Four Key Questions to Close the Sale

How do you enroll clients over the phone? There are four key questions you need to explore to move your clients into action.

Preparing for a client conversation usually plays out like this:

A prospect wants to get on the phone with you to talk about enrolling.

Yay!

You begin preparing what you will say.

You create a script for yourself to describe your offer.

You channel your psychic abilities to anticipate what she might ask on the phone.

You lead the conversation.

You hang up the phone.

You wait and hope that they will say “yes”.

So what do you do when you get on the phone with a client who wants to talk to you about your online course or coaching program—and then they don’t enroll? What could you have done differently?

When they don’t follow up or don’t enroll, it’s easy to think that you should have had a better presentation prepared, right? But, here’s the thing: it’s not about what you say, it’s about what you ask.

So we’re going to walk through four steps that will help move you through any client conversation, to figure out if it’s a good fit for both of you to work together.

As I explain what’s happening in each step, I want you to start thinking about how this applies to your specific business. Think about what types of questions you could be asking your clients based on what you need to know in order to determine if your offer is a right fit for this person.

Four Key Questions to Close the Sale

Question 1: Why are they interested?

Whether you’re in person or on the phone, the first thing you want to do is figure out exactly why they are interested in talking to you.

• What are they working on that brought them to you?
• What are they creating in their business or life?
• What is their vision?
• What is their definition of success?
• What results do they want?

It’s easy to skip this step entirely. I get it. You’re excited that a potential client wants to talk with you, and you assume that all they need is to know is what you offer and how you price it. If you just present your offer the right way, they’re going to be ready to move.

It typically doesn’t work this way.  You have to understand clearly what they want and where they are now.

Linking what you do to what your client wants is the key to moving your clients into action. Click To Tweet

Question 2: What is the gap?

Once you understand where they are and where they want to be, you can figure out how your offer can help them.

The second part of your this conversation is where you uncover the gap. The gap is the distance between where your client is right now—their current reality—and where they want to be. What do they want to achieve?

If they are at point A, and they want to get to point B, the distance between those two is the gap you can help them bridge.

Spending time exploring this gap is important. Inside the gap is the inspiration and the motivation they need to take action with you.

If your client doesn’t see the gap and value bridging it, they’re not going to move forward.

Once you identify the gap, you can share with them how you can help.

Question 3: How can you help?

This is where you begin to talk about what you do and how you help your clients.

Once you understand their gap, you can easily talk about:

• How your products, your courses, your programs, and your skills can help them bridge that gap
• The details and pricing for your programs
• The structure of your online course, group coaching, or one-on-one work

Connecting your offer to the results your client wants is how you move the client into action with you.

Question 4: What do you want them to do?

And the most important and easily skipped part of your conversation is moving them into action.

Ask yourself: What do you want them to do next?

Be specific. It’s easy to end the call with “Um ok, just let me know”.

This rarely turns out well.

Instead, outline exactly what the next steps are for the client. Let them know why they need to move now and create urgency.

You might say, “Our course is starting on the 15th, and your next step would be to fill out your enrollment form. The first thing we’re going to do together is go through Module One, and I’m going to walk you through how to do XYZ.”

That gives you forward movement and a clear path. It starts to outline what it is you want the client to do with you.

Retrace Your Steps: Review the 4 Key Questions to Improve

So look at the steps and ask yourself:

• Did I begin by exploring why they’re here?
• Do I understand the gap, what it is they want to achieve?
• Did I explain how I can help, rather than just what I offer?
• Did I ask them to take action?

When you have all of these bases covered, you can determine if it’s a right fit to work together. Take your time and explore each part of this conversation. When we skip some of the steps, we’re also missing out on the opportunity to help people that we could be working with and supporting in achieving results.

What steps do you naturally cover? What’s missing? If you want help working on the questions to ask and how to “get into flow” with this conversation, you can learn more about how we do this in this free training. 

What steps are you going to add to your conversations to make a bigger impact?

Share in the comments, and I’ll check back in to see how everybody’s applying the four steps to their enrollment conversations.