Leading H.E.R. Way Podcast
What if I told you that building a successful business doesn’t have to mean running yourself into the ground?
Welcome to Leading HER Way, the podcast that challenges the outdated belief that success has to come with burnout.
I’m Nikisha, your disruptive coach, and after 15 years of growing multiple businesses, I’ve learned that working harder isn’t the answer—building smarter is.
Every week, I sit down with powerhouse women entrepreneurs and wedding pros who’ve cracked the code to scaling their businesses while reclaiming their time.
You’ll hear raw, unfiltered conversations, client transformations, and behind-the-scenes success stories proving that your business can thrive without you constantly putting out fires.
Here’s what you’ll take away:
✔️ How to build 7-figure systems that scale—so you’re not stuck in the weeds of your business.
✔️ How to stop being the bottleneck and design a business that runs smoothly without you.
✔️ Social proof from industry leaders who have mastered this shift—and are here to show you how.
So, if you’re ready to work less while earning more, hit play, and let’s create a business that ignites your freedom. 🔥
Leading H.E.R. Way Podcast
79: Lead with Confidence: How to Build Trust and Book Clients Without the Sales Pressure
Does sales make your stomach twist?
Do you over-talk, undercharge, or walk away from discovery calls feeling like you fumbled it, even when you know you're great at what you do?
You’re not alone. And today’s episode will change the way you approach sales forever.
In this powerful installment of the Leading Her Way podcast, host Nikisha King shares how to build client trust before you ever get on a call, and how to confidently lead sales conversations without pressure, performance, or pitching.
You’ll learn:
- Why trust starts before the Zoom room opens
- How to set the tone and lead the conversation with calm clarity
- Three actionable ways to increase your booking rate (without changing your price!)
- What to say at the end of the call to avoid ghosting and get the yes—or the right no
Plus, Nikisha shares real client wins and the exact phrases that helped one business owner go from price-dropping mid-call to confidently closing three premium clients in just two weeks.
Ready to book clients who are aligned, excited, and already trusting you before the call begins?
🎧 Press play and reclaim your power on every call.
Want to attract aligned clients with less hustle and more heart?
Follow @nkbizguru on Instagram and get access to Nikisha’s 5-Star SCALE™ Framework at her More Profit, Less Chaos masterclass.
Welcome to leading her way with your host and business guru, nikesha King. This podcast is the ultimate destination for women, creative entrepreneurs, who want to break free from burnout. If you are overwhelmed by client demands and feel like you're doing this all alone, you, my friend, are in the right place. Now let's dive in for steps to take back your time and simplify your workflow. All right, nikisha, take it away.
Nikisha King:Hey everyone, welcome to Leading Her Way podcast. I'm your host, nikisha. Thank you guys so much for being here. So we're going to continue. We had a beautiful, beautiful interlude with some amazing guests and we are going to continue talking about the five-star scale framework. So what we're going to be talking about this week is our confident booking, how to get confident in our sales call, how to make sales feels like an invitation more than a sleazy pitch. Okay, so here's what we're going to do.
Nikisha King:I am loving how there are so many of us as creatives, as women and not only women, cause it's not a gender thing. Some of us are very uncomfortable with selling. Have you ever heard people say I hate selling, I feel awkward on discovery calls? Or maybe you just feel this silent, this panic of silence, as you go through your sales call. And when I had those moments where I just felt really uncomfortable, there was always this pit in my stomach that didn't make me feel confident, and when I didn't feel confident, I didn't get to show up. So if this is you, you can relate. This episode is totally for you. Okay, now here's what I want to do. I want to keep everything real with you, and I say that because I want to be vulnerable.
Nikisha King:I want to tell you about the time that I struggled with sales. I hated it. I hated it but I still did it. And I hated it because there were so many people telling me how to do it, but I never practiced it with them. So I was always overthinking it and I wanted to get more of them so I can have practice. But I don't know if I was ever tied to the outcome of getting the sale. I feel like I was. I feel like I wanted to get it right. I was tied to the outcome of getting a yes. So when I didn't do it right and I got a no, it felt so depleting, so much energy was taking away from me and in my consultations I would get on. They'd be 45 to 60 minutes, which I feel is long now, but then it didn't feel long.
Nikisha King:I would go through asking a couple of questions that were very surface level what's your color? And what else would I ask? What's your color? What's your themes? What are you dreaming for your day? Although I just did wedding invitations, I didn't need a dreaming part because I wasn't a planner. In my opinion, I just needed to know how their invitations, what they had envisioned for that. So I got better with that.
Nikisha King:I would ask all these questions and then at the end or halfway through I would then spew all of the features that came with my, my services, and then at the end I would say the price and feel like, after saying the price, I was taught to shut my mouth, but I couldn't shut my mouth, I just felt like I had to tell him more because the price was so uncomfortable. This is when I raised my prices to 8,000, not the 1,000. Even at the 1,000, I felt like I was spewing because at the moment, 1,000 felt like a lot. Right, money and numbers are very subjective. When we feel like it's a lot, we're always going to try to compensate for that, and in doing all of that it was very exhausting, especially when I got the no at the end, I really thought I was going to get the yes. That's the funny part. Today I can laugh about that. In the moment there was no laughing because I really felt that pain and I don't want that pain for you.
