the worst first date
(you've been on the other side of it)
It’s 6:47 PM. The waiter just got your drink order.
She looks great. You’re nervous. You want this to go well.
“So you’re in marketing, right? Tell me more about that.”
She tilts her head. “I’m a physical therapist. I told you that when we matched.”
“Right, right. Sorry — long week.” You take a sip of water. “So how’s the half marathon training going?”
“I’m training for a 5K. My first one, actually.”
The energy shifts. She’s still smiling, but it’s different now.
You try again. “Well, at least we’re at your favorite spot. You said you loved Thai food.”
She glances around the Italian restaurant. “I said I was allergic to peanuts. Thai was the one cuisine I couldn’t do. Almost everything has peanuts”
Three weeks ago, you’d planned everything down to the minute.
You’d read her profile twice. Saved her texts. Even practiced a few conversation starters about that podcast she mentioned loving.
But somewhere between planning and showing up, life happened.
Work deadlines. A friend’s crisis. That Netflix show everyone was talking about.
Three weeks of mental clutter piled on top of your carefully laid plans.
Now you’re sitting across from someone you genuinely like, watching her realize you didn’t think about her once since booking this dinner.
By the time the check comes, you already know how this ends.
At her door: “This was nice. We should do it again.”
You drive home knowing what that means.
You’ve been on the other side of this dinner.
And if you’re booking sales calls from DMs, you’re watching it happen in your business every single week.
Except you’re not the forgetful date.
You’re the one sitting across from someone who can’t remember why they booked.
Today, we’re sharing the 3 hidden costs of the “preparation gap” — the space between when your prospect books from the DMs, and when they actually show up.
Why the 6-day silence is undoing all your DM work before the call even starts
How to calculate exactly what unprepared prospects are costing you in lost revenue
The diagnostic that shows you where YOUR momentum is dying
Let’s fix your leaky booking-to-call pipeline...
3️⃣ Costly Mistakes That Kill Call Momentum Before You Even Say Hello
Most coaches focus so much on getting the DM booking, they forgot to protect what happens after.
Here’s what’s actually sabotaging your close rate:
🔵 MISTAKE #1: TREATING CONFIRMATION AS THE FINISH LINE
You’re staring at your calendar, feeling accomplished. Three calls booked this week.
You send the standard confirmation — “You’re confirmed for Thursday at 2pm! Here’s the Zoom link.” — and move on to the next task.
Six days later, you show up ready to close. They show up asking “remind me what we talked about?”
Your confirmation message did nothing to protect the momentum you built.
❌ Before: “You’re confirmed for Thursday at 2pm! Here’s the Zoom link.”
✅ After: “Hey [Name]! Just saw your booking come through. You mentioned [specific pain point from DM] — I want to make sure we use our time well. Sending you something tomorrow that’ll help you get clear on exactly what you need.”
Actionable Implementation:
Reference the specific pain point they mentioned in DMs (creates continuity)
Set an expectation for more contact before the call (they’ll watch for it)
Position the call as valuable time worth protecting (not just a slot to fill)
Instead of treating the booking like a task to check off, you treated it like the beginning of a conversation that continues until they’re sitting on your Zoom.
🔵 MISTAKE #2: LETTING SILENCE FILL THE GAP
It’s Wednesday. Your prospect booked last Thursday. You haven’t sent anything since the confirmation.
You figure they’re adults — they’ll remember why they booked.
Meanwhile, they’ve had 47 other conversations. Three fires at work. A Netflix binge that wiped their short-term memory clean.
The urgency they felt 6 days ago? Buried under mental clutter somewhere between “that recipe I saved” and “the podcast someone recommended.”
❌ Before: [No contact between booking and call]
✅ After: Value Primer sent 48 hours after booking: “To make the most of our time Thursday, take 2 minutes to think through: 1) What’s the #1 thing not working with [their problem]? 2) What would be different 90 days from now if we solved it? No need to send answers — just have them in mind.”
Actionable Implementation:
Send “prep content” 24-48 hours after booking (gets them thinking early)
Frame questions around their pain, not your offer (keeps focus on them)
Give permission to NOT respond (removes pressure, increases compliance)
Instead of hoping they’d remember, you gave them a reason to think about their problem before ever getting on the call.
🔵 MISTAKE #3: SKIPPING THE EMOTIONAL REACTIVATION
It’s the day before the call. You send a calendar reminder. “See you tomorrow at 2pm!”
Clean. Professional.
Also completely forgettable.
Your prospect booked because they were feeling something — frustration, hope, urgency.
Six days later, that emotional state is gone.
The reminder tells them WHEN to show up, but it doesn’t reconnect them to WHY they booked.
❌ Before: “Quick reminder about our call tomorrow at 2pm!”
✅ After: “Hey [Name] — we’re on for tomorrow at 2pm. I was re-reading our DM convo and this jumped out: ‘[Quote their exact words about their pain].’ That’s what I want to make sure we solve. Come ready to talk about where you want to be in 90 days — I’ve got some ideas for you.”
Actionable Implementation:
Quote their exact words back to them (they feel seen, not processed)
Reference the emotion behind why they booked (reactivates the urgency)
Add “come ready” language (creates accountability without pressure)
Instead of a forgettable reminder, you reopened the emotional state that made them book in the first place.
That’s it.
Here’s what you learned today:
→ Confirmation is the beginning of the pre-call sequence, not the end
→ Silence between booking and call lets momentum die — fill it with value
→ Emotional reactivation the day before matters more than logistical reminders
Your prospects aren’t showing up cold because they don’t care. They’re showing up cold because life buried the urgency they felt when they booked.
Go pull the last confirmation message you sent and rewrite it using the framework from Mistake #1.
Tonight at 7pm
I’m sharing the Prep-Accountability Sequence — the exact 4-touchpoint message flow that keeps prospects emotionally engaged between booking and showing up.
You’ll get:
→ The immediate confirmation that creates continuity (not just logistics)
→ The value primer that gets them thinking 48 hours before the call
→ The day-before reactivation that reopens the emotional state they were in when they booked
→ The day-of warm-up that lowers anxiety and opens the door for pre-call engagement
But first, you need to know how bad the gap actually is for YOU.
Today’s mega-prompt helps you audit your last 10 calls to see exactly where momentum is dying — and what it’s costing you in lost revenue.
Ready to see exactly where YOUR momentum is dying?
You’re not bad at sales calls — but your prospects are arriving empty-handed.
When they show up having forgotten everything from your DM conversation, you’re not closing. You’re re-selling.
Today’s paid member mega-prompt audits your last 10 calls to show you exactly what unprepared prospects are costing you.
Paid members get:
✔ Complete audit of your last 10 calls
→ Preparation score distribution
→ Outcome correlation analysis
✔ Revenue impact calculation
→ Dollar amount left on table
→ Annualized recovery potential
✔ Specific diagnosis of YOUR preparation gap
