Convert Clients Through Better Diagnosis

Key Points:

0:00 – John’s Productive Week
John shares that he finished his certifications, attended two networking events, got accepted into more networking groups, and started a social media campaign that already created interest.

0:38 – AI-Assisted Social Campaign
John explains how he used AI and the Coaching Dojo to build a 30-day LinkedIn campaign aimed at small business owners in his local area.

1:40 – Courtney Takes Over
Courtney begins the workshop and introduces the topic of conversions.

2:00 – Marketing vs. Sales
Courtney explains that marketing gets suspects to raise their hands, while sales converts prospects into paying customers.

2:42 – Conversion Through Critical Thinking
The call focuses on a less common conversion method: using critical thinking to better understand business owners and their real problems.

3:30 – Knowing vs. Assuming
The group discusses the difference between knowing facts and assuming based on feelings, patterns, or incomplete information.

4:40 – What It Means to Think
Coaches discuss thinking as a process of gathering information, asking questions, working through a problem, and creating potential outcomes.

5:30 – Thinking Critically
Critical thinking is framed as asking questions of the outside world, processing answers, and not accepting assumptions as facts.

6:20 – The Woman and the Phone Exercise
Courtney introduces a facts-based exercise from his PhD program to show how easily people add assumptions to limited information.

8:00 – True, False, or Don’t Know
Coaches are asked to answer ten questions about the scenario using only what is explicitly stated in the facts.

10:30 – Question One: Leaving Home at Night
The group realizes that “dark” does not prove it was late evening or early morning, because there could be other explanations.

12:00 – Question Two: Leaving to Make a Phone Call
Coaches recognize that the woman used a phone, but the facts do not prove that making a phone call was the reason she left.

13:30 – Question Three: Child in the Baby Carriage
The group sees that the facts do not prove the children were hers, only that several children were with her.

15:00 – Questions Four Through Six
The group continues identifying where assumptions were made about the phone, the call, the person on the other end, and whether someone refused access to John.

17:00 – Question Seven and Eight: Husband Assumptions
Coaches notice that the scenario never states John is the woman’s husband.

18:30 – Question Ten: The Baby Crying
The group identifies another assumption: the child in the baby carriage may not have been a baby, and the crying may not have started at that moment.

20:00 – Business Coaching Assumptions
Courtney connects the exercise to coaching, explaining that coaches can lose conversions when they assume instead of observing the facts.

21:00 – Traditional Logic and Vertical Thinking
Courtney explains vertical thinking as starting with a premise and moving down a straightforward path to a conclusion.

22:00 – Puzzle Exercise
The group discusses whether a puzzle must be solved from point A to point B or whether there are other possible paths.

23:00 – Lateral Thinking
Leon and others point out that there may be unconventional ways to solve the puzzle, introducing the concept of lateral thinking.

24:00 – Friday Riddle
Courtney uses the classic riddle about a man entering town on Friday and leaving on Friday to show how assumptions shape interpretation.

25:30 – Edward de Bono and Lateral Thinking
Courtney defines lateral thinking as solving problems by looking from new, unexpected, or unconventional perspectives.

26:30 – Sunrise Example
Courtney challenges the phrase “sunrise,” pointing out that the sun does not literally rise. The earth rotates into the path of the sunlight.

28:00 – Client Says Sales Are Down
Courtney asks what kind of problem it is when a client says sales are down. The group notes it could be sales, marketing, product, operations, leadership, finance, or strategy.

30:00 – Sales Problems May Not Be Sales Problems
The discussion shows how a revenue issue could originate from product-market fit, poor delivery, bad communication, operations, R&D, funding, or management vision.

31:30 – Don’t Solve the Loudest Pain Point
Courtney warns that the loudest pain point is not always the real problem.

32:30 – Band-Aid on a Broken Leg
Courtney compares surface-level coaching to putting a band-aid on a broken leg or giving a cough drop to someone with throat cancer.

33:30 – Doctor Diagnosis Analogy
Courtney uses a medical example to show why diagnosis must come before prescription.

35:00 – Diagnosis and Prognosis
A good professional identifies the condition, explains what happens if nothing changes, and then presents a clear path forward.

36:30 – Clients Convert Themselves
When the diagnosis is clear and the stakes are understood, the client often converts themselves because they finally understand the real problem.

37:30 – Why Referrals Come From Fulfillment
Courtney explains that the next warm lead often comes from solving the last client’s real problem so well that they become an ambassador.

38:30 – Don’t Reuse the Same Medicine
Even when a referral asks for the same result, coaches must diagnose the new client separately because the same solution may not fit.

39:30 – Lateral Thinking in Business Coaching
Courtney explains that lateral thinking helps coaches move beyond traditional business coaching and find more accurate solutions.

40:30 – MDP and Innovation
Courtney connects lateral thinking to Market Dominating Position, defining MDP as the extent to which a company innovates to deliver unique and superior value.

