clients

5 Google+ Features That Are Useful For Coaches

7 February 2014 in Guest Post tagged Chris Chaves / clients / coaches / connection / features / google+ / marketing / network / social media / technology

In today’s guest post Chris Chaves shares practical information and advice for coaches on using one of the fastest growing social media platforms:

5 Google+ Features That Are Useful For Coaches

By Chris Chaves

There are dozens of social media sites you can use to market yourself as a coach but few have as many features as Google+.

I’ve recently been spending quite a bit of time familiarizing myself with Google + and while I don’t claim to be an expert just yet, I did want to share with you an overview of it’s tools and features.

Here are some reasons why you should add Google + to your coach marketing plan:

Google + is one of the fastest growing social media sites out there. It surpassed LinkedIn and has more active users than any other social media site except Facebook.
Google + is integrated in Google’s search engine system so having a high number of followers in Google+ can greatly increase your search engine rankings.
Google + is also integrated into YouTube (which is also owned by Google). This makes it really easy to create and share videos (more on that in a minute)

Before I get into the various features within Google+, lets start with a quick lesson on how to access the menu bar (which is where you’ll find all these features)

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Just hover over the home icon in the upper left side of the screen to open the navigation bar.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Here are 5 great features within Google + that you can use as a coach to market and deliver your coaching services.

1. Circles – A Great Way To Listen To Your Potential Coaching Clients

Google + is a great tool for listening to your ideal customers and you can use a feature called “Circles” to categorize people that you want to follow. Unlike Facebook, you don’t need to send a request to someone in order to add him/her to your circles. You can create as many circles as you like and you can add people to one, or many circles.

Once you add someone to your circles, you’ll be able to see the things they post publicly.

Here are some examples of Circles you may want to create:

Potential Partners
Other Coaches In Your Niche
Influential people in your niche that you want to keep an eye on
People who are in groups or communities within your niche (potential coaching clients)
Existing Clients
People you meet
Hangouts (anyone who’s attended your hangouts) – more on this later

People can’t see what circle you’ve added them to so if you add someone to a circle you labeled as “Potential Clients” or “Competition”, they won’t see the circle name. They will just get a notification that says you have added them to your circles.

2. Communities – Great For Listening, and Positioning Yourself As An Expert

Communities in Google+ are a lot like groups you find in LinkedIn or Facebook. They’re groups of people who are all interested in a particular topic. Joining communities that are focused on topics in your coaching niche can be a great way of listening to the needs of your ideal clients.

Communities also provide you with a great way to engage with other people in your niche whether they be potential clients, potential partners and/or other people who serve your ideal clients.

One way to engage with people in circles is to comment on their posts. You can also +1 their posts (which is similar to a Facebook “like”) or you can share their post with your audience. Of course, you can also create your own posts.

Much like LinkedIn and Facebook Groups, you can post tips, quotes, ask a question, and even post a link to your blog post every once in a while.

3. Video Hangouts

Google+ allows you to setup a video chat, or “Hangout” with up to 10 people. This can be great for having an online coaching session with a client, or for staring an interactive webinar that you can broadcast on your YouTube channel or on your website.

With hangouts, you can choose how public or private they are and you can set them up so they post directly to your YouTube channel so you can use the recordings anyway you like (i.e. you can post them on your website or send them to your list).

Just be careful with this though… I’ve seen coaches accidentally post private coaching sessions to their YouTube channel so you’ll want to practice a few times and familiarize yourself with these features before scheduling a coaching session or big event.

4. Events

Events are a lot like hangouts except with events, you can schedule them and invite people in advance. You can invite the public, certain communities, circles or individuals and like hangouts, you can also link these to your YouTube account so you can get a recording of the event after.

Events allow you to track RSVP’s and also integrate with Google calendars, which also make Events a great option for online group coaching sessions, periodic webinars, and presentations. Events also allow you to have a forum where people can ask questions while you’re presenting (like many of the popular premium webinar platforms)

5. Google+ Pages

You can create a page specifically for your business or coaching profile (very much like having a Facebook company page). Most coaches probably won’t need a page because they can just use their profile, but if you wanted to have a completely separate page for your business, having a Google + page may be the perfect solution for you.

