September 2, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs

Providing Rock Star Service For Your Clients

We’re busy preparing for our biggest Client Attraction Summit ever!

Even though we’ve led this event more than 70 times, we keep asking ourselves, “How can we make it an even better experience for our participants?”

When you create an experience for your clients that is ultra-supportive and you over-deliver on what they expect from you, they are much more likely to feel like they’re getting a “deal,” no matter what you charge.

In today’s article, you’ll get some great tips on how to provide excellent service to your clients so you can raise the bar on how much your clients value your work. And the even bigger and better benefit is that you’ll raise your own level of confidence at the same time.

Whenever we introduce the experiential exercise designed to have you give yourself a raise during the Client Attraction Summit, some participants look excited and others look absolutely terrified! Eventually, they all come to understand what most 6-figure coaches and holistic practitioners know: there are always people happy to pay you more when they get more value.

You may have come to a point where you know it’s time to raise your rates, yet it feels uncomfortable to make that move.

One of the first things to consider when you want to raise your rates is to raise the bar on how well you take care of your clients. You can feel really great about charging more for your work when you offer more value to your clients by providing excellent service.

You’re about to read some easy tips for providing excellent service. These are little things you can do right away to instantly transform the way your clients feel about their experience of working with you (which will make them rave about you to all their friends – you’ll see how this works from our own “rave”).

#1: Provide a luxury experience

One of the best ways to provide excellent service is to give your clients a luxury experience. Don’t worry – it doesn’t involve the high level of the Ritz-Carlton or a Rolls Royce! However, the experience of luxury IS in the details. It’s in those special touches you can add that make your clients feel like they are being really well taken care of.

A great example involves one of our graduates, Tina Ebrahimian, managing director of Ebrahimian Integrated Dentistry (in Scott’s Valley, CA). From her we learned personally why paying more isn’t an issue when the service is over the top.

After we witnessed Tina make over $500,000 in sales in the first month she was in our Client Attraction Mastery program, she invited us to visit their office. Our family quickly became patients of her daughter, Dr. Ariana. What followed was life-changing for us.

Our history with dentists for our children wasn’t a positive one. When our older son Jacob was 2 ½ years old, we learned he had seven cavities (even though we brushed regularly and he ate healthy food—turns out it was from nighttime breastfeeding).

His pediatric dentist told us we’d have to put our son under general anesthesia to take care of those teeth. From the first shot, Jacob had a frightening and traumatic experience and it was heart-breaking for us.

But our experience with Dr. Ariana and the entire staff at Ebrahimian Integrated Dentistry was SO different…

Even though we had brushed our boys’ teeth religiously after that horrible experience with the pediatric dentist – our younger son Zachary also got cavities from nighttime breastfeeding. We were, of course, concerned and scared that we were going to go through the same horror we had gone through with Jacob.

Dr. Ariana assured us she would do everything in her power to help us avoid putting our son under general anesthesia.

The first thing she did was spread the dental work over 3 appointments. Zach had an extraordinary experience and no pain.

While she was doing the work, we held his hand and she told all of us what to expect, every single step of the way.

And his cavities got filled with no anesthesia and no trauma. (Read: Mom and Dad letting out a big sigh of relief.)

This experience had us feel so well taken care of. We have become life-long loyal clients who share about them with everyone we meet! (How many people LOVE their dentist?!)

As for the luxury details: They put sunglasses on their patients, so the bright overhead light doesn’t bother your eyes. They didn’t miss one opportunity to help us feel comfortable – even offering tea! They’re practice is booked because people are willing to pay more for that experience because we felt so well taken care of.

#2: Sheepskin and iPods

What are some of the little touches that you can provide to your clients so they will feel well taken care of, and so they are excited to work with you?

Here are a few examples to get your creative giving juices flowing:

My (Sharla) rock star bodyworker, Yarah Sutra, places a sheepskin underneath a 1,200 thread count sheet so it feels luxurious even getting on the table. Another massage therapist I visited years ago put hot packs under my hands and against my feet. This made me feel so relaxed and luxurious. She also had a shower in her office her clients could use after their massage.

What if you’re a coach? Because we have so many clients in our group programs, we only see 5-6 private clients a year for VIP coaching.

