fbpx
How to Create Powerful Agreements with Your Clients

How to Create Powerful Agreements with Your Clients

by | Apr 16, 2019 | Conscious business

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” 

~ Alexander Pope

If you offer 1:1 programs for your clients, you may have considered or been encouraged to have your clients sign a contract. It’s not uncommon for coaches, for example, to have their clients sign lengthy contracts before embarking on a program together. I do not and have never used a formal contract with a client.

What I do instead is create clear agreements that both myself and my client can truly get behind. What I’ve found is that agreements (unlike contracts) inspire and uplift, cultivate greater trust and respect and all in all, create the foundations for a more powerful relationship. It’s not uncommon for a new client to tell me that they love the agreement process and that it has left them feeling even more excited to begin our work together. I doubt the same can be said for most contracts.

The reason for this is that contracts are grounded in expectation whereas agreements are not. We live in a world of expectations. Often unspoken, our expectations of how others should behave or show up and their expectations of us lie at the heart of most disappointments and resentments within relationships. Think about the last time you felt disappointed about the way a friend or family member behaved, is it true that behind that disappointment you had an expectation that they would behave differently? An expectation that in many cases had never even been expressed. Sort of crazy right? This is not what we want with our clients. What we want with our clients is a set of clearly stated and openly discussed agreements that both parties can get behind.

Co-created agreements pave the way for shared understanding and conscious connection. They release us from expectations and in doing so free us from the inevitable resentments that might otherwise occur.

In this post, I’m going to share with you a powerful process for creating clear agreements with your 1:1 clients (hat tip to coach and author, Rich Litvin for heavily influencing this in my business). It’s important to note that you can apply the concept of agreements to any relationship, personal and professional but for the purpose of this post I’ll illustrate the model as I apply it to my 1:1 coaching relationships.

Once a client has signed up for a 1:1 coaching program with me, I schedule an agreements conversation. I don’t use one of our coaching sessions for this, it takes place before the coaching program even begins. Ahead of time, I’ll send over my business coaching welcome pack, which contains the agreements I’d like to put forth and I invite my new client to consider these and any others that they would like to have us make.

On that call we discuss why agreements are important and we take time to discuss what agreements we would like to make. I always suggest a number of agreements that feel important for creating a powerful container for the coaching relationship. Read on for four examples of agreements I put forward.

An agreement to show up with an open mind

I invite my clients to make an agreement to show up to the coaching relationship with an open mind, I ask them if they are willing to to embrace new possibilities. To show up ready to see things differently, to have their perspective and mindset changed. to leave what they believe to be true at the door. And I then I have them read the Empty Cup Parable: 

A wise old monk once lived in an ancient temple in Japan. One day the monk heard an impatient pounding on the temple door. He opened it and greeted a young student, who said, “I have studied with great and wise masters. I consider myself quite accomplished in Zen philosophy. However, just in case there is anything more I need to know, I have come to see if you can add knowledge.” “Very well,” said the wise old master. “Come and have tea with me, and we will discuss your studies.” The two seated themselves opposite each other, and the old monk prepared tea. When it was ready, the old monk began to pour the tea carefully into the visitor’s cup. When the cup was full, the old man continued pouring until the tea spilled over the side of the cup and onto the young man’s lap. The startled visitor jumped back and indignantly shouted, “Some wise master you are! You are a fool who does not even know when a cup is full.” The old man calmly replied, “Just like this cup, your mind is so full of ideas that there is no room for any more. Come to me with an empty-cup mind, and then you will learn something.”

An agreement to show up powerfully

Another agreement I like to make with my clients is around showing up powerfully. I explain that Coaching is a 200% relationship. Rather than us each give 50%, we both show up 100% and when that happens we have the most powerful relationship possible.

I discuss with my client what it means to show up powerfully and what the opposite looks like. I make it clear that when one of us gives less than our best the relationship suffers. I invite the client to take time to prepare for our sessions and in doing so bring all of their power to the call.

