap of vacillating between a full client list and a nearly empty one. Such coaches build a strong client base, but then over the course of a few months they complete their contracts with those clients and return to having no clients. This can make you fearful of your job security and reduce your income. To counter this, the authors say that once you find yourself with a full client list, you shouldn’t get complacent. Continue to look for potential clients everywhere you go so you always have new ones coming in.
(Shortform note: Business research supports the authors’ advice to continuously seek new clients. Pipeline management, a concept widely used in sales and business development, emphasizes the importance of maintaining a constant flow of potential clients at various stages of engagement. Studies have shown that businesses that consistently manage their sales pipeline tend to experience more stable growth and higher overall performance. Additionally, psychological studies have shown that a lack of job security can negatively impact work performance, further supporting the authors’ emphasis on maintaining a consistent client base to ensure job security and steady income.)
Tip #6: Reframe Rejections Positively
Finally, Chandler and Litvin explain that you need to get comfortable with rejection. While it can be discouraging when a potential client passes on your services, failure is a necessary part of success. Failing a lot shows that you’ve made many attempts—and many attempts will also lead to many successes. Additionally, even if someone says no to you at first, your interactions with them may open the door to a future professional relationship or lead to a referral.
(Shortform note: Embracing and reframing failure is an essential part of a growth mindset, a theory pioneered by psychologist Carol Dweck. In Mindset, Dweck argues that individuals who believe in their ability to develop their talents tend to achieve more. Instead of viewing failure as evidence that you’re not good enough, take it as a learning opportunity to refine your skills. This will not only make it easier for you to stomach rejection, but it will also help you be more aware of your strengths and weaknesses and will help you turn short-term failures into eventual successes.)
