HOW I STRUCTURE MY HIGH TICKET, HIGH CONVERTING DISCOVERY CALLS (AND CLOSE THEM WITH EASE)

We have now been home in Melbourne for two weeks and, I was so home sick leading up to this (although home is really where ever Michael is - awww).

Seeing family again has been so fun and, it's just been amazing to have just Mike and I time again. Living with a toddler full time in Ho Chi Minh city did get to boiling point sometimes. Luckily we're both very patient! What I mean by this is it's not a kid friendly city.

Fair Warning - if you have a toddler and you're considering going there. The local parks and whatnot don't have playgrounds and they have a ton of rules that you can't play on the grass. And then there's scooters just scooting down the footpaths. You think, 'Oh yeah, I'm safe from the scooters on the footpath!'. No you're not and they scoot down them so fast. There's were definitely a couple of close shaves with Teddy - which makes me so angry. I'm like, 'Why are you riding on the footpath?!'. But, it's their country and their rules, not mine. To them it is normal.

This is all part of taking in the culture and what feels really graining sometimes on our own beliefs and other things. It teaches us lessons to just chill out a bit and remember that rules are meant to be broken. Right?

While we were there, there was also a real sort of cloud because of what we're going through with the corona virus epidemic, if we can call it that. And the atmosphere in Vietnam was very cautious - lots of face masks on. There were still a lot of tourists around, which was sort of comforting to see, but you know, I'm happy to be back in Australia (although at one point there were more cases in here than in Asia!).

So - back in Melbourne, we had the most recent Own Your Hustle meetup on Friday just gone and it was so exciting to meet so many of you! We also have five Red Carpet Days booked in Melbourne. If you don't know what Red Carpet Days are -> wherever I am in the world, I open up full strategy day with me as your business coach and I roll out the red carpet, hence the name. We always hang out in the most beautiful, luxurious locations. We go out for a five star lunch. Of course we have drinks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, whatever your preference is. And most of all we roll out the red carpet for your business!

We give it all the VIP treatment, we really nurture it. We look at it under the microscope for an entire day so that you're walking away with such a beautiful set of tools and strategies that you can apply over the next 12 months. So bring it on Melbourne girls! Let's put on the show now.

The other thing I will say is we have opened the doors again for Own Your Hustle The Membership!

This is the hands-on coaching style membership for early stage entrepreneurs ready to make consistent $5k months (and then some!). We’ve been achieving big goals on the inside, supporting each other in our missions and armouring up for the year to come and we'd love to invite you along. You know your mission deserves a bigger stage but the fear is real and it's holding you back and locking you down in the panic room you built for yourself: 'Who would even listen? How will I make consistent money? Quitting 9-5 has a nice ring to it but it feels so far away right now ...'

Not for long, my love! We’re flipping the script NOW so come and join us here!

In the meantime, let's get stuck into today's topic and today, I actually want to talk about discovery calls. So this is a real, almost revisit to 101 when it comes to coaching. Now I know a lot of you here are coaches or aspiring coaches. So this is one that you definitely one that you are going to want to bookmark as you were looking to launch your one-to-one programs or your next level course. There are six things I really want to focus on today: when to offer a discovery call, when not to offer a discovery call, before you book in a discovery call, what happens inside the discover call and, what happens after the discovery call.

Take a shot every time you read discovery call in this article! Hahaha - joking, don't do that! Anyway, let's jump straight in ...

WHEN TO OFFER A DISCOVERY CALL (DC)

One of the philosophies that I stand by, and this is something I learnt super early on in my coaching journey, was that DCs are not sales calls. They just aren't. I think that's a very old school way of looking at it - that you have to jump on a discovery call to convince the caller or the person calling in to buy the program from you. Now a lot of us still do this and the results and the overall conversion seems to be slower or at least energetically way more frustrating.

