Leah Gervais: Hey everyone, Leah here. Welcome back to Your Biggest Vision. I’m your host and I’m so excited to be here with you. Today’s episode is a little bit of a flashback, but incredibly is not that long ago. It’s from five years ago when I started signing one-on-one client sale and some lessons from that initial client sale that I still use today, even having made million dollars over several times through coaching, and I wanted to share what those were. 

So stay tuned. And I also wanna make sure that you know about my other podcast Seven Figure Secrets.

Seven Figure Secrets is my private but free podcast that is a lot more strategic and really breaks down the nuts and bolts of what I am and am not doing in my seven figure business, what is and isn’t working. You can subscribe to it on my website@leahdraba.com or go to seven figure secrets podcast.com and you can subscribe to it there.

 This week I’m going to start taking you guys behind the scenes on my journey of removing Instagram stories from my business model and kind of changing Instagram with my business altogether. What I’m doing instead. This is something that I’ve heard a lot of other people crave as well, which is just removing social media from their business and lives. So I wanna share how I’m doing that. If you have not, uh, signed up to get those episodes, do so now at seven figure secrets podcast.com.

Totally free. Okay, so today we are going through a little bit of a flashback where I wanna share the first time I signed a one-on-one coaching client sale five years ago, what I did right during that, and some of the things I still use or think about or employ or are really helpful to me, uh, when I make sales today, when I assign new clients today.

 And that I think would help you no matter where you’re at in your journey. And if you want to learn more and be coached by me to build a business that you love and that makes you the money that you want on the time that you want, and with the freedom you want, get on my coaching wait list, you can go to leah jervey.com/waitlist. It is the only way to be informed when I have spots that open available coaching, and you’ll be the first to know when we have sales discounts, anything else of that nature.

And when you join the wait list, you are in the drawing. Uh, you will, you’re in the contest, uh, to win a free intensive with me, which is really, really valuable. I actually have one coming up here soon if someone is coming all the way to the city, um, from quite a distance to do it. So if you want to potentially win that for free, then sign up for the wait list. 

Okay, so let’s go back a little bit. I signed my first client sale, uh, for $1,500, which was unreal to me. That was a life changing amount of money. And at the time I had already been in quite a bit of business debt. I actually have a whole other episode on Seven Figure Secrets, the podcast where I talk about how I went into debt, how I got out of it, all of that type of stuff.

So if you’re interested in more of that journey, be sure to check out that episode. Uh, but making that $1,500 sale was a huge win to me. So up until that point, I had tried to sign a client sale for quite some time, but there were a lot of things that I wasn’t doing without knowing it. And I, I hope I can bring some attention to that for you today.

 And that when I started doing it, things started to change. I think that that’s how I was able to sign this client sale and that is, uh, you know, what I’m still doing today. So the first thing I wanna point out that I did was really focused. I stopped focused on selling when selling wasn’t really working. So I realized I needed to grab my audience before I sold more. This is a huge, huge obvious strategy that for whatever reason goes over our heads a lot of the time.

You have to have us an audience to sell to. It isn’t enough to just create an Instagram profile. It isn’t enough to, uh, you know, just send out a few emails. You really need to build an audience. It needs to be something that you’re doing every day in the beginning. So the thing I decided to start doing was running ads to a lead magnet to start growing my email list. I had been practicing email marketing for quite a while.

 I liked it and I knew that it was going to be an effective marketing tool, but I had to have people to email, right? So I decided to start using Facebook ads. Now, keep in mind this was not an easy decision because as I shared, I was already in business debt, so I went into even more debt to, um, pay for the ads as well as to pay for a coaching service that taught me how to use ads.

But I was like, you know what? It’s not working without it. I need to try something different. And I decided to do that. So I started running ads and after a little bit of getting the hang of that, I decided to run ads for a free, uh, masterclass. I believe it was a teleclass actually, if that’s kind of aging me a little bit. This was before Zoom, this was before, um, webinars were as big as they are now. I decided to do it just audio. 

