Today, I want to talk about the client discovery programme.
Probably one of the most powerful tools you can have to winning a new client is the Client Discovery Process. Learning to have a conversation and turn that conversation into future business advisory work.
I have included a sample Client Discovery form that some of our consultants use that has literally won hundreds of thousands of dollars of advisory work.
This might give you a good running start at conducting an effective discovery session. What really works as well is some nicely timed key Phrases which I have listed below.
The nice part about this form is that it leads you and your client through a process.
- Start off with a few financial questions
- Ask questions about stress, enjoyment in the business, whether they are achieving what they first set out to achieve. This means that you are concerned about them!
- Ask about what the end game is. Do they have an exit plan? (This could lead to significant advisory work for you)
- Then the big area “What is holding you back?” That gets them to open up and start a real conversation.
- Ask about their priorities
- Finish up with a 90 day action plan
HOW DO YOU WIN WORK FROM THIS SESSION: – At the back of this you want to then lead into “We can help you to follow through on these objectives and strategies. Why don’t we…
- Set up a meeting t discuss in details your business goals and strategies or help you to prepare an exit & succession plan.
- Then let’s meet once a month and help keep you accountable.
SAMPLE CLIENT DISCOVERY PHRASES
I find some of the following phrases very powerful.
- There is no magic wand to solving all your problems overnight but this program is a very practical program that you can start on immediately.
- You need to break the cycle. If you do nothing – nothing will change.
- What would it mean to you….. To sell your business for a million dollars, to have 10 new customers a week …? To be able to have 3 weeks holiday a year? To spend more time with family…? Etc
- You can’t be expected to know everything and our program is about filling in some of those blanks for you.
- Without wanting to sound like I am belittling your issues, we deal with hundreds of businesses and most business owners believe their business and problems are unique.
- The reality is hundreds or thousands of businesses have confronted the same issues and come up with long term solutions to them. You may have a unique mix of problems but the problems themselves are the same.
- What are your current business challenges?
- As a business owner we realise you have hundreds of issues –that’s normal, however there are usually 2 or 3 key make or break issues that are getting in the way of you achieving your goals.
- If you could wave a magic wand over your business what would you like to achieve?
- Most business owners if they have 10-20 issues try to solve all of them and do a lousy job. We help you to focus on your top two or three issues. We then resolve one by one these issues. Single focused.
- What is your biggest challenge?…what would you make in the next 6 months, in terms of increased sales or profit or how much would you save if this was fixed tomorrow.
Peter Hickey | CEO | MAUS
Peter is the founder of MAUS Business Systems, a firm that started as a business consultancy and grew into a software company. The company was listed as one of BRW’s fastest growing 100 private companies in 2000. It was successfully built from a one-man business to a multi-million dollar concern. The business was acquired by a multi-billion dollar publisher, before Peter re-acquired the business 6 years later.
MAUS now has one of the largest ranges of cloud based SMB management tools and business advisory tools in the world. The company has 50 worldwide partner offices, and has helped over 60,000 users to achieve their business goals.
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