So if you're there, let's think about how we can reframe DCs to look at it from a point of view of it being a deciphering call. It's a discussion, it's building a relationship. It is just really tuning in to what this other person sees in your program and whether your program is the best fit. Now at this point, which I'm going to talk about soon, you already know certain things about this caller, so you're not going in blind. It's not cold. You already know so much about them. This is why I believe that you do not need to enter into a really salesy conversation on a DC - IF you have the right tools in place beforehand.

So when to offer it? I would say for your high level programs, anything that is high ticket in your product suite where you are going to exchange direct time energy with this other person where let's say you're a coach and you're going to be helping them on their business or their fitness or their relationship, you're going to want to jump on a call with them first to see if there's a resonance there with both of your energies.

I would never sign a private client or mastermind client in any form without first speaking to them unless I already know them from the past (or very rare cases)

WHEN NOT TO OFFER A DISCOVERY CALL

This is all about protecting your energy.

So, I would not offer discovery calls to people who seem very casual about it 'Oh maybe we can just chat and see what's going to work?', I would want them to read about a certain program or an offer that I have for them before they actually jump on the call. I don't want to be spending a ton of time explaining every single one of my services and once again going back into a call or convincing them that this is the best one for them.

I want them almost to self select which one they feel is best for them because 99.9% of the time that is the one that is best for them.

I also wouldn't offer a DC to someone who just doesn't have the investment or the means to actually go in and invest in the service. So this does actually drives some things that we do pre DC, pre DC.

I would get very clear on what your perfect DC client would look like and what your not so perfect DC client would look like. And sometimes just looking at it in the form of a conversation really helps. Think about your body language too.

If I'm saying to you, 'Are you ready to jump on a 30 minute discovery call where you need to sell your program, talk about it in detail, go through a SlideShare, give them all the insight into it and it'll go for about 30-40 minutes.'. What is your body language doing right now? Are you feeling contracted? I did just in writing that!

If I were to say to you, 'You're jumping on a call, it's a breezy and fun and open conversation where you sit down with a client, a potential client and you can see that you're already on the same wavelength. You already know that you can definitely get along with this person but also kick their butt at times or direct them through in a very loving way - whatever your style is. And you know that your client or the potential client on the call will be saying to you: I have no real questions. I just want to work with you. I want to sign up with you. I know you are my coach. This was just really something I booked in because I knew you wanted to speak to me.'

How does that make you feel?

That gets to happen and, guess what? It happens to me all the time.

99% of my calls are like that these days and the 1% might be because they haven't known me as long or they haven't seen as much of my content, but I can almost guarantee that in six months time or in 12 months time they'll come back and they'll say, 'Oh, now we've spent the last six months really diving into your podcast or your LinkedIn content. Back then we just weren't ready. That was on us, not on you. And now we're fully ready'. It happens all the time.

My DCs are magical because they're literally like, 'Okay, so we know each other sort of kind of, we've never spoken before, but there are fireworks here, so let's make magic happen. Here is what I do. Here's what you do. It seems like a great match. Here's the investment. You already knew the investment because of the pre-work that we did and so here it is. Here's the date, here's when we start'.

In 15 minutes, the DC closes and I have a signed contract and a payment.

BEFORE YOU BOOK IN A DISCOVERY CALL

The third thing I want to talk about is - before you book in a discovery call. Now this is where I will say your boundaries are clear and they are set. So this is in the form of an application form or something that runs through your calendar system such as Acuity or Calendly (I use Kartra).

There will be a series of questions which you can attach to any calendar management system. You can also use forms like Google forms to do this. So when someone says they would like to apply for a program or work with you, the very first step is you take them through a click through form.

Now, if they can't even be assed filling in a form and they just insist on emailing you or DM'ing you through various social media channels, that would immediately throw up a red flag for me. Because if they can't invest into what it takes to actually speak to their desired coach, then it throws up a really, really big warning sign. So immediately I go, 'Hmm, if this person's refusing to fill in a form, is this person actually going to do the work and stay accountable to what I would be guiding them through?'.

