Podcast Ep. 006: How To Schedule More Discovery Calls For Your Coaching Business

Recently, I received a question from a new coach who is trying to sell his services online.

His strategy:

1. Book discovery calls
2. Then offers his package on the phone

But even though he’s delivering so much value in his content and his videos when he asks someone to finally book a free discovery call with him, they never actually go ahead and book it.

He wanted to know, why is this happening.

This is a very common problem for coaches and consultants who are trying to sell their services online. And so I wanted to answer this question in this episode.

Selling Services Online

The thing about getting clients is that a lot of it has to do with your timing.

Yes, of course, selling is important and yes, you have to have a good offer. All these things are important.

But at the end of the day, if you’re trying to sell too early or you’re making your offer too early and the timing is bad, then it just becomes increasingly more difficult to make a sale, if not impossible.

I’m sure you’ve heard this example many times where sales are being compared to dating.

And the example that you most often hear is that you can’t ask someone to marry you when you meet them for the first time. It takes a while to get to know each other.

Before you ask someone to marry you, you have to:

1. Start dating, first.
2. Then, build a relationship with your date.
3. She will feel comfortable to say YES.
4. Lastly, she will enter marriage with you.

But when it comes to selling their services online, most coaches and consultants, ask for the sale way too early.

And it is the equivalent of asking someone to marry you on the first date.

The reality is that even if you create the most amazing and helpful video, nobody is going to hire and pay you thousands of dollars after watching just one video of you. No matter how good it is.

Sure, if you search the internet, you will probably find some exceptions. There are always exceptions to the rule, but on average, in most cases, in most business scenarios, that’s just not what happens.

So here are the steps you need to do:

1. Focus on continuing the conversation with anyone who has ever reached out to you.
2. Build a relationship with them.

How Many Times Should You “Touch” Your Prospect Client?

The most common number that is usually quoted in this context is you require seven to twelve touch points with a person before they feel comfortable paying you or hiring you.

And if you want to start getting clients fast and start making money fast as a coach or consultant online, then that’s really what you need to focus on.

You need to focus on creating seven to twelve touch points with anyone who gets in touch with you.

When you do that, you will notice very quickly that it’s becoming so much easier to schedule discovery calls.

The people who show up for your discovery calls are already more trusting and excited to speak to you, and there is less skepticism.

That means it’s also so much easier to offer your coaching packages after you’ve done a successful discovery call with them.

Many online marketers recommend that you build your list.

Why? To have control over how these seven to twelve touchpoints happen.

So imagine a platform like:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube

Even if someone subscribes to your account or follows you, ultimately it is still the platform’s algorithm that decides which of your content is going to see.

But if you have their email address:

• You can always send them an email.
• Make a follow-up with them.

This is also, by the way, the reason why right now so many people are building Facebook Groups. Facebook Groups are pretty much a trend right now.

It’s for the same reason why when someone is in your group, you have a much easier time reaching out to them.

Here’s what it looks like:

1. You want someone to come into your circle of influence so that you can continue the conversation with them.
2. To continue delivering value to them, open this communication channel.
3. You want to do it in a way that gives you control so that you’re not at the mercy of a platform algorithm like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and so on.

The truth is, even if someone subscribes to your YouTube channel or follows you on your social media account, there is no guarantee that they will see your content every time you post it.

But you have a much, much higher chance that they will see it if they’re on your email list or in your Facebook group.

Step 1: Be in Someone’s Radar

You have to get onto people’s radar by:

1. Posting content online
2. Boost some of your content by running them as ads
3. Be in front of people who would be your ideal clients
4. Directly outreach to these people
5. Comment on their posts
6. Send them messages
7. Make them aware that you exist

And at that stage, uh, you mustn’t be offering anything, you’re not selling anything, you’re not pushing anything.

Most people will just observe you from afar with skepticism until they figure out who you are, and what it is that you do, and they make up their minds about you and make up their opinions about you.

Remember, some people will like you, some people won’t like you. That’s just the nature of things.

Step 2: Bring Them Into Your World

Once you’re on someone’s radar, the next step is that you want to get them into your world. Into your circle of influence and that can be your:

1. Email list
2. Facebook Group
3. Or discord channel

The point is that you’re now creating an open communication channel where:

1. You can contact them directly and they can reply to you
2. Ask you questions
3. And just get in touch with you.

Once you have reached that stage now you want to create these seven to twelve touch points.

You want to build a relationship with them and nurture that relationship.

And that’s not an opportunity to sell them or to book a discovery call with them. That’s an opportunity for you to deepen that relationship and prove to them that it is worth their time reaching out to you.

This is key. You don’t want to make people regret reaching out to you by being sold immediately.

Remember, on the internet, everyone is very skeptical, everyone’s being used to constantly being sold, and everyone’s trying to convince everyone to buy their products and services. So don’t make them regret asking you questions and reaching out to you.

Keep delivering that value and just focus on the seven to twelve touch points. You will know that someone trusts you when:

1. They keep coming back to you and they respond quickly
2. Or you can just see in these DMs and conversations and comment sections

And if you are unsure, just count the touch points that you’ve had with that person.

If it’s below seven, then just continue talking to them in the DMs, in the comments, wherever, in the chat.

And if you’re over seven touch points and there is a valid reason to schedule a discovery call with them, just try it out and invite them and make sure you highlight a clear benefit to why you want to have this phone call with them.

Don’t say something like:

“Oh, I would like to offer you a free assessment or a free discovery call or a free diet plan or things like that”

Because that sounds very sales, that sounds like usually, you have to pay for it, but now I’m giving it to you for free.

You don’t want to create that type of context.

I have found the best way to schedule a call.

1. If someone asks me a question, I genuinely prefer to answer them in person.
2. If it’s a question that I can’t just answer in a couple of phrases and sentences in a DM or comment if it’s something where I have a bunch of questions to get clarity on their situation so I can give them a good answer.

These are the types of moments where I just tell them it would be much easier for me to answer the question in a quick call, and I tell them upfront how long it would take me to answer that. If it’s 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or even an hour.

And because we’ve had seven to twelve touch points already at that point, and because I have a valid reason to why I need to talk to them, most people are willing to get on the phone with me at that point.

And one final note I want to say is that use a strategy that you are comfortable with.

There are almost infinite ways to create seven to twelve touchpoints. Do what works best for you. Only when you’re comfortable and confident in your communication, so will the other person feel at ease. And it’s just a very enjoyable experience for both you and them.

I am sure that if you focus on these seven to twelve touch points and focus on continuing the conversation, you will have no problem scheduling discovery calls and then selling your packages on these discovery calls.

And if you are having problems building your email list, check out this article on how you can build your email list fast and get at least 1,000 email subscribers.

And don’t forget to subscribe on my YouTube channel, @creategrowprofit.