Copy the system that quickly grew our Coaching Business online and got us on the INC 5000 list of America’s most successful companies.
Register for Free Access nowBlog
Today, I want to talk to you about the psychology of selling, which will help you if you want to learn how to influence consumer buying behavior. I will also review how the four buyer personalities you may encounter on your sales conversations, which will empower you to literally ace any sales conversation that comes your way. If you’re having trouble with your discovery calls or your sales calls, chances are you don’t quite understand why people might choose you over your competition. To learn more, check out the video here, or simply read on.
Here’s what I believe to be the three secret ingredients of successful sales. When understood and mastered, they can help you to influence consumer buying behavior and draw them into your coaching business. If you use those three things to guide your marketing efforts, your communications, and everything you do in your business to create an amazing experience for your clients and those who interact with you, you can’t lose. The three secret ingredients are:
Now, let’s start by talking a little bit about confidence. What does confidence look like? It is about you believing in the expertise you have to offer. When you’re thinking about your success on a sales call and influencing consumer buying behavior, you want to think about how you show up. If you’re leaning away from the sale, instead of saying, “Hey, let’s do this! I’m excited, and I’m confident I can help you get the results that you want right now,” that’s a huge difference in how you’re showing up.
Before you will ever be successful at influencing consumer buying behavior and getting people to buy from you, we want you to become that confident expert that is out there speaking, shining, and being really authentic. That’s step number one. I believe that without confidence, the other two pieces in this winning combination will not work. Confidence is the key.
Results are the second part of our winning combination, and what you need to be aware of if you want to influence consumer buying behavior. Your client results, your own results, and what you have accomplished as a coach in the past are extremely important to creating longevity in your business. In the coaching field, there are many people out there using hype to sell. They’re using photo shoots, smart sales copy, and other slick tactics to influence people to buy from them, but many people don’t actually look behind the curtain and see what’s really going on. If they did that, they would see that there’s no client success or results, and the only person who is succeeding is the coach.
That only goes so far, and can only work for just so long until people catch on and understand what’s going on. Those things rise, then they die…and then they go away. If you want longevity in your coaching business and you want to make selling and marketing easy, what you want to focus on is getting results for your clients as quickly as possible. Focus on customer experience and really over-delivering for your clients.
When I look at my mission, the number one thing that drives every decision I make in my business is my clients. Are the decisions good for them? Will it help me be a more impactful coach? Will it help us get better client results? Those are the things we think about when we make decisions, and you should also be looking at how you can improve your programs and services to get better so your results improve over time.
The third piece in our winning combination is humanity. With the marketing that is taking place in the coaching industry today, there’s way too much fake stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I like professionalism, so I always want to show up as high-quality as I can. But, I never want to be fake. I would never say things for the sake of just saying them, and I don’t want to put on a show. I still want to be able to be me and be real, because – number one, it makes me feel great and makes me feel like I can be who I am and still be successful. Number two, I think it actually makes you feel good, because you know I am a real person and I’m nothing special. I’m just like you, and if I can do it, you can too.
When you’re looking at how you influence people out there to come to you and choose you as their coach, you want to ask yourself if they see you as a real person, and give yourself permission to be completely real. It’s hard to be that raw sometimes without coming across as unprofessional, which is the big fear that most of us have. But, I think there is a balance – you can walk the line and let people into your life by letting them look behind the curtains and see what’s really going on. If done correctly, this can be very impactful – and in the end, people are going to love you so much more if you can accomplish that, especially in coaching.
As promised, now I want to talk to you about four gems, which are different personality types that you might encounter on your sales calls. Learning how to identify them can help you use those types effectively to land the sale. I want to give credit to Dani Johnson, who I learned these personality types from. I went to one of her events many, many years ago, and they really resonated with me.
Sapphires are really easy to identify, because those are the people who are dancing at the party. They’re inspiring and always positive, and totally stay away from the negative. They want to be recognized and be in the spotlight, so they will do more for recognition than they will do even for money.
When you notice you have a sapphire on a sales conversation, you should talk about recognizing them, the great things they’ve already accomplished, putting them in the spotlight, the community you can offer them, and how fun it’s going to be to work with you. Focus on the community you have, the results and big goals, the accomplishments, and stay away from fears and negativity. Just being more upbeat, outgoing, and high vibe in your conversation with them will mirror how they naturally are. As a result, they will find you so much more attractive and relatable if you approach them in that fashion.
Pearls will do what they do for one reason, and one reason only – and that is contribution to the world. They’re driven by their beliefs, their convictions, doing things that are of service, and being part of something that is even bigger than themselves. They’re not interested in conflict, negativity, or controversy, and they want to be authentic and real. They will sniff out any fraud or inauthenticity that might be coming across from you.
When you’re working with a pearl on a sales call, be who you are. Don’t try to make up something or put a mask on. Just be authentic and as real as possible, and show them how working with you can help them be the person they want to become to fulfill on their big missions.
Rubies are extremely competitive. They have big goals and are driven and focused go-getters. If you have a ruby on a sales call, you can really impress them by being a sounding board for them – by helping them think about their ideas and how to get there. You want to talk about the steps, the process, and how they can make their goals a reality. Show them that it’s really, really possible, and b excited with them and for them about their big goals.
Emeralds are people who are very factual, down to earth, and process driven. When you notice that you have an emerald on your sales call, you should probably talk about how your program actually works. You should talk about modules, how long it is, why it’s that long, why you’ve designed it the way you’ve designed it, the price, why it costs that much, the results you’ve gotten in the past, how long the program has been around, and all the other details. Clear explanation of the details will make the emerald feel understood and informed, and will help the emerald make the decision they need to be making. That’s how you can best influence their buying decisions.
If you’re someone who’s looking for more discovery calls, more sales calls, and really launching out and scaling a highly successful online coaching business, I highly suggest that you download our free Success Guide for New Coaches. It’s going to walk you through step-by-step how to build a successful online coaching business.
And if you loved learning about influencing consumer buying behavior and have a business buddy that’s also looking to close a few more sales, please feel free to share this with them.
Relationships are the key to success, and social media networks are the ideal channel for building them. Before we can do Read more
Reputation management and brand building are all about relationships: making connections, finding common ground, discovering areas of mutual interest, and Read more
While you probably love to travel for vacation, traveling for business is just as likely not your favorite thing to Read more
In this week’s episode on Youtube, I’m diving deep into one of the topics I get asked the absolute MOST Read more
