Last week, we talked about becoming willing to step past the fear of real conversations with potential clients and not taking a “no” as personal rejection, but rather as practical information.
By focusing our conversations on what’s most important to our potential clients, we more consistently relax about the conversation AND make it easy for them to become clients.
So, how do we know what’s most important to them?
We ask directly. For example, since one of my primary focuses involves helping my coaching clients attract more clients, I will often ask in an initial conversation something like, “So, tell me a bit about your biggest challenge in attracting clients. And, what is working best for bringing in new clients?”
If you are a career coach, you may ask something as simple as, “What's going well in your job search? What have you found most frustrating about finding your ideal job?” If you’re a health coach, you might open a conversation with, “What's your strongest habit for keeping yourself healthy? What keeps you awake at night right now about your health?”
Then once you move into the meat of the conversation, you can continue to ask clarifying questions like, “So, I hear you saying that plenty of people ask about working with you and few hire you. If we could put a structure in place to help them know the value of working with you, how valuable would that be for you?”
As you listen both on the surface and deeply, you cannot also at the same time feel self-conscious about whether or not you can “get this person as a client.” And, you will clearly hear their situation and know if you are the best person to help them and specifically how you could help them – it truly is that easy!
Try it out! Use this approach for yourself and feel free to share your results in the comments.
