If you’re in private practice as a coach, therapist, or consultant, for example, then you’re dealing with potential clients and customers. And that means, like it or not, you’re…selling. And, likely you hate that word. (It has all sorts of overtones to widgets, pressure, disrespect, cold calling, etc.) All the junk we impute into the idea of selling are confidence trashers, by the way!

Okay, so let’s change the mindset to…relationship building. That way you don’t have to sell anything at all. You just have to listen and look for the match between your services and the person’s needs. Here’s what I teach my clients about ‘not-selling’.

If you goal is to build your practice and make a difference in the world, then your strategy is to get the ‘right’ clients to say something akin to: “I can’t wait to work with you.” Or, “ I hope you have room in your practice for me.” How do you implement this strategy?

1. Build trust: You do this by helping your prospective client feel safe with you by releasing them from any pressure to hire you. Then you build rapport by listening carefully to their presenting issues. If you can hear the ‘need under the need’ you can touch on that so the person feels understood. You’re building trust!

2. Make room for difference: Allow yourself and your prospective client to have differences of opinion or analysis. You can posit a different perspective, opportunities, and point of view so that it becomes obvious that you’re independent yet aligned with the person.

3. Look for commitments: NOT commitment to work together but commitment around how you work with your clients. Your strategy, for example.

4. Set accountability: How would you work with this person? In person, via telephone. How will they know you’re accountable? What do you tolerate from clients. For example, I work with many executives who cannot be sure they can make their appointments so I have a 12-hour cancellation policy instead of 24 hours. This gives us more freedom and I have designed projects I can do should I have a free slot in my day. It all works out well in the end. I do my best to be flexible where I can and yet set very high standards for completing assignments.

5. Outline goals: If the client comes to you with a presenting problem (difficult employee) but their fulfillment goal is a strong high-functioning dependable team, then invite the person to have this bigger goal.

More questions than answers? Call your Confidence Coach, Kathleen Schulweis, CPCC, PCC:
Building private practices and saving relationships for more years than she cares to admit.