Why They’re Not Buying From You (And What To Do About It)

There’s probably nothing more frustrating than pouring your heart and soul into creating a program, putting it out there into the world and… nobody buys. It’s like planning an incredible party and then nobody comes. Not fresh!

The great news is, the reason why nobody’s buying usually comes down to one of just a few things. Once you get a feel for what makes an offer fizzle or fly-off-the-shelves, you can design your programs and offerings to be irresistible.

Here are 4 questions to ask yourself the next time you’ve made a great offer and are still wondering, “Why won’t they buy?”

1. Is there a demand for what you’re offering? (In other words, do they really want it?)

I often hear my clients say they need to “drum up interest” in their latest product or program. Straight up: drumming up interest is not only exhausting, it’s a losing battle. It’s much, much easier to find a demand and fill it.

Now before you start groaning or pulling your hair out in frustration here… this is easier than you think! I’m willing to bet that at least one of your offerings provides an outcome that your clients already want. What do they say they want solved, in their own words? Which of your products or programs provides that outcome?

Your job is to position that offering so that it meets your clients where they are. Which leads me to…

2. Are the benefits and outcomes stated clearly?

We transformation pros loooove our process. For example, I heart coaching. However, nobody really pays me for coaching. People invest with me to build their business, to create fabulous income for the work they’re meant to do, and to create freedom in their lives.

Your clients are not paying you for your process, either. They want a very specific transformation… and they must value that transformation enough to invest in it. When you show them that what you do will provide what they want, they’ll happily invest.

Bonus tip: One tool to powerfully communicate the value of your work is a Signature System. Packaging your process into a step-by-step system positions you as the go-to expert and makes it easy for clients to “get” what you do.

3. Do you have payment plans to make it easy?

One of my mentors loves to say, “Don’t make it hard for people to give you money!”

Payment plans are a great way to support your clients in saying yes to your offerings AND they help even out your cash flow. Always offer a full pay option and at least one other payment plan. (Important tip: make sure to structure your plan so that you’re NOT giving away a ton of service before your program is complete!)

4. How’s your energy?

Whatever your doubts, fears and insecurities around your offerings are, they’ll be mirrored back to you in your clients – guaranteed. So if you’re wondering, “Will they pay for that?” don’t be surprised when you attract a lot of people who can’t – or won’t – invest in your program.

Make sure you’re crystal-clear-certain on the value of what you’re offering first. Also, remember that you don’t have the right to decide what people will or will not pay. (This is a biggie!)

While there will always be people who truly can’t pay, 99% of the time “I can’t afford it” is an excuse. When you’re passionate about helping your clients, design your offer to be a no-brainer AND refuse to accept excuses, the clients you attract will match your energy with their energy… and their commitment and their money.

A Simple Way to Boost Your Holiday Cash Flow: The VIP Day

Have you heard about this format for your streamlining your service that’s simple, fun and oh-so-gratifying to deliver?  I’m talking about the VIP Day, or VIP Intensive.

In a VIP day, you come together with your client in a very focused fashion to support them with a particular challenge or problem. Instead of spreading out your coaching or consulting time over a matter of weeks or months, you “go deep” over a period of a single day.

The VIP day is a tremendous opportunity to serve your clients at a higher level. They are also a great way to deliver a great deal of VALUE without a lot of your time. That means you can charge a healthy fee while staying firmly in your integrity.

Clients love VIP days. Because you’re focusing on a single problem in a single day, you can go really deep with your clients. And if you design your VIP day in the right way, your clients can get results very quickly, leaving them thrilled with you and likely to return for more of your help.

Best of all, VIP days are simple to enroll, making them the perfect offer during the holiday season when you want to take a little more time off.  (Bonus tip: design a VIP day that’s tied in with the end-of-the-year planning or beginning-of-the-year goals.)

Here are 4 tips for designing your VIP days:

1. Select one topic, outcome and/or result. Remember, simplicity and focused attention will create a better experience for your clients and support them in getting the result that they want. You’re also not “giving away the farm” by overloading your packages with extras you should be charging for.
2. Select a topic that your clients can take action NOW. Call it stalling, procrastination, “sitting on the fence,” resistance – one of the biggest problems clients face is inaction.   As a coach, practitioner or healer, one of the things clients are investing in when they work with you is being held accountable to taking action.   Help them experience what it’s like to finally get moving and get some results – they will love you for it (and come back for more).
3. Don’t undercharge your VIP offering. Because you’re handling the problem in “only” one day, you may be tempted to discount your VIP package. Resist that urge!A deeper, richer experience (with more of your focused, personalized attention, and quicker results) is actually more valuable to your clients, not less. When you design your package correctly, your investment should be several times more than the monthly fee you’re probably charging your clients now (hence the title of this article).
4. Give your clients everything they need to repeat their results. Your VIP day offering will likely include some form of teaching and instruction as well as coaching and mentoring. Make sure to give your clients this system in a way that they can refer back to – and repeat! – again and again. You can do this by including materials such as an ebook, audios, worksheets, etc.

