Good Marketing, Good Business

079: 3 Winning Messages Winners Share On Discovery Calls

• Shannon Stone • Episode 79

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You’re full of it, wisdom that is - in the eyes of your potential clients… We just need them to see that. This is where your winning messages come from, by listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:

  • What are these ‘winning messages’ and how they can increase your conversions
  • Ten examples to help you find your key own ‘winning messages’ 
  • How to actually apply this into your Discovery Calls

This episode is the third in a series which marks December (2024) as being the month of Discovery Calls. Each Monday throughout we will focus on an aspect of improving your businesses Discovery Calls, as well as a Masterclass on December 16, visit www.shannonstone.com.au/masterclass for more details.

Enjoy!

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If you’d like to work together with me as your 1:1 business and marketing consultant, book a call here.

Shannon Stone:

H ey guys. Welcome to the podcast. Super excited for this episode.

Shannon Stone:

Today we are talking about three winning messages that winners share on their discovery calls. Very excited for this one. It is something that I find no one actually that I've ever come across has really spoken about this, which let me kind of give you the punchline of it, and then we'll talk about what your winning messages are. That's the idea of this episode. Then we'll talk about what your winning messages are. That's the idea of this episode, but essentially it is what are some key points that when you talk to potential clients on your discovery calls, strategy calls, whatever it is that you call them sales calls. At the end of the day, what are the couple of key statements that really resonate with your prospects? Key statements that really resonate with your prospects and amongst the whole package of the discovery call and what you sell and speaking to the right person. But what are the key statements that, when you say those because you've selected them based on what we're going to talk about, like the penny drop moments that make people want to work with you? That is what I want to share with you today in this episode. It is something that I think more people should definitely add into their discovery core process as well as your wider marketing as well. If you find that something is helping you to convert more clients quick, little insight take all those pieces to your marketing. Don't reserve them and hide them tucked away for people at the end of that sales buying process. Take it to your marketing as well. So we're going to dive into this today.

Shannon Stone:

If you are listening to this live, we have a masterclass on the 16th of December in the theme of this series on discovery calls. So the masterclass on the 16th of December, in the theme of this series on discovery calls. So the masterclass I'll be sharing 10 insights to drive results with your discovery calls. It really does build upon this content series and it's also an opportunity for you to come along, ask any questions as well, get some feedback, get some answers. So definitely register for that masterclass. The link is in the description. Otherwise, just visit shannonstonecomau forward slash masterclass. If you have missed December 16th and you did want to listen to the replay, just send me a message either on LinkedIn or at my email, shannon at shannonstonecom, and I will send you the replay. So would love for you to come along to that. I think it's very, very helpful.

Shannon Stone:

And who knew there was so much to cover on discovery calls? So how I stumbled upon this as the most amazing strategies always are, they are ones that you stumble upon. How I stumbled upon this is early in business, in our own discovery calls, inside the business, there was always certain things that and you would know this like I want you to step into the same shoes and think about this through the lens of your business and your experiences there would be certain things that when we would say it or that I would say it. It's like you kind of saw the light bulbs go off for the person who was considering working with you. It's like it might have been one thing, it might have been two things, might have been three core things that you said, and so I started to write these down. I was like these are the things that are really resonating with the people that I speak to and you want to know that it's actually really good insights, really good feedback into what is really landing with the people that you're working with. I will share some of my key winning statements or key winning messages in this, just so you've got a reference point as well.

