Does the thought of selling leave you cold?

Do you struggle to get past the old sleazy, pushy, and out of integrity beliefs that you have around sold?

Newsflash: The moment you decided to go into business for yourself, you became a salesperson.

Sales is a skill that you must master in order to close comfortably, consistently, and with full confidence.

And your sales conversation is actually a part of the coaching!

One of my favorite things to do is to shift perceptions around sales and pull the rug on old beliefs that still pervade sales being icky, inauthentic, and sleazy.

Read on to get my low down on some useful reframes that might just shift the negative charge that selling has for you:

Firstly: 𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜

Nobody is buying coaching – they never have and never will.

You’re selling the outcome of coaching and people are buying solutions, benefits, and pay-offs.

So rather than focus on trying to sell your coaching programs, focus on the transformation that you’re facilitating in your client.

A common complaint is: “𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚”

If you’re subconsciously down-valuing yourself or the service you provide, it doesn’t matter how fancy your marketing, others will NOT see the value!

Personally, I believe coaching is one of the most powerful, and empowering, interventions for facilitating lasting change and personal growth and if you’re a coach, so should you.

When YOU embrace the value of your service wholeheartedly, then others will too.

I hear this one a lot “𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚”

Sales and selling are about providing solutions to problems and fulfilling needs.

Think about this: You have a conversation with someone today who is stuck and struggling in some way and you absolutely know that you can help them.

You know your offering would be perfect for them BUT you stay silent…

Then imagine bumping into them a year on and predictably things have gotten worse for them and they say to you “why didn’t you tell me a year ago that you could have helped me??” Ouch!

Shift your mindset: 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡.

You are asking questions that enable you to discover whether the prospect is a good fit for what you offer, like a GP diagnosing the problem and then prescribing a solution.

70% of the sale has already happened before the prospect booked the call because they’ve been “following you” on social media.

#Truthbomb: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 “𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮” 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣.

It’s annoying for the prospect as they feel like they haven’t really been heard AND they’ll feel like they’re being sold to!

Just like if you went to your doctor and said “I’ve got a rash” and the doctor immediately responds with “Ah! you need this cream” without asking any questions.

A discovery call is about asking deep dive questions that enable you to gain a complete 360 degrees understanding of your prospect’s position.

When you have that view, then it would be out of integrity not to offer your solution if it’s a fit.

𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮.

Following on from point 4, your daily activities of sharing your mission and your message, inspiring with your valuable content and teaching tips is all part of the bigger picture.

You’re developing know, like, and trust.

You’re building a following and attracting your ideal clients and people are ‘buying’ into you even before they reach out to start working with you.

𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩.

Don’t waste time describing how awesome your coaching is or trying to sell them your process of how you get them from their A to their B.

Surprise and delight them with your processes once they have signed on the dotted line. Until then talk in terms of the value and the pay-offs of working with you.

And a final word:

Remember why you started your business in the first place.

Access that passionate and purposeful energy and show up consistently, operating from a place of authenticity.

Sales aren’t the blocker, only your mindset around it is holding you back.

Show up, large and in charge and share your message so those people who need you can find you!

Love Sanae x

P.S. – I’ve been coaching, mentoring, and training in sales for over 23 years – 17 years in Corporate financial services and 6.5 years in the online space, helping coaches to sell their coaching! If you want my help to do what you love, love what you do, AND get paid for it, then let’s talk. You can schedule a strategy call with me here.