The Key to Closing Coaching Prospects is Not to Talk: Asking Powerful Questions to Inspire Your Coaching Prospects to Buy

Sunday, December 13th, 2020 : Read 1,241 Times : 1044 words (Aprox 5 min read)

What if Every Coaching Prospect Was Easy to Close?

So often, as coaches, we get caught up in "what to say." There are scripts, and strategies, and programs, and methods for coaching clients. Most of them sound robotic and rehearsed, because... well, because they are.

It has been said that anytime there's a sale, there are actually two sales going on. There's you trying to sell them something that will really move the needle and change their life... and there's them trying to sell you on their limitations (I'm not good enough, I can't afford it, I don't have the time, I might fail, etc.)

If you close the sale, you both win. But if they close the sale you both lose.

So, if they're a good fit for coaching, we have to do what it takes to close the sale, for their benefit and ours.

Closing Sales in Coaching is About Tapping Into the Deeper Desire

Sales of any kind are rarely, if ever, made on logic. Yet, we think all we have to do is come up with a good solid argument; a list of reasons why they should sign up.

But this approach will come off as feeling pushy, inauthentic, and sometimes rude... like the stereotypical 1950s used-car salesman.

To overcome this and have a natural, authentic, powerful sales conversation, we have to tap into one of the most persuasive language patterns in any human language: questions.

Are Questions The Most Persuasive Language Pattern?

Questions are so powerful because it's very hard to reject them. They must be contemplated by the subconscious mind in order to be answered. (This is in contrast to statements, which can often be rejected by the conscious mind on their face value without any contemplation.)

When you ask the right kinds of questions, you engage your prospect on a deep subconscious level — the level of emotions and, more importantly, desire.

This will make a huge difference in your consultation calls, strategy sessions, and discovery calls.

Questions, like those below, will help you build massive value in the prospects mind, and link it to your coaching services... but only if you allow the client to fully associate and answer (don't let them off the hook too easily).

By answering these questions, the client will build a strong motivation, both toward what they want and away from what they don’t want, and both these types of motivation are necessary to close the sale.

And, as always, these questions should be asked from a place of rapport. Without rapport, the sales process is mechanical and unemotional. Rapport is something that is covered in other blog articles and in my NLP sales trainings.

Asking Powerful Questions to Close Coaching Prospects Easily

In the following sample questions, I’ll be using a success coaching program as the example product/service for sale, but these questions can be applied to any product or service in any niche.

This is not meant to be taken as a “script,” but, instead, a set of questions to have in your tool-belt. Practice them so they become second-nature.

• What made you think about finally getting a handle on your goals?
• What has prevented you from succeeding to the level you desire so far?
• How long have you had these challenges?
• What have you lost or never had because of this?
• If you had the opportunity to wave a magic wand and have things be exactly the way you want them, what would it be like? Describe that to me.
• Who is that person who thinks you have no hope of accomplishing this? What will it feel like when we prove them wrong?
• What will you lose if you don't fully commit and achieve these goals?
• What will people be saying about you when you’ve accomplished this? What will they be thinking? How will that make you feel?
• So, it’s fair to say that this is important for you to lose this weight, isn’t it? Why?
• What will you FINALLY be able to do once you achieve these goals? How will that change your life?
• What are the top five reasons you know that you’re worth this and you deserve it?
• What will it mean about you to finally have this taken care of?

Now, of course, these questions are just samples to inspire you. You may not use them word-for-word, but I know you can see the theme. They're designed to be open-ended so that the your prospect can associate to their OWN personal motivations and values, rather than the rehearsed values and benefits of the coach.

Most people think they need to talk to close a sale. But, the key is to ask the right questions, then give the client the space to go deep. They will give you everything you need (and they need) to close that sale.

When asking these questions, if the client gives you "surface answers," ask the following questions to get them to dig deeper:

• Why's that?
• Tell me more about that?
• What does that mean to you?
• What will that do for you?

Once you put these principles into play in your discovery calls, strategy sessions, and consultation calls, I believe you'll see immediate results. Try them out ASAP.

If this has been useful for you, I want you to know that this only the tip of the iceberg. It’s an important 1%, but just a small piece of the puzzle. You can learn more about how to close sales by downloading my ebook, Ultimate Sales Closes, ($19.99 value) for free below.

Posted by Michael Stevenson in marketing, sales, strategies, tactics on The Key to Closing Coaching Prospects is Not to Talk: Asking Powerful Questions to Inspire Your Coaching Prospects to Buy