At Delenta, our mission is to empower coaches to unlock their true business potential. Our all-in-one platform helps coaches to simplify and grow their business, all whilst delivering a high-quality experience that will ensure your clients feel in safe hands. Designed by coaches, for coaches, our features are inspired by your pain points and are developed to enhance your coaching practice in a number of different ways. We provide all the tools needed to help you focus on your strengths and spend more time doing what you love.
One of the biggest challenges for coaches (when it comes to the ACTUAL coaching bit) is motivating clients to commit to the process adequately enough to reach their desired goals. Clients who are fully engaged will reach their goals more quickly and successfully, and working within a platform like Delenta will help your clients feel empowered and in control from the outset. Greater commitment to the desired goals and outcomes will result, maximising the impact of the experience as a whole.
We’ve put together these 5 tips to help you keep your clients engaged and motivated, optimising their coaching experience with you, and fostering a fail-safe route to success.
1.Plan, measure and reflect
Having an action plan and frequently revisiting it is a great way to keep your client engaged. Creating S-M-A-R-T goals within your plan of action is an effective method of keeping on-track. Measure, keep track and reflect on progress to strengthen focus and direction, and don’t forget to properly acknowledge the wins along the way! Jumping from one goal straight to the next with no time to reflect on progress and outcomes will lead to a ‘hamster wheel’ effect, and is a morale and energy drainer for both you and your client. Celebrating wins and successes with positive feedback will maintain a high vibe and is more likely to turn your clients into raving fans! Delenta’s points system is a great way to acknowledge any achievements along the way- a convenient and effective metric and motivator.
2.Create an interactive coaching experience
The coaching experience shouldn’t be confined to just the sessions themselves. Help your client to think of daily life situations where their learnings can be implemented/ incorporated with relative ease. Include small, actionable daily tasks which can concrete learnings/ habits/ desired outcomes, etc. The most successful coaches are those who can support their clients to integrate their development journey almost seamlessly into their lives. Clients who are empowered to make progress by doing what they can outside of your coaching sessions will always have something positive to bring to the next session, and that’s a great motivator for you both!
With Delenta, you can easily assign tasks to your clients and monitor their progress as they complete them. Clients can conveniently update their progress with each task as they go, and can add notes to tasks for you to see and respond to. With their own dedicated client portal, clients can also be encouraged to make their own suggestions and set their own tasks. This is an effective way of creating better clarity and focus around desired outcomes, and is also a huge help in terms of maintaining productivity and accountability.
3.Check-in with clients
Understanding where your client is regarding their progress will help you maintain momentum and determine next steps. Regular check-in’s before each session are an important part of this process. To get the most out of this, it’s best if your client has some sort of a system to note down anything that they might want to bring. Has anything come up for them between sessions that they want to address? Any specific ‘wins’ or breakthroughs that have occurred? Anything at all that they feel is relevant to mention? This can be done in a notebook, of course, but works brilliantly within a system like Delenta. Both you and your client will have real-time access to any notes that are added, giving you both time to ponder/ process and develop ideas and strategies which is a real engagement-booster and will result in goals and outcomes being achieved more quickly.
At the end of a session, make sure you’re both absolutely clear on what actions will be taken/ tasks completed before the next session which will help give your client direction and increase motivation. Ask your client to note down any key takeaways, too.
4.Clarity around expectations
Leading on from this, clarity around expectations is an absolutely crucial part of the coaching journey. It’s imperative that your client has a good understanding not only of your expectations, but also has a clear plan/ roadmap as to how to meet them in a realistic and timely way. Rather like asking someone to make a cake but without giving them access to the recipe and ingredients, the results can either turn out a bit flat, or even fail to materialise at all. No matter how clear you both are about the desired outcomes, if your client doesn’t have absolute clarity about how to arrive at them, they can quickly become disengaged, demotivated and end up experiencing the opposite of what they wanted to achieve.
5. Enjoy the process, and be you!
When you first start working with a new client, it’s natural to want to make a good first impression and maintain an appropriate level of professionalism, but don’t lose yourself in the process! Your client is investing in your unique ‘you-ness’ and has chosen you specifically as someone they want to spend time with to help them achieve their goals. You should have a good understanding of your USP and what attracted your client to you in the first place. As you strive to deliver the best coaching experience possible, be sure to own and embrace your unique talents and gifts, bring them to the table and enjoy being you!
