December 5, 2025 • 29 mins
We share the three simple tweaks that doubled our close rate while bringing in better-fit clients for therapy practices. We show how to filter for readiness, ask for clear commitments, and keep sales calls simple, focused, and pressure-free.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Sales calls can be kind of intimidating and
honestly frustrating at times,especially if sales doesn't come
naturally to you.
Maybe you are doing this toserve people, help people, and
you didn't realize you would bespending a lot of your time on
consultation calls trying toturn leads into clients.
Well, that's something that Istruggled with and had to become
(00:21):
a student of was how to do salescalls because I didn't want to
be slimy, I didn't want to besalesy.
And so over the years, we'vebeen constantly just looking at
how we can refine this process.
And I'm going to guide youthrough three tweaks that we've
made in the last year or twothat have doubled our close rate
and really, really improved thequality of clients that we were
(00:41):
actually bringing in.
My name is Craig, and I'm theowner of DAC Financial Coaching.
Our team is on a mission to makeyour therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money, and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
(01:07):
I remember a little over a yearago talking to one of my coaches
about our close rate on oursales calls, and they had kind
of taken a dip.
So for a while, I felt like thatwas a strength of ours.
We had refined our consultationprocess, and it felt like we our
close rate was really good andwe were able to convert the
right people into clients.
And then all of a sudden, itjust felt like it started to
(01:28):
taper off and slowly decrease.
And I wasn't really sure whatthe problem was or where it
lies.
And something I really learnedin all of this is that we
constantly have to be adjustingand tweaking our process.
It's important to keep a pulseon our numbers.
How are we doing?
Because what we did last year orthe year before may not work
this year.
(01:48):
So many factors can come intoplay.
The economy, where people, wheretheir mind is, what their
perception is.
Maybe they've been burned in thepast, or you know, the uprising
of certain industries, like forexample, ours with COVID,
coaching became such a big thingfor business owners that a lot
of them got burned, and thatmade a lot of them kind of gun
shy when it came to hiring yetanother coach.
(02:09):
If the last one or two didn'twork, what's going to be
different this time?
And so there's so many unseenfactors that we can point to.
And I'm a big believer in let'snot use those as excuses and
just kind of say, well, it's outof our control.
Let's take that and say, okay,what do we need to maybe tweak,
adjust about our process so thatwe are closing more that we're
(02:30):
feeling better about ourselvesbecause it can take a mental
toll.
It did for me when I was sittingdown looking at our closing
numbers with our my coach thisuh little again a little over a
year ago.
We were looking at our closerate, and I was frustrated, I
was exhausted.
Like, we are getting moreconsultations than we've ever
had before, and I feel likewe're closing less clients.
And it was, I was beating myselfup.
(02:52):
I was feeling like I wasfailing.
And what we did was we took alook at a few different things
that really made a hugedifference.
Now I'm gonna guide you throughthree things that have been a
huge difference maker in oursales process.
I don't recommend overhaulingeverything at once.
What I believe in is doingtweaks, change one thing and see
(03:13):
how it works.
And the reason is if we go andchange everything, then we one
may not be able to point to whatwas the difference maker, or we
may realize it's worse now, andwe may not realize what part of
that affected it.
So I say go in and find onepiece that you want to tweak,
you want to adjust, try that fora month or two, and then go and
(03:33):
tweak something else.
If you feel like, okay, here'swhere the new problem might be
in this area.
So a lot of different things canpoint to this, and you know, we
have an episode on what data youshould be tracking that's gonna
help kind of drive where andwhat you should be fixing first.
So I recommend listening to thatepisode.
We are big believers in trackinghow many leads are coming in,
(03:54):
how many consultations arecoming from those leads, how
many of those consultations areconverting into clients, how
long are those clients staying?
All of those are important toknow because they're gonna
pinpoint where is our problem.
So for us, and what's gonnadrive us into this first tweak
that we made, our problem wasnot that the intake, we weren't
hurting to get people onconsultation calls, we were
(04:17):
struggling to convert thosethose people.
And so that takes us to thatfirst tweak, which was we need
to better filter our intake aswe went and looked at the data.
Because again, I'm going, okay,I need to change our sales
pitch, I need to change how thisand that about the sales call.
And what we determined to tryand tweak first was what's the
client experience like?
What's that lead experience likebefore they get on a call with
(04:40):
you?
And so there's a few things thatI discovered.
One, we were not educating themon what we do, who we help, how
we can help them.
People were getting on calls,uh, kind of just like tire
kickers in a sense.
Like they had no real concept ofwhat we do and what we were
gonna do to help them.
And so the call really was like,Oh, it's a free call, I'll see
what you're about, I'll see if Ican get some help out of this.
(05:02):
A lot of our messaging was booka free coaching call, like get
it, get some help.
We're gonna help you on thiscall.
And so people were showing upthinking, okay, it's a free 30
minutes.
In fact, I even had a lot ofpeople tell me, you know, I you
it's a free call, and you saidyou could help, so I figure, why
not take advantage of that?
No intention of buying, which isagain, it's fine.
That's just more of ourmessaging was not coming across
(05:24):
that this call, yes, it'sdesigned to provide hope and
clarity for you, but also it'sdesigned to teach you how we can
help.
Because the truth is we're notgonna be able to make an impact
or help you create lastingchange on a 20 or 30 minute
phone call.
And I needed to change how wewere messaging that, how we were
(05:44):
sharing that in the world sothat when people showed up on
the call, they knew we weregonna make it a warm, inviting
call and we're gonna get to knowthem and maybe answer some
questions or help provide someclarity.
But also, really, the point isso we can see what are you what
are you struggling with, and isthat something that we can help
with?
And if so, how can we help youwith it in ongoing coaching?
(06:07):
That's really the point of thosesales calls.
You you'll discover that again,we want to serve people, we want
to help people.
That's why we create freecontent.
It's that's how we can helppeople.
Sales calls really areconsultations are designed for
sales, and so we need to makesure people who are getting on
those calls are at least open toinvesting in coaching and
they're ready to invest incoaching.
(06:27):
So educating them was huge.
And now a lot of that was justsimply changing our messaging.
We everywhere now it says, youknow, schedule to learn how our
coaching can help you, andthat's a big shift from schedule
a free call to get some help,and and people are not showing
up thinking they're just gettinga free 30-minute coaching
session.
(06:48):
The other thing is in our intakeform, we are trying to find the
right fit.
And sometimes for us, that mightmean a business that is further
along in their journey.
We did a webinar for anothercompany last year, and the
webinar was really successful.
We ended up booking, I think,like 40 consultations, 35 to 40
(07:11):
consultations within a four tosix week time frame.
I mean, we were slammed withconsultations, and we were
struggling to close thoseconsultations.
When we went back and looked atthe data, like I was saying with
my coach, we started looking atthe size of these businesses.
