How to win in the first two years of consulting

Leah Neaderthal 0:02

Hey there. So if you're in the first couple years of your consulting business, what we call the startup phase, then this episode is for you, and I'm going to share how you can get your first consulting clients and set your business up for success, not just in these early days, but for the life of your business. So buckle up, listen in and share this episode with somebody who's in those first couple years of your consulting business. All right, let's dive in. Welcome to the smart gets paid podcast with me. Leah Neaderthal, I help women land higher paying clients in their independent consulting businesses, but I've never been a salesperson. My background is in corporate marketing, and when I started my first consulting business, I learned pretty quickly that it's about 1000 times harder to sell your own stuff than it is to sell someone else's. So I taught myself how to do it, and I created the sales approach that I now share with my clients so they can feel more comfortable in the sales process, get more of the right clients and get paid way more for every client contract. So whether your client contracts are $5,000 $100,000 or more. If you want to work with more of the clients you love, do more of the work you love, and get paid more than you ever thought you could, then you're in the right place. Let's do it together. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to rate, review and share. Hey there. Leah, here. Thanks for tuning in. I hope that wherever you're listening to this, wherever you are right now, I hope you're having a great week, making some good progress in your business and taking some time for you. So today's episode is going to be a little different. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while. You know that normally I talk about how to get clients and how to get paid more and how to run a more profitable consulting business for women in what we call the messy middle of their consulting business, when you're at least two years into your business. And that can mean often, you know, you could be five years or 10 years or even more years, but at least two years into your business is when we see the messy middle sort of starting. But in this episode, I want to talk directly to you, if you're earlier in your business, before you hit two years what we call the startup phase of your business, and we're going to talk about the difference between those two phases. So if your business is less than two years old, and especially if it's less than a year old, then this episode is for you, because the startup phase of a consulting business is its own thing, and it can feel messy in its own way. And if you're in it, I want you to know you're not alone, you're not doing it wrong, you're not behind, and there are some really specific things you need to know and be doing right now to set yourself up for success. So if you're in the startup phase in your business those first two years, then this is for you. And of course, if you know someone who's in that phase, please share it with her. All right, we're gonna get into it right after this. So I've wanted to do this episode for a while, because I hear from so many women who are, you know, a little earlier in their business journey. Maybe they're not quite at that two year mark yet, or maybe they're still working their way up to the revenue level that we recommend for joining our program, the Academy, which is making at least $120,000

Leah Neaderthal 3:09

in your business in the previous year. And women ask me all the time, they'll be like, you know, I'm too early to work with you. But is there something you can share, or is there a course or something for women who are earlier in their businesses. And I mean, this podcast is always a great free resource for the types of things that I teach the women who are in my program. And you can hear, you know, the actual like guidance and coaching I'm giving my clients, and you can hear their stories, and that's always available to you. And you know, I'm also offering up resources or tools or templates on LinkedIn. So if you're following me there, then you'll see those come up. But I did want to make something just for you, if you're in the startup phase of your business with you, know just what I would tell you if you and I were sitting down for coffee, all right? So that's why this episode is just for you. So let's talk about what the startup phase actually is in a consulting business, and you know, not just how we define it, but what happens during that phase. So in any consulting business, the startup phase is, as I mentioned, those first two years of the business, when you're just starting out, and that's opposed to the messy middle, which tends to start when you're at least two years into your business. So when you're in the startup phase, you have left your last you know, corporate job or working for somebody else. You tell people that you're starting a business. People are really excited for you, and your first few clients will come from people who, either you know, used to work with you, or people who those folks have sent your way. So you're getting all of your clients through referrals. And we call this the first wave of clients that you'll get in your business, the first wave. And in terms of the work you're probably doing, work that's pretty similar to what you did in your last job, or, you know, some version of it. And in the startup phase, you know, every day. Feels like something a little new. You know, it's exciting. Life is pretty good. It's during the messy middle when things change a bit, you know, maybe those referrals either start to slow down, or you recognize that they will slow down, and you're not super new anymore. So you may not know what to say in your marketing. If you're not, you know, just announcing that you're here, and the messy middle that is when smart consultants realize that they need