Selling and Upselling in Corporate B2B Coaching: A Conversation with Colleen-Joy Page

In the previous part of this two-part series, we explored the foundational steps of entering the B2B market. Now, let’s dive into the next crucial phase: how to attract corporate clients in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Crafting a B2B Coaching Proposal and Measuring Success

Colleen: So what happened in this one example is that I put myself in a room, and it was like a trade fair. It was a very small fair where many industry people were having little stands, and lo and behold, somebody visited the stand, and we had a quick conversation. They took our card, never thought of it, and then I was invited to go and have a conversation with this gentleman. He turned out to be the talent development manager and director for a large multinational. I knew the first meeting would just be an exploratory conversation. So here’s a tip: if you get an opportunity to speak to a decision maker, find out what the nature of the first meeting is, and wherever possible, try and make it just a conversation, a very open-ended, exploratory conversation. 

I arrived, and he said, ‘’Where's your business card? Where's your PowerPoint presentation? Where's your brochures?’’ And I told him I don't use any of those…and this is what corporates do. They usually will say, find five people, and…they must pitch. This is the nature of B2B, especially at a multinational or enterprise level. They're obliged to, you know, they're actually obliged to put out tenders and get pitches. So I said, I don't do that. I told him, if you don't mind, I'd rather just have a conversation, and I'll tell you a little about me and my business. Still, mostly, I'm interested in hearing what you're looking for so that I can determine whether I and my business would be a good fit for you. What it does is it puts people into a place of comfort. You're not going to sell them anything aggressively.

What did I do? I used my coaching skills and asked him a lot of really good questions. I took notes. So when he said we're looking for a partner, I wrote down partner…And I wrote as many notes as I could. 

You've got to frame yourself, okay? Now, framing yourself is not a CV. So, a frame is three or four bullet points. Okay, that's it... I can deliver that. It has to be factual…So it has to be things you have done. It doesn't only have to relate to the business and coaching environment but must have at least one or two of the points needed to do that. I also think adding a little something else about you that's interesting could be helpful. So you must frame yourself and find out everything you can about the project. Then I went home, and I said, what's the next step? And he said, next step is you put something on paper, and you send it back. Now, of course, we're getting more formal. 

So what do I do when I go home? I wrote a proposal that was exactly what he asked for. And when I left, I told him I am quite confident that I can put something together, but please know that it can continue to be flexible, because I'm all about customizing. So I want to emphasize the word customizing, custom building, custom building, custom building instead of, here's my thing, hope you buy it. We've got tools, we've got skills. So then I put the proposal together and sent it back. 

Now, these written proposals, anything in writing, your job is to make life easier for people always…gone are the days when people want these long, you know, mission statements and values. Do we think people read that? Not really. They want proof.
You can help them. They want credibility points. They will eventually want the bottom line, such as how much you will charge them and what it could look like. I always like giving people at least three options because that way, I'm showing them that there's some flexibility. And I usually make one low-risk entry-level. You don't know me yet. Let's try it out. A safe option, another bigger solution probably closer to what they've asked for, and a big fat shoot-the-lights-out grand prize. You'd be ecstatic if they said yes, kind of solution. But this also tells the clients they can go further with you, right? 

And in terms of budget, I am very cheeky. Okay, so I'm not saying you have to be cheeky, but I will tell a corporate client, listen, I'm going to be cheeky now. Yeah, I literally will say that. I'll say, I'm not going to ask you what the budget is, but I do want to get a sense. Is there a budget, and are we talking about a little budget, or are we talking about something real? That's the kind of question I will ask. And I'll say, and this is really cheeky, because at this stage in my career, to be honest, I just want to know what we have here. And sometimes they will tell me the number, which is mind-blowing. Other times, they will say, No, it's real. And there's this unspoken, okay, this is real. Or they'll say, Oh no, there's no budget. It's just something they're hoping people will buy into, and it's their little project on the side, and if somebody approves it, it may be included in next year's budget. 

