The following is an excerpt of an actual transaction between David and a client in Top Coaching Techniques.
David: Yeah, we think of it as a black and white, and all it is, is a combination of doing a few different things and a few different skills that happen to draw an income. It happens to be rewarded with money in our society. So you get to play this game, and you get paid, and you tend to get paid ongoing. It’s not just for one week.
Client: Yeah, exactly.
David: That’s really all a job is. So you could play that kind of structure or you could step out of that structure and say, ‘You know, I want to create my own thing where I’m creating value, not for an organization, but for myself.’ People often call that a business.
Client: Yes. Okay.
David: Which you could do with a bunch of people or you could do on your own. To me, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care if you do a business or find an existing business that does what you want. It doesn’t really matter. All I care about is that what you’re doing expresses the values of truth, love, courage and fun/happiness.
The following is a transcription taken from Explode Your Practice.
Now fortunately it’s not possible to do fifty sessions with people and help them by setting inspiring, exciting goals for their life and not come away with clients. It cannot be done.
There is almost like there are 3 levels. The first level is do the session.
The second level is at the end of a session, it they’re happy, if their interested in setting up a coaching structure, you can invite them to do that. You can check into that. Are you interesting in having a look at the coaching structure? I can tell you how that will look.
Third level is payment. So that is another conversation. Once they say they are interested in the coaching structure, they want to be a client for month or three months, I recommend, then what you’re looking for is a conversation about whatever is financially appropriate. Some people are happy to pay your full fee, others would like to pay half, and some people would like to pay a nominal fifty dollars to show they are serious. Like a token commitment, some people don’t want to pay anything but they would be happy to be a guinea pig.
See the 3 levels. The first one and most important one is do sessions; it doesn’t matter, and have some fun.
David: How about your dad – why don’t you pretend I’m dad?
Client: Okay.
David: Without even working it out, or thinking it out, I want you to say honestly what’s there for you to say.
Client: I basically feel that I come second to now to your new family. I feel that the plans that you make are based firstly on what works best for Carmen and her children, and whatever time is left is set aside for my son and me. I realize that I don’t reach out and I don’t talk to you every day, like Carmen’s daughter calls her every day. I’d like to change that. I’d like to call – maybe not every day – but call more often. I’d just like us to be closer.
David: Wow! That was beautiful, Kelly!
Client: Well, thanks.
David: That was like someone that had done three years in communication study. That was just beautiful and straight.
The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.
Always ask for a letter from each group you speak to; this will build your testimonial file. When you go out to speak for money, these letters will come in handy.
Use a feedback form (see ‘Preparing Your Handouts’ above) to get testimonials from participants, collect their personal information for your newsletter, and to see if they would like a free session. Follow up promptly, or better still, find someone else to input and follow up!
Ingrid: You speak with people perhaps once a week for a half an hour, or an hour. How do they carry that through to all of the other hours in their week?
David: Right. Well, most of the work actually occurs off the call. Someone comes to me, we’ll spend thirty minutes on the call, and we’ll agree on homework. So I’m asking them, ‘What are you going to do in the next seven days?’ I’ll come up with a list of things, and then I might suggest some things. How about this? How about that? So they’ve actually got a list of actions to carry out. Then when it comes time for the call in the next week, they’ll sit down and do some preparation. They look at what they’ve achieved, what they meant to achieve but didn’t, and they might even create some action steps for the following week. Then they’ll decide what we’re going to work on that week. It’s actually amazing – even before they come to the call, they’ve coached themselves, and they’ve really covered a lot of ground.
The following is an excerpt of an actual transaction between David and a client in Top Coaching Techniques.
David: Well, it might be the hardest, but I just want to find out what was most valuable for you out of what we touched on in this session.
Client: Um, well to not think that I know what’s best for my family.
David: Wow!
Client: Yeah. Listen to what they have to say.
