Needy for Clients

Taste yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, I can taste yo, yo, yo, I can taste. Hello and good evening, everyone. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach for ADHD entrepreneurs who are wanting to start a service based business. Tonight, I want to talk about a kind of sticky topic that's gonna make you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry about that, but it's something that we have to talk about. And that is when you are desperate for clients, you are the least likely to close a sales call. All right, sorry. It's the ugly truth. There are a bunch of different things that go into it. Oh, my God, I cut myself. Anyway, there are a bunch of different things that go into this, but I want to talk through not only what it means for you and your business, but I want to, like, show you how you can manage your business and your energy better. You know, oftentimes in the business world, in the entrepreneurial space, it's not necessarily the people who are best at what they do, who are the ones who succeed, it's those who can manage their energy the best. Okay. And I know that feels like it's not fair because some of us are very emotional. And I say all of this, you know, from the position of being a highly emotional person, a highly sensitive person. Okay. So I know what it's like to feel all the anxiety, to feel really stressed out about money, to have all your hopes and dreams pinned on this potential client who you've already kind of in your mind signed up and you're like planning on how you're going to spend the money that they pay. You want to acknowledge that starting a business is really hard. Oh, and I'm sorry, a little housekeeping. We're going live on the Facebooks, LinkedIn and YouTube. We've dropped Twitter or X or whatever it is, and we're over on my phone on Instagram. So welcome. And I love this to be interactive. So if you have any questions, please do pop them in the chat. I've been noticing not all the comments have been coming through, however, so if I don't call you out, it's not you, I promise. It's just that I'm not getting the comments. The technology is imperfect. We're just gonna roll with it anyway, anyway. So let's talk about how this typically goes. Okay? So things are stressful. Okay. So you may be completed with a couple clients. Maybe it's just been a really slow couple months and you haven't seen a whole lot of new business coming in. And you get this. This booking with someone who has been following you for a while, and they're interested in hearing about your package. And they're, you know, they seem like an okay client. They seem like they could be a good fit for you from what they've shared in their little intake form. And so in your mind, because this is your first sales call in a while, you start getting all kinds of flipped out. Okay? You're like, the pressure's on. Like, you're gonna have to be on your game. You're trying to think of, like, what are the most impressive ways I can describe what I do my program. You start, like, stressing out about, like, what are all the reasons they might not want to sign up? And then in the back of your mind, you're already assuming that they've signed up with you, and you're kind of already spending the money. You're like, okay, great, so they're going to pay twenty five hundred dollars, because that's my retainer per month. So five hundred, that'll go to this, and like, two hundred, that should go to that and. Oh, that's right. Christmas presents. Ah, okay, cool. I'll allocate a certain amount of dollars to Christmas presents, and then I'll have that covered. It'll. And so on and so forth. And so when you get to the call, you feel like you have to perform. You feel like you have to be on your game. You have to be ready to, like, share as much as you possibly can to convince this person that they need to work with you. And going into the call, you feel like, this sense of desperation. Hi, Jason. Welcome and hello to those of you who are joining us. If you have any questions about this, please pop them in the chat. But you feel this sense of desperation that if they don't sign up with you, that's going to be the end. Like, you're going to have to really start considering if you can continue with this business. And it feels like this is do or die. Hi, Jason. Yeah, Jason comes from a sales background. He knows what this is all about. From this energy space where you are so needy for the client, where you are desperate for their money, you need them to say yes. And you are so in this energy of, I need to convince them to be my client. And hi, Laura, welcome. You're never, ever going to sign the client. That's not. That's not going to happen from this space. Now, the reason for that is that we can sense when someone is coming on too strong. Okay? Women get this all the time. Okay. When we go out in public, if we're, like, at a bar or in a social setting, we're like, you know, it's appropriate for men to come up to you. You know, you get that sense of someone who's like. Like, way too into you, right? And it's like you get the spidey senses on the back of your neck, and it makes you feel like you're being hunted. Okay, Jason Agreed. The position of