110 How to Build a Client Enquiry System That Runs in the Background

If you feel like you’re constantly glued to Instagram replying to DMs, sending links, answering questions, and trying to keep up with enquiries… this episode is going to feel like a deep exhale.

Today I’m walking you through a really simple client enquiry system that helps you attract leads, grow your email list, and nurture potential clients automatically — without spending your evenings buried in your inbox or pinned to your phone by your eyeballs (we’ve all been there).

I’m breaking down the exact strategy behind turning social media engagement into genuine client enquiries, and showing you how I use ManyChat to automate parts of the process in a way that still feels personal, warm, and human.

Because the truth is… your business should not depend on you manually replying to hundreds of DMs every week just to make sales. There’s a much easier way to do this.

In this episode, I cover:

•  Why every successful private practice needs a system for attracting, nurturing, and converting leads 
•  The simple lead magnet strategy that moves people off Instagram and onto your email list 
•  How to create a freebie that people genuinely want to download 
•  Why email marketing is still one of the best sales tools in your business 
•  What ManyChat is and how it works 
•  How Instagram automation can save you hours every week 
•  The exact way to automate freebie delivery through Instagram DMs 
•  How one clinician generated 271 leads from a single post 
•  Why automation doesn’t have to feel robotic or impersonal 
•  How automated engagement can actually improve your Instagram reach 
•  The mistake I made trying to manually manage hundreds of DMs 
•  Why tech and systems create more freedom, not less 

Mentioned in this episode

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Website:  https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/
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Transcript

Welcome along. Today we're going to be talking about how to put together a really simple system that brings in new potential clients into your business without you constantly being in the DMs or glued to your phone. It's going to be a good one.

Sarah Bushell (00:40.878)
Okay, so at end of the day, if you want to have a successful private practice, you need to have three things working together. Number one, you need to be attracting people to you in some way. Number two, you need to be nurturing them and building relationships to build trust. And then number three, you need to be converting them into paying clients. And for most of you listening, a really big part of that is happening on social media.

You're posting content, you're starting conversations, you're replying to DMs, you're answering questions, sending links, following up. You do all of these really, really important things to help you get clients coming through the door. But let me guess. But let me guess, it feels like hard work. It can feel hard. It can feel super time consuming, keeping on top of all of those things, right?

You might feel like you're always glued to your phone and spending way more time on social media than you really want to be. And the thing is, even one well-performing post can leave you with a lot of manual work work. Just imagine for a second, imagine you put up on Instagram a poll or a post or a story that invited people to grab your free guide. Just imagine for a second.

Imagine you put up a post on Instagram or a story inviting people to grab your free guide or a low priced offer. And it worked really, really well. And you get 20 or 30 or maybe even 50 or more people asking in your DMs wanting to know more. Now, it does sound like a dream, doesn't it? Except now you've got to go and answer all of those messages individually. And the sooner the better, because you want...

to reply whilst you're still at the front of their mind and while they're still interested. Plus, you likely have this to do on top of everything else that you're already busy doing at the moment. And then suddenly, what should feel like a really good problem to have starts to feel pretty overwhelming because it's 20 or 30 or maybe even 50 separate conversations, each one needing a reply, a link sent and a bit of context, and then some follow up.

Sarah Bushell (03:06.124)
And that's exactly where today's episode comes in because what we're talking about today is a tool that helps you handle all of that automatically. In fact, it just ticks along in the background without you needing to be constantly glued to your phone. And that is a tool called ManyChat, which you may have heard of. So in today's episode, I'm going to break this down into two key parts. Firstly, the strategy.

So the basics of how to attract the right people and then how to move them onto your email list and start building that relationship. And then I'm going to explain that simple tool called ManyChat that can help you automate a lot of that process so it runs nicely for you in the background. So let's do it.

Okay, now what I want you to take away from this episode isn't just the tool itself, but it's the strategy behind it. Because before we even get into what many chat is, what really matters is understanding what actually needs to happen in your business if you want consistent clients. So first, let's talk about how we can attract the right people into your world in the first place.

Now, of course, there's tons and tons of different ways that you can do this. But for the purpose of this episode, we're going to be focusing on using a freebie, also known as a lead magnet. And it's a really simple way to attract the right people. Now, the key thing here is that the freebie has to have a very specific outcome and solve a very specific problem. So just to give you an example, let's say you're an IBS dietitian.

you might create something like five steps to beat the bloat, a guide maybe. So in this case, the specific outcome might be five clear steps that someone should follow to help reduce post meal bloating. Your freebie also needs to be really enticing. So something that gives a really clear quick win. So it actually makes someone think I need that and it encourages them to opt in for it straight away.

