 All right, I'm excited to be here with Jeremy Blanchard. I always enjoy talking with Jeremy because we share similar hearts, similar values, and he's really good at the things that he does. So one of the things that he does is helping coaches really enjoy the sales and enrollment process. And that is not something most coaches enjoy. And hopefully in this conversation, you're going to start making that shift. I think it'll be helpful for a lot of you. Jeremy, welcome to this and excited to speak with you. Hey George, so glad to be chatting with you. I just love when we get to chat. Yeah, totally. So let me just kind of share your official bio so folks can have a little bit of a background and then we'll get into this. So Jeremy's passion is supporting coaches to really enjoy, to really love the sales and enrollment process to getting new clients basically, talking to them about your services. Jeremy has been training coaches, life and leadership coaches for seven years in this kind of skill set, what he calls the art of enrollment. He is also a course leader, a mentor coach, and he's also the director of enrollment at a professional coach training school, which is called the Academy for Coaching Excellence, which Jeremy, I'll have you talk about that a bit towards the end. After attending Jeremy's training, students are usually looking forward to having sales and enrollment conversations because they see what a difference that kind of conversation can make in the life of a prospective client. So Jeremy, first of all, I guess one question I wanna ask you, you know, a lot of people don't use the word enrollment or they're not even really sure what that means. Maybe they're just thinking, oh, I just, I have to get, how do I get clients to find me or say yes to me? Or, so yeah, give us your kind of perspective about the idea of enrollment. I love that. Well, you know, one way we could put it, it's just authentic sales. And as you know, from all the courses you teach, all the people you work with, I've discovered this as well, I imagine you have is we can, on the one hand, we can reframe sales and still use that word. And say, well, let's like think about it in a different way. Let's give that word new meaning. Let's, you know, make it not used car salesmen sales, manipulative sales. And on the other hand, I really, I love words as a coach, I love word, I'm thinking about what worth the energy of the word we're using. And enrollment, I once I, I got interested in this question two months and I went and looked up, where's the etymology, the origin of the word enrollment? And it literally means to sign your name. So to add your name to the list of people or to add your name to the list of something. And I love that, you know, to add your name to the role to the parchment as it were. And for me, that really points to the moment where the person says yes to something. And so enrollment we can use in the sense of sales, but the reason why I like the word enrollment is because it actually extends beyond sales. And the way I think of enrollment is as a skill that you're using, if you're a coach, you're using all the time, you're using enrollment, you're enrolling your clients into their life. And so in that way, even after they sign up and that part of the enrollment conversation is which is how we usually use it, you're also each session, each conversation, you're re-enrolling them to say yes to what's next in their life. I love that, yes and yes. And it's like that relationship with the coach begins at the get-go to say, you know, I do, I really appreciate how you framed this because if in the sales conversation or in the discovery call or, you know, exploratory session, the client can't be enrolled by you. I mean, the client is not signing their name. It has that energy of like, yes, but no, I've tried that. Or, you know what I mean? Like then it's like, okay, it's gonna be a really hard slog if you decide to work with this person to actually have help them, be helpful to them, right? Yeah, so I'd go even a step further and say part of the way I think about it is that you're still enrolling them into something. It just may not be working with you. And that's part of where I think really empowering enrollment conversations come from is, yeah, I'm clearly getting that energy from this person that they're not, you know, there's a lot of hesitancy about working with me, but is it possible that out of this conversation we discovered something that they are yes to? You know, is it, wow, I really need to, you know, instead of hiring Jeremy as my coach, I really need to go start working with a therapist right now. I need to go hire a business consultant who's really just gonna give me some answers. I need to go hire George Cow because I need some training on content marketing, right? And it's like, I'm not actually looking for coaching right now. I'm looking for someone to help me figure out how to use Instagram. And that's why this is feeling so tense. It's actually, oh, can I support you to say yes, but you're saying yes to something else that really is a fit for what you're looking for. And what a supportive way of doing this. I mean, this is, I hope those of you who are watching this get how different this is to the way that sales is typically taught, my goodness. I mean, because the way that we've, a lot of us have actually experienced it from people selling stuff to us is that it's not about enrolling in the yes that we really feel aligned to, but it's, I don't care how you feel and what you need and what you think you gotta buy this thing from me or gotta hire me because, and here's my script to make you do it, right? So there's a lot you teach in your enrollment bootcamp. It's a really in-depth program. Just for those who are watching this, nobody here watching this can sign up for that, well, unless you already are in the coach training school that Jeremy helps to run. But I wanted to just kind of pick your brain a little bit about some of what you teach in that bootcamp. Maybe we could do kind of more principles-based so that whether people decide to go deep into this, they can at least apply some of this to the way to think about it. So principles, share with us one of the principles of the art of enrollment, I guess. I love it, yeah, thanks. You know, as I was getting ready to talk to you, I was thinking of recent conversations I've had with students in our program and just this week one came up that I was like, oh, this would be perfect for this conversation. And it came from, I was talking with one of our