Optimizing Client Engagement: Choosing the Right Medium for Coaching Sessions

Angie: 00:00:17

Hey everybody.

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Hey, it's Angie from the Coaching Clinic

So what I wanna talk about is how you do

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your sessions, how do you deliver them?

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Do you deliver them in

person face-to-face?

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Do you deliver them over the phone?

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I would love to hear all of the

perspectives on what has worked for you,

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what hasn't worked for you, because I

definitely have something to say about it.

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so the first thing that I wanted

to address is that in terms of

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meeting face-to-face, I'm not really

sure There's a lot of people still

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doing that, being really honest.

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I'm curious that if you are, do you have a

dedicated, office space that you're using?

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Are you renting a space to do that?

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And what do you feel like the

benefits are to meeting in person?

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I always like to look at

both sides of that coin.

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Is it great for you?

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Do you not wanna do it that way?

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Is it that you clients are

comfortable doing that?

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I do feel like, that's a little bit

out there now because you're limited in

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terms of who you can speak to and when

somebody like me, I have global clients,

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so, we're not gonna be meeting in person.

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We're not doing that.

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So it limits me as a coach.

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It limits the amount of

outreach that I have.

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So for me, meeting in person,

although, that was how it began for

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me, it just doesn't work anymore.

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But if it's working for

you, I'm still curious.

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Would still love to know in what ways

it works, why and all of those things.

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If you've shifted, I'd

like to hear that too.

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So then the other side of it is,

do you meet virtually face to face?

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Or are you on the phone?

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I have done both.

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And I have to say, for me personally, I

love to have the phone conversations, and

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here's why the benefits of this, is that

I feel like I am much more in tune to what

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is being said, tonality of the client.

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What's not being said, I'm much

more tuned into what's happening

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on the other side of the phone.

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I'm listening for the words, I'm listening

for the tone, the rate of speech.

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I am definitely more engaged or more

in tune with their energy and, and how

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they're actually showing up for this call.

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And I've had tremendous success

meeting with clients in this way.

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Things have changed over the years.

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I now have clients that.

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Although I might say to them, you

know, this is my preferred method

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of delivering these sessions.

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I also have people that now

they're like, no, no, no, no.

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I, I, I need to see your face.

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So I asked, tell me why.

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And I'm not telling you no,

I'm just curious as to why.

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And one person actually responded

and told me it was because it would

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actually hold them more accountable.

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If they could look at meaning that

they wouldn't just give me the

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surface answers, they wouldn't

try and kind of hide the truth.

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I don't think they were trying to say,

well, I can't lie to your face, but

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I could lie to you over the phone.

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I don't think that was it.

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But I do have to say that we

are much more honest when we're

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looking somebody in the face than

if we are on the phone with them.

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So maybe that is a plus that

I haven't considered before,

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but at the end of the day.

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The distractions are also

limited when I am on the phone.

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So if you look at me right now,

I don't know if John's gonna post

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it this way, but I think on our

new YouTube channel he's going to.

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so if you see, I am centered with the

photo, with the painting behind me,

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but it's out of it's, it's off center.

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First of all, I would never record

professionally knowing I did that.

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Something like that.

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On the other side, if I'm looking,

I'm, I'm watching energy too.

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I have to tell you, that would be

driving me crazy if, if somebody was

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sitting in frame the way I am, that

is something that would distract me.

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And I'm not saying for the entire

session, because obviously as a coach,

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I need to learn how to harness myself

and my energies and, For sure, right?

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I have to stay in touch with that, so

I'd have to let it go, but it would

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absolutely be a distraction for me.

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Now, there's all sorts of

technology, there's noise

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reduction and things like that.

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We can't always prevent that, but people

walking into the room, I've had it happen.

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Now, if I'm on the phone, I wouldn't

necessarily know that somebody walked

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in to hand somebody their lunch or

that the dog is running behind them

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or the kids are running behind them,

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I, I wouldn't know any of them

unless they told me, and, and of

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course there was noise behind them,

but to me it just creates more of

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a distraction free environment.

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Whereas, being on the phone, the only

thing that I am distracted by is noise.

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now with technology being what

it is, there's plenty of ways to

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avoid that, to to eliminate that.

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But what we see visually to me is

just one of the things that I don't

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want to contend with because my

sessions tend to get pretty deep.

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I don't wanna ruin a moment.

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I don't wanna ruin what's happening

in that, in that space because of

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some distraction even for them.

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I've had people say, oh my gosh,

I see that picture behind you.

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Is that your daughter?

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Who is that?

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And so I shifted.

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Nobody really likes the painting

behind me, including me, and that's

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good because it's pretty benign and

doesn't become a topic of discussion.

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It's just how I show up.

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It's what they expect to see.

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I don't even put books behind me

anymore because I don't want people

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going, oh, did you read that book?

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I'm looking behind you, and I see

that Little House on the Prairie book

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or something, whatever it is, and

I'm going, that's just my bookshelf.

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Like, so of course we can strategically

place things behind us like plants.

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I've had that happen where somebody's

like, oh, do you like plants?

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I love plants.

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What kind of plants do you like?

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Distraction for me, pure distraction.

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I do really feel like it's a personal

experience, but I think at the end of

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it, you have to become comfortable with

how you're delivering your sessions.

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This way you're able to focus on

your client and the session and what

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you're discussing with them, rather

than what is going on around you.

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I know there's lots of positives

and there's lots of negatives that

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I probably haven't discussed today.

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So with that being said,

I'm opening the floor.

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I would love to hear how

do you host your sessions?

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Or if you're a new coaching, how do you

think you want to host your sessions?

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Have you had coaching?

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What worked?

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What didn't?

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Did you feel that you wished you could

see your coach in person and this way

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build better rapport or connect better?

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Is that part of it for you, or

are you really more vulnerable?

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This is another thing that I have found.

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More vulnerable, when you're on the

phone, it's just easier to say things when

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you're not looking somebody in the face.

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It's very true for a lot of

people, especially adults,

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and this way, you know what?

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We don't have to stay locked eye to eye.

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Sometimes, I mean, most of the time I'm

taking notes, it can be a big distraction

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for people if I'm typing them or if I

am, writing them and I know don't come

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at me, I do use AI for note taking.

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However, in my personal note

taking for that particular client,

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I still love to write my notes.

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The reason why is because there's

things that I can do with my pen and

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paper that I cannot do on a computer.

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So for me, I might wanna put question

marks and circle something, put

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a star next to something that I

wanna make sure I come back to.

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That doesn't happen quickly enough

when I'm typing out notes, so I get it.

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Technology is the thing, but, I still

like to kind of go back at and look at

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those notes and review the conversation

and say, Hmm, did I miss something here?

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Or is this something to look

forward to the next time that I

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might want to find out more about?

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So again, we've all got

our ways of doing things.

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I'm curious.

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Just, give us a shout out.

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You know how to do that.

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Come find us on YouTube

but also just reach out.

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Ask us, tell us how do you do it?

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What do you think the best way is for you

to deliver the most impactful sessions

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that you can, whether it's in person,

virtually face-to-face, or over the phone.