My husband recently joined a new gym down the street and hired a personal trainer, even though he wasn’t looking for one, wasn’t in the market for one, and doesn’t “need” a trainer.
Now, for context: My guy is very fitness-oriented - he knows his way around a gym and has a strong foundation with nutrition as well. All that’s to say, getting to the gym and seeing results isn’t a problem or pain point for him (and he’s got a rockin’ bod in my somewhat biased opinion 
)
As Eric (my man) went to the gym every day, one of the personal trainers made a point to say hi and have a conversation with him whenever he was around. He went out of his way to ask Eric questions about his workouts and offered to give him pointers when he was between clients for free.
He started a relationship, built rapport, and offered help without asking for anything in return.
Because of that relationship, Eric and I had a conversation about him taking advantage of the free training session that came with his membership (again for context: he was originally planning on skipping this and thought it would be a waste of time). Might as well see if this trainer had more to offer in a 1:1 setting!
Long story short, the free session was a super valuable experience and Eric committed to a package with him.
He felt good about making the investment because:
The relationship this trainer went out of his way to make without asking for anything in return
The value he gave during a free session, with no guarantee of a sale at the end
THIS was the core of the sale, and this is what I want YOU to think about when you’re looking for your next client(s).
This trainer didn’t cold pitch Eric in the middle of his workouts, and he didn’t even try to get him to book the free session - all he did was open a relationship and plant seeds - and as a result, Eric was open to the idea of working with him and eventually did.
The competition - all of the other trainers at the gym who never bothered to open a relationship with someone who didn’t seem like a potential client - weren’t even an option.
Opening a relationship + delivering value *without* expecting anything in return (but being available for it) creates clients...even with those people who don’t look like or seem like they’d become a client. In fact, that’s a key part of this equation.
Connections are at the core of a profitable and sustainable business, and there are clients everywhere.
Does this example help reframe how you can approach sales in your business?
Wishing you your version of success.
