Hi Coach,

If you're like many consultants, coaches, and professionals I work with, you've mastered the art of keeping clients happy.

You're excellent at maintaining harmony, building rapport, and making others feel comfortable.

But here's what I've noticed: sometimes our greatest strength – that desire to please – can become our biggest limitation.

Have you ever held back from having a tough conversation with a client because you were afraid it might damage the relationship?

I've discovered something that might challenge everything you believe about client relationships: there's actually an inverse relationship between difficult conversations and the strength of your professional connections.

Here's the counter-intuitive truth: The strength of your client relationships isn't measured by how many pleasant meetings you've had, but by the number of difficult conversations you've been willing to have.

Think about your most valuable professional relationships.

Chances are, they're not with clients who just nod and agree with everything you say.

They're with the ones where you've had the courage to challenge their thinking, point out blind spots, or deliver uncomfortable truths.

They're the relationships where you've prioritised being respected over being liked.

When we avoid difficult conversations with clients, we're not protecting these relationships – we're actually preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Every time we choose comfortable silence over candid feedback, we miss an opportunity to deepen trust and demonstrate our true value as professionals.

Think about a time when a mentor or colleague gave you difficult feedback. Sure, it might have stung in the moment. But months or even years later, didn't you find yourself grateful that they cared enough to tell you the truth?

As service professionals, we can easily fall into the trap of being another "yes" person in our clients' lives.

But they don't need another person who simply agrees with them – they need someone who cares enough to have those critical conversations that others won't.

So this week, I challenge you to reframe how you think about difficult conversations in your professional practice.

See them not as risks to your client relationships, but as investments in them.

Because the truth is, the conversations we're most afraid to have are often the ones that matter most to our clients' success.

Remember: Being liked feels good, but being respected builds lasting client relationships.

And sometimes, the path to being both starts with having the courage to say what needs to be said.

What difficult conversation with a client have you been avoiding?

Perhaps it's time to have it.

🗣️ 👀

Chris.

PS. If you want to overcome people pleasing and step into your authority, join my coaching programme today and work directly with me every week.