Discovery Call Mastery | Sign More Clients Series - Part 1
Do you wanna know one of the hardest parts about running your own business?
Crafting proposals and winning clients…
It’s a love-hate relationship that fuels me with motivation, and at the exact same time, may be the actual death of me.
Whether you consider yourself a small business owner, freelancer, side-hustler, or solopreneur, YOU are the one who has to talk with your potential clients and craft a proposal to send them so they can work with you.
I won’t sugar-coat it… it’s super challenging!
Not to mention during times like these when the economy is outta-wack and uncertainty makes people clench-hold of their budgets, leaving your proposal (you potentially spend wayyyyy too much time on) marked ‘unread’ in their inbox and the sound of crickets in yours…
Which is exactly why I’m sharing this series with you!
Welcome to the Sign More Clients Series!
As a serial entrepreneur with over a decade of experience across four very different profitable businesses, I’m sharing the secrets I’ve learned to Selling – yes, even as an introvert who hated sales and fumbled through the awkward process for many years. If I can do this, you can too.
Who is this series for? This comprehensive 3-part guide is tailored for small business owners, solopreneurs, and freelancers. Whether you're just starting out or seeking to scale your business, this series will walk you through the critical steps and my expert tips for the discovery call, proposals, and follow-up process to help you sign more clients.
The Common Challenge: When you first launch your business or freelance career, it's easy to think that the clients will come. Initially, sharing your offers with friends and family might yield some success, but then… crickets. This is where many entrepreneurs consider throwing in the towel: signing consistent clients is the biggest obstacle to growth and crafting proposals that win the business is often what we lose sleep over.
The Good News: You're not alone! And it doesn't mean you're failing. Instead, this proposal process is one of your biggest opportunities to improve to start signing more clients.
This series is your step-by-step guide to overcoming this challenge. By mastering the discovery call, proposal, and follow-up process, you'll sign more clients and grow your business.
In this article, I’ll walk you through some of my best tips I’ve learned over the years from running 4 very different businesses and sending hundreds-if-not-thousands of proposals. What matters, what doesn’t, and how you can sign more clients.
This article is tailored toward service-based businesses or offers. If you offer a physical or digital product, you may still find value but just know this is more of a service-based approach.
If you’re thinking “Fuckkkk… I need this!” Welcome, honey. You’re gonna love it here!
How to Master the Discovery Call Process
So, let’s say someone reaches out to you and is interested in learning more about working with you.
Now what?
1. Invite Potential Clients to a Discovery Call
Get your potential client on a call.
Believe me when I say, as a hard-core introvert, I know we don’t always like to get on a phone or video call, let alone have to SELL! But, before you ignore my advice here, this is actually where potential clients make the decision to buy (and for us introverts, this is actually where our strengths shine)!
How you present yourself, your personality, your ability to answer your potential client’s questions, and (most importantly) how you make them FEEL during this call is EVERYTHING. Yes, they want to know how you can help them and your pricing, but by the time you get to this information, chances are, they’ve already made their decision to work with you (or not).
This single call can make (or break) signing a client.
So, as much as you’d like to just ‘sell in the DMs’ or hope people will book on your website, I highly recommend inviting them to book a call will you to start the process:
Invite them to schedule a call with you — you can schedule it with them directly or send them an online scheduling tool link to book a call.
Do your research — look at their website and socials, who they are, what they do, etc. to help you best prepare for the call.
Don’t be late to the call — this is your first impression to and first step in the sales process – show up prepared, be early, and be ready!
Bonus Tip: You can easily set up a Discovery Call calendar link through a system like Calendly or Acuity. (Here are the best systems I recommend for small businesses.) Depending on your business, this call can be anywhere from 15-minutes to 1-hour. Set up the call link, enter in your availability for days and times, and direct people to schedule a discovery call to get started with you.
2. Choosing a Discovery Call Format
Depending on your business and how you typically work with clients, your discovery call might be a phone call, a video call, or an in-person meeting. I encourage you to choose what makes the most sense for your business and what you are selling, but here are some important things to consider:
Phone Calls
Phone calls are the most convenient format, and if it makes sense for your business, instead of having to book a date and time to talk with you, you can include your phone number for people to call you immediately to get more information. If your offers are fairly straightforward, you have more packages and pricing on your website, and the discovery call can be accomplished in about 15-minutes, the phone calls can be your format of choice.