The form itself or the questions will be very short. And my questions are very simple. So if any of you have gone through my mastermind application forms, you will know that it's very easy to answer. I do it all through Type Form myself.

So the first questions are always going to be - what's your first name and what's your email address? I also like to know what part of the world my potential client is from so that I can look at time zones and whatnot when I'm arranging the call. And then I ask them (as a business coach), how much income per month in USD do they currently make on average? And I have options: $0-$5K, $5-$10K, $10-$20K, $20K+.

The reason why I ask this is because I have my customer funnels set up in this way and I have different programs and different services that cater to each of these income levels. Because whilst money is money, you will be able to see the differences. And if you're a fitness coach, you know it makes a difference whether you work out 0-1 times a day, 1-3 times a day etc. like in your industry it will be relative. But, using a question like that will let you segment your customers a lot better and see where they're at from a mindset perspective, a discipline perspective and maybe even a tools point of view so you can find out what they would need.

What my $20K plus clients would need would be very different to what my brand new starters earning $3K months would need. Right? So that's just a way of getting very prepared before a discovery call.

The fifth question I have is - what type of business do you have? Tell me a little bit about your niche, and I always ask this, this is super, super important. Do you have an Instagram handle, a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook page, etc. that I can check out? Please provide all the links below. And the reason why I do this is because it's once again a really good way for me to research. Everyone will have their own deciphering system, but for example, if someone doesn't give me an Instagram handle or LinkedIn profile and it could be genuinely, they haven't set any social media profiles up yet, I would be looking at it from a different perspective that if someone's applying for a high level mastermind and they have no social media presence, then we're going to have to take a step back and I'd be able to chat to them about it.

The second last question I have is, are you ready to invest? So I would then at this point share the investment. It's very clear on the form. There is no hiding, it is fully transparent. So it is saying, are you ready to invest this deposit and then three monthly payments of this amount as part of this mastermind. And the answer: A or B, Yes.

So this is also a really nice driving question because then I know in the discovery call if they're successful through the application, I can talk to them about the payment plans or what a pay in full fast action bonus would look like.

I then say - thank you so much for your questions, what is the number one achievement you would like to bring to life during this mastermind? And that a free type answer response option.

It's really great to be able to see what people's hopes and dreams and vision is and, there is an energy exchange there, right? You can tell straight away when someone is fully invested and they are pouring their heart into an application form versus a one word answer. It just gives you a little bit more of an alignment to how you might want to position the discovery call.

I then finish with - please tick which statement is applicable for you and you can choose as many as you like. And then I have A-F with different statements. So things about where they're at from a mindset perspective and where they need help. Then I always throw in a funny little question, which is a bit of an inside joke between Michael and I. The question is: Do you believe that pineapple should be on pizza? Yes or no? My husband and I debate this continuously, so I need to know which camp you sit in, team Michael or team Ruby.

So you guys will need to guess which team we are both on - pineapple or no pineapple? Come to Instagram and let me know because that would be hilarious if you got it right. And I'm very staunch with my belief here. So if you know me really well, you will know my belief here because I've talked about it a lot.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE DC

So, you've set out your boundaries, you've gotten an energetic alignment, you have your application form, all of that good stuff, you can now jump in to the actual booking in process.

This is nice and quick. Make sure that you've acknowledged their questions, their answers, and you go in with a couple of times or offer them your calendar. This is why I like to do it in type form first and then I give them the calendar link rather than just being through Calendly.

Because if you're offering them a calendar management system link, then regardless of their answers, they've already got a calendar booking with you, right? So I like the form process first. So it would be like, 'Hey Sarah, thank you so much for your answers. I loved them. I can see absolutely where we would resonate. I love where you're at with your business. You're currently making $5k months, which is awesome, and I see your number one achievement is to leave your 9 to 5 job and to do this with consistent $10K months. I can also see that you're ready to be supported and encouraged and that you're striving forward and committing to yourself and your business. So let's do this. Let's book in a call. Here is some times available or click through to the link and pick your time zone. I can't wait to jump on a discovery call with you'.

