Coach Your Way to YES with 3 Magic Questions

If you’re like most new coaches, the idea of “selling your services” makes you uncomfortable. You don’t want to sell anyone on anything. You just want people to naturally see the value in coaching and sign up.   

The challenge is, even though you clearly see the value in coaching, most of your prospects don’t. The value isn’t apparent to them – not the way it is in a new car, or a big screen TV, or a vacation to Hawaii.

Even if they do see some value, it’s usually not even close to the incredible transformation you’re offering them.   

So, even though you don’t need to jump into the arena with the used car or door-to-door vacuum salespeople, you do need to learn how to help others see the value in what you do.

 It’s the only way you’re going to create a successful coaching business, full of ideal clients who pay you what you’re worth.

The good news is, you already have all the skills you need in order to do exactly that. It’s simply a matter of learning how to apply them in a different context, because the key to enrolling clients is to coach them.

And you already know how to do that.

Obviously there’s a lot more to learning how to enroll your ideal clients than just three questions, however three of the right questions can unlock a lot of doors.

Here’s what these key questions don’t do: They don’t solve your client’s problems, and they don’t help them feel better about their situation.

In fact, if that’s your goal, you’ll most likely be coaching them to “no,” rather than “yes.” Here’s why: you’ll help them just enough to take away their discomfort for the moment.

That in turn will remove their motivation to hire you, but it won’t be enough to provide the transformation they need to completely resolve their challenges.

What these coaching questions will do is help your client get in touch with what they have covered up, minimized, justified and just plain “numbed out.” People have a surprising capacity to rationalize what causes them pain.

You will help your prospective ideal client reconnect with the cost of “putting up with” her/his situation, and to see the need for your coaching clearly.

It’s not “sales tactics,” and it’s not manipulation. It’s just good coaching from the heart, with the intention of supporting people in getting the help they need to transform their situation.

So here they are, 3 magic questions to get you started:

• Key question #1:   How does (insert the challenge) make you feel?  
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  As a coach, you have the ability to simply listen, acknowledging and validating as your prospective client re-connects with their true feelings about the situation.

• Key question #2:  What is your sense of the true cost of (the problem) to you? You’ll notice this question is softened a bit by inserting “your sense of” into it. You can also say “What is the true cost of the problem,” but depending on whom you’re speaking with, that can sound a bit harsh to sensitive ears.
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  Either way, it’s in their best interest to encourage your future client to face what it is costing them to remain stuck where they are and not move forward.

• Key question #3:  How does that impact or spill over into other areas of your life? You can bet your prospective client most likely hasn’t taken a look at the answer to this question, and yet most of the time it does impact everything: Their family, relationships, health, even their finances.
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  Take your time with this. Make sure you explore every area that might be affected.
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  It’s at this point they begin to see exactly how much it’s really been costing them to “put up with” their challenges. Their motivation to invest in your coaching now, vs. in the future, increases dramatically.

These 3 questions are just one example of how to use your coaching skills to enroll well paying clients with confidence.