Why Having A Signature System Allows Coaches And Consultants To Get More Clients
How to get potential clients to confidently say yes to your offers
How to get potential clients to confidently say yes to your offers
When we discuss our offer with a potential client, they might seem interested every step of the way but right before it’s time to commit, they back out. Why is this? And what’s one thing we can do to help them feel confident about saying yes to our offers?
An 8-year old boy’s legs were burned so badly doctors said they should be amputated. Seventeen years later he set the world record in the mile.
The boy’s name was Glenn Cunningham. He had lost all the flesh on his knees and shins and all the toes on his left foot due to the fire. He begged his parents not to let the doctors amputate and they relented. Even as Cunningham recovered, the doctors claimed he’d never walk normally again.
At this point, it’s hard to see how he’d ever become a world-class athlete. Like many of our clients, he’s facing obstacles that seem nearly impossible to overcome. So how did he go from sick in bed to the world’s fastest miler?
His success was due to five factors.
First, his parents massaged his wounded legs daily to restore blood flow. Second, the boy spent twenty-two months on a new type of physical therapy. Third, once he was able to get up on two legs, he forced himself to walk every day. Fourth, as soon as he could run, he ran every chance he got. Fifth, he entered races and started winning.
When we first hear of Cunningham's injuries, it seems nearly impossible that he would not only walk again but become a world-class athlete. However, his transformation sounds far more believable when you hear the steps he took to get there. Similarly, if you want your clients to believe that you can help them, you too must be able to describe the steps you take to help them — I call those steps your signature system.
What exactly is a signature system?
A signature system is a series of steps that you use to deliver results to your clients. The system has a name and each step has a name. This system tells the client that you know what you’ll be doing with them, for how long and what will be involved.
How does having a signature system help you sell your services?
Systems inspire trust. Your potential clients will trust you more if you have a system that you can explain in a way that they understand. Further, because you created the system, they can only get it from you. As a result, you can charge more for your services.
Consider someone deciding between two financial coaches.
One financial coach has got a great track record, wonderful testimonials but when asked about what he does to help you, he’s pretty vague. He says he’ll meet with you 3 times a month for three months and by the end, your finances will be in good shape.
The other coach also has a great track record and testimonials but his system is called “The Smart Money Method” and has the following steps:
Get a clear picture of your current finances
Look for expenses to minimize, cut or bundle
Create a flexible budget
Determine wise investments
Design your reward system for staying on track
With the steps laid out, it’s very clear what you’ll be getting and you can start to see if you need these services or not. This inspires confidence. You know this coach knows what he will do with you and you know what you’ll get.
So how do you break what you do into your signature system?
First, determine the outcome of your work with a client. What is the final result they will have?
Second, list the steps required to get to that outcome.
Third, for each step, give a reason why that step is needed to achieve the outcome.
I used those steps to create my Compelling Offers Blueprint. It helps my clients create compelling offers that help them get high-paying clients.
To generate the steps, I first determined the outcome: That my clients can get clients.
Next, I listed the steps required. They have to find their prospect’s motivating problem, determine the system to solve that problem, learn how to have a sales conversation, create content that makes them an authority, and then plan strategically to maintain and grow their sales.
Last, for each step, I wrote out the reason each step is needed.
Here is the system in its present form.
Module 1: Discovering the Motivating Problem
I show you how to find and describe the problem that makes your client feel the urgent need for your service.
Module 2: Systems that fuel sales
How to turn your offer into a system that gives you credibility and gives clients the confidence you can help them.
Module 3: Selling without the cringe factor
How to conduct a sales call that is a useful service to the client while still helping them see why they need to work with you right away.
Module 4: Creating content that presells your services
How to create content that makes you a go-to expert so clients have already decided to work with you before you speak.
Module 5: Strategic Planning
Magnify your successes so you can make an exciting plan to move forward.
As you can see these steps make it clear that I have a specific approach to help my clients and that I know what I’ll do with them every step of the way which inspires their confidence. And it has resulted in my clients willingly signing on the dotted line. Despite the effectiveness of having a signature system, there’s one concern I hear often.
But what I do is intuitive. I don’t have a system.
Many experts are so good at what they do that they don’t even have to think about it. They just know how they’ll help their clients. But a potential client doesn’t feel confident in your intuition yet. You need to show them you have a system so they’ll believe you can help them.
One way to do that is to list out ten things you did with your last client. Then from that list find the five of six things you do with most clients. That can become your system. And, if you decide a client needs something you didn’t specify. That’s fine. You can give that to them as a bonus. No one ever complained about being given something extra.
Summary
A signature system is a series of steps you use to get your clients powerful results.
Having a signature system allows you to get more people saying yes to your offers because it inspires confidence.
Systems also let you charge more since your clients can only get the system from you.
To define your signature system, determine the outcome you help your clients achieve, list the steps required to achieve that outcome, finally create a powerful reason why each step is needed to reach the outcome.
Every successful activity can be described in steps, even miracles like Glenn Cunningham’s journey from burn victim unable to walk to world-record-holder in the mile. When you describe your work as a signature system with definable steps, your clients can imagine themselves working with you to go from where they are to an outcome that may have seemed nearly impossible before. Create your system and inspire your clients to take action.