Shannon Stone:

But one example is especially in my consulting work, I work one-on-one with people and that might not sound like a winning message, but to my clients, to the people that inquire about working with me, being able to work directly with the person who is giving all these ideas to them is really important to them. Because quite often a good portion of the people that I work with have worked with marketing agencies previously to me and often you will find that you know you kind of sold on the strategies and the ideas and then you never really speak to that person again and you kind of start working with contractors and they're the ones handling your accounts and all those kinds of things. So when I say one of my winning messages is that I work one-on-one, there's multiple benefits to that, but what my potential clients often hear in that and are looking for is that I just want to work directly with the person who is here to help my business. I don't want it to be flicked away to anyone anywhere that is not you. So that is something that is really important to my clientele. So I want you to think about that and I'll share some more examples. But this is what I want you to think about, because there are a lot of penny drop moments. There's a lot of winning messages that you would be sharing with your potential clients, even if even in your marketing as well, that is really landing with people. So if we can select your top three winning messages and make sure that you do share them on every single discovery call as well as, like I said at the start, let's not reserve it for the end of the sales process. Take it to your marketing as well. But we want to select out what are those core things that create almost the catalyst for people wanting to work with you. So that is the foundation. So now you understand what we're looking for and, hopefully, the importance of it as well.

Shannon Stone:

Now I want to share some areas within your business where you can start to think, reflect and look through as to what your key winning messages could be. So one is client results. So if you which I definitely encourage track your client results, if you've got consistent data or consistent qualitative or quantitative information about your client results that you can share as a winning statement when you're talking to your potential clients on your discovery calls, saying something like I don't know if you're a systems expert, for example, maybe it's that you increase productivity by 50% within eight weeks of working with your clients. Now I'm just kind of pulling out that statement out of nowhere, but it could be something to that effect. So your client results what are some of your amazing client results that are consistent, are reliable, that could become a key winning message that you share.

Shannon Stone:

Another area could be number two your expertise. So your expertise, whether that's on your niche, on your subject matter, on the problem that you solve that could be something that is really really important for me in my business. I come from an extensive marketing background, but then that started to evolve into looking at kind of the end to end of the business. I just saw that marketing was one piece of it. It's definitely a big piece, but it's not. It's very tied to everything else. So I I don't encourage that people only look at that when trying to grow their business. So that's almost a raw version of me sharing part of a winning message when I talk about my expertise.

Shannon Stone:

The third one could be your experience. Same, same but different, but yes, is there something around your experience that's really pivotal for your clients to learn from and to hear from you? Another one could be the values that you hold. This could be really important for your clientele. For example, I've had some clients who vary into B Corp businesses, into things like B1G1, into a lot of philanthropy. So they could be very core winning statements for you to share in your conversations as well. Next one is your business model. So for me, I shared about working one-on-one If it makes sense. Some of these may not make sense to you to share with your clientele, your potential clients, but if it makes sense to share that insight into your business model, how you work and what that looks like, then definitely share it. If that's going to be something that is penny drop moment that we spoke about. It is part of that catalyst for people wanting to work with you, then this is the reason that we're doing this exercise. Okay, number six the way in which you work, so the way that you do things versus a in inverted commas a competitor does things could be really impactful and really insightful and really desirable to your potential clients, and you could kind of feel this. In whatever way that works for your business.

Shannon Stone:

One of the ways that I articulate the way that I work is I work to a result, so to me, nothing matters other than reaching the result, the goal that someone has set. I'm like a person on a mission until we reach that, and so the way that I structure the way that I work with my clients is yes, we do have sessions booked into the calendar, but it's important for me, if we had to hop onto a call every single day of the week in order to reach that goal, that is what we would do. Have I ever had to do that? Absolutely not. We work smarter, not harder, but the essence of this is the way that I like to work is to a particular result. So tell me what that result is, tell me what that goal is, and then it is my job as your consultant to figure out how we actually reach that, and I want it to be quicker and easier for me. I want it to be quicker and easier for your business. So this is a key winning message that works really well. If that lends itself to your business and the way that you do things, then by all means definitely make it your own and apply it the way that it works.

