075: How to Sell More to Existing Clients

**Renee Hribar:** Okay, let me paint a picture for you. You've got a client, they love you. They hired you for this very specific thing, which I love, time-bound, specific. But in your head, you're like, "Perfect. Once they see how amazing I am at this, they'll obviously hire me for everything else I can help them with." Pause, and then they don't. Right? Like, this silent pregnant pause. You're like, "Okay, okay." And you're waiting for them to connect the dots. Then they go and hire someone else for their website or their strategy or their messaging, and these are all things that you could do. I mean, ultimately, there are so many things you could do, and you're just sitting there like, "Wait, y- you know I could do that, right?" Well, this episode is why that happens and how to fix it starting today. Well, welcome back to the Selling Your Expertise podcast. I'm Renee Hribar, sales coach for women who are brilliant at what they do but are done, D-O-N-E done relying on referrals, random inquiries. Oh, we just love those, don't we? No. Or worse, Field of Dreams marketing. Build it and they will come. Mm-hmm. Sure, sure. So I help you turn conversations into consistent clients without being pushy. No, I'm a New Yorker, I know, I could be, but I'm not. I don't teach it. And definitely not weird or, worse, glued to your screens for any possible person that might maybe click or like or comment on some social media post. Ah. No. So we're not doing that. Whether you found me from searching sales on your podcast player, which is awesome, or maybe you heard one of my talks, like the one I did for TEDx, or maybe you read my book, thank you, and followed the prompts, thank you. I'm so glad you're here. Head over to askmecoach.com, that's A-S-K-M-E-C-O-A-C-H.com, for all the freshest ways to hang out beyond this podcast as well. And today, we are getting into something that's been showing up a lot. I mean, almost every single client conversation that I've had in the last week. So let's break it down. I was working with a client recently. For this episode, we will call her Sarah. It is never her real name. Never going to be her real name. Um, but they are all real conversations, but I would never call my clients out on the carpet. They trust me with their most innermost secrets, and I definitely wish that their problems were unique. Unfortunately, that's why this podcast exists, is because their problems are not unique. They are, but the problems are the same. And so Sarah, in this case, in my story today, was growing her business. She had lots of visibility from being on a podcast, so she had worked on getting into guest spots, and this one podcast is like big time. So she was getting lots of visibility from that. She's getting speaking gigs, panel discussions, invites to be on some paid board positions, people finding her from all different directions. Sounds like a good problem, right? Well, except every person coming into her world only understood one small slice of what she actually does. She solves expensive, complex problems, but not everything is going to relate to everyone. So her talk on one area would be to one audience, and they might hire her for that one thing, but then they're like, "Thanks, bye," and she's like, "Oh, okay, I guess they didn't like me." When in reality, there's so much more that she could have been supporting them with. So for example, if they came in through her GA4 workshop, they thought she only did data, and if they came in through her website audit, they thought she only did websites. And what was happening was that she was unintentionally training her clients to see her as a specialist in a teeny, tiny little box. We don't want that. Instead of the multi-layered expert who can solve complex problems that she was. And so- This is not just Sarah. I've said this already, and this is most of you listening, is my hypothesis. If I was a gambling woman, which I am not, if I were though, I would bet my bottom dollar that you are hearing this thinking, "Hmm, maybe that's me." Here's the reality. Your clients do not understand the full scope of what you do because you've never intentionally connected the dots for them. P.S. Even as someone who does intentionally connect dots, there are lots of people that I have worked with and work with currently who aren't aware of all the things because why? They have their own things going on. We as humans can only give so much attention. We can't read a transcript in 4.2 seconds like our favorite AI. We're barely lucky if we remember the color of the shirt that our kid was wearing when he left the house today. You know what I'm saying? Or what we had for breakfast. So the bottom line is this. Your clients are meeting you through one doorway, right? You never, you never know what that is, but it's gonna be specific. So they come in through one door, but you're not showing them the rest of the house. So they assume, "Well, that must be all she does. I don't wanna bother her. if she could offer me something else, she would say it." And you're thinking, "Well, if they needed something else, I mean, they wouldn't - they would ask." And then you both lose. And then they go shopping for someone else, somewhere else, for everything else, and we don't want that. And, and this is in my