Hey, you guys, welcome back. I am so excited to be here. I’ve had just the best day. I had a private coaching call. I had a matrix call, and I just finished boxing with some private clients. And I'm just feeling so good. And so I feel like it's the perfect time to record this podcast because today I'm talking about renewals and referrals.
And I feel like more people need to know that this is the secret sauce of coaching businesses. And so I'm really excited to talk through my thinking, maybe some strategies and tactics, maybe some thoughts to practice believing. So that you have more renewals and referrals because I think that there's this cool threshold in a coaching business where you don't need to advertise one-on-one coaching.
Now in the beginning - this caveat is important to say - when you're a new coach, you do need to advertise that you have one-on-one clients and that you sell it and you talk about it and you leave space in your calendar to have consults and free calls and all of the good stuff. I think there's a really important part of your journey where that is a priority. And then after you've been in the game for a while, there's this really cool thing that happens where people renew and refer, and that's how you get to build your coaching business. And so I wanted to have a whole podcast dedicated to that because there is a light at the end of the tunnel, right?
If your business feels hard, if selling coaching feels daunting or maybe uncomfortable. There is this phase in your business where you don't always have to sell one-on-one because people are renewing and referring. And so the first thing that I wanted to talk about was this possibility. That you could have a business that's built mostly off of renewals and referrals, and this is how my one-on-one practice is built.
I don't sell my one-on-one publicly super often. It's not that I never do, I don't wanna say I never sell one-on-one. But it is very rare that I will have an Instagram post selling one-on-one, or a whole podcast dedicated to selling my one-on-one coaching.
And if you are one of my private clients listening to this, hi. I'm talking about you today. I'm just kidding. But I do love you, and I'm very grateful for you. And I'm very grateful for the work that we do, and I love that relationships can be long. So this whole idea of renewals and referrals was always interesting to me. I always thought that would be really cool.
I read the book the Prosperous Coach - really resonated with the way that he ran his business. And I looked forward to the day where most of my business was built word of mouth, not because I don't love marketing or anything. It's just, the nature of one-on-one is so personal that I wanted that to be kind of how my business operated.
And so I'm really happy that that's basically how my one-on-one is now - wasn't always like that. But I wanted to kind of paint the picture so that you know, how do you have a renewal conversation? How do you get referrals if you don't want to explicitly ask for them? I'm gonna talk about all of those things today. But the first thing that I want you to know is that all clients, whether they renew and refer, or whether they are one and done, doesn't really matter.
We treat them all the same, right? Because we love them. And I think that's like the baseline, it seems obvious when I say it, but I think some people get the wrong idea of what it actually takes. For me, I always like to build my one-on-one relationships off of trust, care, and service.
So it's not just me, you know, scamming people. This one time, actually, this reminds me of a funny story. One time I walked outside in my backyard and my oldest daughter was kind of playing on this plastic toy and it looked like she was pretending to type, you know, and I asked her, what are you doing?
And she's like, I'm coaching. And I was like, “Oh, what do coaches do?” Kind of, you know, just curious what she would say about what I do because she knows I'm a coach, obviously. That's why she was pretending to be a coach. And she said, “Oh, well, I type on my computer, and I make money.” And I thought it was so cute that that's what she thinks I do.
Um, that's not what I do, but it's cute that that's how she perceives it because she doesn't see me coach, right. She just knows I go into my office and that we celebrate when I make money as a family. And so it's just funny that that's her perspective. Despite what she thinks, that is not how coaches create money, right. There's a lot more to it.
And so I actually do care. This isn't a scam, right. I think that that's funny. Some people think coaching is a scam, and I think there are some elements of that inner industry, which if you know my work and you've studied with me for a while, I think it's our personal responsibility to uphold the standard of the industry that we want to see. And that happens individually.
And so I try to hold myself to a very high standard of, you know, integrity and clarity and communication and kindness and love and boundaries and trust. Those things matter a lot to me in my relationships with my clients, and that is the foundation of our work together. And so, because I do that and I have these relationships, the coaching can be more powerful.
I'm able to ask hard questions and hold space for hard things because they know I care. They know that I'm trustworthy. They know I'm there for the long run. They know that this isn't just about the money. They know that I'm here to support them, and that I'm a trustworthy person. That integrity matters to me.
So they feel safe to actually do the deep work, and I think that that really matters. That's the foundation of renewals and referrals, as well. Not just the coaching relationship, but for people who renew and refer, they wanna know that you're trustworthy so that when they send their friend to you, you're gonna take care of them. And so that's the foundation.
So I'm gonna start with renewals. So you've worked with someone for a while, and I will tell you first a story about how I chickened out of a renewal conversation, and then a story of how I lead powerfully these renewal conversations.
This first time I chickened out, she was an awesome client and I loved working with her. We worked together for three months and on the final call I was so nervous because I wanted her to renew, but I didn't know how to lead that conversation, so I was kind of hoping she would bring it up herself - which PS doesn't happen, unless they’re a rockstar gold star clients.
