When I was a kid, my mom taught me how to bake. As we baked together, she’d tell me stories of her childhood. One of them involved her sister, Nancy.
Nancy was a year older than she was, but she didn’t have an interest in baking as soon as my mom did. Although she was younger, my mom became a much better baker than my aunt at a younger age. This wasn’t a problem until one day my aunt had a craving for brownies.
“Teach me how to bake brownies,” she begged my mom. So my mom got out her recipe, showed her the basics, and left her to it. The delicious smell of baking brownies filled the house, and everyone gathered in the kitchen to dig in.
It didn’t go well.
“What’s WRONG with these brownies?!” my mom’s younger brother asked as he spit a bite of brownie into the trash. Turns out, Nancy hadn’t completely read the recipe and had used baking powder instead of baking soda, giving the brownies a bitter flavor.
“Why didn’t you tell me not to do that?” she wailed to my mom. “Now my brownies aren’t as good as yours!”
“How was I supposed to know you were going to get them mixed up?” asked my mom. “I didn’t know I was supposed to tell you NOT to do, too!”
What NOT to Do
Have you ever noticed that it’s super easy to find advice on what you SHOULD do … while finding information about what to avoid is more difficult? Several months ago, I gave you my list of nine questions to ask on a discovery call with a prospective client. You can check it out HERE.
These nine questions help me close 80 percent of the calls I take, and they’re the key to making a great impression, sharing my expertise, and building trust with prospective clients. But if you don’t know what NOT to do on a discovery call, you could ask all nine questions and still come away from a discovery call wondering what went wrong.
In this blog article, I’m going to give you nine mistakes copywriters make on discovery calls that can be total deal breakers for prospective clients. Then I’ll break down why these nine are a big deal and what you can do instead to stay ahead of the pack.
Not Showing Up On Time
Things happen – I get that. It’s easy for me to get involved in a project and lose track of time. Do not let that happen. The first impressions are made right from the start (that’s why they’re called first impressions, right?), and showing up late for a discovery call is a red flag.
When you show up late to a discovery call, you’re giving the prospect the impression that whatever you have going on is more important than they are. They may feel disrespected as if you can’t be bothered to even show up on time. Sometimes, there’s no recovering from this one, but there are things you can do to help make sure you show up on time so that it DOESN’T happen to you.
Do This Instead: But when you know you have a discovery call that day, be vigilant. Put it in your calendar and set a couple of notifications. I’ll often set one for the day before, the day of at an hour before the discovery call, and the day of at five to 10 minutes before the call. That way there’s no chance I’ll miss it.
I find it easier to keep appointments in the back of my mind when I let others in on my schedule for the day. For example, I’ll give my husband a brief rundown on my schedule each morning. He helps hold me accountable for the discovery calls I have and asks me how they went.
Not Taking Notes
There’s nothing worse than getting off a discovery call and sitting down to write a proposal only to realize you’re not 100 percent sure what they wanted because you didn’t write anything down. Except maybe having to wing it and hope and pray you get the proposal right – or breaking down and swallowing your pride to ask them for clarification. Ugh.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was definitely guilty of this one when I first started my business. I did the old face-palm more than once when I hung up and realized I hadn’t written down a single word.
Do This Instead: At the very least, keep a notepad at your desk so you can jot down notes as they share information with you on the discovery call. If you’re like me, you type much faster than you can handwrite. Having a digital form or Google doc you can plug information into is great for quick note taking AND keeping the call on course.
When it comes to calls for onboarding clients, I take the next step and record the Zoom call. That way I can rewatch it and have it transcribed for reference during my research.
Not Asking the Right Questions
It’s very tempting to let the client take the lead on the discovery call. After all, they’re the ones who booked it, and they’re interviewing you … right?
Well, yes and no. A successful discovery call should operate more like a joint interview where both parties ask and answer questions to ensure working together will be a good fit.
This is your business. You get to choose who you work with and who you don’t. You’re under no obligation to sign a client who’s throwing up red flags all over the place. That’s why you need to make sure you’re asking the right questions to make sure they’re aligned with your values, working style, and communication style.
Do This Instead: Create a short list of questions you’d like answered before the discovery call starts. It’s too difficult to come up with questions off the top of your head, and if you don’t have some questions ready, you’ll be left stammering out an “Ahhhh, no, I don’t think I have any questions …” then kicking yourself later when you remember them.
Not Paying Attention to the Client’s Goals
As service providers, part of our job is to, well, serve the client. That means you need to know what their goals for their campaigns and their business as a whole are so you can create a workflow that supports them to the best of your ability.
However, I’m NOT saying you should exhaust yourself trying to reach unattainable goals just because that’s what the client wants. The important thing is to go in with your eyes open so you can set up reasonable expectations with the client from the start. That’s impossible to do if you don’t know what their goals are.
Do This Instead: Just ask. Ask them what their goals are on the discovery call. I like to frame it in benchmarks. This helps them put their goals into concrete numbers that are doable.
- What’s your GOOD goal – the goal you’d be happy with that you feel is a no-brainer goal?