Shannon Stone:

But yes, number six, the way in which you work could become a key winning message. All right, number seven and I know there's a lot of these become a key winning message. All right, number seven and I know there's a lot of these. There's 10 in total, but I want to share these as a way to get those cogs in the mind moving. As far as, what could my key winning messages be? Because I guarantee you you're already sharing these winning messages already. We just want to do it in a way that is repeatable. We want to do it over and over and over again, so that we are leaving no stone unturned when we talk to people. We're sharing our top three winning messages on every single discovery call, so that we are giving ourselves and our business every opportunity to have the highest number of conversions, the highest amount of people to sign up.

Shannon Stone:

So number seven is the number of clients you've worked with so far. So that could be really important for your clients as well. It could be. I don't want to say it doesn't even have to be an impressive number, it doesn't have to be in the hundreds or in the thousands, like if you've said, okay, over the last 10 years we've worked with 80 different clients, like over 10 years, like that's. You know that's less than 10 clients per year, but maybe that ties into the way that you work, maybe you're very intimate in the way that you work with your clients. So whatever way this makes sense for you. Maybe the number of clients that you've worked with so far, or even if it's like this year we've worked with X number of clients so far, or this year the same time, last year we sold X number of our corporate gifting services, whatever it have you be, that can be something really really powerful as well. And side note, to all of this, a lot of it adds that social proof as well. So that is something that always will work very, very powerfully in your business.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, number eight is the different way you approach your work. This is similar to the way in which you work, but for some people, some industries, some expertise you might have a different way to working with people, and I found this can be a really good winning messaging statement, for example, especially if you are in the marketing space oh my God, is it saturated or what? So people want to know in the marketing space that you have a different way of working with people, so you can present that on your discovery calls to say that I know you've worked with other marketing professionals and agencies before. The way that I work is a little bit different, and then go on to explain what that different way is, and that can be incredibly refreshing for people to hear about. So nice and simple, simple, but that one you've kind of got to think a little bit about. But it also has to be true. It has to actually make sense to your business. Maybe as another example, I often work with financial services mortgage brokers, that type of thing and so a different way that some mortgage brokers could work is the number of products they have available or the number of banks that they work with, and why that's different, how that is different the way that they approach that.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, number nine is what happens when results are not being met. So how can you turn a negative into a positive? This is a beautiful one and, I think, a great key message to share on your discovery calls, especially when people are investing and they see what you're selling to them essentially as an investment, there is always risk and I think it's always. I'm all for transparency, so let's almost like address the elephant in the room what happens when results are not being met, and this is a great way to overcome objections before they even happen. So one of your key winning messages could be that, okay, I did want to share with you what happens when results are not being met and how I've seen that happen, how we adjust when this happens and kind of like our plan forward.

Shannon Stone:

I think that can be really important. I think it can be really powerful. I think it can be that thing of turning a negative into a positive. It can be that thing of addressing the objection before it actually happens. So what happens when results are not being met? It's not always a bad thing, I think, when people hear about how you tackle those situations, how you get resourceful, how you get more strategic, how you even communicate that to them as well. Just the fact that you're bringing this up, I think it really does show a lot versus someone or a business who just tries to hide it under the rug and let's not tell the clients that their ads are not performing, or whatever it might be. So I think that can be something that works really well as well.

Shannon Stone:

