Hey there wellness entrepreneur. Welcome back!
Today, we’re going to be talking about a topic that you might not want to talk about because it
makes you feel kind of icky or maybe you dread it. Yet, it’s vital for the health of your wellness
business because at some point you need paying clients. It’s just the reality. You need to learn
how to sell your wellness program.
Before you get started if you need to create your wellness program make sure to read this blog
and listen to the corresponding podcast first:
https://igniteurwellness.com/signature-wellness-program/
Selling Is Coaching, Coaching Is Selling
What I really love about the 200K mastermind that I’m part of that Stacy Bateman leads is that
she always says selling is coaching and coaching is selling. And I find that to be true as well.
For me, selling is part of putting value into the world. And from that value, people are getting
value through ideas, insights, awakenings, lessons learned, and actions to take. From that,
some of the people that take me up on free value through content and social media or from this
blog, or even paying value I put out in the world such as paying workshops or other events that I
do, there is a percentage out of all the people that take part in my free and paying value, will
reach out and take the next step to work with me more.
How To Sell Your Wellness Program Without Selling
When you show up to give free content in the world on social media, through posts or Facebook
lives or on LinkedIn, or you make videos on YouTube or blog posts, there are so many ways that
I know you show up. Some of you do workshops and retreats or keynote presentations and
speaking events.
The ability to sell without selling maximizes and leverages your time. So more people will follow you, come into your world, and become a loyal subscriber, you’ll help more people. And from that larger audience that you cultivate, that tribe – your vibe attracts your tribe, right? – that you create, you’ll have a higher number of people that will also want to take the next step to work with you more – to become a paying client.
Okay, let’s take an example. Since many of you teach classes – wellness classes, whether that
be fitness classes, boot camps, yoga classes, yoga-therapy classes, there’s all kinds of classes
– you can show up and teach your class and go home. And yes, you would get paid. You get a
paycheck. But the way to maximize your time is to show up, give more value in a way that really
opens your students’ minds that causes them to think or reanalyze or get a different perception
on maybe their body, their health, their mindset.
So for example, I used to teach a lot of yoga classes and therapeutic workshops out in the
public. In fact you can find them here to watch and learn from at your convenience:
https://igniteurwellness.com/work-with-me/
Sometimes it wasn’t appropriate to “sell” as in to go in and promote myself at the end of each
class. Promote my online workshops, my online programs or my one-to-one sessions in the
class. In fact, doing this would lower my number of students who attended my classes which
would be the downfall of both my own yoga teaching career, but also it doesn’t serve the studio
because the students that showed up to my yoga classes, they didn’t show up because they
wanted to be sold to. They showed up because they wanted to learn more about their bodies.
They wanted to release stress, get their sweat on, get stronger, more flexible. So it’s not the
place to directly promote myself or my business yet.
How To Sell Without Selling: Planting Seeds of Your Wellness Program
My yoga classes were a great lead source for a lot of my clients and patients that I serve in my
brick and mortar physical therapy/yoga business. So how did this happen? I planted seeds.
So for me, in this situation “selling” was me showing up, teaching a yoga class, doing all the
things that you would normally do to plan a class. I would create the theme. I would create the
sequence. I would create the emotional and energetic messages I would wanted to share with
the class. I would go through the sequence of postures that correlate to the energetic message –
the theme of the class. I would take them on a journey. I would plan all that.
But then I would take it a step further. And this is not necessarily the most comfortable work
because when you get to a certain phase in your yoga teaching career, you’ll get comfortable.
You can create sequences on the fly. You can create themes on the fly. You can put it together
quickly and you can show up and teach a very thorough and well-sequenced class that your
students love in the moment.
However, if you desire to create more revenue in your bank account, you are desiring to help
more clients, you’re desiring even to book out your classes more, fill them out, sell out the room.
Then you have to take it to the next level – and that is planting the seeds of the value of your
work. Giving insights into how your students can create their own awakening. Giving them
awareness on how they’re living their life day to day.
What Does This Mean?
We’ll give a tangible situation. So for example, I used to teach a hot sequence where there are
many Uttanasana throughout the class or forward four. And sometimes, the first Uttanasana of
class I would cue normally. So I would give the foundational cues to help keep their body safe,
what they should feel in the stretch, the cues on how to be active through their quadriceps,
lengthen through the spine where they should feel it, quote-unquote, what they might want to
avoid. I would queue benefits for the mind and body then as Uttanasana progress throughout
class, I would give reminders of those foundational cues, but usually just one or two. And I
would sprinkle in stories that correlated to the theme of the class, the message I wanted to
share.
