One super important ingredient when selling 5 and 6 figure contracts to corporate clients as a mindset, leadership or well-being coach is confidence.
Yet, this is also the one thing that is least well applied and that has gotten a bad reputation because of sleazy sales gurus who advise “to fake it till you make it” or pretend you have all the answers and brush over questions.
So before I explain the role that confidence plays in the corporate buying process and how to ensure you portray the right kind of confidence, I want to make one thing clear.
When I talk about confidence as a sales tool, I mean the quiet, robust belief in yourself and your offer – not the brash, tacky and fake type that we traditionally associate with secondhand car salespeople. Genuine confidence has no room for sleazy tactics and falsehoods!
Why confidence is key
Ok, now that’s out of the way, why is confidence so important when selling your offer to corporates?
Shouldn’t your amazing offer, unique approach and professional qualifications speak for themselves?
The thing is, when you offer your services as a coach or consultant, you are essentially taking your prospect out of their comfort zone. Because you are offering them a solution to something that they are not an expert in.
Maybe you are helping their female rising stars to lead with more confidence. Or you are helping their overworked developers reduce stress. Or you support the numbers of people in finance and engineering to improve their communication skills.
Whatever it is, your prospect is NOT an expert in this and that means they need to step outside their comfort zone and trust you.
And unlike when selling to individuals, stepping out of their comfort zone does not just mean dealing with their own doubts and worries, but also wondering what their peers will say, how to make sure their teams are bought in and if their boss will be happy with the overall outcomes.
So when you are selling to corporates, you need to be confident not just for yourself, but also for your prospect.
There are two steps to this:
- Feeling confident in yourself
- Demonstrating that confidence in a non-sleazy but compelling way.
Step 1 – Self Confidence
Looking at the first of these two, I always have an issue when people say they want to BE more confident. Because confidence is not a static trait that people have or don’t have.
Instead, confidence is a feeling that comes with familiarity. That means the more familiar you are with a situation, the more likely you are to feel confident. And of course, the reverse is true.
But what can you do when you are NOT familiar with a situation, e.g. selling to corporates?
The best way I know to increase your confidence in that situation is to create supportive habits that help you connect with something familiar and thereby increase your confidence.
I teach my students how to do this by working out the ROI their work brings to their clients. (I have written in-depth how to work this out in my post below): http://impactfulnesslab.com/here-is-how-you-can-land-a-5-figure-contract-with-corporate-clients-if-you-are-a-mindset-coach/ – and yes, this works even if your work brings intangible benefits
Step 2 – Illustrating your confidence in the right way
And secondly, I ask my students that they create what I call an evidence box: a place (physical or virtual) where they collate all the great things they have achieved, all the accolades, prizes, qualifications, compliments, testimonials and other positive things they have received – in any area of their lives. We then make it a habit to review this evidence box or file regularly to boost confidence in any given situation.
But what about demonstrating your confidence to your client?
Of course, you should share your experience and qualifications, but you don’t need to have an MBA or try to impress them with lots of letters behind your name.
Instead, do these three things:
- Show them that they are “safe” if they are hiring you because you understand their situation. That means you have done your research and you listen carefully to what they have to say about their challenges.
- It also means that you don’t offer cookie-cutter solutions (step no. 2)
- Be specific and explain the results of your services in tangible terms – what will they see/hear/notice to be different after working with you?
How you can apply these steps
Let me give you a couple of examples:
If you are a mindset coach helping leaders be more effective, you could say:
“I help leaders create high-performing teams that meet their monthly deadlines – every month. I do that by guiding leaders to create a working environment where people genuinely enjoy their work (some call this engagement) which has been proven to increase individual and team productivity by up to 25%”.
Or if you are a well-being consultant helping with stress management, you could outline the outcomes of your work as follows:
- Actionable insights into what’s causing stress so that root causes can be minimized or eliminated
- Self-reported reductions in stress levels among participants when they apply the quick help tips within 1 week
- A detailed, customized action plan to reduce stress for the long-term for participants.
When you are this specific, you are giving your prospects a lot of confidence because even though they are not experts in your field, they can understand how your services work and what they should expect to see happening.
(Here is a post that goes into more detail how to work out the tangible benefits you can bring as a coach to corporations): http://impactfulnesslab.com/create-your-5-figure-corporate-client-workshop-or-short-program-in-6-8-hours/
If you still have any questions, DM me!
What I can offer you
In my 3 months intensive 1:1 coaching program, I go into more detail about how to design your corporate offer and your delivery program and how to build your confidence muscles in a way that is authentic to you!
I also work with you on focusing on the right niche that you are excited about working with, help you with your marketing message so that you attract only those prospects who are right for you and teach you how to create proposals that convert at approximately 80% of the time. This program works best for those people who have solid experience in their field and are willing to do the work – it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme.
Following this program, you should be able to have 1-2 explorative conversations with ideal corporate prospects per week (if you reach out to sufficient numbers) and book 1-2 new corporate clients per month for your business for $5k-$15k contracts.
If you’re interested in the program, the next step is to DM me and we’ll have a chat on messenger to see if it’s a good match for your business.
