How to Sell with Confidence as a Coach

Emily Merrell and Lexie smith review their 7 steps to sell with confidence as a coach. From dissecting and studying different selling styles and techniques to necessary mindset reframes and strategies, this episode will help coaches and business owners show up and sell confidently.

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• Em & Lex share how to identify and own your unique selling style
• They talk about necessary selling mindset shifts and word swaps
• How to knowledge up to nail discovery and sales calls
• The importance of knowing and owning your authority when selling
• The key and sift that happens when you release expectations 
• How practice is necessary to overcome objections and sell with confidence
• And more!

Follow Em & Lex on Instagram at @readysetcoachprogram

Learn more about the Ready Set Coach Program at Readysetcoachprogram.com

Read their blog post referenced in the episode here: https://www.readysetcoachprogram.com/blog/how-to-sell-with-confidence-as-a-coach

Learn more about Six Degrees Society and THEPRBAR inc.

Transcript

 How to Sell with Confidence as a Coach - Podcast Transcript

Lexie Smith  

Hello, hello. Hi, Em. Good to see your face. Good to see your face. You're also seeing Ashlyn’s face. I know you guys can't see this, but little munchkin is sitting next to me. So we'll see how she does today and being quiet.

Emily Merrell  

I mean, I have to say like this is the beauty of being our own bosses and being able to like have these accommodations Lex is literally like finger in the pacifier holding it in baby's mouth hoping that it stays in baby's mouth. But I remember I don't know, like your mom. Your mom had her own business for a bit right?

Lexie Smith  

My dad had his own business. My mom did not know.

Emily Merrell  

My mom had her own business. And she worked from her home. And when I answered line two, which was the business line, she would lose her shit on us. Like she'd be so upset, because that was the professional line. And she couldn't let people know that she worked from home because she wouldn't be legitimate if she worked from home and blah, blah, blah. So I'm really grateful that that stigma is gone.

Lexie Smith  

By so my our home phone was plastered everywhere. And so my dad had a construction company and oh, now we're grabbing the mic is actually okay, maybe we have a feature podcaster but anyway, it's our home phone was the only business phone. So I was told to answer it. Ultimately, there's estimating So ever since like, whenever you let a kid answer the phone five, hello, I'll supervise excavating.

Emily Merrell  

I remember one time I answered the phone. And it was her manufacturer. My mom designed menu covers for hotels and for restaurants like beautiful leather. menu covers. Yeah, really cool. Really great. Like luxury hotels had them like the Bellaire four seasons. It was a great introduction to luxury hotels, which has spoiled me for the rest of my life. But I digress. And Hermione manufacturer called and was like, where's your mother? And she was meditating? I don't know if she was meditating or more than I don't know what she was doing. Or there my mom, my mom. So I my mom had said, and sarcasm doesn't work when you're five guys, like just note to self. I was I followed rules. So directly at this point in my life, not so much later. But so she was like, Can you man the phones for me? And so I meant the phones. And I just waited until a phone call arrived. And it arrived and I answered it. And I said Packard design, how may I help you? And they're like, where's your mother? And I was like she's meditating? I don't even know that

Lexie Smith  

word. Because Did she tell you to say that? She was

Emily Merrell  

with my dad meditating, which I don't know if meditating was

Lexie Smith  

being very slow right now. I'm getting this I'm seeing what she did there. Yes, yes.

Emily Merrell  

Meditating. Everyone's meditated. Leave me alone. I need silence to meditate, sweetie.

Lexie Smith  

I'm having all these flashbacks. Remember? phonebooks and her star? Was it 67 Or a star? Six, seven? Yeah. Six, seven, or, you know, calling do you is your frigerator broke? Do you ever do prank calls? I definitely did pray.

Emily Merrell  

Oh, yeah. And I had a friend whose dad was he worked. He ultimately ended up working for as a secret service for President Clinton. But before that, I think he was like part of the FBI or something. So she we did the prank calls from her house to the police department which went really well with her dad. So smart.

Lexie Smith  

That's a good one. You know, speaking of phone books and phone calls, really reminds me how is your frigerator broken aka salespeople making cold calls? Right? Like where the no come on that feels like besides doorman going door to door What was the next evolution of selling it was cold calling and to some extent it exists today. So what we're going to talk about today is how to sell with confidence as a coach.

