I have an acquaintance who sells his services as a pick up artist.

He teaches men how to go into a bar, club or other social situation and get dates with women. Ladies, I can hear you cringing from here but stay with me on this one. This is relevant, I swear.

I chatted a bit with my pal about the process of picking up women. Partly, because I wanted to steel myself against his sleazy tactics and partly because I needed fuel to dislike him. What struck me though, were the similarities between getting a date and making a sale. And none of the recommended pick up tactics are slimy.

Here are a handful of my pal’s suggestions:

BUILD TRUST.

My Pick Up Artist friend recommends that to get a date, a man should help the woman trust him right away. The biggest mistake men make is jumping in and asking for a date before a woman feels comfortable.

Using a pickup line like, “nice shoes, wanna shag?” is the sales equivalent of “Nice tweet, wanna spend three grand on my services?”

Building trust is the first step on your way to making a sale. Post your testimonials and your client list. Help prospects understand that you help people just like them. Offer a low-cost or no-cost option so they can sample your services without committing big bucks.

OPEN WITH A COMPLIMENT.

My PUA pal recommends that men begin interactions with compliments. Ladies, you know how you feel when you get a sincere compliment (sincere, not a cheesy pick up line).

For the same reason, compliment you client. People want to hear that you are excited to work on their project. People want to hear that you like to work with people like them. Of course, sincerity is the key. Have an answer if she asks you why you want to work with her on her project.

ATTENTION IS PRECIOUS.

Ladies, if a potential gentleman caller gets your attention, what do you want him to do with it? He should be interesting and charming, right? Same deal with sales.

If you write a catchy, attention-grabbing tweet or headline, make sure the content backs it up. If someone makes the effort to click your link, show them something useful, interesting or otherwise makes their day better. Don’t squander your audience’s attention.

If they feel that looking at your stuff is a waste of time, it will be much harder to get their attention a second time.

BE CONFIDENT.

When you enter a sales conversation oozing desperation, it’s just as unappealing as showing up for a date oozing neediness.

Just as your date doesn’t want the job of validating you, your client doesn’t want to prove your worthiness to you. Believe in your own worth and in the value you provide. Talk to your client about the results you can get for her. Show her that you understand her needs and you can help her get where she wants to go.

The conversation is about how you can help her, not what you need from her.

CLOSE THE SALE.

My PUA buddy recommends asking “When are you available?” instead of “Would you like to go out sometime?”

Instead of “I’m offering free consolations. Click for details” Try, “Click to schedule your free consultation.”

Try asking a prospect “When would you like to get started?” If he needs time to think about it, ask when he would like to schedule a follow-up meeting. Of course, you don’t want to be a nag. If he won’t commit to a follow up meeting, he wants to say no, but he’s too polite to say so.

The next time you enter into a sales conversation, make sure you do it with confidence.

Offer a sincere compliment to help your prospect feel good about the interaction. Once you have your prospect’s attention, make sure it’s worth the prospects time to listen to you. Building trust is key to creating a positive interaction. Finally, close the sale.

Now go out there, get the girl and make the sale.

Photo credit: Alex E. Proimos

Joey, my ten-year-old entrepreneur

He’s ten years old. (Eleven in June!)

He’s been a difficult child to raise, but not because he’s a horrible kid.

He doesn’t like rules.

He wants work-arounds.

He doesn’t want ‘no’ to be the final answer.

He always wants to make a YES out of a NO. (Especially when I’m the one telling him NO.)

If he’s awake at 5am, he wants to get up and do something.

If something is available to him, he wants to use it. (Video games, food in the cupboards, other people’s Halloween candy.)

Punishments only make him try harder to do the thing he wanted to do (and got in trouble for) in the first place.

You can take every single thing away from this kid and he will only try harder next time, because all you did was make him tougher and more focused.

Today, he showed me twenty-four dollars he made from selling his art at school.

My son’s art isn’t any more amazing than anyone else’s art. He does a good job and has a good eye and a lovely use of color – like pretty much every child who ever picked up a crayon and scribbled on a piece of paper.

What he discovered is that he can sell his art on the playground because that’s where the other kids take their money.

He saw a marketplace and entered it. It’s a marketplace made up entirely of his peers – peers with MONEY. He found where the money was and he figured out what he could sell to get the money, and he’s getting it.

He has orders to fulfill next week.

I’m so proud of my son I could hardly type this coherently. My son, the rule-breaker.

Yes, he still has to go to bed at bedtime like everyone else. But now I know for sure that he’s just as creative and amazing as I always believed he was.

