EP 99: Money Mindset Blocks from Prospective Clients (How to Handle Them)

You just had a great consult call with a prospective client, but at the end they hit you with a "I'm not sure now is the right time". And now you're left wondering what you did wrong. Most of the time, it has nothing to do with your pitch, your price, or your program. And it has everything to do with what was going on inside your prospective client's mind (that neither of you are aware of).

In this episode, Dr. Kasey Jo Orvidas breaks down the psychology behind the most common sales objections coaches hear, including "I can't afford it," "I need to think about it," and "I need to talk to my partner."

In this episode, she covers:

• Why "I can't afford it" is almost never a math problem and what belief is actually driving that objection
• The cognitive science behind "now isn't the right time" and why your client's brain is literally working against big financial decisions
• What coaches get wrong about urgency and how hesitation gives excuses room to grow
• How loss aversion, self-efficacy, and present bias all show up in your sales conversations (and what to do about each)
• The shift from reactive to proactive: why the most effective sales work happens before a client ever gets on a call with you

If you've ever had a seemingly motivated, excited prospect go quiet after a great call, this episode is going to reframe the whole thing for you.

Episodes Referenced: 

• EP 98: Why Health Coaches Hate Selling (This One Belief is Costing You)

Resources Mentioned: 

• Transform Your Forms
• Magnetic Messaging

Get on the priority list for my brand new 2-Day Money Mindset Workshop

Connect with me on Instagram! 

