Customer Service Skills for Coaches and Trainers
It should come as no surprise that your clients are not only your bread and butter but your reason for being when it comes to business, and a focus on improving your relationships with your clients is important for that current and future business well-being.
So…how can you do that?
Prioritize Line of Communication
Keeping the lines of communication open goes a long way in the relationships you build with your clients. They need to be able to reach you when they have questions and needs by a phone call, email, text, or whatever other methods you and they are most comfortable with.
If your clients have needs, wants, or questions they deserve to be responded to in a timely manner. When you respond swiftly, even if you must tell them you are working on it but have not resolved their request yet, they feel like you are keeping them in the loop.
When talking about communication it is important for you to realize it goes both ways. Sometimes you need to also share with your clients to help them gain a better understanding of a process. Tell them why something may not be achievable. Explain to them the reason things are done the way they are and they will trust you in all of their future dealings.
Remember that you don’t always have to have an immediate answer. Your clients want to know you are working on their project or problem. Rather than focusing on having the right answers every time, focus on keeping your client informed of progress while you get to the bottom of a problem or finish a project. This builds trust and goes a long way in your relationship with your client.
Make your communication with them about them and their needs, not about yours. This tells your clients that you value them and their opinions, needs, and desires. It tells them that you want to keep them happy and satisfied. In short, improving your communication through availability can go a long way toward improving your relationships with your clients.
At the same time, you should not feel that you can’t let unreasonable clients know when they are abusing communication. For instance, when one client who only has a small percentage of your business, makes up the majority of your communications, it can lower your productivity and take up valuable time. Yes, it is ok to let your needy clients know that they should be honest but also reasonable in their requests for your time. After all, you likely have other clients who also need your attention as well.
Make Your Contracts Clear
Keep your contracts crystal clear so your clients know what to expect. Contract transparency can help both parties define their roles as well as improve communication, attitudes, and understanding. When everyone knows and understands the contract they will all be more satisfied. If needed, you may consider putting together a business playbook. A playbook is a great way to start your relationship with new clients, as it provides detail on your process, how you work, and how you can help.
Maintain a Positive and Compromising Spirit
Anyone can provide good work for a client. What keeps them is not only how you treat them but also if you add that little something extra. Always look for ways to wow them, give them extra good service, and go above and beyond their expectations. Your efforts will be rewarded not only in your relationships with them but also in the additional business they bring to you.
The energy, spirit, and attitude with which you conduct your business and your coaching sessions have a profound effect on how your clients feel about your relationships with them. In fact, it can either positively or negatively impact all of your business both present and future with those clients. Staying positive and enthusiastic even when you are stressed makes them want to do business with you because you are pleasant to work with.
You should also stay positive and refrain from negativity about other clients or competitors. When you speak negatively or degradingly about someone else you can leave a bad taste in the mouth of your client. This will make them wonder what you say about them too.
Some of the things that can improve your relationships with your clients are similar to what improves some people’s personal relationships, including compromise. Once in a while, you must be willing to give a little. It doesn’t always matter whether your clients are right or wrong in their requests. It matters more that you are willing to negotiate and work with them. Ask questions, solve problems, and for goodness sake compromise and work with your clients and you will keep them and improve your relationships with them in the process.
Don’t Be Afraid to Collect Feedback
Today many people seem to be cautious about asking questions and or learning more about their clients. Yes, it is true that you need to be cognizant of maintaining and honoring professional boundaries between yourself and clients, but you should not completely remove the routine of checking in and learning more about the person you have been hired to help. In fact, more insight into this person and how they think will make you better equipped to help. Seek out their frustrations and limitations. Whenever you can change what you do and how you do it. Tailor your services to their needs and wants.
Additionally, find out information that has nothing to do with work, such as how many kids they have and what their interests are. Or, send information to them that pertains to their interests. Getting to know them on a personal level will make them feel like they are your number one priority and best client. In turn, the extra attention and knowledge can lead to repeat business and recommendations to others for increased business in the future.
Consider implementing a feedback schedule. Whether that’s monthly, quarterly, or yearly (find a schedule that works best for you and your business updates). You can construct and use a client survey on satisfaction or just casually ask your clients for their opinions during a conversation or email. Find out what they like and don’t like, even when the truth might hurt. Once you know what works and what doesn’t you have the chance to improve so you can make the next experience and client relationship even better.
Consider New Ways You Can Help Clients
It’s not news to you that the last few years have prompted many people to pause and reassess their lifestyles. The importance of being fit and both physically and mentally healthy has never been so real and this has led to a greater interest by our clients in all areas and components of their mental and physical well-being.
Our clients are paying more attention to sleep, healthy nutrition, and wellness in an effort to strengthen their immune system and overall health, so why not take your training, knowledge, and skills to the next level? Why not expand your areas of expertise? Integrating additional specialized knowledge and certifications with your current coaching or training business will create additional revenue streams AND you will be able to provide new services for your clients to meet their needs and help them reach their health goals and benchmarks.
If you are currently training clients with specific conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, or a heart condition, a new certification and CEUs are a wonderful opportunity for you to increase your knowledge.
We have seen many health and wellness coaches have great success with their clients, and they want to help them further by designing a fitness program for them. However, they don’t yet have the skills to do so effectively. They would need to become Certified Personal Fitness Trainers to gain the skills needed to match their expertise in health and wellness coaching.
If you are a health and wellness coach, imagine a personal trainer trying to do your job without your skills. It just doesn’t work well. Think about how complementary and helpful it would be to have both types of skills and credentials.
If you offer Speed, Agility and Quickness Training, you know that mental toughness and focus is critical to your athlete’s success. But, what are you doing to help them?
Do you really understand the various motivational strategies? Do you know how to reduce distraction? Do you have a grasp of the mind’s role in injury recovery? You would understand all this, and much more, as a Certified Sports Psychology Coach. And, you would also be far more appealing to new clients as well.
If you are a yoga instructor, you know how it integrates perfectly with stress management and mind-body fitness. Yet, do you know how to integrate a well-designed mind-body approach to health and fitness with aspects of stress management?
There is much more to it than you may first think. When integrating your skills, knowledge, and certifications properly, your whole career takes a huge step forward.
Let’s work together to ensure your success.
If this idea intrigues you, you’ll want to click over and get the details now so you can get started.
Stay healthy!
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