Episode 37: A Proven Sales Strategy for Wellness Practitioners with Joanna Sapir

Molly Cahill
Today's episode is with my friend Joanna. And she's a business strategist for holistic practitioners, particularly those that integrate multiple modalities. So we talk a lot about, like body workers today we also talk about online health and life coaches as well. But she has a special ability in helping practitioners set up repeatable systems and processes and their businesses to serve their clients more powerfully, enroll committed long term clients and create steady income and cash flow. So this long term is kind of like the key word long term steady income and cash flow is like the key word of really what we talk about today. Joanna was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she's a mom of two and she's a USA masters national champion and Olympic style weightlifting, this interview is truly a must listen, for anyone who feels like you're kind of on that hamster wheel of like, session to session call to call client to client like you're constantly having to continue selling the same person or the same patient over and over and over again, this is definitely a must listen. So here we go. Welcome to holistic marketing simplified a podcast for health and wellness professionals looking to simplify their marketing. I'm your host, Molly Cahill. And this podcast is brought to you by my marketing roadmap, which is a five episode private audio training that's kind of like this podcast, but not exactly because it's not available to the general public when you search on your podcast feed. So the great thing about consuming free content like this for me or on my Instagram or my blogs, or whatever, is that yes, you will learn a lot but you kind of have to go searching for what it is exactly you're looking for. This five episode private podcast is broken down and logical step by step order. That's why it's called a roadmap. If you're ready to get started on your Instagram marketing journey, or if you already are started and you're just feel like you're kind of like overwhelmed with all of the different free information. This is a super clear roadmap with lots of tangible step by step action items that will get you from point A to point B for just $27. So all you have to do is head to Mollie cahill.com/private training. And based on the reviews I've had so far, I know you won't be disappointed. I'm really proud of this training. And I know personally, I've bought 2737 $17 products before and felt like I really didn't get that much out of it. I guarantee you you will learn something from this five episode, private audio feed. So again, it's just Molly cahill.com/private training, and it'll also be linked below in the show notes. I cannot wait to hear what you think.

Molly Cahill
Joanna, welcome to the show. We've had some hiccups and scheduling I've ghosted you once and then your your internet went out. We made it.

Joanna Sapir
I know. And we're actually recording this in Mercury Retrograde, but we're here. Knock on wood.

Molly Cahill
Yay, we're here. So during that, and I met in a mastermind that we were just in at the beginning of the year, and we got to meet in real life in Tampa and what was that? May? Yeah, may

Joanna Sapir
sometime. Yeah,

Molly Cahill
June is just like this super cool. You're just like so cool. I just love you're just like a straight shooter. But you're like you're really nice at the same time. Thank you. I'm beginning Enneagram eight energy. I like to track the eights. I have lots of eight smile. I am definitely an eight. Yes. So I already did your intro. But tell me a little bit about you and what your current business is, and how you got here.

Joanna Sapir
Yeah, so I work with Well, I'm a business strategist for wellness practitioners, people who work either brick and mortar or online, I work with both people who work doing one on one services or in groups, I work with both. And what I help them do is create the business strategies and systems in their business to make them more sustainable and profitable. And so, you know, I think a lot of folks turn to marketing a lot of I mean, I'm sure anybody listening can relate to this. And Molly, I'm sure you see this in your clients that you you know, I think folks when they feel like well, my business I have to work on my business the go to is I need to be marketing and really, there's actually so much more to business and marketing. Obviously marketing is important, but it's like one department and so I I help with the other departments not I do also help with marketing too, but it's actually not first in line. And so that's what I'm helping people do is set up the foundations of their business to be more profitable and sustainable.

Molly Cahill
So I think this is such an important distinction and this is what we're really going to get into in the episode is like a lot of times people will come to me and I'm like I would love to help you with your marketing. But like what's gonna happen if, for example, you go viral or something like you have nowhere to send people, you have no way to actually monetize this. So I'm really excited to be talking about this today. But let's go back and you have a really interesting backstory, which I think is what makes you such a good teacher is that you were a teacher.

