If you’ve ever experienced people booking in for your sales or discovery calls and then ghosting you, or you’ve had people sign up who have quite clearly not been a good fit for your coaching package – you may be feeling a bit frustrated with your sales call process and even feeling a bit resentful that your time is being wasted.

The good news is that you can change things up in your business so that your time spent on sales calls is much more productive and so that you naturally are only attracting people who will be a good fit for your coaching program.

That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s blog post.

Listen to this episode on The Wholehearted Business Show Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts / Listen on Spotify

The role of sales calls in your coaching business

Whether they’re a sales call, connection call, discovery call etc whatever you decide to name them, it’s important to understand the differences between the various different types of one off calls you might offer in your coaching business.

A sales call should be for people who are a good fit for your coaching package, have the means to invest in it and are 90% ready to jump in. A sales call should be about closing the deal. A sales call should be attracting people who are already keen to work with you.

A value added call that’s free is a little different, this may actually involve more selling than a typical sales call because this is where you get to attract people to have a conversation with you where you help them and then sell. They may not have previously considered your coaching package and therefore will not have signed up for your discovery call, but once you’re able to connect with them you can sell to them further

A paid call can work in a number of different ways but can act a little like a value added call above. The difference is that sometimes charging for these calls increases sign ups because people know they will receive value when they have to pay for it.

Once you understand the difference between these different types of calls, and where they can potentially sit in your coaching business then you can begin to look at how you get less time wasters and more clients.

Review your ideal client / right fit person

Sometimes if you’re struggling with getting a lot of sales calls bookings but not having them convert means there’s a wider issue to do with a mismatch between your offer and the people you’re attracting.

Look at your marketing, if you’re running paid ads, do you need to experiment with showing your ads to a different audience? Does your messaging need to be tweaked? Often just adding something into your messaging that ‘switches on’ better fit people can be enough to attract more suitable clients.

Have your prices on your site

One very simple way to reduce your time doing sales calls that don’t convert is by having your price available on your website.

There are pros and cons to this, but if you are in the position of having a lot of sales calls and not having them convert, then making sure you clearly communicate your price before they book the call means that usually, only people who feel that they would invest in that level will book in.

Have people complete a pre-call form or make an application

A very simple way to pre qualify people booking sales calls is to have them complete a form before they book. The form itself can either put off the wrong fit people, and it gives you the opportunity to review the form and if they don’t sound like a good fit, you can refer them elsewhere.

For example, having questions about how much they can invest, asking if they identify with a key aspect of your work, for example ‘are you someone who identifies as X’, exploring how committed someone is to creating change in their life and so on can help ensure you’re only having calls with people who are in the right place to access your coaching.

Have a two step call process

Another strategy you can use is to have a two call process – the first call that people can book is a very short call where you perhaps help them in a very small specific way, and then if they seem like a good fit for your offer, you invite them to a longer sales call.

Charge for your sales calls

Again, another strategy is to charge for your sales calls. Some coaches just don’t do free calls at all, and this can work well for them. The idea is that you have them book in for a paid call (often priced at something like £99 / $97 etc) and then you give them something of value, perhaps coaching them around a specific area and then go into the sales for your program.

If they do sign up, they get the cost of that call off the price of the program. If they don’t sign up, then at least you’ve received something for your time.

The theory with this is that if someone is willing to invest a smaller amount in a call like this, they are perhaps more likely to invest in something bigger too.

This is a very similar approach to what I teach in Priceless Power Hours but it is a little different because the idea is that you have no free call option at all, and that paid call is always the first step.

Ultimately it’s about having a combination of ensuring that you’re clear on who your right fit people are for your offers, you’re attracting them via your marketing and putting some sensible guard rails around your processes to protect your time.

Let me know how you get on with some of the tips in this post!

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