Good Marketing, Good Business

080: How To Book More Discovery Calls

• Shannon Stone • Episode 80

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We’re talking QUANTITY, how to have more Discovery Calls in your calendar.

Increasing your businesses enquiries, sales and overall profit can be directly attributed to the quality and quantity of your Discovery Calls.

By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:

  • Seven methods to generate more Discovery Calls
  • Why it’s important to have multiple leads sources 
  • A challenge you can take on to increase the quantity of Discovery Calls 

This episode is the fourth and final in a series which marks December (2024) as being the month of Discovery Calls. Each Monday throughout we focused on an aspect of improving your businesses Discovery Calls, as well as a Masterclass where I shared “10 Insights to Drive Results With Your Discovery Calls” - if you would like a copy of the replay, simply message Shannon Stone on LinkedIn or send an email to shannon@shannonstone.com.au. 

Enjoy!

Resources:


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

Shannon Stone:

Have you noticed? So much business and marketing content out there is so abstract and airy-fairy Like what they're saying sounds good, but what do you actually need to do? That's where the Good Marketing, Good Business podcast comes in. This is where I share practical strategies to help you grow your service-based business. And, in case we haven't met yet, I'm Shannon Stone, award-winning business and marketing consultant, and for the last decade or so, I've been diving in deep with small business owners, helping them to make more sales and get more done in less time, and today's episode is no different. Enjoy, hey guys. Welcome to the podcast, Very excited for this episode which concludes our series on discovery calls.

Shannon Stone:

So this episode is how to book more discovery calls. So in this one, we are talking about quantity. How can we actually get you booking even more people into your calendar, more people for you to talk to, to see how you can help them in their business or whatever it have you? It is that you help them with. So let's get into this one. It's going to be very, very practical. There are seven methods I'm going to share with you and I have a really good action step for you a little bit of a challenge if you really want to take this seriously and actually book more discovery calls. I guess you would take the action step and challenge seriously as well. So that'll be there for you at the end of the episode. I would love to get straight into this one, so let's jump straight into it. I will say, with these seven, use it as a checklist. You might be doing some of these already, which is amazing. You've already got your leg up on some of these, but you could also use it as an opportunity to review some of these areas as well. All of these are lead sources. They are ways for you to help generate more leads in your business leads and potential clients.

Shannon Stone:

So number one is to audit your online presence. So when anyone interacts with any one of your platforms whether it's social media, your website, any collateral that you've sent them a lead magnet, an ebook, whatever it might be when someone lands on that, can they find a link to book a call with you within 10 seconds? That is my question to you and that is what I want you to ask yourself as you audit your online presence. So this can be looking at things like your email signature, Is there a link for someone to book a call there. On your social media you can pin post pretty much to the top of every single social media platform LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. Your pinned post at the top Can someone book a call there? Highlights on Instagram Can people book a call there?

Shannon Stone:

Next one your call to actions on a recent social media post. So what I mean by this one is not every single post has to have a call to action about booking a call to work with you, but when someone say meets you at a networking event and then they say jump onto your Facebook or LinkedIn page or whatever it might be, to have a little bit more of a look to see how you can help them as they scroll through, is one of the recent posts that you've done? Does that have a call to action on it for them to book a call them or anyone else? And so when you think about this, it needs to come across as that maybe every fifth post or every seventh post one post a week at least needs to have that call to action on it. That's a really nice rhythm to then help you to see okay, when I've got my recent social media posts, I know within 10 seconds, as someone scrolls through, they're going to be able to find that call to action, that link to book a call?

Shannon Stone:

Another area to help you audit your online presence is your bios and your about sections on social media. Are you utilizing them by giving people an opportunity to book a call? The last one on your online presence not the only one, only last one, but the last one I'll share with you because there's many parts to your online present that we probably haven't covered. It's a call to action on your blogs and articles on your website. So when you share any blogs and I hope you've shared some recently, even if it was like one every second month is definitely better than nothing Are there call to actions on there for people to book a call? So that is number one. It is to audit your online presence and have a look and see okay, within 10 seconds can people find a link to book a call with me or my business? Okay, Number two, it is to develop a lead magnet with an automated email sequence, and in this email sequence, this automated email sequence, there's going to be a couple of invitations for people to book a call with you.

Shannon Stone:

Now this sounds so simplistic, of like either oh, yeah, I already do that, or, yeah, I know I should do that. So let this be your opportunity to either review that or actually put this into place. So have a lead magnet, an ebook, a checklist, some kind of downloadable and have an automated sequence so that, whatever emails you send on that automated basis three emails, five emails, 10 emails, whatever it might be there's an invitation going out for people to book a call with you. That is automated. It's not there just when you're there, and this is why I've added this one in, because you want multiple lead sources. You want people to come and find you, not just when you are going out there looking for them. So that is number two.

Shannon Stone:

Number three is to choose a day of the week every single week. So it could be Monday, it could be Wednesday, like any day, actually doesn't matter. But you need a call to action day every single week on your social media. So, however you run your business, however you run your marketing, at the moment, it can be really easy to just get lost in content creation and sharing value-based content, educational-based content, your business out and about all these different things. Even if you are sharing testimonials and things relating to your clients, how often are you doing an intentional call to action for people to book a call with you. This is why I like this one, because it's choosing one day of the week, every single week, so you've always got in a seven day period. At least one of those has got a really good, strong, intentional call to action. Whatever content you piece that with is completely up to you. It can still be a testimonial, it can still be educational or value-based content. That is all great as long as you've got a very clear call to action asking people or inviting people to book a call with you. Okay, we are halfway through the list of how to book more discovery calls.