- What’s your GREAT goal – the goal that would be a bit of a stretch beyond your expectations that you’d be thrilled with?
If the client doesn’t know what a reasonable goal is for them and they’re not yet sure what their numbers are (cost per acquisition, cost per lead, and lifetime value of their customer) this is a good time for you to help them create reasonable expectations.
Not Letting the Client Talk
A friend of mine just signed her first book deal with a major publishing company. As part of the deal, the publishing company provides her with a promotional agent to help with the marketing. She gets to choose from the candidates they sent her, so she spent a couple of hours interviewing the two prospects they sent her.
Prospect A was less experienced than Prospect B. She hadn’t worked with as many large book launches, and she was newer in the field. Prospect B had worked on tons of big book launches with household names. If you think she chose Prospect B though, you’d be wrong.
Why wouldn’t she choose the more experienced book agent? Because Prospect B barely let my friend get a word in edgewise during their interview. While Prospect A got to know my friend and chit-chatted with her as she asked my friend questions and listened to the answers, Prospect B asked very few questions, then answered them herself while talking over my friend.
I get it. Discovery calls with big names can be intimidating. The temptation is to make sure the client understands your expertise by interjecting it at every opportunity. While you do want the client to feel comfortable with your skill level, most clients would rather work with someone who listens to them than a more experienced person who they feel doesn’t care about their wishes and only wants to talk about themselves. Period.
Do This Instead: Ask a question, then listen. Let them talk and share information with you. And please don’t ever interrupt them. Nobody likes that. Don’t be afraid to chit-chat a little. Did their dog just wander through the room in the background? Ask them what its name is. Little things like that build trust and rapport, and that’s always a good thing.
Not Having Your Portfolio Handy
Not every client will ask to see samples of your work, but when they do, fumbling around with a, “Ummm, yeah. Let me see if I can find something …” doesn’t really inspire confidence.
Your portfolio doesn’t have to be fancy. I have a Google Slide doc with screenshots, client testimonials, and URLs. Prospects love it, and it takes no time at all to update or add to it. You could do something similar with a Google Doc or a PDF. Canva also has some nice templates for portfolios as well that you can use – and it’s free!
Do This Instead: Put a link to your portfolio in your discovery call document. That way it’s always there and available to you to drop in the chat or send over via email during the call.
Not Being Clear On Next Steps
Most of my discovery calls last around 20-30 minutes. By that time, I have a good idea of what the client needs, they feel comfortable moving forward, and it’s time to say goodbye and go on to the next steps. Communicating clearly about what comes next is a must and really helps to keep the process in momentum.
Have a set follow-up process and make sure the client knows what comes next. I recommend letting them know while you’re still on the discovery call that you’re going to create their proposal and send it over in the next 48 hours (or whatever makes sense for you) … then deliver SOONER. Set the tone by underpromising and over-delivering from the start.
Do This Instead: When you send the proposal, let them know what to do with it. If you require a signature, verbal or written acceptance, or project payment or deposit, tell them. The more straightforward you are about the process, the easier it will be for them to follow it in a timely manner
Not Asking How They Like to Be Contacted
This is another one I had to learn the hard way on when I first started my business. Yep, I was the space cadet sending proposals to sad, lonely inboxes then wondering why I never heard back from prospects.
It took me several instances of having to reach back out to the client when they didn’t respond to my proposal to realize that sometimes the email they used to book the call ISN’T the email they check regularly. Sometimes the proposal needed to go through the finance department or business partner, but if I didn’t ask, I didn’t know.
Do This Instead: After you let them know what the next steps are, and before you say goodbye on the discovery call, make sure you ask them where they’d like you to send the proposal. This does two things. First, you get the information you need about the best place to contact them. Second, they now know where to look for the proposal and will keep an eye out. Win-win!
Not Following Up
In a perfect world, you’d send the proposal, they’d immediately fall in love with it, and you’d be skipping off together into the sunset on your new project. Except it’s not a perfect world, so that doesn’t always happen.
Sometimes you send the proposal and you don’t hear back immediately … or for days. Don’t just assume they don’t want to work with you. Maybe their inbox is eating emails. Maybe they need to pass it through another department. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes in their personal or professional life, so follow up.
Do This Instead: Make sure you follow up 24 to 48 hours after sending the proposal. They may just need a little nudge or to go deep-diving into their spam folder. A simple email like this works great:
Hey Prospect,
I really enjoyed chatting with you on our discovery call Thursday about your upcoming launch. I hope you received the proposal I sent over Friday morning. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help clarify anything for you.
I look forward to getting started!
Christa
More often than not, you’ll get a response like, “Oh my gosh, thanks for following up! I just found the proposal in my junk email folder. We’re excited too. Let’s do it!”
More from Christa Nichols
I’ve been creating client acquisition assets for you guys like crazy lately. Want my Discovery Call Form Template? This template includes the nine questions I always ask on discovery calls that help me close high-ticket sales copy projects 80 percent of the time, plus a downloadable, fillable PDF you can make copies of and use on discovery calls to keep all your info on each prospect in one place. You can grab it HERE.