How to Get Clients to Sign Up On the Discovery Call

Episode Transcript:

Hey everyone, welcome back to The Book Your Dream Clients podcast. Today I want to chat with you real quick about how to get clients to sign up on the discovery call. So sit back, relax and enjoy.

One of the biggest problems coaches have is they have a resistance towards what they should say on a discovery call. They don't want to feel salesy. They don't want to feel pushy, and they don't want to feel like they have the dollar signs in their eyes, because that's not what it's about. If you have listened to me, you know that I want you to lead with generosity and remove the dollar signs, because it's not about the money.

It's about helping people and serving and letting them know that you can help them get to where you are because they resonate with you, and it's your job to help them. But how do we get them to actually say yes on the call? There's lots of steps before and after. So let's talk about the very first moment they are on your website and they feel like you are reading their mind and they want to get on a call with you.

So you have two options. You can have a calendar link on your website, and if you are a fan of the show, you know that I'm shaking my head. No, because I cannot stand it when people have calendar links on their website. Do not allow people to take your time when they have no interest in investing in you. And you may be thinking well, “Lindsay, that kind of feels hypocritical.”

Because you just said remove the dollar signs from your horizon, lead with generosity. Well, to me, I want you to think of your priorities first. And it should not be your number one priority should not be your business. It should be yourself and your family, right? So when I look at Lindsay five or six years ago... what was happening to her was she was, you know, playing with her kids in the evening and she had to step out of the room because she had to go on a discovery call at a ridiculous time.

And then she spent an unended amount of time...I, I don't even think I kept the time limits on these calls to be honest. She would spend an hour on a call with somebody just asking her all of the questions and then, “okay thank you. Bye bye.” And then she had to walk out of the office with this look on her face that, yeah, I literally just wasted an hour.

Yes. I helped somebody, but I could have been spending time with my family. And you know that time can not be replaced. I don't care what dollar sign you put on that. So to me, I really want to get on a discovery call with someone who is serious and who knows how important it is to move up a level in their business.

So after doing those calls, those tire-kicker calls for way too long, I realized that a change needed to be made. So when I went into my office, I felt 100% confident that this was going to be a great call. And I know that this will take my business to the next level, and this will take their business to the next level.

How do I get to that point? I removed the calendar. I asked them questions instead. I asked them questions that are going to get them thinking about why am I applying for this call? What am I really struggling with? And maybe when they're writing out their struggles, it's going to help them realize, well, I guess maybe I'm not really struggling with this.

I can actually help myself. And then that way it empowers them to move forward on their own. Or it's going to make them feel... yeah, I have a lot of things that I need help with and I am ready to get that help. I'm also going to ask them questions, just basic facts. You know, where is your website? What's your social media platform, all of those things.

And it's going to get them thinking and asking themselves, “do I have all of these things?” And then the biggest thing that will give you higher conversions almost to a 100% conversion rate is putting your packages on the application. This was a game changer. When I did this, my conversion rates were always pretty good because I had an application for quite some time.

But then I decided I want to really screen people, because what I was finding was people would get application happy, right? You might've been that person, you're filling out all the applications and you're literally job hunting with coaches. I love that you research coaches and who you're going to invest with, but those are, those are kind of funny because it does feel like you are going on a job hunt with them.

So what I did was -  I want to make sure that there are no surprises when they go on the call with me. So I put my packages as the last question on the application. My form fill out rates are still pretty good. I do have a button on my one-on-one sales page that says, “click here to see if you qualify to work with me.”

And you're immediately added to my list. And sometimes I will see somebody's name pop up on that. But I won't see an application come in and I know that they got to the last question and they were thinking, “oh, nevermind.” And then they left. I could look at that as, “oh my gosh, I lost a client.” Or I can look at it as I don't have to get on a call with someone who isn't ready to grow their business with me.

They might just go to someone else. And that's great. Everyone will go to who they need to be with at the right time. So I'm not here to control that. I'm okay with it. So that last question on your application is really important. And to me, it allows people to think, “okay, she charges $10,000 to work with her for a year.”

I'm going to keep that number in my head and it's going to make me feel like my business is going to be able to get to that point. Or maybe they saw those numbers, they opted out of the app and they say, okay, I'm going to save because now I know how much it costs. There are many reasons why we should have that there.

But the most exciting part is to see potential clients claim that this is what they want. This is what they're ready for. So when you get on the call and you share your screen and you scroll to the packages, there's no awkward moment where they're like, “oh, I didn't know she charged that much.” Or maybe, “oh, she doesn't really charge that much.”

