How to start winning new Clients more than one at a time.

Hey there,

Who attracts, wins over and signs up a new Client for your business? Just you? How many new clients can you generate in a month? How many would you like to be able to generate? What would your business look like if it could take on that many?

You know where I’m going with this. If you are the only person in your business who can show up for the people you serve, demonstrate to prospects how much they can gain from working with you, and help a hot prospect to take that final step and become a client or customer, you’ve created a bottleneck you’ll regret one day.

So over the next few newsletters I’m going to talk about how to map out and delegate your Share Promise processes - the things you do to attract and win over new clients or customers to your business. Because once your team can handle Sharing your Promise as well as Keeping it, you’ve offloaded much of the work of keeping your business going, and can think about being away for months at a time, rather than weeks.

In today’s newsletter I’m going to set the scene, and talk about:

What the Share Promise process looks like, and why
Where to start with handing over your Share Promise process
How to hand over 'Qualify'

Here goes:

What the Share Promise process looks like, and why

Here’s my starting point for any Share Promise process:

It looks like this because it mirrors how people like to buy:

As a buyer, when I need something, I go looking for it. I 'Seek' a solution to the problem I think I have, not necessarily the problem I really have.

When I find potential solutions that look as though they might fit, I 'Qualify' them.

I’m not going to buy from just anyone, I’m looking for someone I can like or at least feel some affinity to. Why would I feel that affinity? Because I can recognise that they are in some way, like me. We share some values and behaviours, at least part of a world-view.

Only once I can say ‘I like you’ will I bother to even check that you can actually do whatever it is I think I need.

But I still don’t know if I can trust you, so ideally, I want to 'Try' you out - I’ll check out testimonials, reviews, case studies. Even better, you’ll have some low-risk (not necessarily free) options available that let me experience something of what you Promise, before I finally commit and 'Buy' from you.

Finally, because I’m a human being, part of what I’m really looking for is a opportunity to 'Bond', to be part of a community, of something bigger than myself, something that’s going to be part of my life going forwards, even if it’s just in memory. You might laugh at this idea - ‘Bond with my baked beans! What rubbish!’, but I bet that if you look at your own purchasing habits you’ll find some versions of commodity products you would never want to be identified with and some you’re proud to show off in your shopping basket. That’s what branding does - it helps people bond with commodity products.

Where to start with handing over your Share Promise process

As buyers move through their buying process, your 'Share Promise' process, their numbers diminish, but their significance increases, until by the time you get to 'Enrol', you’re handling one at a time.

It’s hard to know where to start handing this over. On the one hand, up front, at 'Show Up,' you might be dealing with several different ways of showing up - networking, social media, podcasting, trade shows, advertising - each of which has it’s own process. You’re also potentially dealing with dozens, maybe even hundreds of enquiries.

On the other hand, the closer prospects get to buying, the harder it feels to lose them, which is why it feels much safer to handle 'Demonstrate Value' and 'Enrol' yourself.

So I’m going to start with what is possibly the simplest part of the process and the easiest to hand over: 'Qualify'.

How to hand over 'Qualify'

As you may recall, when you define your Promise of Value, you don’t just describe you. In describing the behaviours you embrace, the values you espouse and the change you want to make, you describe your ideal client too - the kind of people who share your values, enjoy the same behaviours and are looking for the change you want to make.

If you’ve got your language right in your 'Share Promise' activities, the people who respond to the ways you 'Show Up' should be the right kind of people.

That doesn’t automatically mean that you are the best solution for them.

They may not be far along enough on their journey for you to be able to help them yet; you may not be cost-effective for them; they may be in a demographic that you aren’t equipped to deal with. Or it could be that they simply don’t share some of your crucial values.

The purpose of 'Qualify is to enable both parties to decide whether it is worthwhile to carry on exploring the possibility of a joint opportunity. You want to make sure that you are a good answer for the prospect. So do they.

The more unsuitable prospects you can rule out at this stage, the more time you have to spend on suitable prospects and on keeping your promise for existing clients.

And ‘no’ doesn’t have to mean you do nothing for them.

Maybe you can refer them to someone else who can help them better?

Maybe you can come up with a different service for those who are ‘not ready yet’? That could be something as simple as a DIY guide, an online course, a newsletter or joining a community.

So what actually happens in 'Qualify'?

There are 2 stages:

Filter Out

The first Activity is where you rule out the totally unsuitable. You can do this fairly simply with some well-thought-through questions, based on your Promise of Value.

Start by asking yourself this question:

“What 2 or 3 characteristics must a potential buyer have in order to benefit from what I can do for them?”.

Then ask:

“How would those characteristics show up as concrete, measurable actions?”

For example, let's say you’re a leadership consultant and trainer, and you only want to work with companies who are ‘serious about developing talent internally’.

How might that characteristic show up as concrete actions?

Well, you might expect the firm to recruit most of its managers from internal candidates, and/or actively support their personal development through training, coaching or mentorship. You might in turn expect a lower than average turnover rate of staff.

That means that instead of asking a prospect "Are you serious about developing internal talent?”, you could instead ask things like:

"What percentage of senior management posts are filled by internal candidates?"

"Do you run mentorship or coaching schemes for managers and would-be managers?"

"What is the staff turnover rate among managers?"

The more a potential buyer answers these questions the wrong way, the less likely it is that they will fully benefit from what you offer.

The least that happens is that the answers to these questions indicate whether you are a good solution for this prospect. They will also start you on the road to understanding what their current issues are; how you might best be able to help and the impact you can have financially. For example, a high-turnover amongst management staff means a high cost of replacement, both in terms of recruitment costs and of lost productivity while new people get up to speed. You can build this information into a return on investment figure you can share with the prospect now or later on in 'Share Promise'.

