—>>https://www.askmecoach.com/

When a client says "we love you" but still won't commit, is that a compliment or a stall tactic?

Renee Hribar breaks down a real coaching session with a client who heard the classic corporate line, "We see your value, but we need to think about next steps" — and unpacks why buyers freeze even when they genuinely love you. She shows how fear and control, not skill or results, drive the hesitation and shares the exact scripted response that flipped the power dynamic. Renee also walks through a second scenario where turning a free chat into a paid session led to a $30,000 engagement, introducing her "container" framework for structuring every serious conversation with clear boundaries, pricing, and defined next steps.

She closes with three action steps: identify your own "booty call" client, replace one free call with a paid container, and keep building new options every week. Because in sales, options equal power, and acting on that power is what turns interest into revenue.

Mentioned in this episode:

Ask Me Coach

Askmecoach.com

Ask Me Coach

We've done great work together. We want to keep working with you." And then immediately follow it with, "Yeah, but timing, and, you know, we can't quite move forward right now." Meanwhile, competitors are knocking on their door. So you wanna decide. So if you've ever thought, "Do I wait this out, or do I walk?" This episode is for you Welcome back to the Selling Your Expertise podcast.

I'm Renee Hribar, sales coach for women who are brilliant at what they do, but want clients, consistency, and confidence without turning into someone they're not, so that they can sell their expertise. So whether you found this podcast from reading my book, taking my free m- sales mini course, or maybe hearing one of the talks I did, like the one I did for TEDx, welcome.

We are connectors here. And whether you've gained access to the librarian, who's my AI twin, who's been trained on all my frameworks and is at your service 24/7, taken my Zero to Sales in 10 Minutes a Day boot camp, experienced my 12-week immersive sales program, which I call Permission to Sell, or attended one of my Experts Connect events in Vegas, California, New York, Detroit, Texas, Florida, you name it, you are a connector.

So once you've listened to today's podcast, go to askmecoach.com and check out the new initiative I have for you to share your business with my podcast audience globally. Okay. Ready? We're gonna talk about exactly what happens when you wanna decide, and this goes right straight from a real private client session.

Of course, I've changed the names, details shifted, but the lesson, oh, it's real. Okay, so here's what's happening right now in the market, right? Buyers are slower, more cautious, more political, especially in corporate environments. It's not just, do I want this? It's, can I justify this? Will this create risk?

Who else needs to approve this? So even when they love you, they stall. So, in this scenario, I'm working with a client. She's incredible at what she does, amazing background, experience, degrees, certifications, you name it. She's been tapped on the shoulder by some of the biggest names in her industry, and she's working with a large corporate client.

The contract ends, but the company says, "We see your value. We want to keep working with you," and then hits her with, "We need to think about our next steps. We're concerned about competitive overlap." Translation, we don't wanna lose you, but we also don't wanna fully commit to you. And here's the kicker.

They're worried she might train their competitors. Meanwhile, actual competitors are actively trying to hire her. So this is my favorite part. This is what happens when perceived risk overrides actual logic. So l- let me break this down. This is not about your skill level, your results, or even your value.

It's about control and fear, and the company is trying to keep access to you, limit your movement, and reduce their perceived risk without fully committing. That's what I call a booty call. That's a booty call. We're not a booty call. They don't wanna lose you, but they're not ready to claim you either.

What? No, no. No, no, no. We don't play that. So now if you're like most of my clients, here's what you might be tempted to do. Wait patiently because you're very nice and kind, or over-explain your value because you've had to before, before we met. Or try to prove that you're safe and educated and qualified. No.

Or worse, bend to their concerns. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. Because that puts you in a defensive posture, and experts do not sell from defense. Whenever I think about defense, I always think about high school, how we literally had a white picket fence that we would run around with and talk about defense.

Anyway, I don't know if that was just my experience. Let me know. So but in this scenario, if this feels Familiar? This is the shift I want you to make. It's all about detachment and positioning. So this is something when I used to teach my sales teams, we had a little saying, like, "You gotta climb Mount Fuji," right?

Fear of loss, like they should be afraid they're gonna lose out. Urgency, they should understand now is the, now is the time. And ultimately, you have to also think about, well, I'm not really here to convince you, right? Like, I've got other options because I am indifferent. So all that to say, I could teach that forever and ever, and the reality is, is you do have other options.

So what did I guide my client to do next? I told her... Well, I, I wrote it for her, and then she put her own sass on it, but ultimately, this is what I drafted for her to reply with this: "I'd like to find a way to move forward. I really respect your mission, and the work we've done together so far has definitely created momentum for you, but I have other things I'm being invited to focus on right now.

