Thrive Academy

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How to Ask for Referrals Authentically

Sharla Jacobs

Every coach and holistic practitioner dreams of getting their phone ringing with people who were referred.

Why?

Because referrals come to the Heartselling conversation knowing something about your work and already interested in working with you.

Traditional sales training calls these folks, "pre-qualified." Meaning they have already raised their hand and said, "Yes, I want what you're offering."

These Heartselling conversations are much easier than starting from scratch where you have to figure out if they are a potential client and not just someone you're having a nice conversation with.

In our recent series about the 5 Elements of Heartselling, you discovered some keys to having a heartfelt conversation with potential clients so they practically talk themselves into working with you, if it's a good match.

However, if your phone isn't ringing, you won't have as many potential clients to talk with.

This is why today's video is about one easy way to get your phone to ring: asking for referrals authentically.

When most coaches and holistic practitioners start their business, they only have friends, family, teachers and peers to reach out to.

And they feel uncomfortable asking these people to support them with referrals...maybe because they're concerned about seeming salesy. In many cases, they have invited them to participate in something before and it didn't go as well as they had hoped.

The template in this video makes it easy to reach out to friends and family and learn how to ask for referrals authentically.

Watch the video now and let us know what you think in the comments below.

And if you found this video valuable, share it via email and Facebook with other coaches and holistic practitioners who also want to get more referrals.

Tell us what you think...

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How to Discover Your Niche

When someone first told me I should choose a niche in order to attract more clients, I didn't get it.

I wanted to help everyone; and my training set me up so I could help anyone with anything. Choose a niche? I didn't want to for a long time. I resisted the idea and felt frustrated anytime another person told me the first thing I needed to do was choose a niche.

Maybe you've already heard that it's important to choose a niche (and maybe you're even wrestling with the idea like I was). Or maybe you're brand new in business and haven't yet considered how important having a niche is.

One of the things we've found, after teaching over 25,000 coaches and holistic practitioners how to attract their ideal clients and get paid well for the great work they do, is that once a good niche is chosen everything else falls into place.

In fact, discovering your niche is the first key to set yourself apart from the crowd and attract your most ideal clients. And it's one of the hardest decisions most coaches and entrepreneurs make while on the path to their first six-figure year.

One of the reasons it's so difficult is that most people misunderstand what a niche is. Some people think it's a specialty, like "authentic Thai massage." But a niche is not a specialty (meaning a way you do your thing differently from others who do the same thing).

We define a niche as: a specific problem that you solve for a specific group of people.

Discover-your-niche
Why do we use the word specific here? Let's look at it this way. If you had a problem with bloating, cramping, nausea and constipation, would you rather see your family physician or would you prefer to see a practitioner who specializes in digestive disorders? The specialist, of course.

Why? Because you assume they have more extensive knowledge and experience to help you overcome your digestive distress and can get you the results more quickly than someone who is a "Jack of all trades, but master of none."

The other reason it's important is because your marketing message will speak to people directly, rather than not stand out for anyone (because it's too general).

So we highly recommend you become the specialist in your field so people who need what you offer can find you.

Cinder Ernst, Member of the $10,000 per Month Club

Cinder Ernst, Member of the $10,000 per Month Club

To demonstrate how this works, let's take a look at the story of one of our members of our $10,000 Month Club, Cinder Ernst. When Cinder came to us she was a fitness trainer and life coach. When she went through our niche discovery process, she realized that the best use of all of her talents and past experiences would be to help plus-sized women heal their knee pain.

Part of Cinder's discovery process came from the questions you're about to answer. During this process, she realized that she understands how plus-size feel about their challenges around their knee pain and what it stops them from doing. And she understands how they feel about exercising.

She knew that her passion is to help women move their bodies so they can have full, active lives. So Cinder's niche is helping plus-size women eliminate knee pain. She set up her website and marketing to speak personally to this group and has had a really positive response, including being seen as an expert in this area. Cinder now earns a healthy 6-figure income (working fewer hours than when she started with us) with this very specific niche.

To get you started on your niche discovery, here are 4 questions to ask yourself. Start making a "Niche brainstorm list" as you answer these questions.

Which problems have you faced and mostly healed in yourself?

We have found that for most coaches and holistic practitioners, there's a link between the work they do and their own life experience.

