“She’s too cocky.”

Hi! You’re here because you’re a woman who runs a consulting business, and you want to learn how to make it more profitable, more stable, and more fulfilling. In our world, that means being able to get more of the right kind of clients into your business and get paid on your value, not your time, so you can build a business that supports your life, not the other way around.

If you’re like a lot of women consultants, you’re so good at the work you do, but the process of getting new clients feels a bit like unfamiliar territory. You’ve gotten this far with referrals or word of mouth, but you know you should be doing something more proactive (but you don’t want to be salesy). You also know that what got you here won’t get you to the next level in your business.

If that’s you, you’re in the right place.

Here you’ll learn strategies you can use to attract more of the right kinds of consulting clients and get paid more for your consulting contracts, in a way that doesn’t even feel like selling.

Along the way, you’ll discover that you aren’t “bad at sales.” (I promise.) You simply haven’t learned yet. But you can learn how, feel comfortable, and actually be good at it.

We’ll cover the three critical areas to master in order to get higher-paying consulting clients:

Attract (attracting more of the right clients and filling your client pipeline)

Guide (leading a sales process and keeping clients engaged)

Close (helping clients say yes and getting paid more than you ever thought you could).

I'm glad you're here! Let's dive in.

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Hey Consultants!

Back in March, there was a massive sensation in the news, and it can teach us something about running a consulting business.

It was the women's March Madness basketball tournament. And the sensation? Her name was Caitlin Clark.

Let me quickly say that I'm actually not a huge sports fan. But I do have many women's basketball fans among my friends, so my feed was blowing up with Caitlin Clark news.

So here's the gist: Caitlin Clark is a player from Iowa who was the single-highest scorer in the tournament and probably any tournament.

She had better stats than Magic Johson, Larry Bird, or Michael Jordan. And she singlehandedly carried her team to the finals.

Let's say her talent, and what she could do with it in this tournament, was unparalleled.

And as I was reading about Caitlin Clark, in the comments I saw something that made me shake my head. A version of this statement, over and over:

"I don't like her. She's too cocky."

I saw a version of that phrase said explicitly and implicitly. In just a few words and over several paragraphs. I saw it written in more ways than I can count.

People thought she was too cocky. And not just people… women.

I first thought: "If people are willing to tear down an obvious talent and phenom like Caitlin Clark… then what the hell chance do any of us have?"

Those of us who aren't the world's best? Those of us who are just intelligent women, doing what we do, and running our businesses?

(Side note: we don't need to go into how women are socialized and encouraged to tear each other down. That's a topic for another time.)

But then I had a second thought:

"If that's the case, and if someone's always going to feel a way about it, then we just have to show up anyway."

We have to do what we do. We have to show up, so our clients can find us. So we can inspire people. Even if that person is our daughter watching, or our parent feeling proud.

Because the women who said Caitlin Clark is too cocky? That’s 100% about them, and not at all about Caitlin.

And you know what else? For every snarky comment about how that person didn't like her because she's too cocky, there were millions of women cheering her on. There were millions of girls who watched, rapt, and wanted to be as good as Caitlin one day. 

Millions of people, men and women, tuned in to watch the women's Final Four for the first time ever.

Those are the people she inspired.

Here's what I hope you take away: show up anyway. However you feel about showing up, whatever you might be afraid of… show up anyway.

Write a post for LinkedIn about:

• What people do in your industry that's wrong, and what they should do instead
• A struggle you've had and how you overcome it
• A success that one of your clients has had (and be sure to mention they're your client!)

Show up anyway. You never know who you'll inspire.

To your success,

Leah

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Hi! I'm Leah Neaderthal. I'm a sales coach for women consultants and the founder of Smart Gets Paid.

When I left my corporate career and started my first consulting business, I learned three things very quickly:

1- It’s 1000x harder to sell your own stuff than to sell someone else’s.

2- Marketing is not selling.

3- I had no idea how to sell.

I needed clients, but I didn’t know how to actually get them, and I was terrified of coming off like a used car salesman. It made me doubt whether I was even cut out to run a business.

So I taught myself how to get new clients in a way that feels authentic, allows me to be myself, and that works consistently. I now teach these techniques to others. Because I know it’s possible to learn how to land clients, and actually feel comfortable doing it, once you know how.

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Whenever you’re ready to start landing higher-paying clients, here are three ways I can help you.

1. Listen to the Smart Gets Paid Podcast

You’ll hear me chat with my actual clients as we tackle their biggest challenges in getting new clients, and you’ll learn sales strategies you can use today in your own business. It's the only podcast that can help you land higher-paying clients in your B2B consulting business. Listen on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform.

2. Get your copy of Referrals on Repeat

If you’ve gotten clients through referrals or word-of-mouth, and you want to start getting referral clients more consistently, get your copy of Referrals on Repeat, and start getting more referrals coming into your business today: smartgetspaid.com/referrals

3. Break through to the next revenue level in your consulting business with help from my team and me.

Learn the proven, step-by-step system women like you are using to get more of the clients they want, get paid way more for their consulting contracts, and build confidence that they know what they’re doing to get clients. Send me a message here on LinkedIn with “Breakthrough” in the first line and I’ll get you the details.