And I would say a majority ofthem were really, really small,
meaning they were brand new,they were not making a lot of
(07:34):
money.
And so even investing in ourcoaching was gonna be a stretch.
Now, we work with businesses ofall sizes.
I mean, we've worked withbusinesses that haven't even
launched yet and they haven'tmade revenue yet.
But the thing is, those peoplecome in and they say, you know
what, I'm going to make aninvestment in myself and in this
business, and they're willing toinvest the finances and the time
(07:55):
to get the help they need.
Some businesses, if they'restruggling and they're making,
let's say, less than$50,000 or$100,000 a year, doesn't mean
they can't afford it.
It's just if we are meeting with10 businesses under$100,000,
most likely we'll be lucky toget one of those as a as a
client that's going to be a goodfit.
We never want our services to bea financial strain on a company.
(08:17):
So if somebody's coming to us,their money's tight, they're not
making a lot of revenue, they'renot paying themselves, and then
we're asking them to add thisinvestment on top of it.
We don't want that to createmore stress.
And so what we were finding wasa lot of those consultations,
they were just not financiallyable to invest in coaching.
Once again, there's always theone who is the exception to the
(08:38):
rule that maybe has some cashand savings that they are
willing to go and invest andsay, you know, I'm going to
commit six months to turningthis whole thing around, and we
can help them for sure.
It's just that was not the norm.
Most of the time it was like, Iwould love to do this, but
unfortunately, it's just I can'tmake the finances work.
So we had to make some tweaks.
One of those was on our intakeform.
(08:58):
Now it says it's just a checkboxacknowledging that our pricing
is best fit for businessesmaking over a hundred thousand
dollars.
That doesn't mean we won't workwith businesses under.
We've had businesses email usand say, you know, I'm I'm
making about 70,000 right now,is but I get that it's an
investment.
I would still love to get somehelp.
(09:18):
Perfect.
Schedule a call.
Yeah, we just want you to beaware that that's where our
pricing is.
So that way you can kind of inyour head acknowledge that okay,
it's going to be a financialstretch for me if I get on this
call.
And so what ends up happening ispeople self-opt out.
So in that case, they are thendirected towards our free
content, our free resources.
(09:38):
If somebody reaches out andsays, Hey, I would love to
remeet with you, but we're notat 100,000 yet, and I don't
think I can afford whatever theinvestment would be.
We will then send them as muchfree stuff as we can to get them
some support and some help.
We might even then connect themwith a coach that we know works
with smaller businesses thatmight be more in their price
range.
So that is really important.
(10:00):
When we started filtering thatintake process, that skyrocketed
our close rate.
You know, as I look this year,so we implemented that towards
the end of last year.
This year, our close rate hasdoubled from where it was this
time last year.
And I look at all thebusinesses, then we we keep a
track, we track all theconsultations we've had, the
sizes of those businesses, theindustries, what they're looking
(10:23):
for.
When we look at the revenuesize, they are more a fit for
what our pricing model is, andtherefore they're just a better
fit for our coaching services.
The next tweak that we made waswhen we got onto these calls,
and this started probably beforewe made the tweaks to our intake
form.
(10:44):
We were so caught up in I needto get the sale, and even my
team members on theirconsultation calls were feeling
this pressure on themselves toget the sale.
I need to get a sale on thiscall.
I mean, the name of the call isa sales call, so it makes sense
that that seems to be the endgoal.
We need to get this sale.
What we changed was our goal isto get a commitment of some
(11:07):
kind, not a sale.
That can be a commitment to us,that can be a commitment to
themselves to make a change.
That is our goal.
So if we can get off of thiscall and they have committed to
something, and I'll walk youthrough some of the examples of
what we're looking for, thenthat's a win.
And that takes a lot of thepressure off of us.
And here's the thing if you areputting pressure on yourself to
(11:27):
make a sale, desperation ekesout, and you're gonna hurt your
chances of getting that sale.
It's just the psychology ofsales right there.
They're gonna smell it, they'regonna tell that you are feeling
desperate, like I need thissale, or that you're feeling
unconfident with yourself.
We change it too.
We're just looking for acommitment.
One of those commitments can bea sale.
If we feel like this call isgoing really well, we can help
(11:50):
them and they they say, Let's doit, I'm ready.
We're gonna help them takeaction.
That's our job as coaches is tohelp our clients take action,
make a commitment.
And so sometimes we will takethe sale on the call.
It doesn't always happen thatway.
One of our other commitmentsthat we're looking for is a
follow-up call.
So if we tell them the price, wetell them what our uh rate is
(12:14):
for their business specifically,and then they say we need to
(13:07):
think about it, or I want tosleep on it, I don't want to
invest in anything until I'vehad a chance to talk to my
spouse about it, whatever theirreasoning is that they may not
be ready to sign up on the call.
And again, a majority of peopleare not wanting to sign up on
the call.
And as a coach, if if you areour client and you were looking
at making an investment insomething, and you came to us
(13:28):
and said, Hey, I was thinkingabout investing in this program
over here.
I would probably recommend forsure.
Here's what it's gonna look likefor your finances.
Also, maybe sleep on it, give ita day or two uh to think on it
and make sure that it'ssomething you want to do.
So that's important to us.
Now, again, we will take saleson the call because we know that
somebody has been interviewingcoaches already.
They've thought about this,they've read the book Profit
(13:50):
First, tried it on their own foryears.
They're like, I don't want towait another day to get the
support I need.
And so, of course, we're notgonna force people to wait.
Um, but we want something.
So if they're not ready to signup, we ask for a follow-up call
and we get a 10-minute,15-minute call in the calendar.
We tell them when this happens.
So maybe we're scheduling it forthree days from now.
(14:10):
We're gonna say, we're gonnalet's schedule a follow-up call.
You can come with any questionsyou have on that call.
We'll come ready to get yousigned up.
If you decide before then youwant to sign up, great, go ahead
and sign up.
We're gonna send you a proposal,you can sign up, and then we'll
just turn that into your launchcall, meaning we're gonna still
keep that call, but we're gonnajust use it to launch you into
your program.
Or if you decide this is not itfor me, I don't want to move
(14:34):
forward, then you can cancel thecall before it happens.
So it's this idea of we're gonnahave a follow-up call, we're
gonna commit to that, and thenwe're gonna know, we're gonna
set the table for we're gonnashow up on that call pretty much
ready to move forward.
So we want to make sure that ifwe're getting on another call
with them, they have they havethe price, they have all the
information they're gonna need,that they come ready to make a
(14:57):
decision.
And of course, they can come onthe call, ask more questions,
and then decide it's not a goodfit.
That is completely fine.
But we want to set theexpectation that we're gonna
make a decision by this call.
And that's because we arebelievers, the worst place you
can be is kind of stuck in thatin-between, stuck in that world
of maybe is what I call it.
It's I'm not sure if I want todo it, but I'm not not gonna do
(15:21):
it.
That means you're just sitting,you're you're you're stagnant,
you're standing still.
If you decide you don't want towork with us, that means great.
Hopefully, you're going to takethat decision and run out and
either find someone else who isa better fit for you.
You're gonna take that decisionand you're gonna run out and try
to implement something on yourown.
You're going to take action onchange.
Or you decide to work with us,that is action towards change.
(15:43):
What we don't want is you justsitting here two, three months
down the road, and you're justlike, I want to work with them,
but I'm nervous about theinvestment.
And so you haven't doneanything, and you're just
sitting in that same placespinning your wheels.
We want to inspire action.
So that's why we ask for acommitment of some kind.
Now, if they don't want to geton a follow-up call, then the
commitment we're looking for iswe're gonna follow up with you
(16:07):
via email, then.
And all we ask is, you know,we'll follow up tomorrow.
All we ask is that you respondwith a yes or a no.
If it's a no, you won't hurt ourfeelings.
So it's okay if it's not theright fit for you, but we don't
want you to get stuck in thatworld of maybe, stuck in that
in-between.
So please, and it's kind of oursubtle way of saying, please
don't ghost us.
(16:28):
That to me, that's that's theworst, is we don't want to be
chasing you for months andmonths without responses.
I again, you're not gonna hurtour feelings if you say we're
not interested.
That's completely understood.
I've told people I'm notinterested in their services,
there's nothing personal aboutit.
Uh, so please tell us no if it'snot the right fit, but also if
you decide it is the right fit,let's jump on it.
(16:50):
Let's not kick that can down theroad, prolong the spot you're
in.
So, for you on your sales calls,as you're talking to uh
potential clients, it's reallylooking at what kind of
commitment are you looking for?
Is it let's schedule that thatwhat evaluation call, whatever
your process is, let's get youscheduled with with this
(17:13):
therapist so you can meet themand and get to know at least do
one or two sessions.
Let's get that first sessionbooked.
That might be your maincommitment that you're looking
for.
If they want to think about itor they say, you know, I have
two more calls with othertherapists, then you can always
try and schedule that follow-upcall.
You can share the same thing Isaid.
It's not pressuring, it's justthe we don't want you to get
(17:35):
stuck.
From our experience, we know alot of people will spend months
interviewing and then just nevermaking a decision.
So I highly encourage you ifit's if they're not gonna be
working with you directly, Ihighly encourage you to schedule
that first call with thisperson, or by this time next
week, let's make a decision.
Let us know yes or no, you'renot gonna hurt our feelings.
So, exactly what we just talkedabout driving them toward an
(17:58):
answer.
All right, so that was a hugeshift in our process that has
worked really well.
And you know, that one has gotless tangible results in this,
other than we know that ouragain, our close rate has
doubled, and our our coachesfeel confident going into these
calls, knowing there's nopressure on me from Craig or
(18:18):
anybody to get this sale.
It's just I'm here to serve, I'mhere to listen, and then I'm
here to get a commitment fromthem on some kind, even if it's
a commitment to themselves.
Because going back to that, ifthe answer is no, if they tell
us on the call, this is great, Ican't justify the expense right
now, then it's awesome.
Here's what I ask you thecommitment I want from you is to
take action on something, andthen we can give them some some
(18:40):
steps.
Go and open your bank accounts,go and uh figure out what
percentage you need to besetting aside for opex and and
and owners pay.
And then the other commitment wehad it might ask, this is
another one that I forgot tomention, is if the answer is no,
I want you to set a date, maybe30 to 60 days from now.
And if things are not differentby then, set the commitment that
(19:01):
you are going to call.
You're gonna you're gonna comeback to us and you're gonna sign
up because if things have notchanged from then, you're now
losing money and you've now lostmore than you probably would
have invested in our program.
And of course, we're gonna getyou an ROI.
But point being, the time 30, 60days from now, you're losing
money if you are not making achange.
(19:22):
So, same thing.
If they say no, it's not a goodfit, set that that line of you
know, 30 days from now, I'mgonna reach out.
If you're in the same place,let's schedule that first that
first session.
All right, the third thing thatwe did was keeping it simple.
Uh, so if you've been listeningto me for any amount of time,
you know I can get kind ofchatty, a little bit wordy.
(19:42):
Uh, so our job on these calls isto keep it simple, meaning we're
not gonna try and oversell.
It's super easy to get boggeddown into the weeds of here's
everything we do, here's how wedo it, here's all the problems
we solve.
And it comes from this innateidea of we need to showcase that
we can help anybody andeverybody, that we're super
(20:03):
knowledgeable, that we can wecan tackle any problem that
comes our way.
That's how I approached thingsfor a long time.
It was talking about things thatwere not even important to uh
the prospect.
And I've I remember there was atime, probably more than one
time, but it ones comingspecifically to mind, is I am
trying to sell them on thesethings that we can help with.
(20:24):
And they responded with, yeah,we honestly don't even really
need help with that.
And what that means is I wasn'tlistening, I wasn't listening to
them.
So, really, that's what we'retrying to do is not only keep it
simple, but listen to their keypain points.
And that's all we're gonna speakto.
Their key pain points are whythey booked this call.
And going back to our intakeprocess, we're asking this in
(20:45):
advance what are the two, threethings that you want to?
Change about your businessfinances right now.
We're gonna look at those beforethe call, and then that's what
we're gonna speak to.
And we're gonna ask them whatelse is going on.
Maybe new things have popped upthat is on top of mind that is
maybe more pressing than whenthey filled out the form.
So we're gonna listen to that.
And then when it's our turn totalk about how we can help,
(21:08):
we're gonna speak to those painpoints.
This does two things.
One, we're not gonna overwhelmthem and try and sell on things
that they're not interested in.
Two, it's gonna be reallycatered to them.
It's here's why you're here.
Don't worry, we've got you.
We eat this stuff for breakfast.
This is what we do every singleday.
We can help you solve thisproblem.
(21:29):
If they came to us saying, Iwant to pay myself more, that's
what we do.
We specialize in helping you.
We we believe you should be paidmore.
So that's the system we're gonnahelp you set up, is gonna make
sure that you are paid what youneed, that you're paid fairly,
that you're paid what youdeserve on a regular, consistent
basis.
If they're stressed about debt,we're gonna help you create a
game plan to get rid of debtsystematically so that way you
(21:53):
can free up your cash flow.
So do you see?
Are we speaking to their painpoints?
It's also really tempting for usto, and I did this for the in
the first few years of mybusiness, was to get into the
weeds of here's how we're gonnado it.
We're gonna do this spreadsheetand we're gonna guide you
through this.
And I would even sometimes sharemy screen and say, here's the
your hub that you're gonna have,and here's this process, and
(22:15):
here's all the different thingswe're gonna do, and you're gonna
get access to this and this andthis.
Again, I'm water hosing themwith information when all they
really care about is here's whatI'm struggling with.
Can you help me?
There will be plenty of timewhen we start working together
for them to learn all thedifferent ways we help and we
can help.
We're gonna get them in the doorby speaking to their key pain
(22:36):
points.
And then as we start workingwith them, we're gonna discover
maybe there's other areas ofneed that we can step in and
serve.
And so your prospects, when theycome to you, here is the thing I
am struggling with.
Can you help me?
If it's mental health, here arethe things, speak directly
toward those things of yes, wewe work with people like that
(22:56):
all the time, or we specializein that.
If it's physical therapy, it'snot speaking to here's all the
different pieces of equipment wehave, odds are they don't care.
It's awesome.
Yep, we can absolutely helprehabilitate you from where you
are, the get help you get rid ofthat pain or help at least ease
the pain, help uh whatever it isthrough different exercises,
different modalities.
(23:16):
So not getting into the weeds ofit.
That's really, really important.
And then lastly, for keeping itsimple, is when we when we tell
a price, when we give our quote,when we share how much it's
gonna cost, sometimes we getuncomfortable and we forget to
leave space.
We tend to almost uh we almostinput objections in our own head
(23:43):
and we start trying to to solvethose objections or to answer
those objections when theprospect has not even presented
an objection to the price.
So keeping it simple is stayingquiet.
This is something I implementedprobably five years ago, and
it's something I teach my team,it's something I teach our
(24:04):
clients, it's something I stillpractice myself to this day.
If you end up booking aconsultation and we get on a
call, look for this because I'mI'm gonna do it.
And it's when I share what theinvestment is to work with us, I
stay silent and I wait for theprospect, the person on the call
to be the first one to speak.
Here's why.
(24:25):
Again, sometimes we get onthere, maybe we're nervous, and
I might share the investment.
And in my head, I'm thinking,oh, they're probably gonna think
this is too expensive, they'restruggling with their finances.
So immediately I'm like, I knowthat's you know, here's how much
it is, and I know that's astretch, I know that that might
feel tight, even though you'restruggling with your finances.
Uh, but here's why it's it'sgonna be okay, or here's why we
can deliver an ROI.
(24:45):
I've given them zero time toeven think of is this something
I want to do?
Is this worth it to me?
Is this too much for me?
If it is, then maybe they'llcome back and say that.
So, what I do is it is gonna beX dollars per month for six
months, or X dollars up frontfor six months.
(25:05):
And then I'm silent, and I justwait for them to answer.
It's done wonders.
I think we, as the personleading the call, are scared of
awkward silences when in realityon their end, their brain is
working.
It's it's they're having aconversation in their own head,
they're hearing the price forthe first time, and in their
(25:26):
head, they're starting to think,okay, is that something I can
make work?
Uh that that is that's more thanI was thinking, maybe, or oh,
actually, that's less than I wasthinking.
Um, what could I do?
Like, is that something I couldfit in?
Yeah, I think we could make thatwork.
Could it work now or could itwork next?
So they're starting to do thosethings in their head.
Um, I remember the when I firststarted this, it was recommended
(25:47):
by a coach of mine, I thinkmaybe back in 2020.
I was on a call and it waskilling me, y'all.
It was killing me to be thereand not say a word.
I again, I'm chatty.
So I said the quote and I satthere silently.
And on the other end of thecall, the prospect goes, Oh wow,
okay, yeah, that's more than Iwas thinking.
And I stayed silent.
And then she's like, I don'tknow how I'm gonna make that
(26:10):
work.
And I stayed silent.
And then she said, Well, but Ineed it to work, like I need
something to change, and stillsilent.
And then finally she goes, Yeah,I I think I have to do this.
Like, let's do it.
So you see how I created thatspace for her to kind of think
through it, and it doesn'talways work that way.
Sometimes it's yeah, that's justmore than I was thinking.
(26:31):
Uh, I don't know if I can committo it right now, and that's
fine.
But I want to create that spacefor them to say to ask a
question.
And usually I will leave ituntil they say, Yeah, let's do
it, or until they say, okay,what are next steps, or until
they say, okay, thank you.
I want to, I want to think onit.
I'm not gonna make any decisionsright now.
Once they kind of create thatspace for the next steps, that's
(26:54):
when I'll jump back in.
But I'm gonna create some timefor them to think on it.
I don't want them to feelpressured to decide really
quick.
And honestly, that's where thepressure can come from.
It's funny because we're doingit usually out of a, I don't
want to pressure them.
So I'm gonna try and justmitigate any any uh any
objections they might have towhat I just said, but by doing
(27:15):
that, it's not giving them spaceto think, and now they're
starting to probably feel thatpressure of okay, they're they
want me to give them an answer.
So create some space, leave itopen, try it and let me know.
I think that's gonna be such ahuge difference maker.
I know it was for me in ourconsultation process.
All right, those are threetweaks we've made over the years
that have made a world ofdifference.
Going back to what I said at thebeginning, pick one.
(27:37):
If you're struggling to closebecause you feel like the people
you're getting on calls with arejust not a good fit, go tweak
your intake process.
If you feel like maybe you'rejust not like they're good fits,
but people are just ghosting,maybe they're they're falling to
the wayside after the call.
So you get off the call and thenyou never hear from them again.
(27:59):
Focus on getting a commitmentout of them.
Or maybe if you feel likethere's just too many price
objections, or you feel likethis just you're losing them
once you you pitch the price,try creating some space there.
There's a lot of differentthings that you can be doing
differently, uh, but I recommendtweaking it one piece at a time.
Of course, if this is somethingyou're struggling with, uh you
(28:20):
want to see how we do ourconsultations, but more
importantly, you're looking forongoing help.
Because again, ourconsultations, it's not designed
to be a one-time thing.
Really, it's yes, we can helpyou with your consultation
process, but that's just a pieceof our coaching program, and it
takes time to help you develop aplan to do that.
If you want to improve yoursales, if you want to improve
(28:41):
how you manage money, that'swhat our coaches do.
We always have a link in thedescription to help get you
connected to them, help you getsome support and guidance in
that process.
All right.
Whether you get on aconsultation with us or not, I
do want to hear how these thingswork.
So after you listen to this, ifyou implement a change, set a
reminder in your calendar toemail me
infotherapybusinesspod.com andlet me know how did it go?
(29:05):
Did you see a difference?
I want to celebrate it with youif you did.
And if you didn't, then move onto the next thing, make another
tweak, see how that works.
All right, we're rooting foryou.
We're hoping that you not onlyclose more sales, but you find
the right clients, you closemore of the right clients.
Thanks for joining us on theTherapy Business Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with a
(29:28):
practice member that you mayknow.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with finances
or just growing your practice,head to therapybusinesspod.com
to learn how we can help you.
Sales calls can be kind of intimidating and
honestly frustrating at times,especially if sales doesn't come
naturally to you.
Maybe you are doing this toserve people, help people, and
you didn't realize you would bespending a lot of your time on
consultation calls trying toturn leads into clients.
Well, that's something that Istruggled with and had to become
(00:21):
a student of was how to do salescalls because I didn't want to
be slimy, I didn't want to besalesy.
And so over the years, we'vebeen constantly just looking at
how we can refine this process.
And I'm going to guide youthrough three tweaks that we've
made in the last year or twothat have doubled our close rate
and really, really improved thequality of clients that we were
(00:41):
actually bringing in.
My name is Craig, and I'm theowner of DAC Financial Coaching.
Our team is on a mission to makeyour therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money, and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
(01:07):
I remember a little over a yearago talking to one of my coaches
about our close rate on oursales calls, and they had kind
of taken a dip.
So for a while, I felt like thatwas a strength of ours.
We had refined our consultationprocess, and it felt like we our
close rate was really good andwe were able to convert the
right people into clients.
And then all of a sudden, itjust felt like it started to
(01:28):
taper off and slowly decrease.
And I wasn't really sure whatthe problem was or where it
lies.
And something I really learnedin all of this is that we
constantly have to be adjustingand tweaking our process.
It's important to keep a pulseon our numbers.
How are we doing?
Because what we did last year orthe year before may not work
this year.
(01:48):
So many factors can come intoplay.
The economy, where people, wheretheir mind is, what their
perception is.
Maybe they've been burned in thepast, or you know, the uprising
of certain industries, like forexample, ours with COVID,
coaching became such a big thingfor business owners that a lot
of them got burned, and thatmade a lot of them kind of gun
shy when it came to hiring yetanother coach.
(02:09):
If the last one or two didn'twork, what's going to be
different this time?
And so there's so many unseenfactors that we can point to.
And I'm a big believer in let'snot use those as excuses and
just kind of say, well, it's outof our control.
Let's take that and say, okay,what do we need to maybe tweak,
adjust about our process so thatwe are closing more that we're
(02:30):
feeling better about ourselvesbecause it can take a mental
toll.
It did for me when I was sittingdown looking at our closing
numbers with our my coach thisuh little again a little over a
year ago.
We were looking at our closerate, and I was frustrated, I
was exhausted.
Like, we are getting moreconsultations than we've ever
had before, and I feel likewe're closing less clients.
And it was, I was beating myselfup.
(02:52):
I was feeling like I wasfailing.
And what we did was we took alook at a few different things
that really made a hugedifference.
Now I'm gonna guide you throughthree things that have been a
huge difference maker in oursales process.
I don't recommend overhaulingeverything at once.
What I believe in is doingtweaks, change one thing and see
(03:13):
how it works.
And the reason is if we go andchange everything, then we one
may not be able to point to whatwas the difference maker, or we
may realize it's worse now, andwe may not realize what part of
that affected it.
So I say go in and find onepiece that you want to tweak,
you want to adjust, try that fora month or two, and then go and
(03:33):
tweak something else.
If you feel like, okay, here'swhere the new problem might be
in this area.
So a lot of different things canpoint to this, and you know, we
have an episode on what data youshould be tracking that's gonna
help kind of drive where andwhat you should be fixing first.
So I recommend listening to thatepisode.
We are big believers in trackinghow many leads are coming in,
(03:54):
how many consultations arecoming from those leads, how
many of those consultations areconverting into clients, how
long are those clients staying?
All of those are important toknow because they're gonna
pinpoint where is our problem.
So for us, and what's gonnadrive us into this first tweak
that we made, our problem wasnot that the intake, we weren't
hurting to get people onconsultation calls, we were
(04:17):
struggling to convert thosethose people.
And so that takes us to thatfirst tweak, which was we need
to better filter our intake aswe went and looked at the data.
Because again, I'm going, okay,I need to change our sales
pitch, I need to change how thisand that about the sales call.
And what we determined to tryand tweak first was what's the
client experience like?
What's that lead experience likebefore they get on a call with
(04:40):
you?
And so there's a few things thatI discovered.
One, we were not educating themon what we do, who we help, how
we can help them.
People were getting on calls,uh, kind of just like tire
kickers in a sense.
Like they had no real concept ofwhat we do and what we were
gonna do to help them.
And so the call really was like,Oh, it's a free call, I'll see
what you're about, I'll see if Ican get some help out of this.
(05:02):
A lot of our messaging was booka free coaching call, like get
it, get some help.
We're gonna help you on thiscall.
And so people were showing upthinking, okay, it's a free 30
minutes.
In fact, I even had a lot ofpeople tell me, you know, I you
it's a free call, and you saidyou could help, so I figure, why
not take advantage of that?
No intention of buying, which isagain, it's fine.
That's just more of ourmessaging was not coming across
(05:24):
that this call, yes, it'sdesigned to provide hope and
clarity for you, but also it'sdesigned to teach you how we can
help.
Because the truth is we're notgonna be able to make an impact
or help you create lastingchange on a 20 or 30 minute
phone call.
And I needed to change how wewere messaging that, how we were
(05:44):
sharing that in the world sothat when people showed up on
the call, they knew we weregonna make it a warm, inviting
call and we're gonna get to knowthem and maybe answer some
questions or help provide someclarity.
But also, really, the point isso we can see what are you what
are you struggling with, and isthat something that we can help
with?
And if so, how can we help youwith it in ongoing coaching?
(06:07):
That's really the point of thosesales calls.
You you'll discover that again,we want to serve people, we want
to help people.
That's why we create freecontent.
It's that's how we can helppeople.
Sales calls really areconsultations are designed for
sales, and so we need to makesure people who are getting on
those calls are at least open toinvesting in coaching and
they're ready to invest incoaching.
(06:27):
So educating them was huge.
And now a lot of that was justsimply changing our messaging.
We everywhere now it says, youknow, schedule to learn how our
coaching can help you, andthat's a big shift from schedule
a free call to get some help,and and people are not showing
up thinking they're just gettinga free 30-minute coaching
session.
(06:48):
The other thing is in our intakeform, we are trying to find the
right fit.
And sometimes for us, that mightmean a business that is further
along in their journey.
We did a webinar for anothercompany last year, and the
webinar was really successful.
We ended up booking, I think,like 40 consultations, 35 to 40
(07:11):
consultations within a four tosix week time frame.
I mean, we were slammed withconsultations, and we were
struggling to close thoseconsultations.
When we went back and looked atthe data, like I was saying with
my coach, we started looking atthe size of these businesses.
And I would say a majority ofthem were really, really small,
meaning they were brand new,they were not making a lot of
(07:34):
money.
And so even investing in ourcoaching was gonna be a stretch.
Now, we work with businesses ofall sizes.
I mean, we've worked withbusinesses that haven't even
launched yet and they haven'tmade revenue yet.
But the thing is, those peoplecome in and they say, you know
what, I'm going to make aninvestment in myself and in this
business, and they're willing toinvest the finances and the time
(07:55):
to get the help they need.
Some businesses, if they'restruggling and they're making,
let's say, less than$50,000 or$100,000 a year, doesn't mean
they can't afford it.
It's just if we are meeting with10 businesses under$100,000,
most likely we'll be lucky toget one of those as a as a
client that's going to be a goodfit.
We never want our services to bea financial strain on a company.
(08:17):
So if somebody's coming to us,their money's tight, they're not
making a lot of revenue, they'renot paying themselves, and then
we're asking them to add thisinvestment on top of it.
We don't want that to createmore stress.
And so what we were finding wasa lot of those consultations,
they were just not financiallyable to invest in coaching.
Once again, there's always theone who is the exception to the
(08:38):
rule that maybe has some cashand savings that they are
willing to go and invest andsay, you know, I'm going to
commit six months to turningthis whole thing around, and we
can help them for sure.
It's just that was not the norm.
Most of the time it was like, Iwould love to do this, but
unfortunately, it's just I can'tmake the finances work.
So we had to make some tweaks.
One of those was on our intakeform.
(08:58):
Now it says it's just a checkboxacknowledging that our pricing
is best fit for businessesmaking over a hundred thousand
dollars.
That doesn't mean we won't workwith businesses under.
We've had businesses email usand say, you know, I'm I'm
making about 70,000 right now,is but I get that it's an
investment.
I would still love to get somehelp.
(09:18):
Perfect.
Schedule a call.
Yeah, we just want you to beaware that that's where our
pricing is.
So that way you can kind of inyour head acknowledge that okay,
it's going to be a financialstretch for me if I get on this
call.
And so what ends up happening ispeople self-opt out.
So in that case, they are thendirected towards our free
content, our free resources.
(09:38):
If somebody reaches out andsays, Hey, I would love to
remeet with you, but we're notat 100,000 yet, and I don't
think I can afford whatever theinvestment would be.
We will then send them as muchfree stuff as we can to get them
some support and some help.
We might even then connect themwith a coach that we know works
with smaller businesses thatmight be more in their price
range.
So that is really important.
(10:00):
When we started filtering thatintake process, that skyrocketed
our close rate.
You know, as I look this year,so we implemented that towards
the end of last year.
This year, our close rate hasdoubled from where it was this
time last year.
And I look at all thebusinesses, then we we keep a
track, we track all theconsultations we've had, the
sizes of those businesses, theindustries, what they're looking
(10:23):
for.
When we look at the revenuesize, they are more a fit for
what our pricing model is, andtherefore they're just a better
fit for our coaching services.
The next tweak that we made waswhen we got onto these calls,
and this started probably beforewe made the tweaks to our intake
form.
(10:44):
We were so caught up in I needto get the sale, and even my
team members on theirconsultation calls were feeling
this pressure on themselves toget the sale.
I need to get a sale on thiscall.
I mean, the name of the call isa sales call, so it makes sense
that that seems to be the endgoal.
We need to get this sale.
What we changed was our goal isto get a commitment of some
(11:07):
kind, not a sale.
That can be a commitment to us,that can be a commitment to
themselves to make a change.
That is our goal.
So if we can get off of thiscall and they have committed to
something, and I'll walk youthrough some of the examples of
what we're looking for, thenthat's a win.
And that takes a lot of thepressure off of us.
And here's the thing if you areputting pressure on yourself to
(11:27):
make a sale, desperation ekesout, and you're gonna hurt your
chances of getting that sale.
It's just the psychology ofsales right there.
They're gonna smell it, they'regonna tell that you are feeling
desperate, like I need thissale, or that you're feeling
unconfident with yourself.
We change it too.
We're just looking for acommitment.
One of those commitments can bea sale.
If we feel like this call isgoing really well, we can help
(11:50):
them and they they say, Let's doit, I'm ready.
We're gonna help them takeaction.
That's our job as coaches is tohelp our clients take action,
make a commitment.
And so sometimes we will takethe sale on the call.
It doesn't always happen thatway.
One of our other commitmentsthat we're looking for is a
follow-up call.
So if we tell them the price, wetell them what our uh rate is
(12:14):
for their business specifically,and then they say we need to
(13:07):
think about it, or I want tosleep on it, I don't want to
invest in anything until I'vehad a chance to talk to my
spouse about it, whatever theirreasoning is that they may not
be ready to sign up on the call.
And again, a majority of peopleare not wanting to sign up on
the call.
And as a coach, if if you areour client and you were looking
at making an investment insomething, and you came to us
(13:28):
and said, Hey, I was thinkingabout investing in this program
over here.
I would probably recommend forsure.
Here's what it's gonna look likefor your finances.
Also, maybe sleep on it, give ita day or two uh to think on it
and make sure that it'ssomething you want to do.
So that's important to us.
Now, again, we will take saleson the call because we know that
somebody has been interviewingcoaches already.
They've thought about this,they've read the book Profit
(13:50):
First, tried it on their own foryears.
They're like, I don't want towait another day to get the
support I need.
And so, of course, we're notgonna force people to wait.
Um, but we want something.
So if they're not ready to signup, we ask for a follow-up call
and we get a 10-minute,15-minute call in the calendar.
We tell them when this happens.
So maybe we're scheduling it forthree days from now.
(14:10):
We're gonna say, we're gonnalet's schedule a follow-up call.
You can come with any questionsyou have on that call.
We'll come ready to get yousigned up.
If you decide before then youwant to sign up, great, go ahead
and sign up.
We're gonna send you a proposal,you can sign up, and then we'll
just turn that into your launchcall, meaning we're gonna still
keep that call, but we're gonnajust use it to launch you into
your program.
Or if you decide this is not itfor me, I don't want to move
(14:34):
forward, then you can cancel thecall before it happens.
So it's this idea of we're gonnahave a follow-up call, we're
gonna commit to that, and thenwe're gonna know, we're gonna
set the table for we're gonnashow up on that call pretty much
ready to move forward.
So we want to make sure that ifwe're getting on another call
with them, they have they havethe price, they have all the
information they're gonna need,that they come ready to make a
(14:57):
decision.
And of course, they can come onthe call, ask more questions,
and then decide it's not a goodfit.
That is completely fine.
But we want to set theexpectation that we're gonna
make a decision by this call.
And that's because we arebelievers, the worst place you
can be is kind of stuck in thatin-between, stuck in that world
of maybe is what I call it.
It's I'm not sure if I want todo it, but I'm not not gonna do
(15:21):
it.
That means you're just sitting,you're you're you're stagnant,
you're standing still.
If you decide you don't want towork with us, that means great.
Hopefully, you're going to takethat decision and run out and
either find someone else who isa better fit for you.
You're gonna take that decisionand you're gonna run out and try
to implement something on yourown.
You're going to take action onchange.
Or you decide to work with us,that is action towards change.
(15:43):
What we don't want is you justsitting here two, three months
down the road, and you're justlike, I want to work with them,
but I'm nervous about theinvestment.
And so you haven't doneanything, and you're just
sitting in that same placespinning your wheels.
We want to inspire action.
So that's why we ask for acommitment of some kind.
Now, if they don't want to geton a follow-up call, then the
commitment we're looking for iswe're gonna follow up with you
(16:07):
via email, then.
And all we ask is, you know,we'll follow up tomorrow.
All we ask is that you respondwith a yes or a no.
If it's a no, you won't hurt ourfeelings.
So it's okay if it's not theright fit for you, but we don't
want you to get stuck in thatworld of maybe, stuck in that
in-between.
So please, and it's kind of oursubtle way of saying, please
don't ghost us.
(16:28):
That to me, that's that's theworst, is we don't want to be
chasing you for months andmonths without responses.
I again, you're not gonna hurtour feelings if you say we're
not interested.
That's completely understood.
I've told people I'm notinterested in their services,
there's nothing personal aboutit.
Uh, so please tell us no if it'snot the right fit, but also if
you decide it is the right fit,let's jump on it.
(16:50):
Let's not kick that can down theroad, prolong the spot you're
in.
So, for you on your sales calls,as you're talking to uh
potential clients, it's reallylooking at what kind of
commitment are you looking for?
Is it let's schedule that thatwhat evaluation call, whatever
your process is, let's get youscheduled with with this
(17:13):
therapist so you can meet themand and get to know at least do
one or two sessions.
Let's get that first sessionbooked.
That might be your maincommitment that you're looking
for.
If they want to think about itor they say, you know, I have
two more calls with othertherapists, then you can always
try and schedule that follow-upcall.
You can share the same thing Isaid.
It's not pressuring, it's justthe we don't want you to get
(17:35):
stuck.
From our experience, we know alot of people will spend months
interviewing and then just nevermaking a decision.
So I highly encourage you ifit's if they're not gonna be
working with you directly, Ihighly encourage you to schedule
that first call with thisperson, or by this time next
week, let's make a decision.
Let us know yes or no, you'renot gonna hurt our feelings.
So, exactly what we just talkedabout driving them toward an
(17:58):
answer.
All right, so that was a hugeshift in our process that has
worked really well.
And you know, that one has gotless tangible results in this,
other than we know that ouragain, our close rate has
doubled, and our our coachesfeel confident going into these
calls, knowing there's nopressure on me from Craig or
(18:18):
anybody to get this sale.
It's just I'm here to serve, I'mhere to listen, and then I'm
here to get a commitment fromthem on some kind, even if it's
a commitment to themselves.
Because going back to that, ifthe answer is no, if they tell
us on the call, this is great, Ican't justify the expense right
now, then it's awesome.
Here's what I ask you thecommitment I want from you is to
take action on something, andthen we can give them some some
(18:40):
steps.
Go and open your bank accounts,go and uh figure out what
percentage you need to besetting aside for opex and and
and owners pay.
And then the other commitment wehad it might ask, this is
another one that I forgot tomention, is if the answer is no,
I want you to set a date, maybe30 to 60 days from now.
And if things are not differentby then, set the commitment that
(19:01):
you are going to call.
You're gonna you're gonna comeback to us and you're gonna sign
up because if things have notchanged from then, you're now
losing money and you've now lostmore than you probably would
have invested in our program.
And of course, we're gonna getyou an ROI.
But point being, the time 30, 60days from now, you're losing
money if you are not making achange.
(19:22):
So, same thing.
If they say no, it's not a goodfit, set that that line of you
know, 30 days from now, I'mgonna reach out.
If you're in the same place,let's schedule that first that
first session.
All right, the third thing thatwe did was keeping it simple.
Uh, so if you've been listeningto me for any amount of time,
you know I can get kind ofchatty, a little bit wordy.
(19:42):
Uh, so our job on these calls isto keep it simple, meaning we're
not gonna try and oversell.
It's super easy to get boggeddown into the weeds of here's
everything we do, here's how wedo it, here's all the problems
we solve.
And it comes from this innateidea of we need to showcase that
we can help anybody andeverybody, that we're super
(20:03):
knowledgeable, that we can wecan tackle any problem that
comes our way.
That's how I approached thingsfor a long time.
It was talking about things thatwere not even important to uh
the prospect.
And I've I remember there was atime, probably more than one
time, but it ones comingspecifically to mind, is I am
trying to sell them on thesethings that we can help with.
(20:24):
And they responded with, yeah,we honestly don't even really
need help with that.
And what that means is I wasn'tlistening, I wasn't listening to
them.
So, really, that's what we'retrying to do is not only keep it
simple, but listen to their keypain points.
And that's all we're gonna speakto.
Their key pain points are whythey booked this call.
And going back to our intakeprocess, we're asking this in
(20:45):
advance what are the two, threethings that you want to?
Change about your businessfinances right now.
We're gonna look at those beforethe call, and then that's what
we're gonna speak to.
And we're gonna ask them whatelse is going on.
Maybe new things have popped upthat is on top of mind that is
maybe more pressing than whenthey filled out the form.
So we're gonna listen to that.
And then when it's our turn totalk about how we can help,
(21:08):
we're gonna speak to those painpoints.
This does two things.
One, we're not gonna overwhelmthem and try and sell on things
that they're not interested in.
Two, it's gonna be reallycatered to them.
It's here's why you're here.
Don't worry, we've got you.
We eat this stuff for breakfast.
This is what we do every singleday.
We can help you solve thisproblem.
(21:29):
If they came to us saying, Iwant to pay myself more, that's
what we do.
We specialize in helping you.
We we believe you should be paidmore.
So that's the system we're gonnahelp you set up, is gonna make
sure that you are paid what youneed, that you're paid fairly,
that you're paid what youdeserve on a regular, consistent
basis.
If they're stressed about debt,we're gonna help you create a
game plan to get rid of debtsystematically so that way you
(21:53):
can free up your cash flow.
So do you see?
Are we speaking to their painpoints?
It's also really tempting for usto, and I did this for the in
the first few years of mybusiness, was to get into the
weeds of here's how we're gonnado it.
We're gonna do this spreadsheetand we're gonna guide you
through this.
And I would even sometimes sharemy screen and say, here's the
your hub that you're gonna have,and here's this process, and
(22:15):
here's all the different thingswe're gonna do, and you're gonna
get access to this and this andthis.
Again, I'm water hosing themwith information when all they
really care about is here's whatI'm struggling with.
Can you help me?
There will be plenty of timewhen we start working together
for them to learn all thedifferent ways we help and we
can help.
We're gonna get them in the doorby speaking to their key pain
(22:36):
points.
And then as we start workingwith them, we're gonna discover
maybe there's other areas ofneed that we can step in and
serve.
And so your prospects, when theycome to you, here is the thing I
am struggling with.
Can you help me?
If it's mental health, here arethe things, speak directly
toward those things of yes, wewe work with people like that
(22:56):
all the time, or we specializein that.
If it's physical therapy, it'snot speaking to here's all the
different pieces of equipment wehave, odds are they don't care.
It's awesome.
Yep, we can absolutely helprehabilitate you from where you
are, the get help you get rid ofthat pain or help at least ease
the pain, help uh whatever it isthrough different exercises,
different modalities.
(23:16):
So not getting into the weeds ofit.
That's really, really important.
And then lastly, for keeping itsimple, is when we when we tell
a price, when we give our quote,when we share how much it's
gonna cost, sometimes we getuncomfortable and we forget to
leave space.
We tend to almost uh we almostinput objections in our own head
(23:43):
and we start trying to to solvethose objections or to answer
those objections when theprospect has not even presented
an objection to the price.
So keeping it simple is stayingquiet.
This is something I implementedprobably five years ago, and
it's something I teach my team,it's something I teach our
(24:04):
clients, it's something I stillpractice myself to this day.
If you end up booking aconsultation and we get on a
call, look for this because I'mI'm gonna do it.
And it's when I share what theinvestment is to work with us, I
stay silent and I wait for theprospect, the person on the call
to be the first one to speak.
Here's why.
(24:25):
Again, sometimes we get onthere, maybe we're nervous, and
I might share the investment.
And in my head, I'm thinking,oh, they're probably gonna think
this is too expensive, they'restruggling with their finances.
So immediately I'm like, I knowthat's you know, here's how much
it is, and I know that's astretch, I know that that might
feel tight, even though you'restruggling with your finances.
Uh, but here's why it's it'sgonna be okay, or here's why we
can deliver an ROI.
(24:45):
I've given them zero time toeven think of is this something
I want to do?
Is this worth it to me?
Is this too much for me?
If it is, then maybe they'llcome back and say that.
So, what I do is it is gonna beX dollars per month for six
months, or X dollars up frontfor six months.
(25:05):
And then I'm silent, and I justwait for them to answer.
It's done wonders.
I think we, as the personleading the call, are scared of
awkward silences when in realityon their end, their brain is
working.
It's it's they're having aconversation in their own head,
they're hearing the price forthe first time, and in their
(25:26):
head, they're starting to think,okay, is that something I can
make work?
Uh that that is that's more thanI was thinking, maybe, or oh,
actually, that's less than I wasthinking.
Um, what could I do?
Like, is that something I couldfit in?
Yeah, I think we could make thatwork.
Could it work now or could itwork next?
So they're starting to do thosethings in their head.
Um, I remember the when I firststarted this, it was recommended
(25:47):
by a coach of mine, I thinkmaybe back in 2020.
I was on a call and it waskilling me, y'all.
It was killing me to be thereand not say a word.
I again, I'm chatty.
So I said the quote and I satthere silently.
And on the other end of thecall, the prospect goes, Oh wow,
okay, yeah, that's more than Iwas thinking.
And I stayed silent.
And then she's like, I don'tknow how I'm gonna make that
(26:10):
work.
And I stayed silent.
And then she said, Well, but Ineed it to work, like I need
something to change, and stillsilent.
And then finally she goes, Yeah,I I think I have to do this.
Like, let's do it.
So you see how I created thatspace for her to kind of think
through it, and it doesn'talways work that way.
Sometimes it's yeah, that's justmore than I was thinking.
(26:31):
Uh, I don't know if I can committo it right now, and that's
fine.
But I want to create that spacefor them to say to ask a
question.
And usually I will leave ituntil they say, Yeah, let's do
it, or until they say, okay,what are next steps, or until
they say, okay, thank you.
I want to, I want to think onit.
I'm not gonna make any decisionsright now.
Once they kind of create thatspace for the next steps, that's
(26:54):
when I'll jump back in.
But I'm gonna create some timefor them to think on it.
I don't want them to feelpressured to decide really
quick.
And honestly, that's where thepressure can come from.
It's funny because we're doingit usually out of a, I don't
want to pressure them.
So I'm gonna try and justmitigate any any uh any
objections they might have towhat I just said, but by doing
(27:15):
that, it's not giving them spaceto think, and now they're
starting to probably feel thatpressure of okay, they're they
want me to give them an answer.
So create some space, leave itopen, try it and let me know.
I think that's gonna be such ahuge difference maker.
I know it was for me in ourconsultation process.
All right, those are threetweaks we've made over the years
that have made a world ofdifference.
Going back to what I said at thebeginning, pick one.
(27:37):
If you're struggling to closebecause you feel like the people
you're getting on calls with arejust not a good fit, go tweak
your intake process.
If you feel like maybe you'rejust not like they're good fits,
but people are just ghosting,maybe they're they're falling to
the wayside after the call.
So you get off the call and thenyou never hear from them again.
(27:59):
Focus on getting a commitmentout of them.
Or maybe if you feel likethere's just too many price
objections, or you feel likethis just you're losing them
once you you pitch the price,try creating some space there.
There's a lot of differentthings that you can be doing
differently, uh, but I recommendtweaking it one piece at a time.
Of course, if this is somethingyou're struggling with, uh you
(28:20):
want to see how we do ourconsultations, but more
importantly, you're looking forongoing help.
Because again, ourconsultations, it's not designed
to be a one-time thing.
Really, it's yes, we can helpyou with your consultation
process, but that's just a pieceof our coaching program, and it
takes time to help you develop aplan to do that.
If you want to improve yoursales, if you want to improve
(28:41):
how you manage money, that'swhat our coaches do.
We always have a link in thedescription to help get you
connected to them, help you getsome support and guidance in
that process.
All right.
Whether you get on aconsultation with us or not, I
do want to hear how these thingswork.
So after you listen to this, ifyou implement a change, set a
reminder in your calendar toemail me
infotherapybusinesspod.com andlet me know how did it go?
(29:05):
Did you see a difference?
I want to celebrate it with youif you did.
And if you didn't, then move onto the next thing, make another
tweak, see how that works.
All right, we're rooting foryou.
We're hoping that you not onlyclose more sales, but you find
the right clients, you closemore of the right clients.
Thanks for joining us on theTherapy Business Podcast.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share it with a
(29:28):
practice member that you mayknow.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with finances
or just growing your practice,head to therapybusinesspod.com
to learn how we can help you.
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