112: How To Have Awkward Money Conversations With Your Clients

Show Notes

112: How To Have Awkward Money Conversations With Your Clients


 “How much do you charge?”

  “Can you give me a discount?”

 “Sounds so expensive. What can you do and offer me?”

It’s very rare that you’ll get through your entire business without ever having to have at least a slightly awkward conversation about money. But that’s business. 

Today, we’re talking about having awkward money conversations with your clients. But don’t worry because I have a couple of tips on how you can make them less awkward! Let’s get into it.

Give it at least a day

03:12- 03:25 The very first thing is when someone sends you an awkward conversation, and this is usually over email, don’t feel like you have to respond right away, and don’t respond in panic. Give it at least a day.
04:31- 04:41 (10) There are a couple more reasons for that. One is you might have to create a procedure around it. This is something I really recommend rather than making exceptions for everyone.

03:41- 04:03 So you’re not leaving them hanging, but you’re also not making a decision based on urgency. Sometimes people will ask you something and, to be honest, you don’t know the answer to it then it's ok to go back and talk to your coach or your mentor to see if they have experienced that before.

04:21- 04:27 Just be okay with not responding right away and giving yourself time to get a good response.


Create a Procedure

04:42- 04:51 Create a procedure that allows people and yourself to go back to your client and say “Here’s what we do.” like an SOP. 

04:52- 05:15 A perfect example is refunds. If somebody asks for a refund, if you don’t have any terms & conditions in place, now’s the perfect time to create them. You might not be able to enforce it with this particular client, but at least you can go back and say, “I can make an exception this time, but for the future, this is the new procedure.”



Don’t makeup stories

05:27- 05:45 Awkward conversations are just a fact of business. It could be something you just haven’t thought of it before or it hasn’t come up for you before. Or, just to be honest, sometimes people can be really difficult and it’s got nothing to do with you at all.

06:15- 06:40 The truth is, when you give it a little bit of time, you realize that it’s just a journey in business. Everyone gets refund requests. It’s inevitable because you're doing business. I get refund requests all the time. The more business that you do, the more refunds that you’ll get because it will follow a predictable percentage.
06:41- 07:08 But if you let any of these awkward money conversations create a story about yourself where you think to yourself, “I’m just terrible at being in business. I shouldn’t do this anymore. They hate me. I suck. I losing money doing business. I should quit,” then you’re really going to miss the lesson and you’re really going to miss the opportunity to create things in your business that will drive you forward.

07:09- 07:16  Creating procedures out of awkward situations will create a good foundation for you to build your business on.


Outsource it or delegate

07:23- 07:36 Now, this is great if you already have an assistant. I have some resources for you if you haven’t hired your first assistant. But, first, you must learn how to delegate it and let someone else be the bad person.

07:46- 8:30 If you’ve emailed my team at Soul Rich Woman, you’re not emailing me and I’m not refunding you. That is my assistant and she knows the procedure and she doesn’t get triggered by it. She just does the procedure. The SOP. It means it’s wonderful for me because I don’t have to deal with it. We’ve got a procedure that we’ve agreed on, but I don’t have to be the bad person. Sometimes she does have to be the bad person if someone’s asking for a refund outside the refund period. She has to tell them no. And that sucks. Sometimes it is good to have someone else in your business who can reinforce that for you.



Script it out

09:02- 09:22 This is especially important if you’re going to have one of those awkward money conversations on the phone. If you’re on Skype, turn off your video and just say, “Look, let’s just do this on audio because it helps with the sound.” Script it out. I did this in my early days when I had to increase my prices.


Key Takeaways:

1. Give it at least a day.


2. Create a procedure.


3. Outsource or delegate.


4. Don’t makeup stories.


5. Script it out.

Key Resources:
Subscribe to Genecia’s Youtube channel: https://bit.ly/2lFnHlW
Visit SRW’s website: https://www.soulrichwoman.com 
Follow Genecia on Instagram : (@geneciaalluora)
Follow Genecia on Twitter: (@GeneciaAlluora) 
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