Renee Hribar [00:00:00]:

Hey, hey, okay, I wanna talk about something that doesn't get said enough once your business is actually working. So here's the thing, you're doing great, your audience is growing, but then it starts to grow faster than your capacity. And if you're the kind of woman who cares about people, which I know you are, you start trying to serve everyone. You create something helpful for the people who aren't ready for your premium offer yet. You tweak it. Rename it, you add a bonus, you add a workbook. You know the one, you know what I'm talking about. If you're starting to nod or slink down on your chair, don't worry.

Renee Hribar [00:00:43]:

I'm here for you because this episode is all about that. And if this is your first time listening, welcome. This is the Selling Your Expertise Podcast. I'm Renee Rebar, sales coach for service providers and consultants who want to help people but have never been trained how to package up, sell, and deliver their expertise. I help you go way beyond just replacing your corporate income. And whether you've read my book or you've seen one of my talks, like the one I did for TEDx, or you're brand new here, I'm glad you're here with me. Make sure you go to askmecoach.com for all the freshest ways to stay connected beyond this podcast. All right, let's dive into today's episode.

Renee Hribar [00:01:25]:

You know, I love to teach with stories, right? So let me tell you a little quick story about a consultant that I've been coaching. And for this story, we'll call her Mia. Not her real name, but definitely a true story. So Mia has momentum, right? She's written a book, she's out there speaking, her network is expanding, people are paying attention. Her private clients, solid, high trust, high touch, high ticket, and that makes up 80% of her revenue. And honestly, it's the work she wants to keep doing, but she keeps getting invited to do these talks and she's getting paid a little bit, you know, makes up about 20% of her revenue. She loves it. She loves being out there.

Renee Hribar [00:02:09]:

She loves being in front of a group, whether it's 100 people or 1,000 people. She's got a mic in her hand or whether it's virtual or in person. And she even loves the in-person. She loves being out there. But then there's this other problem that starts to arise. It's the not-yet group of people. Right? They're smart. They run small businesses.

Renee Hribar [00:02:30]:

Maybe they have a contractor or virtual assistant and they need help. They respect her. They've seen her speak on stage or they've seen her speak in a summit and they follow her. They buy the book, but they're not quite ready for her full private client process. So she builds a workshop for them. It flops. Not because she's bad at what she does and not because the topic is wrong, Not even because she wants to show up more. I mean, she doesn't want to do more necessarily.

Renee Hribar [00:03:04]:

She wants to help more people. But it flops because she's trying to solve two separate problems at the same time. Problem one, which is, I want to keep growing my premium client roster without adding more hours to my already busy week. The second problem she's trying to solve is, how do I support the not-yet people without donating my life, right? And I'm a big fan of having a couple coaching hours each year that I do pro bono because I really do, just like you, I wanna help people and I can see them struggling and I want to help them. It's kind of like the old story about the man who sees a butterfly in the park and it's struggling, it's on the ground and it's struggling to break out of its chrysalis. He reaches in his pocket, he has his little Swiss Army knife, and he gently gently, very delicately helps the caterpillar emerge as the butterfly. It helps it push, it helps it break through. But the problem is, he didn't know it, but he was actually hurting the butterfly because it needed to push through the chrysalis to go from being a caterpillar to the butterfly, because that's how it pumped the blood through its wings so that it could fly away.

Renee Hribar [00:04:24]:

And we do that a lot because we want to help. We see them struggling, and so we reach in to try to help them. But that just isn't the help that they actually need. And when we finally name what's happening, it's actually very simple. It's not a marketing problem. It's not even a sales problem. It's an 80/20 problem. 80% of her revenue, and honestly, her best results came from a small group of ideal clients.

Renee Hribar [00:04:51]:

20% of her growing audience wanted more support and they were getting it through her paid talks and her book. But they weren't at the level of her private clients. And this is the big shift that really changed everything. Instead of building a brand new offer and hoping it works, we built a front window offer, an entry point, something someone can buy quickly, use immediately, get a quick win from. And with Mia, it, you know, without her really having to give personal attention, she was able to build a product that had all of her brain components in it. And then she was able to put it on the front shelf. She was able to put it in in her bookmarks, a little QR code, go to this page. So not a massive program, not a group program, not even another workshop, which she thought they'd eat up because that's what they saw originally, right? That's typically how these people were meeting her is because companies were hiring her, organizations were bringing her in to talk to their people.

