Lowering Resistance – the REAL Secret to Selling from Speaking

As you know by now, I’ve been talking a lot lately about how to sell from speaking – whether at a short talk, or at the end of a workshop – without coming across like you are doing a “hard pitch” and turning your audience off.

The more I reflect deeply on what I do when I sell to audiences that gets me such great results, the more it becomes clear to me that so much of what I’ve been talking about when it comes to selling to groups of people is really about lowering “Resistance”.

This is exactly the same as the resistance I talk about when I talk about 1-1 sales.

The thing about resistance is that as soon as your client feels that you are “selling” to them, that you are out for your own agenda, that you have a personal attachment to the outcome, they sort of emotionally and energetically “clam up”. Because nobody wants to be pushed into anything or feel like they just a pawn in someone else’s agenda. We all do this don’t we?I was out shopping with a friend in Covent Garden at the weekend and in one shop the sales assistant was so “persistently helpful ” that we fled the shop without even having a proper look around.

And when your potential client is mentally defending themselves against a sales onslaught all their energy is going into resisting you, and none into making a decision from a positive, empowered state about what IS actually the best thing for them. And so your client, who is struggling with a problem or issue in their life and really needs your help – after all that’s why they were attracted to your talk or webinar in the first place – walks out of the room without getting that help – all because you were not sensitive enough in the way that you communicated to them.

So How do I Lower Resistance in my Audience?

Knowing how to lower resistance is not anything particularly “magical”. It is something any of us can learn to do.

It starts with empathy, emotional intelligence, the ability to put yourself in the clients shoes. If you work with people in any capacity through a coaching, healing or any service based or training business, then chances are this already comes naturally to you.But in your nervousness around the sales process (all those stories you keep telling yourself about how “bad” selling is) you sort of short circuit and forget to connect in this way.

So put yourself in the shoes of the client and think – How would I feel at this point if I could sense I was being manipulated or was being subject to some cleverly crafted sales technique? How would I like to be treated?

Just doing that and trusting your own intuition rather than the things the “sales gurus” might teach you will notice a difference in your clients response.

Let your audience know that your offer is coming. If you don’t surprise them by suddenly starting to “sell” to them and instead set it up as a partnership and treat them with respect they will be much more open to truly and deeply reflecting on whether your offer might be the right thing for them.

Make it clear that you only want them to say “Yes!” if they know this is right for them – that it is about what is best for them, not what is best for you, and you won’t be putting any pressure on them.

Respect your clients decision-making strategy.  You do this by making your offer as compelling as you possibly can and by giving them a very good reason why they should decide today. But also leave some wiggle room for those people who need to sleep on it. They might not get the whole offer, but they won’t have to lose out entirely.

If you implement these few simple things it leaves your client energetically free and empowered to make their own choice about whether they need what you are offering – and if they recognise that they do, and that now is the right time to make that change you will find themselves saying a resounding “Yes please!” to working with you. And you can feel satisfied that you are making a difference in the world while at the same time building a business and lifestyle that supports you.