I’ve stopped doing discovery calls for my career coaching business
I’ve been through quite a few “make money online” and “how to be a coach” programs.
Discovery calls are an everyday staple in this industry, and most experts swear by them.
They’re a way to build rapport, emphasize the pain points, and paint a picture of what things can be like for prospects.
And for high ticket programs ($2000+ USD), they can improve conversion rates.
But after doing discovery calls for the past couple of years, I’ve decided to eliminate them from my process
Here’s why:
1) Diminishing returns.
I was getting higher close rates when I was extending offers in person or over the phone than I currently do now when offering through DMs or my email list.
But what I’ve also noticed is that I was spending TOO much time doing calls.
Even when I dropped it to 15 minutes, I was still spending too many hours each week on these calls.
My close rate has significantly dropped since I stopped doing calls, for sure.
But I’ve also reduced my overall process time.
2) My ideal clients don’t need it.
Sounds crazy, but I’ve found closing over DM or email has worked well for me.
They typically already know they want to work with me for one reason or another.
Maybe they’ve been following with me for a while.
Maybe I was a referral.
Maybe they already purchased my entry point offer.
For whatever reason, many prospects completely ignored my “Book Now” button on Instagram and Linkedin profiles and went directly for a DM.
In some cases, I would try to get them on the phone, and they would flake that way.
So I’ve opted to close over DM and email.
I respond with one of my templates that mostly reads like a sales page, and provide the prospect a link to purchase.
(Either a PayPal link or calendar link. Acuity lets you charge for appointments, so I’ve been using this for my done-with-you resume audits.)
3) It filters out the tire kickers.
I’ve repeatedly been finding over, and over that, I get quite a few prospects who have never done anything with career coaching before.
This is a red flag, in my opinion (although it’s also a sign I need to work on my marketing), because a prospect who has never done coaching probably thinks $2000 is a lot of money for a coaching program.
Even if it gives a % raise every year, that’s a massive ROI, a lot of job seekers don’t see it that way.
Mind you, I’m not a sales professional by any means, and even after going through quite a bit of training, still, I don’t particularly appreciate trying to overcome objections from someone who isn’t sure.
I know my work is excellent. Today, a client sent me a DM saying he’s been getting interviews from the work I did recently auditing his profile.
My ideal client knows this. They’re experts. They’ve invested in themselves.
They’ve done the hard work to be a high performer. They read I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, etc.
They don’t need convincing. They have a few questions that can be answered over email or chat. Then they’re good to go :)
I’m curious — how do you feel about discovery calls?
