How to Convert Prospects into Clients

I want to share with you something that came up in our client work this week. It is how to convert prospects into clients.

Have you ever felt like you had an opportunity to convert prospects into clients or to extend more work to existing clients and all of the sudden, you didn't know what to do next?

So, here's what happened...

Our client had done a little bit of work for her client. They had a follow-up session and he'd specifically asked for some help around a challenge that he was having. She had done the work and delivered a ton of value. His very next question was, "What would it be like to work with you on an ongoing basis?"

All of the sudden, she got completely flustered. She didn't exactly know what to do about the question. She answered that it would be a couple of sessions per month and they'd probably work together for about six months.

The truth is she didn't know what to say. Instead, she ended up saying, 'Well, Steve, let me just send you some information as to what that would look like and then we can have a follow-up conversation."

A Missed Opportunity to Convert Prospects into Clients

We all have moments when we miss a great opportunity to convert prospects into clients because we are caught off guard.

He was asking her right there! She didn't know exactly how to handle it, and she fell into the trap of going into her own process. He's asked the question, "What would it be like to work with you on an ongoing basis?", and she was thinking about the number of sessions that they'd have together. The mechanics of working together.

What's likely to happen next?

First and foremost, she's going to struggle to put together the information. She's going to be thinking what is it that she can put in there that's going to be so compelling that her client will say yes. It will cause her to procrastinate, and by the time she sends that information through, he's going to be busy. Back into his working world, and the information is going to end up in an email.

I'm wondering if you can relate and if this is something that's happened to you before.

It certainly happened to me in the past.

How to Convert Prospects into Clients

How do you handle that at the moment when somebody says, "What would it be like to work with you?" or, "What would it be like to continue to work with you?"

Here's how I recommend that you handle this.

First and foremost, you have to say, "I'd love to answer that question for you but can I just ask you a few questions first?" Turn the conversation around so that you're back in that leadership role. Ask the client more around what it is that they're hoping to achieve by working with you.

Get them back into their vision of what it is they're looking to achieve, and then ask them about what are some of those problems that they're looking to overcome, or some of the goals they're looking to achieve.

Now you can start to position your offer in the context of their needs, their wants, their desires, and their vision.