The 5 things B2B clients wish they could tell you

Leah Neaderthal 0:02

when you do consulting and you're selling into companies and non profits. So in other words, B to B, the sales process can feel slow and unpredictable and really out of your control. But here's the thing, it's not just you. In this episode, I'm going to break down the five things your B to B clients wish they could tell you, so you can understand what's really going on behind the scenes, you'll learn how to reduce your anxiety, how to influence the process, and how to help clients say yes faster. So thanks for tuning in, and let's get started. 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, and thanks for tuning in. I hope that wherever you're listening to this right now, 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 I've been hearing from a lot of women consultants lately that getting consulting clients has gotten harder, and specifically their sales cycles with B to B clients are taking longer, and the pattern is the same. Things are getting pushed. There are unexpected twists and turns. Clients are going quiet more often or for longer, and clients or contracts that you thought would be a slam dunk are getting a no or a not yet, and it feels like what should be a straightforward sales process is anything but. And I'm hearing that from women who work across industries and who work with mid sized businesses or large companies or nonprofits, even fortune 500 and even small businesses. So I wanted to make this episode for you to give you insight into the B to B sales process and why all that's happening, so you can really understand what's going on behind the scenes. And it's more than just, you know, the economy, air quotes economy, it's more than just what's going on outside your clients. This episode is about what's going on inside your clients during the sales process. And I'm going to talk to you about why things are moving slower, why it's not just you, and what you can do to lead a sales process in a tough economy, and really anytime. And I'm going to share the five things that B to B consulting clients wish they could tell you about the sales process, because when you know what's happening inside your clients while you're in a sales process with them, you can make smarter decisions, you can reduce your anxiety, keep your confidence up, and make moves that actually help your consulting clients say yes, all right, let's dive in right after this. Before we dive in, I always like to be really clear about who this episode is for. So this is for you if you sell your consulting services, B to B, so business to business, meaning your clients aren't just individuals. Your clients are companies or organizations. So that could mean small businesses, mid sized companies, large corporations or nonprofits. And when I say consulting services, I mean like the whole range consulting advisory services, executive coaching, done for you, services, or some combination of all of those. We sort of use consulting as like a umbrella term for all of that. So if your clients are businesses or nonprofits, then you're B to B, and the women I work with are selling B to B. So if that's you, you are in the right place. And the reason it's important to establish that, before we get into more of the strategies, is because knowing that you're offering your services B to B. So remember, business to business really matters for the way you approach getting clients, because selling your services to a business is fundamentally different than selling into an individual, and it takes entirely different strategies. And when you really boil it down, the difference here is that when you're selling B to B, you're talking to the decision maker right away, the sales process is faster, but it can be a lot less lucrative. By contrast, when you're selling B to B, you're often selling to someone who also has to sell you in to someone else, or, you know, often many someone else's. We'll talk about that in a second, even if you start with a main point of contact, and that's great, your work still has to move through an entire. Internal system. They are layers decision makers, influencers, you know, people with budget authority, people with opinions your project might require buy in from a team or a department head or leadership, finance, sometimes even procurement. And so the sales process, it's not just like one conversation and it's done. It's a series of conversations, and it might be navigating shifting priorities, aligning budgets, timing, decision makers, sometimes even in changes in leadership. All of it, we call this navigating the jungle. And when you sell B to B, you have to navigate the jungle. You have to help your main client navigate their own company to sell you in. And that's why the B to B sales process can take a lot longer. If you've listened to this podcast before, you've heard me say that the typical B to B sales process can take three to 18 months, sometimes even longer. And the strategies that