I had a consultation call the other day where the person on the other end said something that would have been unthinkable ten years ago.

"OK, I'm ready. Tell me what to do."

No warmup. No "so, what exactly is it you do?" No thirty minutes of me trying to prove I was worth listening to. Just... ready.

Here's what makes that interesting.

A decade ago, I charged $50 an hour for consultations. And even at that price, people would show up skeptical. Arms crossed. "Convince me this is worth my time." I'd spend half the session just trying to earn enough trust to get to the actual advice.

Over the years, the price went up. $100, then $250, then $500. Eventually $1,000. Now it's $2,500 per hour.

And here's the part that used to confuse me: the higher the price went, the easier the calls got.

Now, look. I've been doing this for over a decade. I've made over a thousand videos on marketing. That credibility helps, no question. But credibility alone doesn't explain what's happening on these calls. I've had plenty of calls over the years where people knew exactly who I was and still showed up cold, skeptical, and full of "let me think about it."

What changed wasn't my reputation. It was the process.

These days, on the rare occasion I open up a consulting window, here's what happens. Someone makes a request. My brand manager sends them an application form. If it looks like I might be able to help, she sends a payment link. $2,500, paid upfront. Only after payment clears does a spot open on my calendar.

Application. Review. Payment. Then (and only then) the call.

By the time we're sitting across from each other, something has already shifted. They've articulated their problem in writing. They've committed financially. They've gone through a process that signals "this person is selective, and I made the cut." The selling happened before I ever opened my mouth.

I didn't design it this way on purpose, at least not at first. It evolved out of necessity as things got busier. But looking back, I accidentally built one of the most effective pre-call systems I've ever seen.

And the principle behind it works whether you charge $2,500 an hour or $250. Whether you're running a marketing agency, a coaching practice, a landscaping company, or any service business where you need people to show up to calls ready to move forward instead of ready to interrogate you.

There's actually a name for what's happening here. Psychologist Robert Cialdini spent 30 years studying it. And the research shows that changing what happens before a request can swing the outcome by as much as 60%.

I just recorded a video breaking down the exact four-step sequence behind this (I call it the Combination Method), including the specific questions to ask, what to say on the call when you reference their answers, and how to set the whole thing up so it runs automatically.

If you've ever had a sales call where someone said "let me think about it" after you thought it went well... this will show you exactly why that keeps happening, and how to fix it.

Here's the video link:

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Talk soon,

Adam

P.S.

One thing I cover in the video: some people won't fill out the application form. That's not a problem. That's the system working. Those people were never going to buy. They were going to waste 30 minutes of your life and then ask for a proposal they'd never read.