How to Deal with Clients Who’ve Been Burned Before

Transcription

Hey guys, what’s up? Yuri back with you. Welcome back to the show. In today’s episode we’re going to be talking with how to deal with clients who’ve been burned before. Did you ever speak to a potential client and they’re like, “I don’t know. Show me some proof that this is going to work because my last coach really burned me. I lost money doing this thing and it didn’t work out.” If you’ve ever dealt with anyone like this, what I’m about to share with you could be a game changer.

Dealing with clients who have trust issues

So, here’s the deal. The reason this came on, the reason I’m sharing this with you here is because I would say about almost 20% of people we speak with come up with this issue. “I did this thing before and I got burned.” And this actually just really happened recently with a potential client a couple of days ago, so it’s kind of fresh on my mind, so I’m like let’s talk about this. So, here’s the thing is if someone has been burned before the reality is that they have some major trust issues. Okay?

Okay, so let’s look at an example. Let’s say you are in a relationship. Let’s actually no, let’s look at a better example. Let’s talk about the Bachelor, because as you know or may not know, it’s one of my favorite shows. Yes, damaging admission. So, you’ve got a guy who’s the bachelor and 25 bachelorettes, and some of them don’t progress in the season because they’re so closed off and guarded because they’re afraid to open up. And when they kind of have these conversations about why that is, a lot of times it’s because they were burned before. They had a bad relationship before. They were hurt before. And as a result, they closed down. And the irony about that is that it’s the single biggest reason why they get kicked off the show. Because their relationship with the bachelor just hasn’t progressed fast enough to the point where he even knows who this person is.

So, in a relationship, if people have been burned before, they’re going to be a lot more guarded than if everything was great with previous relationships. Right/ we’ve heard all the time, like, “Men are pigs?” Really? You sure about that? Or is it like one guy who is a pig to you and now you’re making this generalize statement? So, you have to understand first and foremost that is the thinking that these clients are coming in with. They got burned before, therefore there’s a huge amount of skepticism and trust that is required in order for them to move forward.

Playing the chasing game – or not – and an example

So, at this point, it’s up to you to make a decision to ask yourself do I want to chase this client and plead to them and show them like, “Yes, you can trust me, and I’m the best and this is not going to happen again.” Do you want to play that game? And I’m going to suggest that you don’t. And here’s why: Because it’s very, very tough to change somebody’s internal belief system.

So, we had a potential, I’m not even going to say potential client. She was maybe interested in working with us. And she’d been in our pipeline for a while, so I’ve seen her name a few times. And we sent out an email, and she responded saying that she was still really considering working with us, but she’d been burned before and she wants to know with 100% certainty that we get our clients results every single time. And I’m like, “Wow. Let’s have fun with this.” So, here’s how I responded to that. And I’m not reading you the email because I don’t have it in front of me. But maybe I should. Know what? Give me a second. Let me pull out the email. Actually, know what? I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do this. Just in case she’s listening, I want to honor her and I don’t want to, my goal here is not to make anyone look bad or feel bad.

So, essentially what I said is I said, “Listen, I understand your position. I understand you’ve been burned before. And that’s sucks. I don’t know who your coach was. But you have to understand that we’re not the same. Like, that coaching program or that coach is not me. I have no correlation no association to that person. I don’t even know them.” Okay? Again it would be like starting a relationship with a new person and thinking that new person was exactly like the previous person. It’s just not even a logical argument. Right? But you can understand being so fear-based that’s where people are coming from. So, I said, “Listen, I understand.” So the first thing we want to do is empathize. Right? “I understand where you’re coming from. That really sucks that you went through that.”

And I said, “Listen, I agree that we are in the all-time no talent era, where it is so easy for anyone to call themselves a coach.” I mean, go onto LinkedIn and type in health coach, and you’ll get tens of thousands of results. Are those people health coaches? Eh, not really. They’re product distributors for companies like Optavia and Usana and stuff like that. There’s nothing wrong with that, but just don’t call yourself a health coach or a health expert, because you’re not. Unless you really are and you’re just supplementing what you do with those products.

So, there’s a lot of nonsense out there. It’s very easy for someone to be a health expert. Right? Like quote, unquote. So, I’m completely behind that, because I don’t believe that most people, especially teaching business, let me clarify that even further, especially teaching business are not in a position to do so. I really don’t believe so. Because most people that I see, that I meet, I’m like, “Dude, you’re 21 years old and you had one good month, and now you’re teaching other people how to do this?” It’s a little bit sketchy, a little but suspicious.

