Emotional Intelligence in Client Conversations, with Dawn Cook Causey, DayBreak Enterprises (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 119)
In this episode of The Price and Value Journey podcast, host John Ray welcomes executive coach and trainer Dawn Cook Causey to discuss the critical role of emotional intelligence (EQ) in professional services. Dawn, an expert with over 22 years of experience in EQ, explains how EQ can enhance client value conversations and ultimately improve service pricing. They explore the four key components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Dawn shares practical techniques and examples, including the ARC (Ask, Reflect, Confirm) method, to illustrate how service providers can better understand and meet client needs. The episode highlights the importance of empathy, active listening, and self-awareness in building trust and effectively serving clients.
The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.
Dawn Cook Causey, DayBreak Enterprises
Dawn Cook Causey has over 25 years of demonstrated excellence in leadership development of executives and teams via facilitating business and personal skills development workshops, performing executive coaching and consulting with clients on their developmental needs. Her vast experience includes working with such companies as UPS, Cox Communications, SunTrust (Truist), Verizon, Raymond James, Siemens, Optum, Northeast Georgia Health Systems, Emory HealthCare and Fox Sports.
She has held key director-level positions in small to medium-sized companies prior to graduating into her roles as consultant and coach. Her unique perspective comes from working within corporate headquarters with worldwide responsibilities, in franchise offices with district and regional responsibilities, and externally to small and medium-sized companies.
Educated in Adult Learning Theory and Neuroscience, Dawn applies this knowledge to developing and coaching others for success in various business arenas, including emotional intelligence, communication, leadership, customer service, public speaking and sales. By using an analytical, science-based and research-supported approach to understanding and changing human behavior, she is able to connect with even the most black and white thinkers.
Certified in Emotional Intelligence (EQ) by 6 Seconds, the Institute for Health and Human Potential, and TalentSmart, Dawn incorporates EQ into much of her coaching and training. In 2002, Dawn underwent personal training from the “father of coaching,” Thomas Leonard, through Coachville’s Certified Coach program. Dawn has spent over 1,500 hours coaching executives and teams to a higher standard of performance. Her training and successful track record have positioned her as an expert in the field of emotional intelligence and leadership development.
Dawn is a founding member of the International Association of Coaches and served as a volunteer coach for Cool Girls, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young girls make the best choices for a happy, healthy life. Dawn also gives back to her community by facilitating free educational discussions to single adults who seek better self and social management skills through increased emotional intelligence.
Dawn is also an accomplished presenter, speaking for audiences of fifty to five hundred. Her favorite topic to present on is the neuroscience of emotions, which involves understanding how the brain manages emotions during interactions, tying emotions to top performance, and applying this knowledge in leadership.
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X (Twitter)
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:00 Introduction to The Price and Value Journey
00:26 Meet Dawn Cook Causey: EQ Expert
02:08 Dawn’s Journey into Emotional Intelligence
06:32 Defining Emotional Intelligence
12:00 The Importance of EQ in Professional Services
17:17 Using Empathy to Uncover Client Needs
22:27 Power Outage Panic on Super Bowl Sunday
23:12 Active Listening vs. Empathetic Listening
24:48 Understanding Client Motivations and Concerns
28:55 Self-Awareness and Self-Management in Client Conversations
31:50 Building Trust and Rapport with Clients
35:23 Handling Direct Clients and Budget Conversations
37:33 EQ in Action: A Real-Life Coaching Story
40:47 Conclusion and Contact Information
About The Price and Value Journey
The title of this show describes the journey all professional service providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing that reflects the value we deliver.
If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line and the mindset you bring to your business.
The show is hosted and produced by John Ray and the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®. The show can also be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include business coaching and advisory work, as well as advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, coaches, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
In his other business, John is a podcast show host and producer and owns the North Fulton (Georgia) affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their own podcast using The Generosity Mindset™ Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.
John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 800 shows and having featured over 1,200 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.
John’s book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices
John is the #1 national best-selling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.
If you are a professional services provider, your goal is to do transformative work for clients you love working with and get paid commensurate with the value you deliver to those clients. While negative mindsets can inhibit your growth, adopting a different mindset, The Generosity Mindset™, can replace those self-limiting beliefs. The Generosity Mindset enables you to diagnose and communicate the value you deliver to clients and, in turn, more effectively price to receive a portion of that value.
Whether you’re a consultant, coach, marketing or branding professional, business advisor, attorney, CPA, or work in virtually any other professional services discipline, your content and technical expertise are not proprietary. What’s unique, though, is your experience and how you synthesize and deliver your knowledge. What’s special is your demeanor or the way you deal with your best-fit clients. What’s invaluable is how you deliver great value by guiding people through massive changes in their personal lives and in their businesses that bring them to a place they never thought possible.
The combination of all these elements is quite different for you compared to any other service provider in your industry. Therein lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.
If pricing your value feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, this book will teach you why putting a price on the value your clients perceive and identify serves both them and you, and you’ll learn the factors involved in getting your price right.
The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers worldwide. Follow this link for further details.