While this has just been a brief overview of each of the features, my hope is that you’ll be able to take this

Here are a Few Final Tips…

Post frequently. This is one of the best ways to increase your following.
Add pictures and videos to your posts.
Add hashtags to your posts to help make them more visible.
Share and comment on other peoples’ posts.
Thank other people when they comment/share/+1 your posts.
PRACTICE these features with a friend (especially events and hangouts) before using them with your audience.

While I’ve only scratched the surface of Google+, my hope is that this post will give you enough of an overview to get started using this rapidly growing social media tool.

About Chris Chaves

Chris Chaves is the former Director of Sales for the Tony Robbins Coach certification program and is currently focused on helping new coaches get over the obstacles associated with becoming a successful coach through his Coach’s First Year blog.

He recently started The Coaching Success Podcast, in which he interviews other successful coaches to talk about their secrets to success. PLEASE hop on over to iTunes and give the show a rating.

Connect with Chris via:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/coachbiztips

Twitter: twitter.com/CoachBizTips

Google+: plus.google.com/+ChrisChavesCPC/posts

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Getting Your Client’s to RACE towards their dreams in 2014 (beyond the second week of January!)! 1

3 January 2014 in Guest Post tagged action / Charlotta Hughes / clients / coaching / commitment / dreams / Emotional / goals / new years resolution / RACE / responsibility

In the first guest post of this year coach Charlotta Hughes uses her experience and knowledge to focus upon:

"Getting Your Client’s to RACE towards their dreams in 2014 (beyond the second week of January!)!" A guest post by Charlotta Hughes

Getting Your Client’s to RACE towards their dreams in 2014 (beyond the second week of January!)!

by Charlotta Hughes

Of course there’s no surprise that people tend to start out the New Year hoping that this will be the year when those changes will really happen. They’ll lose the weight, land the perfect job, develop a great social life, find their life partner or leave the one who isn’t making them happy.

The list goes on and I’m sure you agree that for us coaches, there’s lots of opportunities to help clients change their lives for the better around this time of year. They have the motivation, will and determination to invest in themselves and their lives.

Yet, despite this surge of energy and optimism, so often people soon lose sight of their goals and ambitions. They get busy with their day to day lives, old habits kick back in and once again their comfort zone is keeping them prisoners of the same reality they’ve been experiencing, probably for quite some time.

Having a life coach can, of course, make a huge difference. However, for many it turns out not to be enough. What started out as an exciting journey for the coachee and rewarding and energising work for the coach, then turns into a disappointing and frustrating experience for both of a ‘stuck’ client.

So why does this happen, when the person seemingly really wants the changes they set out to achieve? The problem might very well lie with the goal, not with the dedication or ability of the client. In my coach mentoring I help coaches decipher whether their goal setting actually empowers the client enough to make the desired changes their new reality. Frequently I help them see how the main tool used in goal setting today isn’t enough. Namely, the acronym SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely).

I totally agree that the rules applied here are sound, however, SMART only deals with the goals. Not the person who’s going to achieve them. This is where RACE comes in. RACE is to the person, what SMART is to the goal. Here’s what it stands for:

Responsibility – this is about the fact that unless a client takes full responsibility for their own goals and dreams, they will never reach them. That ownership is pivotal! People tend to blame others or the circumstances they’re in for their own failings – it’s only by taking complete responsibility that they are in control of reaching their goals. Similarly, people often put their own happiness and ambitions in the hands of others. If a client’s dream or target involves someone loving them more or someone saying sorry to them, they are really setting themselves up for failure. They are in no way in control of this happening and they therefore can’t take responsibility for it or make it happen.

Action – people tend to plan, analyse, discuss and make decisions on how they’ll improve things and what they’ll achieve in their minds and with those around them. In the process of doing so, they can almost feel like they actually are moving closer to their goals. However, it’s only when they take actual action and DO something that they start moving towards them. Many little things will add up to the big stuff – get clients to focus on at least taking one small action in the right direction every day.