We encourage you to write down the biggest problems you have faced in your life and how you worked through those problems. Taking Cinders' example, she might list how she found a system to reduce her own knee pain, and perhaps faced struggles with exercise or body image.

In case you feel hesitant about choosing a problem you have been working through yourself, we want to give you some assurance that you don't have to be a master yet. We intentionally say "mostly healed" because you only need to be two or three steps ahead of your clients. They will get massive value from you if you can help them get beyond their current state and to the next level.

Which problems are you already helping people with?

One place to consider looking for clues as to what your niche should be is to ask yourself, "Who is already coming to me and what for?"You may notice that most of your clients happen to be women entrepreneurs or happen to be moms who are frequently overwhelmed by how to feed their kids healthy food. You may find that the same concerns, blocks, or interests keep coming up in your people. Make a list of what you notice.

Now look at your list and see which problems, categories, types of people, etc., make you feel excited. Let's say you wrote, people struggling with their weight – does this excite you as a possible niche? Can you get more specific? Maybe when you get more specific it's former athletes who, now that they're older, are finding it harder to keep their weight at a healthy level.

Which problems you want to become an expert at or learn more about?

You may have people coming to you with problems that you know you can solve for them and you might enjoy doing it, but you're not curious enough to learn more about it. Maybe you've maxed out on this area.

Perhaps there are other possible niches you want to fully heal or master.

Taking our knee pain example again, let's say you have dealt with knee pain and only get it every few months, but it is still frustrating when you get it and you want to immerse yourself in mastering healing knee pain. And you want to help other people get through it themselves. It's a problem you can picture yourself working with in the future, learning more about, and expanding your business around. These are the problems you want to add to your niche brainstorm list.

Which problems do you want to be thanked profusely for having solved?

Recall a time when someone was really passionate about what you did for them, and how this made you feel. Take some time to consider what you're really passionate about. One of our members recently shared that she LOVES the feeling she gets when someone tells her they are feeling better (she's a Naturopath).

What are the specific ways you want to change your clients' lives and have them say thank you for? Add these specific problems you could possible solve to your niche brainstorm list.

This last category is one of the most important ones, because it adds in your passion. And choosing a niche that you're not passionate about is not something we recommend.

One of the ways we got more specific about our niche was when we did some visioning work and realized our personal mission is to create a HUGE wave of transformational leaders who change the world. We define a transformational leader as an entrepreneur whose clients are getting great results, and where he or she is earning $10,000 (or more) each month. Whenever we get a heartfelt thank-you or a passionate testimonial from one of our graduates who are experiencing this kind of success, we feel so fulfilled. We know we're on the right track and we know why we're doing this work.

This is what we want you to think about here, on a really specific level. List which solutions you want people to have that they will thank you for.

These four questions are a good start in helping you discover your niche. Once you have your niche brainstorm list, try one on for 90 days. Start sharing with people how you help people using specific language based on your niche...and watch how your ideal clients become attracted to you.

The goal in the process of discovering your niche

The goal in this work on your niche is not to put pressure on yourself to find the perfect niche right away. It's a process. But it's well worth the effort when you begin to connect with the clients who really need you, pay you well, and keep you excited about the work you do.

Tell us what you think...

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The Wood Element: How to Ask Potential Clients to Work with You

The Wood Element

Most coaches and holistic practitioners are great at connecting with people. And they get excited to share about their work with a potential client. 

But they usually aren’t good at asking for the business.  (Other sales trainings call this “closing the sale,” but we prefer to say help potential clients make a commitment to themselves.)

Does this sound like you…

You’re talking with a potential client. She is leaning in... she gets what you do and how you can help her.  She knows how much you charge.  And you've danced with any concerns she has around money, time, etc.  

It's time to ask her to invest in working with you....  
But you don’t ask.

Instead, you shyly hand her your business card and say,
"Call me if you're interested."  

This is Frustrating.  Ineffective.  And Discouraging, right?

Watch today’s video on the Wood Element to help you change this immediately:

The good news is that once you get the 5 Elements of Heartselling™, it improves every aspect of your life... your dating life, your love life (if you're in relationship), your relationship with your kids...

And you'll have the security of knowing that you can quickly fill your schedule with high-paying clients.  

5 ElementsIn our last four blog posts, you learned about the first 4 Elements of Heartselling™:
Fire = Connection.  
Earth = Service.  
Metal = Acknowledgment.  
Water = Curiosity.  

