A successful Discovery Call and client enrollment strategy…
If you’re struggling with engagement on social media, booking Discovery Calls (aka consultations), or enrolling potential clients during calls, then it’s time to review your client dating game.
This is exactly what was happening to a fellow Functional Health Practitioner who had a business strategy session with me the other day…
…Her monthly discovery call booking numbers were down.
…When she got someone on a call, they seemed super interested in working with her but wouldn’t commit on the spot.
…And after the call, most of these potential clients were ghosting her.
Is this happening to you, or are you afraid it’s going to?
If so, ask yourself this question…Would you sleep with or marry someone you barely know?
Probably not, right?! (unless it was love or lust at first sight LOL!)
Marketing is just like dating – courting potential clients builds your “know, like, and trust factor” leading to the next stages of commitment involving more time and financial investment.
Because as marketing research shows…
- It takes 20-500+ touchpoints for someone to become a customer (aka client).
- 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messages.
- 61% of people not reading your emails stay subscribed because they expect to do business with you in the future
With this recent fellow Functional Practitioner’s situation, when we looked closer into the issues she was encountering, we uncovered 3 BIG marketing mistakes that were leading to these less-than-ideal scenarios.
What we found was:
- Her social media lacked a clear personal marketing message to build her email list.
- She wasn’t consistently courting potential clients once they landed on her email list.
- The Discovery Call conversation was mostly clinical and transactional instead of transformational.
After the strategy session, this Practitioner had clear goals that would optimize these 3 areas of her business to connect with potential clients on a more personal level and accumulate the high-quality touch points needed to boost her Discovery Call bookings and enrollment rate.
A successful Discovery Call and client enrollment strategy actually starts long before you ever speak to a potential client and ultimately depends on your ability to create rapport and trust.
It’s all about building a relationship, which is why we want to think about marketing like dating!
In this week’s video and blog, I’m going to teach you how to court potential clients to build your know, like, and trust factor so you can increase Discovery Call bookings and enrollments.
I’ve been happily married and out of the dating game since 2013, but I do remember what it was like, and I’ve got plenty of single friends who still share their dating app trials and tribulations with me over a glass of wine from time to time.
If you think about it, scrolling a dating app like Tinder is similar to scrolling Instagram or Facebook – there’s your potential client scrolling their social media feed looking for the perfect post, story, video, or Reel that matches their needs – just like looking for a romantic partner!
Once they land on your business “Tinder” profile (aka your Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.), they scope you out to see what you’re all about. They might even leave a comment, give your post a like, or send you a message – similar to how someone might engage on a dating app!
And now the flirting begins.
You share something, they engage back. Sometimes they share something, and you engage back. In the old-school dating days, this is like flashing a smile or a wave to your crush as you pass each other in the hallway.
After a few days, weeks, or months of flirting, once enough touch points have been accumulated, one of you makes a move to engage deeper, and the next thing you know, you’re on a first date.
From a marketing perspective, this level of trust is equivalent to potential client feeling comfortable enough to hand over their personal email.
And just like asking someone out on a first date, getting a yes depends on the delivery of the ask.
In marketing, your first date offer would be what’s called a lead magnet, opt-in, or free gift. This first date encounter should be something that sounds enticing and valuable in exchange for their email to increase the level of trust with a potential client.
The #1 goal of any marketing strategy should be to build an email list. Your email list is the only marketing tool you own, and it’s the most effective way to continue nurturing potential clients into actual clients.
Engaging with potential clients consistently on your email list is how you can continue to build rapport and trust on a more intimate level, which leads to more Discovery Calls, client enrollments, and even referrals.
If we relate email list nurturing back to dating, consistent email contact is the courting stage – you’re now going on multiple consecutive dates over time, that potential client is getting to know you, and you’re REALLY building a relationship with them, and of course trust.
Think about what comes next in successful dating scenarios…
Eventually, enough trust and intimacy leads to sleeping together and even marriage.
When someone books a Discovery Call, it means they trust you enough to take their clothes off and be vulnerable in conversation.
When they enroll in a program, it means they trust you enough to make a bigger commitment with their time and money, just like marriage.
To give you some real-life business insights on this – my marketing reports, on average, someone is on my email list for 6 months before they become a client. Meaning we date for a while before they are ready to commit at the next level.
Clients often find me by referral, on social media or a podcast, land on my email list and take in everything I share to determine if I am the right match to solve their health issues.
One of the key components to booking Discovery Calls with ideal clients is using what I call your Niche Pitch to call them into action.
For example, at the end of my emails, I’ll say something like…
“If you’re a busy, health-minded professional who wants to get your hands on the right lab tests and resources so you can get back to feeling like yourself again, click here to book a complimentary Ideal Health & Weight Discovery Call.”
OR
“If you’re a busy, health-minded professional who wants to figure out what foods are right for your body so you can instantly have more energy, click here to book a complimentary Ideal Health & Weight Discovery Call.”
Once you get them on a call, the final step in this strategy is the program enrollment offer, aka marriage proposal.
When you propose marriage, the delivery of the message matters. It needs to sound transformative, authentic and personal (I’ll share more details about this in a future blog)
For now, your action steps to create a successful client courtship are:
- Consistently create touch points with your marketing – flirt your butt off with attention-grabbing content.
- Offer a valuable lead magnet – an attractive first-date proposal that piques their interest.
- Engage with your email list – take them on dates to accumulate more touch points so they can get to know and trust you.
- Invite them to book a call – when there’s enough trust, they will!
With this dating perspective in mind, what action step can you start optimizing TODAY to improve your client dating game?
Drop a comment to let me know below.