Hi there, wellness entrepreneur. Welcome back!
In today’s blog, we’re talking about From Hesitation To Invitation, How You Can Confidently Sell Your Wellness Services And Programs.
And here’s why you want to do this, even though it feels squirmy and uncomfortable, we’re going to talk about this. You don’t have to be pushy and manipulative or convinced or feel like you are twisting someone’s wrist and dragging them along into your program. No, this is about making courageous invitations.
Also, you can help more people because that’s the whole reason why you’ve got all these certifications that you have where you’ve spent so much time learning all the skills and techniques that you have learned. You can fill your cup too by bringing some revenue into your business because I can tell you a hundred percent when you are able to pay the bills without worry, and that is both your business expenses and personal expenses, and have some leftover money, profit, to have fun with and enjoy and reward yourself, your cup overflows with energy, with confidence, you’ll create so much momentum and fire that you’re going to end up helping even more people.
So it’s a ripple effect. It’s a cycle you want to bring to your business. And it all starts here with this one thing: Making more personal, one-to-one invitations about your service and publicly making more offers about your programs as well in a very direct way.
Again, not a salesy, pushy, icky way, but a direct way. And I know this can feel uncomfortable, but here’s the truth: if you’re not inviting people to work with you, you’re doing a disservice to those who need your expertise.
So we’re going to get into this today. It’s going to be a juicy one. Hang on tight. Here we go!
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What Actually Happens When You Avoid Making Offers
So when you avoid making offers, and this is usually because you don’t want to be pushy, slimy, you think that people will come to you, that they will ask you or just book a consultation, or that it’s not your responsibility or your place to extend an invitation, or maybe you’re not even viewing it as an invitation, you’re just viewing it as salesy, what happens when you’re creating content, posting on Instagram, going to workshops, and not personally scheduling people right at the end of those workshops or classes, maybe you even are growing a decent following, but your DMs are quiet.
If someone comes up to you and actually expresses interest about your service, but you miss their buying cues at a workshop or a class or a networking event, the problem with this is that your DMs will stay quiet, your e-mails will stay quiet, your schedule will be quiet. Your programs will only have a few people in it, instead of the large group that you’re really desiring.
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I see this all the time. Entrepreneurs spending so much time creating educational content that’s really valuable on any social media platform, creating amazing workshops and classes giving so much value out and in the community, and then they just wait for clients to magically appear. They don’t take that last step. They do 90% – 95% of all the hard work to potentially get someone to book a consultation, and then they just miss that last step. And what happens here is then they hear crickets.
Or you get messages on social media or your e-mails, this is so helpful, I loved your workshop, but no one really says like, I need to work with you now, or books at consultation. And that can be so frustrating and actually really draining to your energy because you’ll start to wonder, it’ll become an energy leak. Is this going to be worth it? Am I really going to be able to succeed? Can I leave my mill job? Can I make a go of this business and make it full time?
Why Wellness Entrepreneurs Avoid Extending Invitation or Making Offers
So what’s really happening when wellness entrepreneurs aren’t extending that invitation or making that offer, they might feel salesy or pushy when talking about their offers or in person at a workshop or the end of a class or a networking event, you might be worried about rejection.
Let’s say you made a direct invitation to someone who is possibly expressing interest about working with you. And you said, “Oh, great, let’s book a call right now. We can set up a consultation, we can talk more about what it’s like to work with me. I can go over your specific symptoms!” And what if they say no? That would feel really uncomfortable, right?
So your brain, your nervous system actually may be trying to protect you by saying, “Oh, just wait for them to come sit back,” which is more passive. But you need to be courageous here and be the one to extend the invitation. Because if you are the leader and you go first and you hold space for your own discomfort and warmly open your arms for them to come in with a confident, clear, direct invitation, they will see that you are the leader, you are the coach, you are the practitioner, you are the guide.
And that’s exactly why they want to hire you, right? They don’t want to hire someone that comes to sessions passive saying, “Oh, I don’t know,” or, “Maybe you should try this,” or, “I’ve thought about this, but what do you think?”
No, when they come to you, they want a result. They want someone to guide and confidently lead them through a framework, a system, a set of techniques, right? They want someone to say, this is what you need to do to achieve X, Y, Z.