Want my proven template to design and lead your VIP days?  It’s my gift to you when you claim your “virtual seat” in my complimentary video training series.  Grab it now and get your first VIP day client BEFORE the year is out: http://www.6figuregoddessvideos.com

My Favorite – And Fastest – Six-Figure Strategies

All solo businesses go through different stages. There’s the beginning stage, otherwise known as “taking the leap” or “OMG am I really going to do this crazy thing?!”

Then there’s what I affectionately call the blundering-around-trying-to-find-your-way stage, a.k.a. “I’m not sure what I do or who I do it for” (lots of experimenting and course-correcting here)…

Then there’s the “chugging along” stage. You’ve begun to hit your stride, you’re starting to make money… hey, this “crazy thing” just might work! You hang out there for a while because, well, things are good.

And that’s when you nudge up against the sick-and-tired-of-being-at-the-same-level stage. You’re getting restless. The desire for expansion, what Wallace Wattles of Science Of Getting Rich fame calls “more life,” hits… and it’s time to step it up to the next level of income, impact and satisfaction.

I love that stage because it’s such a gift. That tug on your heart is your invitation to make the all-or-nothing decision to break through to a 6-figure income and impact.

The great news is, once you reach this point, you’re not starting from scratch! You’ve been going for a while, so chances are you have everything you need to make the transition quickly and gracefully, with just a few simple actions.

1. Tighten up your niche. Moving to your next level quickly (as opposed to the long and slow road) requires that you focus on a specific problem that people are motivated to invest in to get solved. This means releasing any attachment you may have to your process of deep transformation and getting really focused on what your clients want. Now is the perfect time to look at your niche again, to hone and refine. Are you thinking like a client would? How would they describe the problem you solve?

2. Transition to several levels of service, including a high-end offering. To create 6-figures in your business requires you to stop giving away all of your time in 1-on-1 sessions and instead transition to offering service at different levels of investment and availability. Your 1-on-1 time goes at the highest level, in a premium or high-end service such as a Platinum program or private VIP day.

3. Raise your fees. Once you’ve transitioned to different service levels, thinking in terms of “dollars for hours” and pricing your services at a low hourly rate simply doesn’t work. Instead, get very connected to the value of your new packages and price accordingly – in other words, raise your fees!

One of my favorite exercises for this is to make a list of at least 30 results that are possible for your clients when they work with you. This will force you to get very specific and will keep you connected to all the ways you positively impact your clients’ lives.

4. Systematically grow your list. Now that you’ve repositioned, repackaged and re-priced your services to support more people, it’s time to reach more people. Create a campaign to increase your list, including a clear goal (25% is a good number to start) and a “by when” date (shoot for 30-60 days). One way to do this is to create a new irresistible free offer and launch it as you would a new program, using social media and your current peeps to get the word out.

Remember, growing your business means growing yourself. (Entrepreneurship is not known as “the best personal development course on the planet” for nothing.)

Simple as they may be, these actions are bound to push a few of your buttons. And that’s okay. Think of them as stepping up to a whole new level of service and creating value for your clients – which they are!

One of the ways I’ve systematically grown my list by 500% in 2 years is by adding hundreds of people to my community with every no-cost teleseminar.  For most of these, I did NOT have “big players” promoting for me.  Can I share with you how I did it?  That’s just some of the juicy content I’ll be sharing on my all-NEW complimentary training call, “Leverage Secrets Of 6-Figure Entrepreneurs,” happening on August 30 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET.  Register here to reserve your seat: http://www.marketinggoddess.com/leverage/

The truth about what high-end clients are REALLY paying for

Are you intrigued by the idea of offering a high-end program, but secretly wonder if you could create one that’s “worth it”?

Or maybe you KNOW your work changes lives (of course!) but… when you think of going Platinum, you can’t help but wonder WHY someone would pay those kinds of fees.

One secret to banishing doubt around going Platinum (and the old “who am I to charge that much”) is to understand what high-end clients are REALLY investing in at this level.

Many heart-centered, spirit-driven solopreneurs feel like there’s sooo much riding on what they put IN to their programs – number of sessions, time spent, their personal service, et cetera.

Now, there’s no question that your content and expertise are important.  (Content is actually a very big deal – that’s another tip right there.)

Truth is, though, those things are a percentage of what creates massive value for your clients.