Joanna Sapir
Yeah, I was originally a teacher, my first calling, and honestly, it's still my calling, I still consider myself a teacher through and through that, yeah, I wanted to teach high school, right out of college. And I did. And so I taught high school history, social science for a decade, I also taught teachers how to teach. And never in a million years did I ever imagined that I would be in business. So it was like, not ever part of my vision. And it happened almost by accident. I ended up opening a strength and conditioning gym, I had gotten really into fitness, it had changed my life, I moved to a new town where there was no one there was no availability, there was no one teaching, the kind of fitness training I was doing. Now there are now it's like the kind of functional fitness and strength and conditioning is really prolific, which I think is great. But back then, there, there wasn't anything like that. And I just thought people need this, I don't have a place to do this. And so let me create it. And so I mean, I opened a gym with zero background in business whatsoever. And very quickly learned that, oh, my goodness, I need to learn how to run a business. Because I don't know what I'm doing here. I totally knew what I was doing when it came to teaching folks and being on the gym floor. And I got lots of clients, people were showing up. And it was like, really, really hard and stressful. I had to be there all the time, I was the only one like running the whole thing. And that's when I honestly had a breakdown, and realized, Oh, my goodness, this is not sustainable. What am I going to do, I was a single mom of like two young boys at the time. And you know, now they're grown. But so I set about to learning business. And I just found that it like I actually really fell in love with it. I'm a very systems thinker. And I just kind of started to see like, oh, you build it see, build the systems in this and just kind of piece by piece, I started building these systems in my business, and built it to be profitable and sustainable. I'm very proud that like I built something that could run without me being there, you know, I definitely was still the leader, but I could take vacations. And you know, not only did it keep running, but sales were made, like I kept growing even in my absence, you know, and, and so at some point, somebody approached me about buying it. And I was sort of shocked. I was like, oh, and that's when I realized, oh, that actually is my exit plan. Like I totally am, I just want this thing to exist, I didn't feel like it, I shouldn't need to be the one doing it all. And so kind of set about I wasn't ready to sell it when when he approached me but kind of set about making a plan for when I thought I would want that to happen. And that's what I did. I ended up selling it in 2017. And I had already started coaching people and teaching people on the side other practitioners how to how to do their businesses. So I had been the client of just like you, Molly, and we both like love getting on the receiving wellness services. And I had been the client of just some incredible, you know, like body workers and naturopaths. And just people who are like, so good at their craft. And they were struggling in business. I mean, usually they were like overworked and still not making enough money. And you know, and I could see like all these boundaries, issues, like squeezing clients in left and right. And I just went, oh my goodness, I've figured this out. And there is a need here. Like I can help these people and there's a need. And so I really knew that that's what I wanted to do. So when I sold my gym, I went full time into this work and

Molly Cahill
so many parallels, I'm just like counting, they're counting them in my head not I don't mean necessarily between you and I, which we do have a lot too. But just thinking about everyone who's listening first you said I was really good at my craft. I was really good at teaching people you know, but I didn't know how to run a business. I mean, who what, I don't care if you're a life coach or a massage therapist or whatever, like they don't include the business. And yeah, they might teach you some marketing stuff or like similar like really high level. You know, this is how to craft enough an offer but nobody really talks about the business side of things like even like medical doctors who are going to medical school they don't get a lesson in business and so I feel like so many people are gonna resonate with that. And then the also the other thing that I hate it's a parallel is like Oh, I had a breakdown. Always, why don't we always have to get to like break down point before we're like, Oh, this isn't working, it's like we have to be hit on the head. I know, which is not like a pebble, we have to just be like knock on our ass, and then finally be like, Oh, this won't work.

Joanna Sapir
It's true. And it's often really is a health scare is really common,

Molly Cahill
always, oh, well, instead of whispering. And then the last is I personally can think of two women who were some of the most gifted, that they happen to be massage and more, not just secure basic massage therapists, but like, more unique modalities. And I helped as much as I could, but like you said, I'm like, you just need like a complete, we got it, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta just scrap this and like, start over. And so I think when you and I first met, you said, I work with people with modalities you've probably never heard of. And I just loved that. But okay, so you have this predictable sales system is what you call it. And you've got five steps in that. So let's talk about this predictable sales system. And what does that mean?