So this is already establishing so much of the relationship upfront that by the time you're inside a DC, you don't really need a script, okay? So if you are feeling totally panicky about discovery calls, and this goes back to my very first point that this is not meant to be a sales call. You do not need a script.

You already know so much about Sarah, you already know so much about your program back to front. And if you don't, we need to have a discussion. I've seen too many of you not even knowing your program, how long it goes for, what goes on week by week, how much it actually is and what the payment plan is. If you can't reel off the details then we need to have a chat and there'll be some serious butt kicking there.

Script or no script, I vote a shorter length of time. I only take 15 minutes to sign $10K clients. I only take 15 minutes to sign $25K clients. That's just my life right now because I set up my boundaries. I've put myself out there, I know exactly who my ideal client is and I only offer DCs to those that feel really aligned and they answer the Type Form and they do it in a way that feels incredible.

There's already an equal energy exchange there.

So when you're closing a DC, there are a couple of ways you can do this. I would always go back in with a clarity of what the investment is. So after we've talked about the vision, what's inside the program, any questions that they might have for me and any questions that I might have for them.

Most times they ask me maybe like two to three questions and I would ask them two to three questions and it would be anything that I am unsure of. If I feel like they're not for whatever reason, ready, I would close off the call to say, 'Well, would you like to have a think about it? I'll come back to you in 24 hours and check back in' and I won't do the formal close. It's almost like I know you're not ready yet. You know? And you know, if someone is just completely not the right fit, I would just say it on the call - 'I don't think this program's the best fit for you, babe. And this is why'. And most times they kind of go, Oh, okay, well I respect that.

So be bold. Stand true to your program and who you want to serve.

For the people that are amazing, they get an invitation. So I at that point would say, 'Sarah, I would love to invite you into the mastermind. I would love to serve you and help your business grow. I want to be in your corner. I want to work extremely closely with you. I see it, I feel it. I'm here and at this point I would say I'm going to send you through a contract. The contract is a standard agreement over our time together. It will have the investment, the time that we start at the time that we finish and what is included in this coaching package. So if this feels really good, sign it today. There will be a fast action bonus to sign and then I will send you through a link to complete the payment done. If you have any questions or let me know, but I've enjoyed speaking with you'.

All of this is done in 15 minutes, so that's it done.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE DC

Then after the DC, my team would send the contract and payment links and what not. And typically the turnaround for a signed contract and a payment is less than 12 hours. It's very instant in my business because my clients just know. They know that they want to work with me. So actually most times it's within the hour. They hang up the call, we get the contract out in the next 10 minutes and it's signed within half an hour and within that final half an hour, it's paid.

It's amazing. I'm so grateful. I love what the universe is always giving to the business. And you can have this too, right? It gets to be fast. It gets to be easy.

It gets to feel aligned. It's energetic and your time is everything.

So here are my final thoughts:

Protect your energy, set clear boundaries, and if you know this client would be perfect for you, then let's believe that it is done. Okay? It is done.

I hope you enjoyed this look into the discovery call process in the world of Own Your Hustle! If you're feeling called to dive in deeper, make sure you check out Own Your Hustle The Membership. This is just like a tiny, tiny, tiny tip of the iceberg of the conversations we get to have inside. And it transforms my client's businesses and lives. You'll have the confidence to turn your daydreams into reality. You'll receive the practical steps, the proven-in-the-streets strategies and the soul-aligned community to take your business to $5K months and beyond.

So click the link for Own Your Hustle The Membership below. I cannot wait to meet more of you in there, and I shall see you very, very shortly.

Have an amazing week ahead and remember, you can absolutely #OwnYourHustle!

x

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