a strategy to actually continue to land new clients. But we're going to talk about that in a few minutes. But the startup phase is where you're getting that first wave of clients, and you're really getting your feet under you as a consultant. And that can be a really exciting time, you know, maybe a little daunting, maybe a little scary, but also, you know, definitely exciting. And so we're gonna talk about what to do during the startup phase to get clients into your business. And I have to tell you, like, real talk, it was actually very hard to write this episode, because honestly, I mean what I would say if you and I were sitting down for coffee, what I would tell you is, when you're new in your business, in that first year, two years, what I would say is, take everything, take every client, take every project, do all the projects that come your way. You know, anything that looks interesting. Charge whatever, probably hourly, or, you know, hourly that sort of looks like a retainer, because it's set hours at a flat rate, or, you know, something like that, because you have to start somewhere, but, like, work with everyone and do everything for those two years. And I was like, really in my head about it, I was like, I can't do a podcast episode and say that, because, like, on the surface, that sounds like just bullshit advice, you know, but that really is what I would tell you to do at this stage, and I want to talk about why. And by the way, I'm not just going to leave it at that, so, you know, don't worry. I'm also going to share some specific, actionable things you can do right now to help you. So stay tuned for that. But the reason that that advice actually is strategic at this stage is that your job in the first you know, 18 months to two years of your business is to get as much data as possible, and data in the form of clients and money, and I say, get as much data as possible instead of get as much experience as possible. Because, listen, I'm never going to say that you have to get experience, because if you're like most of the women I work with, when you start your consulting business, like you're actually coming out of a job or a career, where you have a ton of experience, but then you know, you can leave that world of working for somebody else, and now you're on your own, and it can sometimes make all that experience feel a little invisible. It's like, you know, all that knowledge and expertise that you've spent years developing, it can feel like it sort of disappears once you step into this new role as a business owner. And maybe it doesn't feel like that in the work you do, like you know what you're actually doing. You still feel really confident about that. But on the business side, it can feel like all that experience, you're sort of starting from scratch, you know, all it takes is like one client pushing back, or you get a no or something, and it feels like you have no idea what you're doing, right? And so I feel like you have the experience. What you need is data and data on things like, you know, what work do I like doing and what do I not like doing? Who do I like working with? Who am I best suited for? How much do I want to charge? How do I talk about my business, right? And you actually don't have to have it all figured out, because you're brand new, and your job is to collect data. I definitely went through this during the startup phase of my business. I mean, when I first got started as a coach, if you ask me, what I did, like that line and the main hero section of my website was, I help small businesses grow, which is like, so cringe now that I look back 10 years later, but that's how I was talking about my business, I help small businesses grow, and I got my first clients through friends and referrals, right, and they were small businesses like they fit what I said. One of my first clients was a woman who was the executive director of a nonprofit that does leadership development for social entrepreneurs, and I set up the CRM for her organization. Another one of my clients was the founder of an organization that did cross cultural exchange between the US and Asia, and I helped her do business development for potential funders. Another project I did was a CRM set up for another consultant, and I taught two co founders how to get clients for their resume writing service. And I liked those projects. And, I mean, I love the clients. They were all wonderful, and the work was interesting, but I had this feeling that they were like, just a few degrees off from what I was truly best at, and who could benefit from my work the most. I mean, if we just look at the who, right, who am I working with, and who are the best clients? For me, I started by saying that I was working with small businesses, and then I said women owned small businesses because that was, you know, aligned with, like, my personal mission, but I mean, a consultant, a jewelry designer, a funded tech startup, an MLM and a mom and pop bakery are all, you know, women owned small businesses air quotes, and I'm not best suited to help all of them, right? And so then I said, Well, I can really help women consultants and coaches, because those sort of get like, lumped in together in the business world. But actually, coaching requires a very different type of marketing and sales process than consulting. It's like, you know, B to B, marketing and business development for consulting versus a more B to C, style of marketing for coaching. And so then I realized, well, B to B was really where the type of marketing and business development that I do really works. It's B to B, not B to C. And I remember one night I was, like, really frustrated with trying to describe who I work with and the problem I wanted to solve. And, you know, out of frustration, I was just like, oh, you know, like, you know what, if the process of getting clients means you're sending a proposal, then I'm your girl. And it kind of hit me in that moment, well, that