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The Red Team question
When I’m helping coaches with enrollment, one of my favorite questions to ask is:
Why would this person be RIGHT to turn down your coaching?
This is an example of ‘Red Team’ thinking – a strategy in military simulations and cybersecurity where you take on the role of the adversary. This means really getting into the potential client’s world. Seeing coaching from their perspective, not yours. And you do your best to talk yourself out of coaching!
Red Team thinking helps remind us that the potential client rarely sees what we see:
They might be staring at the price tag, instead of the possibility.
They might assume that future coaching will be a repeat of the one coaching session they’ve had so far.
It might be scary.
It might not feel like the right time.
They might be worried about whether they can pull it off.
They might assume what coaching can and can’t help with.
They might assume a lot of things, without asking or even knowing that they’re making assumptions.
The more often you ask yourself the Red team question:
- the more you know how much you don’t know
- the better your intuition will get around a potential client’s reservations
- the more you’ll welcome a No as an opportunity to get real
- the more you put yourself on the potential client’s side
- the more you have to get real about the potential value of coaching for this person
So try it out. In addition to uncovering all the amazing reasons this person would be a fool not to hire you, also uncover the reasons they shouldn't hire you!
Michael McDonald, Transformational Coach
http://authenticintegrity.com
P.S. I have a few openings for ‘Coach Days’ this summer: full-day 1-on-1 immersions for coaches to bring their practice to the next level. Email me if you’d like to know more.
Michael McDonald, Transformational Coach
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