So for example, if I wanted to share how you can become stronger by overcoming challenges in
your life, I might give a story of one of my patients and overcoming sciatica, and how when they
were showing up to their yoga class, they thought that they were stretching their hamstrings, but
really one reason why their sciatica continued to flare and stay angry, until then they couldn’t sit
at their desk, they were worried if they got down on the ground to play with their children that
they wouldn’t get back up.
The reason why this sciatic nerve stayed painful was because every time they went to yoga,
instead of stretching their hamstrings muscles, they were actually pulling and yanking on their
nerve. So I would sprinkle that story throughout the class and the awakenings of what this
patient learned by learning how to actually stretch a hamstring muscle instead of their nerve.
And I would give cues on the distinctions and how to discern between the muscle and the nerve.
I would have students come up to me after class asking me, “Well, how do I learn more about
this? I think that’s my problem. I think that’s what’s going on with my body. I think that’s why my
low back is hurting or my hip is hurting and it’s not getting better. What more can I do?” So, in
that moment, since it wasn’t appropriate to do an official evaluation and to really determine
where the source of their pain was coming from, what the true root was, I would tell them,
“Listen, I would love to work with you more, really figure this out. I offer free consultations. We
can sign you up one for now, or I can take your email, send you a line and you can follow up
with me when you’re ready to do this work.” And I got so many clients from this simple process
of planting seeds, creating awareness of what they might be doing in yoga classes or in their
day-to-day life. And people would approach me after class. And some people would decide to
sign up for the consult. From that consult, some people would decide to take the next step to
work with me more. Not all the people and that’s okay because I never have heard of a coach or
practitioner that has a hundred percent closed rate.
The difference is that I was planting these seeds of value, of perception, of awakening without
attachment knowing that the people who wanted to learn more, who were ready to work with me right now would take the next step. The others would get benefit and value to their lives and that brought me fulfillment and joy because that is why I’m in the industry of helping others in the first place – to help others. No matter if they’re paying me or not. And yes, of course, like I hinted in the beginning, I always want to bring revenue into my business. That’s how my business grows.
That’s how I myself grow. That’s how I can help my family more and actually contribute to
society more – by bringing in more revenue.
So I do want more revenue. But I don’t place the expectation on myself to close all the students
who approach me in every class. And I never want to be convincing or manipulate or force
someone to work with me if it’s not a right fit. So I figured out this value planting, this seed
planting, and it works really well. And it’s something that you can replicate in your own classes
as well to really maximize the time that you are showing up to get that paycheck of $35 for that
class that you’re teaching. Why not make it more? Can you imagine, you show up, you teach a
class for $35. It’s like getting paid to market. That’s how I used to describe it all the time is I’m
getting paid to market because I would plant the seeds and from there, I would generate
patients. And if I taught a class for $35 and I had a student come up to me, approach me,
maybe I would give a free hour consult. And from there, if one student converted to one of my
patients, that would be a few thousand dollars, it’s totally worth it in my book.
Adding Additional Layer of Value Through Storytelling
The trick is adding that additional layer of the value. The message that you’re going to share
with your students in the moment and reminding them the benefit of working more with you. And a lot of that can be done through storytelling about the stories of your past clients. Stories of
results of clients and students, benefits they received of working with you. You can thread in
these stories in so many ways for all different types of scenarios.
So for example, the app insight timer is a wonderful place where students are actively searching
for teachers on how to help them get healthier. It’s a wellness and health app where there are
thousands of people who use that, maybe even millions of people looking to take yoga classes,
meditation classes, and from the teacher perspective, you’re not allowed to promote and sell. It’s
understandable because people are coming there to learn more about their body. The way the
app has it set up is for people to take classes. Yet, there’s ways to still sell yourself without
directly promoting. And some of that is through storytelling and weaving that into your themes
and messages without attachment.
So it’s delivering these stories ensuring that they’re valuable. Ensuring that you’re going to leave
a lasting imprint by maybe giving them even an action step that they can do right after the class
or meditation to bring the work into their lives right away. That itself sometimes is one of the
most valuable tips – its helping someone implement the knowledge that they’ve learned on the
mat and bringing it into their lives. How impactful.
