How to Sell Your Online Coaching Packages with Ease Not Sleaze with Rachael Howourth

[KATHRYN]: Hey, I am super excited to have Rachael on the show today to dive into authentic selling online and the sales mistakes coaches need to avoid to achieve success.

[RACHAEL]: My name is Rachael and I'm a sales and business coach. I'm based in the UK. And I work in the online space helping coaches, course creators, consultants, and people with service-based businesses like VA social media managers, freelancers, I help them to, as you just said, sell with ease, not sleaze. 

[KATHRYN]: What sales mistakes do you see coaches making?

[RACHAEL]: The sales mistakes that I see coaches making right now when it comes to selling online has to do with not having clarity. I think the word clarity is used a lot. And I'm going to use it now. But I'm going to explain what I mean when it comes to sales. So clarity in terms of what you’re selling online is getting clear, setting a goal at the beginning of the month, at the beginning of the week, getting really, really clear about what your sales goal is. 

[KATHRYN]: Not a lot of people talk about the customer journey, can you break that down a little bit more in terms of what coaches should be doing in terms of sales at the start of the journey versus middle to end of the journey? 

[RACHAEL]: I think the statistic says that 60% of all people are unaware of the problem that they actually have right now. So when you're thinking about the start of the customer journey, you've got to remember that six out of 10, people aren't even really focused on the problem, because they're not aware of it. So when it comes to selling online as a coach you have to explain what the problem is to create awareness. So I talk about a sales bridge, where on one side of the riverbank, you have your ideal client, when they're in their problem state, whether they're aware of it or not, that's where they are, they're on one side of the river. On the other side of the river, you've got your ideal client, when the problem is solved, they're dreaming of the thing that they want, the thing that they are, you know, craving right now. For coaches, selling online is about showing them how to get from one side of the bridge to the other.

Keeping in mind the problem with the sales bridge is it's a bit rickety, and it's a bit old. And underneath that bridge is a river full of crocodiles, and they are hungry. And your ideal client is frightened. They look at that river, they're looking at the Crocs, and they're thinking, Oh, I really want to get to the other side, I really want to solve this, I really want the outcome. But I'm afraid to put a foot on the bridge. And so for you, when you're selling online you need to create that sense of safety, that they can put a foot on the bridge, the bridge isn't going to crumble into the water so that they get eaten.

[KATHRYN]: So what would you say are the biggest fears that you've seen in the online space with online coaches? 

[RACHAEL]: I think a lot of the time, people have been burned with bad programs or bad courses that they haven't finished or that haven't really delivered what was promised. And for every coach that they find inspiring and motivating, there's probably two or three that they don't, and so they're afraid of making a bad choice. They're afraid of wasting money. They're afraid of not being able to commit the time to the program. 

[KATHRYN]: I think a lot of messaging can sell easily and mislead people when selling online.

[RACHAEL]: I think that sometimes the sales messaging we hear when selling online makes it sound easy, it makes it sound passive. you know, create passive income, you know, build online courses for passive income. And that makes me a bit cross. Because when you build an online course, for passive income, you sign yourself up to be a marketing and sales director, you still got to get traffic to the landing page and build a landing page that converts and that's without even thinking about your program and delivering on the promise to help your clients get results. But you know, it takes years to be an overnight success, you know, because there is no such thing as an overnight success.

[KATHRYN]: So what are some things coaches can do to build that trust with their audience when selling online? 

[RACHAEL]: I think the latest stat that I heard, and this stat changes all the time, is it takes seven to 20 touchpoints, is the number of touchpoints that it takes to build enough trust for somebody to buy. And so you know, seven doesn't sound so bad, does it? But 20 sounds like a lot. And you know, we all trust in different ways we all have, we all start from a different perspective. So selling online might feel like you’re repeating yourself but for some, it takes longer. 

[KATHRYN]: So what would you say are important sales tips or tricks for coaches selling online?

[RACHAEL]: The first thing is encouraging coaches to remember that selling online is not about money. It's not about persuasion. It's not about influence or making somebody do something that they don't want to do. It's not even about pitching. It's about coaching, actually. Sales is a coaching conversation about helping somebody to navigate a journey that they couldn't make without you. 

[KATHRYN]: How can coaches make sure that the promise that they're delivering is something that they can actually deliver on?

[RACHAEL]: I think that starts in the sales. For example, on a discovery call, you need to hear your ideal client articulate exactly what it is that they want. And you need to be able to mentally tick off the boxes in your head, can I really do that? Does my program really do that? And if it doesn't, you have to say, I don't think it's for you right now. 

[KATHRYN]: I think there's a lot of sales messaging out there that hinges on persuasion, what are your thoughts on that?

[RACHAEL]: I think as coaches we should never want the outcome more than the client. So I won’t spend time trying to sell or convince people they should buy from me.

[KATHRYN]: Is there anything else that you do that's unconventional when it comes to selling online?  

[RACHAEL]: I teach a sales process that I call Cupid, which is a very consultative style of selling. And Cupid stands for Connect, understand, present, isolate, and diarize. And it really is centered around asking the right questions in an empowering way.  

[KATHRYN]: What do you feel like it's gonna take for online coaches and consultants to be really successful with selling online now?

[RACHAEL]: I think being adaptive and flexible is important. I think there are now so many different ways that we can build our audiences, create communities, nurture trust, there are so many different ways that we can do that when it comes to selling online. 

[KATHRYN]: Where can they find you if they want to connect with you about selling online?

[RACHAEL]: I just launched my podcast Building Online Sales Success. My handle over that is with my sales mentor. I've also got a Facebook group Facebook page LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, you name it. But Instagram is 

[KATHRYN]: So I really appreciate having you on the show to share with my listeners all about selling online and I cannot wait for this episode to drop.