work to get B to C clients don't work to get B to B clients, if you've listened to Episode 72 you already know why they don't work and what to do instead. And if you haven't checked out that episode, I highly recommend it. It's episode 72 and it's called B to B versus B to C. Why most sales strategies don't work and what does? Because the truth is, getting B to B consulting clients isn't just about having the right expertise or a good brand or even talking to clients that are the right fit, it's about knowing how to lead a sales process and knowing how to help your clients navigate their own organization to actually get the Work Sold in. Because to get consulting clients, you need two things. You need, number one, people to sell to. And by people we mean, you know, organizations, companies like we talked about before, but generally, number one, you need people to sell to. And two, you need to know how to land them. And that's exactly why, inside my program, the Academy, we help women consultants install the two systems that every consultant needs. Number one, a marketing system to attract the right clients into your pipeline, so you're not just relying on referrals or waiting for opportunities to fall into your lap. And number two, a sales system so you know how to lead a sales process and help clients say yes. Because once you have both of these systems and once you know how to do both of these things, that's how you actually get clients consistently and are able to grow your business when you can do both of these things, everything gets easier. So why is this conversation important right now? Because most consultants are finding that getting clients feels harder than it did in previous years. On the marketing side, a lot of consultants are saying that clients aren't coming to them the same way they did before, especially if you've relied on referrals or word of mouth, a lot of women are finding that that's kind of drying up, and they're just not getting the inquiries that they were before. And on the sales side and the sales process, clients are delaying. Projects are getting pushed. People are hearing a lot more like not right nows than usual, and they're just a lot more twists and turns. It feels like it's taking forever. And if you've been feeling like the sales process is longer and more frustrating than before, it's not your imagination. Studies show that the average B to B sales process is taking 25% longer than it did five years ago. That's 25% longer than it did five years ago, all right, and 75% of B to B buyers. So this is like reported by actual clients. 75% of B to B buyers say they're taking longer to make decisions now than in 2023 I mean, the truth is that the B to B sales process takes a long time in normal times, right? But it's definitely taking longer now. So if you're feeling like things are taking longer, it's not your imagination. And remember how I was saying that when you sell B to B, you're selling into someone who has to sell you into other people. Well, on average, in B to B, there are 7.4 decision makers involved in a typical purchase. You guys 7.4 decision makers. And that's up from 10 years ago. The stat used to be that there were five decision makers in every purchase. Now it's 7.4

Leah Neaderthal 9:05

and so now there are even more people who are weighing in on or influencing each purchase decision. So knowing how to get work sold in means knowing how to help your main contact sell you in internally, to get alignment with everyone who touches this decision, and we'll talk about what that means, and you know how to work within that in a little bit. Okay? And not to blow your mind even more, but these stats come from 2023 and early 2025 so we're not even talking about like this economy yet. And you know, here's the real truth, right? This isn't just happening right now. This is actually how B to B sales works all the time. Remember, you know, the stats show that now there are 7.4 decision makers, but before that, there were five decision makers. So it's just a little more intense right now. I mean in normal times, I mean whatever's normal, right? But like in normal times, you know, you can skate by getting referrals. Yeah, but when things aren't great, like clients aren't going to swim into your net, and that's what a lot of women are finding out right now. So if your deals are stalling or getting stuck, I promise you again, it's not you, it's the process. And the good news is there are ways to navigate it, but when you don't know how to sell into a complex organization, like a B to B client. When you don't know how to navigate those twists and turns or know what's actually going on behind the scenes, it can feel exhausting. You can spend so much time waiting, you know, wondering what's going on, being in limbo. And when you're in that place, that's when head trash really comes in. You know, you start thinking like, maybe I messed up the proposal, or maybe they aren't interested, or maybe I priced it too high. And of