ByOnlinecourses55
Importance of questions - coaching business
Next, we will discuss one of the most powerful foundations of coaching, especially in the initial encounters with our clients, where we know little about them and need to gather useful information to plan our personalized coaching sessions.
Questions are an essential tool during the development of our coaching sessions, they are the simplest and most effective source of knowledge at our disposal. When we meet a client for the first time, we know nothing about them beyond what they may have said previously, so by asking well-formulated questions, we can build a clearer profile of the person we will begin to work with.
In addition, the questions help us to evaluate the effectiveness of our advertising in the process of attracting customers, as well as to collect data that allow us to draw more effective strategies and enhance those that are giving good results.
Given the relevance of this technique in the practice of our coaching sessions, we will address this topic so that you can develop this skill with your clients.
During the first few meetings, we will begin to discuss the client's interests, aspirations, goals, desired outcomes and more. Many coaches choose to allow the client to speak freely, which allows them to receive information, although this methodology can be less practical, as it slows down the process and can veer into trivial topics.
We are not saying that this methodology is wrong, but it is not the most efficient way to obtain valuable information from the client. You, as the coach, know best what information you want to obtain. The most direct and effective way to gather the necessary information is to ask specific questions about what you want to know. After this process, you can give the client time to express his or her concerns.
In general, you can ask whatever you feel is necessary to build as complete a profile of the client as possible. It is crucial to know what their interests are and, above all, the results they expect to obtain through your sessions. This is vital, since your work as a coach is focused on solving your clients' problems, and the first task is to understand what that problem is.
It is also important to identify the client's weaknesses and strengths. Through the questions, you will be able to rule out aspects such as their level of preparation, knowledge of their market, emotional state, risk tolerance, and legal and financial knowledge, among others. This will be fundamental in the following sessions, since logically we should focus more on weaknesses than on strengths, which will allow us to build a more comprehensive profile.
A useful question could be how the client came to you. Although this question will not help you know your customer in depth, it will provide you with valuable information about your marketing and advertising. Gathering this data will allow you to better understand the customer acquisition avenues that are working for your business.
