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10 Best Practices for a Successful Coach

Guest post by: Jude Smiley

Article Overview: Successful coaches have many things in common. Here are the top 10. How many do you need to add or work on?

10 Best Practices for a Successful Coach



1.Know exactly who your target clients are. Be diligent and brutally specific: what business are they in, how many people are in the firm, what budget do they have, how many years have they been in business, what publications do they read, what is their single biggest issue on a daily basis, what on-line communities do they belong to? 2. Have a specific coaching program for each problem your target clients have. Every prospect should clearly understand exactly what your solution is and how it can help people just like them.

3. Find a metaphor for the experience that will crystallize the quality of the interaction for this client: do you run your sessions like a boot camp or a

post-grad seminar? Is your style like radio talk show, with a mixture of fact and entertainment?

4. Be in charge. People are paying you a lot of money (hopefully) to solve a big problem for them. They will not think you are worth it if you do not appear to be in complete control of the engagement. If they don't meet the commitments they make to you, or if they do something you don't agree with, say so.

5. Be specific about what you are responsible for, and what expectations you can count on from clients. Clarify the promises people are making at every coaching session. What are the implications for breaking promises?

6. After every meeting, provide a written report or audio recording. At the very least record the items the client promised to do, and set delivery dates. Accountability for their actions is one of the key attributes of a coaching relationship.

7. Manage every interaction with the same, predictable route, so that clients know exactly what to expect in each session. If you've ever been on a team, or coached one, you know that each practice session has a similar agenda: warmup, drills, a new skill or play, practice. Your sessions should work the same way.

8. Clients are more willing to do bridge assignments between sessions if you've demonstrated added value in each session; clients tend to define high value as something that's new. Add a gloss on a reading assignment by telling case histories or quoting research they don't have. You'll be seen as an expert, and clients will be excited about meeting with you.

9. Negotiate the amount of bridge assignments you need to be successful, and that clients will actually do well. You will often be surprised and dismayed when clients don't do their homework! The idea is to have them succeed in the assignments, not fail to do them "right".

10. Vary the program delivery. Schedule a mix of individual and group sessions for each client, or combine phone meetings with in-person sessions. Do a daylong in person "bootcamp" as a kick off, then bi-monthly phone meetings.

As you can see there are many ways for you to earn an above average income in coaching. As a profession, coaching is growing quickly and clients are aggressively looking for guidance and results. There are no shortage of opportunities IF you are willing to step into them.

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Article Tags: client attraction, coaching, productivity, revenue generation, successful coaches



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Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012 - Successful.
Post subject: Too successful for a mate? - That was an interesting article, Shri! Most of the women I know who continue to be single have some type of self limiting behavior which interferes with them either meeting or attracting the perfect mate for them. They are incredible and talented women, they just haven't set themselves up for relationship success. I know there are men who may be intimidated, but there are also men who aren't. Some men are attracted to smart women! My advice to these women would be to focus on creating the right environment for a relationship to happen. This would be a great time to hire a Life Coach or Relationship Coach. Taking action to get ready for a relationship doesn't mean having to be aggressive in finding a man. It's more subtle. If you don't make room for a man in your life, you might just squeeze out the opportunity before he gets to you. As well, you may be sending off all the wrong signals without realizing it. Seriously, I don't think successful women are off the proverbial "good wife material list". However, if you think yourself off of it then don't be surprised if you fulfill your own prophecy.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
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