42:00 – Challenge Established Patterns
Coaches are reminded that they are already challenging the norm by using PAS and an assessment-first approach.

43:30 – Evidence-Led Business Coaching
Courtney introduces the idea of evidence-led coaching, where the coach follows evidence rather than assumptions or scapegoats.

44:30 – Diagnosis First vs. Solution First
Courtney contrasts diagnosis-first coaching with solution-first coaching, calling premature prescription a form of business coaching malpractice.

46:00 – Seek First to Understand
The call connects this approach to Stephen Covey’s principle of seeking first to understand, then to be understood.

47:30 – Ryan’s Reflection
Ryan shares that he recognizes the tendency to listen with the intent to respond instead of asking enough questions to fully understand.

49:00 – Ask Better Follow-Up Questions
The group discusses how simple prompts like “Tell me more about that” can help coaches slow down and diagnose more accurately.

50:00 – Emotional Side of Diagnosis
A coach points out that the emotional side matters because business owners act when they understand what the problem means to them personally.

51:00 – Handling the Stubborn Client
Leon asks how to handle a client who insists they know the problem and only wants the coach to use the “hammer” they already believe they need.

52:00 – Slowing Down Without Losing the Deal
Courtney explains that responsible coaching may require slowing the client down, even if another coach would rush to sell the quick fix.

53:30 – Ethical Coaching Requires Diagnosis
Courtney says it is unethical to offer a solution that may harm the business because the root cause was never investigated.

55:00 – Tourniquet Example
Quick fixes may be necessary in crisis, but keeping the quick fix too long can create deeper damage.

56:00 – Rob on Financial and Operational Diagnosis
Rob explains that deeper diagnosis requires combining financial information from Jumpstart 12 and the simulator with operational analysis.

57:30 – Stress Testing the Assumptions
Rob notes that coaches need to test whether more leads, more sales, or more growth would break the client’s system.

59:00 – Courtney’s Book and Bigger Framework
Courtney shares his book, Lemonade Stand to Global Empire, and connects it to his work around MDP, fatal business diseases, and business health.

1:01:00 – Final Lateral Thinking Resource
Courtney closes by sharing another resource on lateral thinking and encouraging coaches to continue thinking differently.

Five Key Takeaways

• Do not confuse assumptions with facts. Coaches need to separate what they know from what they are guessing.
• A client’s stated problem is often only the symptom, not the root cause.
• Diagnosis-first coaching creates stronger conversions because the prospect sees that you understand the real issue.
• Lateral thinking helps coaches challenge obvious answers and find better solutions.
• Better fulfillment creates better referrals because clients talk about the coach who finally solved the real problem.

Notable Quotes

“Marketing gets the prospect to raise their hand. Sales converts prospects into paid customers.”

“Thinking is nothing more than asking questions to yourself and answering them.”

“We are not allowed to assume today.”

“We can have evidence in front of us and jump from that evidence to a point where we are assuming certain things.”

“It’s dangerous to go after people’s pain points because we tend to solve the loudest pain point.”

“That’s putting a band-aid on a broken leg.”

“Medicine is personal, and so is business coaching.”

“Your next lead is likely going to come from your most recent solution.”

“We are not in the business of solutionizing.”

“Prescription before diagnosis is business coaching malpractice.”

“Follow the evidence until you find the right problem.”

Action Steps from the Call

1. Practice separating facts from assumptions in client conversations.
2. When a client states a problem, ask what evidence supports that conclusion.
3. Avoid jumping straight to the solution the client thinks they need.
4. Use the PAS assessment process to diagnose before prescribing.
5. Ask follow-up questions such as “Tell me more about that” before responding.
6. Look beyond the loudest pain point and search for the root cause.
7. Consider whether a sales problem may actually be a marketing, operations, product, finance, leadership, or strategy problem.
8. Use lateral thinking to challenge the first obvious answer.
9. Explain the risk of quick fixes when a client wants to rush the process.
10. Present the client with the likely outcome of doing nothing versus the outcome of addressing the real issue.
11. Include emotional questions that help the client understand what the problem costs them personally.
12. Stress test solutions before recommending them.
13. Check whether generating more leads would overload or break the client’s current system.
14. Position yourself as diagnosis-first, not solution-first.
15. Fulfill deeply so clients become ambassadors and referral sources.

Resources & Tools Mentioned

• Workshop Wednesday
• Critical Thinking
• Lateral Thinking
• Vertical Thinking
• Edward de Bono
• Knowing vs. Assuming Exercise
• Friday Riddle
• Sunrise Example
• PAS / Profit Acceleration Software
• Jumpstart 12
• Profit Acceleration Simulator
• Market Dominating Position / MDP
• Evidence-Led Business Coaching
• Diagnosis-First Coaching
• Stephen Covey
• Seek First to Understand
• Financial Diagnosis
• Operational Diagnosis
• 90-Day Roadmap
• Lemonade Stand to Global Empire
• Fatal Business Diseases
• Business Epigenetics
• Business Health Industry