How To Structure A Coaching Session
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Start Your Sessions With Confidence
CONGRATULATIONS on completing your professional certified NLP Coach certifications; Accredited through the NLPAA – NLP Association of Australia.
I know you have dedicated your time to learning the powerful processes within NLP and we had an incredible time together experiencing multiple life-changing processes. You are living proof that coaching works.
It is now time to take your training wheels off and put your skills into action.
While you may feel a little overwhelmed on how to give your client the best value, it is time to collapse that limitation so you can coach clients, make money and transform your client’s lives.
Yes, NLP is its own modality, however, I highly encourage you to blend it with the skills and qualifications you already have in your tool kit and do it in your style. As I said from day one of our training together – Be the expert YOU!
Below is the structure of how I perform my coaching sessions with clients. This guide may help you make a plan for your sessions so that you can help your clients get the best outcome. Feel free to use what works for you with your approach.
Quick Summary Of The Session Steps:
1. Build Rapport
Build a trusted connection with your client.
2. What Is Their Present State?
What do they NOT want?
- Where are they now?
- How did they get there?
- What does it mean to them?
- What are their beliefs?
- What are the behaviours that are keeping them stuck?
- How is it a problem?
3. What Is Their Desired State?
What do they want?
- What state do they want to be in?
- What do they want to accomplish?
- What behaviour will they do?
- What does it mean to have that?
4. What Resources Do They Need?
- What is missing?
- What skills need to be acquired?
- What concepts or beliefs need to come to the surface?
- What attitudes do they need to have?
- What state do they need?
5. How Will They Know They Have What They Want?
- What will life be like when you have that?
- What is the motivation?
- What is life like without being stuck?
- What new opportunities become available?
6. Process: Address The Root Cause
- Parts integration?
- Timeline?
- Anchors?
- Strategy work?
- Fast Phobia model?
- Grow model?
- etc
7. Session Summary & Tasking
- Calibrate the change
- Integrate the new changes
- Connect with the new identity
- What is a task they can do to prove to their unconscious mind that change has occurred?
What You Need To Get Started?
- 1-3 Volunteer Clients
- Notebook for client notes (I use a $1 basic notebook per client)
- Zoom, phone or private space for you two to meet.
- Commitment to 60 – 75 minutes uninterrupted time.
- Text, Email, or messenger to follow up with your client.
- Clear mind to focus on coaching.
- A strong willingness and enthusiasm to help someone.
Beginning
First 15 - 20 minutes: Explore their present state and desired state.
- “What do you want to cover today?”
- “What is the problem?”
- “What do you want?”
- “How will that be beneficial?”
- “What tells you that you don’t have that?”
- “What will you see, feel and experience when you have that?”
Maintain your coaching mindset, by being curious, and flexible (non-judgmental) throughout the session. Your client will be feeling vulnerable so the more trust you can create, the better.
Keep in mind, your client will know the session is coming up and their mind will be in overdrive ready to explore their problem. I have learned to be quiet 90% of this initial time and just listen.
To be time effective, it is worth allowing the client to verbalise their problem (aka Vent) for about 5 minutes, but no longer. Too much information will put you into overwhelm and the session can become messy. As the coach, you need to be effective to use the meta-model and get to the point of what they want to focus on. This part of the session is a faster pace.
You can not solve lifetimes worth of problems in one session. This is why a package of sessions is beneficial so you work with pro-active clients, rather than reactive clients (one-off session).
Middle
Middle 30 minutes: Address the root cause
When you have enough pieces of the puzzle to proceed into a process, take charge of the session and lead your client into a process. Be it, grow model, timeline, parts integration, swish pattern, etc.
As you know from my NLP training, I LOVE timeline and past lives. When I do these processes I do most of the talking throughout the middle of a session, leading a client to the root cause and change work. However, it is a balance between leading and allowing the client time to answer – without interrupting. Don’t rescue your client by answering for them, you will only create more problems.
Feel comfortable to slow down to give your client time to integrate what is going on. I recommend regularly checking in with the client about the progress of the session. “Does that make sense?”, “Just checking in, how does that feel to you?”.
Keep in mind that you don’t always have to do a process in every single session. Sometimes the client needs the time to explore what they want, or what options are available to them since the last session. Talking sessions are just as valuable as a process session.
Be the expert YOU – and TRUST YOUR INTUITION. Ask your client for permission if they want to hear your insights into how the pieces of the puzzle come together.
End
End 5 - 10 minutes: Summary and Tasking
The end part of your session is about summarizing. The client will need to unpack what just happened, what was the new learning and how that helps moving forward. Some clients can be in a bit of a daze if you take them through a deep hypnotic process and you want to allow time for them to ground. Some clients will be hyper and ready to get off the phone to action a new strategy.
It is a good idea to suggest a task for your client to do, a small task, so they can move towards what they want. This is going to be dependent on the context you just explored.
If you have another session booked, use this time to discuss what they would like to cover in the next session, so they can also prepare for the upcoming changes.
