Fingers-Crossed Selling vs. Effortless Selling How to Land Clients with Confidence

Unknown Speaker 0:02

We're not driving the process. We're reacting to someone's stress, and also we're like, Oh my gosh. Well, we need, we need the work anyway. So great. Okay, I'll get a proposal together today, instead of just having the power and confidence to be like, hold on. Like, let's take a breath.

Unknown Speaker 0:22

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.

Unknown Speaker 1:16

Hey there, Leah here, and thanks for tuning in. I hope that wherever you're listening to this, wherever you are right now, you're having a great week, making some good progress on your business and taking some time for you. So when I was younger, I was always convinced that if I talked about something exciting before it happened, that I would jinx it, like even just mentioning whatever I was really excited about, felt like I was sort of testing the universe. And this is even before I knew the phrase testing the universe, like I was inviting it the universe, to throw a wrench in the plan, like if I was looking forward to a sleepover or a family trip, I would keep it to myself, because I knew somehow that if I said it out loud, then it wouldn't happen, either it would get canceled or rescheduled or just sort of fall through. So I would keep quiet and holding my breath and just waiting for things to actually happen. And that feeling, that sort of superstition, stayed with me my whole life. And when I got older and started my consulting business, that same feeling, that same superstition, was there. I felt like if I had a potential new project or a promising conversation with a potential client, and if I got excited about it, and especially if I mentioned it to someone, then I would jinx it. It seemed like the minute that I shared it, something would shift, like maybe the project would get pushed or canceled, or someone on their team would decide to take it in an entirely new direction. So I'd end up, you know, holding my breath all over again, basically being superstitious about letting myself get too excited too soon, but now, with a bit more age and a whole lot of learning about the sales process, I realized that that superstition was just that superstition, holding my breath didn't make a client say yes, and staying quiet didn't keep something from falling through. Because it's true, there is a lot that happens between that first contact with a new client, and then when clients actually say yes, and like, lots of twists and turns.

Unknown Speaker 3:31

And just because you get that first reach out or referral or have an amazing conversation with a client who really does need your help, it doesn't mean they'll always say yes, because again, between that first contact and the final agreement, there's a lot of room for twists and turns and changes of direction. But before I knew that, and before I knew how to manage and navigate all of that, I was holding my breath, you know, so to speak, because I felt powerless to influence these things, and holding my breath made me feel like I had some control, some power in this process. I mean, it was just a semblance of power, right? Because really, you know, not getting too excited or not telling anyone that I was excited about a new potential client made zero difference whatsoever to what was going on inside the company, but at that time, without actually knowing how to lead a sales process and influence things and help my clients say yes, holding my breath was all I had. And I was thinking about all of that as I was editing this episode about the sales process, because today we're talking to one of my clients who's right in the middle of the twists and turns in a sales process with one of her potential clients. The woman I'm talking to is a nonprofit consultant who helps her clients raise millions of dollars. And right now in this conversation, she's talking to a client who's really interested in working with her, and it seems.

Unknown Speaker 5:00

Like, you know, all systems go, but then her main contact tells her that they're going to pause because of some internal shifts. So in the call you're about to listen to, we're going to talk through how she can respond to that shift, how to prevent situations like this from happening, and how to really understand what's going on so she can reclaim some control in a situation that feels outside her hands. So here's what you're going to hear in this episode. You're going to hear what to say when a potential client throws a wrench or a delay into the sales process. You're going to hear how to think about and really interpret changes like this when they come up. You'll hear how to prevent surprises in the sales process and how to increase your chances of getting a yes from the right clients, and really, how not to be powerless, but rather to actually have some power and some control in this process. And you know the conversation you're gonna hear this may not be exactly your world, right? Maybe you're selling into for profit companies or your client's world looks a little different, or you have a different type of main contact. But even though the players may be different or the situation might be a little different, the story is the same. So keep an open mind and picture yourself in this situation, because chances are you've probably been in something like this, because maybe in your world, in the past, someone's come into the sales process kind of late and has derailed things, or maybe a contract has felt like a done deal, and then somebody says right at the finish line, well, maybe we don't really need this after all. Or maybe you've heard, let's just wait and see after you know, some time or some event or something happens, right? I mean, if you've been running your business for any length of time, you've experienced this or one of the million variations on this theme where the sales process gets slowed or stalled or completely derailed. So I know you'll see yourself in this conversation, and you're going to get a lot out of it. And I want to send a huge thank you to my client for allowing me to share this conversation with you. So take a listen, and I'll come back at the end and share a lesson that you can apply to your business.

