The best gift you can give to your clients.

We spend a lot of time here at Health Coach Weekly talking about marketing and different things you need to work on to market your business.

All the marketing tips and tricks in the world are great, but at the end of the day the best gift you can give to your clients is the ability to be completely present with them.  This is something that is sorely lacking in most people’s lives.

Being completely present has become even more challenging in our always connected ADD world, where everyone is buried in their mobile devices and continually distracted.

We have all met those people that when we are talking to them we feel like we are the only person in the room.  For the rest of us that weren’t naturally born with this ability, being fully present is a skill we can learn.

Some of the most important aspects of being present are what you are not doing instead of what you are doing.

When talking with another person, what lots of people do is to listen just enough so they can formulate a response or have a running dialog in their head either agreeing or disagreeing with the other person.  Neither of these are remotely related to being present.

When you are BEING with someone and are totally present you focus all your attention on them and actively LISTEN without any agenda.  Not doing anything other than listening, not waiting for your chance to talk, not formulating your reply, just BEING with another person.

This may sound very simplistic but give it a try.

It is likely that any coaching client you are working with has either nobody or very few people in their life who truly know how to be present with them.  There are some good practices to make this easier for you to be able to do.  These apply whether you are live in person with someone or talking with them on the phone,

• Put away all your devices.  If you are in person, put away your phone and turn off the ringer; if you are on the phone with someone just be on the phone, turn off your computer and don’t go checking facebook while you are talking with someone.
• Take 2 minutes to ground yourself before talking with your client.  This can be as simple as putting away all distractions, rooting your feet into the ground and taking 10 deep breaths.
• Ask yourself how you can be of service.  Instead of thinking what you want out of the conversation (a new client, a product sale, etc.), think of how you can be of benefit to this person.  If your product or service is the thing that will benefit them, fantastic; if not, don’t make the mistake of trying to force your agenda.
• Listen way more than you talk.  Learning to ask open ended, high mileage questions is a great skill whether you are talking with your clients, your kids, or anyone else in your life.

When you are completely present, it is easier to dig deeper instead of taking the first short answer someone gives you at face value.  We are all basically the same in wanting to feel an authentic connection with another human being.  I have found that for lots of people that have tons of “problems” in their life, the biggest problem is that no one has taken the time to truly listen to them and care.

This will actually help your clients infinitely more than you knowing the latest diet fad or super supplement.  Once they can feel and know that you truly care about them, all of that other stuff becomes infinitely easier.