students and he was saying how worried he was to do referral calls. It's the big part of what we teach is the easiest first lead generation approach is who do you know in your network, who you can have an empowering, non-manipulative conversation with about what you do so that they can see if there's anyone that they know might want it. They might want to send your way. And he was saying how he was doing what we teach around referrals, calling the person, connecting authentically. And he would get to this point where we suggest asking them, well, they've said yes in general. Sure, there are some people I can refer to you. And then they get to this point where we suggest saying, cool, well, is there someone that you, can we think of specifically who you might want to connect me with? You're a yes in general, but who? And would it be useful to talk that through? And he was saying he was having such a hard time doing that and they would say like, yeah, sure, I'll try and think of some people. And then he'd be like, okay, great. See you later, bye. And then no action would come of it, right? And in his mind, he was really struggling between on the one hand wanting to be authentic and in relationship with these people he cares about. And on the other hand, knowing that it wasn't really resulting in any result, that like action was producing results. And what we came to, and this is a principle that I talk about often, was, well, he wasn't telling the truth in a couple of points in the conversation. He wasn't telling the truth in setting up the conversation with the person, being very clear about the purpose of the conversation. He was treating it a little bit more like, hey, we're just gonna have a catch-up call. Just, hey, how you doing? Hope you're well. You know, yeah, I'm starting a coaching practice. We should check in about that. But then when you get on the phone, you know in your heart, as we all do as heart-centered entrepreneurs, you know in your heart, when you're about to do something, it's like, wait, I'm about to change the purpose of the conversation from what I said it was to now it's about me and my business and will you refer someone to me? And so that was one place he was not being, that was really the heart of it. And that's what he took away was, oh, I just need to tell the truth. When I'm setting up the conversation and even when I start to get on the phone with the person at the beginning of the conversation, let me restate the purpose and make sure that we're clear that this isn't just a catch-up call. It is a call to see, you know, is there someone, do you wanna help me out with this business I'm starting? Right, yeah, brilliant. It's so good. And it takes courage, doesn't it, to tell the truth? That's why people don't tell the truth is that they hope that they don't have to exhibit that courage, you don't have to apply it. But what is, you know, do you have any encouragement, encouragement for people to know, just go ahead and tell the truth. Is that okay to do, do you have any insight around that? Yeah, well, I just find it so much easier. It's so much easier. The worry that I hear most frequently from folks and that this person was experiencing too was, you know, I'm sure you've probably seen this, George, the paradox of when we're worried about something, we'll tend to play out that worry accidentally. So the way that shows up here is, I'm worried I'm gonna be manipulated. I don't wanna manipulate my friends, I don't wanna take advantage of my friends. So I'm not gonna tell them that the reason I'm calling is for my business. I'm just gonna, I just, we're just friends that I'm just calling as a friend. But that's not the truth. The truth is I'm calling it because it's my business. Yes. So what ends up happening is I'm worried I'm gonna show up as manipulative so I try and back off from the truth. And then what occurs for the other person is, God, why is this guy, why is Jeremy acting so weird? Why is he, I feel like I'm being manipulated. Yes, yes, yes. And it's this paradox where if you do the thing that you're backing off of, you stop, you don't play out being manipulative. You play out being, oh wow, Jeremy's being really clear. He's excited about this business. And I can even opt in or no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the hidden agenda is what makes so much of sales feel icky to us, whether we're experiencing it from the client side or the provider side. Now, I love that you're, I mean, and that's part of what people get when they work with you on the stuff is the excitement of actually reaching out and then rolling. Because yeah, that excitement that you share is infectious because, and that's a good kind of thing to spread. It's a good thing to spread. Because when we have a new business and we're wanting to help people, why shouldn't our friends, why shouldn't we be excited number one? And why shouldn't our friends be excited for us, with us, hopefully? And it's like, why wouldn't our friends want to help us to help other people? It's like, of course, if they understood what we did and if we understand that they want to help us, it's like, of course, I'm your friend. Why wouldn't I want to help you? Why wouldn't I want to see you? Why wouldn't I want to see you? Well, of course, successful, but why wouldn't I want to see you in your purpose helping people that I know can be helped? It's like, of course. Yeah, which is exactly, you teach this, I teach this service is at the center, right? When we switch from, I need to make a sale to I'm here to be of service, that is the one North Star that when you can develop the skill of focusing on service, having a referral call like that really can be, it might be a little nervous, but it can really be something you look forward to, something you're excited because your attention isn't on, how do I get this person to do what I want them to do, to send me a referral, your attention's on, there are people out there that need what I have, I know it's true, and this person would probably be very fulfilled to help make that impact happen out in the world. Like I care about my mission and I present my mission in such a way where they care about my mission because I know they do because we're already valued aligned people because we're friends. And can we join together in helping this mission happen out in the world? And the referral is just the way, is one way to help make the mission happen in the world. And then it becomes about something bigger than just do what I want you to do, which is to manipulate