January 2, 2020

“What should I do if prospects keep going with my cheaper competitors?” and more...

In today’s group coaching session, we had a bunch of good questions that touched on topics like:

How to develop a POV that attracts better clients
When to consider working through an agency
What to do when The Why Conversation backfires
How to get testimonials for current clients

Plus, we did a deep dive on what goes into creating a luxury perception for a service.

Good stuff!

Here are some of the questions I answered today:

I’ve been trying to figure out a Distinct Point of View, along the lines of your ”Hourly Billing is Nuts“. My target market is independent management consultants, who see referrals as sacrosanct in lead generation. I’m considering “Referrals Are Not Enough” as a somewhat contrary PoV. Do you have any suggestions on this question? (timestamp 1m 49s)

On the topic of contrarian catchphrases, if I want to specialize in accounting and business consulting for small law firms, how are these phrases: ”Law school didn’t teach you how to run a law firm.“ or ”Law school didn’t prepare you to run a law firm.“ (timestamp 17m 43s)

What is your position on working with recruiters? Should they be considered a last resort for getting projects, or is there a way to work with them that supports your business long term? (timestamp 24m 58s)

Getting more comfortable with brain dumps and asking why questions but having trouble going deeper with the ‘whys’ and demonstrating higher value. I’ll ask why me and always get - because john said you’re good, you have the most reviews, your work looks amazing. I’ll go into “i’m probably the most expensive option” and so far have continued to talk myself out of every sale telling people they can hire less experienced photographers for what they’re trying to do. (timestamp 31m 59s)

I remember in an earlier session you talked about being stuck in your income/class bracket and clients probably having same problems as you. What are some practical steps I could take to appeal to a higher income bracket? And maybe any recommendations for stuff I could watch/read to learn more about this mindset. (timestamp 47m 9s)

Do you have any tips on getting testimonials from current clients? Would the approach be any different than at the end of a project, or different from approaching past clients for testimonials? (timestamp 60m 42s)

I think one of the reasons I’m talking every person out of working with me is because I’m looking for a project but they’re looking for a productized service. If that’s the case, what are ways to immediately identify this, and how would you approach a productized service convo on the phone? (timestamp 63m 10s)

(If you’re curious, you can review the entire list of past questions here)

Do you have questions like these that you’d like to get answered?

Enrollment in my group coaching program is open from now until next Thursday, January 9th, 2020.

When you join your colleagues in my group coaching program, you’ll get instant access to today’s recording and invitations to all future sessions for as long as you’re a member.

(Note that all recordings have timestamped links from each question to the spot in the video where I answer it, so you can jump right to the answers you care about without sitting through 10+ hours of video.)

BONUS: Group Coaching also includes a dedicated Slack channel to facilitate discussion between sessions.

GET ANSWERS NOW

(Don’t worry, there’s no long term obligation. You can cancel your subscription at any time and your card WILL NOT be charged again.)

Yours,

—J