means consultants. And also it's like, Duh, like, I had run a consulting business. Like, it makes sense. So yay, you know, consultants. But actually, even then, I wasn't done learning about who I was best suited for. I wasn't done gathering data. Because even after that, I realized through, you know, working with a number of women consultants as my clients, I realized really, that the things that I teach and the system that I help women implement is best suited for women who have had a few clients already, like they've been doing it for a little bit. And that's when I started talking about the messy middle. And I made a decision to focus on women running consulting businesses selling B to B in the messy middle. And I gotta say, I mean that progression that I just walked through that took much longer than the first two years my business. But the point is that super early on in those first couple years, I took everything that sounded interesting, you know, where I could help, and then I took that data and I learned from it, and I evolved, right? And I'm really glad I did, because what we're talking about here, you know, take every client, charge what you want, gather data. You don't want to do that forever. And when you go from the startup phase to the messy middle, that's a natural transition point from. And where I want you to go from taking everything to really looking at what is the work I want to be doing, like, what is the work that truly lights me up. And so that's where we go from take every client to really looking at the clients who you're best suited for, you know, the ones who you can be most successful with and the ones who can be most successful with what you offer. And that's also where we make the shift from charge anything to getting paid for your value. And so that's what smart consultants do when they go from the startup phase to the messy middle, and they take that data and really start to take the business that you have and turn it into the business that you want. And of course, because that's the moment that we work in, we have strategies to help you do all of that in the academy. So if you and I were sitting down for coffee, that is exactly what I would tell you, take everything that sounds interesting so that you can gather data, and I just want to say I can also tell you definitively what you don't need at this stage. Because I talk to a lot of women who are starting their consulting businesses, or they're in that startup phase, and I hear the same things over and over again. They're spending so much time and energy trying to get all this, like official stuff in place, and they spend way more time on that than they do actually trying to get clients. And, you know, I get it focusing on things like your website or your logo or your business name. It's exciting at that phase, and it feels safe, because if you get it wrong, it's just between you and your laptop, and it feels like you're doing the right things to set yourself up for success. But here's the truth, you actually don't need any of that to get clients. You don't need a fancy website or a logo or a clever business name. I mean, let's just talk about business names for a second. You can come up with the most clever, meaningful name, and nobody is going to say, you know, when they're talking about you or your business nobody's going to say you have to talk to synergy strategies or whatever. They're going to say you need to talk to Sarah. And it's going to be like that for the first at least 10 years. So don't sweat the name, and please don't waste time on your website or in your copy trying to explain how you chose your name. I promise you that not one potential client is going to choose you because you explained how you chose your business name. I promise. So don't waste time on it. You don't need a full suite of services or a blog or an automated proposal tool. And when I see people like focusing on those, I'm like, none of those things are going to actually get you clients in this phase. They might be useful down the line, but they're not what's going to get you your first client, not even your website, because your website is like a tiny little corner of the internet that nobody's going to stumble upon. We call those things fluffing the pillows. Like imagine if you wanted to throw a party at your house, and instead of inviting people to your party, you fluffed the pillows on your couch. You probably wouldn't get many people at your party, right? But a lot of women consultants spend a lot of time fluffing the pillows, like doing things that feel like doing work, but don't actually do anything to help them get clients. And side note, women in the messy middle do this too. Like it's not just women in the startup phase, all right, so stop fluffing the pillows. You just don't need that much business infrastructure, like you, plus zoom or whatever, plus a way to receive money in the startup phase. That's a business. Okay, what gets you clients in the beginning is being able to explain what you do, then the problem you solve and who you help, and then getting in front of the right people through conversations, referrals, outreach, or people who already know you. That's the only work. Okay, so remember, your only job is to get data. Your only job is to get clients, and all the other stuff is just fluffing the pillows. Now, as I mentioned, during this startup phase, you're going to get what we call the first wave of clients. You'll get all your clients through referrals, and there'll be people who you know worked with you in your most recent company, or previous jobs, people you worked with who refer you to potential clients. And you'll send out some type of announcement, or you'll reach out to folks and tell them what you're doing now, and they'll be really happy for you, that you started a business, right? They're cheering you on. They want to help. We call that your inner circle, and that's exactly how you'll get the clients