Your Client Said Yes. Now what? (Mastering Client Transformation)

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Ever landed that dream client only to freeze with the sudden realization that now you have to deliver? That moment of "what do I do now" anxiety hits almost every coach at some point in their journey. But there's a powerful framework for moving beyond that fear to create transformative results for your clients.

The cornerstone of exceptional coaching isn't complicated—it's about beginning with the end in mind. When someone becomes your client, they do so because they believe you can help solve their problem. Your first responsibility is gaining absolute clarity on what they truly want to achieve. This isn't just for your benefit; it helps them mentally commit to the destination, making the journey more focused and meaningful. Without this clarity, how will either of you recognize success when it arrives?

Many coaches struggle because they make coaching about themselves rather than their clients. The self-doubt whispers that you're not qualified enough or lack sufficient expertise are actually your brain's protective mechanisms trying to keep you safe from potential discomfort. The solution? Shift your focus entirely to where your client stands in their journey. Meeting clients where they are—not where you are—creates the foundation for genuine transformation. If they're on step one while you're discussing step nine, you're not serving them effectively.

Perhaps the most powerful insight for coaches is understanding the difference between technical and adaptive challenges. Technical challenges require information, steps, or how-to guidance. Adaptive challenges, however, demand perspective shifts and mindset changes. Most clients believe they have technical problems when they're actually facing adaptive ones. Recognizing which type of challenge your client is truly experiencing allows you to provide the right support at the right time, dramatically improving your effectiveness.

Ready to transform your coaching approach? Start by creating psychologically safe environments where clients feel they belong, then balance technical teaching with addressing the adaptive challenges that truly drive lasting change. Your clients will not only achieve better results—they'll become your most enthusiastic advocates.

Eastern for an honest, behind-the-scenes look at the lessons we’ve learned by watching real coaches grow? Visit us at:

https://www.modernleadership.us/mastery

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you do if you've signed that client?
And maybe it's somebody who'slike, quote, unquote, out of
your league, and you're like, Iwant to make sure that I can
help this client get to the nextlevel.
And maybe you're strugglingwith, like, not only when it
comes to the confidence, but theskills like what do I do now
that I have them?
How do I actually help themcreate great results so that
more people can come to me and Ican help them out?

(00:20):
And that's what we're doingtoday, guys.
We are going to break down areally powerful strategy to be
able to attack this in a waywhere you're going to be able to
help your clients getincredible results.
They're going to be talkingabout you and they're going to
keep coming back time and timeagain along with their friends.
So, guys, welcome to ModernLeadership.
I am Mark and this is Teresa.
There we go.
We help coaches develop theconfidence and skills they need

(00:43):
to make more impact and incomethan ever.
So you can have a new problem,and that new problem is being
fully booked and trying tofigure out what do I got to do
next, which is probably start agroup program.
But, guys, what we're doingtoday is we're doing some behind
the scenes.
We just started a newcertification.
We know that whenever somebodyjust gets started in something,
it could be like a little nervewracking, and being able to like
have a process or havesomething to go through really

(01:05):
does like make those nerves kindof like calm down, because the
truth is is you have somethingto offer someone, especially if
you've had a conversation withthem and they've decided to take
that next step.
But it's just a matter of likebeing able to really help guide
them through this and not makeit about you, but really make it
about them.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
So that moment hits you when you're like okay, it's
happening, I have a client now.
So my question is that, oncesomeone joins, like what's your
mindset as a coach when someonesays yes and the real work
begins?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, I was gonna say that that's when the work
begins, right?
So many people think it's thetime beforehand, right?
One of the philosophies that Ialways focus on is beginning
with the end in mind.
Right?
One of the philosophies that Ialways focus on is beginning
with the end in mind.
I mean, that is literally whatwe do as coaches is to be able
to begin with the end in mind,right?
So here's what I mean.
When somebody signs up for aprogram, somebody signs up for a
one-on-one, right.

(02:00):
Somebody signs up for something.
There is something that theywant to get or achieve out of
signing up with you.
They didn't usually do it outof pity.
They didn't usually do itbecause you weren't necessarily
the hype person.
They did it because they knowthat you can help them solve a
problem, right?
And so your job as a coach is tofigure out what is it that your
client actually wants.
What does your client want,right?
Because, as a coach, what I seea lot of people do and it

(02:23):
doesn't really work really wellis they just jump into fixing
and helping mode and notactually slowing down and going
okay, you just signed up, youjust became a client of mine.
I want to be so clear on whatyou want, not only for me, but
also so that you can actually gothere in your brain so we can
figure out how to create that.
Because if you get to the endof six months or a year and you
haven't done this with someone,how are they going to know

(02:44):
whether you've helped them orwhether this has been successful
or not?
Yeah Right, for me it's alwaysstep one, step one I mean we did
in the certification, right, wehave a clarity call that we
actually take them through aprocess of identifying what they
want personal and professionalbased goals, because that's how
we roll.
But you have to get clear whatthose people want.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Why do you think so many coaches still feel
uncertain after they've landed aclient?

