In this 8‑day challenge Facebook Live session, Frances (Fran) tackles two core sales skills that many small‑business owners and coaches struggle with: (1) systematic follow‑up and (2) writing proposals that speak directly to the client’s needs. She stresses the importance of securing explicit permission and a concrete date for the next contact, outlining a repeatable cadence of calls and emails over one to two weeks, and providing a polite “go‑away” closing message that leaves the door open for future engagement. Fran then shifts to proposal construction, warning against self‑centric content and instead recommending a client‑first structure: current situation, problem statement, solution, investment (time first, then money), and clear next steps, with the client’s logo on every page. Throughout she shares anecdotes, practical scripts, and a confident, supportive tone, encouraging viewers to join the upcoming 8‑day challenge to build sales confidence.
Chapters
Good morning, beautiful people of Facebook. How are you? Hope all is well. Welcome to week 7. Can you believe— I can't believe this is week 7, but anyway, here we are. And one of my favorite topics, and also interestingly one of the questions that I often get, is when do I follow up, how often, or Um, I don't want to feel like I'm nagging, annoying people, all of those things. So today I'm going to be helping you with some awesome tips on how to make the follow-up thing simple, easy, and give you confidence in that. Um, and secondly, how to translate what you've learned and heard from your clients into a winning proposal, because There's some big mistakes that people make. So they're the 2 things that I'm going to do. So firstly, I'm going to cover off follow-up. So the biggest mistake that people make with following up is that they forget to get permission and to ask from the client. So any phone call, any meeting, anything that I have with a client, that at the end I always say, Right, well, the next step is I'm going to get you— so let's say I'm talking to a brand new client and then I need to put into writing what I've learned and what we've talked about doing together. So I'll say, I'll be able to get you a proposal by the end of the week. Given that I do that, when should I give you a call? And they can tell you. So they'll go, oh, look, I need to talk to my business partners about that on Wednesday, so how about you get it to me Tuesday, and then if I've got any questions, I can let you know. Perfect. So here's the reason that that works. One is if you don't set a date and and and and and and do that, that client. So let's say I I just said, "Great, I'll get you a proposal." Now in the client's mind, they have set a date on that. So that might be they might expect it tomorrow. They might expect it next week. They might expect it at the end of the month. Who knows? So if you don't set a date. That deliverable, then you're letting yourself down. Because I had an experience the other day where someone said, oh yep, I'll get you a proposal, and 2 weeks later I haven't got anything. And now I don't think that person is trustworthy because they're not reliable, because they didn't, they didn't set a date and they didn't meet my internal date that I set in my brain. So that's why it's so important. So people will love you for doing that, and they will see you as being reliable and more trustworthy because you say what you do. I'm going to get it to you by Friday, and then you do that. So that's a really important tip. And then just adding that little bit at the end to say, so when should I give you a call, allows you to get permission. So when we go to then pick up the phone on that Wednesday— oh sorry, Tuesday he said, didn't he? So on that Tuesday to call him, how do I feel? Confident. Am I am I feeling like oh is it too soon? Is it no? All of those worries go away because you have permission. You have agreed with the other person when to do this, so you feel more confident and better, and so you sound better, and what your questions come everything is better. So you're setting yourself up for success by doing that equally. And I heard this from a client who doesn't always like picking up the phone. He said to me, and you know what, Fran, when that phone started. ringing, I thought, oh, I've got to pick it up because I told Fran that that was the time to call. So equally, you're more likely to get through, and I'm not saying you always get through, but that's why you do it. So then what I do is, let's say I don't get through, I'll go, Hi Bob, calling you at 10 o'clock Tuesday as we discussed. I know life gets busy and you might just be caught in a meeting, so you know what, I'm going to give you another call in 15 minutes. Talk soon. Then I do, I call again in 10 minutes or 15 minutes, whatever I've said. Hi Bob, obviously you're caught up. Look, I'm going to send you a quick email, let's reorganise the time, um, but would love to chat to you before you need to talk to your business partners on Wednesday. So in this message I'm saying let's reorganise, let's do this, and reminding him of Of his— the reason it needed to be Tuesday for him was because he wanted to talk to his business partners on Wednesday. So you're setting yourself up again for success because you're using the information nicely to help the other person, because that's what we're doing, we're helping people