Overcoming objections without explaining yourself

But here’s the thing, is that I’ve talked about this before, when you’re overcoming objections, you never, ever, ever, ever want to be in a position where you’re explaining yourself. We talk about ask and assess, never tell and impress. Never. Okay? So, here’s what I said. I said, “I understand why you’re feeling this. It sucks. I’m sorry you went through that. But obviously we’re different.” Right? I’m not going to spend the next however many hours or paragraphs in this email to explain that, but here’s a page with a bunch of testimonials from our clients that’ll give you a better perspective of that. We have a process that works, but is this going to work for you? I have no idea. I don’t know you. I don’t know whether or not you’re someone who gives up at the first sign of adversity, or if you do whatever it takes to make things happen.”

So, what I did is I put it right back on her and I said, “Listen, your results are 100% your responsibility. If you’re looking to point fingers and you’re looking for the exit already, this is not going to work.” Because you can’t come into a coaching relationship already looking for warning signs. That’s just like going into a new relationship looking, right, you’re looking for those elements in that person that remind you of that bad relationship you had before. And then you see like a semblance of that, like “Oh my God, they sound the same. This, oh, I can’t do this. I’m out.” Okay? Because what I’ve recognized is that in a coaching relationship, it is way more about you interviewing the potential client than the other way around. And if you run a business where it’s them putting you on your heels, you’re in a losing situation every single time.

Selecting your clients and deciding whether they’re a good fit

So, I said to her, I said, “Listen, we know our process works. We have hundreds of case studies to show that. But again, your results are 100% your responsibility. Like we’ve had clients that have done a million dollars a month, and we have clients who’ve done nothing. What’s the difference? It’s the same process. What’s the difference? It’s the person. So let me ask you, why should we hire you as a client?” And I sent the email. And actually, I ended off with a P.S., I said, “Listen, obviously you can tell I’m a no B.S. kind of guy. My goal isn’t that you like me. My is to help you get results if we’re a good fit, so don’t take anything personally.”

So, I sent it off to her. And then she sent it back saying, “Yeah my previous coach sent me testimonials as well and I still got burned. So, I’m going to continue looking for someone.” I said, “Great. All the best.” So, it’s a beautiful thing when you can tell someone, listen you’re not like, here’s the way we work. And if you don’t like this, just take a hike. I’m not working with these types of people. And the reason most people don’t do this is because, and it comes back to what we talked about before. You have a pipeline issue. You have an incoming problem. You don’t have enough people who are in your pipeline who are booking calls with you and potentially want to work with you.

This is like do I care if this individual works with us? Not in the slightest. Because as soon as she leaves, that opens up a space for someone else to meet a perfect client. So, when you’re dealing with people who’ve been burned before, just understand it’s very, very challenging for you to change their belief system. And you need to avoid getting into the whole explaining game of why you’re different and how you’re special. Because what they’re doing is they’re sitting back in the chair, arms crossed, and they’re like, “mm-hmm (affirmative), sure, whatever.” That’s essentially the position they’re taking. And you’ll never win that game.

So you need to flip it and you need to say, “Listen, your results are your responsibility. I’m going to give you a strategy that I know works. I’m going to hold your hand each step of the way. But I need you to show up. I need you to do the work. I need you to learn in for support when you need it. Can you do that?” Right? Our system works. The only thing that we don’t yet know is whether or not you work. So, please tell me why should I hire you as a client?

Now the client really has to think to themselves, do I want to work with this coach or am I already looking for a way out? And if they’re looking for a way out, that’s cool, because you don’t want to work with those people anyways.

Okay? So, I’m going to just kind of shut it down there because this is probably one of the most common things you’re going to come up against. It’s one of the most common objections that we come up with, not even on the phone, but even before the phone calls. Right? It’s like, “How is this different? How are you different?” And listen, for anyone who’s out there running shady coaching programs, I really hope that you’re taken down. I really, really do hope that the FTC finds you and shuts your business down. Because you have no right to scam people out of money, to make promises that you can’t deliver on, and to really overpromise and under deliver.

And listen, I’ve made these types of mistakes in the past where maybe we brought on a wrong client here and there. But I’ve learned over the years that it is way better for the clients and yourself if you are very up front with them and tell them, “Listen, this is going to be the hardest thing you ever do. It’s going to be painful. You’re going to run into challenges. But the thing is, if you want these results, you’re going to run into all that stuff anyways. So, wouldn’t it make sense to have a coach with you each step of the way?”

Just be super, super upfront with people. But yeah, I can’t promise you that this is going to work or it’s not going to work. That’s up to you. But I can promise you I’m going to meet you 100% of the way. You need to push back and meet me 100% of the way as well. If you’re only half in, there’s not much I can do for you.” And you need to be very, very upfront with people. And if they are too scared to say, “Know what? That makes a lot of sense. I appreciate your honesty, let’s do this.” If they can’t say that, they’re not a client you want to work with because I promise you, and I promise you with every fiver of my being, once they’re in your program, they’re going to go rogue. And if someone goes rogue, they are gone.

What bit me in the ass and what I learned

We have a philosophy in our company that every single person is lost, confused, overwhelmed, and going rogue from day one. And so, what we do is we build out everything with that assumption. And obviously it’s not true, but we are living and working through our program with our clients with that assumption. Because what’s happened in the past before we took this stance is that, and this is again, this is a leadership issue, so my bad, and that’s the thing is that you always make things better over time, is and this actually kind of bit me in the butt with my Masterminds. This was a big learning curve. Or a big learning from that was I decided that if I didn’t hear from someone, everything was good.

And I think I’m naturally somebody who avoids confrontation, so I didn’t want to send an email to someone for instance, who I hadn’t heard from who was in our Mastermind for two months. Because I thought, well if I send this email maybe things went wrong and I’m going to hear some bad response. And two specific situations, that really bit me in the ass hard. And I had to take responsibility for the fact that “Listen, that was my bad, I should have been a little bit more, on top of our communication.” Right? And I can’t point fingers at the clients.

So, I’m just telling you, if you made the assumption that when people come into our program, they’re going to be lost and they’re going to need direction from day one, and you build out some type of plan over time to continually follow up with them beyond the normal, “Hey, here’s what you’re going to do this week. Here’s our tracking call, et cetera,” it’ll make a huge difference for the success of your clients and obviously your program and you as a coach. Okay?

So, that is how to deal with clients who have been burned before, who are super skeptical, really have trust issues. And again, it’s kind of a tough nut to crack. You’ll find that in a lot of cases, you’re not going to be able to work with them. And that’s totally fine as well.

An opportunity

So, here’s the deal. So, we are into April, and as I mentioned before, we’ve got our next Luminaries Mastermind coming up in Toronto. This is out high level group where we help coaches in our space who are doing six figures get to even and beyond. And in Toronto we have, like we do most of the time, we open up a couple spots for non-clients who want to sit in and experience two days of awesomeness with myself. That’s right. If you want my hands-on help, I’m going to talk you through our million dollar model that you can deploy in your business. And I’ll walk you through that on day one. On day two, you’re going to be thrown into the mix with our existing clients who are coming in and you’ll get a sense of what that all looks like.

So, it’s going to be two days in Toronto. The dates are June 26th and 27th. I believe we’re half sold out right now, so if you want to join us, I think we’ve got 20 spots total. I think there’s only 10 left. If you want to join us, hit me up. Actually, here’s what to do. All the information is over at healthpreneurgroup.com/2day. So, the number two and then D-A-Y. All the info’s there. You can see what we’re going to be doing. If it’s of interest to you and you’re serious, then fill out the application and I’ll get back to you within about a day or so.

Two things: Number one, you have to have an existing coaching business. If you are pre-revenue or you just got your certification to be a health coach, this is not going to happen. Okay? So, you have to have an existing coaching business. You have to be generating revenue, and you have to be working your clients.

If you meet those criteria, than chances are you’d probably be a really good fit for what we’re doing in Toronto. So, that’s the deal. So, check that out right now, healthpreneurgroup.com/2 D-A-Y. And apply today if you want to join us for some hands-on help surrounded by other amazing coaches in our space. And if you really want to move your business to the next level and a lot faster, this would be a great opportunity for you.

So in the meantime, I hope you had an amazing day. Thanks for tuning in. As always continue to get out there and do your awesomeness, and I’ll see you in the next episode.