If you’re just joining this blog series, please take a few moments to read over the previous posts.  You can find them here:  My Story, All About Value, Connect to The Dream.

Once you own YOUR value and help them connect with THEIR dreams, Steps 3 and 4 will likely feel like a natural progression.  So here we go…

Step 3 – FIND THEIR PAIN.  Here’s my secret….I really believe that we all tolerate WAY too much crap! We get used to stuff under-functioning, accept less than great service, allow things to slip, etc. Women in particular are especially adept at being ok taking seconds, so this is the space where I shine a light on what’s not working. This is the time when I make the deep dive in to how it’s feeling NOT to have that $100k. Discovering the cost of that in the financial life, emotional life, relationship life, etc. is the key to piercing the denial that your prospects are likely in.

When you are asking these questions focus on the thing they most want (which you will have gotten if you do step 2 well) and amplify the cost of not having it. Because no one is depressed they don’t have that $100k (I know, you think you are, but it’s really not the $100k). They are in pain because they are working so hard that they can’t spend time with the kids (ask “what’s that costing you”) or they are doubting that they can do the business (what’s the cost of losing confidence) or the work they are supposed to get out in the world is sitting inside of them (find the pain of living an unfulfilled life)……THAT’s where you focus. And when you have in a very respectful way found this, then you move on to step four.

Step 4 – SHOW THEM HOW YOU CAN SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS.  Now’s the time you take what they want plus what they are suffering with, and show them the picture of what’s possible if they work with you. Of course, throughout the whole conversation you need to be seeding this, but here’s where you address solving their problems to get their dreams. Can you see that if you haven’t taken the time to set up steps 1 and 2, that you may not have buy-in? You roll out that dollar amount they’ll have to shell out and they immediately go to the COST and not the opportunity or the reduction in pain that you can provide.  Ready to learn the final step in the process?  Here’s a hint…it’s about YOU again!  Click here to read it.

If you’ve been following along with this blog series, you’ll know that I’ll be sharing Step 2 of five in the system I’ve created to help people SELL without feeling SALESY.  If you need to catch up, click here to get the details about my personal story that have prompted me to write this article.  You can also click here to find out what I discussed in Step 1 which is all about owning your value and why that’s so critical.

(In fact, here’s a call I’m offering on June 2nd about this subject – register at http://www.happyinbusiness.com/coming-events/how-to-sell-without-feeling-salesy/)

To continue the conversation:

Step 2 – CONNECT WITH THEIR DREAMS AND DESIRES. This is the piece that is so critical to start with. Most people make the mistake when someone says, ‘what do you charge’ just to launch into giving prices. NEVER do that if you can help it! Here’s why…if you have not gotten your prospect sold on their own dream, when you roll out the fee, they will just be looking at the amount of $ it will cost versus the amount of life they will get. In this stage I take quite a long time to really flush out what my prospect wants. Here’s an example:

Client:  I want to grow my business

T:  Great, what does that look like?

Client:  I want to be earning $100k by next year.

T:  Ok and if you earned $100k, what would change?

Client:  I’d be able to outsource more and spend more time with my kids.

T:  Cool, what would you outsource?

Client:  I actually hate all the writing I have to do, so I’d be able to hire a copywriter.

T:  What else?

Client:  I’d get a new computer and update my website.

T:  And if you had that, what else would change?

Client:  I’d be taken more seriously because my site would look better.

T:  What would that allow you to do?

Client: I’d attract higher paying clients and be seen as an expert.

T:  And how would that feel?

Client:  That would mean the world to me.

T:  So you’d be able to spend more time with your kids, have a business that really put you on the map, have technology and a web presence that reflected your brilliance….anything else?

I would keep going, doing the deep dive and the reflecting back till this prospective client is SALIVATING at how cool things can be.

But it’s important to notice that ‘earning $100k’ isn’t enough of a goal. You have to know the WHY of the goal in order for it to be juicy enough to invest in hiring you.

Before you have a conversation with another client, you’ll want to know and understand the next 2 steps I’ll share in my next post.  These are really key to the whole process.   Click here to go to the next blog post where I’ll cover more.