This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
With coaching and consulting, it's very common to offer a free session of some kind, introductory session, maybe a 15-minute call, whatever it is, and you wanna do that to make sure it's a good fit, to provide some reassurance to the potential client, but also to gently sell someone on the paid service, assuming it is a good fit. The whole idea is to go from free to paid, right? Like if you're the coach, the consultant who feels confident in providing value, then you do want to use those free sessions towards conversion. You wanna be helpful, you want to provide value, but you also want to hopefully get people a little bit closer to making a commitment. Now, as I said, this is a common model, but the key point is you have to convert those prospects.
So with that in mind, today's listener is experiencing lots of demand. Lots of people want these free sessions, but they only have demand for the free sessions, not the paid one, okay? So also a fairly common problem. So let's see if we can help her. I'm giving lots of consultations, but making a few sales.
That's the topic for today. My name's Chris Guillebeau. Thanks for tuning in. The detailed question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hello, Chris.
This is Morgan and I've been following your projects since first reading the $100 startup. I recently set up a page to offer my service helping people with self-confidence and negotiation. As part of my offer, I include a free 15-minute consultation to see if my coaching would be a good fit. I'm doing at least one of these a day and often they end up going to 20 or 30 minutes. I can impart a lot of value during that time, but maybe that's the problem.
Very few of these free sessions convert to real clients. I don't want to spend all my time helping people for free. Should I change something about this process or even stop doing the free consults altogether? Thanks for any advice you can share with me. [Music]
All right, Morgan.
So glad you're out there. I need help with self-confidence and negotiation. So maybe I should take one of these free consults from you as long as I don't take too much of your time, right? So let's talk about conversion or maybe two points here. Let's talk about getting the right people there in the first place and then converting them.
So point number one, you want to make sure that the people who are coming for the free session actually are interested in potentially hiring you. Your time is valuable, so you want to see these sessions as an investment in growing your business. And not every person is going to convert. That's okay, but you want to make sure you're getting the right people in the door the first place, okay? So you could do that through an intake form perhaps, like when people sign up for the free session, you can ask them a bit about their goals, why they think this might help them and such.
That kind of actually pre-qualifies them through the process because it gets them already thinking about potentially coaching or consulting with you. And then for the next part, this is your job here. I have no doubt you provide a valuable service, but you need to demonstrate that value during the call. Help them see that if you help them a little in a free call, you can help them so much more as an actual client. And there's some good language you can use.
You can say things like, let me explain how we might work together. You might say, here's what we might do together. Based on this conversation, I've heard you have this problem. Here's kind of the way we would approach it through a series of sessions, coaching sessions, whatever you call them. How does that sound?
How does that sound to you, potential client? You might say, here are the kinds of results you can expect to see if you do the work. So you're kind of already kind of setting it up for success, client success, but also like, you're gonna have to do this work. Here's what I'm gonna do, here's what you're gonna do. I think language like that is really helpful because it leads towards commitments.
It leads towards the client being excited, being motivated, like believing this is really going to make a difference for them, but also they need to actually take the next step. And speaking of next steps, at the end of the call, you have a choice to either ask for a commitment directly or kind of play it cool and get people to sign up later. I don't think you should always ask for a commitment. So there might be cases in which it's good to just say, think about this and decide if it's right for you. But that said, if you can get a commitment before the call ends, like your overall conversion will probably be a lot higher.
So if you can already start talking about, okay, when would you like to begin? When should we have our first session? Do you have any questions about the signup process? That kind of thing, or I can send you a link so you can sign up right now after the call. Those are the kinds of things that are going to lead to higher conversion, getting the right people in and then just leading them along that path.
So Morgan, good luck. Sounds like you're doing something really helpful. I hope you can help more people and also get paid for it, critical point. Let us know how it goes. Listeners, if you're struggling with something or you just have a question in general, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
I'd love to know what you're up to and whatever you're up to, I'm gonna keep cheering you on. So you keep tuning in, I'll be here as well. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
