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There's two types of people who hear consensual sales in the first go, Oh, Eww, Shawna, that is not what you want to say. There are better words to use and the second type here, consensual sales and say, you know what? You're right. I don't want to talk my way into the sale. I don't want to memorize a script. You just want to work with clients who are excited to work with you. Now that's consensual sales.

All right, what's up? It's me, Shawna. Today I want to talk to you about finding clients, okay? Because you want clients, I want you to have clients, but this sort of one to many approach that we mostly read about online does not serve us. Those of us who only need a couple clients, I'm talking like one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Like if you only need a couple of clients to be fulfilled doing your life's mission, having a good time, having a good life.

00:56 Like, if you only need a couple, then you're going to absolutely want to pay attention to this episode. Because I moved my business online right when I was like, okay, I've got this skill set, I want it to be location independent, I'm going to do this off from the internet. Everything that I had read at the time was all about this one to many approach as if I wanted to build a massive empire and have, I dunno, I don't have any desire. Maybe someday in the future, but right now or at that time I didn't have any desire to build this massive empire. Just wanted a couple of clients. Okay. And maybe you're in the same boat, maybe only need a couple clients and so pay attention to this episode. Okay? Cause this is going to be, I hope this should help you. Absolutely. So everything at the time that I was reading was about email marketing, right?

01:40 They're like, grow your list, grow your list, build your list, build your lessons. So that's what I did. I spent an entire year building my email list of subscribers and I got to 900 people and I still was not able to sell my service the way that I thought I could. It was still really stressful and still not that easy. Okay. And it didn't make any sense to me because this was supposed to be at like, that's how you get clients. You grow this email list and you spent so much money on copywriting learning how to figure out like trying to develop this skill set. And I asked my mentor at the time, I said, I've got all these people on my list. I still can't sell my service. Like what the heck do I do? And she said, Shawna, how many clients do you need to be booked out?

02:26 And I said, well three, it'd be awesome if I can just get three clients. And she said exactly. Do you think that if you could just talk to your ideal client, do you think if you could just talk to the person that you're meant to serve, the one who could use your service, that you would book them. And I was like, you're right. You're absolutely right. If I could just talk to those people, I'd have no problem selling my service, and so then moving forward, that was where I started focusing my efforts is that I needed to create more conversations with people. Now relax. This is not me telling you that you need to start conversations with a random stranger in the elevator promise that nobody wants you to do that. I don't want you to do that, but what this does mean is that you had to fundamentally understand that if you want to close deals, if you want to enroll clients, if you want that money exchanging hand part, you have to open up conversations, okay?

03:24 Okay. It's maybe you're expanding your network. Maybe you're not afraid to get yourself out there. Maybe you're not afraid to roll up your sleeves and shake your hands and make sure people know you. The other side of the coin to this is if you want to find clients is they have to know what you do and who you do it with. So maybe you have no problem rolling up your sleeves, interacting with people, starting conversations. Maybe you have no problem getting to know people and striking up conversations. But if they don't know what you do, they're never going to be able to help you. And most of the time we can't even articulate coherently the thing that we do. And one of the best ways, the easiest ways for me to describe what I do is to simply ask people that I've worked with or my ideal client, I'll do a little bit of work and I'll say, okay, how would you describe what I did?

04:14 And they'll say, Oh, you did this, this, and this. And that's what I'll say. So when I'm meeting people, I'm extending my network and I naturally just say, Oh, I do A, B, and C. like I just use the words that my ideal clients says, like I don't have to try to make up anything. So if you're struggling with these answers, if you're struggling to figure out like how do I communicate what I do, that tells me that you need to go do more work because your ideal client, the people that you work with will tell you sometimes people might not be buying from you because they don't know that your offer exists. One thing that I like to do is when I'm communicating what I do, I'll just say this is what I do and if you happen to know anybody who might need that service or might benefit from them, keep me in mind.

