I was in a hurry to meet with this particular
potential client. We'd met at the holidays at a party and discussed design. At the time, she said she had a designer she was going to work with.
I sent her a thank you note for being a wonderful host (it was held at her home) and included my card and the invitation that "if ever I can be of service or answer design questions, get in touch."
Fast forward a couple of months and I got an email that
she wanted to meet. The other designer had presented their ideas and they didn't feel like a fit.
I scheduled an initial consultation and skipped my discovery call, flying just with my "golden door qualifier" (works way better in tandem with the discovery call).
This was a major fail on my part because not only did I miss some key information that would have been gleaned in conversation but I
also missed building connection for the right client relationship.
It proved very difficult to recover from that gap because a big part of integral trust and credibility are built in a discovery call. (And I would have potentially seen the red flags in this project!)
Every potential client deserves a discovery call with you. And it will save you a boatload of wasted time and talent because
you'll know if they're a fit and start building a solid relationship.
There is actually a structure for this call and specific questions you want to ask.
Don't get in a hurry or think you don't need the call. I did and it cost me a lot.
In fact by investing as much as 45-60 minutes in a simple discovery call, you set yourself up for a project that exceeds expectations and rocks your bottom line.
(That's why I'm kicking myself over this one, my systems and processes work, but ONLY when I use them. Broken processes yield
bad results.)
You deserve to work with best clients on amazing projects.
Your discovery call is the foundation of that success.
Prosper by Design,
Melissa
PS. I'd love to hear about your Discovery Call process, drop me an email.
___