Commitment – if they aren’t dedicated and committed to achieving their dreams they’ll quickly lose sight of them. Ultimately, growing as people and instilling positive change in their lives will involve some degree of discomfort. After all, it has to involve them pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. To stick with it when the going gets tough (maybe when the ice cream craving sets in, when the unknown feels scary, when letting go of control is daunting, and so on …), they must be completely committed to themselves and they own goals. Wanting something isn’t enough, they must be 100% dedicated to accomplish it!

Emotional – clients must be emotionally attached to their dreams and goals. This is so pivotal for personal success as if they don’t care sufficiently about them to stick with them when distractions or challenges come along, they’ll be long gone by the time February arrives! They must be perceived as friends. This is also why it’s vital that the motivation for their goals comes from themselves in the first place – if they are developed for the benefit of someone else, such as to please their partner, boss or parent, they won’t have this important emotional connection to them. The goals may sound great in theory but they could soon feel more of an enemy than a friend, and that’s never going to work!

I hope you have lots of exciting work coming your way this month, and when it does, make sure these four ingredients are in the mix when establishing your clients’ goals, and once you, and they, are confident that they are, set them off to RACE towards their dreams!

About Charlotta Hughes

Charlotta Hughes Charlotta has been coaching professionally for over 12 years and in March 2013 she won Life Coach of the Year, awarded by the national body Association of Professional Coaches, Trainers and Consultants.

Her background is within Human Resources and she started her busy coaching practice, be me life coaching, in January 2007.

Charlotta specialises in coach mentoring, confidence, direction and entrepreneur coaching.

Her academic qualifications include professional Life and Corporate Coaching qualifications. She also has a BSc (hons) in Psychology & Computing, an MA in Human Resources Management and she is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

ch*******@**************ng.com

+44 (0)7720 839773

www.facebook.com/bemelifecoaching.com

@charlottahughes

Why You Aren’t Attracting The Right Coaching Clients? 1

6 December 2013 in Guest Post tagged attract coaching clients / clients / coaching / coaching brand / Holly Chantal / marketing / online brand / personal branding / spread your message

Holly Chantal specialises in working with coaches and solopreneurs – in today’s guest post she shares on a subject many coaches wonder about:

"Why You Aren't Attracting The Right Coaching Clients?" A guest post by Holly Chantal

Why You Aren’t Attracting The Right Coaching Clients?

By Holly Chantal

Have you ever had that feeling that no matter what you do, you keep attracting dud clients? No matter how many brilliant blog posts you write, tele seminars you deliver, or videos you create people just aren’t “getting” what you do?

Well there might be a fairly simple reason for that, you know too much.

Sometimes we get so caught up in sharing our knowledge of our area of expertise that we forget the bigger picture of why we started our coaching businesses, which was to change lives and possibly change the world. We each have an inner message that we want to spread, but it’s easy to get caught up in sharing what we think our prospects want, instead of what they really need.

So what do I mean by this?

Being a website designer I could write whole books on how to run your business online. What tools to use, how to set up a WordPress website, what your opt in offer should be and the list goes on.

But what I REALLY like to do is solve the puzzle of what makes one coach different from another. I like to talk with my clients and pull out the gems of what their core message and essences are and then show them how they can use these things to brand themselves in a unique way. Yes, we create a website that reflects all of this, but if you were to ask me my message or mission it certainly isn’t to build WordPress websites.

When I first started writing my blog it was all about the above topics that I thought people wanted to read how to set up this, or what tool to use for that etc. And I kept attracting people that just wanted a tweak done to their WordPress theme, or needed me to set up their auto responder… BORING! I wasn’t getting to do the stuff I really enjoyed, because I was attracting the wrong clients.

It was when I started weaving in my message of using your personality to create your unique brand, that people started to really “get” what my business was all about. And while just about anyone can build a WordPress theme these days, no one else can capture your personality and make you SO different from everyone else like we can.

You’ll find that I still write about the same topics, but my core message is always underlying. Whenever I think of a topic to write I always ask how it could relate to differentiating yourself in the market place, or how can it express your personality.