One special thing we do is this: when the client comes to our home for a VIP Day (a day-long intensive) we gift them with a surprise iPod, so we can record the entire day of coaching, and they get to leave with the recording and their cool new iPod.

Let’s say you’re a nutrition coach, and you want to make your clients’ experience even better. Can you do give them a done-for-you menu plan with recipes and shopping lists? Or how about sending them a beautiful basket stocked with some of your favorite organic products that will improve their health?

Be creative and have fun with this!

As you saw in the examples, be sure the things you do are relevant to the service you offer. No matter what your business, there are many things you can do to help your clients feel they’re getting value. And they will be happy to pay you more!

Now it’s your turn!

Comment below and share some ways you’ve received rock star service or share something you can do to add value to the service you’re already providing.

August 19, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs

“If You’re A Healer, You’re Not Supposed To Sell”: A Case Study with Tomasa Macapinlac

Are you a healer who believes you’re not supposed to sell?

Maybe you’ve been working at it for a while and you feel like you’ve hit a ceiling or a block around how big you can grow, how many clients you can get, or how much money you can earn.

Sometimes we are just too close to our own story and can’t see the path that leads to the next level for ourselves.

That’s why I love hearing the story of someone else’s journey and the specific steps they took to break free of their gremlins and evolve in their own business.

Today’s blog post is an excerpt from my interview with $10,000-Month Club Member, Tomasa Macapinlac. Tomasa came to the Client Attraction Summit way back in 2008 (when it was called Rejuvenate Your Practice) as a practitioner of Acupressure and Jin Shin Jyustu. She joined Thrive Academy Platinum and put what she learned into action quickly.

In the interview, Tomasa shares valuable insights about a serious mindset shift about what it means to be a healer and some simple steps she took to break through her money ceiling very quickly.

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Sharla: Let’s start from the beginning.Where were you [in your business] when you came to the Summit?

Tomasa: By the time I came to you guys it was 11 years since I’d been in business as a healing arts practitioner. And I was still working part time hours and I couldn’t get past about $3,000 a month. I remember getting to about $1,600 a month and then I got to $3,000 a month.

And I’d been in the high tech world making a lot more money than that! It was like, “Tomasa, if this is the work that you love, then you need to take this to the level that you are capable of. You’re not there and you know what? It’s time to do it now.”

Sharla: So I’m curious, what had you tried before? You couldn’t get past the $3,000 a month mark. And you had previous sales experience. So you would think that with experience in sales you should be fine doing your own business, but it wasn’t like that.

Tomasa: Here’s the thing. I was not sitting in community. To get to that $3,000 a month in sales, it was more like going out and putting my flyers up wherever. There was an Elephant Pharmacy near me at the time which hosted holistic classes. And I would go and teach classes there and NOT make offers.

And I could feel people wanting to work with me more but I didn’t know how to make an offer without feeling like, “Oh God, these people came to get information” and not feeling so salesy about it.

I began to realize after I started working with you [and Jesse] that I was doing a disservice to those people. Because here they were salivating for more of my work and I wasn’t giving it to them. I would just give them whatever I had prepared for them, that one-hour class and I wouldn’t make an offer at the end. I was doing them a disservice and I was wasting my time.

Sharla: So you would teach classes and not get any clients from it. I’m curious, what was your mindset?

Tomasa: I [used to] think that when you’re a healer, you’re not supposed to sell. We’re not supposed to make offers. People are supposed to magically appear to us. Instead of us getting out there and sharing our gifts.

My mindset was, “This is the life of a healer. This is the way it’s supposed to be.”

Sharla: So it was like, “This is just the way it is” and there were no other possibilities.

Tomasa: Right.

Sharla: Wow! So what was the first big shift that you had that caused you to have a big income jump?

Tomasa: The first big shift for me was actually after the [Client Attraction Summit]... I was on a sliding scale with my clients. So they could pay me anywhere from $60-90 for a session. That was the first thing I did. I took away the sliding scale and I gave myself a raise. I think I said, “Anyone who comes to see me, they now pay $90 for a session.”

That was the first big thing that I did for myself. Anyone who was on the lower end of the scale they either went away or they paid the $90 per session.

