Katie: Hey listeners, Katie Collins here from the lighten, your lunch podcast. I am excited to bring to you today, a solo journey of mine in helping potential clients make a decision. You know, those people that just kind of disappear and really the not making the decision is the decision I'm going to teach you what to do, what to say and how to respond to somebody that may need a little bit more time. So stay tuned.

Katie: wanted to talk to you about How to help potential clients come to an actual decision of whether or not to work with you. Now, we all know that choosing to not make a decision is in fact making a decision. Right? And a lot of times what happens is when someone isn't making a decision, they're reacting from something going on in the.

And choosing to not make a decisions, keeping them feeling safe. And I'm going to get into that in a little bit. But there is a group of people that are analytical and they require time. And their own process to make a decision. And we need to honor that, but if you identify as a heart-centered coach or course creator you know what I mean, when you don't want to be pushy in people making a decision, but at the same time, you really want to help them get to an empowered yes or no.

And if they're not, I'm willing to show up to the follow-up call or, you know, they kind of keep pushing it off or pushing you off. It's really hard to, to help them get there. And so what I'm going to share with you today is just how I approach that and what I recommend to say and do when that's the issue.

So again, I mentioned if they're analytical, give them the time and the space that they need, and at the same time, maintain your leadership, meaning. You, you know, most of us have an idea. If we're going to say yes or no to something in the, in, in the minute that we're made the offer. And a lot of us have maybe wounding from the past in which maybe we made a decision that we later regretted.

And so we created kind of a rule in our head that says, I need time and space, or I need to sleep on it, or I need to pray about it or pull an Oracle card or whatever that is. So I like to give people the time and space that they need. However, I don't believe anybody needs, for example, 14 days to make a decision.

Now, sometimes we need 14 days to find the money or 14 days to find out if we have the money, but the decision of whether or not they want to work with us should be able to be. In a relatively short amount of time. And so if people tell me they need to think about it, I like to give them about 24 to 48 hours to come back and have a conversation because I find the longer we push things out, the less likely they're going to feel like they're making an empowered decision.

It's like an avoidance tactic for them to want too much time. So the interesting thing about selling coaching in particular or, or, you know, if you're a course creator and you're selling a course, we're offering an opportunity for transformation and they wouldn't be on the call with us if they didn't want what we have to offer.

And so sometimes it takes a. Bold business owner to put the stake in the ground and help the person overcome the you know, overcome the fear around making a decision. So one of the places that I like to start is I ask people, I'm curious if this quote unquote and what I mean this inability to make a decision.

I'm curious if that shows up in your life in other ways. Now I'm not projecting that that's true, but I'm asking, I'm just curious if that's true. And if they agree that it is true, that they tend to do that, I might ask them why, what, what do they get from that? What's the benefit of that, right? It's like you can go into a little bit of Tony Robbins, human needs you know, what are they getting from?

Almost a sense of control of not making the decision. Like there's still in the control. If they make a decision and they fear later on down the road, it's the wrong one, then they've lost control. So I might go down that pathway. And these are just kind of scenarios that I'm going to share with you.

If they agree. Yeah, this is, this is a trend of mine. If you will, then I'm going to ask, how do you think that's impacted. And I might share a story or two. I think I got it from the think and grow rich realm, but I'm not sure, but you know, that the most successful CEOs are the ones that make decisions quickly.

And I'm talking to business owners. And so they are CEOs of their business. Even if it's a one person business, solo, preneur owned business they are the CEO of that. And so I want to help them become the CEO who can make quick decisions and trust their instinct. Right. I also want to give them plenty of room to ask as many questions as they have.

And so we're never going to make a sale if we don't overcome the objections. And so I'm just trying to dig a little bit deeper into what is preventing the decision making process here now, often it's a past hurt, a past regret. Maybe a broken trust that happens between them and their partner where they promised that they were going to.

You know, join a program and do all the things and get the success, and then maybe that didn't happen. And so they they broke trust with their partner and they're afraid to make a decision again. So one of my favorite resources that I read for myself when I was trying to learn how to overcome this objection and also A resource.

I recommend to people that are having a hard time making decisions or identify that is this book called the power of decision by Raymond Charles Barker. This is a really great book that helps people learn how to make decisions so that they're living a better life. And I wanted to share a couple of things.

If he had said one no creative process can begin until a decision is. So I like to help people understand that if they're not making a decision about whether or not they want to move forward and step into the transformation, waiting for them, then the creative process that will be instigated the minute they say yes is halted.

