Stop the "Free Session" Madness!!!!

If you've been giving away free coaching sessions, but haven't gained much business from it, this is your lucky day. My colleague and partner Terri Levine has been telling coaches for years not offer free sessions. Instead, do "free conditional consults."

Finally, she has put her advice in writing. Here's Terri's article about how to reframe a "free coaching session" in a prospect's mind to dramatically increase your closing rate.

Milana

P.S. For the full scoop on enrolling clients, go to The Ultimate Business Growth System for Coaches on Terri's web site.

"There is an easier way to get more coaching clients..."
by Terri Levine

Getting new coaching clients is the number one thing that most coaches struggle with. We know we are good coaches and that we can truly help people live the EXTRAordinary life they deserve. We can see and feeeeeel what it's like serving clients and helping them create their ideal life.

However, many of us get nervous when we think of "selling" our coaching services. We don't consider ourselves sales people, we are coaches. We do free consultation after free consultation and are lucky to gain one or two out of ten free consultations into coaching clients.

Let me assure you, there is a better way. There is a key to help you close more coaching clients.

The key is that you need to create a need, a desire, for coaching before your prospects even meet with you. If you can create that need the number of coaching clients you get will shoot through the roof.

The first place to start creating a need for coaching is to stop doing free consultations. I mean stop completely. I teach my coaching students to give conditional consultations -- which is much different than a free coaching session.

When you do a conditional consult you do a few things before you even talk with your client. You first let them know that you will coach with them for 30 minutes, but at the end of the 30 minutes they must make a decision on whether or not to coach with you. That is the condition. They will give you a yes or no answer right then and there on the phone.

The key to a successful conditional consult is in the work you do BEFORE your appointment with them. You need to create a need, a strong desire for coaching before you even talk to them. Then, when you do your conditional consult, you can spend your time and energy coaching them and let them feeeeel what it's like coaching with you. Doing conditional consults is a great technique and eliminates people that are just looking for free coaching sessions but are really not committed to making changes in their life and committing to coaching.

The difference between a conditional consult and the free coaching session is that the prospect already knows coaching is right for them, they are just determining if you are the right coach for them.

So, how do you create a strong need and desire with prospects for coaching before you do your conditional consult? Here are three things you must do to create a need for coaching with your prospect before your conditional consult.

1. Get some background information about your prospect and what is and is not working in their life. Having information on your prospect before you do your conditional consult will help you prepare before your call and may give you some insights into patterns they have developed that even they are not aware of. Thus allowing you to coach them rather than spend your time together selling.

2. Know some of the most common objections coaches run into, for example “I have to ask my partner” or “I can’t afford coaching right now”. Knowing if they have a partner or if they are currently employed will help you anticipate these objections (which are often really procrastination techniques) and help your client take the necessary steps to creating the EXTRAordinary life they are searching for.

3. Allow the prospect to answer deeply probing questions about themselves before they meet with you. It gives them time to think about things they maybe haven’t thought about before and allows them to be more honest with themselves because they are answering the questions alone. You can use these questions when you are doing your conditional consult and help them make a shift right there on the phone. THAT is a powerful experience.

Terri has worked for over a decade as a coach and have spent several years putting together a questionnaire she has prospects fill out before their conditional consult. She's now sharing this questionnaire and the tools and techniques behind it in The Ultimate Business Growth System for Coaches

...