"You Can’t Handle The Truth."

“You want answers?”

“I think I’m entitled.”

“You want answers?!”

“I want the truth!”

“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH.”

Don’t worry, this week’s newsletter isn’t simply a rendition of ‘A Few Good Men.’

As great as that movie is, I think we’ll save that for another day.

But I did want to kick off with that quote because it talks about something critical when it comes to building a 6-figure or 7-figure coaching business …

The truth.

Or, more specifically, whether or not your clients can handle the truth.

Being Honest Is Hard

We’re brought up to always tell the truth.

Which is clearly a good thing. After all, we want to go through life being honest and living within our values.

Most of the time, it’s easy to tell the truth.

The earth is round … Water is wet … The Office is the greatest TV comedy of all time :)

Simple.

But sometimes, telling the truth isn’t easy … Especially when the truth is something people don’t want to hear.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you’re in the relationship space, and you’re working with guys who want to win back their wives.

Your client tells you how things are at home, what’s been going on, and how he’s been acting. You immediately see the problem -- He’s needy and indecisive, and that’s why his wife is drifting further and further away from him.

Now, if you can get him to change, you know the relationship will likely be fixed.

But no guy wants to hear he’s acting needy. That’s going to crush his ego.

So what do you do -- Do you try to sugarcoat the truth? Do you go a different route altogether? Or do you just tell him straight?

The true solution is a mix of 1 and 3.

You don’t want to be nasty about it, but you do need to be honest with your clients. Otherwise, how are they going to change?

It might seem cruel to hurt their feelings now, but your clients aren’t paying you to make them feel all warm and fuzzy. They’re paying you to get them a result, to hold their feet to the fire, and to be honest about what they need to do.

But What if Clients Can’t Handle The Truth

You’ll have some clients you can just be straight with.

You can tell them how they’re messing up, showing up with the wrong mindset, or not putting in enough effort, and they’ll take it on board with open arms.

With others though, you have to tread more carefully.

This is especially true if you’re working in a niche where clients tend to be more vulnerable. Deadline with grief or trauma for example. Or something like emotional eating.?

The key here is how you frame the delivery of the truth.

You need to acknowledge what they’re doing right and give them a genuine compliment about how they’ve been showing up or working hard.

Next, you need to pre-frame what’s about to come. A simple phrase like - “Now, what I’m about to say might initially sting a bit. But it’s important to me that we’re honest with each other, and I tell you exactly what you need to do so we can get you [outcome] together. Are you okay with that?” - can work wonders.

Once you’ve got their okay to be honest, you can then tell them what needs to happen.

Finish up by explaining to them exactly how this is going to help them. Repeat their goals back to them, and make the case for how, specifically, this dose of radical truth is going to get them where they want to be faster, easier, and more permanently.

Clients Are Resilient

Clients are often tougher than we give them credit for.

As coaches, we play out numerous scenarios in our heads before these tough conversations, and think things like -

“But what if they’re upset?”

“What if they stop turning up to Q&A calls, or ghost my messages?”

“What if they completely break down? I don’t know how to handle that.”

“What if they ask for a refund, or leave me a bad review?”

99% of the time, none of these will happen.

Think about it -- If you were going to someone for advice, you’d want them to be honest, right?

Even if you didn’t like what you were told initially, you’d trust their expertise and judgment, and do what they suggested, because you know you’re paying them for a reason.

Your clients are the same.

They don’t want to be babied and coddled … They want the truth.