Emily Merrell  

I think that was like a little bit of a rough transition but I'm okay I'll take

Lexie Smith  

it I'm I'm solidly stand buying standing by it this time. I'm

Emily Merrell  

good. Buy it. No, you crushed it, you always crushed it. So, so we're gonna talk about how to sell with confidence as a coach. So what does that mean? Like? How do we sell us with confidence?

Lexie Smith  

So there are some steps that we want to go through today. And the very first step is to own your approach, meaning, you're going to speak to a million different people who give you a lot of different opinion on sales, there are different ways to sell, and different ways of selling can work. It all depends on the person who is selling. So the first step is to get clear on how you sell best. There are really kind of three main ways in the coaching business that we stylistically have seen coaches sell. One is high pressure sales, this is really get them to close now get them to hand over their credit card on the phone today, right? There's low pressure sales, which you know, leading with connection and value offering the sale might take more of the long game. And then there's outsourcing sales, meaning having a team to prevent and sell on your behalf. And which of those is your style,

Emily Merrell  

I was ready to ask you that question. Definitely the low pressure sales, I am one of those people that when it's like the high pressure you have to buy now I feel it doesn't work for me, I feel a lot of resentment, I feel like caged. Same thing with and I think we differ on this. But in terms of following up, I'm, I definitely will follow up with a prospective client. But I also am such a believer, if like someone wants to work with me, they're going to work with me. And then I don't have to chase them. And it's kind of like dating for me. Like I don't want to convince someone that I am worth dating, I want them to know that I'm a good fit to be in a relationship with whether you know, romantically or on the coaching side. So the high pressure and like, farming it out to someone else usually isn't very effective for me. And so because of that I don't sell in that that way. How about you, Lex?

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, well, and I think you just nailed the nail on the head hit the nail on the head with that's your approach. And that's the whole point of this is you own you can own your approach similar to you. I'm not high pressure sales, I it's just not doesn't come naturally to me, it does feel good to me, I'm not good at it. I am pro follow up just simply because I have closed many sales in follow up. I also need to be personally followed up at this point. So we'll talk about follow ups a little bit more later. But again, of those three kind of high pressure, low pressure or outbound sales. Both Emily and I are more team lead with connection value, offer the sale, but ultimately, we're okay with playing the long game.

Emily Merrell  

And I'm okay. Also if they just got so much value out of 30 minutes of talking to me, and I'm not the right fit for them. I've also had people come around years later, which is wild, like I gave him a little bit of value many years ago. And then when the time was right for them, they're like paying for I want to work with you. Bada bing, bada boom. So

Lexie Smith  

it doesn't always take long it also, by the way, taking that approach can result in the same day sale. It's just understanding, you know, your style. No. That's kind of step one, right? Owning your approach. What is that to him?

Emily Merrell  

It's definitely shifting your mindset and word swapping. I think I actually had this conversation with my mom the other day, because I was back in college, I was back at my alma mater. And I was meeting with the old sorority I was a part of and I was it dawned on me how much sortie rushing was very much like a sales process. But I didn't think of it as a sales process. Back then it was just like I was very excited about the product, which was the sorority I was in and getting new clients to engage in said product, which was new members to join our sorority. And so I was telling my mom this like realization and Aha, she's like, you know, you are selling every single day of your life in different capacities from like, applying to get into a college or, you know, applying for a job interview, you're selling yourself and you're selling. You're selling something yourself or your skills or your experience. So I think when you think about like how much experience you have in selling, it really helps you with that shift in your mindset, that it's not selling. It's really just like inviting people to join your orbit to join your world in some capacity and be really excited to share whatever it is that you want to share with this person and give them opportunity to taste who

Lexie Smith  

you are, who you are. And I think that's fantastic and about Ice. Something you guys can can try playing with is a literal word swap. So Emily shared one write inviting instead of thinking of it as selling, are you inviting someone to join you? Another one is informing someone of an opportunity they might benefit from, it could be sharing a solution to someone's problem. So they know it exists should they feel called to engage. And another one discussing whether or not this is the right next step for someone. So again, we just did a simple word swap and a mindset shift to take away that word, which too far too many people get hung up on.