So, these are the complexities. Now, if I know that there's no budget, I will thank you and put a small thing together without much effort. But in this particular example, he said, Colleen, it's a real budget. This could be five years of work... And he gave me a bit of a number. So I was like, excellent. Let me go home and do that right now... I went through five levels of pitching... They kept narrowing down until, eventually, only two of us left. I was on holiday, and I got a call. He phoned me and said, 'Can you be in the office tomorrow?'... every step of the way, I learned and adapted the proposal. I adapted everything. I listened, I learned, custom-built, and then finally pitched. I used my intuition as well... I had two little insights for the final pitch... I needed to emphasize that my company was homegrown, right? Anyway, we did all of that and won the account, and they are still a client of ours all these years later. 

We can work together- Murielle:

I love it. Yes, and I can hook into that…Thank you so much for sharing all this wisdom. I think you cannot go into corporate and say, These are my packages, like, choose, this is what I do, right? That's not going to work. So I think that customizing and flexibility in the corporate world, now that we're moving into technology, AI, all of these automations, and all of these things might actually become even more of an asset to be able to be really flexible and move with your client, with the company, and offer them the solution they need. 

And then I think what we have to accept as well is that we have to up our game if we want to land corporate clients, we have to do certain things in the way that, you know, businesses know are being done, and we can do that. We don't have to be intimidated. Even if we're a small structure, we can partner with other coaches. We can work together. We can, like, create consortiums, you know, people can do these things, we can put our expertise and our strengths together to offer something to a company that would otherwise maybe think we're too small or not, you know, believe that we would be able to deliver. So, I think we should also not forget this piece about collaboration. And this is certainly something we have in the works. You know, Colleen, this is something that we will help our coaches with in the future here at Nuumani.com. So we're very excited about that. But then my next question, and please also come back to what I just said. I think it's also interesting to hear from your experience what mistakes coaches make when they try to land corporate clients. Do you have any tips?

Colleen: Brilliant. And one of the mistakes links to your whole feeling like we're small and now we're dealing with a big company. One of the biggest mistakes I've seen is when coaches feel small because they're just individuals who pretend to be big. So what that looks like is they build websites with brand names. Then they remove themselves as if they're a company without a person, forgetting that corporates are looking to hire a person, so don't hide behind me thinking you need a brand. You need to look like a corporation to be hired by a corporation. It's the reverse is true. They want a credible, skilled individual. They don't want to hire a corporation, so don't pretend to be a corporation. So that's one of the mistakes, perhaps just reiterating, the mistake of thinking you must bring an off-the-shelf product. Customizing is the solution. Another big mistake? Professionalism. Your online presence must frame you correctly. Proof you're the real thing is crucial. It's about ticking boxes for trust. Remember, those hiring you risk their reputations. Everything must prove they can trust you: professionalism, case studies. Even without corporate cases, use what you have – managers and leaders in small businesses who can vet for you. 

Start small, intentionally. 

Create opportunities for conversations. Don't think 'how?' Start with five calls this week. Use what you know, where you are. Ask, 'Do you know anyone needing an executive or team coach?' Have your frame ready: three or four bullet points of what you've done. Another tip: avoid labeling yourself as 'I am a coach' followed by a long list of specialties. It sounds scattered. Put your brand - ideally your name - first, then list services like 'executive coaching, consulting.' Adapt your frame to the environment. Listing two or three service types works better than 'I am a...'"

Is it really only about networking? - Murielle: 

Thank you, Colleen. Yes, and I think when we do that, it also gives the other person more freedom to fill it in the way they want because people will gravitate towards what they're looking for. So if it's in there, but it's not too much of an embodiment, even though it is obviously, you're just positioning it differently. It works, at least in my experience as well. It works better. Where do we find these clients, and how do we do that right? And so I think I would like to approach this question in two ways. The first is how can we use our existing networks? What can we do with that? And then, how do we go from using or speaking to our existing network? And how do we also just talk to the world? And you know, is it really only about networking? And if so, how do we do that?

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Your Nuumani Success Team