And then probably the second thing I did was, I wasn’t taking credit cards. I was only doing cash or checks. So I opened up a merchant account and started taking credit cards. I was already offering packages by the way. But my packages took another leap. They went on the higher end.

And I remember, I put them on paper. Oh, that was a big thing! [laughs]…

I noticed that when I wrote it up, people could see what they were saving but I also got more people to sign up for packages. Those who were not in packages, they [moved from one session at a time to a package].

So I began to have more of a loyal following with less sales. I didn’t have to sell as much. People would buy their packages of six. And then I wouldn’t have to keep selling them every time they came to see me. When six sessions were over, usually within 90 days, then they would just buy another package of six.

Sharla: I’m curious, your business has evolved. In the beginning it was just changing over to packages that made a difference. When you and I did a VIP Day together, I remember we really looked at how you were charging x dollars per package and this percentage of people you talk to say yes, and this percentage of people keep signing up for more. And we actually drilled down to exactly how many people you needed to talk to every month in order to have the practice of the size you wanted.

Tomasa: I know that I ended up having about 50 sessions a month and I started tracking all of my numbers after my VIP Day with you.

Sharla: Just the act of tracking your numbers is so valuable.

Tomasa: It is. Because you can get an overview of what your business looks like. How many conversations was I having? How many people would get offered the package? How many would say yes or no? How many were loyal clients? ...about 60-70% [of the people I talked with said Yes].

Sharla: I think that’s a really powerful exercise. Just to write down those numbers of how many people you’re talking with. It was really easy to get clear on how many clients you want and how many people you then need to talk to in order to have that happen.

Tomasa: Yes!

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By implementing just a few things Tomasa learned at Thrive Academy, she has a rockin’ business!

To recap the tips Tomasa shared in her story:

Raise your rates by eliminating the sliding scale.
Make offers when you’ve got an audience. It’s a disservice not to.
Take credit cards to make it easier for clients to pay. (Easier now than years ago…
If you’re not already set up, it’s easy at www.SquareUp.com)
Offer packages so you don’t have to sell over and over again. For more on how to create packages, check out this blog post.
Show your potential clients your package rates on paper so they see how much they will save.
Figure out how many new clients you need each month to earn the income you desire...and then track it.

Years after joining Thrive Academy Platinum, Tomasa continues to consistently enjoy $10,000+ months in her business as “Your Holistic Business Mentor.” She also is the host of the Holistic Chamber of Commerce in San Ramon, CA. You can learn more about Tomasa at http://tomasamacapinlac.com/

Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

August 12, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs

How to Raise Your Rates (And Feel Good About It)

Have you ever wanted to raise your rates, but the voices of fear keep you from actually doing it?

These internal voices say things like:

Who are you to think you can charge more?
Is it even spiritual to accept money at all?
If you were really spiritual you would do this work for free!
No one will sign up because they won’t be able to afford it. People will think you’re greedy or in it just for the money.
Other _____________ (coaches, practitioners, massage therapists, nutrition counselors, etc.) charge ________. How can you even consider charging more?

How do we know about these voices?

Many years ago, we raised our hourly coaching rate (to a rate that sounds like a smokin’ deal now, LOL)…

I (Sharla) stood on stage in front of some of our best clients, offering VIP days (which we rarely offer because our time is so limited for private clients). And although I looked confident on the outside, I was trembling inside.

I KNEW that working with Jesse and me privately would help these clients position themselves like rock stars, attract the exact right clients, create a clear path to get from where they were stuck in their business to exactly how much income they wanted to make…while working less.

But suddenly I had the same feelings of insecurity and discomfort that I experienced the first time I raised my fees…and the second and the third.

No matter how many times you raise your fees, it’s common to “not feel ready” or to know you’re ready but still feel uncomfortable, especially when you start actually telling your potential clients about it.

But there comes a time when what you’re charging doesn’t feel balanced with the value you’re providing and you’ve got to do it in order to stay in integrity with yourself and in alignment with your values.

Here are 3 Tips to help you raise your rates:

Tip #1: Avoid looking to other coaches and holistic practitioners to figure out what you should charge.

Many of our members initially say, “Other [therapists, coaches, etc.] charge this much; so how can I charge more?”

