Hey there wellness entrepreneur. Welcome back!
Lead a Successful Consultation Call. You will also learn how to structure consultation calls in a non-icky
slimy way, so you actually grow to enjoy them and sign more clients.
you decide to do consults, becoming good at them – and this does not mean becoming good at
convincing or manipulating, I will say that again, becoming good at consultations does not equate to
becoming good at convincing and manipulating. No. I’m going to be telling you another way that feels
authentic. That feels in alignment for you, so you show up to serve. Consults should feel like a place of
service for you and your people. Consults should be a way to give value. We’ll go over all of that
because I’ve done a lot of work here.
Work with Your Nervous System for More Confidence on Consultation Calls
my program, if they didn’t inquire about the cost, and if they did inquire about the cost and didn’t like
the price and told me their reasons as to why they didn’t like the price, I would freeze.
consults mostly online. I still have some consults that come into the shed, but I would say 90% of my
consults are online these days. And I’ve really grown and evolved. I’ve moved past the freezing. I used to
freeze in person when they would tell me the reasons as to why they weren’t going to invest at that
moment. My brain would literally freeze. I could never think of appropriate questions to answer or ask
next. And so I would say, “Okay, thanks so much for your time. Have a nice day. Goodbye.” That was not
effective for them because I never helped them to uncover their patterns of thinking and their habits.
table.” So, becoming good at consults really is coaching, it’s helping. And this is from Stacy Bateman, who says marketing and selling is coaching, and coaching is marketing and selling. And at first, that phrase, that statement, it didn’t make much sense to me. I thought they were so different, but now I’ve come to see that it is so true and consults can be so valuable for your people, whether they decide to work with you or not.
job is to just help uncover the barriers, the patterns of thinking or beliefs that might be holding them
back from making a neutral decision or a quick decision. And we’ll go over all of this and more in this
blog.
Reasons Why You Might Choose To Do A Consultation Call
consult, how to structure it and how to unearth and dive deep into these sometimes very uncomfortable
conversations and how to get more comfortable at doing them. I know because I literally went from
being frozen and completely avoiding them unconsciously. Like my brain would freeze, be hijacked by my limbic system, my nervous system, to now asking questions, having deep conversations as to roots of issues of really what’s holding a lot of wellness entrepreneurs back from taking the next step forward in their business.
1. Consider Where You Are in Your Wellness Business
First decision you need to make is considering where you are in your business. So if you think of your
customer journey or path, or sometimes it’s labeled as a customer funnel, for me personally, the funnel
feels a little icky-slimy like I’m forcing someone down into the narrow drip where I like the path, where
they can choose to walk it at their own pace. But that might be another conversation for another time.
You label it, whatever you want.
I think of it as the customer journey. I think about where they start: How they first come in contact with
me or you? How do they first meet you? Maybe it’s a yoga class. Maybe you teach a workshop. Maybe
you post on social media. Maybe you have a website that people are stumbling upon. What are the ways
that they first come in contact with you? Meet you? Realize what you specialize in? Then from there,
where do you want them to go? What’s the next step? Often, that’s a free resource of some type.
Maybe it’s a download. Maybe you have a free Facebook group. Maybe you have a free podcast like I do.
It’s not necessary in the beginning phases of your business, for sure. However, what is that next best
step? Maybe you have a low cost or a low ticket item, like a workshop on-demand or in-person. Maybe
you have free webinars. There’s all sorts of ideas here.
2. Developing A Process Or A System To Convert Free Potential Client To Paying Client
Then from there, how do you transition from that potential client who is following and listening to you, consuming your content, loving it? How do they transition from free potential client to paying client?
Now you want to develop a system or process for this. For this customer journey, for this transition, from being a follower, a loyal listener, to paying client because it’ll help to streamline your business. It’ll help it to be more efficient. And this is helpful for your business, of course, because it’s a way to get quicker at doing things. You’ll be able to make decisions easier because you know the next step in your path.
