Better Business Coach Video Podcast: Sales Training | Proven Education | Actionable & Downloadable Worksheets

The “Get to Know Yourself” template should follow directly after episode 21’s ForceField Analysis, and should be completed as part of your first paid client sessions.

As a business coach, you need to understand your clients on a deeper level. To add to that, as discussed in session four, running a business can be chaos and your client may not have had time to truly understand themselves. The “Get to Know Yourself” template is designed to get everything out on the table, so you can start helping your clients where they need it most.

Episode outline:

I want to preface by saying: use your discretion before using this worksheet with corporate clients. While it is amazingly useful when working with them, many consider it life coaching and it can lose you rapport. When working with corporate, if I decide to use the worksheet, I like to add on the phrase, “when you’re working,” to the start of each question. I find it makes them feel more at ease with the questioning. Small businesses, however, absolutely love it, so never feel you shouldn’t pull it out and get started.

This worksheet can sometimes take up to an hour to complete because it forces the client to consider things that in many cases, they have never considered before. You will be surprised just how often something pops up that highlights something neither you nor the client originally expected, changing your entire coaching approach or the desired direction the client wishes to pursue. Often, what the client says they are wanting at the start of the session is the last thing they would want by the end. This is the true power of this worksheet. Without it, you could end up coaching a client toward something they never actually wanted.

This worksheet works fantastically when combined with the homework, “Forget About Goals – Why Is The Key To Success”, covered in session 17, as it ensures you are always on point with all your critical direction and advice.

What do you enjoy doing?

This question may seem simple enough, but who truly spends time thinking about these things? Asking it in this session, like many of the other questions, will force the client to consider things they have, perhaps, never considered before, or at least not on a truly real level. Understand that these questions, as you progress, may take time to answer and for the best effect this is a good thing. Embrace the skills covered in session 9, “Listen & Succeed,” and give them time to consider their answers on a deeper level. Very soon you will step past understanding the client and shift to assisting them to move forward. It’s vital that before you do this you understand exactly what they want and why.

That said, if you’re not careful, the client will go off on a tangent and time will fly. This may sound great since after all, they are paying you to listen, but consider what they will think after the session. The last thing you want them to do is go off on a  tangent for too long and then feel they just spoke about themselves and you offered very little value. As a coach, you must balance between allowing enough time for expansive, well thought-out answers, and time wasting chit-chat, bragging or complaining.

What makes you happy?

Here you are trying to determine if the client is motivated by extrinsic rewards (money and praise) or intrinsically motivated by seeing their business grow and succeed. There are negatives to each and as a coach you must be ready to support them how they need you most. An intrinsically motivated client will often be happy just delivering a quality product and writing great procedures, which is not the best mindset for marketing their business. An extrinsically motivated client will want praise and payment for everything they do, which is not great for a venture that may require months of work before the first profit is made. For extrinsically motivated people it is also important, as a coach, to know you must be their biggest supporter; after all, at the start you may be their only one.

Is there anything that you wanted to do, but have not yet accomplished?

Here you are looking for any surprises that might, if not addressed, come back to bite you. For example, what if you solidified local business routes for a client’s business and they had a goal to one day relocate to a different city or country. Then you spent time doing something that wasn’t aligned to what the client wanted, instead of perhaps building out products and services that stretch past geographic boarders.

Where would you like to spend more of your time, and doing what?

Here it is key not to project your own wants and desires onto a client. You may want to work hours and hours to earn big dollars, but a client may only be willing to commit 10am-3pm. After that, it might be all about family. Therefore, your job is a coach is to systemize and train staff to ensure the owner can run out the door to pick up the kids like they want. Your job as a coach isn’t to change what they think is important, but to help them spend more time doing it.

What would you do if you could do anything that you wanted without limits?