Instead, look for how you can INCREASE the value you offer to your clients rather than be just like everyone else in your industry.

When I was pregnant with our first son, Jacob (now 7), my belly got too big to lie face down on the massage table and I noticed I was having a difficult time enjoying a satisfying massage. So, I sought out a therapist with an ergonomically designed cushion for expecting moms like me and was happy to pay the extra dollars for the added value.

Ask yourself, “How can I increase the value of what I’m offering? What do I offer that’s unique?”

Tip #2: “Feel Into” Your New Rate

If you’re charging too little, you’ll likely feel resentful and overworked. If you’re charging too much, you might feel greedy. There is a perfect balance that lies somewhere in between.

Unless you feel like you can truly own your new rates, you’ll stumble and feel awkward when sharing these new rates with potential clients.

To figure out what rate you can confidently own, here’s a short exercise:

Imagine you’re talking with a potential client.
And say the price you want out loud.
Then check in with your body to find out how it feels.

If it feels GREAT, you just might have your new price.

If it feels anything other than GREAT, you’re not there yet.

If you don’t feel anything in your body, don’t worry.

Sometimes the new rate just doesn’t have much juice.

Also, not everyone gets information from checking in with how their body feels. Some people just have a voice of clarity or inner knowing that it’s right or not right. Others need to imagine publishing this new rate on your website (although we don’t recommend this for reasons we can share in the future).

Just use the best way of discovering what’s right for you when you’re making a decision.

Still confused about it?

At the Client Attraction Summit, we will guide you through an exercise to find your perfect fees. Chances are you’ll give yourself a raise because at least 95% of our past participants have done so.

Tip #3: Be Willing to Feel Uncomfortable for a Short Time After You Raise Your Rates

I have always found that whenever I have raised my private coaching rates, I go through an “adjustment” period.

At first, it’s difficult to say (like in the story I shared earlier in the article). Then I justify this increase to myself by thinking about how my clients will get more value at this new rate and how I deserve to be paid well for the great work I do. Eventually, I settle into it as perfect and right.

What usually happens after I get the first big “Yes!” is I’m able to “own” my new fee and it fits perfectly. I have found that this is when the real shift happens.

After having a difficult time at that event sharing our new VIP day rates for the first time (with not one single client saying “Yes” by the way), I could have decided that I’d made a huge mistake and I should drop my rates back down.

Instead, I knew that going through the discomfort of the “adjustment period” was part of my process and if I hung in there long enough, I would eventually feel comfortable and confident.

A few weeks later we got our first client at our new rate. I felt a little nervous just before the initial consultation call, but I showed up with 100% of my energy, now fully aligned with the new fee. And because I owned my value, our client got tons more out of it than if we were charging our lower fee.

We haven’t raised our rates for private coaching for years because we feel so aligned with our rates for private work. (It’s all about alignment.)

When you feel great about your rates, you don’t question them….

But when something is niggling at you that it’s time to raise them, it’s common to experience this adjustment period and then eventual success.

If you’re willing to deal with the discomfort for a short time, knowing that it is part of the process of raising your fees (and not a sign you should shrink back), then you’re on the road to attracting more appreciative clients who will see the value in what you have to offer.

And the good news is:

Over time, you’ll become less intimidated by the prospect of raising your rates. You’ll just know when the time is right and become aligned with it more quickly. The adjustment period shrinks and you’re on your way to serving your clients in a deeper way, because you’re aligned with what your clients are investing to transform their lives by working with you.

Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

August 5, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs

How to Get Great Testimonials

Way back when we were planning for our wedding, we checked out an endless amount of photographers, videographers, florists, caterers, and every other possible type of vendor associated with “The Big Day”.

What really helped me (Sharla) make decisions and often took some vendors out of the running, was testimonials. If a vendor didn’t have them, I almost always eliminated them in my mind.

This was such an important event and I didn’t want to take the risk of using a photographer who couldn’t even show me samples of her work or testimonials from happy clients.

The same is probably true for many of your potential clients. Yet, most coaches and holistic practitioners don’t know how to get great testimonials that make selling your products and programs and enrolling clients a breeze.

