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Branching Out - December, 2010 Sent Wednesday, December 1, 2010 Branching Out - December, 2010 » End-of-Year Reviews » December: to most, a month of preparation, perspiration and celebration. To a coach, the month of December often spells an uptick in interest, sales and coaching in general. But what about our current clients? Let's not forget that December also provides an opportunity to check in with their goals and prepare for the New Year. To that end, many coaches conduct an End-of-Year Review - a chance to look back on the […]

Branching Out - November, 2010 Sent Monday, November 1, 2010 Branching Out - November, 2010 » The First Five Minutes » How do you begin a coaching session? Do you have a few minutes of small talk, followed by a debrief of last week's assignment? Or do you jump right in with the classic What would you like coaching around today? Have you ever thought about the structure of your sessions? Whatever your routine, it pays to give some thought to your habits from time to time, in order to avoid common traps and pitfalls. For […]

Branching Out - October, 2010 Sent Friday, October 1, 2010 Branching Out - October, 2010 » Session Prep Forms » When coaches complain to me about clients flaking out on their assignments, or coming to sessions without coachable issues, the first thing I ask is whether they use a Session Prep Form. Clients can falter on homework for any number of reasons - sometimes important or fundamental ones like not being ready for coaching, concern over money, abandonment of their goals, feeling discouraged or shifting priorities. […]

Branching Out - September, 2010 Sent Wednesday, September 1, 2010 Branching Out - September, 2010 » Effective Networking » Of the handful of marketing avenues available, many coaches cite networking as one of the most effective. There's only one hitch: most coaches don't know how to network effectively. Too many coaches return home from networking events thinking it wasn't worth the time (or money, or both) or that they didn't exchange very many cards. The trick is that successful networking has very little to do with […]

Branching Out - August, 2010 Sent Sunday, August 1, 2010 Branching Out - August, 2010 » So, What Do You Charge? » Are you terror-stricken when you have to talk about fees? Most of us have some sort of money saboteur, and it can be a tough one. But no matter how we've learned to manage our money fears, they all seem to surface the moment we decide to become entrepreneurs. When coaches can no longer avoid addressing this topic, some sell themselves short. We underprice (and therefore undervalue) ourselves, and it's no […]

Branching Out - July, 2010 Sent Thursday, July 1, 2010 Branching Out - July, 2010 » Synthesizing Your Sessions » Synthesis - n. - the combination of parts or elements so as to form a whole. (Merriam Webster) Applied to the coaching process, synthesis is what coach and client co-create at the conclusion of a session. This is important because: you and the client have probably visited numerous issues and ideas during the session, and it's easy to forget how it all fits together helping weave together all the […]

Branching Out - June, 2010 Sent Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Branching Out - June, 2010 » Identifying Your Niche Somewhere along the business development path, every coach needs to turn their attention to identifying their target audience or niche. There are a number of reasons it pays to do this: It makes it easier to locate and market to your defined audience, allowing you to invest your limited resources reaching a targeted group of people It allows you to master an area of expertise - because people you target […]

Branching Out - May, 2010 - "It's Not About You" Sent Saturday, May 1, 2010 Branching Out - May, 2010 » It's Not About You Ever struggle to come up with appropriate, effective action steps for your client at the end of a session? We all have, from time to time. One helpful tip to bear in mind: it's not about you. Remember that, just as the agenda originates from the client, so can the next steps. Sometimes the client may find it useful to have the coach pitch in. However, more often than not, by the end of a session, the client knows […]

Branching Out - April, 2010 Sent Thursday, April 1, 2010 Branching Out - April, 2010 » Acknowledging Your Clients How's the saying go? Most people are just looking to be seen in the world - to be heard, valued and respected for who they are. Our clients are no different. So if you're looking for an efficient way to make certain your clients feel seen during a session, there's often nothing more effective than a succinct, heartfelt acknowledgment. SKILL REFRESHER: an acknowledgment is based on recognizing who […]

Branching Out - March, 2010 Sent Monday, March 1, 2010 Branching Out - March, 2010 » Thought I can spot a new coach a mile away. Truly. You know how? It's not because of anything they do. It's what they *don't* do. Most new coaches don't realize that silence in a coaching session, far from being a BAD thing, is actually a GREAT thing! Lots of them tell me they feel that if they leave too much down time in a conversation that the client might think they're unqualified or inexperienced. Ironically, the opposite is […]