Here you may find a client responds, “Exactly what I am doing now, just less worried about money.” For those clients, your job as a coach will be to help them make money doing what they love. Others will say, “Get the hell away from here,” or, “Start another business I can’t afford to start right now.” For those clients, your job as a coach may be to help them build up their business to sell and get out. These are two completely different tasks, and only two of a possible thousand,. This question is vital in knowing exactly what task or tasks you are undertaking.

How do you want to spend your life on a daily basis?

This is valuable information for you as a coach. Do they like writing, going to the gym, or meeting staff at particular times of the day? When do they want to be working and when do they want to clock off? You don’t want to suggest that a client does certain activities that are not aligned to what they want to be doing, unless of course it is for a short time to achieve a specific outcome. Even then I would consider extensive unfreezing, a major element of effective change management covered in session 12, first.

What is the most important to you at this time in your life?

People have different priorities, and as a coach, you need to understand what they are. I like to hand them the list below and ask them to number them one to seven in order of importance.

What would I like to be doing 10, 20 or 30 years from now?

If the client is over fifty, ask only what they want to be doing in ten years. Some people may have not mentioned it till now, but when a lifetime is presented to them, all of a sudden they may share dreams of new businesses, retirement, or even going back to a job. This question is really just asking what you have asked above in a different way to see if you get a different response.

REMEMBER:  With no clear picture of how your client wants their life to be, how can you ensure they live it? This worksheet will create a clear vision for your client, giving all that they do purpose and energy – they will become self-empowered.

Keep me in the loop:

I would love to hear how this worksheet worked for you and your clients. Please take a second to post a comment in the comment section below:

Items/Links Mentioned

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you; it’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write-up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com

The ForceField Analysis should follow directly after episode 20’s SWOT Analysis, and should be completed as part of your first paid client sessions.

The ForceField Analysis is amazingly useful for helping your client, and you as their coach, understand the terrain before making any change or improvement. It’s also a great way to ensure your client doesn’t miss out on potential supporters that may aid their success, or fall victim to unforeseen hurdles.

Episode outline:

You may have clients that you believe might find the SWOT Analysis overwhelming or too complicated. For these clients you can choose to skip it all together and move straight through to the ForceField Analysis. To do this, you will take the biggest challenge (problem) given by the client in the “Where Is Your Business Now” worksheet and then move straight into discussing what improvements and/or changes would fix this. Once this is done, it is an easy transition into what will help (and stop) them from getting there, which is the basis of this worksheet.

For coaches that have just completed a SWOT Analysis with their clients, you may be thinking you can skip this step – and you would be right. You can choose to skip ForceField Analysis completely and move on to the next worksheet, soon to be provided in session 23.

I conversely see each indicated action discussed in the table, derived from the SWOT analysis, as a requirement for improvement or change and therefore use ForceField Analysis for each of them.

The worksheet is simple – you just list the desired change or improvement. Then you list all the possible things that will help you implement the change or improvement, and all the things that could stop you.

An example of this would be installing a new CRM system to replace a paper system.

You may list “what will help us get there” as:

You may list “what will stop us getting there” as:

Keep me in the loop:

I would love to hear how you’re currently using the SWOT Analysis and how you will now change this. Please take a second to post a comment in the comment section below.

Items/links mentioned

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you; it’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write-up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com

This worksheet follows shortly after the “Where Is Your Business Now?” worksheet, explained in session 13, and should be completed as part of your first paid client session.

You will also find SWOT helpful when creating SMART business goals, as outlined in session 17. SWOT will really help your client understand if the goals they are setting themselves are achievable for their organization, or if they should be increased/reduced to better motivate and drive the organization to a higher or more realistic target.

Episode outline:

The SWOT analysis is a coaching tool that is too often undervalued, generally conducted once in every coach’s initial meeting and then put in the drawer never to be seen again.

To me, the SWOT analysis is one of the most important documents in niche marketing and in ensuring business longevity. I believe the SWOT analysis should be conducted every six months and be viewed as an organizational insurance policy. By doing this, an organization will make sure it is best positioned against threats that are looming on the horizon and best placed to capitalize on any potential opportunities that otherwise may have gone unnoticed.