Tasking ideas:
- Create an Instagram post that ….
- Take your husband out for a coffee to have that difficult conversation….
- De-clutter your desk to….
- Read a book on that topic…
- Listen to a podcast to research more….
- Journal on….
Follow Up
The number one thing I would recommend is to make sure your client knows that they can contact you, or that you will follow up, so they can anchor safety into the integration/healing. I tell my clients that we have shaken the snow globe of their life, and they may need time to settle and adjust. They may need a pocket of time to themselves to journal or go for a walk before they jump into the rest of their day.
Keep in mind that some people have a ‘convincing strategy’ that they feel depleted after a session to convince themselves that plenty was changed in the time you spent with them. This is like someone who needs to feel the ‘burn’ after going to the gym to prove to themselves they did a good workout. If your client continues to experience heaviness after a session, it is worth exploring. My intention is that clients come away feeling lighter. Anything beyond this needs a discussion.
Coaching works 100% of the time, for those who are 100% willing and ready for change. If they are feeling reoccurring heaviness, explore what is the benefit of this or what is going on in the background that they have not shared. Knowing THIS will create a big shift once they are ready to clear the resistant energy.
Business Checklist
-
️ Business name. - ️ Research google to check your business name is unique and available.
- ️ ABN.
- ️ Domain name.
- ️ Website.
- ️ Website host.
- ️ Business logo.
- ️ Insurance.
- ️ Booking system.
- ️ Payment system.
- ️Write “about me” web page.
- ️Identify what is your offer?
- ️What problem do you solve?
- ️ Google business.
- ️ Instagram business account.
- ️ Facebook page.
- ️ Linked in.
- Find ways to talk about your service. Eg Instagram lives and podcasts
- ️ Are you willing to work with people at a heavily discounted rate to get testimonials?
- ️Put testimonials on your webpage to build your reputation.
- ️ Collect business emails for future offers.
- ️ Build a community aka “container”.
- ️Consider paid ads
- ️Get your name out there.
- ️Get clear on who your ideal client is.
- ️ Pay for help, do what your an expert at.
- ️ Learn how to manifest clients.
- ️️CONTINUE TO GET COACHING OR MENTOR
- ️ Business name.
- ️ Research google to check your business name is unique and available.
- ️ ABN.
- ️ Domain name.
- ️ Website.
- ️ Website host.
- ️ Business logo.
- ️ Insurance.
- ️ Booking system.
- ️ Payment system.
- ️Write “about me” web page.
- ️Identify what is your offer?
- ️What problem do you solve?
- ️ Google business.
- ️ Instagram business account.
- ️ Facebook page.
- ️ Linked in.
- Find ways to talk about your service. Eg Instagram lives and podcasts
- ️ Are you willing to work with people at a heavily discounted rate to get testimonials?
- ️Put testimonials on your webpage to build your reputation.
- ️ Collect business emails for future offers.
- ️ Build a community aka “container”.
- ️Consider paid ads
- ️Get your name out there.
- ️Get clear on who your ideal client is.
- ️ Pay for help, do what your an expert at.
- ️ Learn how to manifest clients.
- ️️CONTINUE TO GET COACHING OR MENTOR
Get A Coach Or Mentor
As an NLP trainer, I have trained some phenomenal people to become coaches. They have a generous heart and have knowledge about life experience that is worth paying for. If you are going into business, I highly recommend you get a reputable Coach – preferably from someone who is about three steps ahead of where you want to be.
Why? From their experience, they can save you months and years of anxiety and frustration by helping you on the smoothest path a head so your business is set up for success.
Your business is an extension of you. It will show you where you are limiting within yourself. If you have a hard time receiving money, your business will too. If you stress to the point of being unwell, your business will be stressful and unwell too.
Knowing how quickly and easy it is to resolve these limitations, it is well worth investing in yourself so your business thrives.
️ CONTINUE TO RESOLVE RESISTANCE & INCREASE YOUR SENSE OF WORTH/ VALUE.
Yes, Coaching is a luxury experience. But how much is it costing you to stay the same?
There are coaches who really value what they do and deliver a high-quality service.
$5,000 for 3 months of personalized coaching.
$10,000 for 3 months of personalized coaching.
$25,000+ for 3 months of personalized coaching.
How do I know this? I have coached them.
What do these premium price coaches have in common?
- They invest in themselves.
- They are willing to take a risk.
- They embraced their fear and turned their life around.
- They positioned themselves in the market to not need to make sales.
- They don’t chase for clients. Clients come to them.
- They also know that the service they offer is valuable.
Some times people think that Coaching is expensive. It’s true, Coaching is a luxury experience.
But the real question is “How much is it costing you to stay the same?”
When you are starting a new business, there is an enormous amount of ‘work’ that needs to be complete. It can generate sleepless nights, anxiety, health concerns and break down in relationships. Save yourself the break down and get in touch with a trusted expert. You deserve it.
