A client, or an asset?

The word "asset" makes most trainers flinch, and good on them. These are people. People who've trusted you with their health and their Tuesday mornings, not units on a balance sheet. So let's get that out of the way first: nobody's asking you to think of Sarah as stock.

But stay with it a second, because there's something useful hiding in the discomfort.

What an asset actually is

In business, an asset isn't something you squeeze dry. It's the opposite. It's the thing you look after, invest in, protect, and never neglect, because it's what the whole thing is built on. You service the van. You keep the kit in good nick. You don't let the valuable thing fall apart through inattention.

A client is exactly that. The difference between a client and an asset isn't the person. It's only which way you happen to be looking at them.

The lucky part

Here's what makes coaching rare. In most businesses, what's good for the customer and what's good for the books pull against each other. Charge more, serve less. Not here.

What keeps a client happy is the same list that keeps them on the books. Show up. Get them results. Notice when they're flagging. Stay in touch. Do right by the person and you've done right by the business, down to the penny. The care and the money point the same way, which they do almost nowhere else.

What the asset view catches

There's one more thing the business lens does, and it's worth having. Feeling says "they'll be back, they always are." The asset view says "they've not booked in three weeks, that's not like them, send a message." One of those keeps the relationship. The other lets it quietly end.

Thinking of a client as an asset, now and then, isn't cold. It's the thing that makes you notice before it's too late.

Where they're not the same

Don't take it too far, mind. You'd drop a supplier for a cheaper one without a second thought. You'd never do that to a client, and you shouldn't. The asset lens is a tool for looking after people better, not a licence to treat them as numbers. Keep the human first, always, and use the business view to serve them, not the other way round.

So, a client or an asset? Both, and it's the same person. Look after the asset and you've looked after the client. Look after the client and you've looked after the asset. The only trick is remembering to look.