That Time I Spent 90 Minutes on A Discovery Call and What Entrepreneurs Can Learn

Entrepreneur Life

Apr 22

Let me take you back… it was a bright cold sunny morning in my neck of the woods. I was contacted via my website form of someone who needed help with their brand and was sent via referral. Naturally I scheduled a discovery call.

One of the things that I so passionately love/hate about small biz ownership are the constant lessons and growth that happen whether you want it to or not. I always know through tricky situations that there is something to be learned that will help me improve my business, processes and the like.

Case in point is a 30 minute discovery call that turned into an hour and a half only to lead to zero business.

I love a good chat but have learned that 30 minutes to get to know and answer questions for potential clients is the right amount of time to make sure I can still get my active client work done during my work hours.

I have had calls that turn into the most awesome client projects. I have also had lovely chats that don't turn into clients. So 30 minutes is a great amount of time to do that in.

However, this one time, the call was going great, we were planning out a project that would take weeks to execute and some specific questions and details and advice on how to go about it. The call went way over the 30 minutes, into 90 minutes. I remember getting off the call and thinking "woah, that was super long, but no problem, this client will turn into awesome business so no biggie". I followed up with a proposal and then received a polite reply that they were going to find someone who could "do it for cheaper with the suggestions I offered". WOMP!

Not getting business is no problem, that happens of course. Offering free advice that they can take somewhere else? No problem, I am happy to provide a helpful suggestion and share a lot of it on my social/website as it is. Spending 90 precious minutes of my time on the above is NOT OKAY DANA!!!!

I was so mad at myself! I know you are saying "calm down lady". But let me explain. I think I was mad at myself because I let myself get caught up in the "look at me I am so helpful and accommodating" persona and less on, " is this helping me pay you know...for daycare."

So this is why I always suggest keeping discovery calls to 30 minutes or less, follow up with a kick butt proposal and then book more calls with them when they sign on to become a client.

Can anyone else relate? Do you have any tips or advice with your discovery/sales calls?