Sarah Bushell (05:17.976)
Then once someone clicks through to your opt-in page to access that free resource, they will be asked to pop their email address and their name in exchange for it. And voila, they're now a subscriber on your email list. That one small action is what moves them off social media and onto your list, which is actually a really important action because this is now a space that you actually own. And from there,

you start to build that relationship so that they start to actually trust you and see you as the obvious person to help them. Because once someone is on your email list, it doesn't just stop at them downloading a freebie and forgetting about you. You then continue to show up in their inbox and remind them of how you can help them.

So for example, you might have an email sequence that welcomes them in and tells them a bit more about you and starts to build a bit of trust over time. Then you can also guide them to other helpful resources, maybe other free guides or blog posts or your podcast. And the great thing about email is instead of hoping someone comes back to your content on social media, you're now consistently staying on their radar in a much more personal way in their inbox.

And email is one of the very best places to sell from in your business. And now email is also one of the very best places to sell from in your business. So the aim here is to move people off social media and into email. OK, so now you understand the simple strategy behind this, attracting people in with something they genuinely want, helping them get a quick win with that free resource, and then getting them

onto your email list where you build that relationship further and eventually convert them into paying clients. The next question becomes, how do you actually do this in a way that doesn't feel manual and time consuming and like you're constantly glued to your phone? And that is exactly where ManyChat comes in. So what is ManyChat? Well, basically it's a really simple tool that connects platforms like Instagram and Facebook and allows you to send

Sarah Bushell (07:37.502)
automated and allows you to set up automated conversations with people who interact with your content. So instead of manually replying to every comment or DM or inquiry, you can create a prewritten response that is sent automatically when someone takes a specific action, such as commenting a keyword, replying to a story or sending you a message.

So going back to our example from earlier with the Beat the Bloat free guide, instead of having to reply to every single person manually, you can simply ask people to comment a word like bloat under your post. Now, as soon as they do that, ManyChat instantly sends them a DM with the next step, usually asking them to confirm that they want it. So something like, hey, you want me to send you the guide? And then there'll be a button underneath that says, yes, please.

and then it will instantly share the link to download your freebie. So it's not just quicker for you, it's also a much smoother experience for them. They don't have to go searching for links in your bio or wait around for a reply from you. And what's really nice about that is it doesn't just stop there. You can build out a really simple flow where they've downloaded the freebie and so you might check in with them, ask a quick question.

or guide them towards the next helpful step. And you can make this feel really human. You can personalize it with their name and even add things like images and GIFs or audio files if you want to. Now people know it's a bot, so don't pretend that it is actually you, but you can absolutely make it sound much more human than robot speak. So it's not...

Just a delivery tool, it's actually really helpful for nurturing relationships as well. And when you use it properly, it actually can support every part of that strategy that we've just talked about. It helps you capture attention. It responds instantly while someone is still interested now. It moves them onto your email list and it guides them towards your offer, all without you needing to be online at all.

Sarah Bushell (09:55.17)
And as I've said, this is the real goal here. It's not just sending a link, but it's from moving someone from a quick moment of interest on social media onto your email list where you can actually build a relationship and turn them into paying clients over time. Now, before I was using ManyChat in my business, I was doing everything manually. And I did hit a point where things did start to get completely out of hand. Back in...

2021, 2022, I can't remember exactly. I was doing a lot of sales training and I was starting to implement properly what I'd learned on Instagram stories. And it worked really, really, really well. Every time I put up a story inviting people to grab a free resource or find out more about working with me, I'd get anywhere between 80 and 200 DMs coming in, which sounds amazing, doesn't it? Until you're the one having to respond to all of them.

Now, at the time, I had an assistant called Claire helping me with replying to all of these DMs. And so we tried to make it work as best we could. I would record voice notes or write out responses. And then Claire would literally sit there with about 20 browser tabs open, copying and pasting the same message in and doing it over and over and over again. And it actually got to the point where Instagram started flagging my account.

because the activity looks so repetitive, as if I was a bot. And this is exactly what it started to resemble really, even though in reality it was a real human just trying to keep up with all the messages coming through. And then of course, people would reply to those DMs. So it wasn't just sending one message and being done, it was a matter of keeping up real conversations with up to 200 people.

So suddenly there was a lot of workload. I had my actual client work and then I had this growing machine of inbound messages that needed constant attention. So something had to change because the reality is manual social media selling, just isn't scalable. You end up either burnt out or trying to keep up with it all or missing opportunities simply because you can't respond fast enough or actually both.

Sarah Bushell (12:16.066)
So ManyChat was an absolute game changer for me in that business and now in both businesses actually. And it's also been an absolute game changer for my client.

Sarah Bushell (12:32.587)
And it's also been an absolute game changer for my client, Christian. So Christian specializes in celiac disease, specifically supporting people who are already diagnosed following a strict gluten-free diet, but still struggling with ongoing symptoms. So it's a very clear niche with a very specific problem. He created Lead Magnet, a simple symptom tracker designed specifically for that audience. And then he set up a really simple many chat automation.