Do you wanna set up a call to discuss what the next step looks like for the next 30 days?" So I love to always frame it, like statement, statement, question. That's, that's typically how I draft my own responses. But the translation here is I'm not waiting. You are not my only option, and you don't control my timeline.

And guess what? That changed everything for her. Yay. So let me say this clearly. Power in selling your expertise lives where options exist. The moment you start acting like you're my only option or they're my only option, you lose it. You lose leverage. And when you genuinely have other opportunities because you've intentionally been seeking them out each week during dedicated business development time, right?

Like, that's one thing my clients say I'm always asking them about. "Okay, so show me your calendar. Show me where your biz dev is. Okay, talk to me about what you did or what you plan to do. Show me what you did. Show me who you talked to. Show me who you connected with." Because you, you are, in essence, farming And you have to nurture the soil, plant the seeds, nurture the seeds.

It's not an instantaneous sale scenario for most of you listening, right? You are selling your expertise to high-value clients. The other thing that changed is other conversations are happening. So I never let my clients shut down. Even if like they're always doing something. They've always got something on the horizon.

They've always got something in their pipeline. Even if it's just a, a tiny trickle, there's something always flowing. And when you have that, you show up differently. You're calmer, you're clearer on what you bring to the table, and ultimately, you're less attached to, "This has gotta work. Ah." And that energy shift is big.

I mean, I don't... I can't explain it, but I do know that it makes a huge difference. And here's another situation. So s- same client, different scenario Now she's talking to a potential client, and this potential client says, "I like the idea. Let's get on a call." And my client says, "Great. Here's my link to book a session."

The link is to a paid session. It's only $250 for 30 minutes, something she reserves to share privately so her calendar doesn't get clogged up. And the potential client pulls back a bit like, "Oh, I, I just wanted a quick chat." So instead, he asks a short question via email, which I guided her on how to answer, and then offered the link again, and he finally did book the real paid conversation for the following week.

And because of that, he respected her. He ended up engaging her in a six-month, $30,000 project. They have a great working relationship, and the lifetime customer value of this particular client looks amazing. So let's talk about this behavior, right? Like, it's classic. Interest without commitment. Conversation without investment.

You know, they're, "Oh, let me think about it." What are they thinking about? And if you're not careful, you end up in endless unpaid conversations. So yes, we are connectors with intentional focus, right? We are connectors. We're gonna connect with people. We wanna connect with opportunities, conversations, people.

But here's the rule: every serious conversation needs a container, right? It's kinda like if you make a great bowl of soup, if you just pour it on the counter, okay, well, how can I enjoy it? I need a container. I need a bowl. I need a good bowl. And if I can't eat it all right now, I'm not gonna just stick the pot that I made the soup in, in the fridge.

I wanna put it in a container in the fridge, right? And so the container can be for you, for your brain. You've gotta think about your brain as like it's delicious, amazing soup, but if you pour it into just anything, anytime, it could cause a massive mess. So the containers for your brain could look like one paid 30-minute session or a structured consult where it's like, "Okay, I'm gonna give you one thing to do.

We're gonna talk about how it locks into and relates to all the other pieces of what we need to accomplish, and we can do that in 60 minutes." or ultimately, everything, the initial paid 30-minute session or a structured consult always has at least one, two, or three possible defined next steps. Now, I used to take copious notes.

And now with AI having transcripts, I get a little bit of a leg up. I can literally play back what they said, and there's a lot of times I'll hear it in a different way as well when I read it. So like hearing it out loud when they say it, there's tone and other things in my mind, or I might have seen something out the window and I might have like zoned out or ha- just had a different impression of it, but when I read it back, it's a lot different.

And of course, you know, AI can help me summarize it, pull out the best words. I know what questions to ask to really get the most out of my transcripts. And because of that, I'm able to offer a defined next step. That was where a lot of my clients said that they used to falter, is they could see all the things that this person or company or organization needed, and they t- were challenged by how to fit all that into a container.

And instead, we've been chunking it down into smaller phases. So as opposed to selling all the phases at once, we now will sell one phase at a time. Because you and I can both agree, especially if you have a marketing agency or you're a done-for-you service provider, once you get under the hood and you start to work with them in phase one, you see things that you didn't see before.

And it wasn't like they were hiding it. They just didn't even know to bring it up because they don't know what you know. They don't see the world like you see it. So the reality is we don't want to, "Let's just hop on a quick call," without any focus or goals or determination of what w- you know, what success looks like, what the outcome is designed to look like.

Because quick calls turn into 30 minutes, 90 minutes, no decisions, no money And you feeling drained, and them only with still a partial answer, and then they're like, "Okay, that's great." I always equate that to putting a Band-Aid on a jugular wound, right? It's, it's your responsibility to make sure that they're not gonna bleed out when they leave you.

