Red Velvet Rope Policy

>> Hi, this is Michael. I'm back with more Book Yourself Solid goodness. And right now, we're going to focus on the first building block of your foundation. And the first building block of your foundation is the Red Velvet Rope Policy. The Red Velvet Rope Policy is a filtration system that allows in only the most ideal clients. Clients that energize you and inspire you, but most importantly, they allow you to do your best work because what happens out in the world when you're doing your best work, two things. Number one, you love the work you do, which is essential because if you don't love the work you do, you're not going to want to go out and get more clients. You see? If you don't like working with the people you're working with, you're not going to want to go get more of them. So that's incredibly important. That's the first reason. The second is because if you're doing your best work, your best work, then people around the world talking about your best work. And that is the best kind of marketing in the world. That's when people will flock to you because when somebody hears about you through someone else, who's talking about your best work, then they are transferring trust to that person. That person will come to you and already trust you. They will already believe in you. And that makes the whole sales process so much easier. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever worked with a dud client? Now that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them as a human being or as a person, but for you, they just weren't a good fit for a various number of reasons. Maybe they didn't do the things they said they were going to do, they didn't follow your advice or your plans, may be they pushed back continuously against your advice, they didn't take it seriously or they disagreed with it and wouldn't buy in. Maybe they said they were doing what you told them to but they really weren't, and so they said it was working and it's your fault, maybe that's happened or maybe they just drained your energy and made you feel like your work wasn't worthwhile, or worse, made you want to do bodily harm to them. Now of course, you would never do such a thing but maybe you were so frustrated that you just wanted to poke them. That's not a great way to get more clients, of course. So we don't want you to be in that situation. I know you don't want to be in that place. You didn't start your own business. You didn't become a Health Coach so that you'd work with people you don't love working with. I mean, you're not there to be a therapist. You're there to help someone change their life through the choices they make as it relates to their health, and that's exciting. But if it's not exciting, you're going to phase out, you're going to step back, and you may not achieve your goals. But you want to achieve your goals. You want to be fully self-expressed. You want to do this work in the biggest and the best way possible. So develop a Red Velvet Rope Policy so that you don't work with anybody that just has a pulse in a checkbook or anybody that can fog up a mirror, you work with people you are meant to serve. Not kind of, sort of, supposed to, but meant to serve. So I believe that's the way the world works. I believe that that's the way the world is set up. We are here to serve but not everybody. We are here to serve certain people. There are certain people that we are meant to serve and others that we're not. And when we try to serve the people that we're not, we tend to water ourselves down. We tend to pander to them and make choices that please them but don't please us, that may not even be in their best interest. So what would the world be like to you if you only worked with people that excited you, that energized you? What would that mean to you? Here's what it would mean, I think. It would mean that you are choosing your clients, that you are excited every single day to go into your work, that you're having the kind of results that you know you can produce. And I think that makes you feel really good about yourself, very proud, significant, substantial, and in fact, people will see you as having a significant amount of gravitas, as a result. So how do you create the Red Velvet Rope Policy, this filtration system that lets in only ideal clients? This is not based on how much money somebody has or doesn't have, although, of course, you want to work with people that can pay your fees, that's absolutely essential, but it's not about just that. It's about values. The qualities of that person because there are certain people you click with and others that you don't. And the values that the person has, the qualities that they have, the way they see the world is what's going to help you click or disconnect. So what are some of the qualities that somebody else has that allows you to do your best work because if you can identify these, you can identify these qualities in others, and you can focus your efforts on them, and that changes the nature of the whole sales conversation. If you watched the first video, you heard that the sales conversation, a simple sales conversation, has three parts or four parts rather. Number one, what are they want to achieve? Number two, why? Number three, do they want help with it? And number four, would they like that help to come from you? Because they're your ideal client. And when you tell them that, they'll say, "What do you mean?" because nobody's ever said that to them. Most people are just trying to get their money. You're saying, "Look, you're my ideal client, I do my best work with somebody just like you." "Is it, really? Why?" "Well, I've noticed that your naturally collaborative, you're very bright, you seem to do the things you say you're going to do, you are someone who is in service of others," etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And with each statement, their face brightens. It gets brighter and brighter, and their smile gets bigger and bigger. Why? Because maybe even their spouse hasn't said that to them in the last 10 years, but you recognized who they are, and they want to work with you as a result. So what qualities are ideal for you? And they may be different for different people. You may like people who are introverted, and reserved, and contemplated, and thoughtful. Well, maybe you really resonate with people who are high energy, and excitable, and quick action takers or maybe something different. I know that the people I do my best work with are naturally collaborative because I see the world as a place where we can do more together than we can alone. So they're naturally collaborative, they do the things they say they're going to do, they are trusting because if they don't trust, they tend not to take advice. And there are others, but my qualities of the ideal... My client's ideal qualities are not important, what's important are the qualities of your ideal client. So that's what I want you to think about. And in Book Yourself Solid, there are specific exercises that you can use to identify who your star clients are. Now here's what sometimes happens. Sometimes you'll identify a client that's ideal, you get really excited about them, and you'll book the business, and then you get right to work with them because you're so excited to work with them 'cause you don't want to screw it up, you just get right to it. And then you find over a month or two or three, they feel less ideal. It's not going as well as you hoped it would. And they're starting to feel like they could fall into the dud client category even though they have the values that you do your best work with. Well, these people are in the middle right now. And it's in large part because you may not have set expectations at the beginning. When we start a client relationship, the expectations that we have are essential. And the expectations that they have are essential. So if we don't set any expectations, they don't know what their responsibilities are. If we don't set any expectations, then we don't know what our responsibilities are... Or they don't know what our responsibilities are rather. So it's very important that we're both on the same page. So you tell them, "Here's what you can expect from me." And you also tell them, "Here's what I expect from you. Can I count on that?" I do this after the sales conversation. And you don't have to be nervous that they're going to then leave, they're going to back away because they're going to get actually more committed to it because they're going to make that commitment. One of things you want to do is ask them, "Is there any reason that you change your mind? Is there any reason that you would back out of this, that you wouldn't do it?" And often, they'll say, "No, no, I'm in, I'm absolutely in." And then you have that moment to reference any time they start to fade. Or they may thinking, "Oh, well, I don't know if I'm not..." if they're losing weight as a goal, "If I'm not losing weight by expected time or if I don't feel more energized by..." Then you know and you can say, "Well, listen, that expectation may be unrealistic." Or you go, "That's a realistic expectation, let's shoot for that." And then you can keep managing that expectation, you keep hitting on it, going back to it to make sure that you're actually achieving it. So you see, first you identify who is ideal for you, then you make sure that in the sales conversation you're only talking to ideal clients, you're demonstrating to them that you do your best work with them. And then, you're setting expectations right at the beginning. And then, of course, you're managing those expectations to keep that client ideal. And then you love the work you do, and that's what this is about. You want to stand in the service of others as you stand in the service of your own destiny. And that's why the first building block of the foundation, which is the first module in Book Yourself Solid is your Red Velvet Rope Policy, of working only with ideal clients. Clients that energize you and inspire you, and most importantly, allow you to do your best work because that's why you got into this work in the first place, to love the work that you do. In our next video, I'm going to show you why people buy what you're selling. So tune in for that one, bye for now.