Saw the following question in a coaching-related FB group:
“Despite having a pre-qualification form where I ask prospects how committed they are and if they’re financially ready to make an investment in coaching – I keep attracting people who have an amazing sales consultation but just aren’t ready to take the next step. What am I doing wrong?”
K, so let’s think about this one for a second.
To me it’s so obvious.
This would be like if a realtor said:
“A person came to me saying they’re committed to buying a house, and they even showed me their pre-approval letter from a mortgage lender saying they can financially afford it. But I showed them a house and they didn’t move forward with buying it! What am I doing wrong?”
Umm… maybe they just didn’t like that particular house?
This is what so many coaches and experts (and the gurus they turn to for answers) overlook. And it’s astounding to me.
Just because someone is ready to make an investment in coaching (or services), doesn’t mean they’re ready to make an investment in your coaching (or services).
(Oh, and also, I think some people just check the box for “I’m financially ready to invest” on those forms just because they think you won’t take the call with them if they say they’re not ready. They’re not necessarily telling the full truth. But that’s a topic for another time…)
But let’s assume they’re ready for coaching in general. They might just not like the sound of the “product” you’re presenting to them (i.e., your support and the particular way you give it, to achieve a certain result).
To me, this is the most obvious thing in the world – but most of the big names who teach sales in our industry use a framework that assumes the only reason someone wouldn’t buy from a particular coach is if they’re not committed to solving their problem or aren’t financially ready.
They totally ignore the possibility that maybe it’s the coach who’s the reason a prospect doesn’t buy – that either their offer is not right for this person, or the prospect isn’t seeing that it’s right because the coach is not explaining it well.
I’ve studied most of the big-name sales frameworks out there (even have been a client of some of them, back when I thought they had the magic pill for me to blow up my business), and none of them include a section where you’re supposed to actually vet the prospect.
You know, to say things like:
“Introverts and highly sensitive people tend to struggle with our sales method – it’s really better for extroverts. Is that you, or no?”
Or:
“Our method for losing weight works the fastest for folks who are already trying to eat healthy and are not new to the weight room. We don’t cover basics of those things in this program. Can you tell me a bit about how much experience you have with weights and eating healthy? Let’s discuss so I can see if you’re at the best point to benefit from this offer.”
Or:
“We’re best at helping folks with their business messaging if they’re experienced at what they do, and have at least a few great examples of clients getting results, and they want to attract more of the same kinds of clients. We’re not best for folks who have no client results, are pivoting niches or are new to coaching. Tell me a bit about what you consider your niche to be and what results your clients have gotten.”
When I think about the unsophisticated way that most of the gurus teach, I realize it makes sense that their sales frameworks don’t include a vetting section like this – because they also teach you to define your ideal client in a really vague way.
When you go through their “ideal client” and “niche” exercises, they usually teach you to define a demographic group and what problem you’re going to solve for them – and not much else.
They don’t have you look at the details of what kind of person (at what stage of their journey) would really benefit from the specific type of support that you’re offering.
So it makes sense that the sales conversation doesn’t include a vetting section – because they have you believing that just about anyone who “has this problem” is your ideal client. So what’s there to vet?
The other notable thing that the big-name sales frameworks don’t include is a REALLY in-depth section about what your methods actually are and how they’ll solve the potential client’s problem.
Usually, they actually emphasize how LITTLE you should tell about the method – like:
“Keep it the ‘how you’ll help them’ section short – no more than 1-2 minutes!”
And:
“Chunk down to 3-5 short bullet points, like ‘we’ll get your nutrition working well, we’ll get you lifting heavy weights, and we’ll monitor how it’s all going.'”
And when people follow this advice and find that their prospects want to know more than 3-5 short bullet points before investing $5K or $10K, the gurus tell them that those prospects don’t want the transformation badly enough or are scared to invest (that part’s correct!), and that they need to do a better job of objection-handling and getting them over their fear.
Here’s the thing: when someone is actually the right fit for your offer and methods (see the previous point), and they actually understand what those methods are, they often magically get over that “fear of investing.”
I recently had a big “eureka” moment when I realized that in the past when I was afraid of investing with a coach, it was pretty much always because I didn’t understand exactly what they were going to do with me if I joined their program.
Or how their methods would support my desired transformation.
Or what their methods even were, and whether my particular situation and strengths/weaknesses and stage of business were a good fit for them.
