Every professional has a special something that keeps their clients coming back. Be it a personal trainer, life coach or Yoga teacher, if a client doesn’t “click with” or “vibe well with” you, they won’t come back. There is a secret to ensuring that your clients keep coming back to you. It works no matter what profession you’re in. Read on to find out what this secret is…
Presentation skills will make or break you in business
The secret to being a rock star life coach, and keeping your clients, is to make sure you come across well. In addition to this, you must communicate what you need to in a way that they will appreciate. This is because they need to take your advice on board and – most importantly – find it so invaluable that they have no reason not to come back to you for more.
Take a personal trainer, as an example. If he or she presents an exercise, in a particular manner that the client doesn’t understand so they injure themselves, chances are very good that the client will be left with such a bitter taste in their mouths that they’ll never come. The personal trainer could be highly knowledgeable about fitness. They could have done all the fitness courses and personal traing qualifications in the word. But if they can’t present the exercise well (so that the client understands what they’re getting at) they will have lost that client for good. This is in addition to any business that he or she might have referred.
9 Ways how life coach can help to improve your verbal communication skills
1. Read more
The best thing that you can do to improve your verbal communication skills – and a life coach will tell you this – is simply to increase the amount that you read, for example business texts, novels and newspapers. This will help you to improve your vocabulary, assist you to express ideas clearly, and eliminate weaknesses in your language skills.
2. Think about the words
Too many words will bore your listener. This is because it takes up too much time and results in you losing credibility. Don’t – whatever you do – waffle!
3. Prepare (if you can)
You would spend time planning what to say if you were writing. You would also think about how to make it accessible to as many readers as possible.
This means that if you know about an imminent situation, take time out to think about the questions you may be asked. Prepare what answers you may need to give. If you are delivering a presentation, be prepared for awkward questions and situations where you may need to explain something in a different way.
4. Listen and be interested
Listening more – and talking less – means you will understand and bring your listener into the conversation. This helps them to trust you and make them feel that you really understand their needs. When they talk, be interested and show your interest. This will improve the connection you are trying to build. Using note-taking skills like Mind Mapping to take more effective and memorable notes.
5. Be aware of non-verbal communication traps
The words you say are only a small element of the communication. Make sure your words, their tone, the gestures you make, facial expressions and body language you use, are all relevant to your conversation.
6. Honesty is the best policy
Promising something that is not possible will break down any trust that you have developed. Telling someone that you “don’t know but can find out” is more positive than just trying to give an answer you hope is effective.
7. Show and seek some understanding
Look for understanding from your audience. It’s easier to back track at certain points in your conversation than revisit the whole conversation again. If you do the latter you risk getting the wrong results because your audience did not understand! You can use this when delivering or receiving a message. Occasional summaries and confirmation questions can be extremely useful.
8. Think about perspectives
Think about what you are saying from the other person’s perspective. Just because you understand what you mean doesn’t mean that they will.
9. Develop your skills
There are a number of techniques you can learn, or your life coach could teach you, to help improve your verbal communication skills. These include:
- Developing plans you can use to formulate responses either planned or impromptu,
- Learn the techniques you need to be more effective during interactions.
3 Ways to improve your presentation skills
As we can see, it’s absolutely vital to have unbelievable presentation skills. In the words of Fareed Siddiqui, senior accountant and individual member of the Institute of Management Consultants of India-IMCI:
“You may have good knowledge and understanding of your subject or field. You would have gained good ideas. The strong awareness, experience and useful information that you gathered may be beneficial for your organization, but if you are not good at presenting your thoughts or ideas or suggestions by means of good presentation skills, then, having the aforementioned things may not be of as much help and assistance as it should be.”
Here are three simple and effective ways of improving your presentation skills:
- Adapt your message according to your client’s context.
- Use simple language when you interact with your clients and adapt your vocabulary accordingly.
- Don’t be longwinded. Sometimes, ‘short and sweet’ is a wonderful approach to explaining something effectively. When you go on and on and on and on, not only could you lose the drift of what you’re saying, but your client could get completely lost in your sea of words.
Among others, the job of a life coach entails helping your clients to improve their presentation skills. Do you feel that this could be your passion? Does helping people improve how they come across excite you? If you answered a resounding “yes” then Trifocus Fitness Academy’s accredited life coaching certification is for you. Follow this link to find out more and register today!