Each Element is vital to your Heartselling™ Conversations with potential clients. 

When you understand how to use all 5 Elements in your Heartselling™ conversations, you’ll feel great while talking with potential clients and you won’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. You’ll avoid going into the “sales box” and your potential clients will want to work with you or send you referrals.

Now, if you do Heartselling™ right, the first 4 Elements should feel like foreplay (okay, maybe we’re taking the dating metaphor a little far, LOL).  

But most Coaches and Holistic Practitioners stop after the first 4 Elements.  

They avoid the 5th Element like the plague.  The 5th Element is the Wood Element and it's all about giving your potential clients a choice.

Watch the video above about how to use the Wood Element so you can gracefully ask a potential client to work with you.  And then leave a comment below to tell us what you think.

If you want to embody all 5 Elements of Heartselling™, so your potential clients practically talk themselves into working with you (and you learn some H-O-T strategies to get your phone ringing), we highly recommend you join us at an upcoming Client Attraction Summit. 

Full Scholarships to the Client Attraction Summit for a limited time.  

This means we are gifting YOU with a free ticket to this 3-day live event (which we've been selling for $997)! 

Apply for your FULL SCHOLARSHIP now

And if you’ve already been to the Client Attraction Summit, now would be a great time to share about it with a friend. Share this video with a friend via email and mention they can get a FULL SCHOLARSHIP to the Client Attraction Summit for a limited time.

By the way, we’re leading our last Client Attraction Summit in LA in September. So it’s more important than ever to share about the Summit with your friends in Southern California and people who prefer to fly into LAX.

Tell us what you think...

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The Water Element: How Being Curious Can Build Your Client Base

ezine08-14-2014

The Water Element is one of the most powerful of the 5 Elements in our Heartselling™. 

Why? Because it’s all about how to use curiosity when talking with potential clients.

When you start using the Water Element, you’ll quickly start building your client base. Instead of trying to convince potential clients that they need what you have, you will ask specific questions that will help them talk themselves into working with you (if it’s a good match).

The simple questions you’ll discover on today’s video are questions your potential clients don’t get asked often enough. These are the type of questions that help your potential clients discover more about themselves while they simultaneously share about how you can help them.

They will feel so engaged with you...because very few people take the time to get genuinely curious about other people these days. 

The cool thing is that when you ask some of the questions you’ll discover in this video, they’ll literally talk themselves into working with you (if it’s a good match).

Watch the video now:

Who else would they want to work with but YOU, someone who will listen to them fully while they share deeply about their deepest desires and fears, right? 

After Dr. Lisa Cooney joined Thrive Academy Platinum, she stopped sharing so much about her degrees and accomplishments and instead started using the Water Element (read: more curiosity) in her conversations with potential clients.  It was after this that she had her first $39,000 Month!

Will YOU be our next success story?

Let us know what you think about the Water Element in the comments below.

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The Metal Element: How to Acknowledge a Potential Client

ezine08-07-2014

Sharla just left for a 5-day trip to speak at the eWomen Network Conference in Dallas. I (Jesse) miss her already.
And, after watching the video she just made for you, I miss her even more.

In this video, she shares how to use the Metal Element of Acknowledgment to attract clients.

It’s not just what she says, but how she says it that completely drew me in and had me forget about anything but what she was saying.

Even though I’ve lived with Sharla for over 12 years, she still blows me away with her sweet grace, her fiery compassion, and her powerful feminine beauty.

If you want more clients, the Metal Element can be a game changer for you.

In fact, all it might take is one authentic acknowledgment that touches your potential client so deeply that they say “YES!” to working with you.

But how do you use acknowledgment gracefully without sounding sales-y?

In this video, Sharla gives you a few simple, but powerful “acknowledgment phrases” that you can use to attract clients.

She also shares why this simple (but too often forgotten) element can increase the likelihood that your potential clients will hire you.

And, she shares how you may either unintentionally hurt your potential clients or appear “sales-y” if the Metal Element isn’t in balance.

Sharla says that “Acknowledgment is magical... and can improve all your relationships.” I can attest to this. The love and acknowledgment that Sharla gives you in this video is a sweet taste of the love she gives me and our boys so often. It’s her love and acknowledgment that make me want to be the best husband, father, leader, and speaker I can be.

Since the Metal Element has been so powerful for us and thousands of our clients, I wonder what it can do for you...

Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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