Template
From comment to client: the DM journey, step by step
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If DMs reach you and go cold, it's almost never because you answer late. It's that between the comment and the call there's no written journey, and every message is a decision made on the fly. Here's the complete journey, in four steps, and an 8-box template to build yours in 10 minutes.
Why DMs go cold
You have an audience, but when someone comments and writes to you, the conversation dies right away. It's not speed. It's that the piece promised something, the person commented, and from there you improvised: what to send, what to ask, when to propose a call. And on the fly, either you pitch head-on and the person leaves, or you sell nothing and it cools off by itself.
A journey is those decisions made before you post, written in one row and repeated the same way with every piece. The person who writes to you doesn't notice it; they notice the conversation makes sense.
The journey, in four steps
1 · The promise. In the piece you say what you'll send and which word to comment to get it. The word names what you deliver, not what you want them to do: “TABLE,” not “WANT.” If what you're giving away doesn't fit in one word, it's not a gift yet. It's an idea.
2 · The delivery. Test it on someone else's post that asks you to comment a word: they reply publicly, a private message reaches you, and when you answer or tap the button, the link appears. That's the platform: the automatic message that follows a comment is a single one, and for more to arrive the person has to do something. You can check it on your own account in five minutes. That gives me my one fixed rule: I don't ask anyone to follow me to receive what I promised. The rest you decide in your row: where what you deliver lives, whether you ask for an email and what for, and who signs the automatic messages.
3 · The question. Just one. The one in the template is “what do you sell today, and since when?” It's an example: write yours, but make it one; you ask the rest on the call.
4 · The decision. Before the first DM, you write down, in one line, who you call. An example rule: whoever already sells something of their own and answered me. Whoever doesn't, you don't chase: you leave them a way to follow you. And you count five things: how many commented, how many received it, how many replied, how many you called, how many bought. Without those five counts, you don't know whether a piece brought you clients or likes.
What to give away and what not to
A good gift is concrete (it's named in one word and used today), made once (it costs you to build, not to deliver), and shows what the person lacks, which is exactly what you sell. What isn't: “I'll send you info,” a long lesson, and your product cut down.
The template: 8 boxes per piece
One row per piece with a word and 8 boxes: the piece · what you promise · the word they comment · what you deliver · where what you deliver lives · the question you ask · who you call · what you measure. If you don't download anything, draw those 8 columns in any sheet; the template only adds a made-up example row (a photographer who sells a pricing program to other photographers).
How to use it
- Open the file and leave the example row in view. You delete it at the end, along with any empty rows left over.
- Pick one of your pieces that already asks people to comment a word, or the next one you're going to publish. Write what it promises and, in the box next to it, the word, in capitals, exactly as you say it in the piece.
- Fill in what you deliver (the thing: a table, a list, a plan) and where it lives (the page or file where it is). If it doesn't exist yet, write what you're going to build and put “to do”: that box is the first task.
- Write the question exactly as you'll send it after delivering. In “who you call,” your rule in one line: who you propose a call to, not another DM, based on what they answered and not on what you felt.
- In “what you measure,” leave the five counts with their blanks, as in the example, and fill in the numbers once the piece no longer brings comments.
- Repeat with each piece that has a word. The question and the rule don't change from row to row; the promise and the delivery do.
What it doesn't do
- It doesn't write the piece or make what you give away: it tells you what's missing.
- It doesn't answer DMs: it's the blueprint, not the tool.
- It doesn't decide who you call: it makes you write the rule before the first message arrives.
Questions
Does it work without a tool that answers DMs? Yes. By hand it's the same journey: you reply publicly, send the link, ask the question.
What if I have nothing to give away yet? Fill in the promise anyway. The empty “what you deliver” box tells you what to build first.
Should I ask for the email? Decide it in your row: if there's a file to send, it makes sense; if there's only something to read, think about what for.
Is one question enough? To decide who you call, yes; the rest is for the call.
Next step
Want it working in your business?
Start with the AI Scan. You leave the call knowing what to move first, whether you work with us or not.
No cost, No access to your accounts, We go through it with you on a call