Or maybe you’re unsure of how to transition from talking to someone at a vendor table event. Maybe you’re at a health and wellness fair for a corporate center, or the end of a 5K race and you have your vendor table set up and you’re having a great conversation with someone, but you’re unsure of how to transition from just having this great conversation and maybe giving a few insights and wins to now making an offer, extending an invitation.
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Stories of Missing Out When You’re not Making an Offer or an Invitation
I have a client who is a yoga teacher, and she told me, “I just feel like I might be bothering someone if I talk about my programs or make a direct invitation. I just want them to come to me naturally if they need me.”
But here’s the problem with that: thinking your potential clients are overwhelmed with options. Again, they’re confused on what step to take. And without your invitation, without your clear invite or very direct offer in your social media, they won’t know that you are the solution that they’ve been looking for.
Or for example, I had a practitioner myself that I personally worked with, and I love working with her. And I even go to her somatic and yoga classes out in the community, and I did a 13-month mentorship with her, and I got a few certifications from it, and it was great. I loved the whole experience.
And then it ended, and I don’t want to put words in her mouth because I don’t actually know what she was thinking and feeling at the time, but as the client, I never received a direct offer to continue on. She just never made an offer to continue on. She just said, “Okay, I’ll see you in yoga classes when you can make it.”
And from me, from the client’s perspective, because she didn’t make me an offer, I was like, all kinds of things came into my head because sometimes I’m a people pleaser or I have my own imposter syndrome type thoughts. I was like, “Well, maybe she doesn’t want to work with me anymore.” Or maybe she doesn’t have a program, she only does the 13 months and then that’s it. I had all kinds of thoughts, even though I wanted to continue on, had she made a direct offer with me at that time, we could’ve easily carried on doing this. I would’ve enrolled for another 13 months, or just went month to month. I was open, it was already in my budget. I had learned so much I was ready to carry on, but because she never made an offer to me, my brain made up all kinds of things of how either she didn’t want to work with me or that was it. That was just the end that I never asked her either.
And so I just carried on going to her yoga classes in the community for a few months, several months until one time after class we were having a discussion like we sometimes do after class. And something came up and that we were talking about that was happening for me. And she said, “Well, we can carry on with our work if you would like, would you like to schedule more private sessions?”
And I was like, yes. And so I did. But that was like three or four months later, meaning I missed out on the three to four months where I could have been continuously carrying on. So now we kind of had to pick back up and do some updates and recaps where I could have kept it going seamlessly along. And she missed out on revenue during that time. I already had it in my budget. And so now you know, it was a loss for both of us.
So I’m telling you this because even I teach this, but I still didn’t make an offer to her because I was in the client’s shoes. I was waiting for her to guide me into that next step or lead me into the next step. And so your people are looking for that too. They’re really overwhelmed in their own life and they need a little help and a little guidance.
Now, I’m not saying they’re like a lost flock of sheep. I just remember one time years ago, oh gosh, this was probably close to two decades ago, I don’t go to church too often, but I went with my husband and his family to church. And the priest, I believe it was at the time, was comparing the congregation to a lost flock of geese and how they had to have the church to keep them going forward. And it was just so disempowering.
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That’s not what I’m saying here. I’m saying that you could help them be more efficient in their own lives and achieve the health and wellness goals that they want to achieve in their own lives by clearly giving that invitation and stepping up as the leader and practitioner that I know you will be in sessions.
And I just want to say if you are a Christian or Catholic, no judgment, it was just that one service. I don’t want to say anything negative about religion, it was just that one service didn’t resonate with me. And so I just didn’t go back to that one church or that one congregation because it didn’t resonate with me. But please, I’m not talking down on religion. Please keep your religion that is important to you.
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The Solution: The Confident Invitation Framework
So the solution is what I call the Confident Invitation Framework, a step-by-step approach to comfortably and authentically invite people to work with you. So again, they get the help they need, they achieve their health and wellness goals, and you have a real legitimate business with reliable and predictable revenue.
This framework isn’t being pushy or salesy. It’s clearly communicating the transformation you provide and confidently extending invitations to those who need your help.
It has three key components.
1. Health and Wellness Result or the Transformation
First, the health and wellness result or transformation, the clarity that they will get when you work with them.
So for you, it’s getting crystal clear on the specific health and wellness transformations you provide, how their day-to-day will be positively impact, and then what’s the bigger health and wellness transformation? And maybe you have a few of those and who needs it the most.