And when you have a system and process, that’s how you’re able to refine and improve because you can look back on the system and process and use objective measures and metrics to see where there might be a broken link in that system or process. So then you can refine, you can retweet, you can tweak it, and that can lead to more growth in your business and more revenue. If there’s no system, then you never know what to refine and improve. And that can lead to the indecisiveness of never knowing what to focus on. Never knowing what to prioritize.
Also, a system and process for this is helpful for your potential clients, because they will have a clear understanding. They will know exactly their next best step. It just seems so logical, it seems so fluid, it seems so natural. And the reason why they feel that way is because you’ve evolved it, you’ve streamlined it. You’ve made it easy for them to just know, “Oh yeah, the next logical step is for me to sign up for a consult,” for example.
If you want help signing more clients be sure to get the free training on how to get more clients here: https://igniteurwellness.com/get-health-coaching-clients/
The Two Main Paths To Convert Free Potential Client To Paying Client
But traditionally, there are two main paths to converting someone who’s following and listening to you and consuming your free content to a paying client.
Just Clicking And Buying Right Off A Sales Page
This is done especially for low ticket items. So, if you go to my on demand page, you’ll see I have a bunch of workshops and lower cost health and wellness programs there or yoga therapy programs to help the ambitious adult who values their health in numerous ways. And they can buy right now in the office sales page, get the program, the workshop, like yoga for the low back, immediately consume it all through their email process. So that’s a sales page. It’s very enticing for us as an entrepreneur because it’s a way we can “make money in our sleep.”
But here’s a catch: whether it’s a $25 workshop or $35 workshop, $97 mini program, your copy has to still be dialed in. Your clients have to be hot, ready to go. They have to know exactly what they’re getting and they have to be aware of their problem and that you are the solution even if it’s only $25. Your copy has to be dialed in from a sales page even if it is a lower price on-demand program. This is especially true if you’re trying to convert for a higher ticket item like $997, $2,000, anything up into the hundreds of dollars, your copy really must be dialed in.
And this is where having a larger volume of followers, potential clients that have been consuming your content, is very helpful because there will be a smaller percentage of people that will land on the sales page and be ready to go, ready to open their wallets and talk themselves through all their fears and their reservations. And your copy has to be good enough to help guide them through it. Uncover these unconscious-like reservations. And they have to be able to do all of this on their own, which is rarer.
However, the more that you are in business, the better skilled you get at copywriting, at learning unconscious objections of your people, just getting to know your people better and just helping your people know they can trust you so they are ready to buy. Moving to a sales page does become the next logical phase in your business.
However, it is just that. Most of the time, it is a phase. It’s an evolution. Your business is working towards using sales pages because most of us, coming into the wellness industry, were never trained in marketing sales. We were never trained in copywriting. Like for me, I have my doctorate in physical therapy. I was trained in research writing, research reading. I was trained in evidence-based medicine, which is wonderful for my practitioner side of the skills. It actually held me back. Sometimes I’m still working through that, another story for another time.
But I had to learn my copywriting skills. I had to learn my marketing and selling skills, which is why I’m so passionate about including this knowledge in the blog because in yoga teacher trainings, you are not taught this. Health coaching trainings, you might get the tip of the iceberg. I find that a lot of even sometimes business masterminds and coaching, it’s kind of glossed over. It’s kind of hinted at that you need it. Even sales, boot camps, the objections and reservations of your clients, they might be mentioned. But getting into the nitty gritty, it sometimes is taught very quickly.
But truthfully, this is the work that can help you bring in hundreds and thousands of dollars a month, a week, for sure a year into your business. So most of the time, us wellness entrepreneurs need to evolve to using sales pages as a standalone by themself or someone for example meets you on Facebook through an ad or a post or Instagram, they found you through a hashtag, they consume your content, maybe they join a group, they join your email list and then they click a link or a button in your e-mail to a sales page, then they click a button to a higher paying program that’s actually going to bring you significant revenue to cover your business expenses, your personal expenses, and have a profit, you either need to have a high volume of loyal listeners or be really skilled at your copy.
