Just over ten years ago, I was inspired to become a healer by profession. Let me tell you, there have been plenty of ups and downs in the number of clients I have been able to take on and of course, how much money I’m making. Like any other business, my schedule has roller-coastered from joyfully busy to frighteningly empty. But the important thing I have always remembered was my call to serve my clients.
A few years ago, I started offering Discovery Sessions to introduce my services to new clients; it’s something all the practitioners at Zenquility still use now. Along the way, I recognized that every one of these sessions contains a key moment when a prospective client has to say Yes to healing herself through accepting my paid service. But that moment is scary (for both of us…), and sometimes she says No instead. I knew there was more I could be doing in that moment to support her. But, I didn’t want to seem like I was pushing myself on her.
A couple of years ago, I realized that I needed to get better at making that key moment, well, key. I needed to be better at “working” the sales conversation, not only for my practical needs, but also – and more importantly – to be of greater service. So I wondered to myself and the Universe, how can I do this better?
Within a few days, the Universe delivered its response via my Facebook feed: an invitation to a webinar by David Neagle. The title was something like “Why Good Prospects Say No.” I immediately recognized that this invitation hadn’t just appeared on my feed by accident; it was a direct answer to my query. (Don’t you love it when Universe does that?)
I attended that webinar having pretty much one long lightbulb moment to everything David said. Now, as his student, I dare to be brutally honest about how I stop myself and my prospective clients from success. Each one of us has our own reasons why we block our success. There are certainly common themes, but the way they manifest is pretty personal.
My story? I didn’t want to hear people say No. A little bit because fear of rejection, but a lot because that would mean I failed. Like a student who’s used to scoring A+ sees getting a B as failure, that fear kept me from putting myself out there.
Today, I’m telling a much different story. In fact, the more I get out of my own way, the more that I see how important it is to offer the very thing that Spirit might have connected us for! My client’s Yes or No isn’t about me – nor is No a failure for either of us.
What I see now is that as healers, our service to our clients doesn’t begin with the first paid session. It starts with that Discovery Session. Your client’s decision to give you money is her clear, tangible way of stepping into that Yes for herself. It’s the first moment of healing in her journey with you.
You have the opportunity to be who your clients need you to be in those moments. You have the opportunity to have such a big, loving impact on your client before she’s even had her first paid session with you that she feels like this:
I got that text from a client two days after the Discovery Session where she signed up for spiritual mentorship with me. While I appreciate the joy in her words, I know it’s not me she’s celebrating – it’s herself. Because I have tapped into the idea of sales as service, I was able to be completely present for her and help her find her way to saying Yes to herself. Because I didn’t hold back my ability to help her, I had the privilege of witnessing the first of many paradigm shifts she’s going to make.
So, if you’re a professional healer or coach, how many of these moments are you shying away from in your business? If you’ve been holding yourself back from being fully of service, then I invite you to take this article as a sign. Maybe it’s time to break through your limitations. I would love to talk with you. Let’s have a Discovery Session. You’ll get to see how I “work” the sales conversation with compassion and love. I hope you will say Yes to yourself and your clients in a bigger way than ever.