Emily Merrell  

So many, I think literally, that's one of our number. Number one things and pain points. People come to us, they're like, oh, I don't want to be perceived as too salesy. I don't want to, I don't want to my Instagram to be selling. And so to your point lacks with all of those things is like use your Instagram or use your marketing materials as an opportunity to inform and to educate, and let that person make that decision if they like the information they're being educated on and come to you. But oftentimes, we're like, oh, every post has to be sell, sell, sell, Do do do buy, buy, buy. But really, all most of the clients I've had, it's because of post resonated, and I provided value to them that was relevant to where they are in their life.

Lexie Smith  

If you're an ambitious professional consultant, or business owner, who is feeling called to do more, be more or make more, we'd like to invite you to learn more about ReadySet. Coach,

Emily Merrell  

do you feel called to create change, help others do something outside of your day to day that generates true impact?

Lexie Smith  

While you may or may not be content with your day job or existing business? Do you feel called to dip your toes into something more? Whether it's tapping into another zone of genius or the side hustle is calling your name? Are you ready to explore what being more would look like?

Emily Merrell  

Do you feel like your business or career is leaving money on the table, or you're looking to launch a new revenue stream or side hustle,

Lexie Smith  

turning your expertise into a coaching revenue stream or side hustle is rewarding, impactful, and a great business model. It's the triple threat, multibillion dollar industry that Perhaps you've been looking for this full time,

Emily Merrell  

if you want to explore more on how to add a coaching revenue stream into your life, we invite you to explore our website. Ready Set coach program.com

Lexie Smith  

applications are now open for our 2023 cohort. So I couldn't agree more. The next step guys, and to move past really the anxiety is to knowledge up,

Emily Merrell  

here's what we mean, I think it's just knowing your offer from the inside out. And not finding yourself fumbling to remember many of the x's or how many of the y's is included in your package. And understanding the transformation, the more important than knowing the detail for your program, it's knowing the ultimate and transformation you will be providing as a coach. So in that I always love using examples. So or testimonials, if you see similarities with this person, you're on a sales call. And you see it with a similarity with a past client paint that future for them paint that picture of what they can expect and look like. Like if they were both photographers, we had one client who went from a photographer to a coach and then left the camera behind. And this person wants to same thing like paint how it went for that individual and how she's doing as a coach, because they'll really be able to then see the reality of what that transformation looks like. And Lex, I'm sorry, I hate you know me, I love a good metaphor of some sort. So I always like to think about taking a trip. Like if we're going to Jamaica, you don't want to really know about the Uber ride with a bad air freshener on the way to the airport or the TSA line. And all of the like little details in between. You want to know about the beach of Jamaica, you want to know that feeling of the sand between your toes or like the warm water against your skin, you want to know about the end result. And so a lot of times when selling, a lot of people will get really hung up on like the nitty gritty of things, which I'm not saying are not important, you should know them and you should know them forwards and backwards. But you should also really, really be able to focus your energy on the transformation. Like I want to know by working with you. I am going to be paid to be a speaker at least once a year and you're going to help me fine tune my my paid pitch and you're gonna help me like Ace my presentation. I don't want to know that we meet once a week and it's 1.2 hours And it's did it it it it up, I just want to know like what what are the results that I'm gonna get from it? So that's my biggest takeaway with knowledge, the knowledge beforehand. Do you have anything to add to that Lex?

Lexie Smith  

A couple things you can do ahead of time is preset or predetermined rewrite a key set of discovery questions. A big part of sales is listening, which we'll talk to you a little bit later that have these ready to go. Research who you're talking to ahead of time if possible, and flat out practice handling objections. In sales, you are going to get people with objections most common ones are price and time. So go ahead and do some mock sales calls with a friend you know, with your baby sitting on your lap crawling on your right now and just practice how you maneuver those ahead of time. Those are some things that will really, really helped.

