08 Dec What to Do When a Coaching Client Wants to Quit
No matter how great of a Christian Coach you are people will always find a reason to quit your program. Whether it’s a group or 1 on 1 some people, unfortunately, self-sabotage their efforts; often masked with other excuses. Please understand that you could do everything perfectly, your client got results, got breakthrough, and even positively praised you to others on social media…they will still quit your program. Seems strange I know, but if it hasn’t happened yet it will in your coaching career. Today’s Video and Blog post share exactly what to do as a Coach when your client wants to quit.
What to Do When a Coaching Client Wants to Quit
**VIDEO**
Here are some of the harsh realities of Coaching other Trainers won’t talk about:
- Coaching Clients sometimes self-sabotage regardless of how good you are
- Coaching Clients will sometimes lie and/or betray you
- You can only help a client as much as they are willing to help themselves
- Clients will blame you when they don’t see results (especially when they don’t do the work)
- Clients don’t always keep their word
- It can be very painful when you are invested in seeing others succeed and they give up
So what do we do about it? We can’t control and we are not going to try and manipulate others.
- Remind the Client of their Vision – Sometimes a client has lost sight of what they are working on or they don’t have a clear vision of the future. The Bible tells us that, “without vision the people perish,” and for a coaching client to not be clear on the transformation and result they want it becomes easier to not stay committed to the coaching process. A client can grow impatient if expectations haven’t been set on when they should start seeing results.
What you can do as a coach is to remind the client of the vision that God gave them and what it will feel like. There are people that need to hear your story and the story of your client’s. When you remind them of the power of what God is doing through them to get them into steps of executing their vision and the results they have so far, you are more likely to keep them in the game. - Eliminate Client Overwhelm – A client who has not gotten started, delayed, or procrastinated in the process will feel behind. Rather than push through and receive the benefit of doing exercises it is unfortunately often easier to give up and give excuses. If there are too many exercises and videos to watch your coaching program will become something daunting for the client to consume.
Here is what I suggest doing. Call work they need to complete “exercises” or “best practices.” Provide a client road map so they know the journey of your coaching program and the steps involved. Give the client permission to hit the reset button and start over. A misfire at the starting gate can occur mentally for some clients so it’s important not only to give them getting started steps at the point of sign up but also to be willing to hit reset if they need it.
3. Let them Go – The truth needs to be that you don’t want clients that don’t want your help, have an attitude, entitlement issues, or are simply not coachable. That being said, it still never feels good to see a client you know you can help walk out the door. In the earlier days of my coaching career, I would take it deeply personal and assume it was a reflection of who I was as a person or that I was doing something wrong. I allowed a client quitting to affect my personal value and self-esteem. How foolish I was to allow someone else to have so much power in my head.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to pray and let the client go. I pray a blessing over them and I verbally give the person to God in my prayer. This is how I let go and cast the care to the Father. I would be so upset when people quit because I felt that people would not fully step into their callings or that they were giving up on what God is calling them to.
What finally helped me get to an ok place about clients prematurely leaving or quitting are these two things:
- God invites us to co-labor with Him in what He is already doing. God’s missions will always be accomplished no matter what. He will just keep going to the next person that will say yes to Him. The lord is looking for true worshippers, those that will worship in spirit and in truth. Pray that these are the people the Lord brings to your coaching doors. Even Jesus said to his own disciples in Mathew 9:37, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
- You must take the position that you and your program are incredibly valuable, produce results, and that the client needs you more than you need them. Look at like this…
Mark Zuckerberg invited 7 people to his dorm room to hear the business idea that became Facebook. 4 said they would be there but only two showed up and joined Mark. Both are now billionaires.
You’ve invited your clients to an opportunity to experience breakthroughs with you as their Christian Coach. Some will say no from the start, others will express interest and then not take advantage of it, and a smaller group will show up and take the journey. They will experience the breakthrough and profit from it, the others will not.
I guarantee you Mark doesn’t spend any time thinking about those that didn’t show up or those that flaked out. He took the ones that were invested and committed and went out into the world and changed their lives…
Don’t worry about those who quit and give up. Pray for them and bless them and shake the dust from your feet and move on coach! Focus on YOUR calling to coach and the clients you do have that are being coachable and seeing results.
Rev. Ron Gelok III, MBA
P.S. Want to Enroll More Coaching Clients but Not sure what to say? Click Here to Download My Christian Coach’s Script Book!
No Comments