As a health coach, I’m sure you’ve heard people say “I don’t want the details… just tell me what to eat!“, or “just tell me what to eat, and I’ll eat it… I don’t want to have to think about it.”
These people can be tricky to work with because you know that even if you do spend the time telling them what to eat, how to exercise, how to stress less, they won’t do it. They just flat out won’t. These people are looking for shortcuts, but you know what?
These kinds of shortcuts don’t work.
You could spend hours writing exhaustive lists for your clients – lists of all the “good” foods and of the “bad” foods, and for a little while, they might actually listen and follow along. But fast forward a few weeks, and chances are they’re back to their old habits.
That sucks for them AND for you.
It sucks for them because they ultimately have gotten nothing out of working with you. And sucks for you because you’re certainly not going to get glowing praise from that client – praise that can help attract other clients. And they’re certainly not going to be telling all their friends about you.
In my work, that client is YOU. The Health Coach, The Functional Nutritionist. The Acupuncturist. The Doula. The Aromatherapist. The Massage Therapist. (you get the idea.)
And my version of the “Just tell me what to eat” is “just tell me what to buy.”
I could just create a mega long list of all the products I buy and use, that I know to be safe, non-toxic, and affordable. And I could give that list to you… I could even make money by selling that list to you, but will that actually be valuable to you? Not.Even.Close.
Ninety-nine percent of the time I won’t “just tell them” – because my success as a coach and educator (and your success as a coach) is determined by how well I can articulate the reasons why these products are better/safer/healthier. If you can articulate why certain things end up on those good/bad lists, and you can articulate it in a why that doesn’t scare the shit out of them (this can happen when talking about toxicity!!), then you’re golden!
This is such an important piece of my work that I address it, in some form, in every class I teach. Starting next week, July 11th, 2013 I’ll be doing this with over 100 health coaches & wellness pro’s in my Tools For Teaching Toxicity™ course. If you’d like to learn not only the WHAT of chemical toxicity, but the WHY (as well as the best way to share this why with your clients), then you’ll want to join us.
Have you ever stumbled in articulating WHY a client should do something? Have you ever had success with presenting long “why-less” lists to your clients?
I’d love to hear from you! Comment below and tell me your stories…
