The Leverage List by Jules Taggart

The Leverage List

The 10 irresistible things successful entrepreneurs say to close more sales during consultation calls

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The Leverage List Nobody knows the power of free consultation calls more than you do. You sell ultra-custom, completely-personalized, done-for-you services and consulting packages, so consultation calls just come with the territory.

Your future clients need to hear your voice and see your face. They need to feel like you understand their challenge and can fix what’s keeping them up at night. The best way to convey all of this is by offering a free consultation call.

But sometimes it can feel like consultation calls take up a lot of time, but don’t turn into sales.

Your time is too valuable for that.

If all of those “free” calls are starting to look kind of expensive, put this Leverage List to work for you and start closing more sales.

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The Leverage List Before the Call Say “no” more often

You know exactly what your best client looks like. But the problem with free consultation calls is that we think we need to take them from everyone. You don’t. Just like the saying “don’t ask questions you don’t already know the answer to”, don’t take meetings with prospects you don’t think you’ll close.

Point everyone else to a blog post or free online resources that can help answer their questions, so you can maximize your time.

Ask questions in advance

Never go into a free consultation call blind. That’s how you end up getting your brain picked for 20 minutes and walk away with nothing to show for it. Instead, ask potential clients to answer a few questions when they sign up to talk with you. The purpose of these questions is to gather information that helps you prepare for the call and personalize the conversation. And if you only ask one question, make sure it’s this one: What are you struggling with right now and how can I help?

Do some recon

Prepare for the call by reviewing their questionnaire and checking out their work. That way you can arrive on the call with a sense of how you can help them and a few questions of your own.

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The Leverage List During the Call Give, give and give some more

Free consultations calls are the consultant’s version of test driving a car. Your clients aren’t going to buy a car they haven’t driven yet -- especially if it’s a big investment! So, let them sit behind the wheel.

Don’t hold back with your expertise or ideas. Give, give and then give some more. When you’re selling your brain, you need to let your client see how your brain works.

Keep the conversation short

How do you give value on a free consultation call without giving away all your best secrets? Easy -keep the conversation short. Fifteen minute calls are more powerful than 60-minute calls. And they often result in more sales because the client has to hire you if they want you to go into more detail about all of your smart ideas. Problem solved.

Offer specific examples

One of the best indicators of whether the prospective client will hire you is whether or not you address their biggest challenge. Sharing a specific idea or solution that makes your client sigh with relief tells them you are the one they need to hire. You make the pain go away. You’re already making their life easier. And this is just the free call! Imagine what you’ll do for them when they actually hire you.

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The Leverage List During the Call, Continued Choose your pronouns wisely

Words are powerful, especially when you’re showing a prospective client how you can help. And there’s one word in particular that has the power to change everything. It almost guarantees a “yes”.

And it’s only two letters long: WE. When you talk about ideas and possibilities for the prospective client, use “we” instead of “you”. For example, instead of “Here are a few ideas you could try” you’d say “Here are a few ideas we could try.”

Using “we” gives them power. It allows them to try on what it would feel like to hire you. And it plants a seed in their mind that you’re already in this together.

Ask for their business

This should be obvious, but it’s a step we skip. A lot. Before you get off the call, ask for their business.

It’s as easy as saying “I know I can help you address [INSERT CHALLENGE] and I’d love to work with you. Does this sound like a good fit for you?” You just offered your time, your ideas and your expertise for free. It’s not against the rules to ask for the business. If you need to follow up with a proposal with more specific ideas and pricing, then do so, but get used to asking for business verbally.

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The Leverage List After the Call Follow up by adding more value

Following up after the call is a must, but sometimes it can feel pushy to do it too soon, right? So you wait a few days (or a week...eek!) and then it feels too late. Try this instead -- within 24 hours of the call, send an email that says thank you and offers one more resource to build on your conversation.

For instance, if you’re a website developer and you talked with a prospective client about some ideas for laying out their blog, you might follow up with a few examples of your work that are related to the conversation. Say something as simple, like: “Hey, thanks for taking time to talk with me today! I loved discussing ideas for how we could layout your new blog and I wanted to pass along a couple of examples of sites I’ve worked on recently so you can get a better idea of what it might look like.”

Now you’ve followed up AND added value. That’s a double-whammy!

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The Leverage List After the Call, Continued Ask for their business (again)

So, what happens when you follow up and a few days go by without hearing from the prospective client? Well, you ask for their business (again). It’s not weird. And it’s not unwelcomed. Clients get busy just like you do. If they’re not making a decision about whether to work with you on their own, then it’s up to you to provide a little encouragement.

The key here is to be direct. If you have to ask for their business again, don’t dance around the issue.

This works: “I haven’t heard from you, so I wanted to follow up about the proposal I sent over. What do you say -- are you ready to get started?” If you let the conversation fade, they might just let you. On the other hand, if you’re direct with follow up, they will know they owe you either a yes or a no (but hopefully a yes, right?!).

That’s it!

Use this Leverage List on your next consultation call and let me know how it goes. I have a feeling you’re going to love the results.

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About Jules Taggart Jules Taggart is a human-centered content strategist, consultant and educator.

She believes intelligent business growth is about creating more meaningful experiences, one client at a time.

Find out more at www.julestaggart.com Click here to connect with Jules on Google+

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