Most business coaches offer complimentary coaching sessions as part of their sales process (a practice I highly recommend). It gives you the chance to have an in-depth conversation with a prospect so that you can understand their needs better, and–most importantly–demonstrate your value.
But there’s a lot to remember in a complimentary coaching session: building rapport, finding the points of business pain, describing the right Silver Bullets, handling objections, removing perceived risk by demonstrating the ROI of your coaching fees, and finally, closing the deal at the right investment level.
It can be more than a little disorienting, to say the least.
As a new business coach, I remember feeling completely overwhelmed by my first few complimentary coaching sessions. I stumbled over my words, struggled to make a personal connection with prospects, got stumped by objections, and even flubbed basic business questions.
Still, each time I met with prospects, I learned something. And finally, after 20 failed attempts, I landed my first client.
The 17 P’s of Complimentary Coaching Session Success
Over time, I developed a system that allowed me to close an extremely high percentage of my Complimentary Coaching Sessions–some months securing a full 100% conversion rate! Here’s how I did it–I call it my 17 P’s.
Like all skills, learning to deliver a solid complimentary coaching session takes time and practice. But as you master the 17 P’s, you’ll find that your conversion rates–and your bottom line–will skyrocket.
Like all skills, learning to deliver a solid complimentary coaching session takes time and practice. But as you master the 17 P's, you'll find that your conversion rates--and your bottom line--will skyrocket.
- PACK WELL: materials professionally prepared and used effectively (hot bio, sales binder, agreement, and other pieces of marketing collateral you can either share in person or via screen share if you’re meeting remotely).
- PREPARATION: mentally attire yourself with a favorite song, pre-meeting script, and/or favorite testimonials.
- PROPRIETY in everything: even if you’re connecting digitally, remember to dress professionally, conduct yourself professionally, and be on time.
- PREMISE: ask them for details about their business and affirm everything you can while learning the language and culture of the client; if you’re in person, ask for a tour and then move to the client’s office.
- PERSONALITY: build emotional rapport by learning about the business first, then their personal life, and adapting your behavioral style.
- PURPOSE: use a stock purpose statement to review your plan for the meeting.
- PACT REMOVAL: gain commitment to your plan for the meeting.
- PROFILE review: demonstrate your competence and value by reading through your sizzling hot bio.
- PRICE: preview your price range with confidence and brevity.
- POSITIONING: explain your value using stories, testimonials, and confident statements.
- PROBLEM & PAIN: explore and identify your prospect’s top three problems and explore the related emotional pain.
- PRESENT the Silver Bullets: use your sales binder to explain in detail ONLY the Silver Bullets relevant to their problems and pain.
- PROPOSE COACHING: gain commitment to coaching as the best solution.
- PROGRAM AGREEMENT: read the Coaching Program Agreement aloud to a level of detail suitable to the client’s DISC style.
- PRODUCT CHOICE: explain the various business coaching programs and ask the client to choose.
- PROFIT EQUATION: demonstrate the power of coaching to deliver a return on cash using the Profit Equation.
- PRONTO: give plenty of homework in preparation for your first session to eliminate buyer’s remorse.
Looking for more great business coaching tips and tricks like these? Check out our FREE ebook, Secrets of a Business Coaching Rock Star!
