What to Say in Freelance Discovery Calls

freelance
Written By Lexi Wright

Congratulations! You have a client who wants to learn more about your services! This means you’ve already got a foot in the door, which is the hardest part about reaching new clients. Now, what should you do to communicate to this potential client that you can serve them?

First, Get in the Right Mindset

The energy you show up to the meeting with will be instantly perceived by your prospective client. This sets the tone for the whole relationship, so taking a few minutes before the meeting to focus on your mindset can be a game changer. To get in the right mindset, first recognize that if you weren’t ready for this opportunity, it would not be available to you. If you are questioning if you can really serve this client, then know that something you have put out into the world already has already worked in your favor to get you to this point. Questioning your abilities is not necessary now. You have the opportunity because you are ready.

Second, shift from an “I hope” attitude to an “I can” attitude.

Saying

“I hope this client likes me.”

“I hope I have solutions for them.” or

“I hope they book me.” places the responsibility out of your hands. It also comes from a place of questioning if this is even possible.

Instead shift your thoughts to a place of “I can.”

“I can connect with this client in a meaningful way.”

“I can identify solutions to meet this client’s needs.”

“I can show my value in a way they will recognize and be interested in.”

These are very simple shifts but will help you enter the meeting with confidence in yourself, your abilities, and the person you are showing up as.

Prep Your Elevator Speech

Your elevator speech is simply what you say when someone says “Tell us about yourself” or “Tell us what you do.” It should take you less than a minute to say and should include these 4 things:

  1. Your name and a few personal details. This might include something about your family, where you live, or things you are passionate about or interested in. This doesn’t have to be super personal, but sharing just a little bit can help you connect with people on a deeper than surface level.

  2. What industry you are in and how long you’ve been involved. Simple, straight forward, no frills here!

  3. How you’ve helped others. This doesn’t have to have a lot of details and you don’t have to disclose specifics about other clients and their results. But sharing how you can provide value to them helps them envision what working with you will be like and how they will benefit from your services.

  4. Connect back to them. This could be sharing about something that caught your eye on their website or something you have in common with them, something you admire about their mission. This is about shifting the conversation back to them and their business and drawing a connection about you can work together for common goals.

Having this developed and practicing it in advance will help you confidently and quickly present yourself and since this usually is one of the first things discussed in a meeting, you will set the tone for the meeting by starting off on the right foot.

Focus on Their Challenges

Asking questions to help you understand the real problems a potential customer is having is the primary goal of the discovery call. Often a client may think they have identified a solution, but because they are so close to the issue, it may be something else entirely. Your job during the call is to ask lots of questions to look deeply at the problem and learn more about their business and their goals. Asking questions like “What does success look like to you for this project?” or “Have you hired someone to help with this before?” or “What have you tried in the past?” can help you create a smarter, more thorough, and more effective proposal for them.

Don’t Be Afraid to Talk Money

Many of us were taught at a young age that it’s tacky to talk about money. But the hard truth is that it’s a necessary discussion to have so you can best serve the client. Being able to talk about money actually shows your confidence and establishes you as a confident business owner as well. You may encounter situations where clients aren’t willing to throw out a number for their budget or say they aren’t sure what the investment should look like. If this is the case, ask more questions about their goals and their timeline. If they have big goals and a short timeline, you can let them know that those generally require a higher budget. This may be enough to help them throw out a number. If they are more flexible with their goals and have a longer timeframe, you can talk to them about building blocks they can put in place and build on over time to work towards their goals. If you don’t have a good idea of their budget, you can always create a tiered proposal with different price points for different options so they can understand better how to move towards their goals and what the prices might be for those results.

Provide Next Steps

To close out your call, be sure to let them know exactly what will happen next. When will you send the proposal their way and how will you deliver it to them? What should they do after they receive it? What should they do if they have any questions? Clearly state what this looks like so they know what to expect. Then give them your best point of contact and get theirs as well. This is especially important if you connected with them originally on social media. And finally, leave them with a feeling of excitement. This might be something as simple as letting them know you are excited to work with them and have lots of ideas for their project or letting them know you are excited to have connected with someone who shares common passions with you.

And that’s it! Now that your discovery call is over, your job is to deliver the proposal (here’s where you can get a free proposal template) in a timely manner and stay in your positive and confident mindset. Following up after the proposal has been delivered is also important. Don’t assume that just because you never hear from them that they don’t want to work with you. It’s absolutely ok to check back in after a few days or even a few weeks. Business owners get busy and following up is a great way to continue the conversation.


Ready to get your next freelance client?

You can find support, resources, and guidance in our Facebook group Purposeful Scaling Freelancers as well! This is a free community of people committed to starting or growing their freelance business to support their ideal lifestyle, bring them purpose, and provide an income.

Lexi Wright
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