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.

I’ve been sharing with you some common Mindset Traps that keep entrepreneurs from having a business that makes them happy and profitable.  Trap #1 was “I have to do it all myself” and Trap #2 was “People won’t pay higher fees.” You can click on the links above to read the first two posts in this series.

And now let’s look a little deeper and finish off our list…

#3 – Everyone already knows this
Oh, the dreaded, “What makes me so special” mindset trap. Just because things come easy to us or we do it naturally, we can’t believe that people would value it, or even need it. The key trap here is that you are undervaluing what you bring, thinking that since it’s so easy or natural for you, or maybe Tony Robbins talked about it on a tape years ago that what you offer is old news! Not true my friend…..But believing this will cause you to pull back, dim your light and not stand in the place of being the rock star that you are.

#4 –It needs to be perfect
Guess what…the folks who struggle with #1 almost always struggle with this one as well. I had a coach once who said these three magical words: DONE IS GOOD! Meaning, just get it done and out and refine later. But the mindset trap that we sometimes fall in is those little places where we don’t quite feel good enough on the inside, so if our stuff on the outside is perfect, then maybe no one will know. This isn’t to say that you should do schlocky work, but the trap here is that I see too many entrepreneurs holding their ideas back and refining, refining, and refining because secretly they are afraid it’s not good enough. The trap is that they think they are working on something, but the reality is that they are scared to get it out in the world. Next issue we’ll talk about what criteria to use to blast thru this monkey in your mind problem.

#5 – I don’t have enough _______ to make this a successful business
Oh, if I had a dollar for every time a client tried to justify their not being able to grow more because they didn’t have enough education, training, money, help, etc……

Mostly this trap comes from the underlying (and often unconscious belief) that we aren’t quite enough. This looks like the person who says, “If I just go to one more work shop, or read one more book, or follow so and so’s new blueprint, THEN I’ll be ok.” See the trap?

It’s like we are running on the hamster wheel, always going, but not getting anywhere because that bugger of “who I am isn’t good enough, so something outside of me will fix this.” I was shocked to hear that Ted Turner (the gazillionaire) never felt like his accomplishments were good enough. So he did more and more, purchased more and more, and then realized that inside this mogul was a scared little boy who really just wanted to please his dad, and he never could. By realizing that, he was able to stop the ‘chase’ of this feeling and finally just be content with what he had.

There ya go. Five mindset traps. And in the next weeks I’ll give you the solutions. In the meantime, feel free to post on my blog (http://www.happyinbusiness.com/blogfree-articles/) your comments and any additional traps you see.

Blessings,

Therese.