buy. So you do a series, 6 or 7 follow-up calls over a sort of a week or 2 weeks. I also include emails and those sort of things in that, and And then at the end, because lots of people go, well, what do we do if no one's calling us back, if I'm getting crickets? And I have a really simple technique to do that because for me, when I— if I'm chasing someone and then I feel like it's chasing, then I want to give them an opportunity to respond and say, yes, this is important to me, or not. So at the very end, I use my nice go-away message, which sounds a little bit like this. So I would say, hi Bob, look, thank you so much for telling me about your business and telling me about the, you know, how I might be able to help you. Obviously what we talked about isn't a high priority for you right now, and I totally understand that. I was just calling to say this is the end of my follow-up series of calls, and if you would like To progress this further, then please don't hesitate to give me a call. And I'm just calling to wish you all the best, and I know other priorities happen in business and in life. And if in the future there's anything that I can do to help you, please don't hesitate to call. So what I'm doing is saying, hey, this is the end of my follow-up series. I'm saying, hey, I get it, business happens, priorities change. And then I'm saying I'm giving him an invitation, so I'm opening the door again. So because if in 2 months' time Bob says, oh, I really need Fran's help, I don't want him to feel awkward about that. So one of 2 things will happen when you send a message like that. Either you will hear nothing, which kind of confirms in my mind that you were right— it's— I was right that, you know, it's not a high priority for them right now. Perfect. And secondly, you'll get a call straight back or an email straight back going, yes, yes, yes, I still need to talk to you. So either way, um, I kind of feel like that's a win because just remember, when we're looking at what success in selling is, it's helping people make a buying decision. And that buying decision is either yes or no. Both of those outcomes are okay. And if you've got a good efficient sales system, then you will, you will filter people through that and they will either say yes or no. You won't have those kind of hangers-on that are just annoying. So that's following up. Proposals. So many proposals that I read talk way, way, way too much about you. They do. Go and have a look at your proposals or the things that you send people. If it starts with anything to do with our company history, why you should buy from me, all of those sort of things, just Look, they're beautiful, but they're not relevant to the client. What the client wants to know is, do you know who I am? Have you understood my problem? And can you help me? And then, if you've established those three things, how much is this going to cost? They don't care how many write-ups you've had in you know this magazine or that magazine. I'm not saying those things aren't important as proof, but not in a. in a proposal. Those things kind of exist somewhere else. So the proposals that I write do that. So it starts with current situation, exactly what I've heard. Your company is 10 years old, this has happened, this has happened, this has happened, whatever the reality is. Problem, a problem statement, what I understand your problem to be. Solution, what we've already talked about as the solution and how I can help you. Investment, you know, and, and the investment part, um, I start with the time investment and, and those sort of things because it's not just— well, with me anyway, when someone's doing coaching or consulting with me, they're investing time and effort in me, um, and, and helping me understand their business and helping me help them. So I talk about that, and then I talk about obviously the money investment. So, um, And then all I put at the end of my proposal is next steps. If you would like to go ahead with this, this is what we need to do next. So at the end of that proposal, the client understands, I hear you, I see you, I know what your problem is, and this is the solution we discussed. This is exactly how we're going to do that in as much detail as you can. And this is the first step or the next step. That's it. That's it. I make sure that the just little subtle things like the client logo is always on there on every page. Yes, my logo is on there, but so is the client's, because you know what, this proposal is about them. It's not about me. I want them to know that I see them and to say yes to me. So there are my tips on following up and proposals for this week, and I'm super excited I have to share with you I'm shooting my videos for the 8-day challenge this afternoon, so I would love you all to join me. That would be super awesome. It's starting Monday, and we're gonna have lots of fun with a little bit of information and a little challenge every day that is absolutely going to build your sales confidence and help you be the awesome, beautiful, wonderful person that you are. So go out there, beautiful people, and enjoy today. Happy Thursday, and I look forward to seeing you next week for my last in the 8— the series of 8 Facebook Lives next Thursday. And certainly for all those beautiful people who've already said yes to the challenge, I'll see you guys Monday. Yay! Have a beautiful day. See ya.
