Give it Up: Converting Free Consults Into Paying Clients

We sometimes offer free coaching sessions for particular group members, promotions, etc. If we didn’t convert them to paying clients, we’d lose buckets of time and money by giving away freebies. So its our job to serve them, and convert them, so they can continue to grow their businesses purposefully, efficiently, and in a big way. If you offer complimentary sessions, or trials, for potential clients in hopes of converting them into paid clients, you need to hear this. If you don’t offer them yet, you may just change your mind after this.

Disclaimer here: We are terrible sales people. We couldn’t sell our way out of a tin can. But our conversion rates for our free consults into paid clients is almost 100%. That’s right, since October, when we implemented specific systems to serve our clients, we have converted 100% of our complimentary sessions to ongoing paying (and happy!) clients. Surely, we’ll come to the woman soon that we are not a right fit with. And its bound to happen. But for now, we can tell you the one overarching secret to converting your freebie clients to happy, paying clients.

Bottom line is, if you want to serve your clients to your highest purpose and to their biggest bottom line, you must give them what they ask for. How do you do that?

You ask.
You get to know them.
You get to know what their gifts and talents are so you can help them build on them.
You get to know what their gifts and talents are so you can steer them away from everything else.
You engage with them and understand their life personally, outside of the office- where it is now, AND where they want it to be. Then, and only then, you understand their business- where it is now, AND where they want it to be.

Sounds like a lot to figure out in one free consult session, huh? We’re going to make it easy for you. Step one: Have a standard 1-2 page questionnaire they fill out prior to your consult. This answers the questions that matter: What are your biggest challenges right now? What are your greatest strengths? What would you be doing if you weren’t in the work you are in now? Hint: Asking them to fill this form out serves multiple purposes. 1. You get the critical information up front. 2. You capture their contact information to stay in touch 3. They are far more likely to show up and be vested in your session because they took the time to fill it out and send it to you.

Step Two: During your complimentary session, you deliver the goods. Do your magic. SERVE them! We’ll do a free tele-class soon to teach you all the ins-and-outs of how to do this soon. For now, take what they are asking for and deliver that. Exactly that. No more, no less. No bait n switch, no hype, no upsell. The form and the first 90 seconds of your session should drive exactly what you teach and what you deliver. If you are selling a product, understanding their needs doesn’t change your product. But it does change the outcome they are looking for. Does your product deliver that? Maybe.

Let’s say you sell vacuums. (just go with us). But they told you they wanted more time with their kids and wanted to make more money. That has nothing to do with vacuums! Or does it? As far as we can see, your vacuum rocks. It cleans so well and with such ease that housecleaning time is cut in half. Since they don’t have to buy filters for your vacuum, they save money and time. Time they could be spending with their family, or working to make more money. You get the idea.

If you are a coach, and they are asking for help getting their product launched, spend the time doing that. Give the objective analysis of the product, the profitability of the product, the manufacturing/distribution process, the marketing funnel, the sales funnel, and so on. You can talk about how to leverage the product for future uses in later sessions… but please put first things first. And first things are always what they asked for to begin with. Simple.

Here’s a hint: The first session can be a blab-fest if you don’t set the boundaries and expectations throughout. If the conversation digresses at all, its your job to re-focus quickly back to what they already told you the want. No time to waste. Trust your skills and work your magic…. not your salesman magic. Work your server magic. Work your expert magic. Work your giving magic to the benefit of your new, paying client.

We have much more to share with you, so stay tuned. If you want to get the entire system, including scripts and the exact forms we use, just sign up for our free newsletter and we’ll let you know when the next call is (soon!). There will be no selling- it will be free, and it will be all content with no program to buy. In the meantime, what is working for you?