Make the Next Offer

I spent a couple of days last week in Tucson teaching at Steve Chandler’s Coaching Prosperity School. The entire two days were focused on client creation – working with coaches to develop the skillset and mindset required to serve clients at a very high level.

When I was leaving Tucson, the most incredible thing happened.

I went to the automated kiosk to check in for my flight. After the kiosk found my itinerary, a screen came up:

Would you like to purchase additional frequent flier miles for $25?

I thought, no, I don’t really want that.

But when I pushed the button for “Decline Offer”, the system crashed!!!!

A blue screen came up, and then an icon of a sad face with tears pouring down it.

The message said, “Sorry, I am dealing with the incredible pain of your rejection. Give me a minute to pull myself together.”

WOW, I thought. Maybe I can do a little coaching session with this kiosk right here on the spot to make it feel better.

Actually, that didn’t happen.

What happened?

On the very NEXT screen was another offer. “Would you like to pay $9 to be in the first boarding group?”

No, thank you. Again I pushed “Decline offer.”

The kiosk completed my check-in and printed out my boarding pass.

I reached down to collect my laptop bag and my luggage to bring to the counter. By the time I looked up, the kiosk had already moved on to the next screen – ready to start the process again with the NEXT passenger.

The lesson for me in my own coaching practice is to simply make the NEXT offer. I notice a pattern where I make one offer, the person says no for whatever reason, and then I drop it and move on to the next person.

But what if I created something else to offer this person?

Would you like something else?

Yes? No?

NEXT!

What I love about the kiosk is that the offer is simply an offer. And your YES or NO is simply data that it responds to – it doesn’t interpret your response or spend even a second processing its own feelings (it doesn’t have any) about your response. It just moves on to the next screen and the next offer.

I know what you’re thinking. “But I’m not a machine and my customer is not a machine.” The point is not to become robotic and lifeless.

The point is to get creative and simply keep moving.

What about you? Are you ready with a next offer when someone turns down your first offer? If not, are you losing opportunities – and clients – to a too rigid and limited approach to serving your clients?

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Leave your answer in the comments section below – or submit a question about your biggest client creation challenge by clicking here: Ask Ron.