And the transformation that they're wanting is not going to occur because they just simply haven't made it through. I also like to share a personal story. You know, there was a time a few years ago where I decided to give up drinking alcohol for a year. And there was you know instigated something that instigated, that thought process in like January of that year.

And I hemmed and hawed and couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to do that. And I think I was thinking about quitting drinking forever and it was just a. I don't know, just a decision I wasn't willing to make. I wasn't convinced that that had to happen, but it was just something that for my health, I wanted to walk away from it and know that I could.

But I didn't want to necessarily commit to forever. And so I hand in hot and hand in hot, January, February, March, April, may, June, July, August, and they get to August and it happened to me, my birthday and. I was at a personal development kind of workshop. And the topic was, you know, what are you moving towards and what are you repairing from?

And it was very clear. I was repelling from you know, my relationship with alcohol that was leading up to that point. And and I remember just making the decision then and there, I'm going to spend this next. I think it was my 42nd year of life. Alcohol-free starting to. I can't tell you the weight that was lifted from me to move from.

Should I, or shouldn't I for eight months to it's done. And not only did I do it for a year, but I extended it four more months. Cause it felt so dang good. Right. And I've a completely different relationship with alcohol than I did before. And so what the results that I wanted happened, but it took me a long time to make that decision.

And what I share with you here is the energy I put in to not making a decision and how exhausting that. And, you know, maybe like some shame and blame around that. You know, I, I don't, I don't remember anymore cause it's kind of like it's done and it's gone, but I remember feeling a weight lifted off of me because I finally made a decision.

So if you have a story like that in your life, where you hemmed and hawed about something, and then you finally made the decision. I want you to share that story because it helps people understand the impact of making a decision and the effect that happens when you don't. So another thing that Raymond Charles Barker talked about in his book, the power of decision is talking about stagnating in old concepts, causes your subconscious to create problems.

So if you're stuck and you know, you were talking to your potential client, of course, but if the central client has been stuck in the stagnant energy, right, then they're repeating these old concepts and that is keeping them. Stuck in creating more problems for themselves. And so it's our job as the coach or the course creator to help them step out of that stagnant non-creative process and make a change.

And so I often like to say, you know, it's, it's my job to help you kind of move this. The stuck energy. And I would love to help you by starting right now with helping you make an empowered decision. So in all of my sales trainings, I talk about getting them to an empowered decision. It's not getting them to a yes.

Now sometimes, you know, I've got a free program called six steps to yes. Navigating the sales conversation. But truly I want, I don't care if someone's a yes or no. I want them to be the empowered. Decision process here. Right? And so I want to help them unpack what is holding them back from choosing to make a decision.

And often it's a, fear-based the last time I said, yes, this happened and they make up this whole story about it. And so we've got to be willing to unpack that. Now when I ask them, does this show up in your life? You know, are there other times when you don't make a decision and how has that impacted you?

I talk about the safe zone and I learned about this in my art, a feminine presence training it's when we're not making a decision, we get to stay safe, right. Where we are. And we know how that's going to feel. It's a comfort zone. Right. And we know, even if it doesn't feel good, we know how that stagnant energy feels and we feel comfortable in it.

And when someone says, yes, they're moving into this forward momentum. And sometimes that's very scary. It feels out of their control. And that the unknown is what makes it uncomfortable, which is what indicates it's out of their comfort zone. And so I like to talk a lot about how, just because something feels uncomfortable, doesn't make it wrong.

Right. So you know, I, I often equate day-to-day. To business, you know, and it's like, you go on a first date and you feel maybe uncomfortable or nervous about that. Right. Or if you, even, if, especially if you really like somebody, then you feel even more uncomfortable. Right. And, and you're in the unknown.

And there's a lot of fear that comes up, but that doesn't make it wrong. Right. It's actually exciting. And so often we mistake fear for excitement, excitement for the newness and the variety. Right? So bringing back the Tony Robbins needs, you know, we've got a need for certainty and we've got a need for variety and they're inherently opposite of each other and we need both.

And so when things are too certainly. We get stuck in, in that, and we've create beliefs around that. Like I'm certain, I'm not going to be able to build my business because I haven't been able to do it so far. Right. I'm certain I'm never going to sell a $5,000 package because I've never done it before.

Right. We create the sense of certainty, but like, that's not what we want the vision. It's to sell maybe two of those $5,000 packages in a month and make $10,000. The vision is to move out of the stagnant energy that we're in, in, into forward possibility. So I always like to come back and say, does your decision align with your vision and does avoiding the decision align with your vision?