What he knows now, and what I want you to know as well, is that there is always a way. You’re probably overcomplicating things, when you could be selling pieces of paper on the playground with no website, no formal marketing plan, no social media accounts, and no shiny logo or business cards.

Just get out and there and do it for the sheer joy of making it happen. A ten-year-old can do it. So can you.

This is a post about launching.

This is also a post about failure.

This is also a post about listening to your intuition, being flexible, and letting go.

Settle in, sweetheart. I want to tell you a story about launching three things.

From February 27th through March 19th, I launched three things in three weeks.

In February, I had wanted to offer my business class at the beginning of the month, but I got really realllly sick; so I couldn’t get it ready.

I checked in with my intuition, and talked to my smart people (my Mom, Kyeli, Pace, Kelly, and Noelle, for starters), and determined that I was going to launch the class plus my retainer coaching at the same time.

I felt really good about launching both of them together.

It made sense to me that since the class and the coaching are for entrepreneurs in different stages of business, I could launch them together as long as I explained it well in the launch emails and other launch content.

Tip: planning your launch activities BEFORE you start launching is the best way to do this. It’s surprisingly easy not to do it this way.

• I made a launch timeline.
• I wrote the launch emails.
• I wrote the blog post announcing things.
• I planned a Twitter party with Karl (who is ridiculously awesome, by the way) to build up some buzz.
• I planned a scholarship contest for halfway through the launch, for buzz AND to give something away for free (something I love to do).
• I wrote a beautiful, heart-full Manifesto and cried afterwards because it took everything I had to create it. (Get it by subscribing to my list in the sidebar!)

And then I launched! And … nobody bought a darn thing.

When you offer something, you assume that the money you receive from the sales will be what you use for your business and personal budgets. This is natural.

When you offer something and then travel to Austin during SXSW, you assume that the money you receive from the sales will buffer your travel budget to get home.

And when nothing sells, it’s Freakout City for a number of reasons.

Launch failure has nothing to do with worthiness.

Failing to sell your product or service does not mean you are not good enough.
Failing to sell your product or service does not mean you’re a big failure and a terrible businessperson.
Failing to sell your product or service does not mean you’re a fuckup who can’t take care of her kids and family.

Failures are always full of lessons. Failures are ripe with data of all kinds.

You cannot succeed in anything in your business unless and until you have failed. A lot.

After spending some time in fear, I reached the other side: peace.

I emailed my list to ask them a question. And the responses I got showed me what to do next.

So, I have created a 30 Day Implementation Challenge, which is for entrepreneurs whose heads, hearts, and hard drives are full of information — with no clear plan for how to do something with all of it.

And the reason I’m offering this is because I believe that one of the reasons I had lots of interest but no sales is that people are full of information, and what they truly crave — their deepest desire — is to MAKE SOMETHING.

Yes, I want money to pay my various bills. Yes, I want to take care of my kids and keep my cell phone turned on.

But more than that, I want to offer what is needed, not just what I want to put out there.

Creating offerings is about more than what you’d like to do. It’s about what’s necessary for your people.

And often, the only way to find out what someone wants is to offer them a lot of things that they don’t want.

Your job is to find the shape of what’s right for them. To whittle away the pieces of wood that don’t belong. To shape the marble of your possibilities into the sculpture that is hidden inside.

This takes failure. Honesty. Transparency. A willingness to be in your fear and see what you’re being shown.

Thing number three: the 30 Day Implementation Challenge.

Want in? Check it out. I made it super affordable, because I love you and I want you to get the experience of working with me while you make, and offer, a beautiful thing.

Hello, sweetheart!

Today and tomorrow (until midnight EST on Tuesday 3/6), I am offering the chance to win a scholarship to the Holistic Business Class, so you can get the tools you need to create a sustainable holistic business.

The class is currently open for registration through Friday, and I’d like to give you the opportunity to get in at no cost to you except a flurry of social media goodness, sweet pea.

The Rules, Darling

You can do any or all of the following things to rack up entries, so please choose which ones you like best.

1. Like the Brand Harmony Studio Facebook page – click here to like us!
2. Sign up for our newsletter – in the sidebar or by clicking this link here
3. Facebook share this post (one entry per share)
4. Tweet this post (one entry per tweet)
5. G+ share this post (tag me in it so I can count it – here’s my G+ profile link) (one entry per share)
6. After downloading the Guided Worksheet from this page, answer question #1 on the Facebook page
7. Answer question #2 on the Facebook page
8. Comment here (only one comment counted, although you can come back and update me on your entries here that way)

If you already like us on Facebook, say so here (or on the page) so that I can confirm and count your entry. If you already subscribe to the newsletter, find the latest one in your inbox and just reply to it with your name, so that I can confirm and count your entry there as well.

