There are four enrollment conversation phases you need to master.
Do you sell or do you enroll?
If you want to attract more high-paying clients, a great deal is riding on your answer.
Prospective clients do not want to be sold. If you can learn how to enroll clients, you will be able to get more clients without them feeling you are selling them at all.
Offering a great service is not good enough. You need to learn the subtle art of enrolling clients through conversations.
The word enrollment is often associated with a college or private school process for admitting students. Sometimes the word is tied to recruiting volunteers to a worthwhile endeavor. That is the mindset you want to project. Like a college dean (I was one), you want to have enrollment conversations.
Some critics will say differentiating the words selling and enrolling is just semantics, mere word play for the same strategy and tactics. If you do great work clients will find you.
That is a gross miscalculation I like to call The Great Work Myth. A myth is a traditional story that concerns supernatural events. For example, one myth the ancient Greeks used to explain the world was almighty Zeus, from atop Mount Olympus, would reward good and punish evil from his lofty throne. Myths are different than legends, which are about human actions, and different from fairy tales, which are invented stories to amuse or teach.
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For many consultants, professionals and entrepreneurs, how to attract clients can’t be explained, which is understandable. I have interviewed hundreds and hundreds who gave me some variation of The Great Work Myth. I am here to debunk that myth.
There are four enrollment conversation phases you need to master: the attraction phase, the meaningful interview phase, the decision phase, and the agreement phase. If you get any of these enrollment conversations wrong, then this will not work effectively for you.
Attraction phase conversations must establish rapport, because without it there is no moving forward. What is the relationship that has brought you together? This might be a referral, meeting at an event, or an audience member who heard you give a presentation.
Meaningful interview phase conversations must be about helping the prospect get clarity around their goals, assets (even hidden ones) to accomplish the goals, roadblocks in the way, and an understanding of how you have helped others get from where they were to where they wanted to go.
Decision phase conversations must ask the questions: “Does this make sense?” “Are you ready to proceed?” or, “Here’s the next step; when do you want to start?”
Agreement phase conversations must clarify fees, options, terms and the steps in order to get started. There needs to be a meeting of the minds and details spelled out in writing.
Typically, these four phases will transpire over several conversations. A transparent process is a positive, especially if it makes the prospect feel they are in charge of all decisions. This is the exact opposite of manipulation and trickery. The right conversations build trust.
Let me give credit where credit is due on building trust. This is not the product of original thinking; it is something better: research into what works. This thinking has been influenced by the teachings of author David Maister, the retired Harvard Business School professor; Tony Alessandra, author of Non-Manipulative Selling and The Platinum Rule; Bill Baren and Patrick Dominguez, thought leaders in mastering enrollment; Mark LeBlanc, author of Growing Your Business; and author David Sandler, founder of Sandler Sales Training.
Now consider this: have you ever failed to enroll a prospect that should have hired you? This happened to one of the mentors I mentioned above. He met a prospect he failed to enroll seven years later at a party, and life was not going well for the prospect. And whose fault was that? My mentor knew it was his fault because he did a poor job at enrolling conversations back then.
So, the challenge is to get better at enrolling. The prize is great because enrollment can double the number of conversations you have with potential high-paying prospects and double your conversation rates. The time is now to learn the subtle art of enrolling conversations.
In my next article I will cover how to have those conversations in five easy steps.
