Let’s step back into some business development tips and talk about your calendar. Now, before you get antsy in considering adjustments to your calendar, just listen to these tips and see how they could greatly benefit you as a person and as a business owner.
More Time Doesn’t Mean More Value to the Client
When I started coaching, each of my client sessions were 60-minute sessions. My thought process was that if I gave my clients more time in a session, they would be getting higher value and, essentially, “getting their money’s worth” of a session with me. I’m glad I learned a valuable lesson that I hope to share with you. If I schedule a client until the top of the hour, I cannot schedule another client at the top of that hour. It is too much pressure and stress to hang up the phone with one client to immediately pick up the phone with the next client.
Space for You, Quality for the Client
This is important because this strategy not only affects you, but it affects the client. If you are rushing to get off the phone with the first client, the session could feel as though it is ending abruptly. On the other hand, if you are frantic in getting onto your next call, your client may sense that rush and angst at the start of their session. In these back-to-back, 60-minute sessions, you could actually be reducing the value in your sessions than providing more value with more time.
By taking the client to the top of the hour, you are not creating good space for yourself in preparing for that next call. If you schedule a 50-minute session, you end a call with one client and have time before your next session to review your notes, take a deep breath, grab a snack, etc. Plan for some margin to set yourself up for success for your next call.
Your Client Will Take the Time You Give Them!
Your clients will take as much time as you will give them in a session. If they know they only have 50-minutes in the session to accomplish what they would like to accomplish, they will get it done in 50-minutes! Even as your business continues to grow, if you move sessions back to 45 or even 30 minutes, your clients will adapt to the new time frame to talk about what they came to the call to talk about.
Today’s Takeaway
If your client sessions are still at the 60-minute mark, consider beginning to move these back to 50-minutes. As your business continues to grow, it will be harder to work with the 60-minute sessions in your calendar. I encourage you to begin this transition to give yourself a little wiggle room in your calendar. You can always keep the client on the phone a little longer if you wanted and while still having time to make it to a top of the hour session with your next client. Your business will only grow with the space that you give it to grow, so start with small tweaks and adjustments to give your business more space to grow.
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