An agreement to show up with integrity

We also discuss integrity, what it means to follow through with what we said we’d do and how to clean up when we haven’t.

Nobody keeps their word all of the time and that’s okay, but I like to make an agreement with my clients about what will happen when one of us doesn’t. Usually when we fail to keep our word, we will apologise and/or offer up some excuse. What I prefer to agree is that rather than apologise, we take a good look at why we didn’t follow through and rather than make excuses, we look at the gap between what was said would happen and why it didn’t. This brings a real level of integrity to the relationship for both parties. 

An agreement to be authentic

This is where I invite clients to be willing to be completely honest about what is going on for them inside the coaching relationship and to speak up.

Often times, clients want to impress their coaches and so keep hidden anything they fear might have their coach think less of them. This is a really unhelpful dynamic, so an agreement to be honest and authentic allows for a coaching relationship that really has the power to transform.

Giving my client permission to openly speak his or her mind about anything that comes up during the coaching relationship is powerful.  

Hopefully this gives you a flavour of the kinds of agreements we cover. After each agreement discussed, I ask for my clients thoughts and suggestions. Are they happy to agree to what we talked about? Would they add anything else to it? After the ‘agreements’ part of the call, I share some logistical details with my client, my policies on things like lateness, handing in homework, between call communication etc. I have my policies but I discuss these with my client and check that they are happy to abide with them, no one has ever said no but if they did, we would discuss it until we could find an agreement that worked for both of us. Before we wrap up the call, I ensure that there is space for my client to put forward any agreements they feel weren’t covered that, they would like to have us make.

This session is recorded and at the end of the call, I ask my client to watch the session back and write up in their own words what we agreed to. This then becomes the document that contains the agreements of our coaching relationship. This document is a living, breathing document that we can return to any time we like, if we feel something needs adding or changing then we have the option to do that at any time during our work together. I always get incredible feedback from my clients about this process and, without doubt, it sets a tone for our relationship that is rooted in integrity, openness, honesty and trust. It cements the idea that the coaching relationship is a partnership that we are equally responsible for and to.

How about you? Do you have anything like this in place for your 1:1 relationships? Would you like to? If you want to know more about the full set of agreements I share, drop me a line at caroline@carolineleon.com and I’ll happily share my business coaching welcome pack with you. Are there any agreements that you would love to make with your future clients? Or agreements you wish you’d had with a coach or other professional you worked with? If so, drop them in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you. 

 

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

 

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

Four Marketing ‘Tactics’ That Erode Trust

Four Marketing ‘Tactics’ That Erode Trust

by | Apr 6, 2019 | Conscious business, Ethical Marketing

“Trust is built when someone is vulnerable and not taken advantage of.“

~ Bob Vanourek

As conscious business owners it goes without saying that we want to cultivate trust with our audience. We want to be of service and have our clients’ and customers’ best interests in mind. We’re all about having a positive impact on the world so the idea of doing something that would erode trust between us and our audience is abhorrent to us.

But here’s the thing, as conscious business owners, we are bombarded with messages from online business experts and marketers that in order to succeed we must use strategies that do just that. Erode trust. We know that these tactics don’t feel good, in some instances they feel downright icky but when we so desperately want to get our message heard and share our positive gifts with the world, in the absence of a more conscious alternative, it can be tempting to fall into the trap of thinking they are a necessary evil.

In this post, I’m going to share with you 4 such strategies so that you can avoid falling for them as you navigate the online marketplace and be more mindful of using them with your clients.

 

1. Using false scarcity to pressure buyers 

We see this all the time in online marketing. It’s not uncommon to be told we have 24 hours to buy or the offer goes away forever, only to head back to the same page a few days later to see that the countdown time has reset.

Sometimes it’s the early bird or registration deadline and a big deal is made of this looming deadline, which, we learn shortly afterwards, has actually been extended.

Sometimes it’s claims about limited spaces left. I’ve even talked to people who have actually been told by a business coach to make claims like this, even when they have no sign-ups at all, purely to encourage people to buy.

