Renee Hribar [00:00:00]:

All right, let me ask you something. Have you ever sent a proposal, felt really good about it, and then crickets, you reach out with, hey, were you able to open the email with the proposal, you know, thinking it might have been a technical glitch. And then you find out, dun, dun, dun. They are now thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it. But the thing is, is what does that really mean? They're talking to their spouse, their business buddy from that mastermind. They were in their neighbor's cous who once built a Squarespace site in 2016. The problem is none of those people are you. Yeah, that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Renee Hribar [00:00:41]:

So welcome back to the Selling youg Expertise podcast. I'm Renee Rebar, sales coach for service providers and consultants who are sick and tired of being undervalued and disrespected. I help you package up, sell, and deliver your expertise that goes way beyond just replacing your income. Whether you've been reading my book, thank you very much. Or seen one of my talks, maybe like the one I did for TedX, or you're brand new here, welcome. I'm glad you're here. Go to askmecoach.com for all the freshest ways to stay connected beyond this podcast. All right, now let's dive into today's episode, because this is not a pricing problem.

Renee Hribar [00:01:22]:

This is not even a confidence problem. This is a role problem. And once you fix the role, decisions speed up, scope, creep goes down, and you stop feeling like you're waiting around, hoping that they click accept. Oh, we don't want to have that feeling, that emotion like, oh, I hope, I hope, I hope. Oof. That's the worst stressful feeling ever. So if you're not able to close on the phone for a variety of reasons, typically it's about qualifying questions and timing. And yes, there definitely are scenarios where the person you're speaking with is just decision influencer and not the full decision maker.

Renee Hribar [00:02:05]:

Maybe they have to run it through procurement or promote it to the board or whatever has to happen. Those are scenarios. But often many of you that are listening are speaking to other individual solopreneurs where they are the decision maker and you want to be the decision influencer. So here's what I mean, and honestly, this is what I've been seeing in a lot of almost everywhere in a lot of my calls with my clients is that their buyers are overwhelmed. Right? Buyers are slower to decide on anything and they're filling the gap with outside opinions. Everything from I'M going to ask ChatGPT to. I'm going to ask my rabbi to my priest, to my cousin's nephew's son, who knows about that thing, whatever it is that you do. So it's not because they don't want to work with you, but most experts assume.

Renee Hribar [00:02:59]:

Well, I already explained it. They'll just decide, I don't want to be pushy. Okay, I agree on you did explain it. I agree on they will make a decision. And I agree on we don't want to be pushy. But buyers don't decide in a vacuum. And if you're not actively guiding the decision, someone else or something else is. And spoiler alert, that person does not understand your work or your process or why your proposal is structured in the way that it is.

Renee Hribar [00:03:32]:

So let's fix that, shall we? Hmm? I have a few steps for you. So get out your pen and paper or get ready to save this podcast and listen to it again when you're ready to take some action. So maybe just listen to it first all the way through so you can get the idea and the theory in place. And then, of course, as always, as I end every podcast episode, I want you to take action on this. Information is not power. Acting on that information is. So we're gonna break this down step by step. Here's step one.

Renee Hribar [00:04:05]:

If there's hesitation on your buyer's side at all, then get everybody who you hope that they will talk to or that they share, they will talk to on a call. Hey, let's get everybody on a call. I'll talk to them. Right? That's the idea. Hey, let's just get. Let's get all the questions out, because mystery does not love money. Okay, so let me tell you about this one client. We'll call her sue for this one.

Renee Hribar [00:04:29]:

It's not her real name, but we. Everybody needs a name now and then, even fake people, even imaginary, imaginary scenarios. So sue, as we're calling her in our story today, already worked with the client that she sent a proposal to. This client, trusted her, liked her, said yes almost. Because to me, a yes is they paid you. Like, that's the yes. They paid you for whatever you put in front of them. If they just said yes verbally, it's almost.

