5 Challenges Coaches Face with Clients, and How to Avoid Them

It happens to all of us: You get on a sales call, or maybe even your first call with a brand new client… and you realize there’s a biiig disconnect.

Something’s not right! Maybe…

It’s a difference in personalities, or values, or perspectives
You’re not on the same page about the goal, or the path forward
You have trouble following their thought process

In some shape or form, there’s a mismatch that needs to be resolved so you can build a solid partnership!

But you also need to find the source and fix it, so you attract more aligned clients, and so your coaching and sales conversations go more smoothly.

Here’s the truth: the foundation for your coaching relationships is set before the first session – in your content, sales page, and even your sales conversations.

Let’s look at 5 types of client mismatches – and tweaks you can make to avoid these pitfalls, nurture your clients before they book with you, set the right tone for the journey ahead, and attract the right clients who are truly ready to transform!

Pitfall 1: Lack of self-trust, and over-reliance on you

Your client is struggling with making decisions, generating solutions, or accessing their own inner resources. They resist your invitations to think creatively, and want you to tell them what to do.

As a coach, you can give your clients suggestions and ideas to respond to… especially if your coaching is blended with mentoring or consulting, you’ll likely include some degree of sharing your experience and advice on purpose. But you also know the real transformation comes when your clients learn to generate their own solutions and trust themselves to make big decisions.

Take a look at how you’re handling your sales conversations. Are you taking up all the space in the room as “the expert”? Are you inadvertently focusing your energy on persuading your pre-clients that you know what’s best for them, and you have the solutions to their problems?

Or are you empowering your prospect by holding space for them, and asking good questions to help them gain perspective on their situation, identify their hesitations, navigate their thought process, and reach a decision that feels good and aligned for them? Are you putting the power in their hands, and trusting them to make the choice that’s right for them?

Giving advice is always done with the best intentions of helping your client – and after all, you do know what you’re talking about! But you also know that the biggest shifts happen when we shine a spotlight on the power and ingenuity our clients wield to find their own solutions and steps forward.

The way you handle your sales conversations, and the way your client reaches the decision to work with you, will set the tone for how they make decisions throughout your time working together!

Pitfall 2: Expecting quick + easy fixes for complex challenges

Your client is expecting quick fixes that let them skip the hard work and circumvent the learning process. You want them to experience deep shifts and lasting change, but they’re focused on the surface level stuff.

Some issues can be resolved with a tiny tweak – the key is to avoid overcomplicating or blowing the issue out of proportion. But other challenges require deeper shifts and understanding, and really getting under the surface to the heart of the problem.

Consider your free content and intro-level offers. How deep are you going in these resources for your community? Are you creating content that illuminates the deeper challenges your client is facing, and helps them understand their situation on a more profound level, so they can make wiser, more embodied choices?

Or do you stay near the surface, and only teach quick fixes and band-aid solutions? Are you giving your community the impression that their relationship struggles, fitness challenges, or business roadblocks can be resolved with an easy 3-step process, without looking at the root cause underneath?

Consider the message you’re sending with the level of depth, nuance, and consideration you’re giving to your educational content… do you need to pull back the curtain another layer or three, so your client arrives knowing they have some real inner work to do?

Pitfall 2b: Your client struggles with focusing or going deep into one issue at a time. This goes beyond the normal degree of rambling or losing focus – which we all do, as human beings! And as a coach, part of your job is to support your client in navigating their own thoughts.

But in this case, you’re truly struggling to support your client in centering, grounding themselves, and containing the scope of their attention for long enough to explore the issue at hand.

Consider your content... are you publishing deep-dive pieces that really explore the ins and outs of one topic, in detail? Are you inviting your readers, listeners, or viewers to really immerse themselves in a topic with you, gain fresh understanding, and learn a new principle or technique they can skillfully apply?

Or are you just throwing a lot of bite-size “micro-content” like Reels or 15-second Stories at your audience and seeing what sticks? You may be accidentally setting the tone and the expectation that conversations with you will be frenetic, fleeting, and unfocused.

Take a look at the last 5 pieces of content you shared with your community, and consider whether it’s time to weave in more insight-rich, in-depth, nuanced understanding into your content plan… so your audience sees that truly doing an issue justice means spending some focused time with it.