Then, later in my journey when I encountered coaches who were clearer about who they worked with and who they didn’t, and what their methods were, I wasn’t at all afraid of investing with them.
(these were mostly people who’d learned my marketing and sales method 😉 which I’ll talk about in a second – I love hiring people who use my method because I actually understand what they do!)
I made the investment with no pressure from them, and their services ended up being just what I was expecting and wanting.
It was a huge a-ha moment for me to realize that all the higher-pressure sales methods are actually just compensating on the back end for a lack of clarity on the front end (meaning internal clarity in their mind about who’s right for their offer, as well as message clarity to describe that and the offer itself).
So that’s why I ended up creating a completely different method of marketing and sales, that ensures that all (or almost all) of the people who contact us are not just ready for an investment in coaching/expert services in general, but are also pretty sure they want to invest with us specifically.
(and they’re pretty sure of this before even talking to us!)
This method (which has become known as the Strong Method™) actually creates so much clarity on the front end (in marketing/messaging) that a sales call isn’t even needed on the back end.
We just do a quick text chat (or a very short call if we just happen to enjoy doing calls, not because it’s really necessary) to confirm that this person is the right person and understands what we’ll be doing with them.
And because our front-end messaging was so clear, they almost always are and do!
How does the Strong Method™ work to achieve these results?
I’ll give you some quick snippets here, then link you out to where you can study the full method in more detail if you want to do that.
Basically it’s a method where we use written content (usually social media posts) to pre-sell and filter down to the right people.
First we define and articulate who the right people actually are (with a focus on the stage of their journey and what they already know/possess/have experience with), what the offer actually is, and what its outcomes and methods are.
Then we write two kinds of posts – a direct offer, and an essay-style value post which has become known as the “belief-shifting post.”
The direct offer includes outcome, a definition of the right client, methods used, and more.
It’s worth noting that the “method” section is done in way more detail than I’ve ever seen anywhere else – we don’t just say (for example) “we’ll get your nutrition working well;” we say HOW we do that, what our method is, and how that particular method will support the stated outcome of the offer (e.g. if it’s losing 20 pounds of body fat, how does this nutrition method support that?).
Then the belief-shifting/value-giving posts (of which this post is an example) each focus on a micro-piece of our method as applied to a particular micro-problem that our ideal client would be experiencing – and related back to the BIG outcome they want.
For example, here are some possible post topics:
“one aspect of my market research method that contributes to making sure your high-ticket offer will be something that people want”
“why it’s a myth that eating 100g of protein will make you thin and the main thing I have my clients focus on instead with their nutrition if they are overweight”
“the deepest reason why you get so stressed when a family member makes a demand of you – it’s at the level of your subconscious – and how my work releases this”
What’s notable about how we write these posts is that we ACTUALLY give the answer that we promise to give – we explain what that market research method is and why it works; we share the thing we have our nutrition clients focus on instead of protein; we actually name the reason why the person is stressed and what we do to fix it.
Most content frameworks taught out there will not give “the answer” – they’ll tease it instead, and try to get the reader to sign up for a sales/discovery call (or some other thing like a webinar) to get the real information.
And of course that’s exactly how you end up with a prospect who’s “not ready to invest” or “needs to think about it” after you rattle off your super-quick 5 bullet points of how you’ll help. 😉
There’s a whole lot more detail to the Strong Method™ way of writing content and making offers – and you can start at the “Strong Method summaries” section of this website if you want to review some video trainings and written summaries that I have there.
If you want to get multiple high-ticket clients every month with no sales calls and no objections (AND have them all actually be the right fit, amazing to work with, and pleased with your services!) – the Strong Method™ is worth checking out.
It’s also worth getting my 1-on-1 help to implement the Strong Method™ into your business, because the messaging frameworks can seem a bit complex, and I’ll easily be able to see how you should apply them to your business and offer – having already helped 200+ clients (and hundreds more for free) in many different niches to apply the method.
I even have methods for creating your high-ticket offer (it’s actually pretty simple to do when you know the outcome and the ideal client), growing your audience by 500-800+ people per month for free, and using those text chats or short calls to qualify and enroll the right people.
My 1:1 offer is a 30-day intensive with an option to extend the time frame.
(More information on the program can be found here.)
If you’re interested in working with me in that program, the next step is to send me a Facebook DM with the answers to the qualifying questions at the bottom of that page. 🙂
And if you’re interested in teaching the Strong Method™ to your own clients, DM me on Facebook about my certification program!