Transcript

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I can't afford it." Most of the time, this is not a math problem. It's actually a belief problem. People find money for things they believe in. Hello my friends, and welcome back to not another Mindset show. I'm your host, Dr. Casey Joe. My goal with this podcast is to take the science of mindset and behavior change and distill it down into actionable takeaways for you. Together we're gonna unpack research around motivations, self-sabotage, willpower, and so much more, and we're going to take all of that and translate it into strategies you can immediately apply to your health. Fitness, relationships, business, marketing clients, all of the things. But just to be clear, it's not all serious and sciencey around here. We're gonna have a ton of fun too, and I'm so excited to share all of this with you. All right, let's go ahead and get into the episode. Hello, my friends. Welcome back to not another mindset show. Listen, we spend a lot of time talking about our own fear of selling, and you may not wanna call it fear, it might just be discomfort, or you may be trying to say that the reason you don't like selling is because you like to coach and help people, you don't wanna feel pushy. Whatever we talk about, the resistance, the stories, the discomfort, working on that, paying attention to that, that work matters. That was the entirety of last week's episode. So make sure you watch that, listen to that wherever you're tuning in. But today, I wanna talk about the other side of the conversation. Because while you may be managing your nerves around selling, your prospective client is walking in with a whole psychological suitcase full of the exact same kind of stuff for themselves. Beliefs about money, about themselves, about whether they're even allowed to say yes to you, to hire you. Let's say you had a great discovery call, sales call, consult call, whatever you call it. You had real connection with this person. They seemed genuinely interested, they seemed motivated, they seemed excited, and then you get hit with the, " Okay, this sounds great, but I just need to think about it," and silence. Or, "I just can't afford this right now." And then you start to wonder what the heck you did wrong. And listen, most of the time it's not about you, and I think you know that deep down. It's not about your pitch. It's not about your price. It's not about the value of your program. It's about what's actually happening inside your prospective client's mind. And most coaches never think to look there. And that's exactly what we're getting into in this episode. Most coaches put all of their sales call prep energy into things like the offer, the program, the results they can expect, the price justification, and almost none actually goes into the psychological piece of what you're going to be facing on that sales call on the other side of the Zoom, on the other side of the phone coming from your prospective client. And here's what's actually happening on their end, on the end of the prospective client that you're talking to. They're not just evaluating your offer. They're evaluating themselves." Can I do this? Do I deserve to do this? Is this the right time? What if it doesn't work for me? What will my partner say if I make this investment?" There's a lot of mental noise happening before you say anything about the structure of the coaching program or the price. So I wanna bring in a little bit of research here because that's what we do here, and we're talking about scarcity. When people feel financially constrained, even just thinking about money, that activates a scarcity mindset, and it actually, like, narrows their cognitive bandwidth, meaning they have less mental capacity to think clearly about big decisions, AKA whether or not they should hire you. you. So the whole "I need to think about it" piece that you hear all of the time, it might not actually be avoidance. They genuinely may not have the cognitive capacity to make a decision right now, not because they're flaky, but because their brain is kinda working against them in that moment. So please, a reframe for yourselves here. Your prospective client isn't just trying to be difficult after you had a great sales call with them. They might just be in a mental state that makes big financial decisions feel impossible, and that's something you can actually do something about Of course, only if you actually understand it, you understand what's going on from a psychological perspective, from a mindset perspective. Okay. Quick commercial break, kind of. I mean, the show isn't sponsored and I'm definitely not making any money to record these episodes but I do have something really relevant to share with you. I'm running a two-part live training all about money mindset this July, the 14th and the 15th. Day one is basically the internal piece, your mindset, your blocks, your story around selling, and day two will be the external piece, the psychology of your perspective clients and how to use that to upgrade your marketing and sign more clients. If you've been listening to this episode and nodding along, then you definitely should consider being there. Head to the show notes, you'll find a link there that'll get you on the priority list, so you will be the first one to know when registration opens. Two days, two live trainings with me, two sides of the same money mindset problems. I'm super, super excited for this and I can't wait to share it with you. So let's talk about some things that you are very likely to hear, all of you, in fact, who are listening to this. If you have been on a sales call, you have probably heard these things. And we're not just gonna stop there, though. We're gonna talk about what's actually going on underneath, really getting into that money mindset aspect for your prospective clients from a sales call conversation perspective. It doesn't have to be a call necessarily. This could be coming from the DMs, email follow-up, in person, whatever. All right, the first one," I can't afford it." Most of the time, this is not a math problem. It's actually a belief problem. And in fact, this is something I talk with my students about and also my business mentorship clients about all of the time, that, yes, there are absolutely situations where finances are a true concern for the people that you're