archetypes, you know, when you do all your ideal client avatar deep research. This is the archetype I call the referral-reliant Rachel. Gotta love alliteration. So in this in this archetype, she is amazing at what she does. People refer her constantly, but every referral comes with a label Oh, she's the bookkeeping girl. Oh, that's the social media person. Oh, that's the website one. And we want that. That's good at first. But the problem is that referent reliant Rachel, in my stories to myself, never expands the narrative, and that's the key I want you to take away from this. Where can I expand the narrative? When do I do it so it doesn't feel weird or awkward like, "Hey, Bob, I know you didn't ask, but I'm gonna tell you 17 things I do also." No, we're not doing that. It's gonna feel natural and normal, and I'm gonna show you that in this podcast episode. So, hi, you didn't ask, but I'm gonna tell you. I'm just thinking about all my friends. Okay, so that are like, "Hey, you didn't ask about this problem, but I really wanna tell it to you, so let's bring it up." It's an easy fix is what I wanna share with you. M- I'm laughing because it's not serious. No one's gonna die. You already have the visibility and the clients, and even if you're struggling with visibility a little bit but you have a client or two, or you know that you're on your way to getting them, this episode is going to help you not be the one-trick pony, right? Because you're not. You've got a lot of things you could do for people, and you're not gonna put everything on your front window. You're not gonna put everything out there for everyone to see, and that's normal, and that's okay So here's what I want you to do instead. Connect the dots across your business. Your job is to make sure that no matter where someone enters your world, they can clearly see what else you do so that they always go to you first. The best part is that it can be as easy as an infographic that you share during calls or in an onboarding email that shows the project you're currently working on as one piece of a bigger system, an ecosystem that you guide clients through. It's kind of like Wesley helping Buttercup through the fire swamp in The Princess Bride. Who's with me? Who loves that movie? I love it. I made my child, who was born in this century, uh, watch it, and he's like, "All your jokes are starting to make sense now," 'cause I reference it constantly. Okay. So Wesley knew the way. He knew the way to expertly guide Buttercup through the fire swamp, and he had her best interests in mind. And obviously in our case, we don't need it to be so dramatic. I mean, it literally could be as subtle as a few sentences woven into your regular communication like, "This will feed perfectly into the next steps as we grow toward your bigger goals." Just even saying that one sentence, "This will feed perfectly into the into the next steps as we grow toward your bigger goals," that's you including yourself in their bigger Their goals are your Fiduciary responsibility, right? Like, it's your goal to help them do well, right? And this keeps you firmly in the trusted advisor role. If there's one name tag or label I want you to have throughout all your client relationships, is trusted advisor. You have their back. You know where they wanna go, and you have the skills to continue to support them beyond the current project you're working on. So let's break this down into steps. I need step-by-step, small, tiny steps one at a time. That's how my brain needs to be fed information now on. Okay, so step one, every entry point shows the whole picture. So if someone fills out a form, if you've been hanging out with me for long enough, you know I love me a form. I love it. It's a way to get lots of information quickly, and yes, it can be specific, but somewhere in that experience, you need to show them, "Here are the other ways I can support you." Think of it like grandma's house at Sunday dinner, you know. You know the food's coming, right? Like, you know I was gonna bring up food eventually. I can't not do that. So you're there for dinner, but Grandma knows, she knows you. She knows that yes, the roast that she made will be devoured, but more importantly, she lets you know that if you're gonna eat the roast and your vegetables, or as my grandmother used to say, the vegetables, I don't know why she emphasized it that way, but it always makes me laugh, that she also made your favorite dessert, and it gave you something to look forward to. So when your mother is saying, there's starving children in China. Finish your plate." I don't know about you, but my mom would always say that. I'm like, "Well, give them this then. Ship it over." She didn't like that answer. but Grandma understood, and she knew that there was a goal that I was searching for, and that was to have her dessert that she made. She always made these amazing trifles, right? Like, where you put, like, whipped cream and Jell-O and cake, and then layer it like a lasagna. Oh. Okay, now I'm hungry. But the bottom line is this, is that, yes, you're working on a current project, or, yes, the person's filling out a form, but there could be one question where it could be tick boxes. This is something that I have done and have shared people... with other people that they should do as well. It's just, even it's just