Get More Coaching Without the "Ick" of Selling
“Selling is ick…just ick…”
“I hate selling.”
“Selling is the thing I hate most about my business.”
I have hundreds of conversations a year with women entrepreneurs – most are coaches or consultants with decades of experience and deep expertise. And I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard the phrase “I love selling”.
Why Selling Feels Icky
I think there are a couple of reasons most of us dislike selling (myself included).
- It opens us up to rejection. If we put our product out there and make the ask and someone says no, we take it as a personal rejection.
- Our “idea” of a sales person is someone pushy or manipulative. It’s associated with negative attributes that we don’t want to personify.
- When we think about selling, the little voice can get really loud: “What if my product isn’t good enough?” “What if I’m overcharging?” “What if they think I”m only in it for the money?”
These are all mindset things that can be reframed, and that’s the subject of another article. But today, I want to shift your perspective away from the idea of selling altogether and talk about how to get hired instead.
Instead of Trying to Convince Clients to Buy, Help Them Hire You
Imagine you walk into your kitchen and there’s a huge puddle on the floor. You open the cabinet under your sink and everything is wet and there’s a half inch of water standing the bottom of the cabinet. What do you do?
After shutting off the water, you quickly google “plumber near me.” And then you call her.
When she picks up, does she have to sell you her service? Nope. You were ready to hire her before she even answered the phone. Because you need this water thing taken care of. NOW!
Position Yourself Like a Plumber to Attract More Coaching Clients
As coaches and consultants, we don’t necessarily deal with “in the moment” emergencies like burst pipes. But we can still position ourselves as a “hire” vs. someone who has something to sell. Here are three ways to make that happen:
1. Be the Solution to the Closest Thing Your Niche or Focus Area Has to An Emergency
Your first task is to identify the biggest barrier that is keeping your clients from moving forward. I call these poison ivy problems. For me, they’re usually program validation, client attraction, or scaling. What urgent or high-stakes problem are your clients desperate to solve? What are the biggest poison ivy problems in your niche for focus area?
Unsure about your niche? Check out this free video training and Focus Area Finder Workbook.
Not sure about the poison ivy problems? I highly recommend customer insight interviews so you can use your client’s language when you talk about the problem. Approaching potential clients with a deep understanding of their most immediate needs helps you move away from selling and towards getting hired.
2. Create Content That Speaks Directly to Your Coaching Clients’ Frustrations
The next thing you want to do is show up everywhere as someone who deeply understands that poison ivy problem. If you do this consistently, they will perceive you as someone who’s not there to sell but to solve. It doesn’t matter if you do this with videos, a podcast, a blog or a series of emails. Here are some kinds of content that will help people think about you as the problem solver to hire:
- Step-by-step guides or tutorials
- Case studies
- Webinars or live Q&A sessions
- Expert roundups or interviews
- Checklists, templates or tools
Consistently sharing content like this builds trust and positions you as the go-to person.
3. Make It Easy for Clients to Say Yes With a Signature Service
Let’s go back to our plumber. When she get’s your call, she doens’t tell you about the list of tools she’s going to bring or ask you about what you think caused the link or give you 15 different options for service. She says, “I’ll be right over to fix the leak and that will be $650.”
As a service provider, you can do the same thing. You can create a service product designed specifically to fix a poision ivy problem. This could be a framework or a step-by-step probram. A signature solution is powerful because it gives you crdibibity and shows that you’ve thought deeply about solving this problem, and that you can fix it. Not just for one client but at scale.
Download your FREE Ultimate Offer Creation Guide Here.
When clients can clearly see your process and easily understand how the fix works, they’ll feel more confident buying because they’ll know exactly what they’re getting.
Stop Selling and Get Hired As a Coach or Consultant
By setting yourself up as the solution to a problem, showing up with empathy and expertise and having a ready-to-go solution, you’re no longer searching for people to sell to. You’re waiting for people with the problem to come find you when they’re ready for a solution.
If you want to try this so you can get more coaching clients without the ick, you first action step is to identify the biggest poison ivy problem for your clients.
And whenever you’re ready, here are 3 more ways I can help you grow your coaching, consulting or expert business:
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you grow your coaching or consulting business:
2. Sign up for my free weekly newsletter for practical, actionable, no BS strategies to grow your revenue and make running your business easier.
3. Book a no-strings, no pressure brainstorming call and walk away with a quick-start plan to get past whatever is your biggest business-blocker today.