And that kind is a high barrier to jump and it can hold a lot of entrepreneurs back because when no one’s clicking to their sales page, even from the beginning, from the e-mail, or the Instagram, because your copy has to be good there, your messaging has to be good there, and for sure when they’re not buying off the sales page, it’s easy to say, “Oh, they just don’t like me. Something’s wrong with me. I just might not be good at this. I’m terrible CEO (or most of the time we don’t even consider ourselves as a CEO) I’m just a bad practitioner. I’m a bad teacher. I’m not a great physical therapist. I’m not a great coach.” All these things will come up when in reality, none of that’s true. We need to shift from taking things personally in your business to tweaking and refining and getting more skills.
One Way To Avoid That Big Hang-Up Is To Use And Utilize Consultation Calls
Consults can be that second pathway where yes, you might choose to use standalone sales pages for the lower ticket items, for those people who are ready to buy the workshop because you might have an audience who is ready to buy. And sales copy on a lower ticket item is crucial, but doesn’t have to be as dialed in as skilled as if you’re going to sell a program that’s hundreds or thousands of dollars.
So if you do have that wellness program, you listen to a podcast episode a few episodes back, and you did create that wellness signature program, let’s say you’re selling it for the three-month package for $1,500, for example, the next logical step to help your clients decide if your program is the right fit for them and it’s also a chance for you to decide if they’re a client that you want to work with as well.
Avoid Pre-Judging Your Clients
However, as a side note, I really caution you here about prejudging, having preconceived notions about your clients before they come to the call, deciding if they’re appropriate fit or not before you even speak to them because that can hold you back. If you’re assuming that they can’t pay for it, that they don’t want your services, that they’re not willing to pay that higher price or spend three or six months working with you or invest an hour a week on their problem, you’re assuming. You’re judging before you even hear their story. And you know what they say about people who assume? They have a high likelihood of making an ass of themselves.
So don’t prejudge. On the consult together after they explain their story and where they want to go, then both of you decide together. But I really, really caution you personally, for me, anyone that comes to my consult call, I do work prior to the consult call of getting my mind to a neutral place. And I always think that anyone who signs up for my consult call, if they go through the work, the hurdles of actually figuring out time in their schedule to schedule it, they have to fill out a form.
If they do all these steps, then they already are my ideal client. That’s the opinion. That’s the perspective I go into consult calls with personally. And my job is to unearth, which we’ll get to in a moment, patterns of thinking or belief that might be holding them back from hitting their goals. And because I know my ideal client so well, it is very obvious when someone’s just not a good fit to work with me. And it’s usually very clear to the both of us at the same time. I’ve just gotten to that phase of my business. So I never prejudge anyone before I actually meet them. And we get into their story and their goals. That’s just my personal opinion.
Allocating Enough Time and Choosing the Right Place For Your Consults
So for most of you wellness entrepreneurs with that signature package, or if you’re having trouble converting from session by session and people paying for one offs to that program, the consult might be the perfect way to go.
Let’s say for example, that a student comes up to you after your yoga class and something you said in their class triggered them where they are inquiring if you are the person to help them with their specific program. During that five minutes at the end of a class with lots of other students, maybe even the manager of the studio bustling around behind you, that is not an appropriate place to get into the deeper work of their struggles, their vision, what’s really holding them back.
They probably have to get somewhere else, number one, so they’re compressed for time. You probably have to get somewhere else and you’re probably feeling compressed for time and it’s just a really public place. It would be really difficult for them to investigate the deeper fears and concerns. Same is true at a vendor table or any public space where someone might come up to you and inquire about working with you.
I’ve heard and seen so many wellness entrepreneurs, coaches, physical therapist, yoga teachers, talking to potential clients out in public spaces because I’ve heard glimpses of it being in so many studios and vendor events and networking events myself where they’re trying to pitch a program and it’s just not flying. They’re trying to pitch their few hundred dollars program or $1,200 program in this public place and the potential client is not biting at all.
So then they’re like, “Oh, oh,” they pedal backwards. And they’re like, “Okay, we’ll just come in for one session.” And then that leads to that potential client become yes, a paying customer. That’s great, good job. But then it becomes just paying one-off here, one-off there. They’re not in the container that can truly help them to get the results more seamlessly and quicker. The only caveat to that is unless you have a student who’s been with you for a long time, so they do have a great trust in you, they already know lot about your program because maybe they’ve hopped on your website several times before they know exactly what you offer. They’ve already worked through the price point several times. They maybe already have looked in their bank account. They’re ready to go. That does happen in the public place, a student approaching you after class, however, it is rarer.
So to open your availability to reaching more potential clients, having them become paying customers with your bigger packages, which again helps them head back to that blog of creating your signature wellness program, will help them to achieve their results. And it helps your business because you’re having more consistent and reliable revenue. That in-between step is a consult call. And the length of time, you decide. It can be 20 minutes, can be a half hour. Personally, I did 60 minutes for a long time. I’ve just dropped down to 45 minutes. There’s no right answer here. It really depends upon, again, how good you are at uncovering the fears, the insecurities on earthing, the root source of their problem, getting to their struggles, helping connect and help them to see that your program has the potential to solve that problem. It’s not getting good at manipulating and convincing. I personally don’t do that or try to stay out of that completely in my consult.
So for me, that’s why I have a longer length of time because I used to do 20, 30-minute in person consults in my physical therapy clinic and that was part of the reason why I froze because I felt so compressed for time. So now, with the luxury of time, we can really get into these problems. My nervous system is so much calmer, which leads my brain to be more creative and curious and ask better questions.
So maybe now I’ve sold you on the benefits of the consult. So you decide to do a consult.
What Exactly Is Consult In The First Place?
So there are different types of consults. You can use a consult as the simplest, most natural logical step as the place, the container, for someone to come meet you, tell you about their problems, their struggles and you can tell them about your program and then they can decide for themselves if that program is the next best step.
So the consult is the place for them to unearth this and they also leave with value. So I will get to more of the value part in a section in just a moment. However, I do want to highlight that there’s other types of consults. It’s good to be aware of this because you never want to bait and switch on your people unintentionally.
Free Coaching Type of Consult
So there are types of consults that people label as free coaching. For example, on Facebook or Instagram, you can say, “Hey, if you’re struggling with this problem, you can meet with me. We’ll have a free coaching call.” Which is different from a consult call. The intention is very different. They have in their mind that they’re going to come and get coached for however long you decide, 30 minutes to an hour, on their very specific problem.
So if you show up to that call ready to pitch your program, that’s a bait and switch. Meaning, you baited them with free coaching, and you switched it on them in the moment. It feels icky and slimy and awful on both sides. Don’t do it, please. For yourself and others. It could be what’s really turning you off on consults in the first place. And I’m not saying don’t offer these free coaching sessions. There’s a ton of benefit to offering these free coaching sessions. You get just more practice and being a coach, you get your name out there more, they might love it. Then they might decide to inquire and ask about your program. So then you might decide to schedule a real consult for another day, another time, or you can ask them, “Hey, do you have more time, half hour after this free coaching call, we can discuss the program, but let’s create a different container for that.” And so, they might decide to work with you more, but they might not.
So let me give you a specific example here. For this summer, August 2022, I’m offering a special. It’s a limited time only. And I only am doing about two of these a week because I have limited time in my schedule and they’ve become very popular. I’m offering an audit – a free audit. So they schedule “a consult call,” 45 minutes, and the wellness practitioner is bringing an area of their business that they would like me to audit. So they’re choosing one. Maybe a program that they would like me to audit their pricing, the lengths, what’s in it, etcetera, etcetera. They’re having me audit their marketing message, their branding, their niche. There’s all kinds of things that I can audit.
If you want me to audit a part of your wellness business make sure to book your free call here: https://igniteurwellness.com/business-coach-for-health-coaches/
But before I decided to offer this audit, I took a pause in my business to reflect the potential pathway of the audit. What are the pros and the cons of offering the audit? What is the secondary consequence? As one of my coaches used to say for me, the secondary consequence is people coming to the audit and deciding that they got exactly what they needed and that moment, and they don’t need to work further with me. So potentially, I could invest a lot of time, two hours a week for the month of August doing a lot of audits and have no one inquire more about my coaching program. Would I be willing to invest that time with that result? In my mind, I said yes because right now, in my business, I can offer those two hours a week as almost like a community service serving the wellness entrepreneur community.
And I know that there is a likelihood just based upon numbers that in the future, some of those people might implement the work that we do in the audit. In three months, six months, might decide, “Oh, now
I’m ready for the next step. Now I am ready for that coaching program and to work more deeper, work deeper with Alison.” Or some of the people in the audit might say, “That was awesome. I got what I needed. My friend needs this and I might get some referrals.” There’s all kinds of paths that happened. Some people, that’s where they’ll stay. They’ll never go beyond that free audit. That’s fine, too. I have to be okay with that decision.
So then I’m approaching all these audits from a very neutral place where I don’t feel taken advantage of because I decided clearly for myself and where my business and the benefits of showing up and doing this community service for the wellness entrepreneur. You see, the difference is if I hadn’t done the work first, then I might have a higher likelihood of trying to bait and switch because I really want these people to become a paying customer. And I get resentful that they’re not asking me about my program, or I get exhausted because I’m overworking all the time. So you have to be clear on what type of consult you want to offer at a particular moment and why.
So here’s the thing about the audit you probably heard is that it’s for a limited time only, and I’m only offering so many of them a week so I’m not going to overwork just by nature of the boundaries that I put on that audit. It is limited and it will end and then I’ll go back to my normal consults.
So you decide what type of consult you want to offer and why? Make sure to like your reasons.
How Do You Actually Get People To Sign Up For Your Consults?e of Consult
Understand what’s going to happen on the consult call, the value that they will get from the consult call, what type of consult call it is. That’s all done in your marketing. So again, the better skills that you get at describing the value of your consult call, specifically what’s going to happen, the experience that they’re going to go through on the consult call, the higher likelihood that you’ll get more people taking you up on your offer for consult calls.
Again, the reason why they’re not clicking on that consult call button is probably because they just don’t understand the benefit or they might have a fear that they’re going to get bait and switched. So your copy has to go over these mental obstacles they have and clearly describing how it is a safe place.
They’re not going to come onto a forceful sales call. They’re not going to get bait and switch. They will leave with value. It will be worth their time and for sure they’re going to get something out of it.
So in your marketing, whether that be in your emails on Instagram, wherever you’re offering your consult, you want to be sure that you’re clearly describing what’s in it for them.
Making Sure Your Consult Call Button Link Is Working
And the second part, the logical, technical part of this is making sure that consult call button link is actually working. I can’t tell you the number of times where I’ve put out links and I’ve actually clicked it and gone to my consult call page to sign up and various things were happening, where there was no availability in my schedule, for example, until like months out, or they couldn’t select the right time zones for themselves or I had way too many investigative questions that I was asking them in my form.
There were just too many barriers for them to sign-up that they just clicked off the page. So, make sure it is easy for them to click on the button, choose a particular day and time, and get that call scheduled.
I do have a form now because I just want to get right into the consult call with some background. Again, not to prejudge, not to assume that they’re going to pay for it or not because I’m always surprised, but I assume something. A lot of the times I’m wrong, sometimes I’m right because my intuition is pretty strong, but I try to go in with a neutral place, but I do appreciate having some background when they come to the call.
So, I do have a form, but knowing that if you put a form in there, it is going to lower the number of people that sign up for your consult call. So if you want to get good at practicing more consults, don’t have a form. It’s as simple as that. So I’ve hinted on the value of the consult and some of you, this might be the place where you get frozen or hung up because you are really great at offering value.
Know The Benefit of Working With You In Longer Programs
I know so many physical therapists and yoga teachers here where they’ll give a whole home exercise program or yoga sequence that is all the work that’s pretty much needed to solve their problem. And I used to do this myself too, where literally, people would walk out of my consult with a whole page of exercises, insights, takeaways and it doesn’t benefit them, even though it is the work that they need to solve their problem.
The whole benefit of working with you in a longer program like three months is that you are there to help guide them along the way because they’re human beings. So it’s totally natural for them to take that paper, look at it, get overwhelmed and not do any of it or start it and then give up because they run into obstacles and hurdles. That’s just the most natural thing.
The whole benefit of the program, like for me, I offer you so much value through the podcast, through my consults, your next steps of exactly what you need to do in your business. And some of you, and here’s the thing, same is true for the consult, some of your people will go out and implement it and do it all on their own. But I find that to be so rare. Most people, what comes up is they get that program and then the habits that got them, patterns of thinking and beliefs that got them into the problem in the first place, that’s what’s going to hold them back from implementing the program.
That is the work of your program. The thing is though, is if you’re giving them so much value in that consult, it doesn’t serve them and it doesn’t serve your business because they’re going to take that sheet of paper and they’re going to say, “Oh, I’m going to go implement and do this on my own,” and then they go and for months, they try to do it on their own and they fail. They don’t succeed. So then they’re not getting the results that they want and that’s connected to you. Your consult. You gave them those exercises. They’re not working in their hat. It’s not a good place to be for your business because that’s not leading to referrals. That’s not leading to happy clients. And for you, of course, that’s not going to help your business because you’re not having paying clients.
Knowing Your Value Is Directly Connected To The Potential Client’s Realization and Transformation
So you have to separate in your mind what value is. It does not necessarily mean all the exercises or the tactical steps that’s going to get them to where they want to go. Value can mean knowing that there’s potential to solve the problem. The value can be the awakening of potential. The potential like when they’re painting that vision, which will go over in a moment of potential your program, the results your program can create in their life that it’s possible for them to actually solve the problem.
For example, I used to have people who had sciatica disc issue for years, multiple practitioners, they thought western medicine told them, that they just had to live with the problem, it could never be solved and they show up in my office and when I finally got better at consult, I could clearly and confidently say, “No, we’re going to solve this problem. I’ve helped many people like you, you don’t have to live with it. There is a solution.” That is the value. I’ve had people break down and cry at that point thinking, “Oh my God, I thought my life was over. I thought I couldn’t do the things that I love. You’re telling me there’s hope, there’s potential to be healed. I’m not broken.” That is the value that leads to the big transformations.
In fact, right there on the consult, that awareness of the potential, the belief that, “My body can heal. I’m not broken,” that is a huge transformation right there. And that leads also to the awareness – if they’re getting these big transformations, if you’re starting to plant the seeds.
And so then from that point, I usually give the framework and we’ll go over my consult call framework in a general sense in just a moment. But I do that in the consult. I give a general framework of my program where I’m not giving them the exact how to step-by-step like that sheet of paper that I said, but I’m giving them the general framework so they can see specifically if we were to work together for three months or six months, what exactly we’re going to uncover and do during that time. So they can see how it fits into their life. They can begin to put themselves in that situation, that it is possible for them.
So that transformation of healing does become more of a reality. That is huge for them, whether they decide to work with me or not, they leave that consult call knowing that it is possible to heal. The transformation is that shift in energy from one, of being maybe helplessness, depression being in a funk, two, being inspired, trusting the body again, believing themselves again, having hope for the future – that is huge. And I’ve given them no tactical step-by-step processes yet I’ve had so many people come back to me, email, whether they work with me or not for both health side of my business or wellness entrepreneur business side of my business email, or text me after a consult and say, “Thank you, thank you so much. My life has changed from that.” I mean, what bigger value is there than that really?
So if you go in with that mindset, then you can get over the fear or freezing of that. You’re going to have to give away all your secret techniques to have them find value. And then they’re not going to want to work with you because they already have all the answers. Don’t give them all the secrets and the tactics because they’re probably have a hard time implementing it anyways. And yes, then they’re not going to want to work with you because they’re going to be trying to put in implement those tactics and they might be failing.
