Today, I’m going to tell you a little story about getting into bed with your client. And before you think, “Oh, Amy’s been reading too many crappy romance novels again” — just wait! I promise this is going to be good.
Let's imagine it's a Friday night and I am headed out to a bar with my friends. By the way, this is a completely hypothetical story, but bear with me, because there’s a very important message about selling here.
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://fastforwardamy.com/apple7
Listen on Spotify: https://fastforwardamy.com/spotify7
Listen on Google: https://fastforwardamy.com/google7
So I'm going to a bar with my friends and they're already there. I walk in and see my friends sitting on the side. I take off my coat, and decide to grab a drink at the bar before joining my friends. I’m going for a bottle of Prosecco because I love Prosecco. So I’m standing at the bar, and I see this really cute guy looking at me. We have some connections, there’s a definite vibe… I’m sure you know what I mean.
As I’m waiting for my Prosecco, I start chatting with this guy. It turns out he's pretty funny, and he's actually pretty interesting. And I'm like, wow, okay, this guy is actually someone I kinda like. He’s someone I could get to know further, if you know what I mean.
So, I walk back to my friends, and I hang out with them, but the whole evening I’m looking around at this guy, and we just keep making eyes. At a certain point, he gets ready to leave with his friends. But first he comes over to me and he's like, hey, Amy, can I get your number? And I'm like, Well, why not? I give him my number. And at the end of the night, when he goes home with his friends, he texts me saying he had a really great night and hopes to see me again. So I reply and we start texting more and more over the coming days.
And everyone has different preferences, but for me it's really important that people write really well. This guy doesn’t make any mistakes – a big tick from me. And he starts getting more funny, more interesting. So when he asks me out on a date, I'm like, Yes, I'm going to go on a date with you! We go on a date, we go to the movies, and soon we’re going for more dates: dinner, drinks — you name it.
And at a certain point, one thing leads to another and we end up in bed. We spend the first night together, and I realized what started as just me a little bit interested made me really start liking him. After getting to know him better, I’ve really started trusting him.
Our relationship is taken to a new level. We spend some time in bed, we go for breakfast, I meet his parents, he meets my three intimidating brothers and comes along to our family nights on Sundays. It’s all going great, so after a certain point, he asks me to marry him.
And I say, Yes, I do.
Because by this point I trust him, I trust his values, and I met his family and his sister. I know him well, and by now I believe we are really aligned, and that will have a great life together.
So, uh, Amy, where does the lesson about selling come in?
Well, let me get to it.
Remember that Friday night when I went to that bar, and we started talking? Imagine if that guy would have just looked at me and asked me, hey, do you want to get married?
How strange would that have been?
So strange.
I would have been like, hey, girlfriends, can we go to a different bar because I'm creeped out. This dude – I don't even want him near me! That wouldn’t have been a very logical way of approaching dating.
So why is it that people jump into your DMs on Instagram all the time, asking you to buy from them when you haven’t even met? It’s the same logic – you need to slowly build up the relationship before you can make the sale.
So, what’s the equivalent to dating?
Providing valuable content that makes people TRUST you as an expert. You want people to experience your services, through free ebooks, webinars, trainings on Instagram Stories, captions full of valuable tips… whatever it is, you need to earn trust and build rapport before you jump in for the sale.
Here's how it works step by step. You start by following this person on social media that you're kind of looking up to, you know. That's the online dating part of our first story.
And at a certain point, that person says, “Hey, I'm hosting a video training”, or “I upgraded this download on this topic” that you will think is really interesting. And they're like, hey, do you want to download this? Or do you want to watch me do this webinar?
I'm like, Yes, I'm so interested in that. And that topic is exactly what I wanted.
So I download the ebook, or I attend the video training, or whatever the offer is.
And I think woah, that blew my mind.
Not only was this person interesting, they're actually really smart.
And I fully trust them because if I got this for free, what would their coaching be like?
And then after a while, there's a follow up of that webinar. That person is like, “Hey, I have this program I'm offering. It's a coaching program. And are you interested in buying it because you were interested in in the webinar?”
I'm like hell to the yes, that was exactly what I was looking for.