Remember, this contest ends on Tuesday at midnight EST.

You can enter as many times as you like according to the rules above.

And here is the extra bonus goodness for you: everyone who enters to win will be given a discount link to buy the class. You can keep it for yourself, or share it with an entrepreneur who needs it (or both!).

All the participants will be notified via Facebook message, Twitter DM, or email with their discount code on Wednesday March 7th. The winner will also be notified on Wednesday March 7th after all the entries have been tallied, counted, and put in our magical random-entry-choosing machine.

Here’s to your success!

I had such a good time writing this for my newsletter subscribers that I wanted to post it here too. Enjoy this peek into my process, darling.

Presenting: the structure of the Holistic Business Class.

One of the reasons I’m sharing this with you, the nuts-and-bolts of this class and part of the experience of creating and offering it, is that I know it’s always fascinating and informative to peek behind the scenes at what other entrepreneurs are doing. I hope that what bits I share will spark your own creativity and move you forward with some new ideas.

The Holistic Business Class (which is part of the brand new Holistic Business School) is a three-week course, with each week dedicated to learning and exploring a specific aspect of creating and maintaining your business.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten about putting together classes is to SIMPLIFY. At first, I had a ton of information to give and worksheets to offer and homework to assign. Then I realized it was much, much better to learn a few things comprehensively than a multitude of things on a surface level.

The first week of class is about clarity. Clarity on your business, your target market, your offerings, and all the moving pieces in between. Rather than start with an assumption that you know exactly what you want to work on from the outset, I wanted to take all my students through these important beginning exercises. It will surprise you how much can (and will) shift during this first week.

The second week of class is about creating and gaining momentum. This is where the rubber hits the road, because none of the things you truly want to do in the world can be accomplished without a plan. (And if there’s one thing I love to do, it’s make plans!) From goal-setting to granular day-to-day task planning, this is the week it happens. Again, it will surprise you how a new perspective on your work and creative output will shift things for you.

The third week of class is about harmony. Harmony in your marketing messaging, all across the platforms you use. There isn’t much I can tell you about this week except to prepare to do a lot of writing, re-writing, and re-structuring. Your awareness of how your market sees you is the most important takeaway in this week.

During all the weeks of class, you’ll get short audio lectures, worksheets with homework assignments, group coaching, and 15-minute one-to-one sessions with me. After your three weeks are over, you’ll have an opportunity to participate in a bimonthly group coaching support group, to help you stay on track with all the things you want to do now that you’re super clear and excited to keep moving forward.

The Holistic Business Class officially launches this Wednesday, so make sure you’re on the list (in the sidebar!) to get my email on that day with links to a shiny resources page with downloads for you to enjoy, and of course a payment button so you can sign up as soon as you like.

On Thursday, I’m throwing a Twitter party teleclass with Karl Staib, and you’re invited!

There will be prizes (you can win stuff! whee!), and you can either participate only on Twitter with the hashtag, or on Twitter AND call in to listen to Karl and I talking about how a holistic approach to business can give you the understanding and power necessary to move your business forward in a way that’s perfect for you.

Click here to sign up for the Twitter party at Karl’s website.

See you there, and don’t forget I’m emailing you when the class opens on Wednesday.

I’d love it if you shared your own process with creating your products and services in the comments!

Snow, which has nothing to do with packages.

Once upon a time (four years ago!), I opened my virtual doors and hung out my shingle as a web designer.

It was exciting! It was scary! And, despite how hard I worked at my services page, it was kind of confusing for my potential clients.

Do you offer this? they would ask, and I would reply yes I do! And then I would find a way to add it to my list of services without making the list overwhelmingly long.

What about this, can I have this and those too? How much is that? they would ask next, and I would reply of course you can, and then I’d spend some time with my calculator and give them the price.

Very soon, it became obvious to me that I needed not just a list of things I did, but also a list of which things went together and how much it would cost to get that combination of things.

It was good, this exercise of exploring the needs and curiosities of my potential customers. I began to understand something deeper about their reasons for coming to me, and how they perceived my offerings.

And so lesson number one was this: putting my services into packages helped me understand the needs and desires that brought my customers to my business.

In order to make my services clearer to my potential customers, I reduced the list of things I offered to what was the most asked-for, and put a new list of packages together that combined (I hoped) the things that usually went together, and put prices on everything.

Then I waited for my customers to knock down my door and flood my Paypal account with money, because obviously the packages were what they wanted.