2. Making Value-Based Invitations
And again, maybe you don’t have one client avatar, maybe you have a few different types of client avatars. Then it’s making value-based invitations. That is creating invitations that highlight the value and results, not just features of your program.
And what this might look like is if you’re at a networking event or a workshop, let’s say you did a low back workshop and someone came up to you and said, “You know, I really love this workshop. I got such great value of it,” and they’re kind of poking around and fishing around. You ask them to come up after class and you know, they said, “I’ve been having this back pain that’s bugging me for years. I’ve considered working with people.”
Or maybe they have worked with people in the past and they haven’t gotten the results that they want. And you know you can help them. It’s clearly saying to them, “I would love to work with you. I know I can help you. Would you be interested in a consultation or a discovery visit in my clinic or online? And we can talk about helping to reduce your low back pain so you can get back to your favorite yoga classes.” That is more value-based instead of saying, “Hey, would you like to work with me? I can book a session. It’s $125 for 60 minutes.” That is more talking about the nuts and bolts or the features of what it’s like to work with you. You want to extend invitations, and this can be personally like at the end of a workshop or through your social media speaking to the results that people will get.
3. Consistently Inviting
And then the third part is consistently inviting. So establishing a consistent pattern of making offers both in person and online and invitations across your content and your conversations. So when you start to implement this framework, you will stop hiding behind just educational content posting and praying, hoping that people will come to you and you’ll start making a bigger impact and income by confidently inviting your ideal wellness client.
This process can save you a tremendous amount of time and energy. Instead of just creating endless content, again, just posting and praying and hoping that someone will reach out. You have a predictable, repeatable way to consistently get those consultations and discovery sessions or sessions scheduled, which will again allow you to help more people and build your revenue. And this will create a sustainable business model.
So when you’re regularly making offers and invitations, you can plan your programs, schedule your time more effectively, create that work-life balance that attracted you to having your own business or developing your side hustle in the first place. And you’ll gain so much more confidence from knowing that people actually do want to work with you. It’s not that they were ignoring you or not wanting your services, they just needed that invitation. They just needed that next step.
And again, when you start getting more people scheduled, it’ll create so much confidence and momentum for both you and them.
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Strategies to Implement
Okay, so here’s some strategies to implement this.
1. Start Making Invitations through Instagram Story Invitation Sequence
This could be a five-slide sequence, meaning you post five slides all at the same time, or you can do it in a consecutive five-day story sequence. Whatever resonates with you.
But for example, slide number one could be sharing a common problem, your ideals face. Slide number two could be sharing your personal story of overcoming a health challenge similar to that problem. Slide number three could be showcasing a client’s transformation specific to that problem. Number four could be introducing a framework, a process that you teach regarding that health problem or struggle or how or how your wellness program addresses that specific problem. And then number five is making a clear invitation with a specific call to action.
And that could be dropping your link in there and saying, “Book a consultation call.” It could say, “DM start.” So they DM you start, and then you can start a conversation with them and then make the offer to join your program or book a consultation call. Either of those will work. This sequence will work so much more than just posting a client quote or testimonial because it builds interest before making the offer.
My client, Stephanie did this and she made some CTAs in some of her posts and she got her first consultation through Instagram and she just started her business brand new just a couple months ago.
2. Make Sure That Your Bio Is Optimized For Consultations
You’ve heard me say this before, but this is another opportunity to go refine another layer. Maybe it’s adding a pin post or adding a highlight bubble, speaking to your client wins and testimonials or looking through your highlight bubbles and making sure they’re relevant and up to date.
There’s always ways to optimize your Instagram bio and also making sure it’s specific on who you help, the transformation you provide. And again, that clear call to action.
3. Make Clear Invitations And Offers Through Emails
Another place to make clear invitations and offers is through your e-mails. A lot of wellness entrepreneurs really shy away from making offers in the e-mails. They want their e-mails to be valuable. And I tell you, it’s not a and or you do both. I go through times in my business whether I’m promoting a special offer or a program where I’ll e-mail my list every day, sometimes twice a day.