So to summarize here, selling is a shift in your mindset. Instead of thinking it as forcing
someone or manipulating someone or even convincing someone to work with you, which just
feels awful, think about it as delivering value in a compelling way where the right person. The
appropriate person is the one who is actively looking for the services that you offer, who is
actively seeking out someone exactly like you for a help in a problem that they need, you are
the solution. You’re actually making it easier for them to get their problem solved because you’re
there and you can thread the awareness that you are the person to help through storytelling.
Five Tips On How To Bring More Selling Without Actually Selling Your Wellness Program
You can do it in all sorts of scenarios. I do it in keynote presentations when I’m delivering free or
paying events.
1. Talk About The Work You Do With Clients
Take it the next layer deeper by telling the results that your clients get or an awakening that a
specific client or student had by working one-to-one with you for example. Talk about how they
were your student in a group class, but then they were courageous and sought you out and
decided to invest in your one-to-one program. What was the benefit that they received? The
aha! And you don’t have to share with the group your client’s names or any details that would
reveal who that specific person is. Just share the generalized story and the awakenings. Tell the
class.
Another part of the value from this is that you’re showing what’s possible. When I told the
sciatica story, for example, of the students who had sciatica for years and was continuously
flaring it up by going to yoga classes that they thought would be helpful and once they were
aware of this problem, their sciatica finally healed. So many people came to me and was like,
“I’ve had back pain or I’ve had sciatica for years and I never thought it could get better. I thought
I had to live with this in my life. Thank you for providing hope.” How amazing is that? For me,
just opening their eyes to the possibility that they can heal, that they can get better, is huge.
2. Give Example Results of Your Program
In this scenario, you don’t even have to mention an example client or student you’ve worked
with. Just give results that you know are attainable in your program. Whether that be an online
group program or your one-to-one program in person or online. Just talk about the possibilities
of results created in your program. Like getting more energy or sleeping through the night and
weave that into the theme of your class and other examples and stories that you might talk
about in your class.
3. Have Them Leave With a Takeaway
This isn’t often thought of for classes. It’s thought about for workshops where we break down
maybe a theme or a topic and they leave with takeaways to implement in their life. The same
can be true with classes. You can think of a class as a mini workshop and they can still leave
with an implementable or an actionable step that they can implement in their life later that day
following the class.
Give them an awakening or aha or something that they can do. Just one thing that they can
bring into their life and repeat throughout the week. So when they come back the following week for their class, they’re going to have a new actionable step. And in this way, they’re starting to see growth and evolution. If they can connect the dots – and you can help them with this through the storytelling of working with clients specifically, of the benefit of working with you more beyond the class that they can get results faster, quicker, easier, it all starts with the knowledge that realizing, “Oh, I’m getting so much benefit from attending her weekly group class and there’s more room to grow at.” This can actually happen faster.
4. Talk About Freebies That You Have
If they ask a specific question in class or approach you in class, or maybe depending on the
theme of your class and queuing that you deliver, you can talk about freebies that you have. So
you can say something simple like, “Oh, if you want to learn more about this, I actually have a
free YouTube channel where I have a lot of videos on this very topic where I break it down in
more detail.” Or you can say something like, “If you want to learn more about this, I actually
have a free guide on my website. So if you want to get access to this free guide, just approach
me after class and I’ll give you the information so you can sign up at your earliest convenience. “
If you’re creating freebies, all that content that we talked about: blogs, YouTube channel, social
media posts, reels – let people know that it exists out there in the world by just mentioning it. The
ones who are again, actively searching to help a problem, to find a solution for the problem, will
approach you after class or just look it up.
That’s all you have to do. It can be quick and easy and simple. Just mention the free content
you have out there in the world, and then move forward with your class or your presentation.
5. Always Offer For Them To Approach You After A Yoga Class Or Event To Get Their Own Specific Individual Questions Answered
Depending on how many people approach you, depending on the location and the rules, for
example if you’re in a yoga studio and a yoga studio doesn’t want you promoting, then you can
say, just go to my website. You can give them either website, you can mention that you have a
free consult call that they can sign up to learn more about their specific problem or issue. Just
allow them to be the driver.
Most times, studios in certain scenarios don’t want promotion because people are manipulated.
They abuse the selling scenario. They try to convince, they try to force. It makes it awkward for
everyone.
