Do you hate the idea of having to ‘sell’ your services? You’re not alone.

I used to hate it too. And it wasn’t very good at it either.

(I wonder which came first, hating it or not being good at it – or is it just a vicious circle?).

No matter how great you are at whatever you do, if you can’t get clients, you won’t have a successful business.

So we all need to be good at selling– right?

Well, yes and no.

If selling means getting more clients to say yes to working with you – then we need that.

But if selling means ‘pushing’ our product or service onto people – the good news is we don’t need that to be successful in our business.

So how can you get more clients to say yes to working with you, without selling?

The answer is – get them to want to BUY…………..

Not rocket science, right? But how are you going to get them to want to buy?

The key is how you conduct your initial consultation or meeting with a prospective client. There are 3 key phases to this which, if done correctly, will make it a ‘conversation that converts’.

3 Phases of a Conversation That Converts

Phase 1: Find out what they really want 

What is their goal or their need? Do they want to achieve something? Or avoid a problem?

Too often we tell our clients about what we can do for them, without really finding out what they want first.

The secret weapon here is…..listening! Instead of talking we should ask great questions and listen.

When we know what they want – and why – we can see whether they are a good fit for our service and, if so, which one. We’ll also know what is going to motivate them to buy our product or service – because we’ll know what’s important to them.

Phase 2: Help them discover whether they want or need your help to achieve their goals

If they don’t know why they need your help, they aren’t going to buy. They need to know what’s in it for them.

So it’s up to you to help them understand what might be slowing them down – or stopping them – from getting what they want. So they can understand whether or not they would benefit from your help. This time the secret weapon is asking great questions (and then listening). Instead of telling them they need our service, how about asking them what they think they need and then letting them tell you that they need what you have?

If they say they think they need someone like you to help them, would that feel like selling? No, it would feel like they are buying.

Phase 3: Show them specifically how your service will help them achieve what they want.

This is where many of us fall down. If the client doesn’t understand how you can help them get what they want, why would they want to buy? It might be that you can help them achieve something they otherwise couldn’t on their own, or you can help them do it cheaper, faster, quicker, or with less stress. But if they don’t know that, they can’t make a proper buying decision.

When you’ve listened to everything they’ve said, now you can explain how your product or service will help them with their specific needs to achieve what they want.

This may sound simple, but too often we get carried away singing the praises of our own services without telling the client why it is right for them. But when someone has told us what they want, and we’ve helped them see how they would benefit from getting our help, they are much more likely to buy what we then offer them.

Summary: 3 Phases in 3 Words

I like to summarise these 3 phases into 3 words

It’s a bit like being a medical doctor – you listen to their problems or needs, diagnose what they need and then prescribe a solution.

When you go to a medical specialist and he or she prescribes a treatment for you, does that feel like you’re being sold to? No, because they are just giving you want you want. That’s how you want your process to feel too.

If you are thinking, “but I’m no good at selling”, then I’ve been there too….

When I set up my business as The Business Instructor I had to start selling myself for the first time and I hated it. I wasn’t very good at it either. But when I made this shift to helping my prospective clients to buy from me, my success rate in getting clients to say ‘yes’ more than doubled.

And it felt more comfortable, more ethical and more professional – and even more enjoyable.

If I did it, you can too.

Try out these 3 steps in your next initial consultation or meeting and see how it works for yourself. And post a comment below to let me know the results.

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