Thinking of hopping on the phone for some free advice – here’s what a free no obligation phone call is all about
As you may know, I offer free no-obligation phone calls. You might have already had a call from me or have thought about hopping on the phone for some free advice. This has no strings attached and is a fact-finding mission for you and for me. It’s absolutely nothing to do with me selling you stuff! I just want to explain that bit, before I tell you what happens during the phone call. Imagine you ring me and I persuade you to buy a session and maybe an e-learning course from me. After being enticed into buying, you aren’t convinced. In fact, you’re wondering what you’ve done. You feel uncomfortable with your decision and experience buyer remorse. What do you tell your friends about me? If I were you, I’ll tell my friends not to touch you with a barge pole! And that’s how a business gets a bad reputation. So selling is a no-no for me.
When we have a phone chat, I want you to feel relaxed and so I really do think of it as a chat, although others might call it a strategy session! I know that a phone call to me has probably come as a last resort. Equestrians will have sought help from instructors, books and new pieces of kit; others will have visited their doctor or read self-help books or even visited other therapists and counsellors. I know that some people will be on edge for this call, so it’s my job to make them feel at ease and know that I’m on their side.
Initially, I want to find out from you what your issues are and what your goals are. In that way, we’ll both know what we’re aiming for and you’ll know when you achieve them that the session has made a difference. It’s a little bit like buying a new pair of shoes; they may look and feel great and the price was a bargain, but when you got them home, you hadn’t a clue what you could wear them with. Buyer remorse strikes again. You didn’t have a clear mind’s eye impression of what you wanted.
I allow people to tell me their issues. Some people talk for longer than others and however a client wants to explain what’s going on, is perfectly fine. My job is to listen carefully and make sure that I know how best to help. I ask myself a few mental questions:
- Is this within my skill set to help with? If not, can I refer them to a colleague?
- Has the person called me because someone else told them to, do they really want my help?
- Does this feel like the problem or the symptoms of something bigger?
- What words are they using: do they sound like words of possibility, impossibility or necessity? I.e., does their problem need a little loosening?
- Does the person really want to change? That may sound ludicrous! Very often, people think they want to change, but actually other forces in their mind are at work. For example, a smoker may say they want to give up, but actually, they fear that in giving up smoking, they’ll put on weight. So they’re not ready for change as yet.
After I’ve gained a good idea of the issues and I think I can help, I may ask a few questions to make sure I’ve understood correctly. The nice thing about NLP and Time Line Therapy™ techniques is that you don’t need the heavy detail of more traditional style therapy. A brief overview with highlights is just fine. This is quite a relief to those people who have had to describe their issues time after time and who feel quite emotional after re-living them once again.
Now I’ll make a few suggestions about what I can do to help. We have a discussion about the techniques, this tends to be a fact-finding mission for the client now. They ask about time scales, prices and when and where the session can take place.
At some point I’ll ask if they’d like to try a little NLP. I don’t do this with clients who are suffering from depression, phobias or serious anxiety. The reason being that I’m going to ask them about their issue and start to break the boundaries of the problem, which is great for most potential clients, but for those with deeper issues, it may stir up something that I don’t have time to clear on a quick call. I leave all of the therapy to the session itself in that case. However, let’s say the client has a less severe issue. Now I use something called Quantum Linguistics, this is a type of NLP learnt at Master Practitioner level (you can find out more about Master Practitioner here. and the workings of Quantum Linguistics here). Can you imagine a questions sets of 4-5 questions that provoke the mind to alter its thinking? It’s a very powerful thing! I’ve often been advised that I give too much away for free on these calls, a few years ago, my business mentor was dismayed that I was doing Quantum Linguistics and told me to stop. “Just tell them a set of irresistible outcomes you can create with them,” she said. Again, it’s part of personality to over-deliver rather than hit the person with the hard sell. It’s true that I’ve had a couple of people who didn’t want to have any further help, simply because the Quantum Linguistics worked so well! Their issues went away. Some may say this is a hopeless business model, but it really works well for me!
At the end of the call, I ask whether the client would prefer to have a think and contact me if they’d like to book a session or if they’d like to book now. I leave it up to them. And that’s all there is to it!
Now, if that sounds like something for you, you can always book your free strategy call chat to find out more. Get a cuppa and relax, there’s no pressure and I’ll be totally present just for you.
Warmest
Tracey
P.S. You can use the form below to book a no obligation phone call or ring 07815016169
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