Testimonials are an essential part of your promotional materials. Without them, your potential clients are just ‘taking your word for it’ and taking a risk with their time and money.

Testimonials provide “Social Proof” to your potential clients by letting them know that other people have benefited from working with you; so they might benefit too.

The great thing about testimonials is: they can do the selling for you.

Maybe due to the legal constraints of your industry (check with your state board to be sure about legal limitations) you can’t make a bold claim like “I can cure your allergies” or “I’ll eliminate your back pain in just 10 visits.” For example, as an acupuncturist, you can’t claim that you can cure pain. But one of your clients can say “After my first visit, my pain was reduced by 50% and after 10 sessions I am completely pain-free.”

And, if you feel shy at all about tooting your own horn, you can share stories (aka testimonials) of what your clients have received and make a great impression.

Most coaches and holistic practitioners don’t know how to get great testimonials that make selling easy. I decided to share 5 of my favorite tips with you here:

1. Ask

My first tip is: “Ask.” It’s that simple.

When your clients sing your praises after a great appointment, do you ask them for their permission to use their comments as a testimonial? How about after they worked with you for a period of time?

It can be this simple: “I’m working on some new marketing materials about this work we’ve been doing together. Would you be willing to share about the benefits you’ve received from our work together to help other people who are thinking about it discover what they can get from it?”

2. Make it Easy For Them

Recently, I was revamping our program brochure so I used Tip #1 and started asking our clients for updated testimonials. Instead of just asking, I made it easy for each of them by creating a sample for them to edit.

Here is an example of a testimonial I wrote for one of our star clients, PJ Van Hulle, for our Six Figure Speaker Program. Because I know PJ well, I created it using language I thought would fit her and then invited her to edit so it fit her voice.

“I had dreamed of being a trainer for 5 years, but I had no idea how to do it as a business successfully. Then I met Jesse and Sharla and a huge door opened for me. In just 6 months I have created a successful training company AND repaid my investment in the Six Figure Speaker program...earning $52,000 in one weekend seminar. And more importantly, I am showing up for my students and creating miracles in their lives.!" -PJ Van Hulle

She sent it back to me within hours and I added it to the new brochure. Had I asked PJ to write it for me, it might have taken weeks for her to get to it.

3. Use 2 Levels

If your potential clients hear only from your superstar clients, they might feel a little skeptical. But if they also hear from someone who got good or decent results, it makes it much more believable.

For example, we’ve gotten several testimonials from attendees of our Client Attraction Summit whose income quickly surged to 6-figures AND we have testimonials of clients who were thrilled to have made more than $1,000 in one hour.

Do you see how the smaller number makes the results more believable? If all of your testimonials say “In one session, I got X, Y and Z and my life has changed forever,” your potential clients might feel skeptical. Ask yourself, “What seems realistic?” And then ask those clients for testimonials too.

4. Use “Before and After”

Diet products have been using “Before and After” testimonials forever. It gives us a clear picture that “This Stuff Works!”

Here’s a template for you to use:

Before I worked with (YOUR NAME) I had ____ and ____ for ___ years. After ___ sessions/treatments/weeks I no longer have ______ and I feel _________(great/fabulous/better than ever.)

Read before and after examples here.

5. Tell a Great Story

Everyone loves a great story. It’s why we go to the movies, read books and participate in the drama of our own lives. We learn by storytelling in a subtle, yet very effective way. So let your clients’ testimonials tell a story. It creates connection and makes it easy for potential clients to relate.

What can your potential client do now that they couldn’t do before working with you? Pick up their grandchildren? Spend time gardening? Enjoy the sunshine? This emotional connection in your testimonials sells for you PLUS it’s fun to share stories.

Lastly, make sure to get explicit permission from your clients who provide testimonials and I recommend acknowledging them with a thank you card for taking the time to share their story so others may benefit from your work, just like they have.

Now it’s your turn to ask your clients for great testimonials!

Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

July 16, 2015 by Sharla Jacobs

Is Your Niche Too Narrow? A Case Study with Allison Rapp

Many years ago, Allison Rapp signed up for a VIP Half-Day with us. It was one of the first VIP Days we had ever done and we were feeling anxious about whether we could deliver enough to and help her reach her goal of making $10,000 each month.

