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Show Notes
You are having a client conversation, a consult, and everything seems to be going really well. They are asking lots of details, there is lots of nodding, and they know that you are the one for them. Then you start to talk about the price and they tell you they need to think about it or check with somebody. You send the details over and then there is crickets.
What probably happened was there were two different conversations going on. You thought you were really clear, but they thought, oh, got all these questions should have asked. Should I be leaving my job? Should I be asking for a pay rise? What am I going to do? Are you the right person for me?
You end up with what you thought was one conversation they thought was another conversation. So it is that same conversation, but two very different conclusions.
Make Sure They Feel Heard
We need to make sure that we are all on the same page so that you do give them the opportunity to ask those questions. You need to make that environment so that they can ask the questions and not be so worried about just getting to the price and getting there, because it is a conversation. Consultations need to be a conversation.
The first thing you need to do is work out how can you help them. And yes, you definitely can. And then are you the right person for them?
There are three things that need to happen there. They need to trust you. They need to trust your process and they need to trust themselves.
It Is Not Always About Money
I ended up literally buying the exact same thing that the sleazy car salesman could have sold me the day before.
But why did I buy it with a second dealership? Because they heard me. They saw me. He listened to my story. He was empathetic. He showed me that other people had the same situation.
It was not the money that was the issue. It was not the time. It was just I did not feel heard. I did not feel appreciated.
And that is what we do with coaching sometimes, is not it? We forget that we need to show people. We need to give them case studies so they can say, oh, just like me, you have helped somebody else.
We need to be showing them that we understand what their problem is. We need to be showing them that we have helped other people do the same things, and we need to be showing them that we actually care.
Show Them the Transformation
We do not need to be telling them about our six packages. We need to be showing them how we can transform, how we can listen to their problems and explain to them that there are other options.
We have to make sure that we are painting that vision. We are painting the picture of where they are going to go. And case studies are an amazing way to do that.
Somebody liking your content, even maybe engaging in it, coming to a workshop, that is the first step because they are checking you out, then making sure that you align.
One of those three things has been broken, has it not? You do not trust them or you do not trust their process, so you do not even need to worry about whether you are trusting yourself.
That is what we do with our content, is we put it out there and show people that, yes, this is who I am and what I do, which is why it is so important that it is your authentic voice and you getting out there and not just delegating it all to AI.
Be Clear About Who You Help
Making sure that you are really clear about what your difference is, the people that you can help. And as we know, talking to everybody is talking to nobody.
In consults that can be the same, because yes, you can probably solve all their problems, but that is way too big for somebody to understand that you can help them.
How long have they had this problem? What other things have they tried to do before they got to you? And what are they going to do now? That is the important thing.
So if you give them the whole roadmap, if you give them everything that is going to take them on a world journey, then that is going to be way too big.
Making sure that they feel understood that you know how to help them, but also making sure that they can see that it is a pathway that they could take.
Useful questions could be what is caught your attention about this? Why did you come to this consultation? How can I help you? And that can give you a lot of information about where you need to start.
Understand Their Real Problem
How frustrated are they with this problem? How urgent is it to change? Is it something that has been ongoing and now they have basically just got used to living with it?
They do want to change, but they need that urgency. They need something to make it happen.
A useful question there could be how has this been affecting you? And do you have a timeline to change?
Quite often when we explain six packages and what time it is going to be adding how it actually works, that can be the big disconnect, because we have gone out of our coach mind. We have now gone into what we perceive is our sales mind, and that quite often is where we get stuck because we are not maybe as confident as we could be.
Build Trust Before Asking for the Next Step
First off, you need to get their trust that you can help them, you can understand them, and you are not going to force them into something that they feel that they cannot do, because that is where buyer’s remorse comes in.
Making sure that they are comfortable is really important.
If they do need to say that they need to talk to somebody else, then it might be a conversation of, okay, what is it that you need to ask them? How can I support you in that? If you need to talk to somebody else, maybe they should be on the call as well.
It is often not about the price. And it is often not that they need to talk to somebody. When they do talk to somebody, they have already got those doubts. So they just look for evidence that makes what they are talking of at this time.
Making sure that you are asking the questions and getting that little bit deeper, using your coaching skills to make sure that you know exactly what the problem is, not just the surface level.
Give Them a Clear Next Step
If they say, well, I will let you know, then say fine, okay. Can we book a follow up call?
If they need more information, making sure that you have got that. Is it a case that they need a small test first? Do you have a smaller course or freebie or something that you can give them to make sure that you are both on the same page and you know where you are going?
The clear next step, make time to follow up. Make sure that they know where they are going and get a definite answer.
And if it is a no, that is fine. You both know where you are, and it can be a case that they might need to be nurtured a bit more.
If it is a maybe, then make sure that you try and get a follow up meeting so that you can help them to work through those questions that they have.
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They Are Interested in Coaching, Why Haven't They Booked?
Being interested is the first step. The common objections are always time, money and priorities. But it is amazing how we can fit that.
Did they leave knowing exactly what the conversation was? Are you both on the same page? Have you built the trust? Do they have trust in you? Do they have trust in your program? And mostly, and more importantly, do they have trust in themselves?
So let them feel understood. Let them feel heard so that their interest can turn into clients.
Listen to the full episode of Small Business Talk episode 367.
You can also find the video versions of the Small Business Talk Episodes on YouTube.
