Are you a coach who feels stuck around offering higher priced packages?
I know a lot of clients who are, finally, beginning to consider the idea of offering some higher level packages.
You know, not just a one off session but a series of ten sessions or a year long coaching program or something along those lines.
On one hand, this is so exciting to consider. A well-crafted package means more income without needing to get more clients and it also means your clients are more likely to get the result they’re seeking because your approach to helping them is better thought out.
What’s not to like?
But the reality is that, we get stuck on offering these.
Will anyone say yes? How do I bring this up with a client or potential client? Do I just send an email to my list instead? But what about when that doesn’t work? Do I offer ‘free strategy sessions’? But isn’t that just a fancy title for a “sales call?” Ugh.
Booking a single session isn’t so hard. But offering up higher priced packages? It seems to be a different beast.
If you have had your first few paid clients but now want to fill you client roster and/or group programs, read on . . .
The Story Behind This Conversation:
I came across Greg Faxon (pictured right) about a year ago when someone shared his brilliant article Why You Don’t Need A Niche (And 11 Simple Alternatives).
Well, as it turned out, Greg got a few clients from my sharing that article and we ended up connecting on Facebook and decided to get on the phone with each other to have a call. During the call, I learned that his central passion was about selling and how to help coaches talk to their clients about their higher end packages that is a good use of time on both sides. How to have a conversation that is direct, respectful and helps see if there’s a fit.
This got my attention because it’s not something I do but it’s a place of much struggle for so many of my clients.
I see three main groups of clients struggle around this:
- The first group of clients this is a struggle for are those who’ve never learned how to have effective enrolment conversations. They’re winging it every time. They get on the phone with a potential client and hope for the best. They’re terrified about being too pushy and often end up giving their client a free session to try to solve the whole thing right there. It’s a kind of collapsed over-giving.
- The second group of clients for whom this is a struggle are those who have learned how to do these processes and, even though they were taught how to have effective enrolment conversations by ostensibly conscious marketing gurus, they still feel uneasy about it. The process they’ve learned still feels pushy and sales-y.
- The rest of the clients I see sort of beat around the bush with people in indirect ways or avoid conversations around their business like the plague, as if this is a sign of enlightenment.
Personally, I’d rather build my business model so that I don’t have to have enrolment conversations. As Peter Drucker put it, “The purpose of marketing is to make selling redundant.”
Additionally, I’m not a fan of wasting my time in conversations with people who aren’t likely to buy. I’ve got no interest in trying to convince anyone of anything. There’s a lot you can do to make sure that, by the time you’re talking to them one-on-one, it’s likely going to go somewhere.
However, when you’re offering high end coaching programs, even if you filter a whole lot, there are going to be times where people are going to need to talk to you directly about what you’re offering and times when you’re going to want to talk to them to make sure that client is actually a fit. You can call that conversation a lot of things (e.g. sales conversation, enrolment conversation, etc.) but sometimes two humans have to talk it out a bit.
So! On March 6th, 2017, Greg and held this conversation via teleseminar. It was a Q&A-based conversation, so the specific questions we discuss came from the folks who were lucky enough to get in on this live teleseminar. They brought their toughest sales questions and Greg answered them, while I offered my two cents when it felt important. Greg charges a lot to consult with people one on one, so this was a rare opportunity. I’m proud to offer this conversation now as a transcript. It’s full of excellent thinking and practical suggestions that you can take into your own enrolment conversations.
Greg submitted himself to a rigorous interview with me before our telseminar-conversation in March, and has given his insights extremely generously in it. You can read this interview if you’re interested in understanding a bit about where Greg is coming from before you purchase this conversation transcript.