The silent mistake that turned 47 DMs into... zero sales calls
(It wasn’t the algorithm. It wasn’t the offer. It was this.)
The first drops hit Alex's kitchen ceiling on a Tuesday afternoon.
At first, it was just a small water stain that she barely noticed while preparing lunch.
By evening, a steady drip had formed, requiring a cooking pot to catch the water. By Wednesday morning, the drip had become a small stream, and the stain had grown considerably.
"It's probably just a minor leak," Alex told herself, moving a larger pot into position.
She had 3 sales calls that day and content to create. The last thing she needed was a plumbing emergency. She'd just deal with it over the weekend.
Then Thursday brought heavy rain, and the kitchen ceiling now featured three separate leaks, each requiring its own collection pot.
Alex spent her morning emptying pots between sales calls, growing increasingly frustrated with the interruptions. The timing couldn't be worse. She was in the middle of filling her next quarterly cohort, and these distractions were the last thing she needed to be thinking about.
Finally, on Friday, with water now streaming from five different spots and the ceiling, and the plaster beginning to sag, Alex called an emergency plumber.
The plumber arrived, took one look at the ceiling, and headed straight to the upstairs bathroom. Within minutes, he'd identified the source: a tiny crack in the shower pan that had been silently leaking water for months, gradually compromising the subfloor and joists until the damage reached Alex's kitchen ceiling.
"But I only noticed it a few days ago," Alex protested, shocked by the estimate for repairs. "How could it be this bad already?"
"That's the problem with water damage," the plumber explained, gesturing toward the sagging ceiling. "By the time you see the signs, it's been happening for a long time.
What could have been a simple $200 fix 3 months ago is now going to cost Alex thousands.
From Drips to Downpours
That evening, waiting for the emergency plumbing team to arrive, Alex distracted herself by checking her Instagram.
Her recent post with a checklist of how to get to consistent $10K months as a new entrepreneur had performed exceptionally well… over 800 likes and 47 comments. She then scrolled through her Instagram DMs, finding 23 new conversations from followers asking questions about the checklist.
As she began writing responses, something struck her… just like the water damage in her ceiling, her DM inbox was silently leaking revenue. The signs had been there for months, but she'd been too busy to address the underlying issue.
The plumber's words echoed in her mind: "By the time you see the signs, it's been happening for a long time."
Looking more closely at her Instagram DM history, Alex realized her inbox wasn't just a communication channel, it was her business pipeline… and it was leaking badly.
She had been responding to messages… but not managing conversations.
She had been answering questions… but not guiding prospects toward her solution.
She had been engaging followers… but not converting leads.
Five Revenue Leaks… and How to Seal Them
This revelation led Alex to my ‘Revenue Leak Detection’ Checklist, a systematic approach to identifying and fixing the hidden problems in DM funnels.
The checklist consists of 5 diagnostic questions that reveal where potential clients are silently leaking out of your DM funnel:
1️⃣ Initial Response Gap: How many DMs receive no response within 24 hours?
2️⃣ Conversation Depth Metric: What percentage of DM conversations extend beyond two exchanges?
3️⃣ Direction Control Assessment: Who determines the focus and flow of most of your DM conversations… you or your prospect?
4️⃣ Value-to-Action Ratio: How often do you provide ‘value’ in the DMs without a corresponding next step?
5️⃣ Follow-Up Frequency: What percentage of DM conversations receive proactive follow-up attempts?
Most coaches focus exclusively on incoming DM volume (a vanity metric), while ignoring the key metrics above.
They go around celebrating full inboxes, without realizing how few of those conversations actually generate revenue for their coaching program.
My DM Emergency Repair Kit: Fix Your DM Funnel Revenue Leaks Today
STEP 1: Audit 3-10 of your last DM conversations
Score each interaction (1-5) across these five critical leak points:
Initial Engagement: How quickly and warmly you respond to new messages
Value Demonstration: How effectively you showcase your expertise and solutions
Pain Point Identification: How well you uncover their specific challenges
Call Conversion: How smoothly you transition from chat to sales call
Follow-Up Protocol: How persistently you reconnect with non-responsive leads
Identify conversations that started promising but fizzled before booking
STEP 2: Identify your biggest leak
Calculate your average score for each of the five leak points
Determine which area consistently scores lowest across conversations
STEP 3: Create your repair strategy
Develop a clear, step-by-step SOP to address your weakest point
Write 2-3 template responses designed to patch this specific leak
STEP 4: Take immediate action
Apply your newly developed fix to at least 3 active conversations today
Commit to mastering this one repair before tackling other leaks
When the Ceiling Stops Dripping
Within days of implementing this, Alex discovered that her biggest revenue leak was occurring at the "Direction Control" stage.
She was allowing prospects to determine the focus and pace of the conversations, resulting in pointless exchanges that never progressed toward a sales call.
By implementing simple direction-control techniques, Alex immediately increased her conversation-to-call conversion rate from 4% to 25%+ almost instantly. Within 3 weeks, that number had reached 32%.
Six months later, the repairs on Alex's ceiling were finally complete. The experience had been expensive and inconvenient, but it had caused a transformation in her coaching business that more than covered the cost.
Her coaching program was now fully booked with a waiting list, and she'd increased her rates twice due to demand… now charging $11,000 for the same 90-day program.
The plumber's insight had revealed a fundamental truth about entrepreneurship… by the time you notice revenue leaks in your business, the underlying issues have already been present for months (or years in some cases).
And the solution isn't just in working harder or mindlessly generating more leads… it's in fixing the leaks in your current conversion systems (aka, funnels).
The question isn't in whether revenue opportunities are slipping away… it's in how quickly you'll identify and fix the leaks.
Today’s Mega-Prompt: "DM Conversation Analyzer”
You’re getting responses in the DMs, but are they leading anywhere? If you're not tracking what works and why, you're leaving sales on the table. Today, you'll fix that.
This mega-prompt helps paid members audit their recent DM conversations using a simple 5-factor scoring system. You’ll get a clear breakdown of what’s working, where you’re losing momentum, and how to improve message-by-message to boost conversions.
Paid members get exclusive access to a mega-prompt that delivers:
✔ A full performance audit across 5 key DM success factors
✔ Targeted recommendations to improve your message flow and close more deals
✔ Ready-to-use templates based on your highest-performing responses
✔ A step-by-step plan to refine your DM strategy starting today