My typical call to action is to schedule a discovery call with me. And often people are curious — they’d like to, but they shy away from it. Why?
I’ll bet you’ve run into this situation at some point. You’re intrigued by someone’s post, they invite you to a discovery call and you wound up in an uncomfortable pressure cooker of a sales call.
Why You’re Turned Off By a Discovery Call 
In the sales training world, there is a set practice on organizing the call. The company you’re curious about will ask:
- what are your biggest challenges around this topic?
- what is your greatest goal?
- Would you like to eliminate the challenge and achieve your goal?
And the all important: What would happen if you never solved this problem?
Does this sound familiar? We’ve been taught to grill the potential customer on these questions so that they would feel driven to buying your solution.
How to Set Up a Better Discovery Call
Now that we know why we don’t “bite” on a free discovery call, let me tell you how I do things differently. I’d like you to think about getting onboard with this new strategy for your own business instead of the old sales script we’ve been taught.
When I get on a Discovery Call, I don’t rub my hands together greedily and think about how much money I can extract from this new victim client. Instead, my primary question going in is, “is this someone I can help?”
I know who my ideal client is and who it is not. When you have this confidence around the characteristics of who you’d like to work with, you want to make sure that discovery call is not a waste of time.
What you may not know about a Discovery Call with Clear Path Strategy is that I have no desire or intention of selling to everybody and anybody. That is counterproductive and a recipe for disaster. In 17 years of running a business, I know whether or not I’m your person and whether or not you’re a great fit for me.
Why a Discovery Call Is Like a First Date
I’ll ask you several questions as you’re booking your call. These questions are evaluating whether we may be a good fit. Think about a first date – your primary goal is to discover if this is someone you’d like to talk to again; by the end of your first date, decide if you’d like a second date.
If by the end of the first date you realize a 2nd date would be creepy distasteful, then you end the journey right there. If by the end of a Discovery Call I can tell that you and I are not the best fit to work together, I’ll thank you for a wonderful conversation but I will not be motivated to proceed. In fact, I’ll typically think about what your next step might be and if I know someone else who could help you on your journey.
What Happens When We Have a Great Call
If you are checking all the boxes on my ideal client profile, and you and your business challenges are a great fit for me, I will ask you if I can tell you about how we might work together. And I won’t offer you a fake “anchor” price and tell you the real price can be yours if you say yes in the next 24 hours.
We all know that trick. It’s old. We’re done with that tired old tactic.
Unlike an infomercial, the price won’t change if the clock runs out on “the deal”. Ugh. I’m not running a carnival and I have great respect and admiration for my fellow business owners.
I’ll tell you what the costs are of working with me, because I respect you as a professional and fellow entrepreneur. It’s one of my immutable laws to treat prospects and clients exactly as I wish to be treated.
I hope I’ve clarified a Clear Path Strategy Discovery Call and I hope you’re feeling more relaxed about it. In fact, if we’ve had a discovery call in the past, but your situation has changed (and whose situation hasn’t changed in a pandemic??), I invite you to schedule another Discovery Call. And if you and I haven’t yet been on our first date, let’s do it!