Don't Forget To Make It Simple

Today’s Skill: Removing Friction

Hopefully, you were able to reflect on your business from last week’s issue. If you didn’t get a chance to, here’s your reminder to take some time and do it. Read it here.

I wasn’t going to do a follow-up to last week but, ironically, I happened to be researching some professional services for my business and got to see first hand from the buyers perspective how these folks handled the process.

It made me want to drill down a bit deeper into the simple things.

From their scheduling, to follow-ups, to learning about how they navigate a discovery call.

All stuff that seems like a “check the box” thing for most business owners is actually crucial to setting expectations for your sales process.

→ What often seems simple can get overlooked.

And those overlooked items can cause friction.

Good Friction vs Bad Friction

Now, there can be good “friction” which I call tension. It’s something I highlighted in an earlier newsletter issue that is critical to taking control of the sales process.

But, bad friction causes people to pause for a second and think…

Is this how they run their business?

Are they going to be organized when I work with them?

Will they communicate with me effectively if I were a client?

All sorts of questions start to sputter out when the buyers experience is less than expected.

This week, let’s put a microscope on some simple things that you can check with your business to make sure the experience is a 10/10. This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully helps you get started.

Areas To Explore

Scheduling

Question: How easy is it to book time with you?

What’s your process like today. Is it a pain for people to get on your schedule?

What I like:

Automated schedulers save email back and forth, for you and them. Use something free like Calendly or Google’s new Appointment Scheduler

→ Send a reminder at least 24 hrs prior to meeting (these can be automated)

→ Let them know where you will meet - Phone, Zoom, Google Meet and make it easy to find this information.

Be Specific (I highly recommend a platform with video as that enhances the experience. (You should also record the call. I use Fathom)

Pre-discovery information

Question: What do you do to learn about your client?

If the first time you are learning about your client is on your first call, you’re adding a lot of friction. This makes you have to start at the beginning instead of being able to research and prepare more thoroughly.

More thorough prep allows for deeper questions, quicker, and eliminates a lot of surface-level fluff.

What I like:

Asking “pre-discovery” questions prior to the call to help understand who/what the call is.

Email is fine, capturing it on a form when scheduling the call is better. Most platforms allow for you to ask questions but you can always use Google Forms as an easy workaround.

You can keep the questions super simple:

• Business name

• Website

• What problem are you looking to solve

• What is a successful outcome of our call

These do two big things:

1. Provide relevant info so you can prepare - Just by having their name and website you can learn about who they are and what they do. It helps you not walk into your discovery call cold.

2. Filter serious buyers from not so serious - If someone is unable to answer a few short questions about their business then they might not be the best clients to work with.

Pricing

Question: Are your costs easy to understand?

Does your pricing structure cause additional friction for your client (needing to gather a lot of data) or for you (having to send complex proposals).

You might feel like more complexity differentiates you but if it’s at the cost of confusion or time, what’s the point?

What I like:

If all of your clients fall into a general area of costs, make one cost and eliminate the back and forth. (Error on the higher side!). It will generally work out in the wash. At worst, have 2-3 tiers with specific boundaries on what is included and what isn’t.

By doing this it could solve so much wasted time spent on invoicing, creating proposals, scoping, etc.

→ Last point, don’t hide pricing. Share it openly on the first call even if you have to give tight ballparks.

Outcome goals

Question: Were the buyers outcome goals solved for this call?

If you didn’t ask, this is the first big step. (If you learned this on the intake form it makes it much easier to uncover.)

This is critical because if we don’t understand or deliver on those goals, it adds friction to the buying process. They might feel like they are not being heard or you are hiding something.

What I Like:

Ask early: “What are you looking to get out of this call?” or “What would make this a successful call today?”

• When you frame it this way, you get a direct answer. (if they supplied this on the intake form, you can confirm it at the beginning to get on the same page.)

By understanding what their goal is, you have a clear path to guide them instead of dancing around for 17 minutes asking surface level questions that don’t matter.

Next Steps

Question: Did you make it easy for them to do business with you?

The end of the first call and subsequent follow-ups are crucial to showing that you run a professional business and work with serious buyers. Are you leading or are you chasing, that’s always a question you should be asking.

What I like:

Check these 3 boxes.

• Did you set a clear next step or leave it in their hands?

• Did you provide the necessary information they asked for (in a timely manner)?

• Did you send your control email to show you’re on top of things? (reminder how to do this)

If there is one area where Founders struggle, it’s progressing their deals. So many deals sit in limbo because a clear next step wasn’t established. (reminder to make this easy)

Final Thought

It’s not always about giving an “All-star” performance that wins new clients. It’s actually the simple stuff that matters.

How can you make them have an amazing experience with you?

A lot of that comes down to removing the friction in the process and making it super easy for them to do business with you.

People have a lot of crap going on in their lives. Making their experience with you flow fluidly eliminates a lot of stress and wasted effort on their end.

When they are making their decision on a vendor to go with, often times that becomes the differentiator.

Your Action Step

Take one of these sections and create a step-by-step process of the flow.

What’s the play-by-play, how does it happen in real time?

Then, look toward areas where you can remove friction and make it super easy.

Like, ridiculously easy.

I know old habits die hard but there’s no better time to do a bit of decluttering in your business.