Not getting enough sales for your lovely 1:1 coaching packages or consulting services at the moment?
It’s such a motivation drain, isn’t it. It can feel like you’re losing your mojo. Possibly a drop of self doubt starts to seep in…
‘If I’m so good at what I do, why aren’t I able to sell more?’ 😫
Is there something mystical that you’re missing? Is there a secret magic bullet solution? If only you knew what it was, you could do it and the sales flood gates would open!
Well this is your lucky day because there is a magic bullet!
And it consists of three words:
DO MORE SALES
Perhaps you got busy with client work and you’ve forgotten to post about what you do for a few days (or weeks).
Perhaps you’re worried people will think you’re salesy.
Perhaps you feel like everyone should know what you’re offering by now.
Whatever your reasons (or excuses…?) know this; it’s nearly impossible to get sales if you don’t do any sales.
I learned this lesson about a year into running my business.
I was struggling to get sales in so I took a sales accountability course. I was forced to sell every day for weeks!
It felt like a baptism of fire. Not very pleasant, but it got the job done!
Looking back, what I was offering wasn’t positioned well at all. I was trying to push what I knew people needed (marketing strategy) not what they actually wanted (more quality customers).
Despite that, I still managed to sell over £3k of services through sheer elbow grease. That was the most money I’d earned in my business in one month at that point!
And not one single person told me I was sleazy or pushy. #JustSaying
So what I’m going to list out in this blog are 7 things you can do TODAY to get sales in TODAY. Or at least get some of your ideal clients to prick up their ears and enquire.
Let’s dive in!
1. List people who were interested before
Make a list of every single person you’ve had a sales call with in the last 6 months who didn’t go on to buy from you.
Send each one a message asking how they’re doing, whether they’re where they wanted to be now or might still be in the market for some help from you.
Have a think- has there been anyone who’s said something along the lines of ‘I’d love to work with you in the future’? Contact these people too! Ask them on a call. Find out what they want.
2. The Shoulder Tap
Go through your contacts on social media and in groups that you’re a part of.
Pick out 10 people who fit the profile for your ideal customer and send them an email asks them onto a discovery call. Ideally you need to know the people you’re contacting quite well and be pretty sure they need what you’re offering for this approach to work well.
Explain how you help. Keep it brief!
Top tip: Genuine flattery works wonders here.
3. Email Your List
But not just another value stuffed newsletter in the usual format with an apologetic message buried at the bottom, no.
Send a ‘launch’ sequence.
At the bare minimum send 3 emails, a few days apart, that lay out:
- The vision of how life will be different after they’ve worked with you and how that differs from where they are today. How will they feel? Dig in to the emotions that are at play with getting what they want sorted.
- The logical reasons why they should work with you. This is often to do with either money and/ or time. Why should they invest in working with you?
- Asking them to make a decision and laying out the facts. If they don’t take action now, they’re likely to remain in the same position for months/ years to come. For some people that’s fine. And that’s ok. It’s not about convincing, it’s about helping people make the best decision for them.
Don’t forget to follow up with button clickers!
Delve into your email analytics and check who’s clicked on any call to action buttons in recent weeks. Not just on launch emails, but any emails. Then send them a little note asking if they’re still interested in chatting. By all means apologise for being creepy if it makes you feel better!
5. Do some lots of sales posts!
The amount of times clients have said to me ‘my thing isn’t selling’ then I look at their socials and they haven’t even mentioned it for weeks. And when they do, their call to action is not very obvious.
Look, I sympathise.
We’re all prone to this particular brand of self sabotage now and again.
I call it ‘psychic sales’.
It’s when you know how good you are. You feel like you’ve made it clear what you do. ‘Surely people should know by now?!’ So why should you have to keep reminding people all the time?
But as you probably know, repetition is a key part of how marketing communications work.
Your messages need reinforcing.
People generally need lots of touchpoints before they make a purchase decision.
And not everyone sees every single one of your social media posts!
I’m always astounded when I feel like I’ve been banging on The Freedom Giver all day every day and some of my most avid fans still haven’t heard about it.
If people aren’t interested, they’ll scroll on by.
If they’re offended by you selling, that’s definitely on them not you.
So, please promise me that you’ll write, record and publish lots of sales posts on your fave social media platforms will you?
Stuck for ideas for sales posts? Grab my cheatsheet of 18 sales post ideas so you never need to be stuck on what to write ever again.
6. Create some sales content
Otherwise known as ‘bottom of the funnel’ content, these blogs, videos or podcasts are designed to cover of all the most pressing objections and questions that your ideal customers have about what you’re offering.
One of my faves is the ‘everything you need to know about my x service’. Quick to create and easy to share but it’s all about the sales.
For a more thorough overview of what sales content is, how it works and some examples of best-in-class sales content have a look at the What is Sales Content blog from Martin and Lyndsay at Jammy Digital.
Oh and don’t forget to promote that sales content! Don’t just leave it on your website and pray for psychic sales, will you.
7. Help Previous Clients
Make a list of all the loveliest clients that you’ve worked with in the last year or so.
Check in with them!
Can you help them again?
Ask what they’re up to and whether they’ve got anything you can help them with.
How much sales activity should I do?
There’s no two ways about it; the more action you take the better your results will be.
That said, be mindful of your energy.
If you’re not used to doing lots of sales activity, it’s going to feel uncomfortable and even scary. 😱
But the fact remains, the main reason people don’t get the sales they want, is that they’re not doing enough sales.
Theres’s a pernicious ‘I don’t do sales’ attitude circulating the interwebs.
This feeling that ‘if I share nice content and someone someday will buy’.
I have seen this work, but it’s the exception rather than the rule.
Make no mistake; all the most successful business people are making offers all the time.
And remember, if people don’t buy from you, you can’t help them.
#SellingIsServing
Download my Sales Post Cheatsheet with 18 whole ideas of what to post about, so you’re never short of ideas on how to promote coaching or consulting services.
Want to make sales as enjoyable and successful as possible?
Book a chat with me and we can talk through what’s working for you, what’s not, and how I can help you engineer your 1:1 coaching practice or consultancy to work for you better.