Unknown Speaker 7:12

So I think one thing I wanted to talk to you about was another client in progress, or potential client in progress, that I had mentioned to you a while ago, which was this.

Unknown Speaker 7:24

So this was one where the seat, the chairman of the board, had reached out to me about wanting to work with someone on fundraising, doing an assessment all this stuff. And he was very he he has been very gung ho and very like

Unknown Speaker 7:47

wanting to put all the right steps in place so it would get moved through without a problem, like through his board, and through the CEO of the nonprofit and everything. And I think it's still going well, but I just wanted to run this by you so you know when, when things are going so smoothly in the sales process, and then it's like, oh, okay, here it is. So he sent an email while we were on vacation, like, you're like, it can't be this good. Yeah, it's not bad. But he wrote back. And this was proactive, so he met with his committee of the board, and it was just like, slightly different from what we've been talking about, which is he's like

Unknown Speaker 8:24

we have met a few times on the next steps, and there's been a lot of great dialog. And the goal is to build a higher and deeper understanding of our capabilities and what we need going forward. That is a task that

Unknown Speaker 8:40

are preparing for our board meeting, which is today, from there, we will see what comes from there. FYI, so I think it's nice that he was proactive. But also I'm like, yeah, how are you? How are you taking that totally so like building a higher and deeper understanding of fundraising. That's like, exactly one of the things we were going to do in our work. Yeah, so it's almost like I gave them the idea. Well, when you say that, you're saying, like, we have to first assess what we have going on before we do anything else, right? Okay, totally. And I'm like, okay, like number one, I always think it's a red flag when a board member is the one to reach out, because are you going over the head? Probably right. So I was already like, All right, let's see. But now, I mean, so half of me is like, well, it's good that now, you know, sort of backwards. They should have done this before, but it's good that now they're trying to get a better understanding of what fundraising is going on. But also it's like a red flag to me, like, oh, they probably don't agree that they need this outside help.

Unknown Speaker 9:58

Maybe, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 10:00

There are a lot of ways to look at this totally. There's like, we could, we could come up with like, 30, you know, scenarios right now. And I think it's interesting, because sometimes I've seen it where the board member comes in and want and initiates the project because they're also paying for the project,

Unknown Speaker 10:16

right in which case the one who wants the project is also the one who's deciding on the budget. You know what I'm saying, like, who has budget authority, and so sometimes that is good from a sales perspective, and can make the implementation and the delivery difficult, right? Because, yes, this, we don't know to what degree this has been sort of forced upon the paid staff, right? Yeah, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 10:38

it could be that. And just to be clear, the person who you've been talking about the whole time is this board member, but guy the board, the head of the board, yeah, head of the board, okay,

Unknown Speaker 10:49

yeah. I mean, you know, it's only takes, it takes a lot of people to say yes, and it only takes one person to say no, true. And so is one board person, board member, like getting cold feet, or we should we need more information, or whatever. Is there disagreement between the board and the staff? As you said, is the staff being like, No, we can do this on our own. Or is the, I mean, there's so many combination or, you know, permutations here. Yeah, agree. And so I did write him back something very positive. I was just like, I said, Excellent. Sounds like very productive conversations have taken place. I'll look forward to hearing more, and thank you for the update. Like I wasn't, I didn't, I didn't feel like I should be like, Well, what's going on? Yeah, yeah, I could. I mean, he's very open and very friendly, and I could, I He's someone I could totally email again, but I don't know that I need to.