course, there's the anxiety of just waiting for clients to say yes. You know, it can feel like forever, and even with a full pipeline, you can go broke waiting for things to close. But when you do understand how to sell into a complex organization, when you understand the system that you're selling into those hidden layers, the decision makers behind the decision makers, right? Everything changes. You feel less frustrated at these you know what feels like unnecessary delays. You stop wasting energy worrying that you've done something wrong or like overthinking every email or conversation, and most importantly, you actually start to influence the process. You go from sitting on the sidelines waiting to having more control than you thought you had. You can actually guide your clients, help them navigate their own organization right, navigate the jungle so they can say yes more easily and say yes faster. So instead of feeling like you're stuck in limbo, you're calm, you're confident, you're in the driver's seat, and you can help clients say yes, and let's be honest, that feels a whole lot better. So if you're sitting there at this point thinking like, why didn't I know this, or like, why didn't I realize this? You know, why didn't anyone tell me that selling into companies could be this complicated? You're not alone. And here's the truth, it's not your fault. The real problem is that business coaches, business gurus, nobody's talking about this part. And in fact, a lot of people are out there trying to convince you of the opposite, that getting clients should be fast and easy. And frankly, that's that's just not reality. It's not it's not the truth. And I mean, there are so many people out there who are promising you that they can help you get clients. I mean, everyone from people who do copywriting to branding to LinkedIn, I mean, you name it, right? And they all attach their services to that promise of getting clients right, because, I mean, they're not dumb. They know that's what people want. And they make it sound like if you post the right thing or have the right positioning, or have a good website or send the right email, even, you know, have the right pricing or offers, whatever it is that thing is that they do then, you know, boom, that equals clients. But really, when most people think about, you know, quote, unquote, getting clients, they're talking about just the first thing that you need people to sell to, and that's basically the job of marketing. And 99% of the time, what they're telling you to do to actually get clients and what will actually work? It's actually B to C. It's not for B to B. And so all of us, you know, just anyone who's running a business and has been on the internet for more than five minutes, we're led to believe that if you do this one thing or these things, that consulting clients just happen. You know, easy peasy. But what they're not talking about is what actually happens when you're selling into a company, when you're selling B to B, the people, the delays, the unexpected twists, and how to navigate the jungle and actually get the Work Sold in. So essentially the second part the sales process itself, that's the part they ignore. That's essentially the part they leave to you to figure out. And I know this because one pretty consistent source of clients in my program, the academy, is other programs that people join and then realize that their stuff doesn't work for B to B. Like I literally just talked about this with somebody who reached out to me. She sells into these big organizations, and she had joined programs from she actually listed like, three or four big names, like names that you would know. And she said, You know, we've worked with x and y and z, you know, she said, good stuff, but very B to C, and that framework doesn't work for us. She goes on to say, we don't have the same kind of timelines as, you know, get your credit card out. And she's totally right. I mean, there's just no universe in which someone signs on to a consulting client worth 10s or hundreds of 1000s of dollars using the same tactics you'd use to sell something that's $99 or $999

Leah Neaderthal 14:56

or even what business coaches call like, quote, unquote high ticket. You. And I hate to say it, but that's actually because most business coaches, sales coaches, marketing coaches, whatever, have never sold B to B, and they have no idea how B to B works, like even the ones that are big names that you probably know, and anyone who tells you that you know, quote, unquote, the principles translate just further proves that they don't know what they're talking about. And I'm sorry, this is a little bit of like a sorry, not sorry thing for me, but it's true. So it's no wonder that women consultants feel stuck or blindsided when they run into reality that it does take time to get consulting clients. So don't feel bad. A lot of people are working very hard to try to convince you otherwise, but once you understand how this actually works and how to actually get