Executive and Business Coaches: Turning "No" into Not Now"

SPECIAL REPORT FOR COACHES

Turning “No” into “Not Now” Angelique Rewers, ABC, APR The Corporate Agent™

O f fi c i a l L a u n c h

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EXCLUSIVE •

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

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number of years ago, I attended a particularly memorable marketing and sales seminar.

It was right after I started my own consulting firm, and I was looking to learn as much as I could about growing my client base. If I’m being honest, back then I didn’t think of myself as a business owner. I still saw myself as a self-employed professional. Nonetheless, I knew that there was a lot I didn’t know about sole proprietorship, let alone how to get clients. It was all quite a bit overwhelming.

This particular conference was the kind where the speakers are extremely well trained in how to work over the audience, instructing us to parrot back to them key phrases and move around the room doing silly things. Most of all, the speakers succeeded in making those in attendance who didn’t rush to the back of the room to purchase every product being pushed their way feel as though they must be complete idiots. I’m sure you know the kind of seminar I’m talking about.

Even though there was much about this particular seminar that turned me off, I’ll never forget one crucial piece of information that was shared. This one, singular piece of information possessed the power to completely transform how I looked at my marketing and sales strategies — as well as how I looked at the results I was achieving with those strategies.

Most notably, it provided me a completely different perspective on the whole concept of “rejection” by prospective clients.

At first, when the speaker shared this particular piece of information, I didn’t believe him.

And neither did more than 90 percent of the audience who raised their hand when he asked, “Who here doesn’t believe me?” However, he was completely unfazed. Next the speaker asked, “How many of you would like me to prove it?” And this time, 100 percent of the hands in the room went up.

Here was his theory: At any given moment time, only about 3 percent of your target client population is actively “in the market” for whatever type of service or product that you offer.

Just 3 percent.

Can that be right?

Sure enough, the speaker went on to prove his theory.

© 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

“Who here is in the market to buy a new car?” he asked. About 3 percent of the hands went up.

“Who here is in the market to buy a new house?” Again, 3 percent of the hands went up.

“Who here is in the market for a new laptop?” Once again, just about 3 percent of the people in the room raised their hands.

This process went on for about 10 minutes until the audience acquiesced, “Okay, okay, we get it! We believe you!”

Even though I, too, relented, I still wasn’t 100 percent convinced. So, for the next several months, I tested out the theory wherever and whenever I could: through social media, speaking to networking groups, in discussions with my mastermind colleagues and so on. And, sure enough — give or take a smidgen — the 3 percent “rule of thumb” held up time and time again.

But if only 3 percent of my target clients were actively looking for a consultant like me, then how exactly would I find those 3 percent? I suddenly realized that I would essentially be looking for a needle in a haystack.

Not only that, but also how much time and effort would I be flushing down the drain having to sift through 97 “no’s” out of every 100 perspective clients that I contacted, just to find those 3 “winners”?

At this point, two things occurred to me.

First, I recognized that just sitting back and waiting for business to magically come to me was not going to cut it. I had seen too many other coaches and consultants struggle financially because they decided to rest on their laurels.

Second, if there was one thing of value that I learned in my corporate days, it was the importance of killing two birds with one stone. Leveraging my time and resources was absolute to my success. I knew there must be a way to leverage my prospecting time with the 97 percent of target clients who would not, at the very moment in time that I contacted them, be in the market for a consultant like me — but who no doubt would be in need of my services eventually.

In other words, I knew there had to be a way to turn the “No, we’re not interested,” response into “No, we’re not interested… right now,” response. If I could do that, then I would be planting seeds for potential clients to fill my pipeline in the future while also finding the clients who needed and wanted my services right now.

© 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

At first, my attempts weren’t great.

But having been a professional copywriter for many years, I’m good with words. So I put that talent to use, continuously refining and honing my responses to prospects until I eventually got to the point where, sure enough, prospective clients who originally said, “No, we’re not interested,” were coming back to me in the future, asking for more information about my services and, yes, hiring me.

Indeed… “No,” was turning into, “Not now.”

And, because just sitting around and waiting for business to come to me was never an option, this was very good news.

Not only did it mean that I was maximizing my time and resources — and filling my future pipeline — it also meant that there was no longer that painful “sting of rejection.” After all, if about 97 percent of my target clients aren’t in the market right now for what I’m offering, chances are pretty darn good that I’m going to get lots of “no’s” the first time out of the gate.

And so are you.

Don’t get me wrong. When prospects contact you, either by phone or email, and want to hire you — either because someone referred them or they read something you wrote or heard you speak at an event or found out about you elsewhere — the odds are stacked in your favor that you’ll be able to build rapport with them and close the sale.

But for all those times when you’re taking matters into your own hands, and getting the word out to prospective clients who you know you can help, you’re going to want to make sure that you make the most of those interactions by always planting a seed for future opportunities.

What follows below are three different examples of exactly how to turn “no” into “not now.”

Feel free to borrow these examples verbatim. Or, depending on where in the world you live, or what type of clients you serve, you may also feel free to customize them to your needs.

Most importantly, just be sure to put this information to use. After all, knowledge without action is simply useless trivia!

© 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

Example #1

“Sarah, even though there is not a fit today, if you find that specific and unfavorable happens] keep in mind that I can help you

and you want to

[something [fix it]

,

[make it better/improve it specifically]

.”

