3 stages of successful consultations

3 stages of successful consultations

Are you doing consultation aka discovery, aka enrollment calls but struggling to enroll people in your programs?

Do you wish you could easily enroll people on the spot instead of chasing after them and getting ghosted?

I remember when every call I had seemed to be a dead end, but that all changed when I figured out the 3 stages for a successful consultation that lead to an enrollment almost 100% of the time.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like being a salesperson, but in some ways it’s part of the job as a functional health practitioner.

For a long time, I worked for a big gym chain whose whole business was centered around sales.  At the end of every month, we hustled to reach our numbers. The sales tactics were slimy and it felt downright icky.

Most of us have probably received a cold sales call or heard about or experienced a sales situation similar to the one I just mentioned, and it’s left a bad taste in our mouths about how to approach sales in our own business.

The first step to having a successful consultation with a potential client is to have the right frame of mind before you go into the appointment.

You are not a used car salesperson trying to sell them something they don’t need.

You have a valuable service, level of expertise, and solutions that can truly help people improve their health and feel better about themselves. In turn, they will have a more positive impact on the world.

Money is simply an exchange of energy, love, and your expertise.  You could do your job for free, and most of us healer types probably would if that was realistic, but we all have bills to pay at the end of the day. Ultimately,  bringing money into your business means you can actually help more people.

You deserve to be paid for what you bring to the table and how you can help people.  You are going to change their lives forever.

Prior to the appointment, give yourself a little pep talk with these things in mind.

Once you have your mind right, there are 3 critical stages you should walk through in every consultation conversation to enroll a client easily, and in a way that leaves you both feeling good about it!

In this week’s video and blog, I’ll walk you through the 3 stages of a successful consultation so you can easily enroll clients and help more people.

Here’s the thing…health is one of, if not the most, vulnerable topics for someone to engage in, especially when they have been dismissed in the past like so many of our clients have been in the functional health industry.

Rightfully so, they are skeptical when they show up to a call with us because of how they’ve been let down or led astray by the traditional medical system. Therefore, overcoming their objections and building trust depends on your ability to conduct a quality consultation conversation successfully.

The key to enrolling a client without feeling “salesy” is to keep it personable and authentic.  If you show up as yourself and relate to them in a personal way, any walls they have up will immediately come down, leaving an open door for you to really communicate the value in what you have to offer them.

You can accomplish this by moving through these 3 stages during the call…

Stage 1: Building Rapport While Forming an Impression (10-15 min.)
This is where you initially create a personal connection, identify their main health complaints and get a high-level overview of their health history.

You would start the call by saying something like this…

“I’m so glad you took the time to schedule a consultation with me today.  I read what you submitted in your questionnaire, and I can’t wait to dive into more details to see how I might be able to help.”

“To make the most of your valuable time today, I want to spend the next 45-minutes getting to know you better so I can really understand what’s going on with your health and what you want in regards to your health. At the end, I’ll share some of my insights about what might help you and we can discuss if we’re a right fit to work together, and what that might look like.  How does that sound?”

Stage 2: Identifying Intrinsic Motivation and Desires (10-15 min.)
This is where you want to explore what they really want to be experiencing instead of healthwise, and why this is so important to them.  You’ll want to dig deep and uncover their intrinsic motivation.

When you identify an emotional connection cord, you open up the doors to build REAL value in the solutions you have to offer.

To transition to this stage you would say something like this…

“Let’s talk about what it is that you want for your health now.  If I had a magic wand and could give you anything you wanted in the next 30, 60, or 90 days, what would that be exactly?”

This is where you should dig deeper by asking a few follow-up questions repeatedly until you get to an emotional state usually related to having more happiness, joy, or freedom in life…

•     “What would having XYZ do for you?”
•     “What is important about that for you?”
•     “And what would having that do for you?”
•     “And what is important about that for you?”

Stage 3: Mirroring and Making an Irresistible Offer (10-15 min.)
Now that you’ve made them feel seen and heard, it’s time to tie it all together by mirroring what they said back to them while connecting the dots so they can see the big picture and the solutions you have to their problem.

This is also where you want to talk in terms of transformation (not logistics) when you explain how you work with people.

All along the way, get as many affirmations or yes statements from them as possible by saying things like…

“Does that make sense to you”
“Do you see how that all comes together”
“Would you like to know more about how I work with clients”

Once you’ve described how you work with clients and your package(s), ask them to set aside any hesitations or limitations, and to let you know which package resonated with them the most.

This is a no-obligation way for them to tell you what they are really interested in, and it comfortably opens the conversation about the next steps with enrollment.

I’ve used these exact 3 stages for over 8 years to easily enroll clients and I know they will work for you too!

P.S. Want the exact consultation script I use?  Click here to get my Consultation Script & Tips!