Hello,
Many of you will have heard the saying "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail'. Planning is a very important aspect of any endeavor, especially connected to personal development.
During my initial meeting with a potential client, we cover several areas. These include what the client expects to achieve, their background in life and personal development, any troublesome relationships and finally, but most importantly, their expectations of return on investment.
For many, the fact that last item comes up at all is somewhat of a surprise to them. One reason for this is that most people do not look at personal development as an investment. This is mostly if they have the viewpoint that the goal is to "rid" themselves of something rather then enhance their lives.
The truth is that for anything to be successful, it requires some type of investment. My conversation with the client isolate three aspects of this investment; financial, time and personal commitment. Only when these three areas are correctly addressed up front and agreed upon can real improvement occur.
When discussing return on investment, we first cover the financial aspect. I estimate the number of sessions required to meet the client's goal, plus any followup. This provides a "ball park" figure. I then add 25% to provide an estimated cost. I usually write this down on my pad and turn it around for the client to see, stating "For the outcome of <the clients goal>, you will need to make this financial commitment." This directly relates the outcome to the financial expense. At this point I will offer a package price with a discount for payment up front.
Once the level of financial commitment and payment terms are agreed, we move onto the time commitment. The major issue here with busy people is fitting the sessions into their schedule. This again requires some discussion to work through before an agreement is reached.
Finally we will cover the area of personal commitment to do any exercises and reading outside the normal sessions. I will also cover setting a policy for missed sessions and last minute re-scheduling. The major driver here is again to test the level of commitment the client has. If they are serious about improving and have good ethical standards, they are more likely to agree to a stiff policy in this area.
Once we have established the above, I will make a proposal for the client to confirm. Most of the time this is done verbally at the time and I include the details on the first invoice.
In closing, taking the time to plan upfront by covering the above areas really does improve the return on investment for both parties. Clients have accurately set expectations, and practitioners waste less time signing up clients who are not committed and therefore do not follow through.
Have an excellent week
Malcolm
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