Nikisha King:So what I do in my five-star scale framework is we have this amazing segment or amazing framework that's called confidence booking, and I want to kind of tell you a little bit more about what the shift is. How does it transform your business? Now, sales calls aren't about proving yourself. They're always about leading. They're not a performance, they're a partnership. A partnership is so different. There are this element where you get to work with someone and support them in their needs, and they're getting that from you by investing in you, by choosing you. When you learn how to lead with confidence and not this pressure of I have no time, I have to get it done right, everything changes and I'm going to walk you through that today on this podcast.
Nikisha King:So I had a previous client that I worked with and in working with this client, they were really amazing at everything they did. However, when it came to sales, they were not confident. It was one of their areas that they struggled so much because guess what? There's not. They're not a salesperson, they're creative, they're an entrepreneur who's coming into this space. And when it comes to sales, we all have to do it as service provider entrepreneurs. Do you hear me? If you're in the wedding professional, a coach, a creative entrepreneur, an artist, you have to sell your value, and a lot of us don't realize the difference between value and features.
Nikisha King:So she would definitely always over talk or over explain everything in order to get the sale and she thought that was the way she had to do it. And the one thing she used to always do is drop her price mid conversation. So what that means is she'll have a conversation before drop her price mid-conversation. So what that means is she'll have a conversation before drop her price and keep speaking and at the end she would say, okay, no pressure, just let me know there is no, just let me know. At the end of any consultation or sales call. Right, because what we have to do is we have to ask for the sale and if we don't and we're not clear on that then someone can't say yes. They'll say no.
Nikisha King:Once we shift everything for her, especially the mindset of I hope they say yes to, I'm here to help them make the right decision. Everything changed. She booked three clients in two weeks without changing her price or her script. There's a in booking and right now? So why does selling feel hard?
Nikisha King:You're unclear of the value. I was unclear of my value. Everyone kept telling me I was selling paper, that I didn't think I had value. So there's a moment in time where you might be a musician and everyone's like, oh, there's a recession, you have no value. That's a lie. Someone is saying that you are a painter or an artist a real painter, artist on a wedding event and that's not a luxury that anyone needs. That's a lie. Any event we plan is a luxury, point blank. I don't care if you do it in the park, I don't care if you do it at a five-star like location or a state, it's still a luxury.
Nikisha King:Two, you're afraid of leading the conversation. You're afraid of taking the bull by its horns and doing your thing. If you don't know how to do your thing, definitely hit me up, because we can do a thing. I love doing a thing. You're also putting pressure on yourself to close a deal. You're tied to the outcome so tight that everything you're doing is overcompensating that outcome.
Nikisha King:When you're operating in the lack of insecurity, your energy shifts from confidence to uncertainty and your clients will definitely feel that. So when these things happen, you'll notice that you'll get ghosted after a call that. So when these things happen, you'll notice that you'll get ghosted after a call. You'll get. I'll let you know and you don't hear anything. You get. I got to speak to someone and confirm it my partner, my fiance why that person is not on the call. We'll talk about that another time. You walk away feeling like you're fumbled the whole thing, even though you're great at what you do. So what we're going to do is just fix that. We're going to give you some tips in this podcast to help you fix that.
Nikisha King:Now I want you to take a breath and ask yourself am I truly, truly leading my sales conversations or am I hoping for a yes? Think about that. If you're hoping for the yes, you're not leading it because you're so stuck on that yes, but how about if we changed it? How about if we got really clear on leading our sales conversation? This question alone reveals so much when you answer it. So I'm going to give you three ways to step into confidence in this episode so you can have calm leadership on every sales from this point forward. So one you're going to set the frame before the call begins.
Nikisha King:Confidence starts before the Zoom room opens. Do you hear me? It doesn't start on the call, it starts before the call. Your inquiry process should tell them what to expect. You need to send an email in your confirmation and reminders of your agenda, what's going to be taking place right. So, for example, you could say this is a 30 minute consult where I'll ask you about your goals, share what it looks like to work with me and answer questions so you can decide on the call if we're a good fit. Now here's the thing you're also deciding to, because if there are a lot of red flags, you have to decide on that call to say I don't believe we're a good fit for you and you have to be very confident in that. No feeling bad. Saving your life and saving your energy. No feeling bad.
Nikisha King:This does two things. When you set the agenda before the call, it tells them you're leading this and it tells them there's structure and clarity coming. That's what you want to do. You want to prime people. You want to market them before they get on your consultation, get them prepared. And when people feel structured, they always feel safe because it's like if you're a high wire walker, you know the high wire people on that tall line, they have a safety net. That's their support. So they're going to take risks, they're going to show up differently because they know if they fall they're protected. That's the structure I want you to think about when you're setting the agenda. I want you to start your call by saying the same agenda again, so anytime I get on a call I go hey Meg, hey Megan, how are you guys? I'm so grateful you're here on this call today. I want to just review the agenda with you and then you definitely go through it.