Joanna Sapir
Okay, well, let's just back up a second. I think that word sales sometimes freaks people out. And they don't know what that is. So let's just define what that is. So, you know, you help people with marketing, you are listening right now are listening to this, this podcast, because it's going to help you with your marketing, right. And so the thing about marketing is how I define it anyway, I'm totally open to hear how you do, Molly. But how I define marketing is, it's your visibility plan, right? It's how you get noticed, it's how you get seen, and hopefully, there's some kind of call to action in your marketing that asks people to take to do something, usually that asking people to do something is trying to sell in the marketing, which may or may not happen, and usually people are or are selling sessions, which we can talk about as well, I definitely won't talk about but But what it's missing is like, do you know from your marketing, do you know how many leads it's getting you? And then do you have a predictable way to convert those leads into high quality committed clients? And I would say 99.9% of wellness practitioners do not, do not have any clear sales process. So like, this isn't any kind of shame, blame or judgment, it is just like a kind of a fact that it's missing because we haven't been taught what does that mean? So how do we, you know, quote, unquote, make a sale? What we mean by make a sale is how do we get a client? And usually, it's some like, there might be and you really work with practitioners around this, Molly, but maybe it's you send them to a booking page? That would be that would be a form of a sales process. Maybe you send them to your website and hope your website does its work, right? That would be that would be an attempt at a sales process, right. And so what I teach is, like when I say a predictable sales process is we want something that really gives us predictable numbers and results in I mean, there's pieces to it, as I said, I'll go through the stages, but we want it to filter people for like, who are the right fit for us and who are not. And then the people who are the right fit, we want a process that turns them into committed clients that aren't just booking a session, or booking a couple sessions, then disappearing. But actually enrolling people in in a committed process with you to get to their goals or get out of whatever pain they're in or solve their problems. The what's

Molly Cahill
the step that they have to do even, you know, we talked about this, like selling a single session, let's talk about like the more brick and mortar side of things, then we could talk about online, but what's the step that has to be done even before that, if you're kind of like defining your offer?

Joanna Sapir
Yeah, I mean, so for me, this is no different. Whether you're brick and mortar or online, we start I'm sure that you do work around this is start by understanding who your ideal client is. And so it's just super, super common, especially when we're early in business. It's normal. And I would say, necessary to be kind of wide open and be like, I'm open for business. Who's coming right. And you and you do need the experience of working with a variety of people to get a sense of who are my people?

Molly Cahill
Yeah, yeah, that I work. Yeah. Realtors and hair stylists. And I was like, Man, I mean, it's fine, but

Joanna Sapir
right and then you discover it's revealed. It's not something to me anyway. It's not something you pick. You don't like decide your ideal clients, it like emerges in front of you who they are. You simply look look at your data and go like well, I loved working with these people and the people who were most successful with me were these people and you look at those quality. So this is way beyond just like demographics. This is not like choosing demographics, this is really looking at who have been the people you loved working with. And that saw the best results from your services. So the longer you've been in business, the more this is important. So any, if you're listening, and you've been in business for a couple of years, and you haven't really honed in, in this way, super important to do that. So we start with that. And then from when you take your ideal clients, and you look at who they are, you can start to I mean, a simple question I would I would prompt you to ask would be yourself would be all right, take one of your favorite people that you ever loved working with, just think about that person and think back to when they first came to you. Usually when I ask somebody who's like, who's one of your favorite clients ever, it's somebody who stayed with them long term, right? And they might even still be with them seven years or something right, really consistent. So think back to when they first started with you, if you could design, the Dream service, that was exactly what they needed. And there were no limits on that there was it was not about sessions, it's like what did they need and deserve? What would you have loved to have given them in terms of a whole program, a whole journey to take them on? That's, that's the work that I do with clients. And that is what we are enrolling people in. That's what practitioners that work people are enrolling their clients in, in this sales process. So yes, it's not a session is what do your people actually need to reach their goals? To experience what they want to experience to get out of what pain they're in to solve the problems they have? What is it that they truly need? And when I ask practitioner this, I mean, never ever, is it like they just need a session. You know, never, it's just never like that. And like we're saying you and I have been clients and done this work. It's never a session. And if you go in thinking that, Oh, if you go in thinking like you can fix me in this session, like you're just always going to be disappointed, which is what we're doing to our clients when I think when we're selling them sessions, we're setting them up for just complete, like the wrong expectations. And, and probably disappointment, you know, I mean, like, that's just not how it works.

Molly Cahill
Yeah. And you know, I know, there are people who do sell these big, you know, wellness packages, so to speak, that get a bad rap. But it doesn't have to be done in that way. I as someone who is your ideal client, and as Joanna, I appreciate it when I go in, and it's like, Hey, here's what I would recommend. Let's come back in three days, just to kind of since this is an acute issue, let's get it knocked out, then we'll go down to this. And then after that, hopefully we can go down to the day today. Rather than like just see how you feel. I'm like, I don't want to just see how I feel. Because if I don't feel great in two days. For some reason, I feel like self conscious rebooking because I'm like, Well, they didn't tell me to come back. I don't I don't know. And this has happened to me and Chiropractic and Massage. And acupuncture has happened to me with a lot. And I know we're talking about like body workers. But truly. Oh, yeah, it's a great way to do it properly.

