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Selling Chocolate Cake

I often tell my prospective clients that trying to sell coaching is like trying to describe what chocolate cake tastes like to someone who has never had a piece. You can go on and on for hours, and you still don’t truly understand until you taste it yourself. This is not only true in the coaching business, but for all service oriented businesses. The fact is if you are in a service business, you can’t sell your service. Your prospects must experience what you do if you ever hope to make them your customer.

Here are a couple of tips to help you attract customers to your service business, instead of trying to sell them:

1. Identify your target customers.

Who are you trying to attract? What market segment has a need for your service? Figure out who your target is so that you can spend your time and energy wisely.

2. Help them uncover their need for your service.

Get to know your prospects by asking them probing questions that will help them uncover a need for your service. For example, if you are a financial planner selling financial services, you might ask a potential prospect what their biggest financial challenge is, or if they are happy with their current financial situation. The key here is not to sell them your service, but let them sell themselves. They should be doing most of the talking.

3. Provide an opportunity for the prospect to experience your service.

Allow your target customers to experience your service in some way. For example, if you are a personal trainer, you could offer a complimentary session. Doing this allows your prospect to experience how your service can benefit them, and reduces their risk in purchasing your service.

4. Have them express their experience in their terms.

Now that they have experienced your service, ask them to quantify the results in their terms. This will allow them to sell themselves in a way that has meaning to them. Once they see value in what you do, you can ask for the sale.

5. Make sure they have a great experience, and ask for referrals.

Once they are your customer, make sure that they have a great experience, and then ask them for referrals. Remember that the easiest way to generate additional customers in a service oriented business is through people that have already experienced what you do.

Keep these 5 tips in mind when “selling” your services. Once you have mastered these tips, you will find that you will attract all the customers you need.

Happy selling!

The Fallacy of Work-Life Balance
May 17, 2011
5

Do you find yourself being challenged to find a healthy balance between your career and life outside of work?  The term work-life balance first appeared in 1986 in the US in response to the increasing demands of work and career and their effects on ones’ lifestyle outside of work.  Many companies, as well as employees, have struggled with this concept since that point.  There have been endless corporate programs, training sessions, and efforts to try and obtain an effective balance between work and life outside of work.  Is the term work-life balance something that you should really be striving for, or is it a complete fallacy?

The term work-life balance is really misleading at best.  Balance is defined as “a state of bodily equilibrium”.  So, the term itself assumes that your work and life outside of work should be in complete equilibrium.  While this seems like something to strive for, do you really want to have complete balance between your work and your life outside of work?  What does that even mean?  By defining this as your goal, are you setting yourself up to chase after something that is not only impossible, but perhaps not even desirable?

Perhaps a better way to define work-life balance would be to slightly shift your goal to one of work-life integration.  Integration is defined as “behavior, as of an individual, that is in harmony with the environment”.  By shifting your focus to integration instead of balance, it sets you free from chasing after the impossible equilibrium of your work and life, and allows you to determine how to create an environment that is in harmony with your overall life goals.  Which one sounds more empowering to you?

Mommy Weight Loss Series – See Coach Michele on Marilyn!

Well, the Mommy Weight Loss Series on the Marilyn Denis show is going great!

People have really responded to the coaching aspect of the show, it’s wonderful to see coaching ideas getting national play.

Tomorrow, Friday, May 13th, is the big reveal…You’ll want to see for yourself the amazing changes the women have made!

Thanks so much for joining us!  🙂