right, referrals from your inner circle in that first wave of clients. And when you do get people coming to you, those people who you used to work with, or they were sent your way by people you used to work with, chances are, I mean, they'll say yes to working with you, because they know how good you are, and because you came so highly recommended, and it can feel like, you know, there's hardly a sales process air quotes sales process at all, like if you can get on a call with them, they'll typically say yes, and that's how it happens when you're getting super warm referrals from your inner circle in that first wave of clients. Right now, of course, what I've just walked through here is how it tends to happen, but we know that's not always the case. Because, like, have you ever had somebody who's really excited that you've started a business? And they'll say, like, Oh, so many people need your help, but then they don't actually make introductions, right? Or maybe somebody says you should totally talk to my friend, and then, like, the referral never happens. And have you ever had a call with someone and it sounds like you could totally help them, and they really do need your help, but it doesn't really like go anywhere, right? These are all things that happen, even in this first wave of clients that happens in the startup phase. But generally speaking, in the startup phase with that first wave of clients, you're selling the super warm people who already know how good you are because they worked with you, or someone told them you're amazing. And because they're so warm, they typically say, Yes, okay. And there are a few risks in this phase. I mean, you're not just going to be like having calls and cashing checks, right? You're going to be building your business. And there are a few risks to watch out for. You know, for example, seeing what other people are doing and thinking you have to do that shiny object syndrome, trying to use B to C marketing tactics like funnels and stuff for your B to B clients, which trying to use B to C tactics for B to B won't work. You know, what else? Fluffing the pillows, like I mentioned earlier, but the biggest risk when you're in the startup phase of your business selling to that first wave of clients who tend to say, yes, the actual biggest, I'll say, deepest risk in terms of your business development is thinking it'll be this way forever, thinking that it'll always be this easy to get clients, and then you get lulled into This like false sense of security that clients will always come to you, and then they'll always already know how good you are, and then it'll be easy for them to say yes. And even though, like, maybe on an intellectual level, you know that it won't always be this way, on some, you know, emotional level, you sort of hope that it will. And when you fall into this trap, it can cause you to, you know, not market your business, because you haven't had to, right? So you don't put yourself out there or get visible or nurture relationships, and you end up sort of waiting for clients to come to you. And what we see is that that first wave of clients, it can last, you know, six months. It can last. A year. It can last two years. It can last longer, but it doesn't last forever, and especially right now with, you know, the way everything's going in the world and the economy and whatnot, like clients are not just gonna swim into your net anymore, right? And then you can find yourself a few years into your business, and you feel like you know, you've just sort of taken the clients that happen to come your way. Come your way, and you're doing anything that clients ask of you, and you're under charging because you don't have enough in your sales pipeline, so you don't feel like you can say no to anything. And so when that first wave does slow down, or when you have the forethought to know that it will slow down, that's when you can either take a confident step into the messy middle and actually start to implement a strategy to get clients and get paid more and lead a sales process and all of that, or you can sort of have a hard skid into the messy middle when things start to like, slow down. You weren't prepared, and you didn't expect it, because that first 18 months, that first two years, felt, you know, pretty easy, like, I can't tell you the number of women who come to me and they say, I've just never had to do this before, and that's very common, and it's a hard landing, and that's just not a great place to be, and it's not fun as a business owner. And so you want to catch yourself before you get to that point, so you can actually implement a strategy to get the right clients get paid more and really run a more sustainable business. And you know, that's what we help women do. And in fact, you know, the point at which I want women to come to me is what we say, fix the roof when the sun is shining like implement a strategy to get the right clients into your consulting business and get paid more for your work and whatnot before you need it. Because if you start trying to fix things when you have no pipeline, or your business is really slowed down, or you're thinking of going back and getting a job like it's almost too late, because the sales methodology that we teach is to help you get business clients, and it's designed around how businesses make purchase decisions, and that process can take anywhere from three to 18 months, right? So if you needed clients yesterday, like we cannot turn around a new client tomorrow. I mean, there's a lot of things we can do to fill your pipeline, generate conversations and whatnot, but we cannot turn around a new client tomorrow. And it's funny, because in most business coaching, you know you look for a coach when things aren't going well. That's just not true. For B to B, the best time to do this work is when things are going well, not when things are super slow, right? So fix the roof when the sun is shining, but when you're