one. Tick boxes of where are all the places that you're looking to grow your business in the next, let's say, six months or 12 months, whatever the case. And so it just shows them the, a laundry list of things that you could do, and often it's things you could do, but also phrased in multiple ways. Because what we're trying to do is help them identify their problems with a solution that you know you could handle. Ultimately, the solutions are usually pretty much the same for all the reasons that we've already mentioned. Okay, step two, add education. If you read my book, you know that I talked about the four- milestones that every single person must cross before they can say yes to anything, even if it's a renewal. And so especially once they're your client, that's another thing, is once they're your client, you need to keep educating them. So the four mile markers that everybody has to cross before they can say yes to anything, even a free brick of gold or even a renewal, is proximity. Well, you've got that. Reason to reach out, got that. Education, third milestone. It never ends. I've had clients, work with me on prepping for calls, and, you know, most of the time that prep is about what questions we're gonna ask and what answers we expect the person to say, and then where to navigate the conversation from there. And so a lot of times I'll run up against this, where the person I'm working with is asking a great question, but then I ask them, you know, "How do you think they're gonna answer?" And they think that I - they say, "I think they're gonna answer this way." And I'm like, "Why?" And that's because they've had some kind of educational experience with them. But oftentimes, what we ha- end up uncovering is that the answer isn't going to be what they expect because they haven't educated the customer on all the options or what the full picture is, context, right? So step two, add education, especially once they're your client, because this is where most people are skipping it. They think, "Oh, they're already my client," or, "They probably already know. They read my website," or... They didn't even read the 17-page offer proposal you sent. I mean, maybe, but most likely no. So most people that I work with are like, "Well, I don't wanna confuse people." I get that. You're not confusing them. You're educating them. You're giving them context. So here's some examples. Most of our clients start with social and then move into website optimization. That could be something that you offer if you have like a marketing agency. Another example is, as we develop your website, I'll keep my eye on your messaging and strategy because those are tied in innately as well. Now they're thinking, "Oh, there's a next step. Okay, I see where this is going." It won't always be on the nose or as blatant or direct, but it needs to be woven in there. So Again, step one, every entry point shows the whole picture. Step two, add education throughout. Step three, use multi-lane proof. In other words, you have testimonials, proof. You have proof, not just of this project, but of lots of things that you've done, not just in this year, but of many years in the past. And they're not always necessarily case studies, but they are testimonials of your character, your delivery, your everything. And so many of us will either not show them at all because, "Oh, that's old." Okay, well, if it happened, it's still relevant if you still do that. And worse, we keep them in what I call a testimonial museum. No testimonial museums needed, right? So what we want is your testimonials across different offers, right? "She helped me redesign my website. She mapped out my entire strategy." Because your proof teaches people how to buy from you. So sprinkle those everywhere. No testimonial museums. And I'm talking, like, footers of emails, footers of invoices. Weave it into conversations. Like, "This is just like a project I worked on with another client, and after we did her site, we created a custom dashboard to make sure she had the right metrics at her fingertips." And they're like, "Oh, that's right, I'm launching." And you're like, "Yeah, I know. Why do you think I mentioned it?" But you don't say it that way. But in your mind, you might be thinking it. But speaking of mind, there's a mindset shift here, right? Like mindset alert. Doo doo doo doo. Your clients are not thinking about you and working with you long term. They are thinking, "What do I need right now?" But you're thinking bigger. No matter what else you have in your front window, you know that you're the one who sees, right? And you can say things like, "If we solve this, the next logical step is this." And if you don't show them that path, they will go find it somewhere else. So since they're not thinking long term or they don't have the verbiage to explain their problem that they might have in a month, you do. You know not only how to help them now, but you know exactly where that's gonna run them a month from now, six months from now, because you have done it. You've been there and back again. They have not. And so you have to bring it up. Weave it in. It doesn't have to be a huge thing, but weave it in. So he, real talk here, okay? Like big sister energy, all right? Like I'm the oldest of six. This comes out all the time. I'm the oldest, um, and I've, I feel