My Absolute Worst Call (Avoid These Mistakes)

"I don't like this. I feel like I'm in the hot seat."

Uh-oh. I had royally messed up.

I was on an intro call with someone I met on LinkedIn. I came in expecting it to be a "get to know you" kind of session. She'd share stuff from her journey, I'd talk about mine.

And we'd deepen our connection.

But instead, she was feeling uncomfortable. I'd done hundreds of calls with strangers, how did I manage to screw this one up so bad? Here's my three big lessons from reflecting on this botched call.

They'll help you avoid finding yourself in the same sticky scenario, while making all your disco calls better.

1. Don't Make an Ass out of U and Me

Our call started off like most.

Friendly chit chat about how we were doing. And then she said, quite bluntly, "It's your call - lead it." I was confused.

What I should've done is clarified what she meant.

Instead, I made the blunder of assuming that I'd misunderstood her intentions for our chat. "She thought this was an enrollment call, she must be really interested in working with me." Doh.

I'm sure you can see how this led to disaster.

There's an old saying that's full of truth: When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.

2. Frame Your Freaking Calls

My silly assumption should've been caught shortly after.

How? When the call switched in my mind from "a friendly chat" to this is an "enrollment call", I should've explained how things would unfold.

Letting her know what to expect and how the call will flow.

If I had, we would've quickly discovered the misunderstanding. It would've saved her from feeling uncomfortable and saved me from the embarrassment. When you're speaking with a potential client, always frame the call at the start.

It shows that you're a pro.

And it also allows the person to relax a bit because they now know what to expect.

3. Pay Extra Attention to Tone

She had asked to do an old school phone call vs a video call. That would've been fine, if I hadn't forgotten that you have to listen with twice the intention when there's no video. On a video call, there's way more cues to how someone is feeling.

There's no facial expressions or body language to read on a voice only call.

Had I been paying closer attention, I'm sure I would've noticed the discomfort in her voice before she spoke up. Always listen for tone. Is it aligned to the words being said?

When you're on video, it's much easier.

Are they sitting up and taking up space or making themselves small? Are they more animated when talking about one thing versus another? Some of the most powerful breakthroughs I've had with people came after I inquired about their tone or commented on their body language.

P.S. Want to feel confident + enroll more clients on your calls?

I'm hosting a free live workshop next week so you can learn exactly what you need to easily enroll clients and avoid ever having to do any "hard selling". You'll also learn the big mistake you might be making (that's making all your disco calls more difficult). If you're one of the 56 people already enrolled, awesome, I'll see you there. Want to join us? Sign up here.