Whereas if you just educate on the value that you have, free offers that you have, that people
can learn more in a way that you’re not going to bait and switch them, that really they’re going to
sign up for the consult call or you have a free guide where the free guide is actually valuable, it’s
not just fluff, you’re actually giving valuable content in your free guide.
Or like for me, if they sign up for a consult, they’ll definitely leave with takeaways and learnings
and you leave it up to the person to sign up for that or not. You leave it up to the student to
make that decision for themselves – to work with you, to take that next step – then it isn’t
convincing, it isn’t manipulative, and it’s in a place of serving. It’s a very different energy.
In this type of scenario, everyone wins. Because someone with their problem is able to find a
solution for their problem. They’re able to get the help that they need. You are happy because
you are getting more clients, more revenue into your business. And even the studio can be
happy because their students are getting better served. Those students who are actually looking
for the help are getting better served and the ones that don’t need your help, well, they’re just
going to show up to classes.
I know when I taught at studios, I would get referrals of clients, of students who actively were
looking for help for their back pain or their neck pain or whatever it is. And the studio, the owner
of the studio desperately wanted me to help them find a solution to this problem because they
were often a very loyal student to the studio and if they didn’t get the problem solved, then most
likely they weren’t going to continue to come to class. They might even have to have a surgery
and take time off from the studio. No studio wants a student to leave for whatever reason. But
for many reasons, studios value their students and want to have them keep coming again and
again and again to the classes because they know it’ll benefit their lives. And of course, it
benefits the studio to keep this retention.
In fact if you want to learn these therapeutic techniques make sure to read more about the
Radiant Being Wellness & Yoga Teacher Training here:
https://igniteurwellness.com/yoga-teacher-training/
So really, it’s a win-win as long as you’re doing it from a place of serving. You’re educating on
the value that you have and you deliver on that value. You deliver on your promise instead of
trying to bait and switch or convincing. And that I think is where the selling really feels icky – you
dread it and for good reason because intuitively, you know it’s not the path that you want to take.
I know you’re in this industry to help people, not to convince people, not bait and switch and give
them something unuseful. I know you want to deliver value into the world and you want to have
a good trust and rapport with everyone, no matter the situation, whether they’re paying you or
not.
Conclusion
So remember, selling can be serving when approached in this way, where you’re giving value
and let go of the thought that you have to convince or manipulate. If you’re just sharing all the
education and the value, helping them implement it into their lives, or have takeaways and
insights, those who are actively seeking the solution that you provide will reach out to you to
want to learn more.
I promise that’s how I built my six-figure brick-and-mortar business, doing this in a number of
ways. And at first, remember, it can be uncomfortable. It’s easy, especially when I mentioned
that you get to that phase of your teaching career, where you can deliver a class that people
love without having to put much thought into it.
Take that next step. Do the uncomfortable thing of sharing a story, helping your students leave
with an actionable step that they can implement in their lives. Take the additional step of
weaving in examples, results of your program into the theme of your class or workshop. It’ll pay
off tremendously in the amount of time and energy that you are already putting into your
business, into your teaching career, by helping you to get additional revenue. It pays off in so
many ways. So take that next step of being uncomfortable to plant the seeds of value.
All right, there, you have it. How to sell without actually selling. If you want to learn more, just
reach out to me, I’ll see you next week. Bye for now!
Before you go, I want to thank you for being a loyal reader to this blog. It means the world to
me, you and your business mean the world to me as well, because the more successful your
business is the more people you will be helping and together through helping more people, we
will change the world to achieve this success. You can implement the work from this very blog
right now to create more ease and flow in your day, prevent burnout, and experience more
fulfillment all while earning more revenue.
The key is to know exactly what to prioritize in your business, to bring in more money and allow
you to have more free time to rest and enjoy with family. You can wake up tomorrow morning
with a clear plan and confidence to see it through, no more wasted hours, fumbling around and
wondering if what you’re doing is actually going to work, no more working crazy long days and
schedules to compensate for the doubt and fear that it’s possible for you to be a success. It is
possible for you to succeed. It’s time to release that for good. Just because your previous
mentors worked around the clock, doesn’t mean you have to.
Find out how to create your ideal schedule and bring in more revenue by connecting with me
one-to-one. Head to https://igniteurwellness.com/business-coach-for-health-coaches/
for a free chat with me. Following this call, you’ll leave with a sustainable and profitable plan that
will allow you to enjoy working in your business for years to come and allow you to help more
and more people. Bye for now.
