SBA Mastermind - Boardroom Briefing Recap

Call Date: [Captured from context, likely mid-May]
Participants: Lacey, Sacia, Claire
Context: Strategic sales refinement, client qualification, revenue model stress-testing, brand authority calibration, and operational troubleshooting.

SECTION 1: SACIA — SALES, POSITIONING, & CLIENT QUALIFICATION

Strategic Challenges Identified:

• Leads stalling post-proposal: Most sales objections surface around “timing,” which are actually hidden price objections or lack of urgency.

• Mismatch in perceived value vs. price resistance: Clients verbally agree to scope and price, yet still ghost or stall.

• Under-leveraged credibility in sales calls: Needs stronger objection handling + deeper buyer context (e.g. how are they funding this rebrand?).

Key Consultant Reflections:

• You are bringing in incredible deal flow, especially organically but you're not closing hard due to unchallenged objections and soft sales closures.

• The leads aren’t bad. The follow-up isn’t tight enough to neutralize “non-urgent” buyer energy.

• Brand perception = powerful. Your current buyer may not fully grasp the strategic weight of your offer. You need to drive home that you are not a designer, you are a brand strategist with trackable post-client data.

Action Steps:

• Sales Calls Audit: Send recordings to Lacey for full sales call reviews and objection handling breakdowns.

• New Discovery Questions: Ask buyers, “How are you planning to fund this?” + “What are you prioritizing for Q3 that’s not happening now?”

• Reframe offer payment plans: Implement 50/50 scope-based project payments instead of stretched payment plans & 33% 33% 33% payment plans throughout scope for larger projects. 

• Shift brand tone: Lean into cool, strategic Gen-Z archetype, not overly polished professionalism.

• Content Gap: Explicitly state that buying cheap design first often ends in regret — hire the source, not the imitation.

• Run Evergreen Masterclass: Optimize for conversion around funded creators and pre-funded founders. Refine messaging accordingly.

• Raise perceived authority: You are referenced on other designers’ Pinterest boards. Talk about this. Establish market hierarchy.

SECTION 2: CLAIRE - CLIENT BEHAVIOR, SALES OBJECTIONS & OPERATOR IDENTITY

Strategic Challenges Identified:

• Leads delaying commitments until Q3/Q4: “I’ll do this later” energy tied to seasonality, internal funding cycles, or perceived non-urgency.

• Clients not leaning in: Several clients are avoiding collaboration, skipping calls, and ghosting. They praise the work, but refuse to integrate or activate it.

• Over-functioning for under-committed clients: Claire is carrying the weight of client progress without sufficient reciprocity or shared responsibility.

Key Consultant Reflections:

• The real issue is not value, it's how you’re framing the client’s role. You are not their CEO.

• Clients ghost because they don’t know how to integrate or value what’s been built. This is a handover leadership problem, not a deliverables one.

• Ghosting needs to be addressed firmly and transparently. Pattern acknowledgment is essential.

Action Steps:

• Send All Communications for Review: Share every follow-up, check-in, and Slack/ClickUp/Email/Voxer message with Lacey for audit.

• Turn Missed Clients into Market Research: Ask ideal clients who didn’t convert: “Why did you choose another consultant?”

• Highlight Operator Boundaries in Content: You are not an execution VA. Clarify scope of collaboration vs. delegation.

• Switch messaging from “ease” to “capacity”: You’re not here to make their life easier. You’re here to expand their capacity and structural strength.

• New Funnel Implementation: Quiz funnel is live and now mapping leads into 3 categories — VA, OBM, Consulting with logical downsells. Watch this.

• Positioning Shift: From service partner to strategic partner — move clients out of co-dependency and into co-leadership.

SHARED THEMES & HIGH-LEVEL CONSULTANT INSIGHTS

Shared Bottlenecks:

• Clients admire their service providers but don’t trust themselves enough to execute or follow through this is an identity problem at the buyer level.

• Sales delays are being masked as "timing" objections but the root is an emotional lack of urgency and value clarity.

• Over-functioning as a service provider vs. boundary-led leadership roles is creating energetic resentment.

Strategic Opportunities:

• Consulting vs. Done-For-You Needs to Be Clearer: What is your job vs. theirs?

• Price anchoring with clear deliverable boundaries will raise perceived value and reduce ghosting.

• Sales content must drive urgency around outcomes, not inputs (e.g. “You will never get this time back,” or “This bottleneck is compounding”).

• Implement Scope-Aligned Payment Plans: 50% upfront, 50% upon delivery = revenue stability + stronger commitment.

• Leverage Ideal Clients for Intel: Ruby-style clients can provide gold-standard mirror data on why they convert vs. others don’t.

LACEY’S FOLLOW-UP TO DOs

• Review sales call replays from both Sacia & Claire

• Audit all comms from Claire’s ghosting client

• Send written audit notes for quiz funnel structure & sequencing

• Drop Slack follow-up questions on service scope & retention pivot

• Support pricing restructure around 50/50 models

• Reinforce Gen-Z authority lens + evergreen masterclass positioning for Sacia