Crazy isn’t the word for it.
But I’m sure you’ve heard this more than once:
“I’d LOVE to work with you. But I have to ___________ first .”
When “_____________” is the exact thing you help them with.
- “I want you to help me get in shape, but I have to lose some weight first”.
- “You’re the person I want to help build my business, but I have to make some money first.”
- “I know you could help create an amazing signature style, but I need to buy some new clothes first.”
It’s like saying, “I’ll hire a maid. I just need to clean the house first.”
The first step is to recognize what your prospects are doing.
The second step is not to let them get away with it.
I know that sounds harsh. In a few minutes (after reading these three truths) it won’t.
This post is for you if:
- You consider yourself a kind person, and the last thing you’d ever do is force a prospect into something they don’t want.
- But it drives you stark raving nuts when the reason they give for not working with you is the exact thing you help them with.
- You’d love to find a way to position your programs as the best way to dissovle their issues and move them to a better place in life.
TRUTH #
They created the mess they’re in …
… and they will continue to create it without some kind of outside support or intervention.
Trying to solve a problem you find yourself continually mired in, is like trying to read the post-it note on your forehead.
The best way to read that note is with a mirror.
(Guess who the mirror is?)
Before they hire you, many clients are fighting three levels of fear:
- Fear and guilt about creating the mess in the first place.
- Fear about never being able to climb out of it. “What happens if I’m hopeless?”
- Fear about what happens if they do climb out of it.
Yep, that last one is a shock. Because a lot of folks find comfort with failure.
When they fail, they get support and sympathy. While success is an unknown land with lots of new challenges and responsibilities.
Dissolve these fears by sharing:
Everyone is or has been in some kind of mess.
The only way you won’t climb out of it is if you give up.
Success is a land of challenges. But it is also a land of opportunities, excitement, and a level of fulfillment you can’t even imagine.
TRUTH #
There’s no better time than now
Prospects who shy away from taking the big leap towards what they want, believe in order to be successful:
Things have to be clear.
Things have to be in alignment.
I have to be “ready”.
I have to have the time.
This assumes there will be a future date when all of these boxes are checked.
The funny thing is those boxes are rarely checked. And 99 times out of 100, they’re going to continue doing the things that make sure they stay that way.
We’ve all had clients who assured us they’d hire us once these “fabulous four” were taken care of. The problem is:
They are rarely in order before you act. Because action is what puts them in order.
aAction clarifies things.
Action aligns things.
Action moves you to make the time.
And action gets you to realize you don’t have to be ready. (In fact you will never be 100% ready).
Your goal: Showing them the pattern of putting things off to some theoretical future when things will be clear, is a far bigger problem than moving ahead when it feels like they aren’t.
Most of their conditions are self-created. Most of their limitations are self-imposed.
And the only way to escape them is with your help & support.
TRUTH #
The Compelling Destination
Have you ever lined up at 3 in the morning to be sure you wouldn’t miss out when tickets went on sale for your favorite entertainer, group or singer?
It was inconvenient. You were tired. It may have been freezing. You may have had to come in late for work, or even worse, make up time lost during the weekend.
You even may have been bored to tears waiting for the ticket window to open.
But you did it GLADLY because there was a compelling destination.
Once that ticket was in your hand, you were on cloud nine and knew you’d made the right decision.
QUESTION:
Are you creating a compelling destination for your prospects?
A vivid, technicolor narrative of how amazing their life could be when they succeed?
Or are you just trying to sell them a program?
One of the best ways to move prospects through fears, doubts and uncertainties is to:
Create this compelling success destination based on what they told you is important to them (not some cookie cutter future you crafted in advance).
Create a direct, undeniable link between this possible future and the specific support you’re going to give them.
Move them to realize this future is soo much closer with your help.
If you’ve ever tried on a suit or outfit (certain you couldn’t afford it until you saw how amazing you looked in the mirror) you know the power of this.
Your prospect will swear they can’t afford you.
Until they discover they can’t afford to live without you.
When your offer creates a direct path through obstacles to the compelling destination your prospect wants more than anything, its amazing how the No’s can turn to Yeses.
Now this isn’t saying you should work with everyone.
- Some folks just aren’t willing to do the work.
- For some the fear is so thick it’s almost impossible to work through.
- And others are very attached to doing things their way (even though “their way” got them into this mess in the first place).
It’s not your responsibility to save the world.
You shouldn’t sacrifice your own fulfillment to ‘save’ those who actively resist your help.
As a colleague of mine once said, “If you have to drag ‘em in, you have to drag ‘em around”.
But it’s also important to realize you are often their last best hope.
They won’t find someone else to help.
They won’t “get back to you in three months.”
The stars won’t align so they can make the leap.
And they can waste years waiting for them to do so.
And if you chat with them three years from now you will not only find nothing has changed. But things have gotten worse.
Your goal is NOT to force your client to work with you. And you shouldn’t have to.
,Your goal is to make clear the thing they feel has to happen before they work with you, is the exact thing that will happen faster by working with you.
That getting to their compelling destination faster means having more time to enjoy it once they’re there.
And while you can always make more money, you can NEVER make more time.
And the time wasted hoping some future now will make it easier to decide than the now that is in front of them, will be far more painful than any money they spend with you.
One way to bypass this in the first place, is to find the clients who recognize your worth and are willing to pay for it.
It doesn’t have to be an impossible dream. But it doesn’t happen by accident. You have to be intentional in seeking out top-tier clients for your top-tier work.
If you’re wondering exactly how to do that, I can help. With 21 specific suggestions that can make your high end client search a whole lot easier. Take a look!