Unknown Speaker 11:44

There are a couple things you can do. First, I would there. There is if even when the situation comes up again, because it will, yeah, um, what I'd encourage you to do, or what you might think about doing in this email, is, and, you know, check in with yourself about how much you want this, right? But, yeah, but what you said is, is fine. And how can we do two things lead the client and almost, you know, do that technique where we we get a call on the calendar. Yeah, get it on the calendar via email so that you're not trying to claw him back to the table. Yep, you know. And again, it's sort of a tone thing also, because it what you said is like, Okay, let me know. I mean, basically, it's like, you, you tell me, right, which is, which is not a there's no, like, pushing there. It's not thirsty. It's not, you're not. You've stopped selling, yeah, and you'd put it in his court, which is also totally fine, you know, if you're, like, not sure about this anymore. But if you wanted to bring some momentum, keep the momentum in the process, you could say something like, you know, after you've had a chance to talk through it, why don't we find 20 minutes for a touch base? 15 minutes, whatever should we look at the week of blank, yeah, you know, giving him some time.

Unknown Speaker 13:16

So it's not like you expect to have an answer tomorrow, which is, you know, probably unrealistic, but, you know, should we look at the week of x so at least you're, at least you're giving him something to react to, and it's, like, still interested? I, you know, I have validated your process, even though your process is whatever. Yeah, I validate you. And like, why don't we regroup?

Unknown Speaker 13:41

Love it, and I think it's good timing for that, because their meeting is today. So maybe if I email him Monday, sure. I mean, you know, and just say, Hey, I was thinking of you Friday. I know you had your board meeting, yeah, some time on to talk about what happened at the meeting, right? Okay, and then, you know, offer a couple options. Yeah, hope you guys had a great call, or, hope you guys had a great meeting. You know, you don't want to be salty about it. No, and you're not, you're not, but it's like, hey, it's just neutral. You're like, very neutral. You're very like, peer mindset about it. Yeah? So that's, that's one thing. That's one thing you can do. Oh gosh, there was something you said, something else that got me thinking, I forgot. It's lost, it'll come back. It's okay. That sucks, you. But I mean, at minimum, I think following up makes a lot of sense, yeah, and that's the thing. It's like, we don't totally know what happened. Oh, this. This was the other thing, okay, if, if

Unknown Speaker 14:41

it comes up again or another situation, you can always do two things. You can bring in, number one, bring in your expertise, or position yourself as an expert and offer to help. So that way that might sound is like totally makes sense. What we've seen is that sometimes it helps to have, like, a unbiased third party.

Unknown Speaker 15:00

Like helping, you know, like sort of facilitating some of these conversations. Would it help if we came in and maybe guided a discussion around this? So it's almost like an Etsy kind of, kind of, yeah? Because what he said is, like, we're, we're not buying anything right now, yeah, we need, we need more information. We're going to keep talking. We have to decide if, like, the tone is right for you saying, you know, what we've seen is that it helps to have somebody, you know, guided discussion around this and make sure that everyone's voice is heard. Blah, blah, blah. Is that something you'd be interested in? It's like, it's like, consent based. It's like, does this? Is it worth talking about this got right? Is it, or is this? Is Is this something that you're it's worth having a quick conversation about. I'm just more of a fan of, like, my style is more like, hey, we actually, you know, have this thing, or what we've seen it works is, is this, would you like to talk about it instead of me throwing it at you? Totally, that makes sense. Yeah, that totally makes sense.

