Your Warmest Leads are Not Who You Think They Are

In the process of getting coaching clients, your warmest leads are one of your most valuable assets—the prospective clients who are most likely to convert into paying clients. But oftentimes we neglect our warmest prospects...largely because we don't know how to reach back out and convert them.

In this episode I talk about how to reach back out to your warmest prospects—people who've already told you "no"—and address the objection that was holding them back from moving forward. This completely ethical, 100% non-manipulative tactic helps you give your clients exactly what they need without resorting to high-pressure sales tactics. And the best part? It works no matter what niche you're in—whether you're a life coach, business coach, executive coach, or health coach.

Today's topic is on how to convert some of your warmest leads. And in all honesty, your warmest leads probably aren't who you think they are. They're not the people who have agreed to a strategy session, and they're not the ones who've just kind of expressed that initial interest. In fact, they're not the ones that are approaching you and saying, “Hey, how can we work together?” 

Your warmest leads are, in fact, the people you've already gotten on a call with, the people you've had a strategy session with and who have told you, no, they can't move forward working with you at the present moment. Of course, when you're talking with a prospective client, and you get to the end of the call and they end up not moving forward, it's easy to dismiss them as not a lead anymore or just decide to check in with them in three or six months and see if they're ready then. And that's a fair assumption to make, because they did tell you that they're not ready to move forward. But if during that conversation, when you were talking with a prospective client, it seemed like a really good fit, then you might want to use this strategy to see if you can convert them after all. 

The tactic that I am going to talk about today is the re-offer strategy, and it works really well when you're on a call with a prospect who is otherwise a really good fit, but there's a main objection that comes up, one specific reason that they decided not to move forward. And the basis for this strategy is simply that if you can address that reason, then you can still convert them as a client. On the other hand, the strategy is not good if on that call, it just wasn't a good fit. Maybe there was a personality clash, or there were several issues, or you just kind of have a sense that they're really not an ideal client. Well, in that situation, this strategy is not something you would want to implement, because it would more than likely just result in some nightmare clients. 

But if it did largely seem like a really good fit, then you're in luck, because you still have a chance of closing them, of converting them, because when people tell you no, at the end of that call, there's usually a specific reason. Now, if that reason is that it doesn't seem like a good fit, or the reason is that what you're offering doesn't feel like what they need, doesn't actually resonate with them, that's really an entirely different problem. With the second issue specifically—it not really resonating with them—that's a point at which I would personally go back and look at the call, at what their issues were that they shared with you, and really make sure that the solution you offered them 100% lined up with those problems. Because if the offer does feel like it's just not resonating, then that's a really big problem with how you're conducting the strategy session, not necessarily with how you're going to convert someone who said no to you. 

Aside from that, when people tell you no, there is usually a specific reason. It could be that they can't afford it, or that the way that you presented it makes it seem unaffordable to them. They might think that they don't have enough time to commit to working with you so that they can get the most out of it. And in the same vein, they might think that they don't have enough energy or that mental space to commit to it, whether instead of or in addition to not having enough time, or perhaps there was a specific part of the offer that didn't resonate with them, what they felt like they do need. 

So for example, with all my clients, I begin with looking at their offer and their ideal client. But with some of my clients who've been in business for a while, when I'm initially talking to them in that strategy session, they think that they don't really need that, they don't really want that; and if I continue to push that specific piece of the offer, they're not going to move forward with me because they don't want to pay for this piece of it that they don't feel like they need. So that's why, if I'm talking with someone who really doesn't feel like they need help with their offer and their ideal client, even though they most likely do, I don't emphasize that part of the offer, and I downplay it and focus on what it is that they think they really need. 

Now, when I end up working with them, I will take them to that ideal-client-and-offer process, but I just didn't emphasize it during the strategy session, because that was not one of their top concerns. So when you have a situation where a prospect has told you no, and you have that specific reason, and maybe it was that they can't afford it or any of the other ones that we just mentioned, well, here's how you can potentially get a sale out of it anyway. Here's what to try. 

The first is to identify that main objection: was it time? energy? money? specific part of the offer? What was the thing that was keeping them from moving forward? The question you want to ask is is this objection that they had significant enough that, if it were addressed, they would certainly move forward? You want to make sure that the answer to that question is a resounding yes. Otherwise, it's just not going to be worth your time, because you are trying to get this sale from someone where there's more than one objection or issue going on, and that requires a slightly different approach. 

But if the answer is yes, that if you can help them address this one objection, they would move forward, then all you have to do is identify a way to address that one specific objection. For example, if their main concern or objection was about money, so it was about being able to afford to work with you or to afford your program, perhaps some sort of flexible payment plan could help make it more accessible for them. Or in the same vein, you could also adjust the program to scale it down a little bit and offer a little bit of a smaller investment for this scaled-down version of the program. 

If it was a time objection, meaning that they didn't think they would have enough time to implement or to really fully engage with your coaching program, well, you could perhaps tack a few weeks onto the program, or maybe add in additional time between one-on-one sessions, or identify ways to make the program take up less time on their part. Personally, my favorite approach is to tack on a few weeks to the program or to broaden the distance between sessions to allow for more implementation time on the client’s part, because no matter what your niche is, one of the great things about coaching is that where the magic really happens is in between coaching sessions. So if it is to your client’s benefit to lengthen that time between sessions, then that can be a really effective way to address that objection right there. 

Once you have identified the main objection, and you have identified a really solid way to address it, your next step is simply to reach out to the prospect and ask if they're interested, and the simpler you make this reach-out, the better. So you can really just send a message that says, “Hey, I just thought a little bit more about your situation, and I decided to come up with something that I think will help you ____.” For example, “that I think will help make the program a little bit more accessible for you or that will play a little nicer with your busy schedule,” and then call out the objection, just name it for them. You can say something like, “I know that you were saying that money or time was keeping you from being able to move forward, so I thought this adjustment might be useful for you. Is that something you'd be interested in?” 

Because if it was really that one issue that was keeping them from moving forward, and you just solve that issue for them, then they will be 100% ready to move forward with working with you. That's why these people are some of your warmest leads. They already know they want to work with you, but there is something concrete and something fixable that is holding them back, and so your job to convert these warmest leads into clients is to simply address that one objection.