So let’s have a closer look at SWOT

Strengths and weaknesses

Here you encourage your client to look inward for strengths and weaknesses within their organization. Good examples of items that may lie on either the strength or weakness side of a SWOT analysis for any organisation may be:

These items are all internal to the organization. This means that if they’re currently a weakness, the business is in complete control of the weaknesses rectification.

Opportunities and threats 

These effect a business, however, are outside (external) to a business’ direct control. While a business can’t directly change external opportunities or threats, knowing what they are still allows a business to be in the driver’s seat. Knowing about potential opportunities and threats gives the organization a real advantage over their opposition who are instead affected by a change as it occurs, or are confronted by others exploiting an opportunity they never saw coming.

So how do you know what opportunities and threats to look for?

I suggest the use of an analysis commonly known as “PEST”

Synergies and niche markets

Once you have all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats on the table, it is time to look for synergies that would allow you to capitalize on new niche markets, as well as potential weaknesses that if not rectified may lead to adverse effects. To achieve this, ask yourself/your client the following:

So is SWOT a static or dynamic document?

SWOT can be transformed from a static document to a dynamic one by creating the following table:

Column 1 – List your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats down a page

Column 2 – List the implications and possible synergies of each item listed in column one

Column 3 – List the indicated action to avoid or capitalize on each listed implication or synergy

Column 4 – List the resource requirement to complete the indicated action

Column 5 – List the opportunity cost of taking this action, i.e. what you are giving up/sacrificing such as time or money that could be used elsewhere. Also list the opportunity cost of not taking action, i.e. you could go broke, lose market share, or lose your current competitor advantage.

Make a decision to proceed or not to proceed with your indicated action.

If you decide to proceed with any indicated action(s), form a SMART goal as discussed in session 17 to best ensure successful completion.

Keep me in the loop:

I would love to hear how you’re currently using the SWOT analysis and how you will now change this. Please take a second to post a comment in the comment section below.

Items/links mentioned:

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you; it’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write-up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com

This worksheet forms the first part of your first paid client session and is used to re-unfreeze the client to the fact that they must embrace change to fix their current business challenges.

You may be thinking, “Why do we need to go through the unfreezing process again? Surely the client will want to get straight into fixing their issues.” After all, we did a full unfreeze in the Business Needs Analysis and now they have paid for our help. In reality, this is not the case. First, if you followed my advice in session 10, you booked this session two weeks after the Business Needs Analysis, and in small business, two weeks is like a decade. Their business challenges have probably changed and to be honest, they have probably forgotten what that challenge was and may be thinking, “Why did I agree to this coaching anyway?” This session will turn all that around.

I find that by completion of this template, I know I have them. They are pushing me to move to the next template and go from watching the clock because they want to get back to work to watching the clock because they want to get as much done with you as possible.

Episode outline:

“Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple.” – Sir Richard Branson

This is a very simple worksheet designed to be short and sweet, but sometimes simple is best. This is not meant to be an intervention, so don’t dwell on anything. Just ask the question, accept the information they tell, and move on. You are just looking for low lying fruit at this stage.

Question 1 – What are your major business challenges at the moment?

This answer can be vastly different from the Business Needs Analysis, so you need to ask the question again. This question is highly important as we will link everything from the following questions back to this challenge to obtain a successful unfreeze.

Most common answers will be:

Remember the lessons from session 9: listen, don’t interrupt, and whatever they say is the right answer. This is what’s really keeping them up at night and the key to your long term engagement.

Question 2 – Rate each of the areas on the template using the scale 1-10 (put the number in the column which corresponds to the rating and the area of the business, 10 meaning things are great and 1 meaning things are bad.)

Try to stay as content free as possible. We are just asking to get a general feel, so just get the number and move on. Of course, some people will not be able to answer without giving you a full story. Remember that they may need to get this information off their chest, so let them speak. But move on as soon as you can.

Note:  If the finances are down it is often a reflection of other areas.

Don’t be surprised when you get to internal processes and you hear the response, “What’s that?” When you explain that these are procedure manuals for sales, marketing, collections, recruitment, etc., you will generally hear, “What? I need to have procedures for all these things?” This should be magic to your ears as this means no succession planning, no sell-able asset, and in short – months of guaranteed coaching.

Important – Avoid the urge to say anything; don’t challenge, suggest or hint. Just listen.

What ever they tell you is correct. We are just trying to get their perception of where the problems lie at this stage. Take good notes though. What you think, see, and read between the lines will be valuable information for later. A good example of a time you will want to say something is when they tell you their customer service is great. All business owners think their customer service is great. All business owners are generally wrong, but bite your tongue for now and take good notes.

Question 3 – If rating is “Needs Attention” or “Bad” – write down dot points of what you have noticed in these areas:

Ask the client, “You said (category) was bad, what’s bad about it?” Then wait for the answer, however long that takes. If you don’t let them think about the answer, you may miss out on the real cherry that could mean months of coaching and a rapid change in the businesses trajectory.

If they still say nothing, here are some ideas:

Again, whatever they say you must go with. Don’t challenge them, as they learn from you and as their awareness raises they will discover things are not as good in other areas too.

The re-unfreeze

Here we bring everything that the client suggested as bad back to their major business challenge and explain how it is connected. For example, if they said their major challenge was cash flow and we find they said their staff are also an issue, we can then explain that cash flow is clearly an issue in part because of ineffective staff, meaning you need more staff that cut into your profit.

The realisation that their challenges can be fixed is a massive relief for many clients. Don’t be surprised if there are a few tears. Now you are ready to move on to the next part of this session. This will follow very soon.

Important – Don’t forget, if their biggest challenge mentioned in the Business Needs Analysis still exists, you must work on that in this session. No problem. You should have finished this sheet in just 30-40 minutes and you have plenty of time for other templates and helping the client fix their problem from the last session. You will probably find the problem fixes itself or the solution arrives during this session anyway.

Items/links mentioned:

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you; it’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write- up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com

If you haven’t yet listened to part one, this will not make sense, so please go back and give “BBC 007 : Part 1 of 2 – First FREE Worksheet – The Business Needs Analysis” a listen.

This is an exciting two-part series as I give away the first FREE worksheet you can use directly with your clients, available for download at www.MatthewPollard.com/bbc007. The “Free Business Analysis” is the ultimate diagnosis tool as well as an amazing sales instrument. In this session, I explain how page two of the Business Needs Analysis will allow you to delve deeper into the client’s problems, as well as describe the effect these questions will have on the client and how it will greatly improve your client acquisition.

Episode outline:

People need to be committed to change…otherwise your coaching will not succeed.  That is the purpose of the Business Needs Analysis; it puts the responsibility for change back on them. Put simply, they will be the one making the changes; you’re just the guide.

If you are familiar with Lewin’s Model of Change, this is the unfreezing step of the model.

Your best client will be one that wants to achieve results for their business and is really serious about it. So if you don’t unfreeze the customer, you will feel like you are constantly pushing them uphill while they fight you to go back down.

Don’t give away solutions; just highlight problem(s):

As I said in the previous session, the biggest mistake a coach can make at this stage is offering solutions and ideas. I know many people think that to prove their worth it is important to show clients you can provide solutions. This is not the case. You need to show that you can highlight, empathize, and fix the problem. You do this by using the Business Needs Analysis to diagnose the problem(s), show you understand how they must feel (see BBC 005 : Imagine What It Feels Like To Own A Failing Business), and finally offer stories of other clients you have worked with that you have helped with similar problems. Otherwise, you leave the customer thinking, “Let’s try out what they have given me to do first. Then we can look into using them as a paid coach,” instead of, “LET’S START NOW!”

