Are you making this common mistake in your sales conversations?

Last week I was blessed to co-lead our Inside Out Business Retreat here in sunny Spain. We had a beautiful group of practitioners in the room all intent on growing their businesses. The main topic of the retreat was to help our participants get comfortable and become successful with having a sales conversation.

We shared just how that is possible without it being pushy, sleazy, awkward, and most of all how it can be fun and enjoyable.

The biggest sticking point for most of them was the piece around asking or making an offer to a potential client. This is the most common place that heart centred practitioners “drop the ball”. They will have great conversations, really helping a prospect, and then …………. Nothing.

So to help highlight the disservice this is to a potential client, I shared an analogy of inviting someone, or rather NOT inviting them to a party and because it was so helpful, I wanted to share that with you here:

Last week I was talking to Samantha, a good friend of mine about the amazing party I am going to be hosting at another friend’s villa. The villa has one of those glorious infinity pools that looks out over the ocean. The caterers we will be using for the party have won awards for their food and their specialty just so happens to be birthday cakes so we will be having this cake that is “to die for!”. And Jane is coming with her Mum, Doris, who tells the funniest jokes, you know the type that have your cheeks and belly aching! Plus all our mutual friends are coming along too and Adrian is bringing that really special red wine that you love, you remember the one we had at that restaurant last year? It’s going to be just so much fun – definitely a party to remember.

And then I say ………… thanks for the conversation, see you soon.

I don’t invite her to the party.

She is left standing, wondering why I have just shared all that with her, getting her all fired up and inspired to come along to the party, painting that beautiful picture only to find out that she is not invited.

This is just the same as having an amazing session with a prospect, whether a free session or a consultation, and not asking or making an offer for them to continue with your support. It’s as if you are saying, I have this wonderful service, but you aren’t invited to take advantage of it.

It was fascinating at the retreat to hear one participant say on hearing the analogy that she wouldn’t feel upset because she would just ask if she could come along. Fascinating because no-one else in the room agreed that they would do that, and most importantly, she has been assuming that because that’s what she would do, that’s how she thinks and behaves, that her prospects would do that too.

In other words, she thought that if she painted a juicy enough picture of what was on offer, her prospect would jump at the chance and ask if they could come too.

A huge light bulb moment for lots of us in the room.

A great strategy for leaving money on the table

We think that other people think like us. They don’t.

So making assumptions – writing the story in our heads and dismissing opportunities because we have decided on the outcome – is a great strategy for leaving money on the table! It would be on my top 10 list of mistakes practitioners make in growing their business!

How do you honestly know whether or not you have made an offer?

Easy.

You will hear a response since it is a question. If you don’t hear a yes, no, yet, but or maybe, then you have not made an offer and now you can see from my analogy just how you are not serving your prospect well.

If you would like to have sales conversations that are fun and impactful without the sleaze, not to mention enjoy your marketing, then contact me at Sheela@sheelamasand.com and we can set up a conversation to get clarity on how to make that happen.