(This lesson is brought to you by amazing Faction Mentor, Amanda Wheeler. The importance of what she talks about can’t be overstated. A consistent client experience is everything if you want your people to keep coming back. Thanks Wheels!)

Having consistency in your coaching, from the structure of the session, to the language you use, will help set your clients up for success and make your job as a coach much more efficient and effective.

Structure

Having structure around what happens the second your client walks in the door to the second they leave creates trust.

If you follow Tony Robbins (can be super cheesy, I know), he says the first basic human need is certainty/comfort.

From day one, talking your client through what a session entails and what you expect of them will help guild their experience, and provide certainty and comfort.

If your clients arrive 15 minutes before their session begins (because they are superior humans and know that on time is late), make sure they know where they can grab a foam roller or do some kind of warm up activity and the designated area to do it.

**Side note: If you want to be super creative (gym owners especially), during this time before class, throw a topic out for your members to talk about. i.e. “Places you’ve found your pet or child’s poop.” This builds structure, comfort, and community. Triple threat!

From there, having structure within your sessions, where your clients can know what to expect, lays the foundation for consistency.

Just like in Strength Faction, we have structure around each phase, each week, and each session.

I know that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’m going to be warming up, doing some kind of power/core, hitting some big lifts, and doing a finisher. On Friday’s, we get to bro out.

Knowing what to expect creates immense amounts of comfort for your clients, and ultimately keeps them as your clients.

Language

One of the toughest parts about coaching is getting folks to understand what you want them to do, then execute. Having consistency in your language, and amongst your coaches, will make your job insanely easier and allow your clients to understand and respond better.

Getting people to neutral is often one of our biggest challenges.

How many times have you yelled, “anterior pelvic tilt” at someone? Hopefully never. You’re the only one who knows what that means.

Creating a language that works for you and your clientele around getting them to neutral will be a game changer.

At Mark Fisher Fitness, on day one of the Ninja arriving (we call our clients Ninjas), we go through postural positions and tell them the cues we will be using to get their bodies to neutral.

We have them stand in the mirror and with their hands on their hips, moving only their pelvic bowl, pretend to dump a bowl of cereal down the front of their bodies, then down the back.

They do that several times and when they can comfortably go back and forth, we say, “when we dump it down the front (APT), we call that porn star. When we dump it down the back (PPT), we call that sad dog. These are cues we will use to get your body to neutral.”

They usually laugh but then can visualize and attack pretty immediately when we offer these cues.

If someone is in a plank and they have too much anterior pelvic tilt, we say, “sad dog,” and the Ninja knows exactly what to do and how to correct it without very much effort on our part.

Every single coach at MFF uses these specific cues, along with several others we have for different parts of the body, and that aids tremendously in understanding and consistency for every person that walks through the door.

Feedback

Having consistency in feedback is also a great way to build trust and comfort in your clientele.

Using the “Kiss Punch Kiss” method is a great way to show you are paying attention to not only what needs to be fixed, but what your client is doing correctly.

Kiss Punch Kiss is a specific compliment, correction or feedback, followed by a general compliment.

An example is, “Katie, I love that you are trying to rip the handle apart. This time, can you focus on spreading the floor with your feet the entire time? You are moving beautifully, girl.”

Throwing in what they are nailing allows them to feel successful at something and also receptive to trying what you’re asking them to do.

If the feedback you give is only ever what they need to fix, confidence in movement will drop. If the feedback is only ever what they are nailing, they will never get better or fine-tune movement the way they could.

Using structure, language, and feedback to create a consistent coaching experience for your clients is an easy way to get them comfortable in your space and gives you the highest advantage as a coach. It builds trust that will keep them coming back and set you up for success for a long time.