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.
Respond: What would you do in this unexpected client situation?
|
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 need!" In that moment, how do you think I felt? Feeling frustrated or even a bit defensive is normal—wanting to protect your work. These feelings can come up fast. And here's the key: what happens next depends on how you choose to respond. So, I want you to think about this: How would a people pleaser respond here? Someone who wants to keep the peace, avoid conflict, and make the client happy at all costs. And how would an authoritative communicator—an authoritative coach—respond? Someone who holds their ground, acknowledges the client’s frustration, and confidently guides the conversation forward to find solutions. Now, it’s over to you. Reply to me and tell me how you would respond in this moment and why. When you reply, I’ll send you what actually happened and how I responded in that moment. 🗣️ 👀 Chris PS. This is an example of the work I do with high-performing client-facing professionals. Find out how to work with me here. |
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.
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, 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,...