Maybe if your business is dependent on, say, something like Facebook or something like Google, something where there's like a platform that is outside of your control I worked with, actually, a couple of app companies and, yeah, apple and Google are real fun to work with, not when things aren't going right. So what happens when there's kind of like craziness going on that is beyond your control? What do you do then? What does that look like? Share something around that if it's a valid concern or a valid potential scenario for your clients or potential clients. Okay, the last one I have to share with you number 10, is aligning yourself with authorities in your industry. So I think, do this in a way that, basically, is not cringy, so you don't want to name drop people, but this is one that can work really well in your marketing where you align yourself with whether it's particular people in your industry, particular associations, particular associations, particular causes it really helps with your positioning. But can you bring some of that onto your discovery calls as well? Like I said, in a non-cringy way, you can do it in whatever way you want to. It's your business at the end of the day, but it can be a really good one to add that level of like. If I were to drop, or if I were to say I partnered with a particular prestigious, respected organization and I shared that on a discovery call, or you did your potential clients like oh wow, this person is actually legitimate, this person must be doing something right if they worked with that person or they work with that organization or they've got their trust in them. So that is number 10.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, so so far we've talked about what these key winning messages are. We've also shared some different examples. Now the third part that I want to share with you is how we can actually apply this. So in between all of that, obviously you need to sit down and think what are my couple of winning messages that I can be sharing on repeat? What do I share already? Where I noticed that penny drop moment happen when I talk to people and again bring it to your marketing as well. I love to kind of speed up the sales process where possible and this can be a really good way. But how can you actually apply this? So there's two ways I think is really really helpful. One is okay, you know your top three winning messages.

Shannon Stone:

Now when you were talking to potential clients, it might just naturally come up in the conversation, but have those winning messages written down with you so that you can bring them up. You've got them a little bit more articulated, maybe you've practiced them a little bit, but where it makes sense, where it is natural, feel free to bring that up. They might ask a question about tell me about how you work or what happens if we don't achieve that result. You know they might say something that prompts you to then share your winning messages. So that is one way. The other option and there's not only two options, but these are the two that I'm sharing the second option is one way you can be more, I guess, systematic, more structured. So when you do share your service offerings with your potential clients on your discovery call and this is, I guess, at the tail end of that call. It's like I would not leave the call without giving it my best pitch. That would be my advice to you.

Shannon Stone:

So how can you share your top three winning messages? So I would share your service offering and then I would say something like there is a couple of things I wanted to mention about the way that I work and then share winning message one, winning message two. Winning message three. So that could be if I were to repeat this and fill in the blanks a little bit. I message two, winning message three. So that could be if I were to repeat this and fill in the blanks a little bit, I could say, yes, this is the way that I work.

Shannon Stone:

There are a couple of things I did want to mention about how I work with businesses like yourself or people such as yourself. Number one is the way that I work with people is one-on-one, and then I can explain that a little bit more. The second thing I wanted to mention is that I work towards a result. So to me, you reaching the goals that you've said here are number one, and then I can expand on that a little bit, and then I could share a third winning message. So if I haven't naturally been able to bring this up in the conversation, then this is a really nice intentional pocket. Then this is a really nice intentional pocket once you've shared your services. Just some extra, extra frills to make sure that you've given your discovery call the best possible chance to win, to convert, to sign up those clients. So this gives you that more practical way to actually take this good idea and actually apply it into your business. So that brings us to the action step for today, and the biggest and best action step that I have for you is to look at that list of 10 examples that I shared and basically work out what are your top three winning messages that you can start sharing. And when you do this exercise, I want you to think about people that you've spoken to already, clients that you work with already. There's already things that you've shared with them that make them want to work with you. It's like they were the catalyst points, they were the turning points, they were the things that really got them essentially at the end of the day. So the action step is to come up with your top three winning messages and you can look at that list of 10 to see if that prompts something, but you need to also reflect on people that you've spoken to already and people that you work with as well. Okay, that is what I have for you today.

Shannon Stone:

This is the third podcast episode in the content series all around discovery calls. There is one more in this series and then we call it a wrap. The next one is got to be the drum roll, which is how to book more discovery calls. So how do you actually get more of those discovery calls into your calendar? So that will be the next episode and, again, like I mentioned at the start, if you are listening to this live, definitely register for the masterclass. On December 16th. I'll be sharing 10 insights to help drive results with your discovery calls.

Shannon Stone:

If you do miss the day and you would love the replay, just send me a message on LinkedIn or shoot me an email and I can send you that replay, even if it's many, many moons have passed and you want to listen to that. That is what I have for you today. I hope you have an amazing day, an amazing week, and I'll talk to you soon.

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