So whenever someone commented a specific keyword on his post, they would automatically receive a DM with the link to download the free symptom tracker. And the results were incredible. One post generated 271 comments. So that was 271 people who genuinely wanted that free resource.

Sarah Bushell (13:24.438)
Another post generated 241 comments and another one 161. Now if Christian didn't have many chats he would have had to reply to every message manually. But instead, every single one of those comments immediately triggered an automatic DM with the link to the freebie inside it. And every person who opted in joined his email list. And the only thing Christian had to do was to

created social media posts, and then ManyChat handled the rest. Now it's worth mentioning, Christian isn't a tech expert, he isn't a marketer, he's a clinician who chose a specific niche, created something genuinely helpful for that audience, and used one simple tool to help make his life easier. So let this be your reminder, you do not need to be techie or good at systems to make your business run smoother for you. ManyChat is really a very simple,

once you get the hang of it. And once you do learn it, you can start taking so much of this manual work off your plate. So you're probably quite intrigued about the idea of doing this for your business, but you might have a few concerns. You might be wondering if a tool like this that automates your messages will feel a little bit impersonal or sound robotic. And you know what? That is a fair concern to have, but really, it actually completely depends on how you set it up.

The more thought you put into it, the better it's going to work for you. The quality of your automation really matters. So when you take the time to make those messages sound exactly like you and add a bit of thought behind the wording, people are far more likely to actually click through and take that next step. Remember, ManyChat isn't there to replace the relationship between you and your audience, but it's there to handle the logistics.

like sending important links as soon as possible and starting conversations with people. Now, you might also be wondering how new this technology is. Well, actually, many chats been around for years. I've been using it since 2021, 2022, and I think it's been around for longer than that. So it's definitely not a trend or a shiny new thing. It's really well established. It's tried and tested.

Sarah Bushell (15:48.076)
And it's a tool that actually loads of online business owners have been using for quite a long time just to simplify how they handle leads and inquiries. And if you look at the people whose content feels effortless and who consistently get a lot of engagement and interest on their posts, there's a very good chance that something like ManyChat is working behind the scenes.

Well, I really hope that today's episode has been useful for you and it's given you bit of insight into how you can start making your business run a lot smoother behind the scenes.

Sarah Bushell (16:37.1)
And if you look at the people whose content feels effortless and who consistently get a lot of engagement and interest on their posts, there's a very good chance that something like ManyChat is working behind the scenes. Because if you think about it, if you're asking someone to comment a specific keyword and you set up a response to that, which you can do in ManyChat, the algorithm goes, there's quite a lot of engagement on this post. Let's push it out a bit further.

And of course, that post then gets seen by more people who then comment the keyword and you respond to that and so on and so forth. And it can actually create quite a lot of engagement and quite a lot of reach for you really quite quickly. So we really hope today's episode has been useful for you and has given you some insight into how you can start making your business run a lot smoother behind the scenes.

I want you to remember that tech isn't this big scary thing. It's just about understanding the basics of how it works and learning from there. So here's your action step for the week. First, I want you to identify your free resource. What's one simple, genuinely useful free resource that you could offer your clients that solves a clear urgent problem for them. Then secondly, go and have a look at ManyChat. Create a free account. Just have a play around with it.

Don't overthink it. It's far less complicated than it sounds. And the free plan is more than enough to get you started and familiar with how it works. And the reason why I'm telling you this is because this is one of the key tools that we use in our business. And I encourage my clients to use because it means that it frees up so much of your time so that you can go on and do other more income generating activity.

And then before we wrap up, I just want to remind you that I'm going to soon be taking on some new clients and relaunching my business support program, Accelerate. So if you've been thinking about working with me this year, now's the time to apply. And if you're accepted, you'll get a spot on the VIP wait list because for this next round only, those who are on my wait list and decide to go on to work with me are going to be entered into a cash

Sarah Bushell (19:01.516)
going to be entered into a draw to win a thousand pounds cash bonus, but it's only for the first person.

Sarah Bushell (19:11.104)
If you want to work with me this year, now is the time to get your name on that wait list because for this next round only, for those who are on the wait list, I'm going to be putting your names into a hat and offering one of you a £1,000 cash bonus when you say yes and start working with me.

Now, this program is one of the very few spaces where you get business support and mentorship from someone who actually understands regulated health care and has a real proven experience of building two six-figure businesses in this exact space. We focus on the full picture of getting more consistent clients, creating and selling digital offers, improving your marketing a thousandfold,

strengthening your sales processes and increasing your yes rate on discovery calls. The lot. So if you want that kind of support, I don't want you to miss out on your chance to win this thousand pound cash bonus. So just apply now. The link will be in the show notes and let's get you on that waiting list today.

Sarah Bushell (20:29.262)
Bye for now.