So I ran ads for that and I remember deciding that I wanted 300 people to sign up for this and that I was willing to pay whatever it costs to get those people to sign up. And I think that that’s a very powerful thing as well, because I think oftentimes we’re like, oh, I’ll pay X amount of ads and we’re kind of then becoming, you know, powerless to how the ads perform and to all the algorithm effects and all of that.

And you really have no idea how many people you’ll end up with. So I took the opposite approach and I said, I’m going to end up with 300 no matter what, no matter what it costs. And I also did a lot of organic outreach for that teleclass. I was DMing a lot of people on Instagram, inviting them. 

Um, I was reaching out to friends and family people on my personal pages. I was determined to get 300 people there no matter what. And long story short, I did that class, I killed it. It was such a good class. I still remember it to this day and it gives me chills. 

And you know, I remember I was still at my nine to five job and I came home and did it, uh, at my, in the little corner of my New York City apartment. Um, and I was just so passionate about it because I was just very excited about what I was doing and I knew I could help people.

And long story short, someone booked a call from that teleclass and that was my first one-on-one coaching client sale. I had done other one-off consultations before then I had done other types of things, but that was my first real one-on-one like long-term coaching client sale. 

So what are some of the things that went into that sales process that I still utilize today that I think are still effective and that still are part of my, uh, sales process now that my coaching is up to $75,000, right? Some, a lot more money, but some of the principles are still the same. Okay? The first thing that I did that was so valuable and is still so valuable is, I connected personally with this client before they signed on. 

This is so obvious, but because people are so seduced right by online business because we all read the four hour work week because we all see how much freedom people have on Instagram, I think sometimes we forget that you’re selling to humans and that you want that human connection on both ends.

You also don’t wanna be coaching people that you don’t know or that you don’t know if you’d be able to really help them or if you would enjoy coaching them. So there were a few different ways in which I did that, in which you can do this that I wanna point out. 

First is before the Teleclass started, I did a series of, uh, warmup emails, which I think are very smart. If you are doing some sort of live event, like a webinar or a masterclass or a workshop or a retreat or anything of the sort, any sort of event you want to give the opportunity for people that are signing up, especially if it’s their first time getting to know you, a chance to get to know you before they even see you at whatever they’ve signed up for. 

So I had a series of nurture emails that talked more about my story, that talked a little bit more about, um, what I did that talked about who I helped, that talked about my approach to business.

And at the time I was really focusing on side hustling because I was still side hustling myself, um, and really gave her the chance so that, and gave everyone the chance if they read the emails. By the time they got on that call with me, they knew a lot about me. They knew why I was teaching it. They kind of had a little bit of understanding about why they should listen to me, right?

And well, I’m not just a random person on the internet. I have this whole series of credentials and here’s a little bit about me personally, so they can decide whether or not they like me. Not everyone’s gonna like me. Totally cool. Not everyone’s gonna like you either. The sooner you get on board with that, the sooner you will set yourself free and the more money you’ll make. So that was a big thing beyond the nurture sequence, obviously the teleclass was a way for them to get to know me.

It was something I did live and it was something that allowed them to connect with me and my personality, not just a P D F or not just an Instagram picture. So to this day, I’m still a big fan of video, uh, live events. Um, I, I think audio, the day’s kind of over, but not really actually. Cause people love podcasts. Um, podcasts and YouTube are good ways, but I think having a live element mixed with that is even more powerful.

 It doesn’t always happen, it doesn’t always need to, but just giving what you want your guiding principle to be, and the way you wanna think about this isn’t what’s the best platform to create an opt-in on or what’s the best type of opt-in. You need to think about it from the standpoint of what’s going to give the opportunity for my, for this audience to get to know me best and honestly,

Sometimes it can be all of those things. Sometimes it can depend and sometimes it can just depend on what you feel most comfortable with. But me having, uh, myself there live, I much prefer myself live than rehearse or scripted. Even with these podcasts, I don’t, um, like to type them out first. I remember once hearing a very successful podcast or early in my journey tell me that I would be an amateur if I didn’t type out my podcast.

