If you've ever struggled with feeling defeated after a Discovery Call goes bad, you're in the right place - keep reading!
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been on several Discovery Calls with potential clients that turned out to be a “no” for us working together. They all had perfectly valid reasons for not choosing to work with me, and while the initial crush of not closing a new client can be majorly disappointing, I’ve been reflecting on what these “no” decisions mean for my business and what I can learn from the process of rejection to improve my conversions from these calls.
Rejection isn’t really something we talk about in the online world. We’re constantly bombarded with peppy quips like “what’s meant for you will find you” and sayings like: “if it’s not a ‘hell yes’ then it should be a ‘hell no’” and other similar sayings without giving much thought on using those moments of rejection to improve our offerings and services.
And while all of those quotes may be true, there’s always an underlying pressure to close new clients because, well….I am running a business, and in order to run a successful business, I need to be bringing in new clients consistently.
But how can we start to see the lessons in the rejections, especially during the onset of a recession that has people holding on to their credit cards and being really careful about how they’re spending their business budget?
Today I want to share what I’m doing to look past the rejections and periods of recession to better understand how to align my offerings to be more supportive to clients who want to work with me.
Number 1: Remember there’s always a contraction before an expansion
If we look at the environment around us (and I’m not just talking about your desk with yesterday’s coffee mug and a stack of books that you’re halfway through finishing) - I’m talking about the actual, real natural environment - you’ll notice that the natural progression of expansion always comes after a period of contraction.
Think about your breath. When we take a big inhalation, our diaphragm contracts, pulling air into our lungs, where it’s held until our bodies are naturally ready to release it through exhalation. Without the contraction, there would be no expansion.
I watch my little boy try to jump off the last stair step on the porch, and every time, he crouches down almost into a little ball then explodes and expands his little body to make a “big jump”. Contraction before expansion.
Similarly, for the ocean waves to crash on the beach, the water must first have to contract or recede into the ocean before making a big expansion of ocean water onto the shoreline. Even in a 24-hour cycle, the tide dictates how powerful those waves will be at any given time. But there’s always a high tide after a low tide, contraction before expansion, day after day.
This concept of contraction and expansion is the same in our business, just like it is in the world around us. There’s a natural flow to the current of business, and what some of us (myself included) may be experiencing right now is the contraction before the expansion.
The more aware of this I become, the more I’m able to work through the dips and valleys of fewer clients, lower revenue coming in, and remember that this contraction is a temporary milestone that will inevitably find expansion on the other side.
Number 2: Review your Discovery Call Data to Improve Conversions
Have you ever wrapped up a Discovery Call feeling so confident that you are going to land a new client only to hear back from them that they’re going to pass up the opportunity to work with you?
I know it can be disappointing and frustrating, especially when you know that finances are a little tighter, and all you can think about are the bills, team, and paycheck you need to pay in the next couple of weeks. It takes a certain amount of self-awareness to reflect back on what may have gone “wrong” during a discovery call that you were so sure would produce a new client.
But the truth is: this reflection process can produce some of the most instrumental data points you have at your fingertips if you’re willing to extract the information and dissect what your prospect is really saying when they decline your offer to work together.
If you’ve noticed an uptick in hearing “no” from your prospects, ask yourself these questions to gain a deeper understanding of why and what you can do to improve your discovery call process:
Am I asking the right questions during these Discovery Calls?
Am I overwhelming my prospects with options to work with me?
Do I need to re-think the deliverables of my offer?
Is my price point in alignment with my ideal prospect’s budget?
Am I able to produce results fast enough for my client?
Am I making a clear, direct pitch to my prospect during this Discovery Call?
Gaining this type of qualitative insight will help you stop taking rejection personally and begin using that information to make your products and offerings better and better over time.
Number 3: Try, try again
I recently heard a quote that says something like: we have to be bad at something before we can be good at it. It really struck me because as a recovering perfectionist, my sights are always set on the end result I’m trying to achieve, which is usually somewhere along the lines of success, growth and mastery.
And being “bad” at something or feeling a sense of rejection is often a very uncomfortable feeling for me that I try to fix as soon as I can.
As a business owner, I’m sure you can relate to that feeling, too. Many of my entrepreneur friends share this same trait, and I don’t think it’s by accident. Business owners are likely one of the biggest groups of people who fail…a lot… in order to reach success. I believe that’s because we’re willing to be bad at something, fail, and continue to try again, seeing if we can produce better outcomes which ultimately results in business growth and success.
Conclusion
Once you’ve spent time reflecting on what your prospect is really saying when they say “no” or “not right now”, and you’ve uncovered nuggets of information to improve, your next step is to put what you’ve learned from reviewing that Discovery Call Data into action and try again.
I can guarantee you that your next Discovery Call will be different based on your recent findings, and you’ll be better equipped to handle prospect objections differently, provide clearer solutions to problems that you can solve, and your persistence in continuing to try will serve you well.
Book a Discovery Call with me today so I can work with you on yours!
