The pre-call mistake that's killing your close rate (and the 3-question fix)

Here's the trap almost every expert falls into on sales calls:

You hear someone describe their problem. You recognize it immediately—you've seen it a hundred times. And your brain jumps straight to "oh, I know exactly what's wrong and how to fix it."

So you start explaining. You start solving. You start demonstrating your expertise.

And the call goes nowhere.

Not because you were wrong about their problem. You weren't. But because THEY haven't caught up yet.

They haven't fully felt the weight of their own situation. They haven't gotten clear on how bad it actually is. They haven't done the internal math that makes your fee feel like an obvious investment instead of an expense.

You did the discovery work FOR them. Which means they never felt the urgency themselves.

Most people think discovery is for YOU, so you can understand their problem well enough to pitch the right solution.

It's not.

Discovery is for THEM.

You already know what their problem is. You've seen it a hundred times. But THEY need to get clear on what the problem actually is and how much it's costing them.

If you skip that step—if your expertise lets you jump ahead—they won't feel the urgency to act. They'll say "this was really helpful, let me think about it" and you'll never hear from them again.

The question becomes: how do you slow yourself down? How do you resist the expert's urge to diagnose too quickly?

You build a system that does the discovery work BEFORE you ever get on the call.

FYI: I learned this framework from Walker McKay, someone I am eternally grateful to call a dear friend, whose Southern baritone I love listening to, and whose training on how to run effective sales calls was critical to earning 7-figures in the last 4 years.

The Pain Primer is a pre-call framework—a set of strategic questions in your booking form that qualify AND prime prospects before they show up.

When someone fills this out, three things happen:

And you get guidance for staying in discovery mode on the call itself—because you have their answers right in front of you.

Here's how it works:

Here's something most experts get wrong: they ask prospects to describe their problem.

But your buyers aren't problem-aware. They're symptom-aware.

If you ask "what's your biggest challenge right now?" you'll get vague, surface-level answers. "I need more clients." "I want to grow my business." Generic stuff that doesn't help either of you.

Instead, give them a list of 15+ first-person statements and ask: "Select any that apply to your current situation."

Not formal problem descriptions. Confessions. Written the way they'd say it venting to a friend over drinks.

Here are some examples from my own Pain Primer:

See how different that is from "describe your problem"?

Here's what happens when someone goes through a list like this:

One question. Three outcomes. That's leverage.

"In the last year, how much money do you think these problems have cost you?"

Two critical details here:

When you give ranges, you anchor them. They pick something in the middle and move on without really thinking about it.

When it's open-ended, they actually have to calculate. And here's what happens: they often come up with a number FAR higher than you would have even suggested.

"Consider: time wasted, opportunity cost, money spent on solutions that didn't work, revenue lost, deals that fell through, etc."

You might have guessed their problem costs them $50K. They write in $175K because they started adding up the failed hires, the lost deals, the wasted months, the opportunity cost of staying stuck.

Now your $15K fee is obviously worth it. And THEY came up with that math, not you.

"On a scale of 1-10, how motivated are you to fix these problems in the next 90 days?"

The 90-day timeframe matters. It creates urgency and separates "someday" thinkers from "now" action-takers.

Here's how to use the responses:

Before the call, send them a message:

"Hey, I saw from your responses that solving this is about a 4 out of 10 priority for you right now. Is there a reason we should still have this call?"

Notice what you're NOT saying. You're not saying "let's reschedule for when it's a better time." You're giving them the opportunity to make the case to YOU.

What often happens:

"Actually, I know I said 4, but here's the thing—we just lost a major client over this and my board is asking questions. I really do need to figure this out."

They convince themselves. They tell YOU why it's actually urgent. And now you're not the pushy salesperson—you're the one who almost walked away.

What This Changes On The Call

Before the Pain Primer:

After the Pain Primer:

The call becomes about depth, not discovery. They've already admitted the pain to themselves. You're not convincing them they have a problem—they've already told you they do.

I've had multiple clients—Amy and Dominic come to mind—tell me this framework transformed their sales calls. Not just the calls themselves, but how they FELT going into them.

Both said the same thing: it gave them clear guidance on what to cover. No more winging it. No more hoping they asked the right questions. The prospect's own answers became the roadmap.

But here's the part that surprised me: multiple clients have reported it drastically decreases no-shows.

Think about why. The people who won't do the work of answering thoughtful questions? They're the same people who would've booked a call just to "pick your brain." The Pain Primer filters them out before they ever get on your calendar.

You're not just priming prospects. You're protecting your time.

That's leverage. Build the system once, use it forever, and let it do the qualifying work before you ever show up.

Speaking of qualifying before the call...

Your LinkedIn profile is doing filtering work whether you've designed it to or not. The question is whether it's attracting the right people and repelling the wrong ones—or just confusing everyone.

Apply for a Toast & Roast: I'll review your profile and tell you exactly what's positioning you well, what's undermining you, and what to fix first.

With love, growth, and discovery,
Kasey