speaking to, and that can be a very, very valid thing, okay? Especially in today's economy. however, oftentimes, at face value, it sounds like it's a financial problem, when actually there's something else going on underneath the surface. And a lot of times that's a self-efficacy belief situation."I don't actually believe that this will work for me," or sometimes it's a, "I don't know if I'll be able to follow through, even if I love this coach and the program seems great." Which by the way, you know, if you are a Health Mindset Certified coach, then you would be able to help them feel more safe and confident that you can help them follow through because you have all the skills and strategies from a science-backed perspective. I don't need to turn this into a sales pitch for HMCC. Y'all already know you should be an HMCC. Okay. People find money for things they believe in, okay? If they believe in it, they will find the money for it. If they're telling you that they can't afford it, then the real question becomes, do they believe the outcome is achievable for them specifically? For them, based on their beliefs, based on their experiences, for them. Your job in marketing, in sales, is to build that belief before they even get on a call with you. This should be something you're including in your application form. It should be within your content. We should be building the belief supporting their mindset before they even start to talk to you about coaching and whether or not they're a good fit, if they should sign up, et cetera. This is actually a really great plug for Transform Your Forms. This is my most popular... Like, we're talking thousands of coaches have purchased this mini course, and it helps you very easily, plug-and-play fashion, how to insert mindset and behavior change principles into things like your application form, like your intake form, like your check-in form, like your sales calls, like your exit surveys. I'll make sure that that is linked in the show notes if you wanna check it out. It's really affordable. You have lifetime access, blah, blah, blah. but that would really help you here. Okay, next one. Now is not the right time. How many times have you heard this? If you haven't, you're about to hear it, like, tomorrow, because it's really common. What I see in this is something called present bias, and this is a lot of Daniel Kahneman's work, if you have heard of him before. He's the What I see in this is something called present bias and this is a lot of Daniel Kahneman's work, if you have heard of him before. He's the Thinking Fast and Slow guy. His research shows that humans consistently outweigh the present moment and underweigh the future benefit. So in plain terms here, the cost of saying yes is immediate and concrete. So for instance, with your clients, the cost of saying yes is immediate and concrete. For instance, if they say yes, the cost is literally money leaving their bank account. It's immediate, it's concrete, it's tangible, it's happening right now. But the benefit is in the future and feels more uncertain. So for you, helping them believe that in six months from now, they're going to change their body composition, they are going to have healthier habits, things are gonna be easier for them, they're gonna be stronger. Yeah, that sounds great, but it's still uncertain. It's not concrete, and it's in the future. So looking at it this way, saying yes is an immediate cost. They're losing money. They're seeing the money come out of their bank account. But the benefit in the future is still uncertain. So when you look at it this way, like, of course the brain is going to resist, right? And coaches who understand this, they don't get frustrated by it. It makes sense, and instead they design their messaging and their communication to speak to that. Like, just imagine even if you were to take that onto your sales call. I understand that The immediate cost is so clear. You're going to be giving me money, time, energy, all of this stuff, but the future benefit still feels a little uncertain. Does that feel that way for you? Can you tell me more about that? That could be a really great way to start, kickstart some mindset conversation with them. Okay, next one. I need to think about it. Usually this is one of two things. They don't feel fully understood yet, or there's no perceived urgency. That's what's actually going on when someone says, I need to think about it." it. The decision feels low stakes to delay because there is no clear cost to waiting. Like, why would I not delay making this decision and spend some more time thinking about it because there's no cost if I don't make this decision right now? So keep that in mind. just just as kinda like general principles for marketing and selling. Like if there's no sense of urgency you're, you are just asking for people to take their time. And if they take their time, what I like to say is that hesitation creates the cracks for excuses to break through. Start thinking of all the reasons why this is not a good idea. So it's worth noting that when someone says, I love this, it sounds great, but I need to think about it. I'm not ready to buy yet. I need to think about it. That it's rarely about needing more information. They have enough information. They learned everything about your program. They saw your testimonials. They got on a fricking call with you. They're definitely interested, right? What they don't have is a real felt sense of what staying stuck and continuing to do what they're currently doing is costing them. We're talking cost of inaction here. And that, my friends, is typically a messaging and communication problem on your side of things, not a perspective client problem. Gosh, I am just setting myself up to sell all of my programs. Listen, buy or don't buy, whatever, but I can't not mes- mention magnetic messaging. Oh my gosh, say that 10 times fast. Magnetic messaging is my mini course about copywriting that pulls in motivation and mindset science so that you can infuse that into your content, into your sales pages, into your emails. To essentially help exactly everything that I'm saying right here. I I'm really not even trying to set this up to, to showcase my own programs, but I can't not talk about it there. that'll also be in the show notes. We'll make sure to link that for you if you just wanna check it