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Say What You See w/ Chris Marr

Chris Marr is the Author of 'Become an Authoritative Coach' and works with established client-facing professionals to help them go from good to great and have more breakthrough conversations with their clients and teams.

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Featured Post

The Hidden Power of Difficult Conversations: A letter to the Professional People-Pleasers

Hi Coach, If you're like many consultants, coaches, and professionals I work with, you've mastered the art of keeping clients happy. You're excellent at maintaining harmony, building rapport, and making others feel comfortable. But here's what I've noticed: sometimes our greatest strength – that desire to please – can become our biggest limitation. Have you ever held back from having a tough conversation with a client because you were afraid it might damage the relationship? I've discovered...

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Hi Coach, Let’s get straight to it—putting yourself first isn’t selfish. It’s necessary. If you’re someone who constantly prioritises others, even to your detriment, then this is for you. Being a people-pleaser means saying yes when you want to say no, bending your time and energy for others, and putting yourself last—or maybe second, but still not first. It’s driven by a fear of not being liked, a need to justify your worth, or an aversion to disappointing people. Sound familiar? If so, I...

Hi Coach, If you’ve ever had a client go off on a tangent during a coaching session, you know how quickly the time can slip away. One minute you’re focused on their goals, and the next, they’re telling a story, venting, or sharing background details that don’t add value to the conversation. It’s easy for these diversions to take over, leaving you with a session that feels unfocused and unproductive. As a coach, it’s your responsibility to keep the conversation on track, respect your time (and...

Hi Coach, Let’s talk about something that holds many of us back—people pleasing. If you’ve ever found yourself saying “yes” when you wanted to say “no,” avoiding tough conversations or bending over backwards to keep clients happy, you’re not alone. But here’s the thing: it’s not just costing you time and energy. It’s costing you respect, confidence, and your ability to show up as the authoritative coach your clients need. Here are 10 practical steps you can take right now to start overcoming...

Hi Coach, I’m excited to share some great news with you today – my audiobook is officially available on Audible! Recording this audiobook was an incredibly rewarding experience. A year after the book was published, a few close people encouraged me to get into the studio and make it happen. Over two days and nine hours of recording, we turned Become an Authoritative Coach into a two-and-a-half-hour audiobook, which is now ready for you to listen to. 🎧 Download from Audible today What made this...

Hi Coach, I was recently a guest on Trevor Lee’s Better Presentations More Sales podcast, and it was a fantastic conversation you don’t want to miss. The episode is titled Don’t be a people pleaser, and we dove deep into the problem of people pleasing, especially in the context of delivering presentations. It’s a challenge I’ve been targeting, and there’s a lot I unpacked in this interview that I haven’t shared before. 🎧 Listen here: Don't be a people pleaser with Chris Marr One of the key...

Hi Coach, Thanks to those who responded with your thoughts on how you would handle the client situation I shared earlier. Now, I would like to explain how I actually responded and explain why this approach works. But first, let’s look at how a people pleaser and an authoritative coach might react differently. The people-pleaser response People pleasers often have a high need to be liked, and that can drive their behaviour in tough moments like this. When a client comes to you with...

Hi Coach, Let me set the scene for you. I was jumping into a session with a client, a sales and marketing strategy client I’ve been working with for six months. I think everything’s on track, and I'm prepared for a typical coaching session. But right out the gate, the client surprises me with... "Chris, we’re getting really frustrated. We’ve put in the work over the last six months, but we’re not seeing the results we expected. We’re nowhere close to feeling like we’re getting the ROI we...

Hi Coach, As coaches, consultants, or client-facing professionals, we often find ourselves laser-focused on overcoming challenges, solving problems, and driving results for our clients. But in the pursuit of value and transformation, there’s one crucial element that many of us overlook—compassion. The problem is that we can get so caught up in tackling the obstacles that we forget to recognise the progress our clients are making. Without this recognition, we risk creating a pressure-filled,...

Episode 4 - Watch on YouTube Hi Coach, As you look ahead to another busy week, it’s essential to prepare for the critical conversations you'll have with your clients. But how often do we find ourselves reacting to problems rather than proactively addressing them? This week's focus is on a simple yet powerful question: Are you getting ahead of client concerns, or are you waiting for them to become problems? For more detailed insights, check out the podcast on your favourite platform: Watch on...