Most of the time, you're gonna need to leave the conversation for a renewal because they don't really know how it works, right? They're not the coach, you are! And so I was nervous and I just didn't bring it up. So our final session at the final minutes, I was like, “Well, let me know if you need anything.” And I didn't bring up that we could keep working together if she wanted, which is one of the regrets that I have because she was awesome.
And I did that a few times. Because I was a chicken and I was afraid and I didn't know that they were waiting for me to lead. I didn't even bring it up because I was afraid they would say no. And so that's one of the things that I want to offer is that when you have a renewal conversation, you have to not fear the no.
They might say no. They might say, “I actually think our work is complete.” Or they might say, “You know, I'm not gonna continue with you” or whatever. And I've had plenty of that too, but I'm not afraid of it because it's almost like a consult. If you don't need them to renew, you're not worried about the no. Just like when you're on a consult with a potential client, if you don't need them to say yes, you're not worried about it.
And I talked a lot about that in the last episode with the universal laws - the law of detachment, right? We can't be attached to a single person saying yes, and we can't be attached to a single client renewing. That way, they feel your detachment. Not that you don't care, it's just I'm gonna be okay if it doesn't work out. If you don't wanna keep working together, I understand.
So the first principle that I want to leave you with is to be the leader and actually have the powerful renewal conversation. And if people aren't ready, that's okay. You don't need to push people, you know. If they say, “I need some time to think about it,” I always say, “That's totally fine.”
I'm not worried about it, but I let them know that I'm thinking about our container ending. I like to bring it up a few weeks before, unless they bring it up first. But I like to bring it up, you know. Hey, our final session's coming up. What are you thinking? Do you wanna talk about a renewal? Is there something else you're wanting to try? Like what are you thinking about? Do you feel complete with our work together? is another question that I like to ask, just so they know they can talk to me about it.
The next thing that I like to do is to also paint the picture of what's next for them. And this doesn't have to be with me. And I think that's important. Because I love my client and I know that they're capable of great things, they don't need me either.
I just like to tell them what I see as possible for them. You know, maybe they've been working on selling a certain offer and I see that they might book it out or maybe it's a certain income level or maybe it's a level of their relationship, whatever we're working on because I do life and business coaching, right?
I paint the picture of what's possible so that they know. I see them continuing to grow even if we don't renew, even if we don't keep working together. I see them as someone who will continue to grow and expand. What's important about this is that my client doesn't need me to do that. Now, if they want to work together to make that happen, I'm in. But they do not need me to make that happen, and I want them to know that I believe that.
I think it can be unhealthy if you think your client can only succeed with you. And so I like to renew with that knowledge that they can do this without me. It's just, if you want to do it together, I'm in, I'm game, right? They don't need to do it with me, but I'm here if they wanna work.
I think this also allows me to not shy away about talking directly about their decision, even if it's a no, like if someone says, “You know, I feel really great about our work together. Thank you so much. I think I'm gonna do something else,” or “I think I'm just complete for now.” I'm like, “Great! What's next?” And I'm just excited for them because I know their growth isn't over.
I know that their life will continue to evolve and to expand and they will deepen their wisdom and create even better results in the future. They don't need it to happen with me, so I'm just excited for them. I think that gives them a lot of space to explore and to talk. There's no pressure from me. That's always important to me. I never like to put pressure on my clients because I don't like experiencing pressure as a client. And so that's how I think through that.
As far as referrals, this is something that's interesting. I used to just not believe - this is a thought thing, right? - I used to not believe that people would want to refer me. And then that was proven true - people didn’t refer me. And then one day I remember just thinking I could just believe that people like to refer me to their friends and to their entrepreneurial colleagues. And the moment that I had that thought, I realized I was holding myself back just because I didn't have that thought, right?
And so whether you ask for referrals or not, I'll leave that up to you. I don't ask specifically for referrals, but I do have a belief that my best clients love to share me with people they trust or people they want to win. And that's been proven true over time, but it came with a shift in perception.
Just write it down, see what resonates with you. Do you want to believe that people refer you to their friends? And then the other thing, kind of how I kicked off this conversation at the beginning is that you are someone worthy of referrals. That you would take care of them, that you would have their best interest at heart. That you build the relationship off of service and trust and expertise and care. I think those things matter to the clients that do refer you. They wanna know that you're gonna take care of their friends. And so if you're that kind of person, you have integrity, try this next step, which is believing, just a belief.
My clients love to refer me. What if that was true? What if you could just practice that? What would be different?
The other beliefs that I wanted to share, around renewals and referrals. I wrote down, clients love to renew because they value the relationship and the results we create together.
I think this is really important to be said. I think in the beginning, we take business classes and courses and we learn about marketing and making powerful promises and overdelivery and clear results or whatever. But what I found is a lot of times my clients renew with me because of the relationship we have and the results they get working together. It's not just the results, it's the relationship that we've built in trust and love and appreciation and safety over time. And so they want to do life together.
