Engage With New Clients: 6 Tips for Coaches

To help you best engage with new clients as a coach, we asked experienced coaches and business leaders this question for their best advice. From building rapport and trust from the beginning to prioritizing clear and concise communication, there are several tips that may help you engage with new clients and form a solid professional relationship.

Here are six tips for coaches to best engage with new clients:

Build Rapport and Trust from The Beginning
Get to Know Your Client’s Goals
Empathize With Your Clients’ Challenges
Always Ask Questions
Allow for Independent Decision-Making
Prioritize Clear and Concise Communication

Build Rapport and Trust from The Beginning

When engaging with new clients, the first thing I do is build trust and rapport. For true transformation to occur there has to be trust. The trust starts with good rapport building. Many coaches miss the rapport part and go straight into the coaching, so it takes longer for the trust to formulate. It is so important to create that connection so that a safe environment can be formed so transformation can begin. Remember to build rapport and trust from the start then notice the change that happens from there.

Aikyna Finch, Finch and Associates, LLC

Get to Know Your Client’s Goals

As a coach, it is your job to help your clients achieve their goals. But to do that, you need to first understand what those goals are. Ask your clients about their long-term and short-term goals and find out what they hope to achieve through coaching. Once you have a good understanding of your client’s goals, you can develop a plan to help them reach those goals. Let the client know what you expect of them and what they can expect from you.

Peter Lucas, Relocate to Andorra

Empathize With Your Clients’ Challenges

One solid strategy for coaches engaging with new clients is to empathize with their challenges. By actively listening to a client’s needs, one can better understand how to help them. Be attentive, responsive when appropriate, and above all be empathetic. Seeing thought and care like that so soon in the relationship really helps build that bond of trust necessary to coach most effectively.

Kevin Callahan, Flatline Van Co.

Always Ask Questions

Ask questions. People are more open to feedback when you’ve taken the time to listen and learn about them, and as a coach, you’ll find that clients are significantly more impressionable and malleable when you’ve asked, listened and learned.

Once a client feels seen and heard by you, they’ll be much more open-minded to your training, and you’ll both wind up more successful by the time your work is done.

Matt Woods, sold.com

Allow for Independent Decision-Making

Coaching is a means to getting a client to realize their full potential. Hence, it is essential to cultivate independent decision-making from the start of the engagement. Initiating this ensures that the client can learn how to process their thoughts well and use your nudges as subtle tips on what ideas and concepts to focus on as they work towards their goals.

Ivy Bosibori, USBadCreditLoans

Prioritize Clear and Concise Communication

One of the best ways to engage with new clients is to make sure that your communication is clear and concise. Articulate clearly, what you can offer your clients and how they can benefit from working with you. It’s important to remember that every client is different, so their needs may vary based on their industry and experience level.

To build a strong relationship with a client, it’s important, first, to know them as individuals. The best way to do this is through a questionnaire. You can ask questions about their industry and experience level. Also, find out what they’re looking for in terms of coaching services. Then, after taking the time to get to know each other better, you can begin discussing goals and strategies for success for both parties.