So there you go — from content to client.
Here's the hard truth. No one owes you anything. No one owes you a sale. No one owes you their hard earned money.
If you want to get someone's money, if you want to sell your services and get new clients, you’re gonna have to give them a reason to trust you and to get into bed with you (figure of speech…).
So the question now is how do we help potential clients realize that we are the authority they will like because of our authenticity, and because of all the things we know?
We do that by communicating in a really educating way.
So for example, let's say you are a wellness coach, helping moms become happier.
In order for a mom to reach out to you and to actually pay you, they're gonna want to see some evidence of the fact that you know what you're talking about.
So it will help if you can create content, for example, Instagram posts, that highlights some tips, where your ideal customer will be like, “Oh, my God, this is really helpful. I can apply this to myself and my kids.” Those people will then think, “Well, you've already helped me so much for free that I started trusting you. And now I know that if I spend money on you, it's going to be well spent.”
And that's what we're shooting for: your ideal clients need to know and understand the value that you will provide them, because you've already provided so much for free through your educational content.
I call this one of the four value pillars – the educate pillar – and it's something I use a lot.
For example, my entire podcast is educating — I'm educating you. And I might lace it with a little bit of entertainment and jokes, and it might inspire you.
But the main thing is, I am educating you and you might be thinking, “Wow, I'm learning these things from Amy for free. What does she offer in her business coaching? Because that's probably even better.”
That's how I'm gaining your trust.
I'm being up front: real and raw.
This is what happens.
You experienced a podcast and some of you will then reach out to me for business coaching.
So how can you start using the educate pillar in your own communication and your content to get new clients?
So first up what I just explained: the interest to trust to buying is the content to clients framework.
And in that framework, we want to use education in order to not only gain interest, but to increase trust as well because people need to trust you in order to make the sale.
I’m going to share some ways that you can put this into practice yourself.
- You can create really insightful Instagram posts that are like a mini article, sharing ‘how to’ content with a step by step approach.
- You can create Instagram Stories where you do a mini training. I sometimes do this, and I’ll create multiple screens in my Instagram stories. I'll be like, if you want to build a personal brand, start by doing this. Followed by a second step, and then a third step, do this. Something that is easy for people to implement, but that also will give them an immediate result.
- Consider hosting an online challenge or Facebook group challenge, where you will give people some tips that are valuable, but they're also easy enough for them to actually do and then get a result from. It's a really fine balance.
- Do a ‘live’ on Facebook or Instagram where you go really in-depth.
- Host a webinar. This is really so powerful because people listen to your voice, they see you explaining something, and they can connect with you. I throw in a framework and people absolutely love it because it's really hands on. People know they can start using this right away.
- Create downloads or printables that people would find valuable. Not sure what's valuable? Ask your followers, or think about what you've personally got value from in the past.
Don’t be afraid of giving too much away for free, because it’s all part of the bigger picture. We’ve all been there — in the past I would also wonder if I was giving too much away for free to my audience.
I've struggled with this in the past and I want to help you out with it because my tipping point came when I was not afraid anymore of giving away too much.
I started fully embracing abundance, and realized that if I'm going to give amazing value, and then people are going to want even more value from me.
But if I don't let them experience anything, they're not going to want the next experience either. And I'll tell my clients this.
My clients will come to me sometimes like, “Oh, I am very good at doing this and this and this and that.” And then I'm like, after a while, “So I've heard you say it. Now show it to me, because I don't know yet what you're capable of.” — the same goes for all of the other people following you online. Let your content speak for itself.
And remember: don’t just focus on that valuable content.
Make sure you also ask for the sale — because otherwise you're just playing around and you're not actually building a business. You’ll feel more confident asking for the sale once you know you’ve DEMONSTRATED the value you can provide, not just talked about it.
So there you go — don’t be the person who asks you to marry them on a first date. Spend time demonstrating your value to your clients, showing them all your amazing tips that will help them level up in their business, and then once they know how great you are, hit them with your killer call to action!
If you want to get the full Content-to-Client Framework and some advice on which types of content you can use, download your Framework here below.
PIN ME
If you found this post helpful, please share it or Pin it for later!
Leave a Reply