Pitfall 3: Unrealistic expectations of instant results overnight

Your client expects an overnight transformation and immediate results, and feels disappointed when they don’t reach all their goals right away.

What story are you telling with your examples and testimonials? Are you painting a picture that everything changes overnight as soon as they hire you as their coach? It’s tempting to oversimplify your success stories and only share the “before” and “after” without explaining the steps in between, but you may be giving your pre-clients the impression that massive change can happen overnight.

Or instead, are you offering a more nuanced look at the evolution you or your clients have experienced over time? Do you mention the roadblocks, the setbacks, or the deep shifts that needed to happen, and the inner and outer work that needed to be done, before the goal was within reach? Are you celebrating the powerful deep work your clients are doing that sets the stage for big results in their lives?

Sharing those deeper transformations helps your client better understand what’s involved in reaching their goals. It ensures you’re attracting clients who value and respect the process and the journey, and have realistic expectations about the path ahead of them… so they show up with a full and clear-eyed commitment to doing the work to achieve the results they desire.

Pitfall 4. Tunnel vision on problems and obstacles, resistance to seeking solutions

Your client is stuck on the problems they’re facing, instead of looking beyond their challenges to the brighter future you’re there to help them build. You ask questions to redirect their attention, but there’s an unseen gravity dragging them back into despair.

This happens to all of us from time to time – it may be as simple as a lack of sleep, or it may be a reversible habit of the mind, or it may even be a season of depression. Depending on your specialty and training as a coach, you may or may not be equipped to navigate these challenges with your client.

But almost every coach needs to support their clients with seeing opportunity, recognizing their progress, and imagining what’s possible for them. And you can make things easier on yourself and on your client, in the way you present your offer!

Consider your sales page and the way you “sell” or position your coaching container. What percentage of your page is focused on the problems and struggles your prospective client is facing? Are you listing problem after problem, obstacle after obstacle, and painting a rather bleak picture of their situation?

Or are you reminding your reader of the brighter future awaiting them? The inner resources they already have within them? The beautiful future that’s possible for them? The endless stream of opportunities at their doorstep?

Remember that approach goals (I want X) are associated with higher performance, less procrastination, and greater happiness than avoidance goals (I want to get away from X). The more your clients and pre-clients focus on the solutions available to them, they better their progress will be. So do your clients a favor – and remind them, even as early as their first visit on your sales page, of all the wonderful possibilities available to them!

Pitfall 5. Failing to value your (and/or their own) time, energy, and boundaries

If you run into this pitfall, consider your engagement strategy. Do you nurture client relationships by giving away tons of your time, energy, and expertise for free? When someone asks for your advice privately, do you jump into coaching mode and offer free help via private message?

Giving away your time and energy may feel generous and service-minded in the moment, but over time it’s unsustainable.

Consider: What example are your setting for your prospects about how to maintain healthy boundaries in their own lives and businesses? You may be missing an opportunity to teach your pre-clients how to honor their own time and energy, and that of others (including yours!)

If instead you thank them for their question and offer a discovery call to talk through their options and how you can help, you’re modeling a self-respecting attitude they can use when they’re asked for free help. (You’re also being responsible by not offering advice that may or may not suit your prospect because you lack sufficient context.)

Think about how and whether you honor and respect your own time and maintain your own boundaries, because however you handle requests for free help will ultimately play out in the way your prospects and pre-clients value their own time, and maintain their own boundaries, in the future.

Recap

Many of my clients are coaches, which means I hear these patterns again and again… and to be honest, I’ve even been the client who struggled with these pitfalls! So if these happen to you, know that it’s not your fault, and it’s a fixable situation.

There are simple ways you can adjust your customer journey to attract clients who are a beautiful fit for you, and set expectations for what the experience will be like!

In sales conversations, support your clients in making empowered decisions and trust them to make the choice that’s right for them.
In your content, include deep-dive content that helps your client gain understanding and appreciate lasting solutions over band-aid fixes.
In your success stories, offer a realistic picture of what it took to achieve results, including challenges and setbacks along the way.
In your sales page, paint a picture of what’s possible and the bright future ahead to inspire your pre-client.
In your engagement, honor your own boundaries and protect your time and energy from requests for free help.

If you'd like support in your coaching business and taking confident action without fear getting in the way, I'd love to support you on that level – click here to learn about private coaching and how we can work together ♥