I call this your Brand Promise and it needs to be woven into everything you do. You use it in your sales conversations to really clarify with prospects what they will be getting out of working with you, you use it to create your products (if you’re creating a product that doesn’t satisfy your brand promise, then ditch it or turn it into something that does), and you use it in your marketing.

When you incorporate your Brand Promise into all of these things you’ll start attracting the right audience and doing more of what you love.

So what is your Brand Promise? How do you think you could incorporate it more into your marketing?

About Holly Chantal

Holly Chantal is the founder of The Land of Brand, a website design and branding company for coaches and solopreneurs. Go to http://www.thelandofbrand.com and download a free video training on how to use your personality to create a unique brand – because your mom was right when she said you were special.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Holly_Chantal
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-You-Arent-Attracting-The-Right-Coaching-Clients&id=8150000

If money was your lover how would you describe your relationship? 2

22 November 2013 in Guest Post tagged clients / emotion / finance / Harmoney life / Helen Collier / money / money coach

In today’s guest post money coach Helen Collier shares some of her experience and knowledge on a topic that can be a stumbling block for coaches (and their clients):

"If money was your lover how would you describe your relationship?" A guest post By Helen Collier

If money was your lover how would you describe your relationship?

By Helen Collier

I often ask groups this question. It usually causes embarrassed laughter. Then responses start to come. Delivered boldly or as aside mutterings,

‘In separate rooms’,
‘Solid’
‘Divorced’
‘Tense’
‘Comfortable’

and so they go on.

We all have a relationship with money which others may puzzle over, criticise or admire. Some of us have more money than others. Some of us spend what we haven’t got. Some of us hoard and refuse to spend even on the essentials.

Money and emotions run deep

Recently I heard Sir Bob Geldorf describing a time in his life when he had very little money and although he is now a successful, wealthy business man he said ‘I can’t escape the panic that I’m back there’

It’s not unusual for me to meet people who say

“I earn loads of money and I’m broke”
“I thought I was doing all the right things and I know the universe will provide but the money isn’t coming, what am I doing wrong?”
“I just hate spending money, I get a dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach”

Beneath these statements lay deeper feelings and emotions, often rooted somewhere in earlier experiences.

We all have a personal money story which charts the way money has shown up throughout our lives. As children we learn lessons about money. Quite often many of the lessons aren’t about anything anyone directly set out to teach us. When we are very young we are powerless to have much influence over what happens in our family around money. We make our own sense of what can be a very confusing and contradictory world and we can carry that sense on into our adult lives.

My mentor Deborah Price of the Money Coaching Institute would say that Money is a core survival issue. Woven into the fabric of that £10 note in our purses and wallets are a myriad of beliefs, emotions and reactions which far out weigh the actual monetary value. Am I worth it? Is there enough? Am I enough?

It’s my view that not enough of us have taken the time to really look at money and how it shows up in our lives.

So let’s start now and share some thoughts on this blog.

Here’s that question again and a few more

If money was your lover how would you describe your relationship?

As coaches what sort of issues arise for your clients around money?

How grounded do you feel in relation to money?

What work have you done on your own issues around money, so you’re in a clearer and cleaner place to support your clients?

About Helen Collier

My work as a money coach grew from a growing disquiet before the financial crisis that there was something amiss in the world of money and it wasn’t just £’s and pence. Seeing what was happening in the financial world, a growing reliance on credit and a sense that we could have everything now left me feeling uncomfortable and led me to explore more about the emotional side of money. I trained with the Money Coaching Institute in California to become an accredited money coach. I now work with clients from the inside out, facilitating an understanding of how their past is showing up in their present and, armed with that knowledge, coaching them as they transform their money lives. If you want to contact me click here

Connect with Helen via:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarmoneyLife

Linked in:uk.linkedin.com/in/helencollier/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harmoney/324194636947?fref=ts

Access one of Helen’s free webinars on Money Types at http://www.survivedandthrived.com/Money-Quiz/

How to Help your Coaching Clients Bloom 1

8 November 2013 in Guest Post tagged Beth Burgess / clients / coaches / coaching / growth / Smyls

In today’s guest post Beth Burgess shares her experience, knowledge and thoughts about:

"How to Help your Coaching Clients Bloom" A guest post by Beth Burgess

How to Help your Coaching Clients Bloom

by Beth Burgess

Coaches often talk of helping clients grow, without realising just how appropriate the gardening metaphor might be. People are like flowers: in order to bloom with their own individual beauty, they need a set of fundamental resources to be provided before they can flourish.