Nikisha King:This is a 30 minute consult today where we're going to speak about your vision for your event. We're also going to know what it looks like to work with me. You're going to be able to ask me questions and I'll be able to ask you questions to get a clear understanding of what you need. So I can make sure we're fit and by the end of the call we're going to walk away with a decision. If you would like me to go forward and send an agreement, or will you not be going forward? See how clear that is. So let's assume they're our clients rather than proposals. All that things just get them going.
Nikisha King:Two we're going to ask questions that show you're listening not selling, but listening. Most sales calls flop because the business owner talks more than they listen. If you're talking 85 percent at a time or 80 percent at a time and they're only speaking 20. I'm telling you there's a challenge there. We want to ask questions. We want them to be speaking 95 percent at a time and we speak five percent when we're answering questions. Okay, so, for example, a question I love to ask is what on our website or our social media did you see that prompted you to inquire with us? That's an amazing question to get them telling you. What is it specifically about you that they like All right?
Nikisha King:Second, what's been the hardest part of figuring out this on your own? Like what's stopping you? They don't know what they're doing. I know that, but you need them to say it so they know it. You want to get them in that state. It sounds like a question you don't need to ask, but you need to ask it. So when they vocalize it, you just clearly repeat it back, what they said. So they know they're not the leader. They know you're the leader, you're the professional, so they're going to start trusting you. That's a trust question. And what would the dream solution? I say because I don't know. So what would this day look like if you're a planner? What would your florals feel like when you walk into the room? You want to get them in their feelings all right.
Nikisha King:These questions aren't fluff. They reveal the desire and pain points of your ideal client. In working with me, we do more questions and the best part is we practice this. We practice this so you become comfortable in a second nature. The third point is make the decision clear. No pressure, phil, no pressure, no pressure in this process. We're going to remove the pressure. We're going to add the pleasure.
Nikisha King:Ah, at the end of the call, you don't say so. What do you think? You say something like this? Here's how I can support you based on everything you shared. The investment is X and we start with a signed contract and a deposit. Are you ready for me to send everything over? And if it fills a line, I'd love to welcome you in? Right, and that's it. Now I love to flush this out with my clients.
Nikisha King:So every time we work on our five-star scale framework, we practice it. So people start to feel comfortable. You feel comfortable in your skin, inviting people to an opportunity to work with you. Not pitching them, but inviting them. We want you to be calm and direct and clear. There is no begging, no rushing and no weird energy in our confidence booking. All right, and if it's a no, that's okay too, because they were not your clients. That's why we work on the signature client journey. But they were not your client. And guess what? That's okay Because there's 10 million people standing outside the door knocking, and right now, if you don't feel like that's the case, then we do. We have a lot to work on a lot.
Nikisha King:Don't let these opportunities skip. Don't sit in this position for more than a year. I know about that. So I want you to reclaim this. I want you to get into your confidence, energy and not your lack of energy. How do you get there? You hit us up, you join us for our next masterclass that is coming up, and we are going to be showing you how to transform your business with my five-star skill framework. We do these things because these are the essentials Hello, nk Business Essentials to owning and operating a business as a wedding professional, as a creative.
Nikisha King:So when you're making it about you or I should say, when you stop making it about you you're going to stop overthinking, stop shrinking and stop serving. When you stop doing those three things, your confidence goes up and you start leading from a place of confidence. So, in recapping our time today, here's what you're going to do to get confident in your booking. You're going to frame the call before it starts. You're going to set the agenda through your emails. You're going to set your agenda again when you get on the call. You're going to leave a powerful question so your offer connects to their actual needs, not what you can do. You're not the hero in the story they are. And third, you're going to close with clarity, not fear, because clarity converts. You're going to ask them if they're ready for you to send the agreement, if you believe they're a fit for you, and you can get an idea if they're in.
Nikisha King:So these are the things you're going to do to shift from pitching to leading with confidence. Everything will be changing in your business. This is a game changer, people, and it helps you stop being ghosted, stop second guessing yourself and start booking clients who are excited, ready and aligned to work with you. So, once again, check out our resource page, go to our website or just click that link in the show notes, where it's an invitation to join our next masterclass more profits, less chaos. And this masterclass is where I teach about my five star scale framework. You get more in depth about it and you get to voice your words and opinions of what's happening in your business. Come and join us and let's have a great time. Speak to you then.
Announcer:Thank you for joining us today on Leading Her Way. We loved having you with us. Remember each action you take, no matter how small, adds up to big results. If today's episode fired you up, hit subscribe for more insights and visit our resource hub, which is linked to the show notes. There you'll find tools to streamline, organize and grow your business. Keep moving forward and we'll be right here to cheer you on next week.