desperation, yeah, 100%. It makes you feel like you're being hunted. You feel like this. Like, this person will do anything to get you to do what they want. So in a social setting, it might be to give you their phone number and agree to go on a date. In a sales call, it's, oh, my God, this person, like, really, really wants my money. And so it makes you a not feel safe in that environment. And you might not be conscious of it, but subconsciously, you'll. You'll feel uncertain. You'll feel, like, icky for some reason. You know, the other thing is that, like, it really does undercut trust, right? When someone's trying way too hard to get you to do the thing, you don't necessarily believe every word that's coming out of their mouth. Okay? When someone's trying to pressure you into making a decision, you know, it makes you want to back off a little bit more, right? Because there's something that's just not adding up. If this person is as good as they say they are, you know, then why are they trying to pressure you so hard into buying their thing? Okay? I want to acknowledge that this is a natural, human thing. Okay? So we read energy. We really do. 80% of human communication is non verbal. Okay? The words that are coming out of my mouth right now, yes, they're conveying meaning, but that's not what you're driving most of this communication from. You're driving communication from my body language, from my facial expression, from the tone of my voice, from, like, a bunch of different things that I. You know, it's a lot of energy. We are energy communicators, whether you buy into that or not. So when you're in that position, when you're so desperate for the client, I want you to just take a deep breath and have a lot of compassion for yourself. Starting a business is one of the scariest, most stressful things you will ever do in your life. Okay? People who work in sales go through this constantly. So when you have a good month, you have an amazing month. Okay? Like, the energy like, it just is, like on a full swing upwards. Right. But when you're having a down, like a down month, like, each no gets you deeper and deeper into this pit of despair. And good salespeople learn how to get themselves out of that pit. Let me see. I meant sales, but could be bar stuff. Too creepy. Yes, I know, right, Absolutely. I mean, it works for a lot of different situations. Right. But anyway, so like, the more no's or less traction you get, like, it really does take a toll on your mental health. All right? So I want you to have so much compassion for yourself, Laura. You're in sales, so you know what this is like. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's hard when you're selling something that's separate from yourself, like cars, houses. I sold Internet security and gym memberships and solar energy. It was hard to hear no all the time when I was selling things that were separate to myself. It's a lot harder when you're selling your service, when you're selling your own time, when you're saying, hey, listen, this is the gift I have to give. Would you like to buy it from me? And people say, oh, no, thank you, I'm good. I do think we struggle at times in the digital space with intent. I've had times recently where people have welcomed a pushy stream of contact, but they knew the intent was pure. Yes, yes. But you know what? Like, that's exactly it. The intent is pure, the energy is clear, the energy, like, is clean. If they felt the intent was different, it could be a whole other game. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we know the difference between, I'll use the example of, like, someone in a bar who's interested in us because, like, they think we're funny and kind and like, they want to spend time with us and someone who might want to do a certain activity with us, and that's the only reason they want our number. Right. That we know the difference. Okay. The energy in one is very clean. Like, yes, there's vibe here. We enjoy each other. You know, there's connection. The other one is, I want something from you. Right. And it's the same in business settings. Right. When the intent is clean. When the intent. And I'm going to be talking about this, when the intent is in their service, everything's good. Okay? You can be pushy, you can, you can pursue them, you can follow up with them. A lot of people, if it's genuinely something that can help them, they will appreciate you following up. Okay? But if it's just for you to get their money. No, that's where the energy gets really murky. All right? So, yes, I want you to have all the compassion in the world for yourself. You're doing something scary. You're doing something that is more stressful than working in sales, okay? And everything comes down to you. You are responsible for absolutely everything in this business. And I don't say that to remind you how scary and stressful this is, okay? You don't need reminding, all right? This is the nature of starting a business. What I want you to remember is that one of the things that you're going to have to learn how to do in this business is how to manage your own stress and anxiety. This is different for each and every one of us. For me, I found that alcohol exacerbated my anxiety. Even just one glass with dinner of wine just, I feel so much more stressed out the next day and then the day after that. And then I wouldn't sleep well because of all that anxiety. And then I'd want another glass of wine, you know, a couple of days later to take an edge off. And then it just start all over again. So one of the things that I've done to manage my own anxiety around running a business is I no longer drink. I'll have a taste. Like if someone has a Manhattan near me and we're friends enough that I can be like, can I taste that? I will. But overall, I'm not having a full beverage to myself. And no, it's just not good for my stress. Other things that I do to manage my stress is I meditate. You know, I get a good night's sleep. I exercise. There's this incredible. There are all these incredible hormones that get released when you exercise, and they counteract cortisol and adrenaline. Working out actually is one of the only ways you can remove adrenaline from your body. Okay? Adrenaline will sit in your body for as long as you let it until you start getting your heart rate up. That's. Adrenaline can only be burned out of your system, Right? So you need to be moving your body. You being able to manage your stress will be a huge step forward in you not showing up and being too needy on sales calls. But it's not going to be the whole story. Jason. Yeah. Sat here with a glass of red watching the Taylor Swift eras tour concert. Oh, my God, I love you. I haven't even seen that. Oh, my God. What? Okay, side note, Taylor Swift, what she's been able to accomplish is just incredible. I love that woman. She just is such an inspiration. Anyway, back to being needy for clients. So you want to figure out what your body needs, what your mind needs to be able to manage your stress. Because your stress is your problem, okay? When you bring stress and anxiety about your own life into a sales call, you are making it your prospects problem. And that's not fair to them, okay? They have their own. There's a reason they're on the phone with you. There's a reason they're interested in buying from you. You solve a problem that they have, and they don't need to be responsible for your anxieties as well. All right, Jason. She is awesome. Yeah. Taylor Swift is. Is the goat, as they say. Which, fun fact, I guess Meryl Streep didn't know what the goat meant. And so she was on set with a bunch of people, and they kept calling her the goat. And she thought that it was just like they were making fun of her for being old. And she's like, oh, yeah, I'm just a goat. And then she made, like, a goat noise and they're like, no, like Meryl. It means the greatest of all time. She's like, oh. She's like, so excited. Love Meryl. I'm just gonna start talking about all the. All the female celebrities that I adore anyway, so. So, okay, so you're managing your stress. Sorry, I'm a little ADHD today. I'm a little tired. So. You have to learn how to manage your stress and anxiety. That is an absolute must do. And not only for you being able to show up on sales calls and be authentic and be yourself and be of service, but because you're running a business, it's going to be stressful. If you don't learn how to take care of yourself from early on, you. You're never going to make it. Like I said, there are a lot of business owners who start their thing. They are the absolute best. But because they can't handle the energy, well, they can't manage their own anxiety. They burn out super fast. They can't cut it. And it's not because they're not good enough. It's because they don't know how to manage their anxiety. Okay? Don't be that person. It's hard. I'm not saying it's easy. It is hard to learn how to manage your anxiety. It's hard to find the right help. But if you want this enough, you have to do the hard shit. And let me tell you, this is going to be so helpful to you in the long run in your life. If you can handle your anxiety through doing something this scary, you can handle anything. Okay? You can handle absolutely anything. This is like the Olympics of managing anxiety. Okay? You got this. So the next bit, the second bit that I want to talk about that helps you kind of reset your energy when you're feeling really desperate for a client. You have the sales call is before you get on the call, I want you to refocus your energy. And this kind of goes to what Jason was posting about or commenting about. About that. Like that pure intent, right? I want you to reset your energy. Not. Not around, oh, I really need this client. I want the money. That's not helpful energy. I want you to focus it around. This is a person who needs my help. And regardless if we end up working together on this call, I want to help them. I want to be of service. I want to help them see the path clearly. I want to either help them by recommending, working with me meet if that's going to be best for them, or by recommending some other resources, some other people that they might want to turn to. Okay? That is how you create pure intent. That's how you come in with that really clean energy, is you are there to be of service, even if they're not your ideal client. Okay? This is one of those things that it's really hard. So in sales, there's this term called the takeaway. And it's like kind of a manipulative thing, and I don't do it. But it's that thing that salespeople do when, like, you're not sure you want to buy it, and they're like, well, fine. Like, you don't get to buy it. Like, they take it away from you. They take away your option of being their customer, and you're like, no, no. Like, I didn't say I'm not interested. And it's kind of a way of them calling bullshit on you. We don't use that in empathetic marketing. We don't use that in holistic selling. It's not my style. However, the reason it works is because when you are confident in what you offer and when you're confident that what you offer can help this person, but you're not attached to them giving you their money, you're willing to walk away, right? You're not attached to it. So the fact that you're not attached to getting their money, it communicates this very clean, energetic exchange that, oh, cool. Like, the money is really besides the point in this whole conversation. This conversation then becomes around Is this going to be the best solution for you, the client? Okay, is my service, is my offer going to be the best thing for you? If not, I'm not going to ask you to be my client, but if it will, I'm going to tell you, like, which program will be best for you. I'll make recommendations, I will give you some options if you can't afford those. Right. Because I want to do what's best for you. When you move into this helping mindset, I can't tell you how many times I've been in this. This is how I run all my sales calls. Like, I don't run into my sales calls, like, thinking I need the money. Okay. It's just not helpful. And I've been in sales for a really long time, so I'm pretty good at turning that part of my brain off. But. But one of the incredible things is that when you're on a sales call with someone who's actually not your ideal client, but you're still able to, like, help them clarify what they need help with and point them in the right direction, you basically train them in those 30 minutes, how you are helpful to people. Right. What you're useful to and who you're useful to and it's not necessarily them. And the fact that you're willing to say, hey, listen, don't sign up with me, I'm not the right person for you. Let me point you in the direction of a few other people who are going to be way better fit. It's something that builds immense trust with them. And I can't tell you how many times I've done this with someone and they've turned around and referred people to me because they understand what I do and they appreciate the fact that I wasn't just out to get their money. Right. For me, it's music. A flow state playlist and find a tune that brings me into the right mental state. Yeah, music is so powerful. If you're a musical human, absolutely. I'm not necessarily musical human. It doesn't impact me that much. I don't know if that makes me a bad person or something. But, yeah, that's a great way to manage your emotions if. If it impacts you in that way. So I want you to focus in on how are you going to help this person. Person in front of you. And when I say help them, I don't mean you have to give away all your service in that one call. Not saying that at all. What I'm saying is you want to deeply understand what they're struggling with. You understand what they're afraid of, what's getting in the way of them getting to their desired outcome. And you want to break down for them as much as you can. Like, what are the things that they need to put in place to help them get out of where they are right now and into where they want to go And. Hello, Jacob. Hi. And that's going to be one of the most powerful things that you can do in your sales call, to have that really clean energy with them. Yes, Katie, that makes me a bad person. Taylor wouldn't be angry, just disappointed. I know. I know Taylor. Taylor Swift doesn't. And I don't necessarily have to be buddies, but I do really like her. But I'm also. I probably couldn't name many of her songs. I know Shake it Off and Anti Hero, but, like, only because those are the ones that people talk about all the time. I'm always kind of embarrassed about the fact that I'm not a music person. Like, people ask me what kind of music I like, and I have to open up my Spotify to, like, even be able to tell you a name. And it's really awkward when, like, someone's asking you because they're super interested in music and then because you, like, name an artist. Like, my God, did you hear this album? Like, I. No idea what you're talking about. And it's. It's like a lack of interest and also just a lack of, like, like impact on my emotional state. I don't know. I don't know. It's weird. I. I don't understand how people are as invested in. In music. Kind of like how I don't understand how people are as invested in sports. You know, Especially when it's like they're not playing on the team. They're just like a fan. And they get, like, so upset when their team doesn't win. Just. It doesn't connect with me. I feel that way about people. Like, I genuinely care about people in that way. But I just. So funny. Humans are so interesting. We're all so different. We care about different things. Anyway, okay, so back to the point. So you're desperate for clients. You're super needy. You need the money. You're on a sales call. Step one, you need to manage your anxiety. Okay? It's not your potential clients problem. Step two, you want to get into a mindset of, I'm here to help you. And it doesn't mean that you're going to give away your service. It just means you're going to be of service to this person in front of you. And by the way, if you don't know how to sell, we have a bunch of people who are in sales and have a sales background. But if you're watching this and you don't know how to sell, it's one of the things I train in all of my program. So if you're curious in that, it's one of the most empowering things to be able to get on the phone with someone and have a simple conversation and have them decide in that conversation that they would like to pay you money for your service. So if you want to learn how to do that in a way that isn't pushy or manipulative, it's one of the things that I absolutely love training my clients on, and I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. My clients seem to signed quite a few clients and I'm very proud of them. Anyway, lastly, lastly, I remember you made a sports ball reference once. Just once. Only once. Anyway, lastly. So when you're desperate for clients, when you feel super needy and you need the money and you're on that sales call, I want you to remember that no season lasts, okay? You've been in stressful seasons before. You've been strapped for cash before. We all have. We've all been like 22 and standing in the grocery store, you know, in line to pay the cashier and just praying that our credit card or debit card doesn't get rejected. Okay? That's part of being in your 20s. It happens to the best of us. And also, like, we have this fear once it happens to us once, we always have that fear of it happening again. Okay? So I want you to remember that, yes, that happened to you once, but it didn't last forever, okay? There were other seasons where you were abundant. You had a lot of money, you had people offering you opportunities here, there, and everywhere. And also, you know, what. What worked for you previously? You know, when we get into this state of scarcity, like, there's not enough, not enough money, not enough clients. Our. Our field division gets very narrow, right? We tend to forget about all the different ways that we could potentially get clients that have worked before, you know, in other situations. And so one of the things that I always urge my clients to do is to make a list of all the ways they've previously gotten clients. And it might be like going to networking events. It could be going live, it could be posting every single day to social media. It could be asking for referrals. Right. And, you know, it gives you a lot more grounding when you walk into a sales call where there is an opportunity for you to make money from this person. But you know in the back of your mind that you have, like, seven other irons in the. In the fire, right? If this doesn't work out, you know, there are more opportunities coming to you. Right. So you want to look at the data. Okay. You want to look at the data of what worked for me in the past? Hi, Janet. Welcome. What worked for me in the past? What are some other creative ways I could get in front of potential clients? Are there any people that I previously spoke to who maybe weren't ready to sign up with you, Me, then, but might be ready now that I can reach back out to? Are there any people that could be potential referral partners for you? Can you reach out to them and create some kind of relationship? You know, can you think outside the box? Is there any kind of, like, ancillary service you can offer one off in this situation where you can just get a quick influx of cash? You know, as business owners, we all have to go through a season of this where we just have to say yes to whatever comes through, and that's okay. You know, I have. I have coaching clients who will occasionally take a contracting. I'm sorry, a consulting contract, you know, and it's a nice influx of cash. It's regular work when they may be a little light on clients, and there's no shame in doing that. Okay. You know, the data never lies. You know, the other thing that I love to remind my clients of is if you're priced correctly, if you. If you have the right pricing for your service and you're in the right market, only one to two people out of four should be saying yes to working with you. Okay? So, like, yes, you have one sales call, but really, you do not want it to be a 100% percentage of. Of them saying yes. It's not good for you. It means that you're underpricing. Okay? It means that you need to be charging more for the work that you do. People say, my heart always kind of hurts for people. And also, like, there's this really beautiful pride that people have when they get on the phone with me, and they're like, oh, my God, everyone I talk to says yes to working with me. And I'm like, oh, honey. Like, I just. I. I want you to be proud of that. And also, like, we need to change the something, because that's not a good metric. So if that's the case, if you know that like your closing percentage is 25 to 33 to 50 of the people that you speak to, then your goal now