Clients may approach a coach as a mere seedling, or a saplings that need a bit of trellis to support their growth towards the sun. But for them to grow, they need the right conditions, and a coach must provide certain elements that nourish and sustain them.

Soil: Nothing can be achieved without providing the foundations of a successful coaching partnership, and this includes the coach being well-trained and practised and holding an attitude that serves the client and engenders trust, respect and success.

When coaching, I take on an attitude of Unconditional Positive Regard, which means the client has permission to feel anything they might feel, to say anything they wish to express, and the right to have their perspective acknowledged and held as valid. And nothing they can say or do will make me judge them or want to help them less. According to Humanistic Psychologist Carl Rogers, this practice helps to form the basis of a client’s self-actualisation.

Space: Like most flowers, which will not grow where there is too much competition, clients need a space devoted to them in order to get the best out of their coaching experience. A coach must ensure that a client feels held and supported, by providing them with their full attention. It is vital that coaches empty their mind of their own ‘stuff’ and stay present with the client in their own special space.

In practical terms, this extends to being punctual, maintaining confidentiality and respecting the client’s session time.

Light: As essential as light is to a flower, enlightenment around issues can be achieved by means of appropriately-applied coaching techniques. Many client epiphanies come from a well-placed remark, challenge or question.

Coaches should keep their skills updated so that they can help their clients to see the light when they are stuck in darkness, unable to see the way forward.

Water: After a client has had their lightbulb moment, translating this into progress means ‘watering’ them regularly with doses of encouragement. I like to cheerlead my clients and fortify their self-esteem at its roots by championing their strengths and acknowledging their progress.

Fertiliser: As coaches, we can ensure our clients’ “aha moments” are not wasted by supporting their initial ideas with a solid structure and breaking their goals down into realistic, achievable steps and targets. Although success can potentially be achieved without enriching the foundations in this way, growth is much quicker when the seeds of progress are given a boost.

Weeding: Very few clients approach us without a few weeds which trap their roots and hinder their growth. Obstacles, skills gaps, past issues and limiting beliefs are all things which need to be dug up or weeded out before our clients can be free to achieve success.

Coaches should check that none of their own ‘weeds’ limits the client, such as judgementalness, negative language, giving unwanted advice or not listening.

Tending: Checking at regular intervals that a client is on track to reach their goal, and has everything they need, will further support their healthy growth and chances of success.

Maintenance: Getting a client to acknowledge and use their strengths can help to ensure that no future weeds gather over their paths, or show them that they have enough resources to keep them at bay.

About Beth Burgess

Beth Burgess - Smyls Beth Burgess is the founder of Smyls a solution-focused service which she set up to help people to overcome obstacles in their lives and create a fulfilling future.

Using a mixture of Coaching, NLP, Hypnotherapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Beth specialises in working with addiction, anxiety disorders, eating disorders and other mental health problems.

In addition to her work with individuals, she also runs bespoke workshops for employee training and wellbeing, which cover topics such as Stress, Assertiveness, Self-Esteem and Working Successfully with Others.

Beth is the author of two books on addiction recovery; The Recovery Formula: An Addict’s Guide to Getting Clean & Sober Forever and The Happy Addict. She has also published a mini e-book, What is Self Esteem? How to Build your Self-Esteem and Feel Happy Now.

Beth lives in North London and coaches clients from all over the world. Her other projects include writing articles for The Huffington Post and speaking about her experience of addiction recovery.

For more about Beth, visit http://www.bethburgess.co.uk

Bringing out the best in you and your athletes 1

18 October 2013 in Guest Post tagged athletes / clients / coach / greatness / gymnastics coach / motivated / options / self efficiency / self reflection / strength / swing big / Zari Goldmann

Zari Goldmann shares advice and expertise around how to bring the best out of the people you coach in today’s guest post.

