Conquer Sales Fear: Angie's Guide to Confidently Promoting Your Coaching Services

John: 00:00:00

Hands up.

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If you hate sales or you've got stuff

around sales, lots of coaches do.

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It's not uncommon.

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If you have negative feelings or mindset

around sales, guess what it's gonna do?

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It is gonna damage your sales

and your potential sales

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for your coaching business.

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So today, Angie is gonna fly the show solo

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and come and share with you some ways

to start to shift your mindset around

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sales, so that you can congruently

and confidently promote your business

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without it feeling sleazy or slimy.

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So I'm gonna hand over the reins

to Angie now, and before I do, let

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me officially welcome you to the

Coaching Clinic with John and Angie.

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This is the show for professional

coaches who want to develop the

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skills and grow their business.

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Follow the show on your favorite

podcast app and join us every

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Wednesday for new episodes.

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Angie: Hey everybody.

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Welcome back to the Coaching Clinic

today I have the honor of being your

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solo host I chose the topic 'cause it's

one that I am super passionate about

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as a coach and to help other coaches.

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Although I will miss John today I am

excited to be presenting to you for

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the first time, as your solo host.

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So for today's episode, I wanted to talk

about, how you can get better at sales.

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Because we all hate sales.

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I don't know too many people who love

sales when they're not a sales person.

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Nobody wants to raise their hand and

go, I wanna sell all these things.

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I wanna make phone calls,

I wanna send emails.

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Nobody really wants to sign up for that.

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And today what we're going to

discuss is a little bit, about

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why we don't really want to.

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What we can do to shift that, so that

we don't feel that feeling that we

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get when somebody says, all right, now

you're a coach and there is a business

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to this, people aren't going to come

flocking to your imaginary door, right?

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You really need to manage how you're

presenting yourself to the world.

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And not feel that sleazy feeling Ugh, I

don't wanna sell, I don't wanna do this.

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I hear you.

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And I feel like I'm probably a

natural born sales person because

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from a very young age, I was

that person that was like, but I

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really want the piece of candy.

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And I would tell you why it was a great

idea to give me the piece of candy.

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I believe that it's somewhere in my DNA.

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But let's get started on what I

really wanna talk about today.

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How you can get better at promoting

yourself rather than selling yourself.

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That's like the first differentiator,

is that when you're marketing

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you're promoting yourself, you're

marketing yourself as a product.

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So I think that, first

of all, you're not alone.

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Most people don't really love sales.

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We know that in sales the way we

have to promote ourselves, we're

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going to receive a lot more nos

than yeses, depending on, to what

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extent we are doing that promotion.

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Nobody that I know on the

planet loves rejection.

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Some people go, yeah, give me

another, no, because it's bringing

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me closer to my Yes, and that's fine.

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But again, I don't know anybody

that's getting high off the idea of,

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rejection and, so we wanna make sure

that we're shifting our mindset,

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that we're not selling anything,

certainly not selling ourselves.

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We are providing an opportunity

to enhance somebody's life.

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Once we start changing the words

a little bit, it actually feels

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different and it feels better.

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If somebody says to you

what do you do as a coach?

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You are not gonna say,

I sell life coaching.

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You don't say that.

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What you would say is, oh, I

specialize in, leadership coaching

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or health coaching, you're

not gonna use the word sell.

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So why do you feel like you're selling

when you're promoting yourself?

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It's a mindset thing.

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We also feel like sometimes we're being

intrusive or even a little bit sleazy, for

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example, I don't say this with any type of

real disdain or judgment because there's

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the stigma like, oh, I don't wanna sell

because I feel like a used car salesman.

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I don't agree with it, but

it's used and understood.

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Don't look at yourself that way.

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If you look at yourself as sleazy or

intrusive, pretty sure you're gonna

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come off that way because you're not

going to be stepping into your marketing

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efforts, with full intensity and capacity.

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Because we're not a storefront,

we're not a gym, we're not a boutique

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where we sell something specific.

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That's right there in

front of somebody's face.

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It does take us, to a different

place where we have to be

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a little more creative.

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So the first thing is

we wanna start pivoting.

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You have to align your

offering with things.

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I'm gonna give you some easy tips

today to help shift your mindset.

