Getting Potential Clients to YES

Today we are going to be talking about how to get a client to YES (AKA making a sale).

I know a lot of content online is talking about where to find potential clients and how to connect with them, but not a lot of people talk about the next step in the process, which is actually getting them to a yes, which is actually getting them to buy from you.

This is really important because I talk to a lot of newer entrepreneurs in the space or people who are trying to grow and scale their business. They're having conversations, they're finding new potential clients, they're talking to them. But they're not converting or they're just really struggling to convert. This is something that is definitely a practice makes perfect, you will get more and more comfortable with this, the more that you do it. Because this is really all about sales. A lot of things that we focus on in the online space is more around marketing. But this is the sales piece, almost kind of your traditional sales psychology, that isn't always sexy, we don't always like to talk about it, but it is really necessary.

This is what really sets people apart from those people that are bringing on new clients consistently and those people who are just really floundering, really struggling to get new clients to actually execute, pay that invoice, sign that contract and get started.

Asking for a discovery call

The first thing that is so important is asking to get on a discovery call, or asking for the sale depending on what you are promoting.

So if you're doing a done for you service, most of your sales are probably happening via a discovery call first, and that's totally okay. But if you are a course owner, if you have a group coaching program, or a membership, or even a digital product — it’s not really going to be realistic or scalable for you to be getting on calls with everyone.

But if you're a done for you service provider, or you're selling anything, where people are going to be getting on calls with you before making that purchase, they have questions, if it's a bit more customised experience, you have got to ask to get them on that call.

Surprisingly, that is the a huge thing that so many people are not doing. They are engaging with these people, they're starting conversations with potential new clients, they're building rapport with them. All my people out there who are doing any sort of cold dming, you might be really stuck in this endless loop of conversation, and you don't know why you're not getting more sales, it's because you're not telling those people how to buy from you and getting on a call.

Set benchmarks

If you're struggling to get people on a call, set some benchmarks for yourself.

You can be having a conversation with your prospect, you can be going back and forth with them for X number of days, or you can have Y number of back and forth before you’re asking them to get on a call. That doesn't mean you always have to do it, where to the point where you're asking them to get on a call at a point in the conversation where it doesn't make sense. But this is really for you to make sure that you are not actively avoiding asking them to get on a discovery call.

Be upfront

You really want to be upfront.

“This is who I help. This is how I help them. I think that I can help you. I'd love to discuss this. Are you open to that? Are you looking for that? I'd love to discuss this further on a discovery call.”

Not, “Oh so let me know if you you want to hop on a call”, that's passive voice, you want to be active. You are bringing them along, you're holding their hand to the next step in the buying journey. And that's a really important way to think about it.

I would then suggest you use really clear and precise questions in terms of when. “Would you like to get on a call Thursday at 3pm? Or Tuesday at 11am?” That's called a double bind. And that makes it far more likely for them to answer you, because they're either going to say, “Oh, great, that one works” vs “I'm going to look at my calendar”. If you're not giving them a precise time, you're putting the onus on them, to check their calendar and initiate actually scheduling that call. So you need to be giving them two options right off the bat right there.

A double bind is also going to make it more likely for them to at least respond to you and say, “Well, neither of those work” vs just ghosting you. So if you have a calendar scheduler, you can use that scheduler link. Or you can use this double bind strategy. But get them on that call, make sure you are asking for that call, you're not just having endless conversations with people for no reason that are never going anywhere if it seems like they are an ideal potential client for you.

Help them to see the benefit to them

When you're on that call, help them to see the benefit to them.

You know they need this thing, if they're on the call with you, they probably already know they need it. They already know that they need this thing as well. But bring them further along, help them to start imagine what it's going to be like after they've made that purchase, what benefits are they going to see? How is it going to make their life or their business easier or better? Helping them start to envision that is going to really just help them mentally go down that purchase journey a little bit more. And this is a great opportunity for you to say things like, “We charge flat rate, because then you can always budget for us, you never have to worry about it”, or “We have weekly calls” or you can talk through some of the benefits that you have, and how that relates to how it's going to make their life or their business better and easier.

Next steps and asking for the sale

The next thing is talking about next steps and asking for the sale.

These are two really important things. You can feel it out and depending on how the conversation went which to talk about first. But talking about next steps is just going to be something like, “Okay, great. So, if we were to move forward after this call, this is what would happen. I'd send you the contract, you'd get your invoice, you pay the invoice and then you're going to get this really great onboarding questionnaire that's going to give me everything I need to get started and hit the ground running to get moving on this. We can get started next week.” You're, again, bringing them through and helping them to imagine what's happening next.

Then you are asking for the sale.

This could go something like, “It seems like we would be a really great fit to work together based on what you said on this call.” You can simply reiterate what you discussed on that call. “I would love to work with you. Are you ready to go ahead and get started?”

Not “So, just let me know if you want to get started.”

Because again, they're going to be more likely to answer “Yes, great. I do want to move forward.” or “No, I don't think I really want to.”

And that is the key because you want them to give you any objections on that call so that you can talk through any objections with them on that call vs trying to talk about those objections later via email. It doesn't work, it's not as effective. You want to be able to talk through any of their concerns on that call, and that's why you have to ask for the sale, and tell them the next steps.

And then if they're like, “Okay, I have to think about it.” Okay, great. Make sure you are following up. This is so so key. So many of you are only following up once… you need follow up at least three to four times, or you are leaving money on the table. I cannot stress enough.

So just to reiterate, we're getting to that potential client, we're getting them to that “yes”, we're getting them to the sale, we're getting them to convert, we're asking to actually get on that discovery call. We're helping them to imagine what their life or their business will be like, after buying from you after working from you. What's that transformation you're providing? How is it going to be better? How is it going to be easier? You're going to reiterate next steps from you for them. And then you're asking for that sale on the call so that if there are any objections, you can answer any questions they had, you can speak to any of those objections. You can allay any of their fears on that call vs trying to do that via email, which is not as effective.

Doing all of these things is going to help you to convert more new business, it's going to get more of those potential new clients to a yes. And it's going to get you making more money in your business.

If you're struggling to find new clients, if you're struggling to get them to Yes, if you're struggling to get them to convert or onboarding them — definitely look at booking a digital strategy intensive. It’s a 90-minute call where we can really deep dive into your strategy, what's working, what's not working, and you walk away with a step by step action plan, knowing exactly what you need to do next, in order to effectively move forward.