6 Things Clients Secretly Want From Your Coaching Programs (But Won’t Tell You)

Clients are the lifeblood of any business. And to a coach, keeping clients is just as important as getting new clients.

Unfortunately, client retention is not talked about enough, with the highest focus in our space being on client enrollment.

So if you’re wondering how to retain coaching clients, read on to discover the biggest secrets clients deeply desire from coaching programs.

In this article, I’ll be sharing the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the last 20 years after delivering 100+ coaching programs and training thousands of coaches.

You will learn:

• Why you should focus on client retention strategies
• 6 biggest secrets on how to retain coaching clients
• A game-changing solution to ensure clients succeed in your programs

 

Why should you focus on client retention strategies?

As you probably already know, acquiring clients costs more than retaining clients. A lot of businesses focus on getting leads, and landing the sale. But what happens to your clients after your coaching program wraps up? Do you repeat the same process?

The sad truth is a lot of coaches close up shop because they are not making their desired income, but they also fail to realize that they simply don’t know how to retain coaching clients.

When clients are experiencing amazing transformation through your coaching programs, they will sing your praises and ultimately do the marketing for you.

Making new offers to current clients is so much easier since they already know firsthand what it’s like working with you. Without a doubt, it’s one of the easiest and quickest ways to increase your revenue.

This is why shifting your focus to implementing client retention strategies for your business goes a long way.

No matter what type of coaching business you have, knowing what your coaching clients actually want from a coaching program will be a game-changer.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

 

6 Biggest Secrets on How to Retain Coaching Clients

Have you ever wondered what clients are actually looking for when they sign up for a coaching program? What drives them to submit that order form?

The biggest secrets I’m sharing with you, I believe, should be integrated in your work with clients because these are the reasons why clients join, stay, and succeed in coaching programs.

To help you increase the profitability of your coaching business, implement these retention strategies for coaches:

1. Confidence

• In the coach – When clients sign up for your coaching program, they want to feel confident in you as their coach. That’s one of the key reasons why they said “Yes” to your program after all. They trust your experience and expertise, and believe that you understand their specific challenges.
• In the process – They expect a proven and tested roadmap to achieve the transformation you promised them when they signed up. This refers to the steps or lessons you send them.
• In their ability to succeed – They need to believe they can do this and get results, so it needs to be clear, simple, and doable.
• In the program – This refers to the environment, structure of the program, community, accountability.

 

2. Acknowledgement

• Feel seen and heard – If people just wanted to get a course, they would simply purchase a course. The reason they join a group program is because they want to be visible, to belong, and to be supported.
• Contributions recognized – When they offer feedback or support to other group members, it’s important that we notice and acknowledge them. Doing so will make them feel more valued, and will encourage them to be more supportive of each other.
• Encouragement – When your group members share their wins or insights, you want to celebrate and encourage them.

 

3. Connection

• Shared goals and experiences – So they can understand and relate to each other
• Collaboration opportunities (e.g. accountability partners, small masterminds)
• Ability to share successes, challenges, and insights with each other
• Friendly competitions – to push them to take bigger actions and make them feel connected to the group
• A sense of community – They want to feel like your program is a place where they can get the support they need from others who are going through the same journey.

 

 

4. Achievement

• Visible progress – everything they do from watching modules, doing homework, or showing up on the calls is getting them closer to their desired goal or transformation
• Tangible learning – they can feel that they’re learning a new skill, getting better at something, or feeling more confident
• Measurable results and getting specific results they can actually measure
• Specific actions they can take, which will lead to results

 

5. Access  

Clients are more likely to stay in coaching programs when they have easy access to the coach, materials, missed calls (replays), other group members, call schedule, and links to resources.

These are crucial components of any coaching program, and will help your clients to stay focused and feel productive.

 

6. Awareness

As a coach, you must pay attention to where your clients are in the program and how they are feeling.

Are they:

• Overwhelmed?
• Behind?
• Dropped the ball?
• Not showing up or doing the work?
• Feeling like they’re in the wrong program?
• Thinking of withdrawing from the program?

I used to worry about these things all the time because it’s hard to know what your clients are doing, thinking, or feeling. Perhaps you can relate?

In between live group calls, I wanted to stay connected to my clients.

 

Understanding why clients leave coaching programs

You see, if you’re not paying attention… if you’re not aware of where your clients are, they are more likely to disconnect and disengage from the program.

As your groups become bigger, it’s even more important to understand how your clients are feeling so they don’t end up deciding to leave or worse, request a refund.

Understanding these reasons and addressing them in your own coaching programs can make a huge difference to your clients’ results and to your bottom line.

 

 

How Coaching Genie Helps Clients Succeed in Your Programs

As you can see, these 6 things are a lot to deliver. It’s a lot to think about when you design your coaching program, right?

And when you start growing your groups, offering more programs or getting more clients, it can become challenging to stay on top of all of these things.

With Coaching Genie, you don’t have to figure out how you’re going to do this because they are built right into the platform.

Watch the free demo and discover how it makes your coaching programs more valuable!