Personally, while I tested out in-person discovery meetings initially for my photography business, I ultimately decided phone calls were the best format by first sending them my website or preliminary information like a session guide to review before our call. Since photography is visual and a potential client can see if they like my style and work or not, a phone consultation was most convenient for talking through the process, ideas, pricing, and questions to see if they wanted to move forward and book a session.
Video Calls
Video calls are typically the format I recommend for most discovery calls, especially if your services are done virtually, if you offer high-ticket (higher price-point) packages, or if you work one-on-one with your clients in a more intimate setting for services such as coaching, consulting, therapy, etc. Video calls help you establish a relationship faster and build stronger rapport, which I’ll dive into deeper shortly. You can see each other, connect quicker, and get more information through what your potential client is telling you and what they may not be saying at all through body language. This helps you get a deeper sense of where your potential client is at, how they feel, and if they seem more hesitant or skeptical or if they seem ready to dive in with you and get started.
Personally, for coaching and business services or initial relationship building with music booking agents or event companies, video calls have always been the best format. Through video, my personality and professionalism shows through, I can help set my potential client at-ease, and I feel I can have more of a candid conversation this way by seeing them and talking with them.
In-Person Meeting
In-person meetings can be the best format if you typically work with your clients in-person, need to see their physical space to work with them, or if your service requires working with physical products or techniques that help set you apart from your competitors. Think of chiropractors or health and wellness professionals, landscapers and trades, or specialty services such as fertility acupuncture, etc. Since you work with your clients in-person, and often HOW you work with them is the key aspect that sets you apart, inviting them to an initial consultation in-person so you can physically show them how you work can help you ultimately win their business more so than a phone call ever could.
Personally, the chiropractor I see was a prime example for this. Growing up with joint pain and horse-related injuries, I’ve been to more chiropractors than I can count. While I’ve had some ok experiences and some no-so-great experiences over the years, I learned what to look for and what set off red-flags to run in my brain. When I did the in-person consultation with my current chiropractor, the way he examined and treated my body, I knew for a fact he knew exactly what he was doing. After over three years, I can happily say that initial consultation landed my business and has me committed to working with him long-term.
Bonus Tip: If you’re only sending information to potential clients via text format (email, DMs, messages, etc.), then you’re missing out on more sales that could be made and leaving money on the table!
3. Understand Your Potential Client's Needs
Let me be crystal clear — you DON’T need a script to follow for your discovery call or sales process (although many ‘Instagram Coaches’ will sell you that you do).
Your whole goal to this discovery call is to ask questions for information you need to know and then shut-up and LISTEN. (This basically helps your potential client sell themselves if you listen to their problems, challenges, and goals or desires).
Key Questions to Ask During a Discovery Call
Depending on your service or business, feel free to use these questions as you see fit or adapt the wording as necessary.
“Thank you for taking your time to talk with me today.” — this is not a question, but absolutely necessary and a great way to start the call.
“How did you hear about me?” — unless you already know how they heard about you and your business, ask this question so you know exactly where your leads are coming from and what lead generation is working for your business. This can also spark good conversation for building rapport.
“Tell me a bit about what you’re looking for?” — this helps dive straight into what they’re interested in so you know exactly how you can help them.
“What are your biggest goals for this or what are you hoping to achieve/walk away with?” — this helps you deeply understand exactly what they are looking for and how you can BEST speak directly to this in your proposal.
“What challenges or problems have you run into?” — this is gold for your proposal. Listen to what your potential client is struggling with and use this specific language to speak to how you can help them. This might also give you insight to how you can sell yourself differently than your competitors to appeal to your potential client.
“What does your timeline / budget / priorities look like?” — it’s important to have a candid conversation with your potential client to understand their expected timelines, budget, priorities, and importance of getting started. This will help you best propose the right fit for package and pricing, as well as how to approach the urgency for getting started.
“What questions can I answer for you?” – while they might ask some questions throughout the call process, inviting them to ask other questions offers space for them to share with you any thoughts, questions, hesitations, worries, or things that they might be thinking and not yet saying. Don’t rush through this. Allow time for silence and help your potential client feel comfortable talking with you.
4. Build a Strong Rapport
How you show up to a discovery call sets the stage for the entire relationship – remember, first impressions matter.
Building rapport and establishing a solid relationship with your potential client will help with the ‘know, like, and trust’ process, and ideally help them feel comfortable hiring you. Remember how I said how listening helps your potential clients sell themselves? Building rapport can help this directly.
