Can you promise results as a coach?
One of the most common questions that comes up from our students in our Uncage Your Business coaching calls, is whether you can promise results as a coach. How can you tell your clients exactly what they will get out of working with you, when coaching isn’t supposed to be a prescribed formula? When it’s supposed to be led by the client, NOT by the coach?
We talk a lot around here about the idea of marketing your coaching as a solution to your clients problems. In fact, we define your niche as the PROBLEM that you solve.
And with this comes talking clearly about what RESULTS someone can get when they work with you.
And we always get push back on this from coaches who say they were told in coaching school never to lead the agenda, to let the client lead, and to not guarantee anything.
We get it.
We have also been in coaching school and have worked with 1000s of coaches! So we understand well what they teach you in coaching school.
So let’s set the record straight about what we mean when we say that YES, you should definitely be talking clearly about results in your marketing.
Results Resistance
Erin, my co-coach in Uncage Your Business, has coined this “results resistance” – when new coaches refuse to be clear about what results their clients can get, because their coaching school told them that the client needs to lead.
And we get it. “Promising” anything feels scary. And unethical. And that is NOT what we are talking about.
Coaching and selling your services with a desired result in mind does not mean you have to be an expert in your client’s life or that you will be telling them what to do.
Rather, it means that you are an expert in the process you offer to help clients move from point A to point B.
- Point A being the PROBLEM they came to you with
- Point B being the RESULTS that they want to get by working with you
These are results THEY want. You are not telling them “Hey, you should want this thing”. THEY are coming to you because they want that thing, and they know that you coach people who have the problem they have.
No one signs up for coaching without wanting a result! Otherwise why would they pay you? JUst for the fun of coaching? Nope lol.
Once you have coached enough people in your niche, you will start to see that you DO get clients that all end up being similar, and your “results-resistance” will fade.
But what if not ALL my clients get the results they came for?
That’s fine. You are not offering a guarantee when you talk about results. You are simply sharing that with the work you do, most people tend to get X results after working with you.
I don’t think anyone signing up for coaching expects a guarantee! Seriously. Even with selling a business building program, I have had VERY few people over the years ask me if I offer a guarantee.
People understand that there is variance in results.
Just because you talk about where MOST of your clients get to, doesn’t mean it is your responsibility to guarantee every client will get there, and it doesn’t mean that the client doesn’t have any responsibility.
Pretend you are selling a physical product
I always find it helpful to think about it as if you were selling a product.
If I created a skincare product for acne, and I wanted to test it out, I’d give it to 10 people with acne. Then I’d check in after 30 days and see what kind of results they got.
Just because I gave them the product doesn’t mean the client’s responsibility is gone. It’s a shared responsibility. They need to use the product. They need to use it consistently. They need to use it as directed.
It is my responsibility to make sure that the right people are using the product, and that I am giving them the tools to use it correctly to get the best results. So I might choose people with moderate acne, but not give it to people who have deep hormonal-type acne that seems to be beyond what I know my product can help with.
The people who volunteer to try the product want the result of less acne and have self-selected to be volunteers to use it – they raised their hand when I explained what I was offering and asked who wanted to try it. It’s not like I am walking up to random people on the street and saying “here, you need this, use it”.
Just like you are not taking clients who don’t know what they want coaching on, and then shoving your niche topic on them.
Your clients self-select to sign up for your coaching based on your niche description and your marketing.
You say “I help people with XYZ”, and they raise their hand and say “I want that”
So when you start your work together, it is understood that you are both working towards a result together.
This, by the way, is the power of niching — clients come to you specifically because of what niche problem you help people with!
This is scary. What if I can’t get my clients those results?
I know that it can invoke fear to feel like you are responsible for people’s outcomes.
You’re not responsible for whether people show up, follow through, and are willing to do the work.
But you are responsible for the process that you’re offering, the expertise that you’re bringing to the table, and making sure the right people sign up for your coaching.
And you are responsible for testing out your coaching process over and over and over again to SEE if you can get results.
That is part of the beta testing process. Practicing your coaching tools within a defined niche, so you can start to see what results your clients are getting.
Once you have coached 10 people in your niche, you will start to get a very good idea of where you can take people, and you will be much less scared of talking about it because you have SEEN it, over and over again.
After coaching 100 people, you will be able to talk about results so confidently that you won’t even think twice about it!
People want results
People don’t pay for services that don’t have a result at the end.
No one signs up for coaching without something they want to change or something they want to get out of it.
Even if you are doing open-ended coaching without a specific niche, and you are just coaching anyone on anything… you STILL coach to results. In that very first session you will ask that person what they want to get out of coaching, and they will tell you, and you will hold that in your space as you coach them.
Don’t fear results
Being able to talk clearly about what results your clients get out of working with you is crucial for your marketing.
Getting testimonials from clients that share their results is super important, and being able to write about what you can offer, on your website and in your content, will help clients trust you and believe you can actually help them.
If you haven’t gotten results yet for anyone, get out there and start testing your services and collecting that results language.
Getting beta test clients so you can practice getting results is a huge piece of what we work on in Uncage Your Business! Click here to learn more about how we can help you get confident in your coaching results!
