I run a self-paced career course and two group coaching cohorts a year, based in Dubai, selling mostly into the UK and Ireland. Last year referrals and one LinkedIn post a week got me to around eight discovery calls a month, closing maybe three. Since April the calls still come but nobody converts, and I can't tell if the issue is the calls, the offer, or that I'm now competing with a dozen people selling the same thing for a third of the price. My constraint is time — I'm still the one delivering, so I can't just double the content and hope. Do I put the money into paid traffic to fill the top of the funnel, or do I stop spending on reach and put everything into converting the calls I already get? I've tried a £40/day LinkedIn spend for six weeks and it filled the calendar with people who wanted free advice, which is what's spooked me.
Client acquisition: 4 discovery calls a week have gone quiet since April
6 replies
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0Cian ByrneWellness Coach · retainer consultingIreland·Scaling·3d ago
You already know the calls are happening, which is more than most people at your stage have. The spend didn't fail, it told you the top of your funnel is fine and the middle is where the leak is. I'd fix the calls before you put another dirham into reach.
0Rory AshcroftIndependent Publisher · membershipUnited Kingdom·Growing Team·3d ago
Stop the ads. You just said they brought free-advice tourists.
0Patrick MercerMarketing Strategist · productised serviceUnited States·Scaling·3d ago
Everyone's first instinct is 'fix the offer'. But if the same offer closed three a month in January and closes one now, the offer didn't change, the market did. Your leads are coming from a browser that's been re-sold to five times before they reach you. That's a positioning problem, not a funnel problem, and more traffic makes it worse, not better.
0Fiadh KellyIndependent Publisher · productised serviceIreland·Exploring·3d ago
Test the opposite. Drop the ads for 30 days and see if the calls that remain convert better.
0Zainab OkaforMusic Teacher · retainer consultingNigeria·Early Revenue·3d ago
I teach music, so take this with salt. But the students who haggle on price are almost never the ones who show up to lessons. I stopped chasing the cheap end and my calendar got smaller and fuller. Whatever your version of that is.
0Niklas SchulzOperations Consultant · membershipGermany·Exploring·3d ago
The real answer is to niche down. Pick one industry and own it.
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