Know your niche, right? I have a niche where it lends itself to long-term relationships, and that's beautiful, where we're friendly. Some of my clients become friends right over time because we work so closely together. Over time they develop this relationship. It's not just, you help me grow my business, or you help me feel better about my marriage.
It's like, I just enjoy having you in my corner. That is a powerful way to sell coaching, especially for people that you have a relationship with. I don't think I really understood that in the beginning because I'm like, “Oh no, people hire me for sure because I helped them get results, right? That's what coaches do.”
And I have an expanded vision of what actually happens now that I've worked with lots of one-on-one clients at all levels. Over time, they really just come to trust me, having me in their corner. And this isn't to toot my own horn because you can do this too, right? Like that's what coaches do. And so if you're a coach that loves working with clients long term, you might really resonate with that. That they're gonna develop a relationship with you and just want to stay in your world over time because they value the relationship and the results that you help them create.
And so I think that takes the pressure off of helping them create new and different results, or faster results or whatever.
That's not the only reason people want to work with you and so, play around with that idea that maybe people just wanna work with you because they like talking to you and they like your insight and they like the questions that you ask. And that's enough and that's okay. I think that we could say a lot about that because I think I could just hear people be like, no, you need to offer a clear result.
And I'm like, yes. For sure. I think that's important to help people know, what is the goal of working together? What's the vision you have? What could we create together? For sure that's important and sometimes they stay because they like talking to you and they like knowing there's someone in their life that cares about them. And they care about them in a different way than their friends or their husband or their mom or their in-laws, right?
Coaches do different things than our personal relationships. And so we celebrate. We hold space, we challenge their thinking. We see them at their highest level, and that is the gift of coaching. And so people like being around people who see them at their highest level and help them become that.
The next thing I wrote down is, I'm the kind of coach that has long-term relationships with their clients. This was a big one for me. I actually heard this on Rich Perkins podcast and I had this like ding, ding, ding, ding, aha awareness. He was talking about how he used to do instant confidence sessions, and it was like 30 minute one-off coaching.
And then one day his coach asked, is that what you wanna be known for? Do you wanna be known as the instant confidence coach guy? And Rich describes this experience where he was like, no, I wanna be the kind of guy that people spend a year with me in their life is different forever, or something like that.
And I felt that in my soul that I knew that's the kind of coach that I wanted to be. I didn't want to be the kind of coach that you spend a couple weeks with and got a few results. I wanted to be the kind of coach where clients work with me for six months, a year, or years, because that's happening now. I have clients that have worked with me for like three or four years, which is so cool. And their life is never the same because of the work we do together.
That was the kind of coach that I wanted to be, and not everyone's gonna resonate with that, but that lit me up. That was the kind of coach that I wanted to be. And so that meant that I would have renewal conversations. It meant that my relationship would be that I was niche-less in my one-on-one. That's something that I think might surprise people, is that you don't have to have a niche for one-on-one. I actually don't resonate with niche for my one-on-one. I coach on relationships, I coach on money, I coach on self-confidence, I coach on worth, I coach on spirituality because I'm just a personal coach in that context of one-on-one.
In my programs I teach, and sometimes I have a niche for a specific program, for example, or a group where it is very focused on one certain thing. But in my one-on-one, it's different. I just meet the person where they are and we coach on whatever is relevant for them.
And that resonates with me because I like being in their corner, however, is most useful to them in the moment. That's why I like longer containers. I always resonated with, you know, a six or a 12 month container because I'm invested in the relationship too, and that's okay. It doesn't mean that you do inappropriate things or you break boundaries or you're not professional or things like that, but it's okay to care and want a longer term relationship with your client.
I know I do. And so I just wanted to say that in case maybe you haven't found the right kind of coaching business for you, and this might be eye-opening for you to see that there is another way of thinking about coaching. I think it's very relationship based. All of this stuff that I talked about is very relationship based. You wouldn't necessarily see this on my website or on my social media, for example. But there is this backend part of my business that I love so much, and that it's very different than how most people teach marketing and it's beautiful and it resonates, and it's clean and loving and expansive and meaningful and fulfilling.
And that is one-on-one coaching and especially renewals and referrals that come from your network, that come from who you are being in the world. That comes over time. And so this is not a get rich quick episode. This is what's possible if you stay in the game long enough to get these kinds of clients in your orbit, and it's awesome.
So I wanted to share it with you because maybe you think you don't fit in the industry. And I wanna offer that maybe you do and you just haven't allowed yourself to think in a different way about what's possible in a coaching business. So I wanted to share the power of renewals and referrals. So some key takeaways for you guys.
Don't shy away from renewal conversations. Have the belief that people love referring you. One of the other beliefs that I have is clients come from places known and unknown. Why not believe that, right? It just feels good to believe that, and people resign because of the relationship that they have with you, not just the results you help them get.
So something to ponder my friends. Okay. Thank you for listening to this podcast. I will see you in another episode. Bye.