Joanna Sapir
Yeah, that's, that's a great example. And I have my own stories exactly like that. And I talk about them quite a bit of really wanting to feel like my, in the case of bodywork, I'm a competitive athlete, and really wanting to feel like somebody is like on my team, like, this isn't just somebody who I like randomly book sessions with. It's somebody who's on my team who's like, completely looking out for me and my body and my soft tissue, based on my goals as an athlete and what I'm doing to my body and what I'm what I'm trying to prepare it to be able to do, I want to know that somebody's in my corner. But I really want to, I really want to go back to what you said, Molly about big packages and getting a bad rap. It's interesting, because you might have more exposure to this or hearing about this. I've only heard about this usually in the field of chiropractic. Yeah, yeah, it is. And so it's taught somewhere there. And here's what I find with people who, with practitioners who I talked to who are like, Oh, I don't know about packages, it's that it has always been presented in this. Basically big salesy money making, you know, get them in a contract way. And I just want to say like, that's not what I'm talking about at all. So what I'm not I'm not talking about, I actually don't even call them packages, I call it programs or treatment plans. And so I want to be clear that when I'm talking about is truly developing a treatment plan for the person sitting in front of you. This is not an arbitrary number of it's just not a package of sessions. So this is different than like, Oh, it's you by a pack of 12 sessions, that's

Molly Cahill
not just gonna say, oh, yeah,

Joanna Sapir
that's not what I'm talking about here. When I say this, this is when I say like design, like, what's the Dream service and design the plan design the journey, it includes it, it, let's just say it could end up being 12 sessions over 12 weeks, that's still different than a pack of 12 sessions, right? This is like, what's the cadence? How often should people be seeing me? How long are those sessions? What are we doing in those sessions? What are we? Yes? What are the stages of the treatment and the healing that we're going to see? What are the milestones that we will be reaching, or that we're attempting to reach? That's all part of this. This is like, really carefully designed for the client. This is not like, it just happens to have the added bonus of, of being really good for business as well. But this is completely client centered. This is not this, like arbitrary thing in order to make money. This is about how do I truly serve my clients giving them what they need? That's what I'm talking about. Yeah,

Molly Cahill
that I'm so glad you the way you put that was perfect. And that also takes a lot of the burden off the client to be like, I don't know, do I need to go back like, or should I wait, or, because especially when we're talking about bodywork, or someone who has had a lot of chronic issues, it's like, if you're just going once every couple of weeks, you just keep getting back to the same point, like you never really get to work on the underlying issue.

Joanna Sapir
And this is what practitioners say. So my clients, when they come to me are like, I because it's session by session, I feel like okay, so somebody's in pain. And so they feel like what they have to do is like, do the best job possible to wow you to just get you out of pain or make you feel better in that moment. And usually that's not addressing the root cause. And so that's another way I phrase this is like, Okay, if you really no limits could have somebody for the period you want to and through the process you want to. Most practitioners are like, oh my goodness, we could get to the root cause and actually address the real reason this is there rather than just trying to make them feel better each session

Molly Cahill
and save them money in the long run. Right? Totally. If you're if you're someone who's I always say, this is a both and situation you can want to lead from a place of service and helping and you're like this is my calling is to help people. And you can want to make money doing this things are not mutually exclusive, because guess what, if you got a business, guess how many people you help? Zero. So if you're gonna want to have like, you're conscious of this, and you're like, Oh, I just don't want to be this salesy type thing where I'm selling these big offers, it's like we are very honestly very likely saving them money in the long run. Yeah, this

Joanna Sapir
is where the sales system comes in. And we can talk about it because just like I'm saying, this, my approach anyway, to program advising your services or creating treatment plans is completely client centered. It's, like I said, it just happens to be good for business. So it's a win win there. But the client is the center. By the same by the same vibe or token, the sales process is also completely client centered, and totally consensual, and is meant to enroll the right people in the program that is right for them. So again, this is not about closing the sale and closing the client. This is about building a process that teaches your prospective client what they actually need, what they actually need to again, like get out of their pain or solve their problems or achieve their goals or experience what they want to experience and what is actually needed. And when it's laid out like that. The right people are like, Heck yes, I'm in Let's go, you know,

Molly Cahill
and then a domino effect that that impacts your reviews and testimonials and referrals.

