Whatever happened to commitment?

I was saddened to get an email this morning from a new coaching client. After only two sessions, she is questioning how she can justify continuing to work with me because her situation hasn't really improved since we started.

On my morning walk I pondered why she should feel this way – because she is already making progress, albeit slowly because she had asked for meetings 3 weeks apart. Perhaps that’s my first mistake?

I've found before that being too flexible and accommodating can backfire on you. When I'm interviewing potential coaching clients, I always ask them to commit to working together for a minimum of 3 months. There's a very strong rationale behind this. Coaching clients expect quick results and I make sure they get them. However, I'm not a miracle worker!

They need to continue to be determined and to continue to take action if, what they say they want, is actually what they do want. Another scenario that can cause commitment to waver is that, once clients get started making changes via working with me, they realise that 'hey, this is hard work!'. Yep, it is, but isn't anything worth having?

It's obvious that the way that I'm qualifying potential coaching clients isn't working properly. Maybe this is a sign that I need to raise my prices? It may be the only way to gain more commitment to taking those tough actions and making the uncomfortable changes that unlock the door to success.