out. okay, last one I have. I need to talk to my husband. I need to discuss this with my partner before I make a decision. I know you've heard this before. Of course, this can absolutely be logistically true. If You're making financial decisions with the person that you share finances with. Fair, right? But this objection is interesting because it kind of lies at the intersection of money mindset and relationship dynamics, which makes it very interesting. What we wanna do here is focus on just normalizing the investment and speaking to the transformation in a way that their partner could understand it too. And this likely could be a situation where you even then ask them, "What information would your partner need to know in order to feel fully sold on you moving forward with this and getting this transformation?" See what they say. All right, you already know that psychology is at the core of marketing and selling. It's kind of like duh, right? We're talking about human behavior, human decision-making. That, my friends, is psychology. And of course, mindset is at the core of your beliefs about money and about selling and at the core of the beliefs that your prospective clients have when it comes to money and buying. I wanna run through a few really important psychological concepts here when it comes to the money mindset of your clients specifically and of course your prospective clients, your clients in general, your audience. for my HMCC students, this is gonna feel like a little bit of a refresher. Not that HMCC is all about money mindset, but again, it's psychology and human behavior and behavior change and mindset and, and all of this stuff. Whether you're coaching your clients and trying to help them follow through on the plan, which is what HMCC supports you with, or you're trying to sign more clients or retain clients longer or feel like you're more confident when it comes to selling, it's all the same stuff. It's all the same stuff. Okay, so the first one, loss aversion. People are so much more motivated to avoid loss than they are to achieve gain. That is just how we operate. Most coaches market almost entirely from the side of gain, telling you all of the benefits of the program, how amazing you're going to feel, the results you're going to see, reach your goals, all that stuff. Important, fine, whatever. But if your content never speaks to the cost of staying where they are right now, you are missing an entirely, an entire other side that is, again, speaking to loss aversion, probably even more important. So So thinking about that for your clients, what are they losing? The, energy that they're losing, the confidence that keeps eroding the years and years and years of trying the same thing or trying different things and nothing is working, the frustration that comes from that. Both things matter. You need to talk about the gain, but you bet your butt you better be focusing heavily on the things that they are missing out on by not making a change, by not doing something differently. Of course, please speak about this in a nice way. Be a nice person. Don't make them feel guilty or ashamed of themselves. That's not what we do here. It's not what you should do ever, okay? All right. Self-efficacy. I mentioned this a little bit already, but self-efficacy, let, let me give you a little, a mini rundown first. Self-efficacy is not just self-belief. It's not self-confidence. It's, It's truly believing that you can persist in the face of obstacles and challenges and still be successful. So before someone buys, they need to believe that they can actually do the thing, even when they're thinking about all those obstacles and challenges that are going to come up in the near future. So they don't need to just know that the thing works, that your coaching works. They need to know that they can, they can do the thing. And this is why testimonials are so powerful. You know this. Social proof. When a prospective client sees someone that looks like them, sounds like them, has a similar life to them, similar struggles, that they started where they, the other person, you know, in the testimonial started where they, your prospective client currently is, and then that person got results, their brain starts to build more of that, oh my gosh, maybe I can do this, even if it's difficult. So think about that with your testimonials. Are they doing this kind of work? Are they specific enough? Do they feature people that your ideal client can really see themselves in? Oh, I have one more. Implementation intentions, if then planning. Again, HMCC students, you're like, "I know this stuff so well." So when people have a concrete when X happens, I will do Y type of plan, they're significantly more likely to follow through. I know that sounds stupid simple, but it's the truth. This stuff is based on research. So in marketing terms, we don't just want to tell people what transformation is possible. Here's an outcome that you can expect to receive, I promise. But instead, help them have a clear mental path forward, clear steps. If you do this, then you will achieve Y. That specificity is really important, and again, setting myself up here because... unintentionally, because if you're looking to upgrade your content and your messaging based on this stuff, like specificity is what rang the bell for me. And everything else that I'm discussing here, please look at Magnetic Messaging. It's a really affordable mini course, and it'll walk you through all of this stuff in such depth and give you actual proven copy examples that I've used in my emails, in my Instagram posts, et cetera, that showcases how to leverage these things so that you can leverage them yourselves. Okay. marketing, you know, kind of bringing this all together, it's not just about information delivery. There is basically a psychological environment that you are creating with your marketing, whether that's actually, uh, benefiting you from a sales and marketing and signing more clients perspective or not. You are creating a psycho- psychological environment for your prospective clients. And when you understand the beliefs that your prospective clients are carrying about money, about themselves, about their worth, about their ability to change, you can design that environment to really start to meet them where they actually are and help them believe more in themselves, not