And we also can't fire hose them. We also have to meet them where they're at. So all these variables come into play when you start to interact with leads, potential clients, and existing clients. So when someone asks you, "Hey, let's hop on a quick call," instead of, "Sure, happy to chat," try this: "Based on what you're looking for"...

So this also means you've asked a few more questions before jumping into a call. I talk about qualifying all the time, and most of my clients had never really worked on what to ask to understand if this person even qualifies as an aligned client for them. So instead, "Based on what you're looking for, the best next step is a working session where we can actually map this out together.

That way you leave with something usable, not just ideas." So do you see, like, that's so clear, and it's very professional. But here's the best part. You have boundaries. It has a boundary. It is a container. A working session could be 30 minutes, could be 60 minutes, could be 90 minutes, and you will price it accordingly.

And if you don't know how to price it accordingly, go to askmecoach.com right now because I have a free pricing prompt that will help you see your pricing from the client's perspective in a way that no other pricing calculator that's out there does. At least not on one that I've seen. So The bigger lesson here though is honestly, both of these situations, her corporate client and her new lead, are the same problem.

People wanting access to your brain without committing to the relationship. And your role, it's not to convince them. It is to structure access. So here are your action steps for this week. You know I love action, and I give this to all my clients as well. Number one, identify one booty call client that you've had that they say, "Oh, I, I really value you," but they're not moving forward.

So you could send them something like this: "Here's what moving forward would look like. Like, I really like working with you, I really like talking with you, I see your problem, I understand your mission. I'm really excited about what that could look like for you, especially with, you know, your signature system or a process or..."

You fill in the blanks about what you actually do. "And here's what moving forward would look like. Let's start with a 30-minute paid session where you can walk away with some actual steps, a real plan, and we can take it from there. That's only $250." And you can say it out loud to them too. Like, you don't necessarily have to email them, but if it's easier to email, then you can do that.

A lot of my clients are like, "I can't say that." Especially in the beginning of working with me, but eventually they, they grow the confidence because they see the results. They see the responses that they get and the respect that they get. I had a client that started working with me about, about six months ago, and when sh- we first started working together, she still had a VA client from five years ago that was paying her a pittance, and worse than that, was treating her like crap.

And like Cinderella, I'm like, "You gotta get out of this relationship." So identify one booty call client and redefine or define what working with you might look like. Okay, that's number one. Number two, replace one free call with a paid container. So you might have seen, you know, the $1,000 cup of coffee.

It doesn't have to be that extreme, although I don't hate it. The next time someone says, "Can we just hop on a quick call?" You can say, "Yeah, I've got a, a working session that would be perfect for this." And then you give them the details. "Hey, here's what it looks like. You'll actually walk away with something real, tangible.

And this is what we'll do. It'll, it'll set us on the right trajectory. That might be all you need, or it might uncover other scenarios that, where I can support you or refer you." Right? I mean, like you're not here to swindle anyone. You're not like gonna nefariously take their credit card and do things with it.

You're genuinely an expert in what you do, and you genuinely want to help people. That's what this does. It sets you up so you can help them and still earn the revenue that will give you the life that you want without working 24/7. Because the reality is, is you're always building options. That's what I want for you.

So really, action step number three is keep building options. So write down three people you could reach out to this week, two opportunities you've been ignoring, right? Oh, yeah, I should reach back out to Heather. I need to reach back out to Bob. Reach back out to them. Start the conversation, rekindle the relationship, reignite the flame and consider a new direction you could explore with them, right?

Options equals power. Options equals power. Knowledge is not power. Acting on that knowledge is. So we're creating options, we're connectors, and, and the reality is, is you don't need more people to see your value. You need people who are ready to act on it. And the way you find these people is by how you hold your ground when the ones who hesitate ask you, "Can I just do this?"

And you're not mean, you're not harsh, you're not upset, you're not mad, you're not defensive. You're simply connecting, connecting the dots for them because you are valuable, and you are up to things. And you don't wait for someone else to connect the dots for you, and you most certainly aren't going to bring an employee mindset.

I'll wait for them to tell me what they want and how they want it, and I'll bend over backwards to hope that they like me. No, we're not bringing that attitude to your own business. We're not bringing it. Put it down. Leave it at home. Burn it. So it's kinda like your best friend or you telling your best friend about those pants.

Those pants that she loves, she shouldn't wear them anymore. Hide them from her. Burn them. Leave them, leave them in the garbage. If this hit home, and I know it might have, go to askmecoach.com. That's where I keep the best ways to connect, work together, and continue this conversation beyond the podcast. And if you haven't yet, go back and listen to episode 59, Three Ways to Close Unsure Clients Without Discounts, or episode 54, Mastering Client Follow-Up.

They'll stack perfectly with what we talked about today. All right. Have a great week. See you soon.