Joanna Sapir
I mean, yep, you see, you see businesses running on, you know, 50% referrals, it's like or more like that. Yeah,

Molly Cahill
I think about that a really good parallel, but think about that everyone has probably experienced this like supplements, right? It's like, you know, I kept reading in my magazines that Tumeric was good. So I took I took a couple here and there and I just like didn't feel any different. So I stopped taking it. Just like Well, yeah. That's not how it was designed to be used. So I feel like it's kind of like a parallel with with and I know we're just kind of focusing on body workers, but you know, anybody in the welding This space. So because a lot of these, especially if you're like a health or life coach, like a lot of these patterns that people have developed have happened over years and years and years. Oh, gonna be totally one session.

Joanna Sapir
Totally. Yeah. And anybody listening? Who does this work knows that right? Yes, yes, absolutely lifetime stuff.

Molly Cahill
Okay, so let's talk more about your sales system. Where did we leave off with that?

Joanna Sapir
Yeah. So to enroll people in these kinds of programs, this is the missing link. This is like, okay, so you're doing marketing that's bringing you the leads? Now? How do you convert those leads into, you know, these high quality, committed clients. And so we just talked about what's on the other side of that, which is problematized services, like a treatment plan that's really designed strategically designed to truly get that client the best results possible. And so the sales process is the is the piece that connects them in what you need to do. So I am a really firm believer, I this is very much part of what I teach and believe in is a consultative sales process. So you know, that is the opposite of sending somebody to a sales page or a booking page. Okay? So instead, you enroll someone through a conversation and through relationship building. And so the question is how to do that. So I can kind of go through my steps, which you know, your call to action all over your website, anywhere on your Instagram, anywhere on socials, your call to action, to get somebody into into your sales pipeline, or invite them into your into your sales process is an invitation to a free consultation. So this is a free first step. And of course, you can be very specific about what you're inviting them to depending on what your services are, right? If somebody is if your ideal clients are in chronic pain, and that's what you help people get out of his chronic pain, then your invitation is to a free consultation to learn how to get out of out of your chronic pain or whatever, something like that specific. So that's the call to action that is that bring somebody into your sales pipeline. And so that is step one. So from there, it's what you're doing, how I describe it, is you're putting stepping stones out in front of somebody. And so it's their choice, whether they take that next step, but you have laid out like, these are the steps to get to my front door.

Molly Cahill
So are these, like 15 Minute Calls? Would you say this is kind of more for people who are one to one, like higher ticket clients?

Joanna Sapir
Okay, so just depends on I have to, I have two versions of my sales system. So we like actually, you know, teach and build this for clients. So I have two versions of it. And then we also have some people who do a hybrid. So we have what we call the brick and mortar version. And we have what we call the online version. And then as I said, some people are a hybrid in ways, but let's just maybe talk about the brick and mortar version for a second. All right, so the brick and mortar version is that that free consultation is actually a phone call. So you're a brick and mortar business. And they are scheduling a phone call. And let me just note that you do do this through an automated scheduler so that you eliminate all that back and forth phone tag or back and forth texting or back and forth email tag, you do not have to go like are you available this time? Or this time? What do you have to Oh, when are you available, it drives me nuts as a client, it's and it's just a complete waste of time for practitioners as business owners. So this is an automated, it's so easy, right? somebody lands on your website from somewhere, they've been referred to you, or they saw you from one of your great posts on Instagram, right, and they get to your website, and that is the call to action. There's not other stuff. There's not fill out the contact form. There's not like the Contact Us is not there. There's not book a session. There's not it's just one one clear call to action, schedule a free phone consultation. And so this is again for brick and mortar and so that is actually a 10 to 15 minute phone call. And technically, it's not the it's not actually the consultation that that I teach where you enroll somebody it is not the actual sales process. It is the pre qualifying process. It's actually the filtering process. And so we script this with clients. So a lot of times practitioners will say Oh, I offer that they'll say a couple things. They'll be like I offer a free consultation, but not everybody books it and that if you're if that's you listening, that's because you're offering it amongst many other things. So you're just confusing people if they see that they can book a session or schedule a phone consultation already. People are like, Well, what should I do and so you're not you know, we want one pathway and then a lot of times As practitioners will tell me, I do I do talk to everybody first. And I'll say, Cool, how does that process go? What do you say, and it's just they don't have, they don't have a particular process to it, they're just kind of winging it, they're just kind of feeling it out and seeing how it goes. So we want that to be really, really well scripted in a way that very clearly filters out the wrong people for you and brings the right people forward. And we also want it to be scripted, so that that's something that you can outsource when you're ready. If you're a solo practitioner, you're the only one working in your business cool, you're the one doing this. But if you've already got like, you know, desk, staff, administrative staff, or even a VA, this is something that would be outsourced or can be outsourced? I would I would advise that the practitioners start with them to get a real feel for them. Start with the those phone calls. But that's the filtering process. And that's where you have to really know who your ideal clients and who are not so that you can really kindly refer the people who are not the right fit elsewhere and bring the right people forward. And you are qualifying them on things like the time commitment involved, the understanding that this is not a fixed me approach. This is not going to, you know, happen in one session. Really, you're you're educating them about that, and you are actually asking them questions and getting their agreement as to like, is that something that you are interested in? Do you understand that that's what this is going to be like, and you qualify them on price as well so that they understand same thing, you're not booking a session, like if you are a good fit for my services, if I can help you, the you know, the investment in my services is going to range from this to this depending on what's the right treatment plan for you, or what's the right program for you is that in your budget, and so you're qualifying them. So if they qualify, then you actually schedule the in person assessment and consultation. So you have a different name for those two things. This is the brick and mortar version again,