Speaker 1 (03:09):
They make the coaching be about them, not
about their clients.
But this is how your brainworks Like if you're a part of
our programs, you know that yourbrain is wired to keep you safe
and if it can convince you thatyou're not good enough, you
haven't gone through enoughtraining, etc.
Then you don't have to do itand you don't have to get
uncomfortable right.
If you are going to think aboutyourself, you can think about
it in terms of like what have Ilearned?
What have I grown through?

(03:30):
What have I overcome?
How has coaching helped me?
Now, how do I take this andhelp my client do it in their
way?
Now you do need to have someskills and some structure, but
making sure that you're notmaking about you, you're making
about your client is step numberone.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
I love that.
Yeah, okay, all right.
So once we actually start to dothe work with our clients, how
do you prepare to create realtransformation in a session?

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Finding out what they really want, helping them come
up with a plan and then beingthere to guide them along the
way to number one.
First off, keep them out of thewhirlwind.
Okay, what the whirlwind is isjust the normal everyday
activities, right your work,your kids, exercising those
things that could very easilykind of like pull you out of
doing the things that you wantto do right or achieving the
goals you want to achieve.

(04:19):
And being able to do that withfor your client is huge.
But also making pivots alongthe way, leaning into what's
working, doing it more like,adjusting what's not working
right, and basically being ableto take them through like this
flow right, and so when you gothrough a flow like that, you
can kind of see like what arethe direction changes that you
can go and really like help meetthem where they're at.

(04:40):
You're not meeting your clientswhere you're at.
Where they're at, you're tryingto meet them where you're at.
So instead of me meeting aclient where they're at, I'm
talking the language I'm sharing.
Hey, I think you should do thiswith your business.
I think you should, and all ofthat is not helpful to your
client because your client isn'twhere you are.
So thinking about, like, how doI meet my clients where they're
at?

(05:00):
If they're on step one and I'mon step 10, I shouldn't be
talking about step nine withthem?
You have to actually meet themwhere they're at and, of course,
having conversations with them,coaching right, being able to
guide them through this.
That's how you identify oh,this is where they're at and
this is what that next stepcould look like.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
What helped you trust your coaching more and stop
like over prepping or doubtingyourself.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
I'm not a proponent on practicing with people who
pay you money.
No-transcript.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
So how do you support your clients without trying to
fix them?

Speaker 1 (06:03):
You understand the two types of challenges that
people can go through.
I see that a lot of people gointo coaching either assuming
what their clients challengesare or just coaching one part of
the challenge, because that'sthe only thing or only tool that
they have and that's the onlypath that they know to go down
right.
And so when you can understandthose challenges now, you can
actually know what to do to helpthem right.

(06:24):
So the first type of challengeis a technical challenge.
This is somebody who just needsmore information, needs more
steps, needs more a meal plan,needs like the workouts to do,
needs the how to start up aFacebook ad, needs the script,
those kind of things.
Now what most people think isthey think they have a technical
challenge but they don't.
They actually have an adaptivechallenge, which means they have

(06:48):
to adapt, they have to thinkabout it differently, they have
to change their perspective.
They have to get into here,find out what's keeping them
stuck from actually doing thosethings.
What type of challenge is yourclient going through?
Do they have a technicalchallenge where they need like
some of the steps, or do theyhave an adaptive challenge where
they need to like be coachedand figure out the right mindset

(07:08):
and perspective to be able totap into it.
So if you do have a client andthey're maybe not getting the
results they want, I want you tochallenge yourself and go have
I been trying to deal with thewrong challenge?
And so one of the things likewhen I start this certification,
it's not just hey, let me giveyou the details right, even
though that's an important partof the process.

(07:28):
It's the adaptive challengesthat I know that they're going
to be facing.
Getting on the first call,everybody's like oh, let me, I
want to learn how to coach andthey join our certification
because they think it's becauseof the technical challenges and
there are some technicalchallenges they're going to deal
with.
But really I think about as thecoach leading the group.
I'm thinking, okay, I'm goingto give them all the tools for
the technical, but I also needto manage the adaptive
challenges that are going to befacing them.

(07:48):
On call one, I want to startsome great conversations.
I want them to know that theybelong here.
I want them to feel like maybeit doesn't feel like it's the
right room, but it's thatexactly what makes it the right
room.
I want to acknowledge andappreciate them for when they
raise their hand, when theyreach out, when they unmute,
when they share.
I want to set up theenvironment so that it's a quote
unquote psychologically safeenvironment where they feel like

(08:09):
they can lean in, they can haveconversations.
That's what, for me, when Istart a group program, that's my
goal is, yes, do I want toteach?
Absolutely, I like teaching,but at the same time, I want to
create an environment that makespeople feel like this is for me
.
I'm in the right place.
Let me just keep leaning in andthen I can teach them all the
technical stuff.
So the adaptive challenges arethings that can get in your

(08:29):
client's way.