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Because even though nobody loves

sales per se, I think that,

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knowing and understanding it.

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Some people are really naturally

good at the skill, others are just

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not, I know some really high level

people that are like, I can't

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touch this with a 10 foot pole.

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If you cannot talk about your

business with ease, work on that.

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If you're at an event live, let's

just say you're at a networking event.

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You're essentially, wanting

people to know what you're doing.

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That's why you're there.

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You want them to know who you are.

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You want them to know what you do.

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And although that might feel

off to you, it feels salesy.

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How else are we supposed to find you?

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Good luck with Google.

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Good luck with trying to be the

number one when you type in life

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coach, health coach, leadership coach,

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but when you're in front of people,

you wanna be able to articulate.

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The beauty of what you do and do it in

an artful, I call it the art of the sale.

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That is something that I don't know.

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Other people have probably said it,

it's probably a book or something, but

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I've been saying it for a million years.

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There is an art to it, and I

think the first thing is that.

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When you're in front of somebody, right?

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When it's face-to-face interaction,

you just want it to be conversational.

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But before you start spewing who you

are, what you do, how you do it, da.

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My 32nd elevator speech, I

always find that it is best to.

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Ask the person you're speaking with

first about them because they then

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feel that you're valuing them and

they're important and you have a

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better chance of them listening to you.

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The second part of that, is

to be prepared to be concise.

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If you have to overly explain what you

do, we probably need to talk because

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you need to be able to say what you do.

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Very concisely and directly.

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I'm an executive coach and speaker

for professional women, and I really

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specialize in the space of burnout

because it's been, such a theme over

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the 30 years that I've been coaching.

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I said that in, I don't know how

many seconds, but less than 15,

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maybe that's not exactly what I

would say or how I would say it, but

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it's pretty much going to be that.

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So you wanna be able to concisely convey

to the other person what it is that you do

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but for the sake of time, I'm not gonna

get into the entire, sales process, but

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some tips that can be really helpful

it's important to understand that there's

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a way to do things and a way not to.

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One of the biggest mistakes people

make, even if they're sending an

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email, is they don't build any trust.

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They go straight for the jugular

and start telling you all about me.

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Let me just tell you everything

that I do, everything that I am,

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how long I've been doing this.

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Why are you looking to overly

validate yourself out of the gate,

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you need to know who you're talking

to and why, which is important,

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you need to know who your audience is

so you know you're speaking the right

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language, when you are communicating,

whether it's verbally on the phone

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or in an email, So you have to build

trust by remaining in curiosity.

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Don't make it all about you.

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Make it about them.

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Seek to understand why they're even

considering coaching, why they're

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even considering you, let them talk.

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Hey, so great to meet with you.

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I'm really excited about

this discovery call.

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I always have a discovery call, to

understand if we're in alignment or not.

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John and I have talked about

that in previous episodes, but

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they're talking to you so you

know, they're somewhat interested.

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So tell me what it is and there should

be some specific questions that you ask.

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One of the most important questions

is, tell me what it is that brings

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you to the idea of coaching.

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Let them talk.

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Stop talking because the minute

you start talking, you're actually

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stepping into the thing you're

trying not to be, which is salesy.

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If I have a family of six, for

example, let's use the car analogy.

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If I have six kids myself and a spouse

and I walk into your dealership,

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and you're trying to sell me a two

seater, and I tell you I have a

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family, I need something to travel in.

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That's what you're showing me.

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'cause of the price point you wanna

sell that you wanna make your money.

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That to me is salesy.

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and sleazy say that all six times.

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Okay.

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But anyhow, because then I know I'm

not interested in working with you.

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You are not listening.

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What do I need a two seat for?

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I have a family.

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I have eight people in my family.

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I need the extend van.

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I need a bus.

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So listen to understand, because later,

what you're going to do when you allow

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them is you're gonna do something

very specific, you need to learn and

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understand what their needs are, to

see if they are a good fit for you,

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to see if you're a good fit for them

and what it can look like for them.

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So that's the first piece.

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Then as you're thinking about it,

you're going to align what you offer.

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Your product, whatever it is

that you offer as a coach, you're

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gonna connect it to their need.