PHONE SAMPLE: “Sarah, even though there is not a fit today, if you find that your latest employee engagement scores decrease by more than 5 percent, and you want to return to your pre-merger engagement results, keep in mind that I can help you make at least a 20 percent improvement within 60 days.”

Your turn: __________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________

© 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

Example #2

“I understand. No worries. Let me ask you a question: The next time you are in need of/looking for

[your type of product or service/solving X problem]

,

could I be the first one in line you speak with to get a proposal?” [Client: Yes.] “Great, I’ll send my contact info over via email. By the way, what might have to happen in order for you to begin looking for a trainer/a consultant, etc.]

[a speaker/a coach/

?”

EMAIL SAMPLE Hi John, Thank you for your prompt response, and I can certainly understand. If however, in the future, you find that you are in need of an expert to deliver a workshop on leadership development for rising managers or similar topic, I’d love to be the first experienced trainer you reach out to for a proposal. My full contact information is below, along with a summary of my five most requested workshops.

Before we part ways for the time being, let me just ask you this final question: What might have to happen in order for you to consider offering a leadership training session for rising managers?

Thank you for your time.

Warmly, Tina

Your turn: __________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________

© 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Example #3

“Okay, Megan, it doesn’t look like I have a fit for what you need today. When you do notice a

[business problem, challenge or frustration happening]

we have a ___ [product, service, program] specific outcome] under

that could help you

,

[achieve

. I’ll send you my contact information and please save it

[type of service or product that you offer]

. Sound good?”

EMAIL SAMPLE Hi Meghan, I truly enjoyed connecting with you. Thank you for taking the time to discuss your team’s current challenges with me. It looks like my coaching services aren’t a good fit at this point in time. However, if, in the future, your team experiences conflict or complacency, I would love to connect again and discuss how we could co-create a solution to help your team get back on track within 30 days, see the results you want, and set you up for continued success.

I’ve attached to this email an outline of my current programs and serviced.

I’m sure you get many emails from many different experts. For easy reference, you may want to save this in your contacts list under “Coaching Services” so it’s handy if and when you need to find me.

I look forward to connecting again with you.

Regards, Joe

© 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

Your turn: __________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Š 2013 The Corporate Agent

www.WBECS.com/corporateclients

About Angelique Rewers, The Corporate Agent.

Harnessing her more than 15 years of experience working with FORTUNE 500 and other leading organizations, Angelique Rewers, ABC, APR, helps coaches and solo-professionals stop chasing smaller clients in favor of landing lucrative corporate contracts.

Angelique is the person to turn to because she’s been there herself.

After nearly a decade of designing and executing award-winning communication and marketing campaigns for FORTUNE 500 companies, she left corporate America for life as an entrepreneur.

Out of the gate she was successful, landing large contracts with some of the top names in the technology, defense, energy, medical and consulting industries, breaking the six-figure mark in just one year.

She’s been working with some of the world’s most renowned companies ever since, including Northrop Grumman, ITT, Constellation Energy, BD (Becton Dickinson), Towers Watson and MedStar Health, as well as with mid-market and emerging companies, like Clarkston Consulting, KM Systems Group, PIDI, Strategic Services International, Global Link Logistics, and KCIC. These days, Angelique is focused on leveraging her expertise to help business and executive coaches that are tired of struggling to find clients who not only want to buy their services, but who can also afford to pay for them.

“Most coaches and solo-professionals go into business because they want to make a lifestyle change,” says Angelique. “They want to earn a living doing something they love, that they do well, and that will truly help others. Yet they often find that it’s a lot more difficult to achieve the income level they want and need.” In fact, data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and Small Business Administration shows that about half of all self-described “solopreneurs” earn just $25,000 or less a year in top line revenue. And while that may sound low, on closer reflection, that number isn’t all that shocking. After all, it can be difficult to build a six-figure (or higher) business selling services primarily to individual consumers when they themselves don’t have big incomes.

But Angelique is trying to help change that. Her mission is to teach coaches how to successfully market their services to large businesses — businesses that spend TRILLIONS of dollars yearly on products and services.

And with the unique experience of having been on the corporate side of the buying process, managing million-dollar budgets for tradeshows, ad campaigns, annual reports, media relations, events and more, Angelique understands what corporate decision makers look for from their suppliers... and knows just how to become one of those trusted vendors.

Angelique has been featured as an expert by Forbes, CBS, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Washington Post, Dare Magazine and many other media outlets around the country. She was recently recognized as one of Baltimore’s “Top 40 Under 40,” and her work with corporations has received more than 25 prestigious international, national and regional awards.

Today, Angelique is focused on sharing the very business strategies and marketing methods she’s used to grow and transform her own business through her live events, home study courses, mastermind groups, online training programs and more. Her groundbreaking global conference, INSIDE EDGE, brings hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the world together with representatives from leading organizations like IBM, Microsoft, Marriott, Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, PayPal and more.

To learn more of her simple, real-world-tested strategies for attracting, closing and keeping coveted coaching clients, tune in to her upcoming FREE webinar with WBECS, as she reveals how to quickly and easily make 6 figures (or more) by offering corporate seminars and workshops. Register at www.WBECS.com/corporateclients.

© 2013 The Corporate Agent