What if one of your key criteria is simply ‘Can they afford me?’.

One way to establish this is by framing it as ‘commitment’, especially if you know that time is needed to produce results.

That means you might set some kind of bar, such as a minimum contract. For example, DogKnows only takes on dogs whose owners can commit to 3 walks a week, for a minimum of one month. A personal trainer or weight-loss consultant might specify a 12-week programme. A gardener might stiplulate you stay with them for 4 seasons.

Once you have a set of questions that work well for your business, you can teach your team to ask them instead of you, maybe face to face, or even on a phone call.

That means that initial enquiries can go straight to them, rather than to you. Your team can winnow down the pile, leaving you to deal with only the most promising.

And if that gets too much for your team to handle, you can automate 'Filter Out' by asking these questions as part of an online questionnaire or quiz. Similarly, any bar you set can simply be stated on your website - or even in ad copy. After all, why waste money on a click that won’t lead anywhere?

Qualify In

Once you’ve filtered out the totally unsuitable in the first stage, you can afford to spend more time with people in the second stage, building on what you’ve already found out to fully understand their unique situation, where they are, where they want to be, and their motivation to get there. Only once you know your prospect well enough can you construct an offer that truly serves them.

In my opinion, this is best done by talking to people.

You may call it a Discovery Session, Consultation, or Assessment, but above all it needs to be a conversation, and the key is to find out as much as possible about your prospect before you decide whether you want them to progress further.

All that's needed is a 10 to 20 minute semi-structured conversation to find out:

Where your prospect is now in their business
Where they really want to be (and in what timescale)
What challenges they face in getting there
What getting there will mean for their business and to them personally (their motivation)

From their answers, you’ll be able to judge whether your business can offer the best possible solution for them, and whether they are the right kind of client for you. Then you can decide if you can help.

Because this is a conversation, not a script, it helps to have some sort of Aide Memoir to keep track of what information you’ve gathered. So I’ve created you a simple Prop you can use when having this conversation. It's a very simple Qualifying Conversation Map, with reminders of the questions to ask and space to take notes for each of the 4 areas of discussion.

It’s like this because in a conversation, people sometimes volunteer information without being asked, and sometimes have to be asked explicitly. This Qualifying Conversation Mapp helps you to make sure you’ve covered everything you need, without forcing the conversation into a script.

"OK Kirsten, that’s great, but how does this help me hand over doing this to my team?"

That’s a great question, because a conversation isn’t really a process, and you don’t want it to feel like one.

The answer is to give the Qualifying Conversation Map a double use - as a tool to gather information and as the means to convey your knowledge about what to look for in a new client.

Before your team can start to ‘Qualify In’ instead of you, they need to know what you know. They need to know what to look out for in this conversation.

Here’s how you pass on that knowledge:

Simply use the Qualifying Conversation Map for the next few 'Qualify In' conversations you do.

Take an extra notebook in with you, and as you talk to prospects, note down in it the things you hear that make you think ‘Yes! I’d love to have this person/business as a Client!’, plus all the things you hear that make you think ‘No!, This person/business is not for us.’

Then annotate a copy of the Qualifying Conversation Map with the signals you’ve noticed. A signal might be quantitative (e.g. too small), or qualitative (e.g. not ambitious enough). Make it obvious which signals mean ‘Yes!’ and which mean ‘No!’.

You’ve now found a way to pass on your ability to judge whether a potential buyer is a potential client!

Then, of course, get your team to practice having these conversations.

Role-play being a suitable and unsuitable prospect with them. Get them to Role-play with each other. Practice until you and they feel comfortable that their judgement will be right enough of the time to get the business where you want it to be. They will improve with experience.

And that’s it.

Here’s what you learned today:

The buyer is in control. You can’t push them into buying from you. The best you can do is help the people who need what only you can do to find you, get to know you, trust you, and hopefully bond with you.
Showing up is a lot of work. Enrolling a prospect as a Client is intense. So it makes sense to start your handover of 'Share Promise' at 'Qualify', where many hands can make light work, while keeping your skills for the most significant part of the process.
Much as I love process, not everything needs to be one. Sometimes a cleverly designed Prop can be used to capture know-how, especially when that know-how involves judgement.

Remember, you don’t have to hand ‘Qualify’ over all in one go. Start by defining the questions that will help you ‘Filter Out’ the wrong people. Test them out on new enquiries. Refine them. Then teach at least two members of your team to do this as well as you.

Once you’re happy that’s working well, make a start on ‘Qualify In’. Use the Qualifying Conversation Map to assess new enquiries and to make explicit your own knowledge of who’s a good fit for your business. Then hand that over too.

You’ll almost certainly see the number of enquiries fall.

But you should see the quality of enquiries go up - both in terms of their readiness, and their compatibility. If you don’t, identify whether the problem is in ‘Filter Out’ or ‘Qualify In’, and adjust your questions and Props accordingly.

Finally, persist. Because once you get this working, the rest of 'Share Promise' (and indeed 'Keep Promise') becomes much easier.

If you'd like some help to think things through, or bounce ideas, give me a shout.

Next time we’ll look at ‘Demonstrate Value’. How you help prospect to really get to know and trust you.

Thanks for reading!

The Disappearing Boss

Continuous Improvement** for customer‑focused small‑business owners - turn your successful company into a self‑managing promise system —no silos, no supervisors—where people can run end‑to‑end processes with real‑time feedback to keep customer value flowing, and The Boss can take breaks without breaking the business.

**The way Ohno‑san really meant it.