While I waited for Paypal notifications, I was still answering questions like Do you offer this? and What about these things? and What if I need this but not that? It was familiar, the question-and-answer dance. I replied Of course! and Let’s talk about it some more. I put together custom quotes like usual, although now I had a better short-hand for quoting things that went together.

Lesson number two was this: putting my things in packages gave me a vocabulary for answering common questions from my potential customers, so that I could be more efficient in communicating with them.

And lesson number three: people hardly ever click the BUY button without asking questions first, even if what they see is exactly what they want.

In my experience as a service provider for the past four years, it has been the strange paradox of my website and services page that has taught me the most about provider-customer interaction.

1. Customers want to see what you’ve done.
2. Customers want to see what you can do.
3. Customers want to get an idea about what they might ask you to do.
4. Customers want to feel like the thing they buy from you is just for them, which means that:
5. Customers want to ask you questions before they make a decision.

And so lesson number four is that packages are good for your business, but not in the way you think.

Packages do not make it easier for your customers to buy directly off the services page.

Packages do not automatically make buying from you an easy decision.

Packages make you a better customer service provider.

Packages make you better at anticipating needs and desires and potential roadblocks in your customer’s decision-making process.

Packages are part of the building process of your own business, and part of the window dressing that shows potential customers what you’re about and what you know you can do for them.

Do you need packages?

No. And yes. It depends on what you need them for, and that’s the paradox.

Business is full of these beautiful paradoxes and accidental teachable moments. It’s a blessing to have the experience of building a business, yes?

I’d love to hear your own paradoxes and teachable moments in the comments.

I made this for you.

Happy day of remembering who you are, sweet one.
Happy day of love, for yourself and your calling and your work in the world.
Happy day of feeling the beautifulness of being you.

(Please share, because love is better as it spreads and expands.)

It’s a new year, darling.

Did you feel the shift when the clock gently ticked over from 2011 to 2012?

I did.
It was like a huge sigh of relief.
Like a releasing, a letting-go.
It was like I finally let the mantle of last year fall off my shoulders and puddle in the floor.

And I stepped out of it and into this new year, ready and open and so full of heady excitement for what-will-be.

The first amazing thing that happened is this new website – the business, the heart of it, the core of who I am – downloaded right into my heart and head only three days ago, and here it is.

It’s ready for you.

Namaste, and here’s to us!

xoxoxo forever,
Rhiannon

P.S. And now I am going to take a hot shower and collapse happily onto a handy flat surface, because WOW. :)

Today I want you to know how much I love you. And I want you to know that I see you.

I want you to know that your pain was not for nothing.

I want you to understand that your struggles defined your character; they chipped away at the precious gem of your true self, and polished those parts of you that are now the most blindingly beautiful.

There will always be struggle. There will always be pain. There will always be joy, and the euphoric excitement of deep fulfillment. There will always be happiness, and there will always be love.

Because of happened to you this year, you are better.

Because of what you will leave behind, you are stronger.

Because of what lessons you bring inside your body and your heart, you walk into the new year ready.

We have left behind the darkest night of the year, on the winter solstice, and every day from here on out is brighter with the light. This is a metaphor for your heart as well.

Live your days in love, and experience your happiness in reverse – anticipate what good will come, and live in its reality now.

Namaste, dear one.

If you can’t see the video, click through to the post and watch it.

What’s that sound? Crickets? Again?

You’ve noticed this trend lately, haven’t you: your launches are light, list signups are down to nearly nothing, and nobody wants your amazing, life-changing products.

It feels like nobody is listening to you.

It’s terrifying, isn’t it.

Remember that when nobody knows why they should buy, they won’t.

When nobody knows what you offer, they won’t buy.
When you aren’t connecting with your right people, they won’t experience your amazing, life-changing work.

And when you don’t really know who (or where) those right people are, you won’t be able to offer them something they want to have.

Let’s change that – now.

You want a burst of delicious business clarity for the new year.
You want laser-precision focus on who your right people are.

Are you ready? Let’s do this.

Join me and Larah White Ritchie for Extermination Marketing, a FREE teleclass this Tuesday.

(Yes! Free!)

WHEN: Tuesday, December 20th, 2pm EST

WHERE: In your pajamas, with your coffee (or tea, or adult beverage), on the phone with us.

WHAT: Discover who your right people are, and how to connect with them where they are.

Where do you find them? How do you find them? How do you offer them your great work in a way that speaks to them?

(PLUS, when you sign up and join us, you’ll have the opportunity to attend my Holistic Business class that opens in January, at a special discounted price!)

So, sign up right here for Extermination Marketing this Tuesday, and leave those annoying crickets behind.

Click here to join us!