What to Say in Follow-Up Sessions (So Clients Keep Coming Back)
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[00:00:00] Booking your first client feels like the win, but keeping them, that's where the real results and revenue happen in your business. And the truth is, most dietitians struggle with follow-up sessions more than they expect. If you've ever finished a session and thought, did I do enough? Or Why aren't they sticking with the plan?
In today's episode, I'll walk you through the exact three step structure we teach inside the Dietitian Boss library to help you lead better, follow ups, retain more clients, and feel more confident in every session without needing years of counseling experience.
So the first step includes stop repeating intakes. A lot of new dietitians fall into the trap of asking the same three questions every time. How was your week? What did you eat and what felt hard? this questions are easy, and suddenly you're back in the intake mode, not coaching.
Clients [00:01:00] don't pay to recap their week. They pay you for progress, and that's why our framework focuses on three anchor points. Confirm the current goal. Assess execution briefly and specifically, and set one clear next step. Now this keeps this session focused and it helps clients feel momentum without overwhelm.
So here's an example. If the client's goal was to eat breakfast three times this week, you might say, let's start with your breakfast goal. What went well and where did it fall apart? Right? And that's different than, tell me about your week. You see the shift. It's small but powerful and absolutely more specific.
And that also would insinuate that you've set a clear, smart goal on the initial session. Step two would be to use language that builds buy-in. So this is where your skill as a counselor starts to really shine
You just need to be mindful of how you are interacting with your [00:02:00] clients. Clients will say things like, I just forgot, or It was a stressful week, or I didn't track anything. And the old you might've said, that's okay, let's try again. But confident dietitians, they reframe and redirect. For example, you can say, sounds like the plan didn't match your week.
Wanna scale it down? Or if we picked one thing to track this week, what would be doable? Or wanna focus on just one meal instead of the whole day, right? So these are not magic scripts. They're invitations and they're very specific. They help your client feel capable again, and they build buy-in
That's our month to month membership, our follow up simulation. Give you a safe place to practice these phrases with realistic client responses and you also get a certification. You know, we've got 11 different specialties with three levels each specialty, so a lot of simulations for you to [00:03:00] work on and really feel confident mastering your counseling skills, right?
Even just 10 minutes of practice each week can shift how you show up in real sessions. Step three would be give a reason to come back. So retention is not about personality. I mean, sometimes it is, but we want it to be more about expectation. So when clients ghost, it can be because they don't know what's coming next.
And that's why you should always end a session with a preview. Try saying next week or next session. We will look at how your lunch swap worked, or if your labs come back, we'll build a plan around those. Or let's talk movement, timing next session. So we align with your energy levels, right? Give them a reason to stay in the process, right?
So progress takes time, and your job is to lead the timeline, not just react to it. So [00:04:00] really leaning into those leadership skills is gonna help set you apart. If you still feel unsure in your follow-ups or if your clients drop off after one or two sessions, I don't want you to blame your content, right?
It's usually the structure inside of the dietitian boss library. We do help you with a proven follow-up framework that aligns with SOP notes, right? and we practice real world counseling through 10 minute simulation. We also build confidence in your tone, pacing, and language, and you'll get access to customizable client forms, counseling, rubrics, documentation, support, and you don't need to wing it or ask those same three questions you might be comfortable with asking.
Again, how was your week? What did you eat? Or was it hard? Right? We wanna shift away from those questions. You need a simple, repeatable system, which will help standardize your service and decrease burnout. So visit dietitian boss.com and join the library to get the tools to grow your [00:05:00] counseling skills and your client retention skills simultaneously.
I look forward to seeing you inside the library, and we'll see you next time on the podcast.