And what would happen if they decided to put a stake in the ground and end here, and now the propensity of not making a decision of choosing to be a person that's going to be a successful CEO who can make decisions quickly, trust them, and also redirect or pivot if it decides, if we decide that that decision, in fact, wasn't the right one.

Right. But the thing is we make decisions with the information that we have here and now. And so it's not necessarily not the right one, but we might not have had the, all the information, but a successful CEO knows how to take the decision. And instead of regretting it or blaming other people, they learn how to make, do with what's going on or change their mind.

Right. Sometimes that happens with hiring. You bring on a team member, you're all excited. And then as you get to work with that team member, you're realizing this person is not a good match for me. It doesn't make the fact that you made a wrong decision it's that you didn't have all the information. And now that you do it's time to make a new decision.

And that's what. So I just love the book, the power of decision again, Raymond Charles Barker because he talks about how to make a choice for happiness. It's not just about business. It's an excellent book for helping people overcome that. Objection. But it's truly, if you're somebody that could use a little bit more you know, decision-making power in your life to choose happiness, to choose success, to choose mentors, to choose you know, stepping out of your safe zone.

I can't recommend enough to pick that book up and just get curious with your own decision-making here's the thing with overcoming any objection. We have to have our own personal stories. That the potential client can kind of grab onto and remember, and it makes you human. And so recognizing in ourselves that you know, there were times in our lives that we didn't make decisions and how that impacted us.

When we can turn that into a story of empowerment for our potential client, it's going to help them give them permission to go ahead and make that. I'll give you one other tip that I had gotten. And I was a recipient of, so I I remember, you know, attending a weekend event and it was a typical, you know, pay a little bit of money, get a bunch of value, and then we're going to make an offer at the end.

And they made the offer. And at the time I was a teacher and I just really, it was a big deal for me to even fly to California, to be at this event. And there was no money in the bank to take them up on that offer. And so I was a very clear. And he after the break we come back and he says, I want you to turn over your paper and I just want you to write a single word or, you know, a short phrase of why you're a no, if you're a no.

So I follow the directions. I turned my paper over and I write the single word money. And then he said, I want you to look at that word. And then I want you to ask yourselves, how many times have you allowed that word? To make decisions for you. And I thought, oh, like all the freaking time. And he was like, when you're looking for change, you have to change the way you're showing up.

So if this has been your excuse over and over and over again in your life, and you've gotten the results that you've gotten up until now, by making that decision and you're looking for different results, you have to take a different action and you need to take, make a different decision. And the thing that you wrote on your paper can no longer and should no longer be ruling your decision-making process.

And that was so impactful for me. I ended up signing up for his program and my family thought I was crazy, but that's okay. That's okay. That they thought I was crazy because they weren't in the room and they are in me and they don't know what I need the way I do. And I felt very confident in my decision because he helped me get.

So I just want to remove the word pushy out of your vocabulary and invite you to see this conversation as a transformational one in and of itself, let alone the transformation that's waiting for them at the beginning of the transaction. When they say yes, when they say yes and they pay that transformation is already happening.

But even in this single conversation for helping them make the decision. Is also a micro transformation and they will never forget it. And even if they're a no right now, they will never forget how you made them feel, how you helped them come to that decision and what they learned from that entire experience.

Sometimes people's fear is still in the driver's seat and there's nothing we can do about it, right? That's when it gets pushy, we have to allow people to have their own process. But if you are skilled at coaching them around the objection, that's coming up in this case, being unable to make a decision, you will leave a significant impact on them that they may take forward into their lives and come back to you at a different time.

But I will tell you that probably 50% of the conversations that I've had in all my years of selling coaching packages, when the inability to make a decision would come up 50% of the time, I was able to transform the I'm not going to decide right now, or I need more time into a yes, because they found their place of empowerment in the conversation.

They realized what they were afraid of and they realized they were letting their fear dictate everything. And that, you know, to Raymond, Charles Barker, his point stagnating, an old concepts, causes your consciousness to create problems. I was helping them get out of the old concepts that have been running the show this whole time.

Right. And really pivot completely into a new direction. With Ford. So that is it for today. My training in how to help potential clients make decisions. If you're listening to the podcast, I'll go ahead and put the book information in the podcast notes. I'll also go ahead and put it here as a comment.

Thank you so much for joining me today. And as always, we are here to answer any of your questions. So message us and let us know other content you want to hear about. All right, everyone. Have a great day. Bye.