I started charging $1,500 for discovery calls and my close rate tripled.

Why making it harder to talk to you is the best sales strategy you'll ever implement

For four years, I gave away free strategy sessions to anyone who asked.

I’d spend four to six hours creating custom pitch decks. Beautiful slide decks with timelines, mockups, detailed implementation plans they could actually use.

Then they’d take it and disappear. Or they’d shop it around to three other agencies. Or they’d say “this is great, let me think about it” and I’d never hear back.

I was basically running a free consulting business for people who were never going to hire me.

The $200K mistake hiding in your calendar

Here’s the math nobody wants to do.

Let’s say you do 10 free discovery calls a month. Each one takes an hour on the call plus another two hours of prep and follow-up. That’s 30 hours of your time.

If your hourly rate is $200 (and if you’re good at what you do, it should be higher), that’s $6,000 a month you’re giving away. $72,000 a year.

And that’s just the direct cost. The opportunity cost is way worse.

While you’re on those calls, you’re not serving paying clients. You’re not building your business. You’re not doing literally anything that makes money.

According to a 2024 study by Gong, the average B2B sales cycle includes 27 touchpoints before a deal closes. But here’s what they don’t tell you: 80% of those touchpoints are with people who will never buy.

You’re spending most of your time talking to the wrong people.

Why I started charging for strategy calls

I didn’t come up with this idea myself. I saw other consultants doing it and thought they were insane.

“Nobody’s going to pay to talk to me,” I thought. “I’ll lose all my leads.”