Renee Hribar [00:05:54]:

And I tell you, this one starter product, this version 1, we tested it, improved it, And it's off to the races. Because here's what most people, especially experts, like especially women experts, this is where we get it wrong. And I have gotten it wrong here too, but I have learned my lesson. I put my hand on that hot stove 10 too many times. Is we try to go deep with everyone because we know we can help them. We see we can help them, but they're just not ready. And it turns out badly, just like the man in the park with the butterfly, because depth is expensive. Going deep with a client and actually genuinely transforming them, it costs time for both of you.

Renee Hribar [00:06:40]:

It costs energy for both of you. It costs attention for both of you. And that's even if you do it for a quote unquote discount or a quote unquote deal. I also want to make sure that you know that you don't have to discount. If you really want to talk about how to close high-ticket clients Without discounting, go back to episode 59. And if you're so nervous that you're not gonna be able to get the right clients, go back to episode 55, Book 3 Calls in 7 Days. It's a hot one. It's climbing the charts.

Renee Hribar [00:07:15]:

It's climbing the charts. Okay, so here's the reality. One product, one version, tested, improved, done. Because we can't go deep with everyone. So if you wanna grow without losing your mind, I highly recommend it. Your job is not to serve everyone at the same depth. I want you to think about that. Say that again.

Renee Hribar [00:07:40]:

Your job is not to serve everyone at the same depth. Your job is to build a path that protects your calendar and gives the "not yet" people a next step. And I need you to hear this. I hear this from my heart. When something flops, It does not automatically mean the topic is wrong or the audience is wrong or that you are wrong. Sometimes it just means we changed too many variables at once, right? We wanna be a good scientist, change one thing. But often, and I've seen this happen, and this is a lot of times where I meet my clients, is they're trying something new. They wanna create a time-leveraged offer, but they changed the container and the topic, or they changed the audience and the messaging, or they changed the price and the positioning, and they doubted instead of tested.

Renee Hribar [00:08:37]:

We have to test. I have had more offers that I thought were a phenomenal idea. Like, I woke up in the middle of the night, oh my goodness, I had a download. This is amazing. This is the best thing since sliced bread. Everybody's gonna love it. I put it out there, nada, nothing. I tried, I tested, I do this, I do that.

Renee Hribar [00:08:55]:

No. So what I'm getting at is it's okay to put it out there and have it flop. It doesn't mean that you're on the wrong track. It just means that we need to test one thing at a time. So if you're going to operate like the CEO that you are, test one thing at a time. One audience, one version, one variable, and then you gather the data. And here are 3 questions I want you to sit with this week because I know that you want to grow. I know that you want to expand.

Renee Hribar [00:09:28]:

Okay, here's the first one. Ask yourself, am I trying to turn nice people into paid clients instead of building a clear next step for the ones who are already aligned? Okay. Second question. Ask yourself, what's the smallest, most useful version 1 of your expertise that someone could buy without needing your full brain on call? That's a huge one. That smallest, most useful version 1, that's the thing you'd probably think nobody needs because everybody knows that, right? They don't know that. I guarantee you. That's expert-itis at its best and us thinking, "What use is that? I mean, everybody knows that, right?" We don't know that. I can tell you, I've had people pay me thousands of dollars and genuinely, feel fantastic about it.

Renee Hribar [00:10:25]:

And their response when I send them feedback forms is, "You showed me the questions I should be asking myself that I didn't even know to ask." So don't be afraid for the smallest, most useful version 1 of your expertise, because that might very well be the thing. Okay, the third question I want you to sit with this week is ask yourself, if I only changed One variable this month, maybe it's the topic or the container or the audience, which one would give me actual clarity instead of more overthinking? Ah! And I'm saying it like that because I fall prey to that as well. So do not feel like I am immune. I just know my chronic disorder, aka overthinking. And so I have measures inside of my business to protect me and my team from it. Because the reality is, if you're exhausted, it's not because your business is broken or that nobody has the problems you solve. It's because your boundaries might be blurry. Ah, I speak from experience.

Renee Hribar [00:11:34]:

And it's not something that's a one and done fix. It's a constant thing that I have to be aware of, right? It's kind of like my aunt just has to know if she's gonna drink red wine, she's gonna get a migraine, right? Like, just know that when you do this, it's gonna happen. If I had, you know, steak and potatoes last night, I'm probably gonna have salad the next day. Balance. It's called balance. But the reality is that when you ask yourself these questions, you're going to gain clarity, and clarity fixes a lot of that. So if this episode brought up more questions than answers, I want you to go to askmecoach.com, get on my email list. You'll get a practical resource.

Renee Hribar [00:12:13]:

It's an awesome free 5-day sales course. And the cool part is you can actually hit reply, and I invite you to do that, inside of my email list and ask me anything. I can't wait to see you on the next episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today.