it. Yeah, totally, totally. I love this. And that's the enrolling your friends into, hey, let's be on the same mission here because I know you believe in me and let me tell you about my work so that you can understand my work and believe in my work. And anyway, so this is really good. One of the other principles that you bring up, and yeah, I wanna be sure we have time to talk about the coach training, but permission rather, permission is one of the key principles that you talk about. So maybe share a bit with us about that. Yeah, well, it's an extension of telling the truth. And it's one of the things that I've discovered and that I so want for everybody and especially the folks watching this in your audience. One of the simplest, easiest things that you literally can start doing in your next conversation is be mindful of when you're in a transition moment in the conversation from one section to the next. And it's so simple. All you do is ask for permission to go on to the next section. So a couple of ways that shows up is, I'll do it by way of example. Let's say that you've gotten through most of the conversation in an enrollment conversation, you're clear about what they really desire and you're clear about what their stopping points or challenges are. And if I were to say to you, version one sounds like this, George. So I'm really clear that you're having challenges with X and that you really want Y. So let me tell you how my coaching can help you with that. Version two. Hey, George, I'm really clear you're having challenges with X and that you're really wanting Y. Would it be useful to talk for a few minutes about how what I do as a coach might be able to support you with both those things? Yeah. What's the difference? So much better. Can you hear that? Well, it's an invitation rather than a requirement. Yeah. You know, so it's partnership rather than, no, I'm going to just tell you what I want. No, it's like, no, let's continue the conversation. It's a conversation. It exists. It's a conversation. So that's really nice. I love how you do that. And I know that when people learn from you, they get a lot of examples and they get to practice with each other and that's super, super helpful. Any other insights you want to share before we move into letting people know what the coaching training is like? Yeah. Well, you know, I just think there's so many, anytime you feel, I mean, that's like, if we can boil this all down to a takeaway that I would want people to have from it, it's anytime you feel like you might be being manipulative, use that as like, source of energy to say to yourself, oh, this might be the time to either tell the truth or ask for permission. And almost automatically, if I'm just, what is my real true intention? What do I want? And have I made that abundantly clear? And if you do, I can almost, in my experience, any sense of worry starts to fade away really quickly about that. What a simple, brilliant way of doing it. It's like using that, am I manipulating as a trigger point to say, well, there's a way around this or not, there's a way through this, which is tell the truth as for permission. Brilliant, brilliant. I want people to know about your coach training because I have people within my audience who have benefited so much from what you provide and the school that you work with. And a lot of people who are watching this, haven't heard about it. And so I want to make sure people do. Would you like to share a bit about that? Thank you for the invitation. Yeah, I would. Yeah, well, you know, our school, it's the Academy for Coaching Excellence and our real dedication is serving people who have a social change mission, you know, world changing mission in their heart to become coaches. There's a lot of coach training out school schools out there. A lot of them are really great and you're going to get great training and we're carving out a corner of the world where people with a social change mission and become professional coaches and financially successful professional coaches that are going out there serving entrepreneurs, you know, organizers, activists, nonprofit leaders, executive directors, creative, all kinds of different audiences, but they want to go serve people who have a social change mission underneath what they do. And, you know, our founder has been doing this for over 30 years, 35 years actually. And so there's real rigor in what she's created over these years. And so for me, that's what just had me fall in love with this body of work was the absolute level of mastery that she brings to coaching and to the courses that we leave, these transformational experiences that you go through as coach. But what we say is you can't coach someone past a point, you yourself haven't gone. It doesn't mean you need to have done everything that your client has done, but it does mean that you are going through your own transformation journey as you're becoming skilled at supporting others to have their own breakthroughs. So anyone who's interested, the way to get started, there's some resources on our website, which is acecoachtraining.com. Particularly, there's a life blueprint tool you can download to help you plan out your year or your next six months and get clear on what your intentions are. And you can also take our first course. It's kind of a first four day intensive, which is where people's initial breakthroughs kind of where the first big wake up moment happened in this body of work. Wow, it's beautiful, man. Thank you so much. And yes, there are links in the notes below for people to go and check it out. Yeah. Like I said, I personally known multiple clients and kind of readers of mine who have been through the acecoachtraining and love it and speak volumes about how great it is. And I love the mission because you guys are like, it's really high leverage work. Like you're, you're, you're becoming a professional coach, helping others who are leading organizations or they are change makers themselves who often aren't taking care, you know, taking good enough care of their own growth, their own, you know, hearts, their own mind and network, et cetera. And it's like, like you guys are really supporting the change makers. And so it's like meta change maker. Yeah. And so really, really cool, really cool mission. So Jeremy, thank you for the work that you do. Thanks for sharing these brilliant and simple, very doable insights. So folks, if you enjoyed this, go and take a look at the links below. I think you'll really benefit from what Jeremy does. Yeah, thank you so much. Take care. You too.