In March, we discovered a big problem in the sales process for our coaching program:

More people than ever before were booking calls to learn about it… (woot! 🙌)

...but fewer than ever were qualified to actually buy. (womp womp 😞)

In this email, I'm going to show you:

  • What we did to fix it
  • Why it worked
  • How you could use the same approach to increase sales if you sell products/services over the phone (freelance services, coaching, high-ticket offers, enterprise software, etc.)

The Problem:

At a high level, our sales process works like this:

  • Someone is offered a free Strategy Call with us
  • They fill out a 5-question application to book it
  • We get them on the phone and show them how we can grow their business
  • They decide to become a coaching client

Obviously, once you get people on the phone, only a certain percentage of them are actually a good fit for the program.

We call these folks sales qualified leads, or SQLs.

Historically, at least 20% of people on the phone were SQLs.

In March, that percentage plummeted down to the single digits.

That meant our team was spending a LOT more time talking to people who weren't ready for coaching...and less time talking to people who were.

The Solution:

Fortunately, our head of marketing, Drew, had an idea to fix it:

What if we asked different questions on the booking application?

And by "different" he meant WAY different. Compare them for yourself:

 

Biggest differences:

  • Double the questions
  • Multiple long-form questions instead of all multiple choice
  • Deeper subject matter

The results?

Our percentage of SQLs shot all the way up to 21.3%.

Several weeks later, it's still holding strong—without a big decline in total calls booked.

Over the course of a year, that will translate to $576,000 in revenue that otherwise would've been lost.

While it's hard to isolate all of the variables and say the questions were the only thing that produced this change, we have a strong feeling they moved the needle a good bit.

Wait a second...why the heck did the questions make such a big difference?

I have a few thoughts, but I'd be curious to hear yours too:

  • Scarcity: The new questions communicate that we truly do have a limited number of people we can take on each month.
     
  • Setting Expectations: Question #9 ("What are you hoping to get out of this call? What's the #1 thing you need help with right now?") sets the expectation that we will help them with that specific thing on the call. And we will!
     
  • They Sell Themselves: The long-form questions are designed to get people to write out WHY coaching will benefit them. This hammers home the value.

How could you apply this to your business?

If you sell products (or services...I'm looking at you, freelancers) over the phone, this can have a huge impact on the way you do things.

For example, imagine a freelance graphic designer. Her sales process works like this:

  • Potential client visits website
  • Potential client fills out project query form
  • Designer follows up and schedules a phone call
  • Designer delivers quote

By adding these kinds of questions to the project query form, she could reap all the same benefits that we did.

Plus, imagine what it would be like to go into a call with a prospective client and have detailed info from them on why they need your help!

It's like turning a sales call into an open-book test. :)

But wait...doesn't a longer form = fewer conversions?

Yes, increasing the number of form fields/questions can cause more people to bail without filling it out.

If you're concerned about that, you can keep the booking form short and then deliver the remaining questions as a "Pre-Call Survey" after they've already booked the call.

(Note: I gave exact scripts for doing this in our "How to Build a High Ticket Sales Funnel" post a few months back. Check out the "Funnel Stage #3" part for details.)

Problems in your business often hide some of the biggest opportunities.

Did this spark any ideas for where some of yours might be? Hit reply and let me know!

- Bryan

P.S. Seriously, you'll want to check out this High-Ticket Sales Funnel post if you missed it originally. It gives you some of the best resources we've put together for selling big offers.