Shannon Stone:

I do want to add with this I remember very early on in business seeing this very long list of all these different ways for businesses to book discovery calls and I was like those ideas are so simple, but that is it. There's no complicated way, no crazy brain explosion of an idea that is out there that's going to help you to generate leads in your business. It's, more often than not, just the things we're talking about here, and if we can't do these things, if we can't do these foundations and basics on some level, like, forget complicated funnels and ads and all these kinds of things. You've probably got all the means to be doing this in your business at the moment, so I just want to share that with you. These might sound really simple and like common sense, but how many people actually apply this? So that's why I said at the start use this as a bit of a checklist Are you actually doing these in your business? Because all of these will help you to increase the quantity of discovery calls that you have in your business.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, continuing on, number four is to share social proof in real time with a call to action to book a call with you. So, whatever your business is and however people achieve results, whatever that looks like maybe you hand over a new website, or they receive their corporate hampers, or you help print t-shirts, or they get the keys to their new home, whatever it is share that social proof in real time. And a nice little exercise that you can do in the realm of your business is to think okay, what are all the ways that we can show social proof? So, if you are a real estate agent, for example, handing over the keys, the hampers that you give to people, maybe signing the contract, there can be a whole string of other or supporting ways that you can share social proof. So you're not just always sharing the exact same thing over and over again, but the idea with this one is to share it in real time. So, as it happens, hot off the press, share this with your audience, your network, and always include that call to action as well.

Shannon Stone:

Number five to help you to book more discovery calls is to use the nine word email. So this was created by Dean Jackson, legendary marketer. If you don't know of it, the nine word email. It goes something like this, and it's literally nine words. It's hi name, Are you still interested in X, Y, Z solution? So it could say hi, Daniel, are you still interested in rebranding your website, something like that? So fill in the blanks with your business. So you would send this email out to either leads and prospects or to your whole database. Now, I wouldn't be sending this all the time, but it is a nice, straight to the point email that has been shown so many times to be incredibly effective. I've got a client who schedules her nine word email to her database every quarter. So once a quarter, once every three months, this nine word email is going out to her database and that makes sense for her business. So you can use the nine word email if you want to know more about it, just search it. But or you could just apply it and then let the results speak for themselves. That is number five.

Shannon Stone:

Number six I love this one because I think it's one that we forget to even do, and it's to create a two minute video on your services page and in that video, just share a quick overview of who you help and how you help them. So I'm sure we all can do this. What's a quick overview of the type of people that you help and how you help them and why? I love this, and part of the winning essence to this to help you to book more discovery calls is if you've got it on your services page, and obviously you can share this video far and wide beyond that page as well but people who are wanting or considering working with you. There's a different level of connection that comes across from a video, and I think that gives. As you would know, not everyone does this and I don't like to often talk about competitors, but are your competitors doing something like this when they're weighing up their different options? Who are they more likely to choose If you're selling the exact same thing. What are the things that make you different in your marketing? That will help you to stand out? And this type of two-minute video it's very simple, very simple to do. You could film it on your iPhone if you wanted to, even on Zoom. Just create it on Zoom who you help and how you help them and pop that onto your services page If you wanted to get it professionally done. That is also completely up to you as well.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, the last one that I'm going to share with you, and it's definitely the one that people forget, and it's like if you are not doing this, then what are you doing? It is to verbally offer people to book a call. So when you are talking to people that you can possibly help and they're sharing the problems that you can solve like the back of your hand, you just know how to solve those problems. Now, however, obviously there needs to be a lot of context of like who you're talking to and all those kinds of things. But how often or how easy would it be to just have a bit of a chat to someone? Say it's at a networking event or you meet someone in whatever kind of way you can chat to them about. You know that problem that you could potentially solve. But really what you can do to take it that step further is to suggest to them you know what. It would be, I think, much more beneficial if we make a time to chat further to see how I can properly make some suggestions and you can just send people your link to book a call. You can, in that moment, book a call with them then and there.

Shannon Stone:

But the idea is verbally tell people that they can book a call with you. Now, this can be in person. This can also be on Zoom. So if you're connecting with people online in whatever kind of regards, if it makes sense you are allowed to say feel free to book in for a call. It would be great to chat further about this. I can make some better suggestions. So Zoom. Or even if you're in the DMs with people obviously in non-spammy ways, but if it makes sense there suggest let's book a time so I can make some proper suggestions. So verbally offering people to book a call with you is a really powerful way that people just forget to even do or they feel a little bit ick about doing it, it's like, oh, that just seems a little bit too far forward, but it's not, I promise you. It's not, I promise you, it isn't. You're doing people a favor. You are there to help them.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, so this is a list of seven ideas. Use it as a checklist to help you to book even more discovery calls. Which brings me to the action step, and it was a challenge that I said right at the beginning was a challenge that I said right at the beginning. So my challenge to you and the action step is to implement all seven of these. So we need more than one lead source to grow a business. Generally, the unicorns of the internet world will tell you you only need one, but it's like that versus reality is not right. Businesses need multiple lead sources and I think you would never say no to finding more ways for people to find you. So the challenge and the action step is to implement all seven of these. Now, we can't do this all at once, obviously, or you might think that you can, but I would, even if it was like a monthly project. It's a challenge. That is the action step.

Shannon Stone:

And this episode concludes the content series, which was focusing all on discovery calls in the month of December. We have done the masterclass, where I shared 10 insights to drive results with your discovery calls. If you do want a copy of that, just send me a message on LinkedIn or send me an email, shannon, at shannonstonecomau, 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. More time helping you by creating episodes just like this one Send it, text it, tell somebody about it. Whatever you need to do, the more you spread the word, the more I can focus on creating needle-moving episodes to help you and your friends.

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