For me, it’s almost like writing a novel. It’s such a connection point to my audience. And during that time, I’ll get so many people reaching out, telling me how much they love my e-mails. They say they read them every day, they get hooked into them. And here’s the truth, I always look at this from the perspective of what value can I provide? What insight can I give them? Which win or tip can I give them? And how can that be the precursor to working with me? And then what’s the offer I need to make? So that is part of the framework that I personally use when I’m writing my e-mails.
So in your e-mails, you could have a simple framework where you are sharing a valuable insight or tip. You can share a client success story or share your own health and wellness transformation and then just make a clear invitation to working with you, whether that’s buying direct into the program, clicking off a registration page, or again scheduling that consultation.
4. The In-person Enrollment Accelerator
So whether you’re teaching in-person or it could be online events, we’ll say at the event enrollment accelerator, whether you’re teaching a workshop online or in person classes, online or in person networking event, vendor table event, it’s creating a system for yourself that you will make an invitation to the appropriate person.
So for me, whenever I did a vendor table event or a workshop, my goal was to have as many conversations with the appropriate people that approached me and that I knew I could help. And then from there, even though it was uncomfortable, so I mentally prepared myself before going into whatever event, I would make an invitation and it would just be say, “I can help you with this. I would love to work with you. Would you be interested in scheduling a consultation now?” And that changed everything. It changed everything from just come talk with me at the end of the workshop.
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And then people were kind of fumbling around. I was fumbling around and then they would leave with my business cards and walk off and I would never hear from them again to leaving workshops and events with 3, 4, 6 consultations scheduled from one event. It can change everything.
My client, Dana, when she first started working with me, she had a similar problem. She was teaching a lot of yoga workshops and classes out in the community and she had just opened her brick and mortar physical therapy clinic. And she was wondering, she’s told me in one of our first sessions, she goes, “I have a lot of people that are interested. I know because they tell me at the end of classes and workshops, but no one’s booking consultations yet.” And so I asked her, “Well, are you personally inviting?” And she said no at the time. And we went through the process on how to do that and just make a simple invitation.
And that changed everything from her. She went from making less than $2,000 a month to hitting consistent 7K – 9K revenue months as a new business owner. And in fact, she’s on the podcast, you can go listen to her story, just search Dana Podell.
So it’s mentally preparing yourself that if these people are showing up to your event that they’ve already raised their hand, that they need help, right? They signed up, they book the workshop, they book the class because they’re looking for a specific health and wellness transformation. And then those that personally come up and talk with you after class are really raising their hand for help. And it’s again, just making sure that yes, they indeed want help and you can help them. And then getting over your own discomfort to make the invitation. And if you get a rejection, how will you support yourself?
Because sometimes you will hear NOs and that is normal. It’s okay, nothing has gone wrong. You just don’t know if they’re going to say yes or no until you make that invitation. And here’s the truth: more people will say yes than no. Or in the beginning, if more people are saying no, that’s okay too. Maybe you just have to work on how you are inviting and the value that you’re describing for your program or getting more confident.
And again, that’s just a refinement. But eventually you will get to the place where you start hearing more yeses than NOs. And then again, if you have your Instagram set up from the workshops or vendor table events and they go and follow you, maybe an invitation, if they do say no, say something along the lines of, “Okay, well just follow me on Instagram, let’s stay in touch.” Then over time, they will be nurtured.
Or if you invite them to your e-mail list or you’re gathering e-mails at these events, they will be nurtured through your e-mails when they are ready. Or maybe you highlight a problem through a reel or an e-mail that they’re like, “Oh, I didn’t know she did that too. I need help with that.” Maybe then they’ll reach out to you and maybe not. Maybe they’ll just be a loyal raving fan in the background reading and watching and liking. And that’s fine too, right? But you just don’t know until you make that invitation. And step number five is the consultation conversion framework. I teach this in my one-to-one.
So it’s actually knowing the process that you’re going to guide someone through when they book that discovery visit or consultation. And I’ll give you some ideas here on what to do in a consultation.
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Ideas On What To Do In A Consultation
Number one, just do an intake.
Ask them about their current challenges. Listen deeply and validate their experience. Ask them about their desires and goals. What do they want to achieve? Be specific for now, what do they want to achieve? And maybe a year from now, you can share client testimonials on how you’ve helped others with similar challenges. Or if you’re new, you can highlight how you’ve gone through a similar struggle in your own health and wellness journey.