And I was like, I’m never doing that . And I said, I never do I, you know, outline things, but besides, besides the point it was live. I answered questions live. Uh, I was, um, uh, you know, in real time with them and they were able to hear my voice and kind of feed off my energy. And then beyond that, I also got on a call with her.

Okay? So there’s been three major touchpoints at this point where this person has been able to connect with me and get to know me and build an element of trust with me. First through a series of emails that I very intentionally and, um, with love sent out that really poured into my background, my education, my experience, who I am. There was the actual event she had signed up for herself, sort of a live, uh, energy, uh, high energy, um, experience. And then there was a personalized one-on-one call.

 Now this client, this was a $1,500 sale at the time, this felt like I won the lottery, but that’s really not that much money when it comes to investing in your business. It’s not really that much money at all when it comes to investing in your business. And nowadays, I probably wouldn’t get on a call for a $1,500 sale.

That’s not really, you have to kind of prioritize your time, but at that point, I knew that I needed to make this relationship building be my priority, and that’s why I did it. And I think that that’s a really important thing to remember. 

So that is still a priority amongst all of my clients and all the people that we meet. I’m big, big on building relationships, and I think if you’re not building relationships, you are not building your business. So that was another big point I connected with her personally and for free first. 

The second thing I wanna point out that I did then that is still important and valuable, and I made this point already so I won’t go into too much detail, is I spent the time and money and commitment building an audience and an audience that trusted me. So I was spending on ads, I was emailing frequently, I had a nurture sequence.

I was willing to do what it takes to get visible. And I think that a lot of times people feel like they can’t spend the time and money growing their audience until blank, until they have enough money, until they have enough clarity, until they have enough time. And when you do get that enough, whatever that means, right?

 Whenever you do have the thing you wanna sell or you do have the clarity or you do have the time or you do have the money, you’re kind of too late at that point because at that point you then wanna be selling and you don’t have an audience to sell to. So something I talked to a client yesterday on a call with is that by your bank account probably reflects mostly what you were doing about three months ago, last quarter, about 90 days ago, uh, not what you’re currently doing.

So your bank account in three months will be reflected on how much of an audience you are building now, not how much of an audience you’re building when you are ready, or when you have time or when you have money. And I think I am really committing to visibility, even before I had, I hadn’t, this was my first sale. I had not made that one-on-one coaching sale at all. I had made other miscellaneous sales, but none of them were over a thousand dollars or frankly even close to it. 

So this was a really big sort of risk for me, but I, I knew and I could see because I had tried it the other way that without an audience to sell to this was never going to work. And I invested in that in my business and I still, this is something I still do 365 days a year, I get new people on my email list every day.

Not a single day goes by that that doesn’t happen. Okay? The third thing that I did, uh, that I think is still a valuable tool to take in all of your sales is I had an incentive to buy. Now, something I talk about with my clients often is that there’s two ways to kind of two-prong approach, uh, a two-prong approach to having an urgency factor when it comes to sales. The first is the one, everyone kind of squirms, the right word to squirms , uh, uh, that no one really loves, which is the artificial urgency.

 And I understand that because sometimes it can feel a little bit pushy or ClickFunnel or used car sales mini where it’s like, if you do this within 24 hours, you’ll get 10% off, and if you do it in full, you’ll get another blah, blah, blah.

And it just can feel, uh, intense and, uh, stressful almost, and very salesy. I think that’s the reaction most people have, is they feel like, I don’t wanna make someone make a decision under pressure and I don’t wanna come off as just in it for the sale. So having these artificial deadlines just feels pushy to me and I don’t like it.

 And I get that I, I still personally do, call them fast action discounts or bonuses, whatever you end up giving with it, whether it’s a discount or a bonus. But to me it doesn’t feel pushy and it doesn’t feel icky because the reason I do it is something I firmly believe in, which is that entrepreneurship comes to those who trust themselves to make quick decisions. I very much believe in that. You’ll hear Anna Wintour, who we all should be worshiping, say that her number one professional trait is that she’s decisive.