Molly Cahill
I had a similar I don't want you to like cringe at this and say like, this is not what I teach. But when I booked I think I told you I had like a 10 session Rolfing 10, roughing 100 If

Joanna Sapir
they call it their that's their paradigm is 10 sessions. Yeah,

Molly Cahill
yeah. So when I first actually texted her, because I'm 37. And I would argue that most people, I'm on the older end of that, but I'd rather text somebody than then call and I'm an extrovert. And I still I'm just like, I don't want to call but i She did it in a great way. Like I texted her to, to book an appointment, because she had been referred to me by someone else. And she didn't just say like, yeah, when you're like, when are you available? She laid out how it works. She's like, this isn't a one session thing. Since sessions, is this this much per? And yeah, no, we're kind of going back to talking about like, a, like a package of visits. But I just thought that was cool. Because that way I didn't walk in on the first session, expecting it to be something that it wasn't.

Joanna Sapir
Yeah, oh, this is absolutely about establishing expectations and, and understanding and making sure that they you're like inviting them into the lane, you have the road you have, you know, paved. And

Molly Cahill
so, the attack, so I know it's not as you know, strong is getting on the phone, but I just

Joanna Sapir
thought Yeah, the most important thing is that, that she's doing that process for every single person. So this is like, even if you your sister wants to work with you. And you're like, Well, I know she already gets it. No, you still do it with your sister, you still do the same thing. Like it's it's everyone does it because this isn't about again, this is not about like closing the sale. This is about like really alignment between you and your clients and what what they need. Yeah, I love that. So the online version is a little bit different for if you're an online practitioner, your call to action is, is to schedule a consultation. But in this case, it's like an hour long. And it might be called a clarity call discovery call, like, you know, strategy session just again, depending on what you do, what the actual modalities you do are and how you help people. And so the prospective client books that and instead of having that pre qualifying phone call what they they're forwarded to an application. So the online version is a written application. The brick and mortar version is pre qualifying phone call. Both of those are your filters. It's often called your red velvet rope policy. I don't know if you're familiar with Michael Port, but that's his term and I use it. Yeah. So it's your red velvet rope policy. It's like the guy at the club. You know, I mean, that like keeps the rope closed. And it's like he's choosing who goes in and there's qualifications you have and there's qualities you're looking for. And that's you as the practitioner like being the gatekeeper to your business. We know this isn't an issue of can you help everybody we know you can help lots of people. This is about like, who gets the best test results from your services and that you love working with, you really want to hone in on that for your business that's gonna make your business explode, it's just truly it is it is a key to growth. So online application, so that's step two is that filtering process that red velvet rope, whether it's through a pre qualifying phone call or through a written application. The third phase in my predictable sales system is what I call the coyote sandwich for know like trust, I also call it the prime and prep sequence. But it is a series of nurturing emails that you send your prospective clients, so they have already qualified, okay, they are going to be having an either an hour long, you know, Zoom call with you, or an hour long physical and, and verbal assessment in your office, one or the other. And the prime and prep sequence is where you basically it's almost like, Okay, you guys have just decided to go on a first date together, right? This is your chance to like, actually get the the first date stuff out of the way so that when you actually meet each other in person, you can hit the ground running

Molly Cahill
if, yeah, it's like, it's kind of like a nurture sequence. And if you're in like an email funnel that kind of handled some objections ahead of time.