There's two different variables there. So to get them to sign up on the call, the structure is very flexible and stress free if you want it to be. I'm the type of person that is not going to have all of these questions written down and I'm not going to make them feel like they're in this really critical interview.

I literally just want to know. I want to know about you, what's going on in your life and your business, what you're struggling with, and then I'm going to see if I can help you. Okay? If I don't feel like I can help you, I'm going to tell you that. I'm going to point you in a different direction. I'm happy to do that.

If I feel like I can help you, I'm going to let you know that I do. And I'm also going to let them know that this is what I see for you. When you do that, it puts them in the place of the future, gets them excited - or maybe not. Maybe they're thinking, “oh, I don't know if I'm ready for that.” It doesn't matter.

What do you see for your clients? What do you see for their business? What do you see for their problems that they're experiencing? And then show them that you have a solution. You have many solutions, and the best part about working with you is you're going to allow them to be able to communicate with you off-call. You're going to give them this.

You're going to give them that. And you're going to give them this to help them grow. And here's the support and here's this. And here's that that's all spoken probably within the first ten to fifteen minutes of the call. So how do you transition from showing them the details to hey is this what you want to do?

That awkward question. You don't have to -  it doesn't have to be awkward. I love to share this screen because I'm a very visual person. I don't want to sit there and just say, you can pay this or this or this. I want to show them the differences between the packages, even if they've studied it all day and they know what I'm talking about.

I want to just spend time with that and show them what's available for them. I also want to show them what package I think is best for them, because I know what kind of support they're going to need, depending on the struggles that they're experiencing. So having the visual, letting them know the packages you have, give them payment plans.

Clients love payment plans. I would say 99% of my clients are on a payment plan. So if you're not offering those, do it. And extend them out. Don't just give them a few months to pay off something. Think about how you want to pay things and make sure you allow people to do the same to do the same for you.

I even have a two year payment plan for my VIP clients because that's a much bigger investment and they like that. Because they don't want to go into debt right away. They want to make payments. So we have the three packages and we have flexible payment plans. We have no interest. We have the support, we have this bonus and this bonus, and which one feels right for you? That comes out naturally, which one feels right for you.

And they're going to tell you. Most of the time they already know. Because they already checked it on the application. The only time that it changes is when they want more. So right now my packages are four, six, and ten, and a lot of times they'll choose the lowest package. And then on the call, they'll go for the middle. Or they'll choose the middle on the app.

And then they'll go for the VIP on the call because they find out what more from me that they're going to get. That all happens within under a half hour. So to recap that structure -  small talk, ask them about their struggles, tell them what you see for them, how you believe you can help them, share your screen, show them your coaching packages and ask them which one feels right for them.

Now after this, the next step is they're either going to ask you, what should I do next? Or you're going to tell them what to do next. If they have decided what package they want on the call, then you're going to go and create that custom plan on your shopping cart. So for me, I'm going to go to Samcart. I'm going to make a custom plan for that client.

Give them the payment plan that they asked for. I'm going to send them an email probably right after the call with the link and letting them know the next steps after that is made. Clients are very anxious to get started so we have to keep the ball rolling. I don't like automation with this because I want it to feel customized and personalized because this is a huge investment for people.

So I don't want them to feel like I'm just another automation. I want this to feel and be very 100% Lindsay, coming from me. So I'm going to create the plan myself. I'm going to email them myself, and I'm going to say, here's the payment plan. Once this is received, you're going to receive the contract, a welcome kit for me, more to come.

And then once they submit the payment, all of that stuff will be sent manually by me. And then I will also go through the rest of my client onboarding process. That can all happen really quickly if you have your stuff together. One thing that I hear a lot from Stand Out Coaching Academy students is after they get their first client, they DM me and they say, oh my gosh, I'm so glad I had SOCA because I just booked my first client.

And I knew exactly what to do. I had everything laid out for me. I was prepared. Thank you so much. One of the biggest things is we are always wanting to get that first client, but we're not set up to receive it. So we're kind of putting a block right in front of us because we're not ready for it. So have all of that stuff ready. Get people on those applications. Send them the link to book a call with you and only go on calls with people who are serious about growing their business, or who are serious about changing their life. And get on the call with people that you feel really aligned and that you can connect to and you believe you can help.

That's the ticket. If you have any questions about anything that I shared in this episode, please let me know, send me a DM on Instagram or go into our free Facebook group. Feel free to ask there and as well, I will see you on the next episode. Thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful. Before you go, I want to invite you to join my free Facebook group for coaches. Simply type ‘Dream Client Community.com’ in your browser and request access. 

And we'll happily let you in. We have amazing coaches that are just you who are starting and scaling their business and we would love to see you there.