Articles

I have written every day for the past 10 years. If you like to read, I've got your back - and I promise to challenge your thinking
Back to articles
March 10, 2023 • Rich Litvin

The best sales advice. Ever.

If you want to be a successful coach, you have to learn to sell. There’s no way around it. 

Many of the most successful coaches I’ve ever met have a background in selling – from high-tech sales people in the corporate world to Mormons who grew up going door-to-door in their 20s. 

However, when I became a coach, I had a background as a high-school teacher. I had never sold anything in my life before I became a coach. So, I know from experience that sales can be mastered. 

[I’m struggling with parenting right now. My little one is refusing to go to school. And it’s really, really hard. As a parent, I make plenty of mistakes but I show up every day and I do the best I can.

I’ve done the same with selling for 17 years. I make plenty of mistakes but I show up every day and I do the best I can. 

I’m not promising selling will be easy. Sometimes selling is hard and sometimes it’s scary. But you can do hard. And a little scary is good. 

Oh, and the photo with this article is my son in a 3-piece suit that he put on the other day for fun. He told the babysitter his name was Rich!]

Here are my top 11 rules for sales:

  1. Sales is like fitness. If you want to be fit you’ve got to sweat. If you want to sell, you’ve got to sell. Period. 
  2. The first sale is ALWAYS to yourself. You can sell anything if you’re in love with it. If you’re not in love with coaching you’ll never be great at selling it. If you’ve never experienced great coaching, you’ll never be great at selling it. If you’ve never invested more money than you feel comfortable to spend on your own coaching, you’ll never be great at selling it. If you’ve never experienced a 10X return from coaching, you’ll never be great at selling it. 
  3. High touch beats high tech. If you want to sell, connect with real people, talk to real people, serve real people. Put your attention on them, create value for them and solve their problems.
  4. People only buy four things: time, money, status and peace of mind. If you try to sell something other than those four things you will fail. When you sell all four you will thrive.  
  5. Find ways to serve people and they will trust you. People buy from people they trust. Serve your ass off. Professor Adam Grant, in his book Give and Take, shows that givers are the most successful people. He says the key to success is to give more than you get and focus on other people’s needs. But make sure to prioritize your own self-care, so you don’t burn out.
  6. Find ways to create value for people. Write interesting articles. Challenge people’s thinking. Introduce fascinating people to one another. Expect nothing in return. Be in it for the long haul. 
  7. No one cares about your methodology, your qualifications, your fees, or your logo. No one. They care about the pain they feel and the problems they face. Focus on that. And sell the experience of coaching, not the concept of coaching. 
  8. If you want to charge more: solve bigger problems, create more value and remember how powerful you are. Highly successful people trust their peers. Be a peer.  
  9. High-performing clients are created in high-value conversations. To enroll high-fee clients master world-class coaching skills. Be provocative. Don’t challenge people to do what you want them to do, challenge them to do what they want to do. 
  10. Selling cannot be done to get approval or to get your emotional needs met. It’s to create value and create clients. That’s it. You have your friends, your clients have theirs. If they’re a great fit, serve them; if they’re not, set them free. Find potential clients, serve them, enroll them, charge them. Repeat. 
  11. Track, track, trackety track. Track your lead indicators, not just your lag indicators. Call 1-3 potential clients per day. Find a way to create value for them. Call 1-3 current or past clients. Create value for them, or ask for referrals.

If you want to sell, you need to sell. 

Do your reps, make mistakes, pick yourself up and start again. And again. And again. 

Don’t wait until you’re ready. You’ll never be ready. 

Don’t wait until you “deserve” higher fees. You don’t. 

Don’t wait until you feel confident. Confidence is a result, not a requirement. 

Learn to love selling and you’ll never need another client again. They’ll be knocking on your door.

Love. Rich

 

 

PS. Dramatically increase your confidence as a coach by mastering enrolling clients. Drastically increase your ability to raise your fees and up-level your clients. And learn to have fun making money. Join me on The 90 Day Money Game. There’s still time to join us…   

 

PLUS, whenever you’re ready – here are 4 more ways you can drastically increase your income and impact as a world-class coach:

  1. Assess your current coaching level and learn how to get to your next level. Read – or remind yourself of – The Litvin Levels, from The Prosperous Coach.
  2. Watch me coach some of the top coaches on the planet, in order to drastically uplevel your coaching skills. Join me on How To Coach A Superhero: The 4PC edition. 
  3. Imagine joining a Deep Coaching experience alongside the members of 4PC, my community of high-level coaches… We only offer The 4PC Accelerator once a year and it always sells out in advance. Save $1,000 with early-bird pricing.
  4. Learn how to enroll and coach successful, talented and ambitious clients – with power and impact. Join my flagship program, Project Kairos – for 8 months of guidance, challenge and support to master creating clients.

 

Transforming world-class leaders into world-class coaches.
That’s what we do.

If this sounds like you, let’s talk and explore if working together is a good fit.

Learn more about ways to work together

<h2>Join the Deep Dive Waitlist</h2>

<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="https://jk322.infusionsoft.com/app/form/process/5bc29e0421b01e24647c19a6050e234b" class="infusion-form" id="inf_form_5bc29e0421b01e24647c19a6050e234b" method="POST">
    <input name="inf_form_xid" type="hidden" value="5bc29e0421b01e24647c19a6050e234b" />
    <input name="inf_form_name" type="hidden" value="Web Form submitted" />
    <input name="infusionsoft_version" type="hidden" value="1.70.0.523259" />
    <div class="infusion-field">
        <label for="inf_field_FirstName">First Name *</label>
        <input id="inf_field_FirstName" name="inf_field_FirstName" placeholder="First Name *" type="text" />
    </div>
    <div class="infusion-field">
        <label for="inf_field_Email">Email *</label>
        <input id="inf_field_Email" name="inf_field_Email" placeholder="Email *" type="text" />
    </div>
    <div>
        <div>&nbsp;</div>
    </div>
    <div class="infusion-submit">
        <button class="infusion-recaptcha" id="recaptcha_5bc29e0421b01e24647c19a6050e234b" type="submit">Submit</button>
    </div>
</form>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://jk322.infusionsoft.app/app/webTracking/getTrackingCode"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://jk322.infusionsoft.com/resources/external/recaptcha/production/recaptcha.js?b=1.70.0.523259"></script>
<script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?onload=onloadInfusionRecaptchaCallback&render=explicit" async="async" defer="defer"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://jk322.infusionsoft.com/app/timezone/timezoneInputJs?xid=5bc29e0421b01e24647c19a6050e234b"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://jk322.infusionsoft.com/js/jquery/jquery-3.3.1.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://jk322.infusionsoft.app/app/webform/overwriteRefererJs"></script>

Join the Deep Dive wait list

You will be notified when we open registration for the next Deep Dive