Joanna Sapir
Yeah, this isn't about objections. This is kind of like, like, our first email is essentially your origin story, your business origin story, and how who you are and why you came to this work, and what's your background? Right. So that that's, you know, that's already laid out, like who you are, and what your background is, and how long you've been doing this, and so on. So that's the first one, we have other emails that explain exactly how the consultation is gonna go, which is a real trauma informed approach like this, there's no hard sales going to happen here, do you I mean, like, here's how this is gonna go, we're gonna do this, or we're going to do this, we're going to talk about this, I'm going to ask you these kinds of questions. And then, if you're a good fit for working with me, if I believe that I can help you, I'm going to share with you the path to working with me what the services would look like what your treatment plan is. And I'm going to ask you to make a commitment to yourself about doing it or not, you can answer yes or no, either answer is fine. But I'm going to be asking you the right if you're the good fit, I'm going to be asking you whether you want to proceed or not.

Molly Cahill
Well, and when I when I say objections, I think I don't mean, I mean more of like, exactly what you said, like, the things that might make me hesitant to even, like, I don't know, like, How is this even gonna work? Or like, does she even have the qualifications to help me? Like, ya know, that might not seem like what you might think of as an objection, but it's still

Joanna Sapir
like, the questions, what questions like,

Molly Cahill
it's a little more clear, because a lot of people who do have anxiety around issues like this, it's like, I don't even know what this is gonna look like, like, show me.

Joanna Sapir
Exactly. Yeah. So there's, that's why I'm saying it's trauma informed. It's a real safety, like you're explaining what this container is that we're going to be doing? And then just like you said, like, Can she really help? So I like to also send clients stories, client success stories, that kind of show, you know, here are some results from other people. Really, you can design this sequence however you want. And you can base it on what are the questions that my ideal client would be asking before this session right before this free consultation? And what are they wondering what do they want to know what how do they want to feel and so on. So that is, step three. Step four, is the actual consultation itself. So whether this is online or in person, this is a really important process. i There's no way I could even summarize here, Molly, how it goes, but like, I have a 10 step process. I teach my clients each piece of it. And I have to say that like, it is my joy. I'm just thinking right now I have a client who's just like, oh my gosh, I love my consultation so much. And it's like we felt like like you can fall in love with these with this process because it is so meaningful. And it is like how a lot of people will a lot of practitioners will tell me like well once somebody's a client, I get to know them better and they get to know me better and we get deep. This is actually doing that before they're your client. This is actually really doing a deep dive of connection and listening and support and understanding this person before they are your client. It's it's it's like you really get to hit the ground running once they're your client you're not building that relationship after they say yes I want to work with you. You're building it now. And session paid or it's it is free. It is free. And so a lot of a lot of there can be resistance. Speaking of objections, people can go What am I supposed to do free consultations? That is just way too much time. And I just want to note two things about it. One, this is why you're pre qualifying people and screening people, you can make your filter as hard as you want to, if you are high in demand, you get to make your filter really strong, and you're only inviting people in that you believe are going to be fantastic, committed clients. Okay, so that's number one. You are not having consultations with any Joe Schmo that comes along, you are filtering them. Number two consultations like this, I'll say in person consultations end up converting at like 80% or more 80%. Online, at least 50%. And so these are becoming, these are becoming long term clients that are with you for three months, six months, years, right, you're not selling a session. So these are the this is the deep work to do. So it becomes completely worth it. This is part of the time as a business owner, you need to be building into your business, you build time for marketing, and you build time for sales. And that's what this is. And then the last thing I'll say about it is, for me anyway, I guess I can only speak for me. But like, it makes no difference to me whether I have a consultation with somebody who does not convert to a client or I have consultations with people who I do not even invite into my services. Because through the consultation, I realized that they're not the right fit for my program. And I still love doing the consultations because it's a meaningful chance to connect with somebody and build a relationship. And honestly, it puts goodwill out there, it still gets you referrals. I mean, it does for me anyway. So I can have a consultation with somebody who I don't even invite to my services, or I invite and they're not ready for it and say no. And still, those people to me are still positive connections and actually still provide referrals and tell people about my work like so it's just really is completely worth it to do these. So yes, it is free. And I think that it I have had a couple clients who in the long run ended up charging for these, I think that takes something away from it to be honest, I do. But it depends on how you design it. So it is not a free session of your services. Just to be really clear, this isn't your services, it's an assessment process. It is not your full assessment. Like if you do full intakes, like where you're really analyzing people's blood work or all kinds of stuff, you're not doing the whole shebang. This is the some basic stuff that you need in order to advise the right treatment plan for them. You don't need it does not need to be super, super, super in depth. But there are really clear processes to how this goes. And so there is you are interviewing them. And you are assessing them. And you are in your mind really determining is this person, the right fit for the programs, I have which one and then you're laying that out for them. And that's where somebody decides to be a client or not right. So that's where the quote unquote sale happens. And then the fifth step is onboarding. And we just want you to have like a great big welcome hug for anybody who's coming in. Because really, when somebody is committing to to themselves is really what it is they're committing to their health by enrolling in this program with you or in this treatment plan. I like to think of like anybody who does that, that now they're in your inner circle. This isn't just like this random person that booked a session. This is somebody who has demonstrated their commitment, and you really want to like welcome them with open arms, whatever that might look like for you. And so those are the five steps of the