One of our biggest concerns in being able to show her how to build a business that consistently earned $10,000 each month was that her niche was too narrow...

But we were wrong.

Allison learned this the hard way. Fortunately, she experienced a “moment” that created a big shift for her and completely turned her business upside down.

Jesse interviewed Allison for one of our 6-Figure Secrets calls and she is proud member of Thrive Academy’s $10,000 Month Club. She is a very cool person with lots of wisdom and the story of her journey reveals how she went from struggling to easily earning $10,000/month or more, even with a VERY narrow niche.

Read this excerpt from the interview transcript below.

Jesse: Tell us about where you started when you came to Thrive.

Allison: When I first came, I was in a pretty miserable place. I, at that time even, was one of the most experienced Feldenkrais Practitioners in the world. I was a trainer; I traveled all over the place teaching people how to be Feldenkrais Practitioners. But I couldn’t feed my kids without help from my parents.

The truth was that I just didn’t know anything about how to get clients and so I did what most people do, which is I talked about what I did and it was so exciting to me, and I didn’t understand why people were not jumping out of their skin to be able to work with me.

I didn’t know why I didn’t have clients and I didn’t even really understand that I should be looking for help. I just couldn’t even grasp that anybody would be able to help me or that anything that anybody had as a solution would work for me. I mean the idea of making six figures was like, “Are you kidding me?” I’d be happy to earn middle five. It just didn’t make sense that I could do that with my practice.

Jesse: So what changed for you?

Allison: There were a lot of things in the way but I came for the first weekend at the [Client Attraction Summit] and it changed my life. I remember I had this burning question and you didn’t call on me, so I just yelled it out. I wanted to know how I could make it work when I live in a really small town. You put your thumb and your index finger up to your ear and turned to me and said, “You’ve got to get on the phone.”

And my first thought was “Oh yes, right!” I touch my clients, and that’s going to work beyond the phone, okay sure. But what happened for me was that I began to get it, that although what I was learning from you worked to help me build a private practice, that I could help a lot more people if I worked with practitioners.

That was really the turning point for me and I think it came somewhere during the [programs] of that [year]-- like toward the second half and the second half was that first year. All those programs, I spent a year going back and forth [from Nevada City] to the Bay Area.

But in that process, that was when I really got it, that I needed to change what I was doing because I really wanted to help more people. And so I did, and that’s what I’m doing now, and I worked mostly on the phone with people. I just finished an online program with 40 practitioners from all over the world.

Jesse: What’s the best part of your success?

Allison: I just feel like this is so important, and it’s so much more than what I was doing when I was working with people in a private practice. I loved it, but in terms of my being able to take what I had to offer into a bigger arena, it was really important to make that jump. So I probably will never forget the day that I got so angry with you when you put your little telephone up to your ear.

Jesse: You have one of the most narrow niches of anyone that I’ve ever worked with. And so people have often asked me at Client Attraction Mastery, if their niche is too narrow and I’ve used you as an example of someone who I DID think your niche was too narrow. I’ve told people that even with this narrow of a niche, you’re still doing better than with no niche at all.

Allison: Absolutely!

Jesse: I’ve been wanting to ask you since I heard that you have had your first $10,000-month, I’m curious if you have stayed with the niche of Feldenkrais Practitioners or if the $10,000 represents you widening that niche?

Allison: The $10,000 represented mainly Feldenkrais people.

Jesse: How many Feldenkrais people are there in the whole world?

Allison: Maybe 6,000.

Jesse: So you’re doing really well just with Feldenkrais Practitioners. And so I just want to stress that point, I think that’s a huge point because so many people worry that their niche is going to be too small and so this just goes to show as long as you could say there’s at least 10,000, there probably would be more but at least 10,000 potential clients that you have in your niche then it might not be too small.

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Allison’s Business Today:

Allison mentors hands-on holistic practitioners around the world to make a bigger impact and get paid what they’re worth. She regularly has $10,000 months and is doing what she loves!

Now you have to understand that Allison came to us as someone who brings more than three decades of experience as a hands-on practitioner! It just goes to show you that you can be really gifted, really experienced and really wise...but not be successful without the skills you need to grow your business.

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Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.