Emily Merrell  

And I think it's interesting with pricing or objections, like some things to or objections about pricing or time some things to consider could be like, if they commit a few months before your program actually starts. Can you offer extended payment plans? Or can you start like one on one coaching with them before the program is actually beginning? I think that's always the trickiest part. If your program starting at a timeline that's not conducive to when you're having the conversations, how can you still make it relevant and desirable to that individual, while also serving your boundaries and respecting your time, but giving them a sense of belonging and an opportunity to jump in ahead of the game.

Lexie Smith  

Ultimately, guys, knowledge is power and arming yourself with such is going to make you a heck of a lot more confident. So speaking of confidence, our fourth step for you is to know and own your authority. So one actionable thing that we encourage everyone to do if you haven't do that, and then sit down and bullet point out all the things that make you credible and give you authority to coach clients on a topic and read that list prior to any sales call. Hype yourself up, right?

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, I think that's such a great reminder, where we can get the jitters, the pre cold jitters, but we forget, but we're on this call for a reason because this person thinks that you're an authority in this topic. And if you need a reminder of that, do just that I love the the writing out your authority list or remembering that you were in Forbes or that you hosted a 200 plus person experience or whatever the problem is, like just write it down. So you you know what you what you're all good about, you know,

Lexie Smith  

you know what it reminds me of? I don't know if you did this. I know you did rowing but for

Emily Merrell  

why do you see rowing like that?

Lexie Smith  

Because I don't know if this this thing you'll actually I'll learn something new in a second. I know for pregame with basketball and soccer. We had a soundtrack that we warmed up to, I don't know roamings on the waters I don't like do you have like a pre press? Like, pump up music situation?

Emily Merrell  

Well, the dolphins would jump up next to us and they would usually just sing in serenade us with with like, what was on their mind?

Lexie Smith  

Got it. Okay, see you learning something new every day. But basically guys, like it's, you'd never underestimate the power of a pep talk. Now, once you've prepped yourself up, you've all knowledged yourself up, right? Next is to release expectations. And what do we mean by that? Em?

Emily Merrell  

So releasing expectations, could I think a lot of people put like so many eggs in their baskets, basically, in one basket and all of the baskets for this sales call to happen. So this client needs to happen and your entire life will shift if this person joins my group. And the reality is there's gonna be a lot of people and a lot of sales calls that you meet that don't end up joining your program or working with you one on one. And so it releasing that expectation. Your energy is going to shift if like you're doing them or privilege to invite them to their part to your party and don't if they say no, and they decide to go to a different party that's on them. And you have to be okay with that.

Lexie Smith  

There's it is game changing. If you listen to our episode on signing high ticket clients, that energy shift that happens and that can come across in a sales call. When you release the expectation on yourself to need to close this client really just go into the call as a conversation as discovery as equally vetting them as they are to you. I was just on a sales call yesterday. And the GAO said it's for another client and helping them onboard just a bit context for a website and The pricing quote, just so you guys know, because it was wild, we got quoted $150,000 for a website, okay? So they're real players. But what she said at the end of the call that I respected what she's like, I'm gonna take this back to my team and get back to you if this is something we're excited about and want to take on. She was vetting me on that call just as much as I was vetting her. And that came across like, I didn't doubt I mean, 150k for websites a lot, but like she kind of, she didn't make me doubt it like the energy the way she presented, it was

Emily Merrell  

exclusive to. Yeah, like I love I love that she said that because I think there is something that a lot of times you can salivate over like the opportunity for a client or like, wow, this would be great, this the money would be awesome. don't operate from a place of money. I operate from a place of how does it feel to you? Do you really think you can help this client? Do you really think you can show them that transformation? And that's something that Lex and I really, really, we'd like take seriously, when we talk about a client, if we can't help them, we don't necessarily think we're the best fit, we might send them in a different direction. And we have to be really clear of like, what are the results that we want them to see by working with us. And if they want something that we can't give them? We have to Lesson release them into the universe into someone else's arms?

Lexie Smith  

And how do you know if they're a good fit, you do that by step number six, and this probably, in my opinion, is the biggest key to successful sales, you need to listen more.