Tips to Build Strong Rapport on a Discovery Call
Match Energy and Posture: Notice how your potential client is sitting and talking to you (for video or in-person consults). Are they relaxed, nervous, fidgety, distracted, direct, or timid? To help you build rapport right away, work to either match or compliment their energy. If they seem confident, direct, and focused, match that energy. If they seem nervous, distracted, or timid, how can you help set them at ease? Relax your posture, speak calmly, and invite them to tell you how they’re feeling or offer what they can expect from the conversation.
Create Personal Connections: Allow time and space to have light, genuine conversation to build a connection and help them feel at-ease talking with you.
Actively Listen: Not only will listening to what they’re saying and specific language they use help you craft a strong proposal and sell, but they want to feel understood. Saying things like "I see" or "That’s interesting—can you tell me more?" helps encourage them to share more.
Ask Open-Ended Questions: While many sales-gurus will tell you to get them to keep saying “Yes” to prime them on their decision, I encourage you to ask open-ended questions that get them to share more. Talking it through helps give you and your potential client clarity, helps them feel understood, and also gives you specific wording to speak to in your proposal.
Share Empathy (when necessary): Remember, this call is about your potential client, not you. However, if they are sharing their experiences or challenges, you can offer empathy by sharing similar experiences to create a sense of camaraderie, connection, and trust. It’s all about how you make them feel while sharing how you can help them that matters.
Personalization: I specifically start the call and end the call using their name. “Hi [name!]” “Thank you so much, [name].” We all like to hear the sound of our own name.
5. Discuss Options and Pricing (a.k.a. SELL)
As awkward and nerve-wracking as it can feel, you need to be able to directly talk about what you offer, share your pricing, and sell how you can help them — PERIOD.
We all have growing pains in selling and have to overcome imposter syndrome. I have had very awkward pricing conversations, discovery calls where I paced around my house over an hour before the call in nerves and sweat, and calls I’ve ended feeling like I had no idea WTF I was doing. But I promise, it gets easier!
I’ve also been on the other end of these calls where I couldn’t get pricing or details no matter how many times I asked directly, and immediately decided I wasn’t going to work with that person.
The goal is NOT to follow some “perfect sales script” and always have your client decide and pay on the phone — again, although I’m sure you might have been taught this once or twice…
The goal of a discovery call is to have a REAL, candid conversation with a potential client, listen to understand what they need, and share your details on how you can help them and what it looks like to get started with you.
Then, the actual proposal should simply be a RECAP of this information.
Bonus Tip: There have been instances where I’ve needed to share preliminary pricing ranges and then put a custom proposal together after the discovery call to send to a potential client. This is totally fine if you need to sit-with-it and decide what to propose to them. Ideally, giving them an idea or range of your pricing during the call will help so you can answer questions, talk through budget, worries, or objections, etc. so you can help support them in the decision-making process. As a result, they feel understood and trust you to ideally want to move forward and work with you.
6. Thank Them and Outline Next Steps
As you’re closing out the discovery call, it’s important to let them know what to expect and then follow through — you are establishing trust and building a relationship with them after all.
How to Close a Discovery Call
Thank them for their time — be professional and considerate.
Recap how you can help them — in a quick, concise way, recap their key points in what they’re looking for, how you can help them, and how you can work with their timeline, budget, or priorities.
Outline the next steps — in order to get started with you, outline that you will send the proposal, they will sign the agreement, pay the deposit, and then you’ll send them what they need to get started (or fill in what your process looks like).
Let them know you’ll send them an email with the proposal — immediately after the call, craft the proposal and send them the email as soon as possible. If you know you won’t have time that day, tell them when they can expect this email (but the sooner the better).
Invite them to reach out with questions — always invite them to reach back out to you. Whether they need to think about it, discuss with someone else, get approval, or wait until they get back from an upcoming vacation, you want them to feel comfortable reaching back out to you to continue the conversation.
Remember, it’s all about how you make them FEEL that will help them make the majority of this decision.
If you’re too pushy or salesy, wanting them to say yes on the call, they’re going to run the other way. If you’re too focused on following a sales script, they’ll know you’re not really listening and seek help somewhere else. If you’re too nervous to talk about how you can help and share your pricing (selling), they won’t have the information they need to make a decision or they’ll feel turned-off and hire your competitor.
It’s your job to lead the conversation, listen, and connect the dots for them by letting them know how you can help them, what it looks like, and how they can get started with you.
Next week, we dive into Craft Winning Proposals – stay tuned for part 2!
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