My passion to serve really gets triggered (in a good way) when I hear the following words and feelings (all too often) from smart, savvy women clients during their coaching sessions: fear, avoidance, unworthiness, frustration, loss of dignity, low boundaries, uncertainty, and sometimes even paralysis. These feelings overcome many of my clients when they enter into a sales conversation prior to my mentoring.
It hits a deep chord because it was not long ago that I suffered similar traits (dignity, self-respect) in my own relationship with money prior to re-calibrating into empowering habits and behaviors. I’ve had the privilege for several years in coaching my clients how to truly take a stand in their money conversations feeling confident, assured and dignified while enrolling appropriate prospective clients.
My heart goes out to them because women as girls growing up in the 70s and 80s didn’t have proper role models who were strong and respected in their money relationship while in a man’s world. We’ve truly come a long way evidenced in events like the annual Forbes Women’s Summit where “250 women leaders across diverse industries including the most dynamic thinkers in business, philanthropy, education, media and entertainment gather for several days to inspire and transform consciousness. The mission of the Forbes Women’s Summit is to harness the power and intellect of this multi-generational gathering to address the world’s most intractable issues,” states the event page.
What I have come to understand from my clients some of these “conversations” are not actually conversations – they are emails. Meaning – the sales process is happening over an email. Yikes.
Case in point.
A current client asks how to handle someone who is asking for a discount in her rates. She says she feels so frustrated when people ask this and she loses her dignity in the process.
A few important observations:
- When you go into a sales conversation knowing your “incentive” rate with a definitive end date – you never have to “haggle” again. The incentive rate is a respectful rate honoring your value. The prospective client knows if they don’t take advantage of the incentive rate, they pay a higher fee after the end date. No more haggling ever again.
- Those asking for discounts are not your ideal client avatar anyway and that’s a red flag in my book – meaning they can be trouble later in servicing the client if you give in to their request. You already have given away your power and value before even getting started in servicing them. Now your boundaries have been compromised and you have lost the leverage in this relationship. It’s their own money clutter (issue) you do not need to buy into. See # 1 for solution to this one 🙂
- Replace the word “discount” with “savings” from this day forward. Never use the word discount in any form of communication again, ok? It reflects lack, devalue, money issues, and low vibe. Whereas; “savings” is a high value word and very respectful. Hold your dignity.
Back to my client’s question:
I then gave my client the exact verbiage to use during her money conversation with the “discount” prospective client. She was ecstatic and ran off to implement. In my follow up with her – she says the prospective client didn’t respond to her offer. What does that tell you? She sent an email rather than have a sales conversation to complete the sale.
This is another blind spot many entrepreneurs have in their sales process. N-E-V-E-R use email to sell your services. High sales conversions require an engaged verbal conversation in person or on the phone. (I coach a proven sales method). This is where the fear can set in. Trust me the more you have conversations using the formula I gave you in #1 the more confident you become. It’s a game changer. Here’s a response from another client who used my formula the first time:
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I don’t even know where to begin! Not only was I comfortable with my pricing but totally confident in TALKING ABOUT MONEY!! We did it! I even smiled when we started talking money because I could feel it. NO hesitation just flowing through it! And my partner totally noticed, too. So thank you!” Krista Mason Photography
Ladies, I know you can be empowered in your sales process. Begin with knowing your incentive rates and never haggle again. You so deserve your value and more!
I’d love to see your comments below about your sales conversations. Did this hit a chord for you? How do you handle this type of scenario?
