
The Effortless CEO
Design a life first business that works even when you don't.
The Effortless CEO
#195 The Sales Pitch You Don’t Know You’re Making
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You can say all the “right” things in your marketing…but if your thoughts underneath are negative - like “clients always pay late” or “I’m not good enough”-that’s what your audience actually hears.
In this episode, I’m breaking down how your hidden thoughts shape your marketing, attract the wrong clients, and push away the right ones. I’ll share a powerful exercise that shows you exactly what you’ve really been selling without even realising it.
If you’ve ever wondered why strategy alone isn’t working, this is why.
Book a consultation here, and let's start designing a business that works FOR YOU.
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Track: Positive Motivation
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There's what you say and then there is what your audience hears. What if I told you that what you think about your business, your clients and yourself is seeping through everything you do, your marketing, your sales conversations, your operations, whether you want it to or not. And these thoughts are calling in the exact kind of clients you don't want to work with, while it's pushing away the ones you do.
Let me explain.
We think marketing is all about the right strategy, the right words, the right funnel, but strategy is only a small part of it. You can say all the right things, but if underneath the surface you're thinking things like, I'm not good enough, people want things for free, it's hard to find the right clients. That's what your audience is actually hearing. Today, I'm going to show you how this works through a concept I learned from my coach, Stacey Boehman, called the unintentional sales pitch.
Once you hear it, you will be able to find all the places where your limiting beliefs are impacting the results you get or aren't getting in your business. One of the efficiency principles I teach my clients is to only focus on and work with your best fit clients, the clients you love working with, who love working with you and who get the most benefit or value and results from what you offer.
To focus on those clients when you market your business and when you create any service offerings or any systems or processes within the business. Now this sounds simple, obvious even, but it's often harder to implement in practice. Not because it is difficult or hard, but because our brain's default is to focus on what we don't want rather than what we do. We are afraid that we will limit our growth if we focus on a specific group of people. We think because everyone needs what we offer, everyone wants it and will buy it, but this is not the case. The question becomes, how do I know I'm speaking to my best clients? How do I know that I'm not?
And the answer is this, it depends on who you are thinking about when you market. What we think impacts how we feel. How we feel impacts how we take action, what we do or don't do. And of course, our actions drive the outcomes we create. Now, if your brain is full of frustration about clients who are always paying you late, who demand too much, who don't respect your boundaries, you will unconsciously be speaking to them in everything that you put online about your business, where you market your business, in your emails, your sales conversations, often in an attempt to exclude them, to tell them that this isn't for you.
The problem is those thoughts are what your audience hears and when you are speaking to your worst clients, you're not talking to your best ones. This is what's called your unintentional sales pitch.
A quick way to find your unintentional sales pitch is to simply do a download of all of the negative thoughts you have about your business, your clients, your service offerings and yourself. No editing, no judgement, just write it all down on a piece of paper.
I did this exercise with one of my clients who gave me permission to share this with you today.
And here are some of her most common negative thoughts. People always pay late. My clients are so demanding. I need more clients. They want me to be available 24-7. I don't follow up on late payments because it makes me feel desperate and pushy. I'm not good at managing my time. I hate admin and I'm so behind on it. People want quick fixes and they aren't willing to pay what I charge.
Now she would never say these things out loud in her marketing, but we put them together in a pretend sales email and here's what it sounds like. The subject reads, work with me if you promise to not be high maintenance. Hi potential client, sorry for this long email. I want to help you, but please don't ask too much of me. I know you want the quick fix and aren't willing to pay my fees which is why I will probably give you a discount even if you don't ask for one. I am really bad at managing my time well, and I don't think that I will be able to deliver things to you on time. I really need more clients, but I totally understand if you think this is too expensive. You probably don't think it's worth it anyway, but if you really want to, you can sign up here.
We laughed about this because when you see it written out like this, it becomes painfully clear how these thoughts are shaping your business and how you show up day to day.
My client didn't have to say these specific words, but it's what her audience is hearing in between the lines. It's the thoughts that impact what she says, how she says it. It impacts what she includes in her service offerings, how she structures her business.
Once you know what your unintentional sales pitch is, you will be able to spot all the places it's showing up. You'll catch yourself saying things because of the thoughts and beliefs you have. It's an opportunity to clean up what you believe about your business, where your doubts, fears and frustrations are seeping through, and instead shift your attention and intention towards more of the people you want to work with. So here's the big takeaway.
Every thought you carry about your business, your services, your clients and yourself becomes part of your marketing and basically everything you do or don't do in your business. If you believe clients are demanding, you are going to write your marketing in a way that repels the clients who aren't demanding. If you believe people always pay late, you're going to create systems for those people instead of focusing on bringing in the clients who will pay on time.
If you believe you're behind, not good enough, or out of your depth, you will show up frazzled and apologetic instead of confident and clear. So here's the question I want you to sit with today. What is your sales pitch? The sales pitch that you've been making without even realising it. Remember, no amount of strategy or fancy marketing is going to fix an unintentional sales pitch. You have to shift the thoughts that are driving it first.
And this is exactly what I help my clients do. If you're ready to identify your own unintentional sales pitch, clean it up and finally start attracting the clients you actually want to work with, then schedule a consultation with me. In just 45 minutes, we're going to uncover what's really running the show in your business and what needs to shift in you and how you operate your business to move forward with confidence and create more of what you want.
You'll find the link to book your consultation in the description below. Thank you so much for tuning in this week. I will see you again next week.