And then after screening and making sure that they are appropriate for your program and service, you can clearly state how your program and surface will help them specifically make sure to highlight that transformation, the result, and ask them, “Would you like to hear about the details of the program?”
And if they say yes, you can say, “Based upon what you’ve shared, I think we’d work really well together. Here are the details of the program. If we work together, you will achieve X, Y, Z. The length of time is this.” And then you can get into some of the features at that point and explain the nuts and bolts of your program.
But when you have a process that you know that you’ll guide someone through where someone feels heard and validated and listened to, the framework makes consultations feel more like a natural conversation instead of an awkward foresee, salesy sales pitch.
When you extend invitations this way, both online and in person, you won’t be one of those pushy wellness influencers. I hear that concern all the time. And here’s the truth, there’s a massive difference between being pushy and being confident. Pushy means not listening, pressuring people or as my coach would say, peacocking, just talking about your certifications and credentials and how long you’ve been a wellness expert. But being confident means clearly communicating the value, provide and inviting the right people to work with you.
It’s as simple as that. It’s actually serving your audience, making these clear invitations. Again, if no one says yes and you do face rejection, it’s just reminding yourself that this is part of the process. It’s not personal, it’s just the messaging that you’re saying. When someone says no, they’re not rejecting you. They just in their head feel that they’re not a right fit. Maybe there’s a messaging mismatch or maybe you aren’t the person to help them, but each no will get you closer to more yeses to put you in front of someone when you actually do make an invitation that truly needs your help.
And that’s the benefit of working with a coach, is that you will get help on refining the message, refining the invitation, and then refining your consultation so you do get more yeses. If you feel like you’re just not good at selling, it just doesn’t feel authentic to you. You just might need to reframe what selling means.
Again, you are not selling, you’re inviting people to make a change in their life, to get that health and wellness transformation that they’re really seeking and desiring. When you truly believe in the value of what you’re offering, extending invitations becomes an active service.
It’s not being a great salesperson. It’s about being passionate about the results you want people to achieve and how you’re going to help them. I know this is uncomfortable work, but the cost of not doing it is uncertainty, is knowing that people are out there in the world and will they reach out to you.
You’ve given your business cards out, you’ve had a lot of conversations with people, but will they reach out versus leaving an event, making a post and actually getting consultations and seeing people in your schedule, seeing your revenue jump, seeing more people get the health transformations they’re really seeking. It’s a big difference in how you feel day to day in your business.
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Conclusion: Bonus! A Script That You Can Try
And here’s a little bonus if you’re out at a vendor table event or workshop or the end of class. I got a script for you to try. Now I’m not a big fan of scripts because I do want you to feel authentic and natural, but it’s a starting point. You can write it down and then just maybe put it into AI or for yourself, practice it. I used to put in ear pods and go for a walk and practice it and you know, change the words, change the order, sub out sentences or swap what you need so it does feel authentic and will resonate with you. But it’s a starting spot. So try this out.
“It’s been great talking with you about your back issue <or mention the specific issue they mentioned.> This is exactly the kind of situation where my specific modalities, <you can say physical therapy, reiki, holistic approach, whatever you want to highlight can make a significant difference.> Rather than trying to explain everything here, I’d love to offer you a 50-minute consultation where I can really hear about what’s going on for your back pain.
I can hear about what you tried and what works for you so we can make sure that you are appropriate for my programs. I can hear about your specific needs, and then together we can create a personalized plan. I have a few spots available next week with Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon if these work better in your schedule.”
And then pause. Just pause and listen to what they have to say so you can make that work for you and use that to get you started. And then also decide which one of the strategies are you going to create an Instagram story.
Are you going to practice that script at the end of an upcoming event? Are you going to optimize your bio? Are you going to write an e-mail or are you going to just practice making more clear and direct offers on your next consultation?
Choose one of these to implement this week and then keep going. You can pick up all five and bring them into a repeatable system into your business over time. But just pick one to start with and then practice it and refine it. You’ve got this.
I’ll see you next week. Bye for now!
Important Links to Visit:
How to Set Confident, Sustainable Pricing for Your Wellness Business
How to Build Belief in Your Wellness Business
Where to Spend Your Time In Your Wellness Business
Grow Your Wellness Business From Home While Raising a Family: Real Strategies That Work
