This is a guest post by Marcie Thomas of Coaching Shift.

“So just how does coaching work?” my friend asked me. I inwardly smiled, confident that I could explain coaching to her, but it had not always so easy for me.

Straight out of coach training I was still clueless as to how to properly answer the most important question about my business-how does coaching work? I had been encouraged to tell my clients that they needed to experience coaching before they would fully understand it. This was supposed to intrigue them. Then I was to offer a free initial session and pitch my services.

Something about that approach made me feel uncomfortable. How many doctors, lawyers or counselors say, “You just need to experience my services before you’ll understand them?” It seemed unprofessional to be unable to explain coaching. If my clients were going to achieve measurable results, surely there was a process.

I decided to document how I actually helped my clients and a process began to emerge. That’s not to say I direct the clients agenda, but it does suggest that most clients come to coaching with similar issues. They are unable to etch out a vision or they are unable to reach their goals and as coaches we’re taught how to facilitate that process. If we were to coach a hundred different clients, and wrote down everything we did as a coach, certain themes would emerge. We’d do something specific in the first session, second session, third session and so forth that guided our client toward their stated objective.

For instance, first we find out the client’s vision and we help them establish goals. Then we focus our work on helping meet those goals. Sometimes that means we work with the client to discover their needs and values. We coach them through mindset issues, establishing boundaries, eliminating energy drainers, and creating a deeper awareness of skills and aptitudes. Then we help hold them accountable thereby helping them overcome the hurdles to reaching those goals and ensuring they become more successful.

Once I began to document my process, the more confident I became. Now, I feel completely comfortable explaining what I do. I sound more like a seasoned professional and my explanation clearly communicates “what’s in it for me” to the client.

What’s the pattern that has developed in your coaching business? Your niche will have certain buzz words that speak directly to the heart of your client, so be sure to use them. Look at what you do from the first coaching session through to the fourth or fifth session and write down a step-by-step process that communicates success to your client.

If you’d like help uncovering your coaching process, feel free to email me and sign up for a spot coaching session. By the end of our session you’ll have a process that clearly explains how your clients can achieve measurable results.

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Marcie L Thomas is the owner of COACHINGshift: the Christian coach’s marketing resource. Her motivation is ensuring her client’s success in marketing their life coaching businesses. She’s also the Marketing Director at the Professional Christian Coach Training Program, a contributing writer at the Christian Coaching Center, is the author of upcoming The New Coaches’ Successful Guide to Marketing ebook , and is a guest speaker on the topics of marketing mindset, developing a marketing plan, e-marketing success, and developing a unique, content-rich marketing message. Marcie draws on over 20 years combined experience in training, human resource development, marketing, coaching, and business startup. Having launched marketing projects for coaches and solopreneurs for several years, Marcie is keenly aware of what it takes to succeed in launching and growing a new coaching business. She has taken that experience and combined it with her training and coaching skills to develop her own unique approach to helping coaches overcome the challenges and maximize the rewards of becoming a solopreneur. She is a member of the International Coach Federation, the Christian Coaches Network and is current taking advanced coaching classes with the Professional Christian Coaching Program.