Zari is a gymnastics coach and you are invited to consider, with your own coaching grounding, how this applies to your clients/athletes.

"Bringing out the best in you and your athletes:" A guest post by Zari Goldmann

Bringing out the best in you and your athletes:

By Zari Goldmann

1. Be prepared with options. No matter what you’re coaching whether it be sports or life we (hopefully) go to our athletes or clients with a game plan. What are we going to do in our workout today, what do we need to accomplish. But the worst sides of ourselves often come out when we get flustered, when something goes wrong and we don’t have a plan to fix it. Go into every day with both a game plan, and a plan if those things go wrong. It will make you more comfortable, as well as those you are serving.

1b. Don’t always be the one to figure it out. One of the keys to athletes being successful is self reflection. Like I said above, if something you had planned isn’t working have a back up idea. But (and this depends on the age group), if you have a little time, ask the athlete or client what THEY think they need. Who knows they may come up with something similar to what you had planned, or they may not. But if what they come up with HELPS them, you’ve just made tremendous strides towards self efficacy.

2. Be motivated. Be as motivated as those you serve. Your mood, your presence and your work ethic rubs off on those around you. If a coach continually shows up late to practice, are kids going to be inclined to show up on time. Instill those values you want to see in your athletes in yourself. You’ll be surprised what an impact you have on them. The overall mood of practices will change with this.

3. Find your greatness and find your resources. We aren’t all good at everything, lets be honest here I’m AWFUL at some things in the gym (birthday parties much?). But I’m also great at some things. I try to strategically place myself in those things that I’m really good at, and those things that I’m not good at I either try to get another coach to do (not because I don’t want to look bad, but because I know overall it will be better for the gymnasts), or if that’s not possible I’ll sit down with someone who is really good at it, and just talk it out. Talk strategy. Here are the things I feel I’m really struggling with, how do you deal with them? Normally other coaches are happy to sit and chat for as long as it takes to feel comfortable in that role. Find YOUR strength, and when you can’t, find your resources even if they aren’t within your club or company.

About Zari Goldmann

Zari Goldmann is a gymnastics coach, judge and blogger. After spending most of her life growing up in a gym she decided to dedicate her passion to creating a business that would give gymnastics coaches resources to better serve their athletes. That’s how www.swingbig.org was born.

Website: www.swingbig.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SwingBig

Twitter: @Swing_Big

Pinterest:http://www.pinterest.com/swingbig/

Let your body do the talking 1

11 October 2013 in Guest Post tagged body / Charlotte Green / clients / coach / confidence / emotion / feeling / kinesthetic / moment / NLP / personal development / self-esteem / senses / thoughts / women

Coach Charlotte Green shares some of her expertise and knowledge in today’s guest post:

"Let your body do the talking" A guest post by Charlotte Green, founder of Inner Confidence for Women

Let your body do the talking

By Charlotte Green, founder of Inner Confidence for Women

I am often asked whether ‘feelings’ and ‘emotions’ are the same or different – are they interchangeable words or do they mean different things?

Feelings and emotions are certainly related concepts and that is why they are often confused and treated as the same thing, and in many cases that works well. But when we, as coaches, are helping clients to really know and understand themselves, it can be really useful to differentiate between the two.

So what is the difference?

Feelings are in the moment. They are what we experience physically within our bodies and through our 5 senses. It’s useful to refer to them as physical feelings. Unlike our emotions, they do not involve the mind. Emotions on the other hand are a mental interpretation of the feelings we are experiencing mixed in with our thoughts.

When asked how they feel, I notice that people respond on one of three levels. Some respond with a thought – “I’ve got so much going on” – others give an emotion – “I’m finding it hard to cope” – or they go inside and describe exactly what their body is telling them – “I feel so tense and exhausted. Everything aches.”