becomes not get this client, okay? That doesn't necessarily matter. Your goal becomes, I need to get two sales calls, I need to get three sales calls, I need to get four sales calls, right? And then it becomes all about that, right? And then you understand, like you have all these at bats, you have all these opportunities to sign one more client. Whenever I'm talking to my clients and they're getting all ramped up and, and freaked out about the fact that they're not getting results yet. It's funny, like, the more freaked out you are about not getting results, the less work you, you tend to do, right? Because you're so freaked out about the results not coming in, you kind of paralyze yourself. I always like to remind my clients that you have no control over any results ever. You really don't like the pandemic hit and how many people's businesses went under because like the world stopped and they couldn't be in business for a while and that was just too damaging to them. You don't have control over that. And if we tie all of our feelings of success and security to those results, I mean, it's just a recipe for disaster and for really high anxiety levels. What you want to attach your success triggers for OR2 is your actions. The things that you do every single day that you know, if you're consistent with, will result in people booking a call with you. Right. And you know, based on your data, 1 out of 4 people who book a call with you typically sign up with you. That is really helpful to remind yourself in these moments. Okay. I know it's been a rough year for a lot of business owners. It was a really slow summer for a lot of people who are, who've, you know, been in service based businesses where you're offering some kind of intellectual service. If you've been going through it, I just want you to know you're not alone. I know this is a really lonely road to be starting a business by yourself. It's been a slow year. Everyone thinks that the holidays are when everyone slows down, stops. They don't buy anything. And that might be true, but it doesn't mean that people aren't paying attention. Okay. It doesn't mean that the people who've been watching you and thinking about working with you, with you for the last seven months doesn't mean that they're not paying attention to what you're posting now, okay? They may not sign up with you between now and New Year's, but you want to stay on their radar because you don't know what's going to shift for them energetically, emotionally, financially in the new year, okay? You can't know that. And I want you to be top of mind for them if there is a shift for them, all right? So I know it feels like, okay, well, it's been slow. I'm just gonna like, take the rest of the year off and just call it quits and I'll start again in the new year. If you start again in the new year, you're, you're gonna be a little behind. I want you to start now and don't worry about what you're doing now. Being perfect, it's never gonna be perfect. There's no such thing as perfect. Perfect is like a myth, all right? It does not exist. But you building that muscle and staying consistent and just staying present for people so that they remember that you exist is one of the most powerful things that you can do, not only for your business, but for yourself energetically, okay? When you know you're doing all you can to put yourself out there and be in people's field of awareness, your anxiety is going to go down because you know that you're taking action. All right? This is one of the reasons my clients, I have the top three non negotiables that they have to do every single day. The first one is visibility. Okay? Be visible in whatever way you possibly can. It is transformational to your business and to your well being. Okay? So with that, I cannot wait to see those of you who've been tuning in. I can't wait to see see you posting about your business in the next couple weeks. Being consistent, being visible. If you're really struggling with the business and you're just not sure what you're getting wrong, I want you to book a call with me, okay? Like I said, I never pressure anyone to work with me. No manipulation tactics. I'm genuine. I'm genuinely there to point you in the right direction. That's going to be best for you and your business. If it's working with me, I'm thrilled. If it's not, then I want to make sure that you get the resources that are going to help you the most. And if you want to book that call, you can go to the link in my Bio, both on LinkedIn and on Instagram, and just click that click the Generate Income strategy call link. Okay. With that, I'm going to release you to your Thursday night. I want to say a big thank you to Jason and Janet and Jacob. We have a lot of Js. And Laura, the token L. Anyway, thank you guys for joining me on Instagram. And I didn't get any comments over on the other platform, but I'm it might be a technology thing. But anyway, anyone who joined me over here, I hope this was super useful to you, as always. If you have any questions for me, you know how to reach me. And I cannot wait to be going live with you tomorrow. All right. Have a have a great night, everyone. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach. See you tomorrow. Bye.