Renee Hribar [00:04:57]:

So the proposal went home with the client that she made the invitation to. You know, in this case, again, it was a current client, but this was additional proposal for additional separate project work. And so the spouse wasn't on the original call. Now, the spouse is not an official partner in the business, just a partner in this potential client's life. And there were questions. So suddenly the spouse had ideas, which is great. That's great. Let's get everybody on a call.

Renee Hribar [00:05:25]:

But the translation right here is that there's hesitation. Hesitation has entered the. And my client, in this case sue, wasn't there. So here's the move most people don't make, but should. And I'm going to tell it to you right now so you can. This is what I want you to say. Let's all get on a short call and talk through what needs to happen now and what we can move to later. Not everything on that proposal has to happen all at once.

Renee Hribar [00:05:50]:

We can spread it out or we can speed it up. Let's talk about what the plan is. And again, this call that you're proposing everybody get on is not to defend your proposal and it is not to justify your price, but to reestablish you as the strategic advisor. Because when you don't, they're still talking, just without you. And deals don't die immediately. They just get slower and messier and harder to close. So again, I'm really encouraging you. If you've shared the proposal, they said, this sounds great, but they didn't buy while you were together, maybe preemptively make another call time before the deadline's over.

Renee Hribar [00:06:40]:

Like, hey, listen, I'm gonna take this home with you. Think about it. I understand you don't wanna make a, you know, a snap decision. Sleep on it a hundred percent. I put a deadline on here. It's good until next Monday. Let's set up a call for Monday morning and we'll all talk about it. Or we can set up a call for Thursday if you'd like.

Renee Hribar [00:06:56]:

But the idea is that we all get back together and review this. Because as you look at what this is and think about the details that I included, again, it's all based on what you shared with me. Sometimes other things come to light, other ideas come up, and we want to include those and make sure that they're represented in this next step we're going to take together. So this is you, my dear listener, being on the same side of the table as them. This is not confrontational closing. We are nurturing and helpful because we are going to protect the relationship above all else as we sell our expertise. All right? Okay. Step two.

Renee Hribar [00:07:36]:

I already preempted it. I already said it a little bit. Step two is proposals without deadlines create decision drift. That's a mouthful. When I wrote it, and I wrote out that step two it sound. It looked better than it did to say it. Do you ever have that happen? Anyway, this is a loving rant. Okay? This is a loving rant.

Renee Hribar [00:07:57]:

You cannot do deals without deadlines. I said it. You cannot do deals without deadlines. I love you. I wish that this were different. But here's the thing. You're not being pushy by giving a deadline. You're giving the decision a container so it doesn't overflow, spill out, get messy and hard to move forward.

Renee Hribar [00:08:21]:

Right? When I first started in my sales career back in the 1900s, my sales manager would literally threaten us that if we left a proposal for review for more than a week on the deadline, he would take our commission. If this was the rare snowball in h e double that got accepted. His words, not mine. Yeah, Human resources was very different back then. So why would he do that though? He wasn't actually trying to hurt us. He was just trying to help us do the right thing for ourselves and for the clients we were responsible for. Because if they're not buying in a week, something has changed. And you don't know what that is unless you have a formal checkpoint in place.

Renee Hribar [00:09:08]:

So there are three things a deadline gives you. It creates urgency without pressure. You can move the deadline, but you just need to talk to them about it, right? It's not like this is just in the ether and just get back to me whenever you get a chance. No, here's another thing a deadline gives you. It gives you a natural reason to check in. Hey, John, I haven't heard from you in a couple days. Do you have any questions before this expires tomorrow at 5. Maybe they don't even realize there's a deadline.

Renee Hribar [00:09:41]:

I mean, it doesn't mean you didn't tell them. It just means, you know, we tell a lot of people a lot of things. Like I tell my son, pick up your socks. He doesn't do it. His socks. I would bet my bottom dollar that right now there's at least one on his floor of his bedroom. Is it a crime? Not necessarily. But I did say it.