Molly Cahill
lovers and I like learn so much here. Yeah, so how can people learn more about this and chat with you all that jazz?

Joanna Sapir
Yeah. So I have a free masterclass for your listeners. And it actually, it is my it's what I call my client champion formula. It's my framework for building a profitable and sustainable business. It absolutely includes the predictable Sale system. And I gave you the link, Molly, it's up my website. And yeah, it's the client champion formula masterclass. And that is free for your listeners.

Molly Cahill
Awesome. And then I know you're not big on Instagram. So you're more of a Facebook.

Joanna Sapir
That is true. That is true. You've influenced me though. I'm trying.

Molly Cahill
It's, it's so funny to me because I get on Facebook and I just get immediately overwhelmed with all of the buttons. Yeah, and the options, and I'm on my personal water did I need to toggle it on my business one? And so I think it's funny when people think Instagrams harder because I'm like, No, it's not has way less buttons.

Joanna Sapir
It's because I'm a very verbal person and text based and you know, and so it's like I and I'm long winded. So it's like I like to write you know, I write and talk which reminds me I should mention, so I have a podcast for all your podcast listeners. So that's a great way to leave follow me besides the masterclass and my podcast is called the business revenue Vision for practitioners with Joanna Sapir.

Molly Cahill
Yep. I love it. Joanna. All right. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us today. And I'll make sure that your masterclass and podcast gets linked. And as always amazing chatting with

Joanna Sapir
you. Yeah, YouTube.

Molly Cahill
Thank you for listening to holistic marketing simplified. This podcast is brought to you by my marketing roadmap, which is a five episode private audio training that's kind of like this podcast, but not exactly because it's not available to the general public when you search on your podcast feed. So the great thing about consuming free content like this for me or on my Instagram, or my blogs, or whatever it is that yes, you will learn a lot, but you kind of have to go searching for what it is exactly you're looking for. This five episode private podcast is broken down in a logical step by step order. That's why it's called a roadmap. So you're ready to get started on your Instagram marketing journey. Or if you already are started and you're just feel like you're kind of like overwhelmed with all of the different free information. This is a super clear roadmap with lots of tangible step by step action items that will get you from point A to point B for just $27. So all you have to do is head to Mollie cahill.com/private training. And based on the reviews I've had so far, I know you won't be disappointed. I'm really proud of this training. And I know personally, I've bought 2737 $17 products before and felt like I really didn't get that much out of it. I guarantee you, you will learn something from this five episode, private audio feed. So again, it's just Molly cahill.com/private training. And it'll also be linked below in the show notes. I cannot wait to hear what you think. And hey, you know how every podcast or at the very end of their episode asks you to rate and review their podcast? Well, that's because it's super important. These podcasts take a lot of time and heart and effort to produce to bring you free information. So in order for me to be able to continue doing that we need more people to find out about the show. So if you could please just take like two minutes out of your very busy day to leave me a rating and share this on your Instagram stories and tag at Molly a K Hill. That's c h i ll I would greatly greatly appreciate your support. I truly appreciate you so much. I know your time is valuable and I can't wait to see you in the next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai