I’ve talked to a number of clients who tell me they’re frustrated that they’re not booking more discovery calls. They know they can land clients once they’re on the calls, which means booking more discovery calls is the fastest way to reach a $10K month. Yet they’ve spent the past month or two promoting their calls and only getting one a month instead of three or more.

When asked why they’re not booking more calls, my clients will say that it’s because they don’t have a big enough audience or they’re not reaching the right people.

But they’ve overlooked a small but very impactful detail…

They’re not marketing the discovery call.

I can almost hear you asking: but Michelle, why do I have to market a free call?

Free is no longer a reason to take action. People don’t want more calls – they want more solutions. And that, Iza, is a huge opportunity for you to market the outcome of the discovery call vs. the call itself.

Here is the approach I share with my clients (one client used this strategy to book 3 calls in one month with high quality leads, which resulted in her first $10K month)...

To effectively message the value of a discovery call, we have to dig deep into what outcome someone could get from booking a call with you – regardless of whether they sign on as a client. This usually involves clarity around their problem and what steps they need to take to solve it.

Here are some examples: if you’re a marketer like myself then the outcome of your discovery call may be to help the prospect identify one way they can land a new client in 30 days. You might wonder if that’s giving away too much and removing the need to work with you. I disagree. You can tell a potential client the steps to take to land a new client in 30 days, but they’ll get better (and faster) results working with you to implement the steps vs. doing it alone. The right clients will see that and recognize your value, while the wrong ones will try to do it themselves. Don’t worry about them – they were never going to buy from you anyway

Now that you have a better sense of the outcome of the call, you need to address any objections your audience may have. Let’s take the first example above: the outcome of your discovery call is that you can give your prospect the exact steps to land a new client in 30 days. That’s the part you’ll lead with when marketing the call (because it’s the most important and grabs attention), but then you’ll need to acknowledge the objections your audience has. These are typically lack of time, lack of money, and believing they can do it themselves. In this instance you might say something like: These aren’t the steps every marketing guru out there talks about. They are proven steps that allow me to land multiple high-ticket clients every month while only spending an hour a day on my marketing.

This is an interesting approach very few people talk about because we assume that objections only come up when you’re actually on the discovery call. What I’ve found to be true is that most leads have objections to the actual discovery call itself and you must handle those if you want to book more calls in the first place.

After you’ve stated the outcome of the call clearly and addressed any objections, you’ll need to build trust in your credibility. This involves stating results you’ve seen in your business or with other clients. So you might say: These are the same steps my client Sarah used to reach her first $5K month within four weeks of working together while working 15 hours a week and caring for her two-year-old daughter (be sure that the example you provide illustrates the result your ideal client desires most). When you make this type of statement, it shows that you know your stuff and gives your leads confidence that they’re not going to waste 30 minutes or more on a call with someone who can’t solve their problem.

Once you’ve established your authority, you’ll end the post with a clear call-to-action inviting them to book the call with you. This sounds simple, but is often overlooked. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen other coaches and experts promote a discovery call and then make interested prospects have to go to their website to hunt down the link to book the call.

Does marketing the outcome of the discovery call require more effort? Absolutely. But it’s actually a very small amount of effort when you consider what it would mean to book an extra call or two a month with the right lead. If you already have a high close rate on calls (80% or more), this means you’re adding at least one extra client a month from this strategy alone. If your packages are priced at $2K or $3K a month, then you’re adding an extra $24-$36K in revenue each year just by emphasizing the value of booking a discovery call with you.

I’ll let you decide if that’s worth it

PS. This is exactly what I help my clients with in my 6-month 1:1 Mastermind. If you’d like to book more calls with the right leads who are ready to invest, then let’s explore whether the program is a good fit. I’m opening the Mastermind in a few weeks, so this is your chance to get the info before it becomes public.