Here is a table to show examples of the 3 levels:

,,,,
Level 1:,’no one will help me’,Thought ,An idea or opinion produced by thinking / a mental picture – imagined and contemplated in the mind influenced by life experiences
Level 2:,’I feel anxious’,emotion,A combination of thoughts and physical feelings – an interpretation
Level 3:,’My shoulders feel really tense and my stomach is in knots’,feeling,Physical experiences within the body and information received through one of the bodies 5 senses (touch/ taste/ smell/ sound/ sight)
[/table]

So, which level do we want to be working with?

We are a holistic system and need information from each of the 3 levels to be fully resourceful and yet, in the western society we overemphasise the importance of the mind. This means that thoughts can dominate and hijack the system resulting in stress and overwhelm.

By paying attention to all the messages we receive from our thoughts, emotions and feelings we maintain a balanced and informed system, each giving us feedback that helps us be safe as well as to develop and grow. Imbalance occurs when one level dominates or hijacks another or we shut one down. There is no hero or villain in this situation – each part of the emotional system is equally valid and essential and deserves attention.

EXAMPLE – Inviting client to connect to themselves at a deeper level

Here is an excerpt from a recent coaching session (I have client’s permission to share this) where I was inviting my client to connect to themselves more deeply. They move down through all three levels shown in the table above. For those of you who use NLP, this can be a great tool for accessing positive states to anchor.

Coach: How are you feeling today?
Client: I’ve had a good day (thought)
Coach: I know you said that you have had a difficult few weeks so that’s really good to hear. How are you feeling?
Client: I’m happy (emotion)
Coach: How do you know you are happy?
Client: work went OK, got time with my partner tonight and looking forward to getting together with friends tomorrow (thoughts)
Coach: they sound like a lot of good reasons (thoughts) why you might feel happy. Let’s go inside more and find out how you experience that within your body. How does your body let you know it’s happy? What do you notice about your body right now? How do you feel?
Client: I feel a bit tingly all over and I have a big smile on my face (feelings)
Coach: Just sit with that feeling for a moment. You can turn up the volume if you want …
Client: (smiling) Wow! I feel lovely. My breathing has really slowed down and deepened. I feel really calm and relaxed.

How to apply this to your coaching

Introduce the emotional system to your clients and encourage them to check in with themselves regularly throughout the day:
- Simply ask yourself “how do I feel right now”
- Then notice at which level you answer
- Practice moving up and down the levels, particularly going down if you tend to start from thoughts
  - Moving from thoughts to emotions “how am I feeling right now”
  - Moving from emotions to thoughts “what am I thinking about right now”
  - Moving from emotions to feelings “what am I physically feeling in my body”

As a coach, remember to walk your talk and check your own emotional system is flowing and that all 3 areas have your attention. It will improve your intuitive abilities to coach and help you build rapport with your clients.
You can shift physical feelings simply by being present with your breath (mindfulness) so this is a very effective method of managing stress. Give your breath your full attention – it takes practice but in my experience the calm comes quickly and feels really good.

Although I have been a coach since 2006, I have specialised in working with women for the last 4 years, and more recently with young adults, both of which are hugely rewarding. In my experience, developing a complete emotional language has been a massively influential part of my client’s successful transformations.

Women in particular, who are often so tuned into and committed to the wellbeing of other people’s emotions, have found that having the permission and skills to tune into themselves has enabled them to break free of limiting behaviours, thoughts and habits and be able to create a much more balanced and satisfying life.

I hope you and your clients enjoy exploring your emotional systems.

About Charlotte Green

Charlotte founded Inner Confidence for Women in 2006 after a fascinating corporate career managing an international training team for a global electronic publisher where she and her team ran workshops within Universities and Government organisations across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Although she gained invaluable experience and skills from the corporate world, her real passion lay within personal development.

Inner Confidence for Women specialises in self confidence, self esteem and emotional wellbeing for women and young people. Charlotte is incredibly passionate about her work and reaches her clients through running courses, workshops and through 121 coaching.