like, I'm the big sister you never wanted maybe. I don't know. All right, so I'm gonna say this with love. If your client hires someone else to do something you also do, that is a sales process opportunity, and I teach a specific bridge conversation to my clients called a PONS meeting, progress, opportunities, next steps. We frame it as a progress meeting first, which is how it starts. Like, "Hey, I'd like to set, set up a separate meeting of the ones we have scheduled before the project ends." So if it's a 90-day project, like day 87, 88 You're booking this call, but you've... You're booking it earlier, but you're booking it for day 87, 88 of a 90-day engagement. "So yeah, let's get together. Let's have a progress meeting. I'll put aside 30 minutes on the calendar." "All right, great." So they're already like, "Oh, that's great. Very thorough," they think. You're like, "Yes, I am." And then when you get them on the call, that's where you review, AKA reveal, opportunities, things that you've seen since starting to work with them. And so we might say something like, "This is, you know, what we set out to do. This is all that we accomplished. However, since you and I have been working together, I've noticed there are a few opportunities that would get you to your goals even faster. Do you want to see what I've noticed?" "Yes." They're gonna say yes. And then you just show them. You're like, "I've seen this. That has been somethingthat I've noticed that has been a bit of a rough spot. Has this been on your radar, too?" Because l- I really want you to steal what I'm saying here. Is... And then you ask, "Is there anyone on your team you intend to take on that project?" Most likely no, or God help them, it's their cousin Louie's neighbor's kid who needs an internship that summer. You're like, "Oh, how's that gonna go?" If it has been on their radar and they do have someone assigned, then ask, "What's the timeline they've established for that?" Whatever timeline they share with you, listen, take notes, then ask the same questions about each of the other opportunities. "Has this been on your radar? Is there anyone on your team that's gonna take on this project? What's their timeline?" And so, for example, if you're a web designer and you know they're running ads and planning for a launch, and you also love to build dashboards, then this would be a perfect time to talk about that. Once you get a clear understanding of what they deem important out of your list of opportunities, then you can draft a meaningful proposal for their next steps, and that is a proposal that gets accepted. Because even if you do this, just this one thing, genuinely, it could add tens of thousands of dollars per year to your revenue with the same clients you have now. My three favorite letters are L-C-V, lifetime customer value. All right, action steps. Ready? Here's your weekly challenge. Number one, audit one entry point, whether it's your application form or a sales page, discovery call outline, or even client onboarding emails, or however you onboard. I mean, it doesn't have to be emails. but ultimately, whatever's in your portal, whatever the onboarding looks like, ask yourself, "Do they clearly see what else I do?" And I'll be honest, this isn't... When I do these audits for myself, I'm usually like, "They don't. I'm a one-trick pony. Ah." So looking at it is hard, just like getting on that scale, but I'm telling you, once you know the truth, then you can take action, and that's all I want from you. So number two is add one connection point, just one. A sentence, a checkbox, a question that bridges to another phase of what you could do for someone. Three, add one piece of proof. I know you have testimonials or anything that you have. It could be... It doesn't have to... I just wanna say this out loud 'cause I work with people who are like, "Testimonials, but they have to be like this." They do not have to be case studies. It can be two sentences of a screenshot that you redacted part of the information so you would never, you know, reveal who it actually was, and that could be part of the proof. Right? So add one piece of proof. That's it, those three things. Number one, audit your entry point. Number two, add one connection point toward the next offer, and number three, add one piece of proof. All right. Awesome. We are not rebuilding your business this week. We are tightening the path. Scalpel, not shovel. Scalpel, not shovel. Just repeat that. Scalpel, not shovel, right? We're being intentional. This is sustainable. We can do this. And now if you want more real client stories and action steps, check out episode 64, Why Clients Leave After the First Sale and How to Fix It. Check that episode out if you wanna go deeper into this. Episode 41 is where I unpack how to stop being the order taker. All right. If this episode hit you in the heart, I'm sorry, and I love you. I think you might be realizing, "Okay, I've been leaving money on the table." Well, go head over to askmecoach.com. That's A-S-K-M-E-C-O-A-C-H.com. That's where I share all the best ways to work with me, learn from me, and actually implement this in your business right now. Your clients are not one-time transactions. They are long-term relationships, but only if you show them where to go next. All right. Have a great week. I'll see you next time.