05:01 So sometimes it takes the pressure off like you're not selling to that person directly, but you're saying it in a way where it's like, Oh yeah, I'll keep that in mind for later. And the beautiful thing is that those people have access to an entire network that you don't have and that's what you need. Like you need connectors to more people and I can't think of a faster way than just having that conversation with someone and then then being at the whims of the algorithm or who opens your email. Or if they're even reading it, you know, I mean, if we're being totally honest here, that's how people buy. If you need a photographer or let's say you need a designer for a new website, where's the first place you look? You look towards your community. I know that we like to think that everybody's like Googling their answers, but maybe for those of us who just need a handful of clients, what if our ideal client is just turning to their network, turning to their community, turning to their relationships and saying, Hey, do you happen to know a photographer?

06:04 Hey, do you know who's a really great copywriter for this project I have coming up? Oh my gosh, of course it is. That is of course how people are buying. That's how people have always bought like the internet over complicates things I think and it mass like what we already know to be true. It's that people are still doing business with people and it needs to ask yourself, are you creating unnecessary barriers for your clients? I dunno, I dunno. Maybe you are. But all I'm saying is that when somebody needs to hire a service, they're probably turning to their network and saying, who do you know and are you a part of those communities where you're a familiar face and people know what you do? Okay. So like I said, it's two sides of the same coin. You want to find clients, great. Go make some friends, go make some connections and you can do it in a way that doesn't feel inauthentic.

07:00 You can do it. This is like super nerdy, but what I'm trying to say is not every single conversation has to be about work specifically. So I'm in a community for like big families, right? If you have three plus kids are more like you're a part of this community and I'm a part of that community and I'm an active presence in that community and simply because more people know me and know what I do, that naturally will lead to more sales. So it doesn't have to be [inaudible] this awkward thing where you're forcing friendships, you need a natural place for you to naturally talk and communicate with people. Because people need to see you. There needs to be some repetition there. And if, if the conversation is forced and you don't know what to say and you feel awkward and it's dumb, you're having the wrong conversations.

07:46 So just start with what you like. And this sort of goes back to, I can't remember where I heard this or read this, but finding your clients actually starts with you. It figures out who are you and what can you talk about and what you enjoy and what you find interesting and what are you curious about? Like if you feel like you're hearing this from me and you understand like the concept but it's still not clicking, then I would absolutely try to find more self discovery. Okay. Let's recap this quick. Okay. So the main idea of where do you find clients? Well, for you to find clients, you have to ask yourself where are conversations happening and how can I be a part of those conversations? The other part of where do I find clients is you need to be asking yourself, where can I create a couple more friendships?

08:32 Because maybe the strategy that you need is just a couple more friends and I like to pick friends on a couple of criteria. One, are they funny? Are they open minded? Are they interesting? Do they have work? Do they do work or have a brand that I respect? If they hit those things, like that's a pretty easy person that I can strike up a conversation with because I can simply just say, Hey, look at all these really cool things you're doing. This is really awesome because of A, B and C or you said this and it resonated in this way. Okay. You can either sell one to many and hope that works with lots of different moving variables that can take months to see what's working and what's not. Or you can just roll up your sleeves and go get a couple of clients.

09:16 Right. Well, I think I feel like I also need to mention is that this isn't about going to get clients for anybody who moves like this isn't just you go, go find a sucker. This isn't about finding a sucker. This is about finding someone who may need your service and creating a conversation and asking if they would be okay. Open to discussing how you can help them. I mean, this is like another topic for later. I mean I absolutely talk about extending the invitation into the sale. Give me, that will be the next episode. I'm going to put that down here. The next episode is going to all be about what you need to say to create the right conversation. Okay. All right. Until next time, knock knock, who's there? Clients are banging on your door ready to give you money and book your services, but they're asking hard questions like, how much is it and who are you and how do I know you can help? Your brain melts and you feel a lot like a deer in headlights. You've worked way too hard for this opportunity and you can't let it slip away. Here's what you need to do right now. Text consensual sales. It's one word to triple five triple eight and you'll get me who can tell you exactly what to say to book those clients. Text consensual sales to five five, five, eight, eight, eight.

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