Renee Hribar [00:09:59]:

What I'm getting is we're human. We're not perfect. Neither are your clients. Just because you said something once or even 16 times to them doesn't mean that they grasped it in the way with the importance of which you them to understand. So again, friendly, loving rant here. Here's another thing a deadline gives you. It gives you the seat of the trusted strategic advisor. Meaning you are here to guide them.

Renee Hribar [00:10:26]:

You Listened, you repeated back. You created a proposal based on what you heard them say and that they agreed. That's the picture. Okay? And then you're giving them your best advice and then you're gonna guide them through making that a reality. However that looks, if it looks like the proposal you sent or some variation they're in, that's fine. But let's keep the conversation going. So deadlines keep you in the conversation chair and it gives you that urgency, gives you that natural reason to check in, and it gives you that strategic advisor role, not just an order taker, right? You are not an order taker. You are an expert at what you do.

Renee Hribar [00:11:03]:

And yes, you may be doing some or all of the work for them, but that does not that you are their assistant. You are in charge. You have the strategy and you have the ability to actually make it reality. So this is not fake urgency. I get that a lot. Oh, this is fake urgency. It's not fake urgency. It's.

Renee Hribar [00:11:21]:

This offer is structured in this way. At this price, it's available until this date because individual line items on any proposal or sales page for that matter, can change or become unavailable and also can be leveraged as incentives. So, PS if this intrigues you, like, if you love talking about offer structure and putting offers together, make sure to check out my expert interview series where I dissect the anatomy of each guest's offers. So I've been doing this email series for experts, my goodness, for years. And all the links that you need are in my askmecoach.com page. So go check it out. It's pretty awesome if you like to geek out on offers. Okay, so I said my piece.

Renee Hribar [00:12:07]:

I rant over about deadlines. Ready? Next step, Using a two step path to reduce risk and get paid faster. So step three, let's use an example. Let's say you're a web designer. You most likely used to, you know, you're most likely used to doing full strategy calls, right? Like you're getting the full picture. How many pages do you want? Are you transferring content from an existing website? Are you building one from scratch? What platform? All the details, right? You're most likely used to doing that, but you're also most likely, I'm just guessing here, doing that for free, doing that before you make a proposal and all of your money is caught up in that proposal. So you chalked it up to, you know, I'm scoping out a big project, I need lots to, you know, I need lots of information. I gotta think about this.

Renee Hribar [00:12:53]:

I Gotta ask questions. Yes, yes and yes. I agree on all counts except the zero payment part. So this time, imagine this. You charged for asking the questions, scoping out the project, making sure that you understood what platform they wanted, if they were transferring pages, if they were editing them, what they wanted. So you charged for that separately before you agreed to do the project. Because even that, even the plan in and of itself is valuable, right? So imagine you charged for the strategy. And even though you only charge, you know, let's say, you know, 200, 500, maybe even a thousand dollars, you can say, you know, why haven't I been doing this all along? And I know lots of people that have done this and they're like, yes, this is so much better.

Renee Hribar [00:13:41]:

So here's the two step plan I want to see you using. And some of you are gonna say, I do this in full. Some of you do parts of it. Either way, here is A and B, two parts. A free 20 minute specific review. So let's say someone's like, hey, I want to build a website, right? You're a website designer. You're like, that's great, I know how to do that. Let's get out a 20 minute initial call with one specific goal, and that is to shine the light on one particular insight.

Renee Hribar [00:14:10]:

So a lot of people who want a new website want it for a variety of different reasons. And what you're trying to figure out is where can you help them make the most impact fastest? Because you also know that whatever price they have on their head for this website of their dreams, it's probably less than it's actually gonna cost because they're not educated, they don't understand what they're even asking for. So this free initial 20 minute call with one specific goal to shine the light on one particular insight and then give them one piece of homework. Ooh. Because, you know, as a web designer, you know you're not the only one who's gonna need to participate in the delivery and birth of this website, right? You know that customer is gonna need to give you stuff. So let's test them. Let's test them out and see if they're actually gonna do what you asked. Just one thing, not this is like, again, not full discovery.

