What To Do When the Program Isn't Working
Behind the Design, Episode 38 with OPEX Coaches Daniel Persson and Brandon Gallagher
You ran the consultation. You asked good questions. You built a program you were proud of. Then two or three months in, the client tells you it isn't working. Or you look at the data and realize it before they say a word.
Every coach hits this moment. In Episode 38 of Behind The Design, Daniel Persson and Brandon Gallagher close out their series on the coaching process with the part most coaches handle worst: what happens when the plan doesn't deliver.
The first reaction is usually the wrong one
Brandon names the instinct directly. When a client says "this isn't working," most coaches jump straight to "what are you not doing?" The program worked for everyone else, so the problem must be the client.
Sometimes that's true. But leading with it turns a coaching conversation into a defense of your own work. Daniel's point is that this is exactly why you need a structure to fall back on. When you're passionate about coaching, wins feel great and setbacks hit hard. A professional process keeps you from getting emotional or defensive at the moment your client needs you to be curious.
Brandon's framework for when it's not working
Brandon built a simple five-step process for newer coaches to follow.
Step 1: Talk to the client. Face to face if you can, on video if you're remote. Daniel is firm on this. He never has the "I'm frustrated" conversation in CoachRx comments or chat. If a client sounds frustrated, getting on a call becomes his top priority, even if they just had a coaching call two weeks ago.
Step 2: Reflect and readjust. Go back to the original consultation. What's changed since then? Work schedule, sleep, stress, priorities. Daniel asks clients to list their top five priorities. If something new has entered that list, the plan has to change with it. This is what "coach people, not programs" actually means. Don't put pride in your program. Put pride in connecting the training to what the client cares about right now.
Step 3: Track more closely, more often. Not more data for its own sake, but tighter checkpoints so you can see what's really happening. If weekly weigh-ins aren't telling you enough, look closer for a stretch. Training is about averages over time, and you can't read an average from a single data point.
Step 4: Chase a smaller goal. Big goals hide progress. If the goal is to lose fifty pounds, you have to lose one first. Breaking the target into micro-goals gives the client something to win this week, which builds momentum and proves the direction is right.
Step 5: Decide what to change, then repeat. This isn't a one-time fix. You run the loop again until you find the answer.
Define "fast enough" before you change anything
One of Daniel's sharpest reframes: when a client says "I'm not progressing fast enough," ask them what fast enough would look like. Most can't answer. That's not a program problem, it's an expectations problem, and it needs a different conversation.
He also warns against taking credit for short-term wins. If you celebrate a big drop on the scale as proof the training worked, you'll have to live with that logic the week the scale doesn't move. The honest question is simpler: are we moving in the right direction, yes or no? If yes, the only thing you need to add is time.
Daniel estimates that about 70 percent of the time, after this conversation, nothing in the program changes. The conversation itself was the fix.
When compliance is the real issue
Both coaches are honest that sometimes the client simply isn't doing the work. Brandon's advice is to have that conversation with data, not accusation. If compliance went from 100 percent in month one to 60 percent in month three, the numbers tell the story for you. That's an honest conversation, not a scolding.
Daniel's rule from running coaching teams: the moment compliance drops, get on a call. A week of green checks with no weights logged is a signal that priorities have shifted, and catching it early is how you keep clients for five-plus years.
And when a client leaves anyway
Some will. Daniel's take is that this should either be celebrated, because you did your job well enough that they don't need you, or treated as feedback. Ask what you could have done differently. Don't get defensive. They own their experience.
Listen to the full episode for the complete conversation, including Daniel's thoughts on why precise-looking models don't fix imprecise inputs.
Behind The Design airs live Tuesdays at 10:30am EST on the OPEX YouTube channel. Watch the episode or listen on Spotify.
Where to Go From Here
The thinking in this episode, intention, progression, and evaluation for every piece of a design, and the judgment to know when to sit in something and when to change it, is the design work taught inside the OPEX Method Mentorship. Ten weeks of live lecture, lab with your own clients, and office hours, with a cohort of coaches who take this seriously. Brandon will be in the October cohort. It is capped at 40 coaches and enrollment closes October 9. Book a call with a coaching advisor, who is a graduate of the program rather than a sales rep.
Behind the Design releases weekly on the CoachRx Podcast Network. The month on the client side continues next week.
Start your free 14-day CoachRx trial and bring principled programming, habit tracking, and high-touch communication all in one seamless coaching command center.
For the full pathway into this kind of program design, look at the OPEX Method Mentorship.
Connect with the coaches
Brandon Gallagher:Brandon’s Instagram (@bgperform_)
Daniel Persson:Daniel’s Instagram (@danielcapersson)
Join us live on Tuesdays mornings 11:30am EST on the OPEX YouTube Channel
Start your free 14-day CoachRx trial and bring principled programming, habit tracking, and high-touch communication all in one seamless coaching command center.
