December! The Most Wonderful and Stressful Time of the Year
If you are like us at CLCI, you love December. It's a time of gift giving, being with friends & family, having time off, and looking towards the new year.
Yet for many of us, December is the month we fret over business slowing down, about who to give what gifts, and how to schedule all of our holiday functions without losing our minds. This is also the time where many coaches take stock of how their year went and what they want to change for the future.
In this week's CLCI Live, Lisa Finck (A.C.C.), Brooke Adair Walters (M.C.P.C.), Jerome LeDuff Jr. (M.C.L.C), Kyle Rodriguez (M.C.P.C) and Anthony Lopez (M.C.P.C). cover a host of topics that coaches will find useful during the Holidays We look at:
Whether you should give your clients gifts
How to change prices
How to be inclusive of your client's Holiday Traditions
How to schedule time off. Do you even take time off???
If you're feeling like you have too much on your plate this December, this Live is for you! So join us for our holiday CLCI Live and be sure to join us next week for our final live of the year!
To Gift or Not to Gift: That is the Question
It's not uncommon for many business owners to send gifts to their client's and customers to help build better business relationships and show good will.
For coaches, it may feel quite natural to exchange gifts with a client you've developed a relationship with over many sessions. You may genuinely like your client and have built a solid rapport with them.
Unlike some professions, there is nothing that explicitly bars a coach from receiving or giving gifts to our clients, but there are some considerations to make. Here are three questions every coach should ask themselves before gifting clients.
What is the value (symbolic & monetary) of the gift?
Does the gift suggest a change in the nature of the coaching relationship? From professional to something else?
Are you giving with the expectation of getting?
You are the ultimate arbiter of what is considered an appropriate gift and if all else fails, cards are always appreciated!
Pricing 💲💲💲
If you run a business and it is not in any way, shape, or form related to Christmas (predominate holiday of spending) then you are going to notice that business is going to slow waaaaaaaaaaay down.
Perhaps instead of fighting the holiday madness we can flex into it.
Many coaches will offer holiday sales on sessions and coaching packages to get through the leaner months in order to encourage potential clients to start coaching.
This tactic is also used in tandem with coaches who plan on raising their prices in the coming new year. The strategy being that people will gravitate towards the sale in order to avoid the higher prices in the future. If you've had trouble with conversion, this might just be the tip for you if you plan on raising your prices.
In addition to this, many coaches will begin to diversify their offerings and what value they give. Perhaps its time to start looking into making gift cards for clients to purchase for people they know. Or it's about time to start making and selling those online courses you've always been thinking of.
The possibilities are endless but it's always good to keep in mind how other people celebrate the holidays when you think about marketing.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Habari Gani, and a good Wright Brother's Day?
It would be easy to assume that everyone recognizes or practices the most common holiday's (Sorry Wright Bothers, you aren't included) yet as it turns out there are over 15+ observed holidays during the month of December. It's hard to tell who does and doesn't celebrate Happy Honda Days or Toyotathon which is why we settle for Happy Holidays as the catch all. And of course there are some people who don't recognize any holiday and that's okay!
What's good to remember is that this isn't a denial of our own holiday traditions but an affirmation to all the diverse ways people enrich their lives in celebration and remembrance.
For coaches with clients, take the time so see how your client celebrates as it is the lynchpin of the GIFTS coaching model. For those marketing during December, take the time to craft a holiday message that will appeal to everyone and not have them feeling left out of the conversation.
Gong Away on Holiday
Unsurprisingly, many people travel or go on vacation during December.
This may cause some scheduling conflicts for both coaches and clients, or large gaps between when you both have your next sessions.
Best piece of advice we can give is to have that conversation with the client long in advance so that you don't have a client who expects to meet you while your busy wintering in the Cancun with your family.
Earlier we mentioned asking how your client celebrates the holidays. Well here's the practical part of that question, it's an easy way to get the conversation started about scheduling and if you will be able to meet with the client. What's important that we clearly sate our intent if we plan to take a week or two off and to be flexible with our client's.
Now let's assume you wont meet with the client for perhaps 2-3 weeks, maybe even the whole month of December! That's a great deal of time so we want to remember to take account of that in our session and when goal setting.
"What do you want to accomplish between now and when we next meet?" is a great open ended question to get the client to think in the longer-term. Helping the client design ways to remind themselves of their goals and keep themselves accountable is essential if you intend to take a small break from the coaching relationship.
With these tips in mind, how will you survive and thrive throughout the holidays? And are you giving yourself permission to celebrate your successes? We will catch you next week answering these questions and more for our final CLCI Live of the year!
Thank you,
Lisa Finck, Brooke Adair Walters, Jerome LeDuff Jr, Kyle Rodriguez, and Anthony Lopez!
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