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You're going to illustrate potential

outcomes as well, honestly, if

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somebody came to me and said, oh, I'd

really be interested in doing some

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energy coaching, I need to understand

what they mean by energy . So.

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I'm still gonna have the discovery

call with them and say, so tell me

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what it is that when you say you are

looking for some energy coaching,

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can you describe that for me?

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I need to better understand that because

if they start talking about nutrition

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and exercise, I am not for them.

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I am not the coach.

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A, I am not qualified.

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B, that's not what I do.

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So then I might say, okay,

I'm glad you shared that.

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I can refer you.

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You can try and be a resource and refer

somebody out and even make a little bit

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of money that way on a referral basis.

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That's why we wanna

have the understanding.

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But if they're saying, I'm really,

I'm just juggling everything.

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I feel like I'm, running on the

forever treadmill, the hamster wheel.

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I'm stuck in it.

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I am their person.

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So I say tell me then, what

are the, again, I'm coaching

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them in that discovery call.

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I'm not looking to be a

consultant in that moment.

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I'm looking to understand what

their pain points are so I can say.

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It sounds like you are in the right place.

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Would you mind if I shared a couple

of observations and how my type

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of coaching could benefit you I'm

having a conversation with them

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and asking permission to share

where I could fit in and help

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I'm aligning us.

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I'm bridging.

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What I offer versus what they need.

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I'm creating a bridge and I wanna

make it very easy for them to

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go, oh yeah, that's what I need.

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I want them to know that I heard

them, so I might even in that moment

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say, so you did share X, Y, and Z.

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Is that correct?

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Yes.

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They'll be happy.

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Then they know you're listening

to them rather than trying to sell

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them a product, it's the process

that does the selling for you.

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Because they wanna know

that they've been heard.

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It's always about the benefit, right?

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I always ask what do you envision

the benefit of coaching to be?

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If you have or have not had

a coach, hopefully that's a

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question you will ask them.

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What is it that you're looking

for in terms of outcome?

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You're here, obviously

it's important to you.

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I.

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Listen to that.

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That is what they already see,

which of course, there's always

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more that they don't see.

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That's why we're here.

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But listen to that and think

about how you can connect what

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you offer to what they need.

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What's gonna change if you hire a coach

remember this I think is really important.

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You are not selling anything.

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You are creating an offering.

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You are offering a solution to

the challenges that they have.

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If somebody needs help, do you

say to yourself, oh, I don't

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wanna impose on helping them?

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No.

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You're like, oh, let me raise my hand.

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I'm happy to help.

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This is similar to that.

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If you think about it, I have

a solution to your problem.

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If somebody uses a great product for

their hair or their nails or their skin,

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everybody's oh, you have to try this.

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And the phone it's like

the telephone game.

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You want it to be that you

feel like I am obligated.

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I have an obligation.

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I am a coach and I have an obligation

to assist here and be a guide or however

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it is that you view yourself as a coach

to help this person achieve their goals.

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So don't look at yourself as this imposing

salesperson, be a resource for them toward

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the things that they're looking for.

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There's obviously a lot more that I would

love to get into, and perhaps there'll

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be a workshop maybe John and I are gonna

put together a whole program so that

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we can get more specific with you all.

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But that's just a quick

overview of the idea if I don't

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promote it, what's the benefit?

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There isn't one.

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And I'm working so much harder

in my business to build one.

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And honestly, if you can't get used

to promoting your business and talking

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about it, you're not going to have one.

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We would love to hear from you.

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If you have any questions on this topic

or episode topics that you would love to

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hear John and I talk about, let us know.

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We'd love to hear from you.

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John: Yes, we absolutely

would love to hear from you.

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And if you want to leave us

a message, you can do that.

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If you're on LinkedIn, you can find

both of our LinkedIn profiles in

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: 00:14:31

the show notes for this episode.

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Come and connect with us there on the

mobile app, you can send us video message.

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If you want to leave us a message

not through LinkedIn, certainly

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you're welcome to email either of

us or go to www.speakpipe.com/the

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Coaching Clinic podcast.

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You can leave us up to 90 seconds

of voicemail, completely free.

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All you'll need is a microphone

and an internet connection.

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We'll look forward to opening the doors

of the coaching clinic again very soon.

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Take care.