Coaching Confidence

What to put in a coaching welcome pack?

As Stephen Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind”, or in NLP speak what is your well-formed outcome? What do you want to achieve with your welcome pack?

Once you have that clear it is a lot easier to create yours.

As promised, today I want to discuss in more detail the actual content. Below are some of the things I consider when I create and tweak my welcome packs. As you read through these points consider how they relate to what you want to accomplish with your welcome pack. 

What is my client possibly feeling, and what do I want them to feel?

It’s not at all unusual for a new client to have a mix of nerves, excitement and perhaps apprehension, prior to the first session. This can be particularly relevant if you are their very first coach.

You will no doubt have had it hammered home during any coaching training that you have attended that coaching is not therapy. However, that does not mean that your client may not be concerned about confidentiality. Consider if you want to address this with your welcome pack.

Introductory letter:

After all this is called a welcome pack, consider if you want to include a note to say hello and that you are looking forward to working together. (Presuming that you are looking forward to working together, if you are not then you may want to consider why you have accepted them as a client.)

Explanation of what to do with the welcome pack:

It will depend upon your clients and how you work but I know that I work with people who love filling in lots of stuff and others who hate it. For this reason, I include an acknowledgement of this and tell them which sections they need to fill in and which are something that they can send back if they love filling in forms.

In reality I find that most clients fill in all of the pack but by giving the option to only do bits I find it takes away any pressure that they may be feeling. I don’t wish to create any feeling of overwhelm by sending the welcome pack.

However, it can be interesting to note that sometimes not completing a section can give you an indication of what’s going on for that client as much as some answers can.

Contact details:

Make it as easy as possible for both you and your client to contact each other by providing your details and collecting their contact numbers. Include the best way to contact you. Again you may want to set expectations about how long it will take for them to get a response from you.

Coaching agreements

To include an agreement or not is a debate I have heard and read several times from various sources. Mainly the arguments focus upon if such agreements are legally binding.

The question I ask is not about any legal matters but can you use such documents to aid your client? Can you use it to emphasise their responsibility or to get them to already start to take small action?

Procedural details:

Think through how you coach and the questions that your client may have about the process. Things to consider are:

Where and when is the first session – is a map/directions needed, if on the phone who calls who?

What does your client need to do if they have to cancel?

How do they pay?

Will you ask for a testimonial at the end?

Do you work to any specific guidelines?

Fact-finding

Coaching can begin before your first proper session. You can skilfully use your welcome pack to begin to work with your client before that first call or meeting.

Other than providing procedural and scene setting information, what coaching questions do you want to be asking your client at the beginning of your relationship?

Fact-finding may be a slightly misleading sub-heading because often mixed in with facts; you’ll also find interpretation of events. What we begin to find out about are the client’s beliefs, their values and other stories that they may have been telling themselves. Used wisely you can already begin to identify where they are stuck and where they want to be heading.

Think about what beliefs and expectations would help your clients get the quickest and easiest change. It may be possible to begin to open them up to these possibilities by the questions that you ask and what you presuppose is true with the question.

For example, a belief that change is possible is a useful one for a client to hold. A question that asks about what change they want in a certain time period will automatically get them considering that change is possible.

Watch the language that you use. The use of “jargon” may depend upon your client base. For certain niches it may be appropriate to use “jargon” as it would be normal everyday language for your client.

Is there any preparation that you want your client to do before the first (or any other session)? If so, ask them to do this before the session, get them to turn up with this information already and it frees you both up to spend the session time on actually working on what they want. You may want to consider including this in your welcome pack, possibly as a separate section with the instructions to complete this part prior to every session etc.

Do you want to include any specific questionnaires, quizzes or tests? By no means is this compulsory, some coaches like to offer this as an extra for their clients. In some niches it may even be seen as added value.

Stories and Articles

You have the option of including stories and/or articles. Again you can use these to start making a positive difference before that first session. Maybe it’s something about the impact of coaching, maybe it’s a motivational story that addresses a common limiting belief that is relevant for this niche or with that specific package you are offering.

Some coaches like to include testimonials from other clients within their pack. This can reinforce the belief that you are a competent and successful professional who gets results.

In conclusion, this is your welcome pack just as much as your clients. Once you have created it, there is nothing to say that it is set in stone. You are allowed to tweak or radically change it as you develop and refine your own style.

I encourage you to use it as an extension of your actual sessions so that you tailor it to get the results you want. What ever you include in your welcome pack I encourage you to include it for a specific reason. A reason that is going to strengthen the value you offer to your clients – not just because it appears to be common practice. Remember they choose to work with YOU, not anybody else. If something doesn’t get the result that you want tweak or change it until you get the results that you want.  

Best Wishes

Love