Are Your Clients The Right Fit For You?

We often talk about whether we’re a right fit for our clients but are your clients the right fit for you?

Let’s be honest we can’t love, or be loved by, everybody and there are going to be some client relationships like that too.  If you don’t have a great connection with each other everything you do together is going to be hard work. Your client won’t necessarily make much progress where they haven’t bought into the coaching relationship, which isn’t great for either of you.

When you start out you want to work with anyone and everyone, mostly because you want to start earning money, but you also want to practice your coaching skills and often to prove to yourself that you can do this coaching thing after all. As you become more experienced as a coach you will be more choosy who you work with. You will start to set your own boundaries over what is or isn’t acceptable to you. One lesson I’ve had to learn is that when I don’t listen to my gut reaction about working with a client things don’t go so well. As a result of that I’m now much clearer on who I take on.

I know that to be happy with my coaching I have to work with people that a) are ready to be coached, b) are willing to make progress and c) not going to moan about putting in hard work. Now you might find that the challenge of turning around someone that isn’t that motivated is your thing, it just isn’t for me. I love coaches that are wanting to take action but just don’t really know where to start, so step by step we work together to figure out what they want for their business/lives and then work on action steps to get there. Had I stuck to that ‘ideal profile’ from day one I could have saved myself a lot of heartache.

If you’re in the coaching relationship and it’s not going so well then write down the things that aren’t working and tell them that you’re not sure you’re the right coach for them any longer.  If you think some of the points will help them then share them, but only in a kind and gentle way.  This isn’t about being harsh and ‘dismissing’ a client, this is about setting them on their journey with someone that’s a better fit.   Ideally you will have a couple of coaches that you can refer them to.  If you don’t have anyone then you could always refer them to your coaching school to find an alternative coach, or perhaps to the accredited body you’re with who may have a list of coaches they could work with. You need to be kind, but remember you’re being kinder by letting them go because someone else that can connect with them will help them progress much quicker and much further, so don’t beat yourself up over it.

So my challenge to you is to think about your own ‘ideal profile’ with clients;

1. Who do you love working with and why?
2. What boundaries do you need to set yourself?
3. What type of clients are you willing to take on/let go of to make sure you work with the right people and enjoy what you do?

There will be times when you bend the rules, but at least by having some kind of idea in place about who you want to work with and what you will/won’t accept then you’ll find it easier to say ‘no’ to those clients that aren’t the right fit.

Leave a comment below to let me know what you come up with, or drop me an email at [email protected].  I’d love to hear from you.

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