Take Action:

This is an awesome worksheet, but again, as I mentioned in session two, a waste of time if you don’t use it. So:

So, go out and deliver some Free Business Needs Analyses. The more people you deliver it to, the better and more confident you will become at it.  It is confidence that wins the prospect and makes them want to be your client, so practice is key.

Keep me in the loop:

I’d love to hear how this worksheet works to convert your prospects into clients. Please share your results in the comments section below:

You may be wondering… “Ok, but what do I say to get them to take me on?”

Look out for “Summarizing Your Findings.” Don’t worry, it’s just a few sessions away.

Items/Links Mentioned:

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you! It’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you, helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write-up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com

The “Free Business Analysis” is the ultimate diagnosis tool to use with your clients as well as an amazing tool for turning people interested in the idea of coaching into motivated and ready to start clients. In the first session, I explain each one of the personal and business questions as well as establish which of the four business coaching milestones it is focused on. This session is building on the foundations set in the previous session, so if you haven’t yet, you might want to go back and listen to “BBC 006 : 4 Milestones Of An Effective Business Coach” first.

Episode outline:

Most business owners that you encounter will not know what the problem is. They know something is wrong but will be clueless as to the specifics. The Business Needs Analysis is your new and amazing tool for finding out the problem. It is designed to be a discovery document to help you complete a full and well-balanced diagnosis. It also cleverly puts the responsibility back on the potential client to tell us the data. After all, if a client doesn’t speak openly we will get nowhere.

It is important to understand that business owners have genuinely come to you because they sense that something isn’t working, but they don’t know all the answers. It’s up to you to provide the guidance to uncover the true issues.

Sometimes you will see underlying issues; however, hold back from going into “fix it” mode. This is the biggest mistake a coach can make. They try to provide solutions to prove their worth, however, instead the client gets weeks or months of implementation ideas for free and now doesn’t need you. We have to take what they give us at this stage.  Later on, we can delve deeper and problem solve – when they are paying our bill. Until then, just focus on highlighting that they have gaping holes in their armor that they need help with, while also telling many stories of people you helped with similar issues and how they are now much better off. That way, clients will be thinking “I have to start working with them NOW,” instead of, “Let’s try out what they have given me to do first; then we can look into using them as a paid coach.”

Want to Keep Going?

Click here to go straight to part two.

Items/Links Mentioned:

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you! It’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you, helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write-up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com

The first session of The Better Business Coach Podcast! This is just a quick introduction to let you know about some amazing content to come.

After months of work, and with your support, the Better Business Coach Podcast will become the number one resource for all business coaches. It will provide listeners with proven business coach training, actionable worksheets, and critical sales advice. Best of all, it’s 100% free.

That’s right! No more thinking about buying expensive franchises or working day and night to create the worksheets and session plans you need to make your client sessions the best they can be.

Just listen, implement and grow!

That’s right; I’ve done all the hard work so you don’t have to.

Now you can benefit from my decade of coaching experience and obtain access to:

Delivery

Better Business Coach will be delivered in 15-20 minute sessions so that you can listen to them on the commute to work and then implement what you learn straight into your business. They also provide a quick refresher on a session’s content as you drive out to see a client.

This podcast will primarily be delivered in audio format when we are covering training and ideology. However, there will also be a video podcast for when I give you access to one of my actionable worksheets and go through it element by element. That way, you can follow along as I show you how to best use it with your clients.

Don’t miss a thing:

As the podcast will have sessions both in video and audio, make sure you subscribe to both the audio and video versions of this podcast.

Here are the links:

Video Podcast – Click here to subscribe

Audio Podcast – Click here to subscribe

I can’t wait to share this content with you; it’s going to make such a difference in your business coaching business. I am really looking forward to hearing the stories of success that you have with your clients.

So please subscribe!

I look forward to spending the next sessions with you, helping you to make the best business coaching business that you could possibly have.

To find out more about me or the show, feel free to check out:

My profile – https://matthewpollard.com/aboutmatthewpollard

The full show write-up – http://betterbusinesscoachpodcast.com