The #1 Skill All Service Providers Should Master First & Foremost

Written by: Laura Wieck • October 13, 2023

Image Source: https://unsplash.com/@Microsoft Edge

When it comes to evaluating client relationships, there's a critical piece that service-based professionals often overlook and undervalue...

The conversation.

We tend to place value on the tangible deliverables that we provide for our clients. However, every aspect of business revolves around the art of conversation — marketing, sales, strategy, client empowerment, alignment, you name it.

Years back when I was practicing massage therapy, I billed my clients for 60 minutes, because that’s how long their massage was. But then, they would spend the next 30 minutes talking to me — and they would tell me e-very-thing. I’d taken a coaching training earlier, so I had the skill set to help them.

When I finally did the math, multiplying each client’s additional 30 minutes by my hourly rate, I realized I was missing out on $35,000/year — simply because I wasn't charging for it.

And when I recognized this, I had two “aha” moments:

1. There is healing power in conversation.

2. Conversation is part of the service supporting my clients. Therefore, it’s valuable.

Seeing the hidden income literally sitting on my (massage) table, I got curious. Long before I started my own coaching certification, I began to explore what might be possible for my clients and my business when I simply integrated the conversation to be part of the service.

This small shift allowed me to raise my prices without adding any time or physical work to my sessions. I started charging for something that I previously thought of as “non-billable time,” but was actually a major part of the service I offered my clients.

More importantly, I saw an improvement in my clients. All the insights and advice I had been giving away for free were finally part of the session, and they actually followed through.

Fast forward to today, and I now coach entrepreneurs, practitioners, fellow coaches and online business owners to better serve their clients and discover what it means to be fiercely aligned in their businesses.

Because understanding how you can use conversation to empower client transformation and stay in alignment is crucial for your business.

Yet, the failure to communicate effectively can lead to a massive gap in your client relationship… and your bottom line.

What Is The Conversation Gap?

We're not talking about a minor disconnect or a simple misunderstanding. A conversation gap is a chasm that impacts the transformative journey you want your client to take.

Conversations are often viewed as a precursor to 'real' work (aka the deliverables). That they're 'necessary introductions' before or after the actual product or service gets delivered.

However, this limiting mindset overlooks the profound impact that conversations can have on shaping outcomes.

Because conversations are not merely exchanges of words or information, but…

— The bridge that connects us to our clients.

— The vehicle to convey thoughts, ideas and emotions, and put them into action.

— The tool to connect on a deeper, more personal, targeted level.

The conversation is an integral part of how you work with your clients. It requires both skill and practice. And if done correctly, it will allow you more ease in how you work, and create massive shifts — for you, your business AND your clients. Simultaneously.

Because conversations aren't part of the relationship, they're the heart.

Why All Coaches & Service Providers Should Embody The Conversation

If you've ever coached someone, you know that conversations should empower your clients, not hold them back. And yet so much of what we see online are quick fixes, rapid answers and one-size-fits-all solutions.

But here’s the challenge… Clients can’t imagine a new reality while they’re in a state of stress.

Your clients are currently holding everything on their shoulders, instead of just being present. So stop here, and listen. Don’t try to fix it. Instead, get curious and slow down.

This is how you invite more ease into your sessions, your business and your client’s world. The ability to simply hold space and listen to your client is often what they need most. THIS is how you make more impact.

Having the tools to navigate an effective conversation gives you the ability to facilitate a parasympathetic response, and induce a physiological state associated with healing and rejuvenation. Here, our bodies and minds are at rest, allowing us to reflect, digest and integrate our experiences.

So when you're able to guide your clients through this type of response, you facilitate a perspective shift. You help them move from a state of stress, confusion and/or overwhelm, to a state of calm, clarity and insight.

However, it's important to create an environment where your client can go beyond 'head-level' conversations, and here's why.

Why Head-Level Conversations Don't Produce Transformation

The internet is oversaturated with logic-based conversations these days, especially within the coaching industry. These conversations exchange information, advice or instructions.

And while these conversations can be helpful, they often miss the deeper, more personal aspects of your client's experience. Head-level tends to overlook what is at the core of any goal, dream or desire — a feeling.

Instead, you should shift from head-level conversations to embodied conversations. By moving to a more personal, energy-focused approach, you can create deeper connections with your client, allowing them to speak from the heart.

Take your own business, for example. What does it really mean to know who you are, know what you want, and have a business that supports that?

I was raised in the generation of telling your daughters that they can be anything, do anything and have anything.

So here we are — doing it all, holding it all, aiming to have it all — and we're exhausted. We don't even know what “it” is that we want.

I remember when I started working online, and everyone’s goal was to have a 6-figure business. Next it was a multi-6-figure business, which then climbed to 7-figures, and so on.

Now it feels like if you're not aiming for a 8-, 9-, 10-figure business, who are you? Then layer in the expectations and societal pressures of believing you need to know everything, have it all figured out, and do it by yourself.

But the thing is, it's not (or shouldn’t be) about having a “perfect” or “big” business, just for the sake of it.

What happened to simply having a business that supports your life? The right size of business to match you, what you want and how you want to feel. And the life that you truly want, not the life that you're told you're supposed to want.

So what does it really mean to be fiercely aligned in your business? To truly be yourself?

This type of heart-centered, alignment-focused conversation allows the person being coached to experience more breakthroughs, more growth and more value than any tangible deliverable you could ever offer.

Why Embodying The Conversation Should Be Your #1 Priority

Conversation is a tool that empowers transformation and guides your clients on their own unique path, while also keeping you aligned in your business.

It’s about creating a safe place for your clients to connect and make heart-led decisions. And that transformation often happens in a single moment, which can only come through a well-structured conversation.

Your role as a coach or service provider is not just to dole out information, but to guide your clients to a place of decision making, which leads to transformation.

First learning how to utilize the conversation is what allowed me to start listening deeply to my massage clients. They were so disconnected from their stress that they couldn't hear it.

Once I understood that the conversation itself was valuable, I started using a coaching structure to help my clients learn how to connect the dots for themselves. When you truly want to create transformational results for people, you have to help them tune in, and listen.

So, let's bridge the gap and empower client transformations, one conversation at a time. And you can only do this by becoming an embodied entrepreneur yourself — knowing who you are, what you want and how your business will help you (and your clients) get there.

By focusing on the conversation, you can facilitate significant shifts for your clients, while building a simple, spacious, profitable business at the same time.

Just imagine what else you could accomplish if you knew how to avoid common mistakes that hinder progress, how advanced coaches market their services, and valuable insights to position yourself for success in the coaching industry.

As a special gift, I want to give you a free copy of my book, The BodyMind Method©.

Inside, you'll learn how to integrate a powerful conversation structure into your service-based business — and how to finally get paid for all your time, energy and expertise.

Grab your free copy of The BodyMind Method© here.

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