Unknown Speaker 16:04

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I got it again. What you've done here is totally fine, yeah, there's nothing wrong with what you've done, and there are things we can layer on next time so that you can either move the sales process forward, or, you know, still provide some value and keep the relationship really warm. Yeah. I mean, in general, I love this underlying notion of, like, you know, just because a potential client emails me with something new, with no it's just like an FYI, I can still respond with a question, like, that's a new concept, newer concept to me from working with you, and I actually love that. Instead of just saying, like, Okay, I'll stay tuned, which is what I always like, you know what I mean? I like having being thoughtful about, Oh, I hear what you're saying. This is new information you're giving me. Here's something new I can give you. Is that interesting? Yes, right. Like, yeah, a dialog totally. And I think it's also just this idea of not necessarily accepting everything at face value, yes, you know, and not. It's a version of this concept we talk about, which is like, resist the automatic Yes, right? Like, you know, we talked about this early on, but it's like, if they ask a question, can you do this? Or if they ask a question, you don't have to just take what they said as the gospel in that moment, you know.

Unknown Speaker 17:34

But I think that, you know, we're so trained, slash conditioned, to do that from our years being Junior in our career, and then, you know, then running the actual business, and feeling like you they all had, the clients have all the power, not to mention, like, all the ways that, as women, young girls, blah, blah, blah, right? And so, yeah, it's just a reminder. It's a little rubber band on your wrist. It's like, I I don't have to, I can, I can think, I can be thoughtful. I don't have to just take what they said as, like, the word.

Unknown Speaker 18:12

I love it, yeah, and I like that. To me, what you're talking about is like, a good middle ground of like, you know, before I was when I would send an email, like, oh yeah, I'll stay tuned, or whatever, I was like, oh, that's me. Just like, showing you know, I don't I'm not going to be thirsty, right, right, right? I'm gonna be cool about it. So cool. But then, dur, like, obviously, that's not a sales tactic, right? But nor is it the extreme of, what do you mean me and I need to talk to you like, you know, so I like this middle ground of just being thoughtful, continuing to ask questions, getting the new information, and being like, neutral about it, as you said, Yeah, peer level, you know, totally yeah. Cool is, does this? I'm just curious, is there? Because I'm sure, as you were, sort of reflect on this over the next, like, few days, like, some, you know, things are going to come up.

Unknown Speaker 19:06

But like, Does this feel familiar in any way? You know, this idea of, like, I don't know, I don't know what the what the question is. But do you know? What do you what do you think this is about? This, this, like, I want to be, you know, I'm not a consultant. I'm a cool consultant, right? Or, like, I'm, you just want to be cool about it. Oh, it's like, total, like, you know, it's, it's like, taking and, I mean, I've been doing this for so long now I'm much better at taking the personal feelings out of it. But I think so much of it is about insecurity, and so much of it is about, oh, you maybe don't want me. Well, then maybe I don't want you, right? I mean, I know that, you know, fun, fine, whatever, right? As opposed to, like, no, be an adult, like, you know, follow a process.

Unknown Speaker 19:51

Well, there's that. And also, yeah, I think a little bit of that came out at the very beginning, which is like, when the board member is the one leading the process, that's a flag, like, here, yes, which, again, it could be a red flag. It just could be a dynamic that, you know, we just don't have all the information about. We don't know what conversations have been happening. But it's, I think it's so easy to be like, you don't want me, I don't want you either, right? It's like, this is, you know, I of all the ways we could all the things that it could actually be going on were like, Oh, well, clearly the worst. I've decided it's the worst one for me. Oh, totally. It's never like, oh, that's fine. It's always, you know, worst case scenario.

Unknown Speaker 20:36

But yeah, no, totally, totally. And I think now being able to see that and name it is super helpful, because it's like, okay, but I will say it is a red flag, like in the work that I've done, in my experience, if there's a board member who is trying to push this agenda forward without involvement from the actual staff, and Actually, in hindsight, I should I knew this early on, and I should have asked him, can I talk to, you know, it's your thing too, about who else is involved. And it could have been an early on. It could have been me saying, Well, can I talk to the development person? Can I talk to the CEO? Because in my like, I was pushing down the fact that I knew if this goes through, and I've never, ever met them, or they've never had an input, it's not going to go well, because I need to work with them on this. Right? So Right? No, you are right, and I think that really speaks to what are the factors that need to exist for you to be successful. And that's not a like sales process problem, like a random red flag has been inserted. That's a discovery problem. As you said, Yeah, you know. And I think that you know, the way I want to encourage you to think about it is, and there's a subtle shift. But remember how we talked about

Unknown Speaker 21:58

make it? So, yes, right? That concept of make it so where, however you decide you do things, is how you do things. And so instead of saying something like, can I talk to the board, or, I'm sorry, what did you say? Can I talk to staff, the staff, right? How can we make it so our process is that we we'd love to talk to two to three staff people or whatever, to do that specific. But are you asking permission, or are you leading the process? And I would want you to lead the process. Does that make sense? Yeah, totally. It's not like, Oh, is it okay if I meet them for it's like, no. As part of our process, we these are, these are the roles we need to speak with before we sign or before we move forward. Totally right. You can even use that, you know, in some cases like you can, you can slow the process down. Mm hmm, because, let's say that they come in super hot and you guys are super excited, because they're ready to go, and they have the budget and all of this, and then you find out, like, oh, wait a minute, none of the staff is on board with this. Yeah, on the surface, that would have been a great new client, quote, unquote, because it was a fast Yes, but it would have benefited the process to actually slow it down and, like, have a conversation, or set of conversations,

Unknown Speaker 23:27

yeah. And I feel like, when the process is, like, hot, hot and heavy, like that, and I get a little anxious, and I think that's part of it is. I'm like, wait a minute. They're excited, and they seem great, and I want the work, but I feel rushed, right, and I don't think I always identify that as like a possibility. To say, You know what? This is super exciting. Let's take, like, a couple steps. Let's take a pause and talk about our process. Yeah, totally Yeah. So glad, you know, we we always love working with clients who are are eager to get started and have a lot of ducks in a row. Let me tell you how this typically goes

Unknown Speaker 24:12

for us. And you're right. I mean, coming in hot, you know, clients that come in hot are it's easy to get excited, right? Because, obviously, for number of reasons, yeah, but it's actually a red flag totally, you know, coming in hot because, and actually, there's a the podcast episode that's coming out this Sunday. She talks about that. It's a former client of mine who leads sales for what's become a like, a mid sized agency under, you know, since she's been there, and she talks about, like, how, if

Unknown Speaker 24:47

somebody's really red hot, you know, like coming in hot, it's a total red flag for her, because what it says is, what it says to her, is that maybe the emotional Buyer's Journey is there, right?

Unknown Speaker 25:00

That's sold in, yes, but the process buyer's journey, still, that person doesn't have either insight or authority or an understanding of

Unknown Speaker 25:11

how to get it sold in.

Unknown Speaker 25:13

Yeah. And it's funny, if I thought back, I could probably come up with so many potential clients that didn't work out that we spent time on.

Unknown Speaker 25:22

There was an emotional piece there, but it wasn't the process wasn't there. You know, I could probably go back and think of a lot that's really an interesting

Unknown Speaker 25:34

aha for me. Is that, like those coming in hot people being not always the greatest. Yeah, always closing. Well, yeah. And I, I think, what can you say more? Yeah, like, like, I said, I always get that little knot in my stomach when someone's like, oh my god, we're so excited. Put it together, a proposal, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and, and I never have put my finger on, like, why that makes me feel so squidgy. And I think that's right, it's it's too fast. We're not driving the process. We're reacting to someone's stress. And also we're like, Oh my gosh. Well, we need, we need the work anyway. So great. Okay, I'll get a proposal together today, and instead of just having the power and confidence to be like, hold on, like, let's take a breath, you know? And

Unknown Speaker 26:26

it's just, it's a good like, what's the word? Again, naming it like, it's something I haven't named before. And I like when people are so speedy, we need to, I think, be equally like slower, right? Well, and this is the benefit of having a process,

Unknown Speaker 26:49

you know, because it keeps you honest to your own process. It lets you put yourself back in to control and

Unknown Speaker 27:01

and it, it's sort of takes some of the emotion out of it. When you're like, Okay, we're not going to skip steps here, right? Like, it takes the emotion out of it and helps you.

Unknown Speaker 27:10

You know what my client says, it's as you say, she goes. It keeps, it keeps you from breaking your own heart.

Unknown Speaker 27:16

Yeah. And so when the first reaction, it's based on process, not emotion.

Unknown Speaker 27:23

Yeah, right. So what are the steps I'm just you know, in an ideal world, what are the steps that must take place for not only for the client to say yes, but for you to know that you will be successful? That's such a good question. I was about to say, we need to document our process, because it's so all over the place. Usually we talk to one person and send a proposal, so I feel like there's room for improvement there. But then it's sending the proposal and then answering questions about it. I feel like our process is,

Unknown Speaker 27:57

yeah, it's not like, we don't have an SOP where we're like, this is what we must do well, and it doesn't have to be super, super formal, but think about both how it's typically gone in the past, but also how you'd like it to be. So to me, a big piece is like, are the right people cool with this? And also, when it's like, a board member, for example, is your staff? Do they understand? Because I don't want to. I've, I've had situations where I go in and the staff is like, who are you? And is my job on the line? Right? So to me, it's a lot about who, who needs to be culturalized to this idea and know that I'm not like a scary person who's going to come in and ruin lives like to me, that's a big one. It's off the top of my head

Unknown Speaker 28:46

totally. And this is all great. What other steps would you so you deliver a proposal? Do you have a proposal review meeting? Is that, am I sort of understanding that correct? Yep. So we we do, usually one or two conversations with the same person, usually, then we send a proposal, we have a review meeting, and then, yeah, then, usually, it either gets signed and we schedule a kickoff to really go through everything, or it doesn't get signed. And either we're like, you know, trying to follow up.

Unknown Speaker 29:25

And sometimes, you know, people disappear. Sometimes they get back to us with the reason why they're not signing. Right now, I'm trying to think of any little or step, yeah, it's really like, probably too organic, depending on prospect to prospect. You know,

Unknown Speaker 29:40

do you ever get the kickoff on the calendar before they sign No? Oh, you guys should do that. That's next level. I like it. It's just a version of this. When you get the call on the books from the meeting, from your current call, and it's.

Unknown Speaker 30:00

The same it's the same thing. And it's just an, it's an anchor point, yeah, it's an anchor point. And then it's like part of the sit, it kind of moves into the sales process, the closing process, not the actual work truck. Yeah, it's like, thinking about it a little differently, to just, well, it sort of pulls them instead of pushing them, yeah, and it's just good momentum, yeah, totally. I like that. All right. So what

Unknown Speaker 30:33

do you make of all this stuff? I feel like when we talk through a lot, right? I mean, I make of it. What do I make of it? I make of it. I think one of my biggest takeaways is slowing the process down. I feel like that would allow more breathing space, a little more getting to know you, a little more, yeah, a little more of everything.

Unknown Speaker 30:54

There's so much to get from this episode. And if you heard something in our conversation that really spoke to you. Be sure to share it on LinkedIn and tag me so I can give you a shout out. So there's so much here, but I want to pull out one thing that you can apply to your business. And this episode is about what we call navigating the jungle, actually getting the work sold in and in the sales process with any B to B client, there's a whole lot that happens between the moment that someone reaches out to us, or we have a first conversation, and the moment that someone says yes. And it's rarely just purely straightforward, like the client wants it, and they say yes right away. And on we go, and there's a lot we can do to move the sales process forward, but a huge part of it happens inside the client's company. I once read an analyst report that said that 90% of the sales process happens when we're not there. So for us, the key is learning to influence what happens when we're not in the room. And there are a lot of things that can happen. You know those twists and turns, like you heard a couple of them here, and a lot of time that elapses. You've probably heard me say that the typical B to B sales process can take anywhere from three to 18 months, like I just had a client celebrate her year anniversary of talking to a client, and they still hadn't said yes. And when things take a long time, and when there are twists and turns, it can also trigger so much of our head trash, right? And you heard some of that here, and all of this speaks to the reality of consulting, that in consulting, to actually get a consulting client, you need two things. You need people to sell to, and you need to know how to land them. Picture it like two sides of a pyramid. On the left side you have people to sell to the leads and the prospects that we all need, and on the right you have how to land them, actually guiding them through the sales process. And the problem is that a lot of what you see out there about like, here's how to get clients. Or when people come to me being like, I need clients, like, I need to do LinkedIn or something, they're really only thinking about the left side of the pyramid, the people to sell to. But how you actually get a client? How you take someone from potential client to paying client that happens on the right side of the pyramid, the how to land them side. And if you only get you know someone to talk to, but you don't know how to land them, then you still don't have a client. And if you've gotten most or all of your clients through referrals, you might feel like the right side of the pyramid. The how to land them part, that part goes pretty smoothly. There's hardly any sales process at all, because those leads are super warm, they already know you or someone vouched for you. But once you start marketing your business and talking to clients who didn't work with you five years ago at your last job, then you actually need to know how to sell so recognizing that to get consulting clients, you need two things people to sell to, and you have to know how to land them. This is a major focus of our work in the academy, because we help you do both get people to sell to and knowing exactly how to land them. Because without both, you're doing what we call fingers crossed selling. You know, when you start talking to someone, or you send a proposal, and you just sort of hope they say yes. And I gotta say, a lot of women consultants out there are practicing fingers crossed selling, and we want to move from fingers crossed selling to effortless selling. Not that the sales process requires no effort at all, but when we say effortless selling, it's that you know exactly what to do at every step to help your clients say yes. And so once you see the difference between people to sell to and how to land them. You can't unsee it, and you start to notice that a lot of coaches and gurus and people on LinkedIn out there, they're only really talking about the people to talk to part and the truth is that very few of them have an actual system for leading a B to B sales process to a.

Unknown Speaker 35:00

Yes. So for example, if you ever see advice like, you know, get clients on LinkedIn. That's not quite accurate. You don't get clients on LinkedIn. You get leads on LinkedIn. You actually have to lead those leads through a sales process. So again, that's just the people to sell to part. And I hate to even bring all this up, because it's like, why would you talk about other coaches or gurus or people you see on LinkedIn or whatever? But I think it's important because this distinction between people to sell to and knowing how to land them is so important because so many women consultants sign up for a program or a coach or a networking group or whatever, hoping to, quote, unquote, get clients, and they spend a lot of money and a lot of time on something that only achieves half the goal when you need to actually achieve the whole goal, having a system for actually getting clients and knowing how to actually land them. And the truth is that, unfortunately, this process of landing a client isn't getting any easier, and if you're feeling like in this past year, it's actually gotten harder for clients to say yes, or some budgets have gotten cut first. Just know you're not alone. This year hasn't been easy for a lot of women consultants out there, and the landscape has really been changing. But the silver lining is that there's also a real opportunity here to hone in, to focus and make sure you're working on what's truly gonna move the needle in your business. And I mean, it's totally normal to turn to tried and true advice. You know, the advice you see everywhere on LinkedIn, but now that you know that there are two parts of this process, people to sell to, and knowing how to land them, and you have the tools to discern. You know that if the advice that you're taking is only about getting more leads and not about how to actually land clients, it's kind of like running on a treadmill. You could be moving really fast, but you're not getting any closer to achieving a goal. So to actually create momentum, we have to do both right bring in the right leads and help them say yes. So here's what I want you to come away with today. Build both sides of the pyramid. Invest just as much time and energy into learning how to help clients say yes as you do in attracting new potential clients. Because no one wants to be practicing fingers crossed selling, and when you're able to help clients say yes, then you're no longer just hoping for success. You're actively creating it. And that's where your real power as the driver of your business really lies in being in control and feeling empowered and knowing that you've got this so go out there, put some of the steps you've heard here into action, and keep building your business with intention, because you've got this and I can't wait to see what you make happen. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai