If you’re selling a service you’re going to talk to potential clients.

 

Whether it’s a 20 minute chat, or an hour long talk, having a system in place will give you confidence in what you’re doing and provide a smooth experience for both of you.

 

To outline your system to talk to potential clients ask yourself:

1. Which method will you use to talk to people?
2. How will you arrange the time and date on which you’ll talk?
3. How will you let people know the method of talking to them?
4. Do you need any information before you talk?
5. What are you going to talk about?

 

1. Method of Talking 

To decide on the method consider how you like to communicate. Do you love to talk to people in person and loathe using the phone? Do you love the idea of talking to people from the comfort of your own home?

 

I usually talk to people online as my clients are all around the world. I use Zoom which is a video conferencing tool. The basic version is free so it’s a great place to start. I also like it because I can record the calls (to pass onto my clients or for my reference) and I can record videos of myself for training purposes.

 

2. How Will You Arrange The Time And Date To Talk?

If you are planning on emailing (or messaging) back and forth please stop right there! That is a sure fire way to waste a lot of your time, especially if you have overseas clients and need to take time zones into account.

 

Instead sign up for an online calendar scheduler. These are fantastic tools that allow you to set the times that you’re available for clients then send potential clients a link so they can see the available times on your calendar.

 

Using one of these tools saves so much time! When I first researched these tools I gathered together the information and wrote a blog post so you can compare the most popular tools > > > Save Time With Online  Calendar Scheduling Tools.

 

3. How Do Potential Clients Book A Time With You?

Now that you know the method that you’ll use to talk to potential clients you need to let them know about it!

 

You could have a link to your online calendar on the home page of your website, post that link in FB groups or insert a link at the bottom of each blog post. Or do all three!

 

There are so many ways to share that I suggest keeping track of where you’re spending your time and where you’re getting the best results to be able to refine your approach as you go.

 

4. Do You Need Information Before You Talk To Potential Clients?

Take the time to consider what the purpose of talking to potential clients is. I know that might seem obvious! Yet that call is not only about having someone buy your service, the call is also about making sure that you’re a good fit for each other.

 

What would you like to know about that person before you talk. Do you want to see their website? Do you need to know what their specific challenge is?

 

You can ask for them information within an online calendar scheduling tool as those tools allow you ask questions. If the questions you have are more extensive you could create a questionnaire within Goggle Docs and send them a link or use a tool like Typeform.

 

5. What Are You Talking To Potential Clients About?

Before you start your calls think over what you want the calls to be about.

 

Do you want to know what your callers biggest challenges are with a certain topic?

 

Do you want to know what they’ve tried in the past?

 

Do you want to know how long they’ve been in business or perhaps how many hours they have to commit to this project?

 

Having your questions prepared in advance will ensure that you cover the essentials and that you stick to the amount of time that you have allocated for each call.

 

Be prepared to talk about your services and pricing! Yes this may sound obvious yet this is where self-doubt can jump in and cause us to stumble, down play our skills and offer discounts before the caller even has a chance to reply to our original price.

 

Writing out a sales script can help you have your thoughts together for the call. You can write out the skills you want to highlight, the way that your services would benefit your call and how your pricing works.

 

My biggest tip? Once you’ve explained your pricing STOP TALKING!  You’ve taken the time to work out the pricing that works for you so give your client time to decide if it works for them.

 

Ask if that pricing works for them then take a sip of water. Count to 10. Let them answer you.

 

When I began to talk to potential clients I arranged a few practise sessions with business buddies. That allowed me to find a natural flow that worked for me and get feedback on how I sounded from the other side.

 

I love systems! And I’d love to talk with you about your business systems (or the fact you don’t have what you need) in a free mini-consult. If you’d like to talk then book in using THIS LINK to my online calendar.