just in you and your program. That's not enough. This is exactly the same stuff I talk about all the time from a coaching practices perspective, and it absolutely applies here. It's all the same. It's all the same. All right. I do wanna be really clear here when it comes to the money mindset work when you're thinking about this for prospective clients, this isn't about manipulation, okay? It's not about exploiting their fears, making them feel bad Or trying to push them or engineer their thoughts into a decision. It, it, it won't work. It might work. If it works, then it's just gonna be not great later on because both of you will realize that they didn't actually make the decision themselves, you made it for them. Not a good place to be in. Instead, it's about anticipating where they might feel stuck, what's actually going on, so you can help them through it, get past that. It's basically coaching. It's what we're doing when we're talking to prospective clients. And you should be doing this with your clients every day, I mean, assuming that you also have the tools and strategies when it comes to mindset and behavior change, psychology, and all of that stuff. But here's the key shift, and please pay attention to this. If you're doing something else, come back to me. This is something I want you to focus on. We want to shift from being reactive to proactive. Most coaches address the money mindset problems when they come up on a sales call, after a post, in the DMs, whatever. The coaches who will always convert at the highest rates and be most successful are the ones who are addressing this stuff before the client gets on a call with them, the prospective client, that is. It's in their content, it's in their emails, it's how they talk about their offer publicly. We're talking about messaging and copywriting here. So what this could look like specifically for you, to give you some tangible pieces, I have a couple bullet points. So speaking to the cost of inaction, not just the benefit of action. We talked about that a lot here. Use testimonials that build self-efficacy, not just credibility. Think about what your prospective clients need to hear, not what you want them to hear. Normalize the investment before anyone asks about the price. Normalize that it is an investment, that it is a commitment, that it's an investment in themselves, et cetera. Give people a clear next step. Eliminate as much decision fatigue and, and cognitive fatigue as possible. Make it clear, make it easy on them. The best sales conversation you will ever have is the one where the person already believes in the outcome, they already trust you, and they already feel seen by you. That is where your content and messaging come in, the things that happen before someone even gets on the call, how they feel when they fill out your application form. And you must, you must, you must, you must understand money mindset for yourself and for your clients for all of this to really work in order to do this It's not about being a salesperson. It's not about just selling harder. Oh my goodness. It's about the psychology of money mindset and selling smarter and earlier on in the process. So with this episode and the last episode, we talked about two sides of the same coin, money mindset, but one side being yours and one side being that of your prospective clients. And I do have something exciting to share. I have been building something, and it goes very deep into both sides of this conversation for the money mindset of yourself and of your clients. And at this point in time as I'm recording the episode, I don't have a ton more details to share with you except for the fact that I'm very excited and I'm actively working on it right now. But by the time this episode is published, as you're listening to this right this moment, we will have more information, and that is in the show notes of this episode even though I'm speaking to you in the past and I don't have all that information. It is available now, so make sure you check out the show notes to hear more about this money mindset experience that I am hosting. And if you got anything out of this episode, I am so happy that you are here and you got to the end of this episode because this stuff is so important and it's so overlooked, and I would love to share more of it with you and give you some more really tactical, specific strategies. We kind of talked very high level in this episode and the previous episode, so you're kind of understanding what it is that you need to be thinking about and including and how you should be shifting the way that you're thinking about these things, but not necessarily how, not necessarily the how, plug and play strategy, step-by-step process, but that is what I am planning to share more with you. So make sure you go to the show notes, check that out. As always, thank you for fricking being here. Thank you for taking time, precious time that you have out of your day away from other things that are big priorities in your lives to take the time to hang out with me and get better, help your clients better. I appreciate you. Thank you, and I'll see you next week And that's a wrap for today's episode of Not another Mindset show. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you get notified of the next one. Because if you're anything like me, if the episodes aren't popping up for you automatically, you'll keep forgetting to come back to the show even if you really, really enjoyed it. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button and make it super easy for you and of course. If you wanna see more episodes just like this one, I'd love for you to let me know by leaving a review. I know, I know it's super annoying to do, but the few seconds that it takes means the world to me and also ensures that I can keep providing free education and value to you. And just to sweeten the deal, I am going to be picking a random reviewer every single month to receive a free workshop or product from me. If you're looking for more free resources or just wanna connect, hang out, chat a little bit, come find me on Instagram. I'm Coach Casey, Joe over there. That is where I hang out the most in the land of social media. Alright, my friends, that is all I have for you this time. I so appreciate you being here and love to see you prioritizing your growth. I'll see you next time.