People use these strategies because often in the short-term, they work but once we catch-on to the lie, the damage to the relationship between business owner and client can be irreparable. As the saying goes:

Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

There are of course times when scarcity is legitimate. There is a deadline because your program or course starts on a specific date or there is a limited number of spaces because there are only so many people you can accommodate at the venue you’re hosting your talk. Sometimes we choose to limit numbers because we want to make sure we can give each person adequate personal attention. All of these reasons are valid. What is not valid, is using false scarcity as a “tactic” to pressure people in to making a quick decision to buy.

 

2. Playing on people’s Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) 

“Last Chance” “Don’t Miss Out” “There’s No Time to Lose!” “ONLY 1 DAY LEFT!” I got all of these statements from emails in my junk folder today. Playing on our fear of missing out is so prevalent these days and when it’s used for something you’re genuinely in two minds about buying, this tactic can be anxiety inducing to say the least. Just as with scarcity, there are of course legitimate points at which the potential buyer may miss out on making the purchase if they don’t buy. But there are also times when FOMO is played on when it’s not legitimate just to force the sale.

What’s definitely not okay is when business owners play on your fear of missing out by insinuating that by not enrolling in their program or signing up for their service, you will be missing out on that which you are trying to create or realise. Mark Silver of Heart of Business says this:

“When a marketer is pushing you around not losing out on realizing your hopes and dreams, that should be a caution flag. There is a way to mention this as a point for folks to consider: Is there a dream they’ve been putting off? This is a problem endemic in a broken culture – deferred dreams, and is a legitimate consideration for someone…If, however, the marketer is implying or saying that the only way to stop deferring your dream is to enrol in their program, that is wrong.”

If you are considering a purchase and find yourself feeling anxious because of the marketing messages coming from the business owner, consider this a sign that FOMO is being activated. Consider whether or not you want to invest in a business that uses this to pressure you into buying.

 

3. Making unrealistic promises or guarantees

Working within the business coaching industry, I’m only too aware and often aghast by all of the “Six weeks to 6-figure” messages we see these days online. “Work with me and I’ll show you how I went from broke to making six figures in six months” often accompanied by filtered images of said business owner living the good life, working on the beach for only 2 hours a day.

For business owners struggling to break even, working every hour god sends and battling self-doubt and fear, promises like these can be seducing. Who wouldn’t want to make money fast and live a life of freedom and reward? But so much of this is, at best seriously exaggerated and, at worst completely fake. If it were that simple to get rich so quickly and so easily, everyone would do it. Seriously. What’s happening more often than not is a pyramid scheme of people making good money from selling people the dream of making good money and how to sell that dream to others.

Whenever you hear a promise that feels too good to be true, the chances are that it is. Don’t get me wrong, there are people whose businesses grow fast, but even that is not necessarily something worth chasing. Slow and organic growth, rooted in integrity and service, rather than tactics and manipulation is a far safer bet in the long term for you and your audience.

 

4. Dressing up your sales pitch as “free” content or training 

This is a strategy that really erodes trust. We’re offered something free, a webinar, a training series, an article or e-book, only to discover that what we are receiving is in fact a thinly-veiled sales pitch.

How many webinars or free trainings have you watched or listened to which dedicate the first 20% of the call with the host bragging about their credentials and success, 20% of the time at the end pitching a new program or product and the rest of the time full of taster content that’s not substantial in itself but gives you just enough to whet your appetite for more. This is a tried and tested model and for many it works because when combined with time-sensitive offers using false scarcity and playing on FOMO, as buyers we’re really getting clobbered on the manipulation front.

How about offering good quality, meaningful, (truly) free or truly affordable content instead. Wouldn’t that make you want to invest in someone’s services, more than the former approach?

 

“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

~ Stephen R. Covey

 

Have you used one or more of these tactics? How did you feel about doing so? This post isn’t meant to judge but rather inform, I myself have used some of the above, before I got wise to the fact that a) they don’t benefit my audience or my business and that b) there is another way. It’s the mission of my business these days to empower and educate other business owners how to do business differently.

I’m curious, what unethical marketing and business strategies have you come across? I’d love to know, so please take a moment now to add to my list by commenting below.  

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

 

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

Conscious Business – What It Is and Why It Matters

Conscious Business – What It Is and Why It Matters

by | Apr 5, 2019 | Conscious business

“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.”

~ Joseph Campbell

What is conscious business? Put simply it’s a business that puts people before profits. That puts impact above income. It’s a business, that, at its core is about caring for others and making a difference.

When we change the way we do business, we change the world. 

Imagine for a moment a world where business was a force for good rather than greed. A world where the primary concern of business was the betterment of humanity and the furtherment of equality, health and wellness of all peoples. A world where business owners genuinely care for their clients and customers and have their absolute best interests at heart. A world where the business owners who operate with the highest levels of integrity, are the most prosperous. A world where meaningful business takes priority over the meaningless.

This is the world of conscious business.

When we change the way we do business, we change the world. 

A conscious business owner:

  • Operates with integrity and knows that how we sell matters.
  • Wants her business to be a force for good and knows that how we do business is a key part of that.
  • Puts the needs of the customer above the goal of making the sale and is willing to turn down a sale when it’s clear that what she is offering is not a good fit for the buyer.
  • Prioritises the cultivation of trust and connection between herself and her audience.
  • Rejects the use of manipulative marketing tactics to pressure her audience into buying.
  • Constantly seeks to ensure her products and services are of real value to her audience.
  • Makes positive impact the goal of everything she creates.
  • Is completely transparent when selling and uses no tricks or gimmicks to hide that fact. Instead simply presenting what’s on offer in a clear and honest way.
  • Works towards sustainability because she knows that an unsustainable business in the long term helps no-one.

Because here’s the thing. Having a product or service designed to have a positive impact on the world isn’t enough. If you employ gross and manipulative sales strategies to make your business work, then you defeat the purpose of creating something positive. As heart-centred, purpose-driven, authentic and conscious business owners, we have a duty to run our businesses with integrity. To be an example of how the world of business can work for good.

When we change the way we do business, we change the world. 

Our business can be an expression of consciousness. Of a deeper awareness and understanding that we are all connected. If we manipulate or deceive one person, we manipulate and deceive ourselves.

It’s no secret that big business rules the world and that it keeps our society in a place of greed, consumerism, selfishness and inequality. It is my firm belief that if we change the way we do business we change the world, when conscious business owners prosper, we change everything.

What do you think? I’d love to hear what the term conscious business means to you? Would you consider yourself a conscious business owner or something else? Let me know in the comments below. 

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I’m learning about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.

Why It’s Sometimes Necessary to Break the Rules

Why It’s Sometimes Necessary to Break the Rules

by | Apr 3, 2019 | Conscious business, Content creation, Ethical

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

~ Pablo Picasso

As a business coach, I’m often asked about the rules we need to follow in order to become successful in business. It’s not uncommon for people to begin a question with “am I allowed to…?” or “is it acceptable to…?” or “Is it okay if I…? Questions around how to connect with clients, how to create and share content, how to price offerings, how to do just about anything within the context of building and growing a business.

It surprises people often that I rarely come down on the side of any given rule. I realised early on in my entrepreneurial journey that whilst we are constantly bombarded with different rules we should follow in order to be successful, there are in fact no rules. Allow me to explain.

When it comes to creating content, for example, we’re overwhelmed with rules from how many words to use to what kind of headlines work best and to the absolute necessity of using images, after all “a picture is worth a thousand words” so they say. In this article, we’re helpfully told the ideal length of everything online, backed by research including the fact that the ideal length of a blog post is 1,600 words. Any longer and people’s attention span can’t bear it, too much shorter and we risk not getting ranked by google and missing out on sales conversations and subscribers. That’s a pretty daunting word count for a newbie entrepreneur trying to figure out what the heck to write about in the first place.

But I have good news. For every so called rule we can find, it’s possible to find a rule that argues the opposite as well as someone who broke the rule and succeeded anyway. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to some of my favourite, highly successful, rule breakers.

There’s Seth Godin who regularly posts articles with a super short word count. You can read a recent one here that comes in at a measly 76 words but has had to date well over 7000 likes. Or Mark Manson, who has a readership of “millions”, whose recent post clocked in at 4,442 words.

It has often been argued that we should publish blog posts daily. While this article from another well respected expert on blogging vehemently argues the opposite. It never harmed Seth to post daily and there are countless others who have succeeded just fine without doing so.

Then there’s Authentic Business Coach George Kao, with nearly 6000 followers on Facebook, who flouts the “a picture is worth a thousand words” rule and rarely uses images in his Facebook Posts and/or (shock horror) his Facebook adverts and gets a great deal of traction regardless. In fact he argues that he actually gets better engagement by not using images, because the people who interact with his posts do so, not because they like a pretty picture, but because they appreciate the content.

Another area where people like to spout out rules like they are sacrosanct, is pricing. We’re told by some so-called experts to never discount our products or services as it devalues our work, yet the highly successful, Kelly Rae Roberts, holds sales frequently and I personally (and gratefully) have bought ALL of her painting courses at sale price! And heaven help anyone who breaks the charge what you’re worth rule and offers pay what you can pricing like established business experts, Tad Hargrave and Mark Silver do.

And then there’s branding. How often are we told that in order to succeed we must cultivate the perfect image, have the perfect website and a carefully crafted brand. Check out Steve Chandler, a renowned and highly successful coach and author whose website clearly hasn’t had a branding makeover any time recently (sorry Steve!) or back again to successful, Business Coach, George Kao who openly admits that he hasn’t paid any attention to branding as he’s built and grown his 6-figure business.

There are countless more “rules” and successful rule-breakers I could share but hopefully that’s enough to make the point that there are, in fact, no real rules to follow and more importantly that when we try to follow the rules, we end up tying ourselves in knots because when we focus on the rules, oftentimes, what we end up doing is give ourselves an out.

I would write a weekly post but I don’t have time to write 1600 words.

I would post on social media every day but I struggle to find nice images.

I would share my website but I’m waiting till I can afford to pay for branding.

Sound familiar? So what are we to do if we don’t follow the rules?

Instead of trying to follow a gazillion, conflicting and oftentimes, unhelpful set of rules instead we can tune in to what feels right for us. We can embrace the adage “better done than perfect.” We can ask ourselves, what rules am I trying to heed that are actually holding me up? We can embrace values and principles instead like integrity and connection. Like putting the person before the sale, like being of service and producing meaningful content. These are the things that hold up in the long term, not a cleverly crafted headline or slick branding. If we struggle to even adhere to the so-called rules, then you can bet that our audience tire of being on the receiving end of them.

Consider forgetting about the rules and create meaningful content (at whatever length your heart desires!) and share it with love. Price your offerings from the heart, with your clients and customers best interests in mind and above all be authentic in your business. Show up genuinely and with honesty and that will serve you and your bottom line far greater than any silly rule will. Having said all that, if there is a rule that you’ve been following in your business that is working for you, great keep at it. Heaven forbid that I should create a rule about breaking rules here! 

What do you think about what I’ve shared here? Are there any rules you’ve been trying to follow without success, have you found certain rules have been stifling your ability to show fully in your business? Or have you found certain rules helpful? If so, please share them in the comments, I’d love to hear your perspective.

SIGN UP FOR MY SOULFUL STRATEGIES WEEKLY

 

Once a week, in the form of an e-letter, I share the best of what I know about building a business with integrity for conscious business owners.

The intention behind these letters is to be a voice for integrity within your (undoubtedly) cluttered inbox. To be the one email you can count on to contain strategic and soulful advice for building a business without selling your soul.

If you want to receive the Soulful Strategies Weekly, simply share with me your name and email address below and you’ll start recieving emails right away.