B to B clients, you'll have realistic expectations, you'll know what to do, and you'll be a lot more successful at it. All right, so let's get into it, shall we? So there's one big thing you need to know about working with B to B clients and selling B to B and it's important to really sort of establish this before we even get into the five things that your B to B clients wish they could tell you. And I touched on it earlier, but it's important to sort of reiterate here, because it really gives context to everything else we're going to be talking about, one of the biggest mindset shifts when it comes to getting B to B clients is realizing that you're not just selling into a person or a team or a department or even a decision maker. You're selling into a system, and that system includes multiple people, priorities, processes, tools. It includes infrastructure. It includes organizational beliefs. It includes legacy, behaviors, cultural elements, internal politics, sometimes even egos, like all tangled together. Consider it like Tetris in 3d right? You can't move one piece without moving many other pieces to allow that piece to move. And sometimes all those pieces don't want to move, or they can't move because they require other things to move before they can move right. They want to stay where they are, and they will stay where they are. That's why things can feel really stuck or slow, even when everyone who's involved says they want to solve the problem, right or get to the same outcome. So I want you to keep this in mind as we move forward, you're selling into a system. All right. So with that in mind, I want to share the five things your B to B clients wish they could tell you. And I say wish, because the truth is, they wish they could tell you these things, but often they can't, and it's not because they're trying to be difficult. It's that they're caught up in their company's processes too. They're stuck navigating layers of decision makers and shifting priorities and budget pressures and all of that, right? And here's the other thing, they still have to be an advocate for their company, and they can't always be as candid as they want to be. So instead of saying like, Hey, here's exactly what's happening behind the scenes, they might stall, they might ghost you, or, you know, you get a response that says, like, we're still talking internally. So that's why I'm sharing the five things your B to B clients wish they could tell you so you can understand what's happening, stop second guessing yourself, and lead the process with confidence and throughout. As we go through these I'm going to share some of the principles of navigating the jungle that are part of the sales system we share with our clients. In the academy, there are 12 of them, and we're going to share a few of them here. Okay, ready? Here we go. The five things your B to B clients wish they could tell you. Number one, I have about 1000 things on my plate. This one sounds a little bit like this. So imagine your client saying like I'm juggling my own work, fire drills, my boss, the latest company initiatives, budget pressure and my direct reports, not to mention my own personal life, I want to work with you to solve a critical problem in our company, but I'm really over capacity. Okay, so here's the thing, our thing, right? Whatever it is you're offering isn't the most important thing. It's definitely the most important thing to us, but not to our clients. Like, maybe it's in the top 10. And I think, you know, we sort of know this, like rationally in our brain, but I think in our hearts, of course, you know, we would still like, in a perfect world, we would like our thing to be as important to them as it is to us, but it's just not so they just aren't going to drive it forward as hard as we want them to, because it just it's competing with so much else on their plate. So with thing number one, which again, is I have about 1000 things on my plate. The principle I want you to remember is this client time and our time are different. So here's what I mean. If. You ever sent something to a client, like a proposal or an email, or, you know that next step you talked about and then, like, radio silence. You know, days go by, weeks, maybe even a month or two, and during that time, your brain is in overdrive. Like, why is it taking so long? Like, are they not interested. Did I say something wrong? Did I price it too high? Are they ghosting me? But here's the thing, your B to B clients live in a completely different time continuum than we do, like their time client, time is just different. In our world, a couple of weeks of waiting feels like an eternity, but in their world, those same couple of weeks feel like just a blip on the radar. And I mean, you've probably experienced this on the other side as the client, like, have you ever thought, you know, oh, I need to get back to that email, or I need to book that appointment, or, you know, do something like that, and you feel like, you know, in your mind, it's been just like a few days of putting it off, right? And then all of a sudden it's like, oh shit, it's been a month. Like, how did that happen? So it's the exact same principle, client time and our time are different. So what do you do first? Don't stress, I know, right? Like, easier said than done, but remember, their timeline is not a reflection of your value, and don't expect a fast Yes, like, if it happens, great, but most of the time, it'll be the exception, not the norm. All right, the second thing to do is don't make up stories, because nine times out of 10, the delay has nothing to do with you. They're just slammed or distracted or stuck in their own internal chaos. Remember that client time and our time are different. So that's the first thing your B to B clients wish they could tell you, I have about 1000 things on my plate. The second thing they wish they could tell you is there's more going on here than meets the eye. So this one sounds a little bit like this. Sounds like somebody saying, I know I said, we're looking for a new provider to, you know, XYZ, right? But there's really more to it than that. And then sort of picture them listing any combination of 100 things that might be going on, right? Like morale is low because of this reason or that reason, or management is under a lot of pressure to turn things around, or they have to see some movement by q2 or the division heads job is at risk, or tariffs are causing our margin to x, y, z, right? Essentially, there's so much more going on behind the scenes than you realize, because, remember, you're selling into a system like Tetris and people. Change roles, priorities, shift budgets, change delays aren't about you. They're about their internal mess, which leads to principle of navigating the jungle number two, it's never straightforward. You might be having conversations, sending proposals, you know, doing all the right things, but what you're seeing is only a tiny fraction of what's actually happening behind the scenes. It reminds me of something that a sales leader told me once, that I share with my clients all the time. She said 90% of selling happens when you're not there. And I know we tend to focus on like, the sales calls, the proposals, the pitch or whatever. But selling is like an iceberg. Most of it's happening under the surface where you can't see it again. You know leadership changes, shifting priorities, new hires, egos, internal dynamics, external factors. It's all shaping your sale in ways you might not even realize the real decision making, like the part where your client is talking to their team and weighing priorities and figuring out budgets, that all happens when you're not in the room, and all that stuff that's happening outside of when you're there is affecting the sale. One of my clients saw this when she was renewing a contract with a client she'd been working with and they loved her. They loved working with her. Like, good feedback all around. But they were getting, like, really weird about the renewal. I mean, it was taking a really long time, a lot longer than, you know, her initial contract. And we're talking like, even after several calls where she's trying to be like, okay, you know, like, what's going on? Why aren't you signing this thing? And she started getting into all this head trash, really doubting herself, like maybe they didn't really like what we did together, or maybe they don't want to keep working with me. And after a few months, she started to get really down about it. It turns out that the company had rolled out a new ERP system, and they had changed the way these types of requests were made, and the team hadn't been trained on the new software yet, so it had nothing to do with her. It was the result of a number of different decisions made by other people who had nothing to do with this project. And that's just one example of how there's always. More going on than meets the eye, and for every company, there's a unique set of those things, right? So being able to get a yes on your consulting work means knowing how to navigate those invisible parts of the sales process, especially when you're selling into more complex environments. So don't get discouraged if it feels bumpy. What you can do, what it means for you is spend time doing great discovery and ask questions that go deeper than surface level. You know, the questions should be not just about what they need or what they want you to do for them or their pain points. Ask questions about how decisions get made in the company, like who's involved. What are the objections that other people might have? How does the company usually bring on consultants and who else needs to weigh in? Once you know what's really going on and you have more insight into what's below the surface of that iceberg, you'll have the information you need to help your client navigate their own environment. So that's thing number two, that your B to B clients wish they could tell you there's more going on here than meets the eye.

