Ask, and you shall receive!

More “?” and Less “!”

As a coach, your clients often look to you for solutions to their problems. Maybe your client’s business is struggling to grow, or maybe they are growing too fast and need help re-organizing. Regardless of your clientele, or what kind of coaching you provide, the important key is to ask the right questions and find out the real problem(s) they are facing.

Ask Open-Ended Questions.

The type of questions you ask can greatly affect the quality of the information you receive from your clients. Ask open-ended questions, starting with Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Avoid Yes or No questions. Open-ended questions give you a more detailed view of the situation and how your client feels about it. Avoid the temptation to provide answers, and focus on asking the right questions.

Not only do open-ended questions get your client talking openly, but this one-on-one question and answer session will also build rapport and validate trust within your coach-client relationship. He or she will value you taking the time to ask these questions and gain a deeper understanding of their problem.

Question your way to success!

Sometimes, asking open-ended questions will reveal that the problem your client thinks he has, is in reality, not actually the problem at all. Sometimes, the real problem isn’t so obvious. The right solution comes from asking the right questions. Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “If your only tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.” Asking good questions will help you avoid assuming you need to pull out your trusty hammer. Good questioning skills will make you a better coach.

To help you with asking more questions, download this Coach Conversation Starters worksheet to use as a guide when interviewing new prospective clients. It might also give you some deeper insight when used on your current clients.

If you are looking for a way to take your business to the next level, contact us about our Prospecting Success! training course. Our team will work with you one-on-one to help you build a prospecting or sales strategy customized to your unique business goals. We’ll even make sure to ask you lots of open-ended questions to give you an outside-in view to building a strategy for your own business and gain more clients as you become positioned to grow.