Renee Hribar [00:15:01]:

This is not your strategy planning. This is getting them to see what you see and getting them to show how they'll be as a client if you decide to make them an offer. So this is, I love the free 20 minute call. And most web designers, when they first start doing this, they're like, oh, it just seem an extra step, but then once they do it, they're like, oh, that vetted that person. I just figured something out. I, you know, I know now how I have to approach this because again, you are not an order taker. You're consulting them to put something into action and then you have the ability to actually put it into action. So it's pretty awesome.

Renee Hribar [00:15:41]:

You're a pretty amazing rock star. So here's part b of this two step path. A paid 60 minute strategy website planning session. I say 60 minute because yeah, you're gonna go deep, but you're not gonna go to the ocean floor. So this is where you are right? You map out the plan, you sequence the priorities of the project, you educate them on different trade offs, like hey, if it's five pages or ten pages or you know, vertical, all the things, decide what's a now issue and you know, things we have to happen in the next week or two or three of a project and things that can happen in months, three, four or five of a brand new website. Again, I'm just using one example. As a website builder, I've worked with lots of web designers and ad managers and bookkeepers, service providers of all kinds. Because this is where the slippery slope is.

Renee Hribar [00:16:31]:

Not in your education or ability to deliver, but on the communication before you make the proposal. It starts there. So some of the people I've worked with even leverage the price of the paid planning session against future projects with a phrase like this. Hey, whatever you invest here gets applied to any future projects. That's it. So it just protects your time and makes the next yes, the actual project. Right, the 5, 10, 15, $25,000 offer an easier yes. Because all along this path, this two step path to a true proposal are educational pieces for the client.

Renee Hribar [00:17:14]:

And for you are information about the client and you. So you're both exchanging and getting to know each other better at an accelerated contained rate, which allows you to make proposals that get accepted, that are high ticket, that are almost titanium against scope creep. And again, I can't repeat myself enough on this. Have time bound deadlines and specific outlined agreements every step of the way. Okay, so this next piece is about pricing. Don't ask solopreneurs what's your budget? They don't know in corporate settings, yes, they have a budget and they also are not emotionally attached to it. So instead, especially again, like if you're still using this sort of web designer example, ask for history. Let me give you this in real words here.

Renee Hribar [00:18:07]:

So let's Say you're a web designer. Instead of saying, what's your budget? Because they don't know. They're going to say $5, like $1. I just think of my dad, like. But he's like, oh. I would ask him when I was a teenager, hey, dad, can I have a 20 bill so I can go to the movies? Back then you could actually do that anyway. Barely get you in nowadays. So I'd ask him for 20.

Renee Hribar [00:18:27]:

He's like, well, the movie only costs, you know, I think it was like $7 at the time. And, you know, candy and soda and popcorn. That's only going to be like an extra. Remember, this is the 1980s I'm talking about. And he would be so down to the penny. Now, again, the man does have an undergrad from Pace University in accounting, so I'll give him that. But he would then unwillingly take a $20bill out of his pocket, hold it, and I would try to take it, and he would say, are you sure you really need this? And he would keep holding the other side of the 20, and I'm like, it's gonna rip. He's like, well, that's on you.

Renee Hribar [00:19:01]:

So, anyway, long story short, if you had a dad like that, let me know. Okay? So instead of asking, what's your budget? Ask about history. And so if you're this web designer and you're talking to a solopreneur, you can ask this. When was the last time your site was updated? Or when was the last time you tried to create a website? And then you can say, who did it? I mean, is it your Cousin Joe from 2016? What is it, like your sister's cousin? Or here's another one. How much did that cost? Like, whatever they have currently. Ask when was it done? Who did it? And how much that most likely POS cost? Because that will tell you what they expect, what they expect to pay, what they expect the experience to be like. Also, what burned them before? Because there's definitely a story they're carrying into this decision, and you want to make sure you understand it so you can meet it head on. You're not afraid, but you just need to know what you're up against.