So what creates exceptional value in a high-end program?  What are clients REALLY paying for?  The answer may surprise you…

60% (that’s over half!) of what makes YOUR program valuable is CLIENT COMMITMENT.  (I first learned this from an incredible coach, Brian Whetten, PhD.  Blew my mind… especially when I realized how true it really is.)

In other words, they are INVESTING with you to be held accountable to what they want, deep in their heart.  To have someone in their lives who will take a stand for what’s really important to them, so they can stay strong, even when they want to quit.

To have a caring person to turn to when they’re scared.  (Can you relate?)

What this means for you is that you don’t have to be the quote-unquote “best” at what you do to create phenomenal value in a high-end program.

What a relief, right?  (It was for me when I launched my first Platinum as a new coach, just out of training, two years ago.  Price tag for 6 months: $10,000.)

All you have to do is care deeply and show up powerfully as your AWESOME brilliant self.

In other words, YOU can DO this!  And here’s a bonus secret to ease your mind…

When you design your program correctly, you can build some of that accountability right INTO your program, so it happens automatically.

I like to call this “creating a container of support” for my peeps, and I consciously design it into of all my high-end offers.

I’m going to be sharing more on accountability and how to create your programs in my all-new video series, going live this Tuesday, JULY 5 – right after the holiday.  So watch for a special invitation from me to register your seat in this free training.

3 Secret Reasons Why Clients Say “I Can’t Afford It”

So there you are, on the phone with your latest potential client. You’ve had a transformative conversation. You both know that working with you is the best next step for them, so you make the  offer of your services. And then it comes… “I’d love to, but… I just don’t have the finances right now.”

Uh oh – the door of possibility has been slammed shut by the money concern. Or has it?

Many spirit-led coaches, mentors and practitioners hear concerns like “I can’t afford it” and take them at face value. And of course you don’t want to be pushy or try to get your client to do something against their best interest. But here’s the problem… most of the time (think 80-90%), the words

“I can’t afford it…”

“I don’t have time…”

“I have to think about it…”

… are a smokescreen. An excuse. (Yes, let’s call a spade a spade, here.)

So there’s something else going on, and it’s one of 3 things.

1. It’s not a fit. They truly don’t need what you have right now. This one is pretty unlikely, especially if you’ve gotten to the point in the conversation where you’re making an invitation. (Indeed, you wouldn’t be making it in the first place if it wasn’t a fit, right?) But it happens.

2. They haven’t seen the value – yet. In other words, they don’t really know why they need it, or why they should invest with you. That doesn’t mean that they don’t need you, just that they don’t understand how what you do will help her relieve pain or solve a pressing challenge – yet.
(Closely related: they don’t know why they should invest with you right now.)

3. Some form of fear. Now this is the biggie. Stepping up, going out on a limb, making a powerful shift – even when your client sincerely wants to change her life, it’s still going to trigger fear. That part of her that wants the safety of the status quo will kick in – you can count on it.

And then there are other fears: fear of turning you down, fear that they can’t get the results, fear of not being liked, fear of being judged… the fears go on and on.

So how do you uncover the REAL issue… without being pushy? The answer is to get curious, stay detached, and ask questions.

When your client is standing at the threshold of changing their life, their “squishymind” is doing everything in its power to sabotage them. They need you to take a strong stand for their truth.

And this is soooo important, because when people give into their fear, they miss out getting your help to get what they really want. And you miss out on – literally – thousands and thousands of dollars in in’come over time… not to mention living your purpose.

The Next Time You Hear “I Can’t Afford It,” Try This Script…

“I hear that [finances, time, etc] is a concern for you. May I ask you a question about that?”

People are rarely challenged when they bring up the money concern. You’re going into uncomfortable territory when you bypass the socially acceptable move – i.e., when you DON’T let them off the hook. So before going there,
you want to be respectful. Otherwise, you may lose your potential client’s trust (and the sale).

At this point, you want to find out if it’s really about the money. If it’s about value, back up in the conversation and return to their problem and the cost of not getting it solved. If it’s truly about the money, you can refer them to someone else, or help them find the money.

It’s easy to take “I can’t afford it” personally, break the tension or otherwise let ‘em off the hook. But remember, this conversation is about your client’s decision to truly change their life. By not buying into their excuses, you take a strong stand for them and empower them to make a different choice, the next step along their journey to health, wealth and happiness.

Ready to transform “I can’t afford it” into “When can we start?” Join me for my all-NEW telecourse, Client Enrollment Secrets™, to learn how to authentically seal the deal with high-paying awesome clients who are eager to pay your  (increased!) fees and get great results. Register by May 23 for an unheard-of crazy awesome investment that you CAN say yes to, no matter where you are in business right now:
http://www.clientenrollmentsecrets.com

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