There are many aspects to being a good health coach, but above all, communication with your clients is the most important.
Here are 8 health coaching tips for effective health coaching communication.
1. Be Transparent
When screening a potential client during a discovery call, be honest, open and clear, especially if you’re asked a direct question about your services, as no one likes surprises if they are paying for a service.
In fact 84% of people agree that honesty is a positive business trait, and 85% of people agree that they are more likely to support a business that they believe is honest.
For example, if you sign a client to your program who has come to you with an unrealistic weight loss goal, be honest with them, help them set a more achievable goal and help them implement strategies, like regular body composition tests such as girth measurements or body fat percentage testing, to keep them motivated toward their health goal.
Being honest with your clients will help build trust which is an essential aspect of the client-coach relationship.
2. Choose the Right Form of Communication
Choosing the right form of communication is key to connecting with your clients.
There’s email, blog posts, text messages, social media, Skype and the good old fashioned phone call. The choice of communication appears to be endless, but how do you decide which is the best form of communication for your clients?
Start by identifying your target market. If your target market are the over 50s, then Facebook would be a great choice, as 92% of over 50s use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family, and 81% check Facebook more than once a day. Conversely, 60% of Snapchat users are under 25, thus making this platform less ideal for your over 50s client.
Do your research and use the best communication strategy for your client base.
3. Make Contact Early and Often
A brilliant tip to keep your clients feeling excited and energized is to make contact early and often.
After you have signed a new client, it’s essential that you send an email immediately afterwards. This will reassure your client that they have made a great investment in your services and it will show your eagerness to work with them on their health journey.
Setting up alerts and reminders for your appointments using Google Calendar or Apple Calendar, is a clever way to keep track of your schedule.
You can even preschedule emails using Boomerang, which links to your Gmail and can also be used to remind you to reply to important emails in a timely manner.
4. Keep Your Communication Fun
Health coaching is about making positive lifestyle change. An important tip to help keep your clients motivated is to make your time with them fun. This includes putting a little fun into your emails, phone calls and face-to-face communication.
Pinterest has loads of funny memes that you can share using social media, or in emails to clients. Remember to keep these lighthearted and tasteful.
Keeping your client communication fun, yet professional, will make your clients feel at ease and comfortable with you.
5. Collate a List of Frequently Asked Questions
As a health coach, you’re very likely to have the same questions asked many times over.
- What is health coaching?
- What does primal/paleo mean?
- Do you I have to be seriously unwell to do health coaching?
- How do I get started?
- How much do health coaches charge?
A great tip to save you time and to satisfy a potential clients questions, is to put together a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section on your website. This will avoid confusion and make a prospective client feel more at ease knowing that their queries have been asked by others previously.
6. Make Yourself Relatable
Sharing your personal health journey is a clever way to attract clients.
Sharing your real life experiences, like how you managed to overcome a specific health challenge will make you more relatable and will help to build trust and rapport with a potential client, even before your first meeting.
7. Find Common Ground
A useful tip to make yourself more relatable is to find common ground with your clients.
Start taking notes about each of your clients from as early as the initial discovery call. Do they have pets or children? Do they have any hobbies?
The common ground must be something that is important to your client, and it’s less important that it’s something that is of great interest to you. Remember, it’s about making your client feel comfortable with you. If they like talking about their dog, ask about their dog. If they love baseball, ask your client about baseball.
As a rule of thumb, one area of common ground will make you an acquaintance, three areas of common ground will make you a friend and six areas of common ground will make you a friend for life!
8. Be a Good Listener
Active listening is an essential part of communication as a health coach and involves engaging and responding to your client based on what they have said.
Paraphrasing what your client has said in your own words is very much linked to the skill of active listening and the combination of the two are trademarks of an outstanding listener.
Another important listening tip is to hold your tongue and avoiding finishing your client’s sentences, as this can disempower your client and give them a sense that you’re taking control of the conversation.
Superb communication skills will go a long way toward filling your client list. We are often asked how to be a good health coach and here we provide 8 helpful health communication tips to help you become the best health coach you can be.