Renee Hribar [00:20:09]:

If it is some kind of, you know, traumatic website experience that they had, we want to make sure that we meet them there and then walk them like a Sherpa across the bridge into having the site that they actually want and need. Okay, so those are qualifying questions. I just want to say that out loud because I often come up against this with People that I'm coaching on sales, which is like, what qualifying questions did you ask? And they're unsure what that means. So those questions are qualifying questions so that you can decide what to offer them next. Is it a phase one of a multi phase project, you know, spread out over six months because you're trying to meet them where they're at, or is it like all done in three weeks? It depends on so many variables. But these qualifying type questions are going to help you get the full picture and make the right next step in your proposal. So if you are creating a proposal and you're toiling over the price, this is a huge one that just tells me you need more discovery and don't be afraid to charge for it. Okay, weekly challenge.

Renee Hribar [00:21:13]:

I have a weekly challenge for you. I know that you've gotten a lot out of today's episode and you probably want to go back and listen to it again and you probably want to take some notes. I agree. This is the, this is the work, this is the good stuff. This is how you get proposals accepted. So here's my challenge for you this week. Number one, take one open proposal and add a clear decision deadline. So if you have a proposal that's out right now, but there is not a deadline on there, and you're like, don't, oh, I gotta do that.

Renee Hribar [00:21:42]:

You can just add a deadline, it's okay. And you can then message them wherever you communicate with them, email DMs, smoke signals, I don't care. Point is, message them and say, hey, the proposal I sent you is marked to expire on Monday at 5pm so there's a reason why I say it like that. Instead of I'm closing the proposal down at 5pm on Monday, dude, instead of saying that because that's probably not going to be well received, as it shouldn't, you could say the proposal is marked to expire. That means you're not the bad guy. That means the proposal is right. The proposal becomes the bad cop, you become the good cop. And you're just trying to protect the potential client from going in and trying to accept a proposal that has expired.

Renee Hribar [00:22:32]:

It is marked to expire. And that is a really fine subtlety for solopreneurs. The solopreneurs that I work with who are service providers and consultants. You know, maybe they have a couple part time assistants or, you know, contractors that come in every now and then. They feel like, well, I mean, I made it. And I'm like, yes, you did, but you only made it because it's a part of your process. Right, sorry. The decision's been made.

Renee Hribar [00:22:58]:

Sorry, that's the protocol. So even though you wrote the book, the protocol, it doesn't mean that you have to sway it every single time. So this proposal is marked to expire. So that's your first challenge for this coming week. Take one open proposal, add a clear deadline, and share that message with whomever the proposal is out at. Okay, challenge number two for this week. Invite all decision makers to a short alignment call. Right, you can call it alignment.

Renee Hribar [00:23:28]:

I mean, you know, call me short, call me petite, whatever you want. I'm under five two. Well, I mean, you know, five two on a good day. So especially. But I don't care what you call me, right, Just don't call me late for dinner. So if you call this call an alignment call, an orientation call, a proposal review call, and it doesn't matter what you call it, the idea idea is that you're getting everybody together, especially if you sent the proposal and haven't heard back and the deadline that you just put on there is looming. So here's what you can say then, hey, I want to make sure we're all aligned. Let's take time for a quick 20 minute call to review what needs to happen now versus later and make sure this all fits with what you want in the timeline you want it.

Renee Hribar [00:24:13]:

Would you and your whatever you know, people, partner, spouse, friend, rabbi, cousin, priest, pastor, whomever they're talking to be available at this time or that time? And so again, you'll notice from past podcasts, I've given them two times. I didn't just give them my link. Lots of reasons for that, my friends. If you're not sure, go back and listen. Okay, so here's the deal. You don't need to be a hardcore closer to sell your expertise. You just need to follow a simple framework for getting the full picture and making meaningful offers to get real traction. Selling your expertise with me as your mentor and other growth minded entrepreneurs as your lab partner, practicing with you, shifting the entire selling dynamic from what you share publicly to how you navigate one on one calls with leads and clients.

Renee Hribar [00:25:06]:

Apply to work with me. You guessed it, it's at askmecoach. Com. All right, see you next week.