Instead, figure out how based upon their pain points when you’re uncovering the root source of the problem, show them clearly how it’s possible to have this problem solved through your program. Your program is a solution. So let’s talk about the consult specifically.
How Do You Really Transition From The Value To Describing Your Program?
That’s where a lot of people get hung up. So first, let’s go over the main point of a consult. So this is my loose framework. Of course you can design yours in whatever way feels natural. But this is my hybrid that I’ve learned through many masterminds and coaches that I’ve brought together for myself that is currently working and of course always evolving.
I Start With Their Story
I hear their story, their complaints of what they’ve tried in the past, what hasn’t worked, we determine their goals. Then I help them to understand what’s holding them back. So we uncover the root source of the problem. Then I create and craft a clear vision of their future in different areas of their life, beyond the area, that the problem area that they came to me for.
So for example, the wellness entrepreneur, most of the times brings the struggles of their business and or the struggle of how their business is consuming their life and they’re not able to care for their health. They’re feeling stressed out. They’re not spending time with family. So we go over essentially the life wheel. We go over what the impact of their life my program could bring beyond just their wellness business. So what does it look like in their whole life? If they create the success that they desire in their business, how does that impact their relationship with their spouse? How does that impact their own schedule, their health, their children. And when you go over how your program will leak over into the other areas of their life, again, this is valuable. The impact here is so powerful. It might even open their eyes to how the work that you do with them can impact their generations forward, help them to heal generations past with their parents and grandparents. This is where the true impact of your program should be uncovered.
And then I often inquire about their commitment level to this goal because it’s one thing to create this vision. It’s one thing to uncover their struggle and what the solution is. But sometimes, people show up to my consult call at a very low level investigate. They’re just inquiring about the program. They’re not truly committed to it yet.
So for example, if a commitment level was 10, that someone is ready to go, they’re ready to get into the discomfort of what they need to go through to hit their goals. While a commitment level of two is they’re going to stop and bulk at any discomfort. They’re not quite ready yet. So if someone tells me, gives me a lower number of their commitment, then I’m ready to release the reigns. I’m ready to allow them to lead. And it’s so important to have this awareness because then I know I’m going to let them ask the questions about the program. I’m going to let them tell me where they want to go. So that way I don’t push. If they tell me that they’re a 10, then I’m going to coach a little stronger again at any time, always ready to release the reigns. When I get the sense or they tell me, “Okay, I’ve gotten what I need.” But if their commitment level is a 10, I’m going to go after it harder for them. Not for me, again, not from convincing or manipulative. Just because they told me their goal and they told me they want to hit it.
And so often at this point, this is not often included in consult frameworks is the pause – the opportunity to just be quiet when you’ve made the connection of how your program could be the solution from their struggle to their goal or you’ve painted the vision. There’s different points at that consult process. And this is what I help entrepreneurs with. I have the Ignite Ur Wellness consult process in the portal, is pausing here and allowing that potential client’s thoughts, feelings, hesitations, reservations, to come up. To allow that the dictator of the next step, instead of just steam rolling or forcing through or over talking over them, a pause is so appropriate in a consult and it’s difficult, it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it can be awkward, but the better you get at this, then the better you can hear what’s really going on in your client’s minds. This pause and just noticing what’s happening in their face, what’s happening in their posture, what’s happening in their energy.
Going and Working Past the Superficial Complaints And Digging Deeper
If you can detect like me, it will allow you to be curious, to ask the questions that are going to lead past the superficial comments that they might have when you’re working through this transition of them, connecting for themselves, how your program could be the solution.
So you’re working past the superficial complaints of “I don’t have the money. I don’t have the time. I have to look at my bank account. I have to talk to my spouse,” helping to uncover that often. That’s just the superficial level. The deeper levels as to why they might be hesitant is that they don’t have trust with you yet.