Charlotte was inspired to focus on working with women after the birth of her daughter in 2010. “Being around so many women who put their own needs to the bottom of the pile while they made sure everyone else was OK really spoke to me. I love helping women find themselves again, or for the first time. It is a joy to encourage women to raise their self esteem and self confidence so they can embrace their lives”

As a professional trainer as well as a coach, Charlotte is able to reach a wider audience creating and delivering workshops to inspire young adult carers in Suffolk. “When an 18 year stays behind after the workshop to tell me excitedly about how they used the new tools and techniques to improve a situation that normally spirals out of control, it is one of the most rewarding feelings in the world”.

Charlotte believes that unexpressed emotions are like a drunk relative at a wedding – they corner you and won’t leave you alone! As an accredited Peer Support Network trainer she co-runs courses on behalf of a local Mind charity, Suffolk Mind, helping people to learn how to notice, accept, express and understand their own emotions so they can increase their confidence and wellbeing.

Charlotte is passionate about helping people to believe in themselves “when you believe in yourself, anything is possible”

Find out more, get in touch, like, follow, tweet (!) …

Twitter : @ICforWomen

Blog: http://innerconfidenceforwomen.wordpress.com/

Website : www.innerconfidenceforwomen.co.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Innerconfidenceforwomen

How to Get More Clients by Speaking Their Language 2

6 September 2013 in Guest Post tagged business / clients / guest post / language / Latrisha Jacobs / marketing / niche / sales copy

In today’s guest post Latrisha Jacobs provides advice about: "How to Get More Clients by Speaking Their Language" A guest post by Latrisha D. Jacobs

How to Get More Clients by Speaking Their Language

By Latrisha D. Jacobs

So, you want more clients? Cool, so does everyone. Everyone wants to know how to get more clients. But, there’s a reason why some people easily attract their ideal clients and never have to “need” a new client and why you may be struggling to get ideal paying clients on a consistent basis. The reason is simply because you’re trying to attract clients with what you think they need to hear from you instead of what they really want to hear.

In other words, you’re using marking jargon. This means you’re using words that people in your industry would use or words that you’ve made up in your head. But, this just doesn’t work. You have to be using words that your ideal clients know and relates to them.

You will find that when you start to use your ideal clients words you’ll get better results and you’ll almost immediately start pulling your ideal clients to you. Here are 3 really quick tips to help you get started attracting more clients by speaking their language.

Tip #1: Ask Them What They Want

The best way to get your ideal clients words and language is to ask them what they want. When you do this you’re getting it straight from them and then you don’t have to guess about what they want because they’re telling exactly what they want and need. More importantly they’re telling this in their own words and you can later use these to attract them to you. This is the best kind of target market research that you can ever do in your business.

Tip #2: Talk to Them and Not At Them

Your ideal clients want to be able to relate to everything that you have to say and they don’t want to feel like you’re talking at them. You want to make them feel like they’re having a conversation with you about their problems and how they think you can help them solve them. People buy from people that they know, like and trust. So, to build this relationship you have to be conversational and approachable for your ideal clients.

Tip #3: Use Their Words Exactly

One thing you don’t want to do is take the words and phrases that your ideal clients give you and turn it around into what you think it should be saying. The funny thing is that when it comes to this work you actually loose points for being creative. You want to use the exact words that your ideal clients give you. The reason is because they are giving you the exact words and phrases that describe their problem and that they can readily identify with these words. It hits their hot buttons because they gave you the words.

Your Assignment:

Go talk to 5-10 of your ideal clients and ask them what they want. Record it if you can and make sure to capture everything that they’re saying directly. Take note of exactly what they’re saying and where they show the most pain. These pain points will become your hot buttons that you’ll use in your marketing and sales copy.

About Latrisha Jacobs

Latrisha Jacobs, The Niche Breakthrough Specialist, works with service based change agents who lead with their heart first and who want to build big businesses and make an even bigger difference but they struggle with getting people to get what they do and want to invest in working with them and who would like to get more clarity, clients, and cash in 60 days or less.

She uses her Discover Your Thing System and book From Start Up to Success to lead seminars, groups, workshops, and retreats to teach new entrepreneurs how to use their business to make a difference.

Connect with Latrisha on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/latrishajacobsfans) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/latrishajacobs).

Article Source: How to Get More Clients by Speaking Their Language