How To Improve Your Coaching Chemistry Conversion Rate

In the world of professional coaching, chemistry meetings play a crucial role in establishing a strong connection between coaches and potential coachees. These initial conversations lay the foundation for a successful coaching relationship to follow. However, many coaches find themselves wondering how they can transition from these introductory sessions to increase their conversion to paid work. In this blog post, we will explore effective strategies that professional coaches can employ to convert chemistry meetings into paid coaching engagements.

What is a chemistry meeting?

On the BOLDLY marketplace, a chemistry meeting is a free 30-minute conversation between a coachee and up to three potential coaches. This is the first introduction between the coach and coachee where they determine their rapport, start setting the scene for goal setting, and both ask questions to determine whether they have a skills-development need fit to help the coachee in their growth. See more information here about how the chemistry session is conducted, and sample agendas to ensure the meeting is high-value: What is a chemistry session?

How can a coach put their best foot forward and maximize their chances of winning the work?

To increase your chances of securing work as a coach, it's essential to present your best self. Here are some ways you can differentiate yourself from competitors and establish your reputation as the go-to coach for delivering outstanding results.

Know Your Tools

If you’re meeting for a chemistry meeting online, ensure you know your technology and everything is working with your equipment in advance. There’s nothing worse than an otherwise professional leader fumbling around with settings on a call, which not only wastes time but impacts credibility.

Pick Your Place

If you’re meeting in person, ensure you’re in a quiet and confidential location. Coffee shops aren’t always great, unless you’re confident you have the right location and a table set apart from others. Sometimes you’re at the whim of the coachee on this one… if they have a preferred location then it’s often good to follow their lead and meet on their territory, but make sure you get there first and scope the place out! Of course, a private meeting in their office would be preferable as you can control the environment better. All of this sets the scene for the tone of your meetings to come.

Propose An Agenda

Often coachees haven’t conducted chemistry sessions before, or even had coaching previously. They have 30 minutes to determine whether you’re the right coach for them, and BOLDLY will have provided them with resources to assess your ‘fit’ for them, however they’re not practiced experts in this process! You as coach should gently take the lead by proposing the agenda for the session, leaving open space for them to make additions: “Does that sound like a good plan? What else would you like to add?

By setting the agenda you’re showing you know the process, you’ve been here before and can lead the way, but that you’re collaborating on how the conversation goes ahead. Don’t be too rigid or structured, in case you miss the opportunity to co-create a great session with the coachee.

Establishing Trust and Rapport

This sounds so easy! We all know it’s not, and you have a limited window to work with! Chemistry meetings are an opportunity to build trust and establish rapport with potential clients. The coach should focus on active listening, empathy, and genuine curiosity during these initial conversations. By demonstrating an ability to understand the coachees needs, concerns, and aspirations, the coach demonstrates what the ongoing coaching relationship will look and feel like. Trust can be built explicitly by talking about the confidentiality of the coaching engagement. Let them know that you don’t just rely on any coaching session template, and that they can expect to receive a personalized plan.

Studies have found that when a coach holds positive expectations about a coachees trustworthiness, it influences their own trusting behaviors. Positive expectations therefore create a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to higher levels of trust in your coaching relationships (Haselhuhn & Wong, 2011). Additionally, your emotional expressions play a significant role in building trust. Research suggests that genuine displays of positive emotions, such as smiling, can enhance trust and cooperation between individuals (Harrison & Dovidio, 2017). Your overall demeanor has a big impact in this meeting.

Demonstrate Value From The Start

During the chemistry coaching session or meeting, it's essential to showcase your expertise and demonstrate the value you bring as a coach by starting to coach the coachee. Use your coaching questions to probe the coachees initial goals, and give them the experience of being challenged and prompted to reflect.

In addition to directly starting to coach, you can provide examples of successful coaching experiences or share testimonials from satisfied clients using the feel>felt> found model:

I had a coachee who was feeling the same as you - at XX point in their career and working on YY goal. They felt that coaching was going to take a lot of resources and time that they didn’t have to spare. What they found after a few sessions was that ….

You should use genuine experiences and cases, but by using this model you put the coachee in the frame of your previous success. By illustrating the positive impact you can have on their personal or professional growth, you create a compelling case for your services.

Start Contracting

Coaches know that ‘contracting’ doesn’t mean the legal contract, but rather the explicit agreement between the coach and coachee about how they expect to work together. Does the coachee expect to be challenged? Where do you have their permission to interject or call out their contradictory behavior and messages? Has the coachee had any mental health or performance issues in the recent past, and how should this be brought into the coaching relationship? Who else do they have collaborating with them to develop? And more simply, what to do when the coachee gets busy or under pressure! By starting this contracting process you’re putting the coachee into the mindframe of the challenge required through a coaching journey, and setting them up for success. By leading them through this conversation you’re showing again that you know what to expect from this process and that you’re a safe set of hands they can rely on as they become vulnerable enough to develop and change through your proposed coaching session plan.

Leave Time To Address Concerns and Objections

Make sure you don’t gloss over any objections that are raised. During chemistry meetings, coachees may express concerns that prevent them from committing. It is essential to listen attentively and address these concerns in a respectful manner. Make sure you qualify the concern first before addressing it, and encourage the coachee to get more support and guidance from their HR Business Partner where needed.

Converting chemistry meetings into coaching work is an important skill for coaches. By building trust, demonstrating value, tailoring your approach, offering a clear path forward, addressing concerns, creating urgency, and following up with care, you maximize the chances of transforming potential clients into paying clients. Remember, the success of your coaching business lies not only in your ability to facilitate personal growth but also in your capacity to showcase your expertise and forge strong connections with those seeking your guidance.

If you're a coach looking to enhance your coaching chemistry conversion rate, we invite you to connect with us at connect@boldly.app. Let’s help you achieve your goals and make a lasting impact. Take your coaching success to new heights and start your transformative journey!

Reference:

Haselhuhn, M. P., & Wong, E. M. (2011). Bad to the bone: Facial structure predicts unethical behavior. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278(1705), 1124-1130

Harrison, K. J., & Dovidio, J. F. (2017). The role of smiling in building trust in intergroup contexts. Emotion Review, 9(1), 15-23.

About the Author:

Alexandra Lamb is an accomplished organisational development practitioner, with experience across APAC, North America, and MENA. With 20+ years in professional practice, conglomerates, and startups, she has collaborated with rapid-growth companies and industry innovators to develop leaders and high-performance teams. She is particularly experienced in talent strategy as a driver for business growth. Drawing from her experience in the fields of talent management, psychology, coaching, product development, and human-centred design, Alex prides herself on using commercial acumen to design talent solutions with true impact.