Emily Merrell  

And there's so many learnings through sales calls that you will have, over time, there'll be things that pop up that things people want are like, I want $500,000 in five months, and you're like, Okay, I don't know if I'm the right person for you. Because I don't know if that's a reality I can deliver. Try, try let the angel down the street or something like that, like try someone else. But listening, and asking questions, and really delving into, like, what their challenges are, and also seeing how they are if they're coachable on that call, I think that's a really interesting indicator to see how they will be working with you one on one or in a program. So if they're like taking notes, and really feel like this is new information, that's great. I think it's really hard. And I think Lex and I have both worked with this type of client before, who's like, I've tried everything, nothing works. And you're like, Well, I'm not gonna give you have any any advice or any guidance that's different than you've been what you've heard, most likely, if you have tried everything, and nothing works.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, it's so indicative of the type of client they are of if you guys are compatible, it also will give you exactly the language you need to help close the sale. One specific question we really encourage you to ask is what is your challenge and take notes on what that challenge is? Because then when you reframe it back to them in a sales call, you can say, my program or my coaching solves, literally than insert their challenge. And I do this through XYZ, right? So it's just think of it as truly a discovery call, which is why in the knowledge gap section we're talking about, you can predetermine questions that will help you better understand if they're a right fit for you and your program.

Emily Merrell  

I can't agree more. And then lacks how do we get there? Like Sure, yeah, sales calls sound nice and such. But like how do how do we get good at them?

Lexie Smith  

Oh my god. So I'm about to like blow everyone's mind. Game Changing, unexpected thing you're ever going to hear. Practice, practice,

Emily Merrell  

practice, recording, I love you.

Lexie Smith  

But like all things in life, sales takes practice, right? Your first sales call is going to be you're going to be nervous. I remember the sales script I literally had in front of me for every single sales call. I don't do that anymore. The only difference between now and then is a heck of a lot of sales calls in between.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, and I think that's a really good point. Have a sales script. When I first started, I was shaking. I've told you about this about getting my first client, I had the sales script, I had my numbers written down. I had all of my T's and I's dotted so I could speak to them accordingly. And I think that's really, really important for you to have, especially if it's a way for you to leverage figuring out what you're selling and your style. And the more you say it the less you'll need this script, but is the fact that we're selling virtually are selling on the phone might be a nice way for you to sell as well. Well, if you're intimidated by the, the face to face element of it, you can have that script open. And the more you reference it, the more you get familiar with the numbers and the details, and the less you have to use it. So I am so with you laughs I think practice is everything. And I also challenge you, you know, practice inviting people, just throughout your day. Like, can you invite someone to something small, like an event in practice inviting people to your house for dinner, whatever it may be, but also get get used to rejection? Practice hearing No. And when the more you hear no and no doesn't like destroy your life and ruin your day and turn you into Ben and Jerry's eating human, the more you're going to be able to move on and the next client will come into your life.

Lexie Smith  

So that's your first challenge. Here's your homework, you have two options here. Number one, re listen to this episode and do it this time with pen and paper. Because there were so many actionable things that we just gave to you option two, we're going to include a blog post in our show notes, where we rounded up these seven different ways you can sell with confidence, pop up in that blog post, read through it, and make sure you're doing all these things. fill in the holes, you know, do you have you knowledge dup? Have you really owned your own approach? You know, have you practiced enough. So again, feel free to listen to us one more time, or check the show notes for that blog post.

Emily Merrell  

I'm gonna add one more piece to that lacks too. I think it's finding someone that you can practice on. You can practice with like an accountability buddy, you can practice with a fellow coach. And what I love the most about ReadySet coach is we give people accountability buddies. So they have the opportunity that when we go into the sales portion of our program, they're able to practice their scripts, they're able to get feedback from each other of like the wave their face maybe gave too much away or felt a little too over excitable. So find someone that you trust that you could run this by.

Lexie Smith  

Yep. And I just want to say thank you to everyone who dealt with the baby cues in the background of today's episode and other making it work moment brought to you by Ready, Set coach, but in all honesty, yeah, we hope you have a fantastic day and can't wait to hear about all your successful conversations and invitations that you have with your clients

Emily Merrell  

see in the next time on ReadySet. Coach podcast. If you're enjoying the ReadySet coach podcast, please leave a review wherever you are listening. For more information about Ready Set, coach, Visit Ready Set coach program.com