Leah Neaderthal 26:04

Number three, help me sell you in. This could sound something like you know, I totally see the benefits here, and I want to work with you, but I have to get buy in from other people. Help me. Help you. Give me the tools to make a compelling case to the other people who are involved in this decision. So remember how I said that there are an average of 7.4 decision makers in a B to B sale, right? I mean, that's an average. So it could be fewer, but it could also be more, and that leads me to principle of navigating the jungle. Number six, your client has a client. All right, I'm going to say that again, your client has a client they always do. Maybe it's their boss, maybe it's their team, maybe it's the board or their members. Maybe it's the leaders, someone or many, someone whose opinion or approval or influence is shaping what happens in your sales process, whether you see it or not. So like I often hear consultants saying, I just need to get to the decision maker, and I want to be like, Girl, there is no one decision maker. There are multiple people influencing this decision, and multiple decision makers, even if the person who ultimately says yes or ultimately makes a decision is the CEO, even they have a client, they have a board or investors. Their client could be the management team. Their client could be the employees. So what can you do with this knowledge make it easy for clients to sell in on your behalf. I heard a sales leader say this once, and it stuck with me. She said, selling is socializing, and what she meant was inside your client's company. You know, they're not making decisions in a vacuum. They're having those meetings and side conversations. They're mentioning your name in meetings. They're talking about the project or talking about bringing you in. That's what socializing is. It's planting the seed. It's building that internal support. All happening behind the scenes again when you're not there, and if you haven't given them language to talk about you and communicate your value, even down to something clear and easy to forward along that's specific to them and their project and their outcomes, then they're left trying to remember what you said and pitch your value themselves, and let's be honest, they're probably not going to nail it. So your job is to equip them with exactly what they need, to socialize the idea of working with you and make it as easy as possible for them to advocate on your behalf. This could be as simple as, you know, offering to write bullet points that they can bring to the next meeting when they talk about this or a follow up email that clearly articulates the value you bring and the problems you solve and why it matters to their company, and package your value in a way that's easily shareable. This isn't about sending like a big, shiny deliverable, right? And in fact, our proposal in an email tool does this really well in just an email form, it's really just about giving your client the language, the story, the proof points they need to champion you internally make it easy for them to sell you in, because that's how you go from, you know, lost in the jungle to Yes. And just side note, if you'd like a copy of the proposal in an email tool, you can get your copy at Smart gets paid.com/proposal. Email, one word. All right, so that's thing. Your B to B clients wish they could tell you. Number three, help me sell you in. Number four, don't give up on us. If your clients could elaborate on that, it might sound something like this. Listen, I know this is taking a long time, trust me, I wish we could go faster. Don't give up on us. We need you. So have you ever been in talks with the client and the sales process takes longer than even they expect it to take? Right? That's just what happens when there's so much to navigate. And this isn't the number one. Priority, which brings us to principle of navigating the jungle number four, it always takes longer than anyone wants it to you, your client, the people in the company who are feeling the pain like nobody wants this to drag out as long as it is. But the reality is, remember, you know, most B to B sales processes take anywhere from three to 18 months, sometimes even longer. And you know, you heard me say that even clients are reporting that they're taking longer to make decisions. That doesn't mean that the sales process and what you're doing isn't working. It just means that's how it goes. And sometimes we think it's time to give up because of the signals we're getting from the client, like we send a long note and get a short note back, or you get, like, a weird response from a potential client, and we tell ourselves stories all about how they're gonna say, No, right? One of my clients brought a situation like this to one of our weekly coaching calls, and what had happened was she had sent this really thoughtful, you know, long note to a client, I think, explaining some things about the potential work together, and she got, like, a short one line email back, and her head trash went into overdrive, and just was reading into it that maybe she had done something wrong, or he didn't like the proposal, or whatever. And I'm so glad she brought it to that weekly coaching call, because we were able to talk through what was probably going on inside that company. And the next day she posted this, I'm just reading, she said, Just a quick note to say, this is all caps, holy shit. And thank you to my fellow coaching session comrades from earlier this week, that head trash was true garbage. My client just told me he was all in on option three, which is by far the biggest contract I've ever sold, just shy of six figures. And you guys, she was ready to assume it was over, like she was about ready to give up on them. So what can you do in this situation? Have patience, stay in it, and remember, even the people who want to bring you in are navigating their own internal obstacles. So don't duck out before it's over. And I gotta say, you know, the real remedy here is having enough opportunities in your sales pipeline. But we're gonna come back to that one in just a minute. So that's thing. Number four, that your B to B client wishes they could tell you. Don't give up on us. Number five, please keep following up with me. So if your client was to elaborate, it might sound like this. Listen, remember all that stuff I'm juggling. It means my attention is pulled in 1000 directions. I'm not ignoring you, and we haven't decided, no, please keep following up. We all do this. You've been talking, or you send an email and it's been a while, and you don't hear back, and you start thinking, you know, I don't want to be annoying, I don't want to bug them, I don't want to feel salesy. And so you wait and you overthink, and you hesitate to follow up because you're worried you'll come off as pushy. But I promise you, when you are your client, and you're juggling 1000 things and your attention is pulled in so many directions. Following up is not annoying. It's actually a service. Your clients are busy, like really busy. They've got meetings, internal priorities, competing demands, and sometimes you following up is the only reason that your project stays on their radar. And the truth is, they're not like, sitting there being mad at you for checking in. They're not sitting there thinking like, oh, how dare they follow up. Like people are not waiting to be mad at you. I mean, this is a little bit of a side note, but sometimes it feels like, as women consultants, we're like, bracing ourselves to be in trouble all the time. It's probably some conditioning from like, early in our careers, or, you know, how we were raised, or whatever, but people aren't going to be mad at you most of the time. They're grateful, and if they don't have news, it's not about you. Following up is not going to kill the opportunity, it's not going to ruin the relationship, and it's definitely not the reason they would decide not to work with you. So remember, it's never about you. So what can you do? Of course, follow up, reach out, stay connected and provide value in every interaction. Remember, fortune is in the follow up. And you know what? I'm just going to say this, like, literally, get over it. Like, get over the discomfort. You're a grown ass woman, you're a business owner, and you're not about to be in trouble or have someone be mad at you. So follow up, because your clients need it. So those are the five things your B to B clients wish they could tell you. Number one, I have about 1000 things on my plate. Number two, there's so much more going on here than meets the eye. Number three, help me sell you in. Number four, don't give up on us. And number five, please keep following up with me. When you know these things and you know the principles of navigating the jungle, remember we want. Over a few of them here, when you know these things, you can feel less frustrated at the delays in the sales process. You can feel less anxious, and you can actually start to influence the process and help your clients say yes. And as you're listening to this, I'd love to know which of these resonates with you the most. Write a post about it on LinkedIn and tag me so I can see it, and I'll send you a signal boost. And of course, please share this with a woman consultant who might benefit from hearing it, or share it in the groups of consultants you're in, you never know who might have a major unlock from something they hear in this episode.

Leah Neaderthal 35:34

So I want to leave you with one final thought. So today, we've been talking about how to understand and influence the sales process, and let's be real. You know the sales process can make you feel powerless, but this is how you reclaim some of that power, by knowing what's going on behind the scenes and by being able to guide the process. But your real power in the sales process doesn't come from any specific tactic or strategy. Your real power in this whole thing comes from having a full pipeline. And that's principle of navigating the jungle. Number 12, your pipeline is your power. Because when you've just got one client opportunity or just a couple and they're dragging along, and it's the only thing you've got going on, that's when scarcity and anxiety move in, unpack and make themselves at home. You start doubting yourself, and your anxiety is through the roof. But when you've got other things working for you, like when your pipeline is full, you're not hanging all your hopes on those one or two clients, you can focus on what's moving, and you can be confident and you can show up differently. One of my clients illustrated this perfectly, and something she posted in our community, she said, I closed a two year over 200k contract with a client I've been working with for two years now. I also got a proposal rejection. And she says in parentheses, well, deferral, maybe later, not now, et cetera. She goes on to say it stings so much less thanks to the above contract and the confidence I have in my ability to refill my pipeline if I need to. She says, I'm considering how quickly I was able to emotionally bounce back. That's a huge mindset win. So exactly even when an exciting client or a project comes your way. Don't stop doing business development. Don't stop showing up and filling your pipeline. And then you can actually start to say no to the clients and the projects that aren't a great fit, because the most powerful place to sell from it's not desperation, it's from a place of abundance. Clients can sense desperation, but they can also sense abundance, and in B to B consulting, that's what a full pipeline can do for you. And as women consultants, when you stand in that abundance, when you own your value, when you lead the process and protect your power, that's when everything changes. All right, see you next time.

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