aware of the biggest risk in the startup phase, that you'll think it'll always be like this and it won't, then you can be aware of when that thinking might be coming up, and you can be more aware of when it's the right time to get ahead of things right and start to learn strategies for business development. And I know that women are thinking about this already. I actually love when I get messages, like a few of the ones I've gotten recently. I'm just going to read, hold on. I'm just going to read a couple here. One woman wrote to me and she said, you're on my list for next year, as I'm only one year into this business. And then she sort of talks about what she's doing, and she goes, I know that I'm not ready yet, but next year, expect me with bells on or this other one from a woman who wrote back to something I sent her because she had just started her business. It was a month ago that she had started her business, and she said, See you in the academy in 23 months. And I love getting messages like that, not just because, you know, it's nice to hear that somebody's planning to work with me, but because it shows their thinking strategically, you know, they're not scrambling or reacting, they're planning for the kind of business that they want to build. And honestly, that mindset, that's half the work right there. So those are the things that I want you to know about. You know that first wave of clients and the startup phase in your business, if you feel like you're taking on every client and any client, that's okay, you know, great. Do it anything that comes your way that looks interesting. If you feel like you're just getting clients through referrals, fantastic. Like celebrate that. If you feel like your pricing is all over the map, don't beat yourself up. You're still getting data, and just know that you're in that phase. And when you get to the next phase, the messy middle, you'll know that you need to do something different, and you'll know better and be more prepared for what to do, because you have data, so take everything and whatnot. But I don't want to just leave you with a bunch of ideas floating around. I always want to give you something you can actually do, something you can take action on, even today. So I'm going to leave you with three specific things that you can do right now. Plus I'm going to share a resource you can use to go deeper. And these are the tools I teach my clients in the messy middle of their businesses, but you can absolutely start to use them in the startup phase. In fact, it's even better if you start now. So just for context, as you might know, because we've talked about it a lot on this podcast, you need two things to get clients. You need people to sell to, and you need to know how to land them. All right, the people to sell to, that's the job of marketing, to get people to. Sell to and fill your pipeline, the ability to land them, that's sales, the ability to lead a sales process to the close. And that's why, you know, inside the Academy, we have systems for both, because you need both to build a sustainable business. But even before you get to marketing and sales, we have to answer a few foundational questions. Number one, who are the best clients for you? Number two, what exactly are you selling, and how are you pricing it? And number three, how do we communicate the value of what you offer? We call these your building blocks, and they're essential. It's where everybody starts in the program. So if you imagine a triangle, the bottom part is the building blocks. The left side is your marketing to get people to sell to and fill your pipeline, and the right side is sales for how to land them. And so today I want to give you one technique or tool for each side of that triangle, the building blocks the marketing side and the sales side, so that you can take immediate action no matter where you are okay, all right. So here they are. Let's start with marketing. I want to talk about something that actually doesn't get talked about enough when you're running a consulting business, which is, how much marketing do you actually need to do? Because it has to tell you. The one thing that's going to be key to your success in a startup phase is knowing how people actually get to you. Essentially, you know how to get leads and getting into the habit of showing up and talking about your business, essentially getting into the habit of marketing. And to do that, we have to talk about two concepts, your pipeline and your pipeline coverage. So what is your pipeline? Your pipeline is the list of potential clients you're actively talking to. There are people who've shown interest in you and where you're both sort of figuring out if it's a good fit. Those are the people in your pipeline. Pipeline coverage is the amount of money and the amount of opportunities in your pipeline compared to how much money you actually want to make, essentially answering the question, do you have enough in your pipeline to make the money you want to make? Okay, so let's just say, you know round numbers here, right? Let's just say you want to make $100,000 in the next six months. Okay, maybe you're going for 200k so you want to make $100,000 in the next six months. It's not enough to just have $100,000 worth of potential projects in your pipeline, because inevitably, some of them will fall through. You know, budgets get cut, the project gets delayed. People leave whatever right. So to give yourself some breathing room, you actually need two to three times that amount in your pipeline. That's your pipeline coverage. So if your goal is $100,000 then you need anywhere between $200,000 to $300,000 in active conversations in your pipeline. Okay, now I know that number might feel really big, and if you're thinking like, oh my god, I'm nowhere near that, you're not alone. The problem is, most consultants don't have enough in your pipeline. But here's why it's so important to know this concept now in this startup phase, because it tells you how much actual business development you need to do, and it sets the right expectation on what it's actually like to do business development for a consulting business, right? And honestly, that's a big shock for a lot of people, even once they get further along into the messy middle, like I see it all the time, when women join my program, they're frustrated because they're missing their goals, or they're in that constant cycle of having too much work and then not enough work, and they're doing, you know, random acts of marketing to try to make something happen, and the reason is that they just don't have enough in their pipeline. And so this exercise can help you recalibrate. It helps you reset what you think is normal, because most people, most consultants, think they just need, like, a few conversations going right, and they get a client, and then they sort of stopped doing marketing. But the truth is, to run a profitable business, you need way more in your pipeline. You need way more pipeline coverage than you think. And so if you're just, you know, sort of waiting around for the occasional referral, you're going to set yourself up for stress and scarcity, right? Because when you don't have enough in your pipeline, and then something does come in, you feel like you have to take it, you know, whether it's a great fit or not, because you have nothing else going on. And that's a terrible feeling. You know, even in the messy middle, you want to be able to choose the projects you want and not have to take everything. So having the right pipeline coverage, having enough in your pipeline, takes that pressure off. It gives you more choice and more breathing room, and it helps you stop breaking your own heart with clients who you think will say yes, and you need them to say yes, but inevitably, something happens to delay the project. All right, so when it comes to pipeline coverage, don't overthink the math. Just ask yourself, Do I have enough going on right now to hit my goals? And if the answer is no, then it means you have to do more marketing, more business development. And of course, you know, don't stop doing business development just because you land a client. That's one of the most common mistakes I see. Like I said, they land a client, they pause all their marketing, and then six months later, you're scrambling because you've got nothing else lined up, right? So this isn't about doing more for the sake of more. It's about knowing your numbers, managing your energy and giving yourself the best chance to succeed without the stress, right? That's what pipeline coverage is all about. All right, so we've talked about something on the marketing side. Let's move over to the sales side. And I want to share a super simple move that can make a huge difference in your sales process. It's a technique called back fact. It's an acronym, B, A, C, F, A, C, which stands for book a call from a call. Now backpack is something I learned from a coach that I really admire, and it's exactly what it sounds like when you're on a call with a potential client. Book the next call. You know, get the next call on your calendar while you're still in the call, right? Don't get off the phone without it, because one of the most common reasons that the sales process slows down, or you see delays, is because you can have a great conversation with a potential client. You get off the phone, or you get off zoom, and then you sort of have to chase them to get the next call scheduled. You know, you're emailing them, you're following up, you're checking in, and you feel like you sort of have to, like, claw them back to the table. And when that happens, I mean, it's just a momentum killer, but back facts solves that problem. Or I've actually also heard this described as BAM fam book a meeting from a meeting, same concept, you're using the momentum of the conversation and making it easy, and it just becomes a natural part of how you lead them through the process. So the way to actually do this, the phrase that makes it work is, are you in front of your calendar right now? That's it. It's super simple. You might say something like, you know, all right, you're getting into the end of the call. You're like, Okay, well, let's talk about next steps. Are you in front of your calendar right now? Then you both pull it up, look at your calendars, and next calls on the books, right? No chasing, no awkward follow ups, and it keeps things moving and makes you look like somebody who has a process, you know, who's confident and who's buttoned up, and just like that, you're leading the client, right? I know that hearing it now might sound like, Oh, I could never ask that, but I promise you that how you say it will teach the client how to think about it. If you feel weird and skittish, the client's not going to do it. But if you feel confident and just roll into it, you're leading the client. All right. You're showing them. This is how we work together. Oh, and pro tip, when you book the call, name the call what they want, so don't name it, like catch up call or follow up, or whatever, you know, if they want, let's just say marketing support to drive Website Conversions. The name, the call driving Website Conversions for company name, right? And you'll know what to name it from what you hear in that first call. So back, fact is one of those things that seems so small, but once you start doing it, you'll be like, Why wasn't I always doing this? All right? So the critical technique on the sales side that you can start to use when you're in this startup phase is backpack book a call from a call. So we've talked about techniques on the marketing side and the sales side of the pyramid. And then the third thing I want to share with you is from the building blocks side, and it's a technique to help you evolve your mindset. So if we're going to talk about how to get comfortable with doing business development, and you know the process of getting clients, we have to look at why selling sucks so bad, like why it feels so uncomfortable. So why can selling feel so uncomfortable for so many of us, it's because of the traditional selling relationship. It can feel like the client is sort of, you know, above air quotes above you, right? They have the money. They have the decision making power. They're holding all the cards. And we're like down here hoping they say yes, right? Deborah Tannen, who's a brilliant sociolinguist and an author calls this dynamic being in a one down position, right? We're in what she calls a one down position while the client is in a one up position, and that feels powerless, it feels gross, it feels uncomfortable. And so then we sort of think, all right, well, the way to fix that is to be one up right, to be the expert, to lead aggressively, but when we put ourselves in a one up position and then we put our clients in a one down position, that's how you feel. Salesy. Have you ever had an experience where like a salesperson tried to sell you something and they felt maybe a little arrogant, or like they thought they knew what you needed? But. Than you did, right? They were in a one up position and you were in the one down position. And of course, that doesn't feel good, either it feels salesy. The real solution isn't to be one up or one down. It's peer to peer. What you want in business development for your consulting business is a peer level relationship with your clients when your peers you can hold boundaries, you can make real recommendations, you can push back on pricing or scope. You can lead the client to have really great success. And this mindset shift toward a peer relationship is really what transforms selling from something that feels uncomfortable, or maybe a little pushy or salesy, into something that feels natural, authentic and real. And what's interesting is this idea of one up and one down doesn't just play out in the sales process. It's actually everywhere, because what we're talking about is hierarchy, and once you see it, you'll see it everywhere you know. You see it in dating. You see it in family structures. You see it in friendships, like, once you have a name for it, and once you start to see it, you can't unsee it. And so hierarchy is always playing out in relationships and in our, you know, society, and it's this like ever changing thing. Hierarchy is always being negotiated and changing. And so the good news is that if hierarchy can change, then that means that you can change hierarchy, right? And if you can affect the hierarchy, that means that you can create a peer relationship. I know I'm sort of talking in theoretical terms, but start to notice this in your conversations and in your interactions, and you'll start to see how hierarchy plays out. So the goal, then in selling is to stay in that peer energy, to keep that peer mindset. So here's a little exercise I do with clients to help them stay in that space. Okay, close your eyes. I mean, not if you're driving or walking, but you know, if you can close your eyes and think of a situation where you're with somebody, you're with at least one person, and you're just being together, right? There's no agenda. You're just connecting, nobody is sort of above the other person. Maybe you're on a walk with somebody. Maybe you're sitting on a bench with a friend. Maybe you're at a dinner party. You know, whatever it is, but just feel that feeling of ease and of mutual respect, of just being with somebody who's your peer. Okay, think of an image that reminds you of that moment, hold that situation in your mind, and then go to the internet and then find an actual image, like from the internet, maybe from your life or stock photo or what have you, but find an image that reminds you of that moment, okay, and then save it to your desktop. And then before you send an email to a potential client, or you read your proposal, or you hop on a sales call, pull up that image and look at it. Sort of embody it. It's almost like a power pose. But instead of power posing, you're like peer posing. This is how you ground yourself in your peer mindset, and it makes every interaction with your potential clients more comfortable, and it's the start of not just effective business development, but great client relationships. All right, so those are the three techniques that you can start to use today when you're in the startup phase, and even when you're doing what I mentioned above, taking every client and gathering data. All right. So just to recap, number one, on the marketing side, knowing what's in your pipeline and your pipeline coverage and when you need to fill your pipeline. Number two, on the sales side, the back fact technique, book a call from a call to keep the sales process moving forward. And number three, on the building block side, the peer mindset. But I know that even with what I've shared here, when you're in the startup phase, there's a lot to think about, even beyond just getting clients, and this phase can feel a little overwhelming at times, like, how do you even do a business when you're just getting started? A woman I was talking to shared this exact thought with me the other day, and I wanted to share it with you. So I had just led a training for some women who had recently started their consulting businesses. And a lot of what I shared here, that's what I walked through with them, you know, step by step. And at the end, you know, I opened it up for questions, and a woman asked the question that I'm about to share with you here, and I want you to hear it in her words, so I'm going to share what she said and my exact answer to her, so that if you've ever had the same feeling, you know you're not alone. Okay, I want to send a huge thank you to this consultant for allowing me to share this clip with you. And as a quick side note, you're going to hear her mention simmer mode and some other modes which are part of its system we share in the academy.