And I just don’t think we have time to dilly dally in the ping pong game of our mind or should I do this? Should I not? Am I ready? Am I not? Is it the right time? Is it not? Can I afford it? Can I not? You have to make a decision and move on, and sometimes you will make the wrong decision. That’s okay. That’s how you learn and move forward and grow. You’ll still be further along than if you were dilly-dallying considering the decision.

 So this is something I still offer to me, it doesn’t feel salesy to offer to me. It actually feels very in service. I wanna work with clients that trust themselves. I wanna work with clients that are in momentum and ready to say yes. And I wanna work with clients that can decide and can take action. Okay? So it feels very good to me and I explain it that way and that’s why we offered it back then.

I’m sure I was just like, I’ll give you $500 off if you join, join with it. You know, I don’t even remember how much the discount was. I don’t remember what the timeframe was, but I did offer something and I still do to this day. All that said, and that’s only one type of urgency when it comes to buying the other is what I call built in urgency, which is not artificial, not superficial, not something you create. It is the reason why the person should move forward with you now versus a month versus a year.

 And you need to help them see what that answer is. It is very easy for some niches that are time sensitive or pertain to a particular season of life. For example, if you’re a doula, then the built-in urgency is very simple. You have nine months, you’re pregnant, right?

You have to do it within that timeframe. And so some of these niches have this built-in urgency because they’re based on a person’s time, a time in their life, a time in their career, or time in their health, whatever kind of niche you’re in. And sometimes I think people feel like, oh, I’m narrowing myself down because I can only work with people at this particular time. 

That’s not true. It’s actually a huge blessing because you have this piece nailed down if you don’t, if you are more in the camp of, well, it is kind of true that to some extent people could take my program or work with me or learn from me at various different points in their life and they would benefit from it equally, that’s fine. But your job is when you are connecting with this person one-on-one to help understand why it is now for them.

And the truth is, if they are on the call with you or if they signed up for a webinar with you or if they reached out to you or if they’re on your email list, there must be a reason why they are intrigued or interested or curious about doing this right now. They’re probably not doing it for the love of the game. I’m sure they’re busy. 

So your job is just to help them understand that why, in my case, why is starting a side hustle more important to you now than it will be in a month, or it will be in a year. You might be stressed about money right now, you might be busy right now, but will you be any less so in a year? In fact, what would it mean to you if you were further along in a year than you are now, et cetera.

So helping them uncover whatever that truth is for them is a very, very powerful type of urgency. Probably more powerful than the artificial type. I’m a fan of combining the two. If it feels good to you. I know some people don’t wanna do the artificial one, and that’s fine. Just know that it will, you will have people then that just say, I wanna do this later, unless you have a very clear intrinsic, built-in peace emergency. 

So that is something we still do. So those are three things that I employed when signing my first client sale. And there are all three things that I still do now. Signing $75,000 clients now having made a million dollars and, and more, uh, from coaching. 

And it is something that I really hope helps you no matter where you are in signing your first or your third or your 10th or year a hundredth coaching client sale because they are just simply principles of sales that work and they’re principles of sales that are just as much in service to your client as you.

They allow your client to get to know you. They allow your client to trust you. They allow your client to get to know you without feeling rushed. They allow your client to take the action that’s right for them or say no in a, in a, in a very confident way. And that’s fine. Not everyone’s gonna say yes. And that is so, so fine. 

And as I mentioned, if you want to sign up to be coached by me, there is no commitment when you get on my wait list. You don’t have to pay, you don’t have to fill out a form, you don’t have to, you don’t have to commit to anything. It’s just getting you in the front row of my offerings so that when things do open up, because we’re full right now, but when we’re not , when we would love to have you be the first to know about an upcoming v i p day or an even a coaching spot, which are few and far between. 

So you can get on the wait list at leahgervais.com/waitlist.  Remember, you’ll be in the drawing for a free intensive with me when you get on, and I will see you there.

All right? I hope you all have a great start to your summer. And don’t forget to check out seven figure Secrets for more technical s strategical tips,  strategical strategic tips behind running a seven Figure Business. And I’ll talk to you soon. Bye visionaries.

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