As a coach, they barely know you. They haven’t worked with you yet before, or maybe they just don’t know more about your program or trust your program yet, or believe that your program could work for them. Maybe they don’t trust themselves to stick with the program, to follow it through, to actually implement it or they believe that investing in themselves that much money could be potentially reckless selfish. Maybe the family could use that money for other things so they think they’re being too selfish.
That’s the deeper level work. Where you can uncover. Are those thoughts and beliefs actually serving them and their goal or not? And when you lay that out on the table for them, then they can clearly see their own thoughts and make a better, informed decision, that is the benefit of the consult. So, they can decide for themselves. “Ah, oh my goodness, that’s my patterning. I didn’t even realize it.” Or if they do want to talk to the spouse, the significant other, the partner, I sometimes help them prepare for that.
Because if they have a commitment level of 10 and they have to go talk to their spouse, I want them to be armed, to fight for themselves, to clearly explain to their spouse the value of the program and why they want it. So I want them armed with that information so it’s a fair conversation. They know all the details so their spouse knows all the details. And often, sometimes what they think their spouse will say, “No, it’s too expensive,” that’s already going on in their mind. That’s already thoughts for them. So we can uncover all this. That’s the deeper work and consultations. And again, it’s never to use that information to manipulate or convince them. It’s to better inform them so they can make a better decision.
In the program, that is where I work on with my entrepreneurs. I have them do an evaluation of their consults. Tell me what their potential clients said, tell, held on, what they said, what questions did they ask? What were the reservations? And then we go through it. We fine tune it. We go over the energy or where for you as an entrepreneur, fears might have come up or where you got stuck or where you froze or where you maybe gave them all the exercises.
And they left feeling overwhelmed and thinking they had a ton of work to do in a short amount of time. We go over all that. We break it down because if you can increase your conversion rate of consults, let’s say from 30% to 50%, that can equate two hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars for your business per month, definitely per year. And again, it’s not from forcing people or a pressure filled sales call. No, it’s just being the guide. The teacher, the coach to help unearth old patterns, beliefs, thoughts, helping them to become aware of them, helping them to become aware that their goal is possible for them, making that connection for them, helping them to transition from one of helplessness to hope. All that is the work of the consult. And then from that work, they can make better informed decisions for themself. If they want to continue on, if you are the one to help them.
Conclusion
So there you have it. There is a ton of work in this blog. So I highly recommend reading it a few times, go back, take notes, write down the framework of your consult. Write down where you get stuck. Write down questions that your clients ask you where you sometimes don’t know the answer to. Write down the specific framework of your program so you get seamless at transitioning, walking them through their struggles, to where they want to go.
There is a ton of work that you can do in this. And if you feel like you’re stuck, don’t sit there and spin in confusion and overwhelm. Don’t allow that to hold you back. Sign up for a consult call. We’ll go over it where you’re getting stuck. Why maybe no one’s signing up for consult calls in the first place. What’s going on with your marketing or if you’re getting people to the call, but your conversion is low, lower end, I should say 10%, 20%, 30%, nothing has gone wrong with you. It’s just a skill. And I’ve been there. Let me plant the seed of hope for you here.
I’ve been there and I still made money in my business. When I had that brick and mortar physical therapy clinic, and I was doing those consults freezing, my good percentage of the time for closure was lower 20, 30%. Yet, here’s the thing. I still hit over six figures. I just did a lot of consult calls, but I can save you more time and energy. Get you more money quicker. You can learn from my mistakes. Just sign up for a consult, call yourself and we’ll go over it.
You can love consults. I love them now. I love connecting with people. I love unearthing their problem. I love planting that seed of hope, planting their vision, help them realize that can become a reality. All of that I love. And of course I love bringing a new client and onboarding them into my program. That’s why I am an entrepreneur. To do this work from start when they first meet me all the way to end getting their dreams and results. And I want that for you too. It’s possible. Okay. I’ll see you next week. Bye for now!
To learn more about the Awaken 1:1 program where you will sign more clients using a simple proven process just book your free consultation call with Alison here: https://igniteurwellness.com/business-coach-for-health-coaches/