Speaker 1 39:59

All right, so let's listen in. Yeah, I think in general, I just feel so overwhelmed with all the things required to be a business owner. Like, I feel like I'm really good at the specific skill of providing the service and all the rest. Feels like so much. And I'm like, doing this exercise is really helpful. Because I'm like, I don't think I'm even in simmer mode. And I'm wondering why I don't have clients, and it's very obvious why. And then when I think about what it takes to be in any of these modes, I'm like, how do you organize yourself as a business of one? How do you, like, actually sustain the frequency? Like, when I see people like Becca, she seems like so prolific. She's constantly posting and writing emails. And I'm like, how, how does one do that? Am I like, Am I missing something, or do I not have the skills to do it? Is the question I'm kind of constantly asking myself,

Leah Neaderthal 40:51

yeah, that's that's a really common way of thinking, in a way of, like, a sort of, oh my gosh, when you're just getting started and you know, a couple things to think about. There's nothing says you aren't capable of doing it. You just haven't done it yet. And when you're starting out, have you ever heard that phrase? Don't compare your beginning to somebody else's middle. What you're seeing out there is a lot of people's middle, right? I've been in business for 10 years. I post on LinkedIn, you know, three or four times a week I have a weekly newsletter, I have a podcast. I did not wake up like this. You know, my first newsletter, I sent it in 2016 and it went out to 16 people. I think three of them were like relatives. And so don't compare your beginning to somebody else's middle all you need right now is you plus zoom, plus a way to receive payment. That's a business. And so I, you know, if we had a little bit more time, I would ask you, like, What things do you feel like you need that you don't have? Because I promise you, a lot of those are actually things you don't need at all. Right now your job in this moment is just to reach out to people that you know and get clients. That's it. You don't need the systems. You don't need you know the people. You just need data. Okay, anything else that you're seeing that with like more sophisticated businesses, what you're probably seeing is just businesses that have been business for longer, in addition to not comparing your beginning to somebody else's middle, nobody who does it their way has to be the same as your way, right? It's everybody else can do their thing on how they want to market their business or run their business, and actually that's none of your business. And they're doing it for their reasons. You just eyes on your own paper, and remember that you're just getting started. You're doing the things, you're gathering data, and then when you have more data in the form of clients and money, then you can make different decisions, right? But I think now is the time to be compassionate with yourself. Okay? So just be where you are. This is a really exciting time. You don't need that much, you know, and so just be compassionate with yourself for where you are. So that's really what I want to leave you with in this episode, you're in the right place. You don't need to be further along. You don't need a bigger audience or a perfect website or a fancy brand or a huge list, and you don't need to overthink it. You just need to keep going and keep taking the next step, keep learning, experimenting, and keep gathering data. Because the truth is that every single woman business owner that you admire every woman you look at and think like, how does she do it? She started exactly where you are, with a skill and the experience she got in her career, with a desire to just do great work with great people, and most likely with a messy Google Doc and a zoom link. And she figured it out, you know, one decision, one client at a time, and so will you. So I promise you, you are not behind. You are not missing anything. You are building something. All right, so if you need a reminder, come back to this episode. Let it ground you. Let it remind you that you don't have to be amazing to get started. You just have to start and you already have all right, you've got this, and I'll see you next Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai