You Can’t Sell What Your Customers Don’t Care About
You’re passionate about what you do, you love your product, and you know your offer is capable of making many people’s lives better.
But you can’t convince people they should care about your business, your product, or your offer.
Your customers already care about a lot of things. They care about the way they’re feeling (either good or bad). They care about their families, their work lives, or their communities. They care about how much money is in their wallets and they care about how many tasks are on their to-do lists.
The burden is not on your customer to add one more thing that she cares about to her plate.
The burden is on you. A good marketer and a visionary business owner sees how what she cares about is related to what her customers care about already.
It’s a whole menu of opportunities—feel free to order a la carte.
When you connect your value message to what’s already on the minds of your best prospects, the things that affect their loved ones, and the things that keep them healthy, happy, and thriving, they’ll be much more likely to understand why your offer is something to care about.
If your prospects don’t share the same enthusiasm for your work as you do, stop and ask yourself if you’ve connected what you love to what they’re already loving. Make the mental leap a short one.
How to Avoid Saying “No” — and Get More of the “Yes” You Want
Don’t get me wrong, saying “no” is an important skill. But that doesn’t mean that it’s ever fun.
Often, when your business starts rocking and rolling, it’s the direct result of saying “yes” to many things. Then you find yourself in with the choice between either curling up in the fetal position and sobbing or needing to say “no” more often.
Many of us opt for the fetal position.
But don’t let that be you.
In fact, my chief motive in avoiding “no” is that my reflex is still to say “yes” and I’d rather not tempt myself.
The good news is that you can actually put systems in place in your business to avoid saying that nasty two-letter word. These systems can even help you project a clear value statement, communicate a better understanding of your ideal client, and bring in more revenue.
And that means you can get more of the “yes” you really want.
1) Have a clear scope of work.
When you get to the point of needing to say “no,” you have a pretty good idea of the work you like to do and the work you were willing to tolerate on your growth path. You probably have a web presence (whether it’s a shop, a Work With Me page, or a Bio) that’s less-than-clear about the work you do.
Likely, you’re also getting a lot of work from referrals and that means that any “yes” you give to work you merely tolerate has an exponential effect of people wanting more of that work.
To avoid saying “no” to work outside of what you love, narrow the scope of your work. Get super clear about the kind of work that turns you or your team on and leave out mentions of the stuff you’ve tolerated in the past.
2) State your price.
Let’s face it, the need for “no” increases when people start haggling with you. And people will haggle when they don’t know what your starting price is to begin with.
You may have avoided putting a price on your work publicly in the past because you weren’t entirely sure what that price was (ahem, more haggling) but you know now. Or you should.
So set that price, or a price range, and clearly communicate it throughout your web presence.
3) Communicate your time frame.
You’re busy. You don’t have time to squeeze in a project, do you? But… maybe just this once. Or twice. Or three times.
The thing about “yes” is that it swells up into a tsunami of yes. Then, there you are, standing on the beach, watching the killer wave come toward you.
Of course, it would be better to be on higher ground from the get go. Be realistic about your time frames. You know how long the average project takes. You know how many projects you can handle at once. And you know how much of a buffer between now and a new project you prefer.
You can state all three of those things explicitly as a way to set clear expectations for prospects. “The average project takes approximately 6 weeks. We take 3 projects at a time. And new projects are schedule approximately 3 weeks out.”
Now, you’ve drastically reduced the likelihood that someone is even going to ask you to fit something in.
4) Know your policies and communicate them to your team.
When all else fails, let someone else say “no.” It isn’t a cop out, it’s team building!
In all seriousness, if you have a problem saying “no,” choose team members who don’t, tell them what works best for your business (your policies), and let them deliver the bad news. Likely, they’re less emotionally invested in the “no” than you are and can deliver it with respect, graciousness, and resolution.
Keep in mind that you often don’t know what your policies are until you’re faced with needing to say “no.” So keep a working document where you record what your always-going-to-be-no’s are and share that document with your team. While it might not keep you away from the initial “no,” it’ll be easier to avoid in the future.
Learning to say “no” is part of the growth of any business (or human, for that matter) but making changes in your marketing, policies, or team to avoid having to say “no” is worth the effort.
You’ll find that these changes often bring about a lot more “yes” from all the right people and projects. Click to tweet!
5 Ways to Generate Revenue Now Without Having a Sale
There are lots of reasons you might need to generate revenue right now. You’re moving, you’re having a baby, you’re feeling the pinch at tax time, you want to redesign your website, you want to take a trip.
Needing to generate revenue now isn’t something to feel bad about. It happens in successful businesses, it happens in little businesses, it happens in big businesses. It’s just part of being in business!
So let’s make you some money—and soon.
1) Send a sales email about your bestselling product or service to generate revenue.
What’s your #1 seller? There are people on your list who haven’t bought this product or service and likely would, if they knew about it. Even when we think “everyone” has bought our main product, there are people you’re connected to who still don’t know it exists.
Last week, I casually linked to my bestselling product, The Art of Earning, and—without mentioning it by name—quadrupled sales over the week before.
Sometimes the best way to generate new revenue is to focus on old assets. What could you craft a fresh sales cycle for?
2) Beta test a product or program that’s been on your mind to serve clients & make money now.
I know you: you’re sitting on a great idea. You haven’t figured out how to make the time, find the money, or craft the sales process for that new product or program you have in mind.
Pro tip: don’t.
Write down everything you know about the first iteration of this product. Then write down all the reasons your best customers or most engaged audience members need it. Put those things together with a strong pitch and present it to a select few you know will dig it.
You’ll thrill the early adopters in your audience. You’ll offer killer value for a great price. And you’ll be that many steps ahead when you go to do a bigger launch on a more refined version.
3) Raise your prices to leverage existing sales.
Two ways you can approach this one. If you’re regularly selling something that’s been on the shelf for a while, you can just raise the price to give you a revenue boost.
The other way to tackle this is by giving your customers a heads up on an impending price increase. There’s probably something sitting on your “shelf” that could use a 10-50% bump in price. Craft an email that let’s people know the price is going up and they have until a certain date to get the item/program/service at a lower rate.
4) Repackage what’s already on the shelf.
Often, businesses have several smaller products that can be repackaged as a bundle with more value. In fact, the repackaged product might even have a more compelling value proposition as a package than as individual products.
If you’re a jewelry designer, you might try to package up a necklace, bracelet, and pair of earrings. Simple, right? But the result is a greater value than the sum of its parts; it’s now a night-on-the-town kit.
If you’re a health coach, you might try to package a recipe book, coaching program, and one-off session with you. Again, simple. And again, the result is a greater value than the sum of its parts; it’s now the method, the accountability, and the day-to-day information you need to succeed all-in-one.
What do you currently sell that actually makes more sense together?
5) Find a partner to create new value.
The best collaborations often start from very small joint ventures. If there’s someone in your network you’ve been dying to connect and create with, this could be the time to jump on it.
By your powers combined, you could whip up a workshop or small event that will have both of your audiences asking for more. You get the chance to test drive the partnership, your audiences get value that they couldn’t have gotten from either one of you individually, and you generate some revenue to boot.
The trick here is to keep the scope small and the expectations for each party well-defined. That benefits both of you… and your customers.
A word to the wise: it’s easy to fall into a pattern of gotta-make-money-now in business, especially once you realize how easy it can be. However, planning for revenue, proper product & customer development, and sales cycles will always be the real key to feeling secure in your business.
Part of truly stepping into entrepreneurship is understanding how easy it is to generate more revenue. If your cash flow is feeling a bit tight, I encourage you to try one of these ideas and get a taste for the entrepreneurial money mindset yourself.
This Is Why You Run the Risk of Always Thinking Small
Three years ago, I found myself in a peculiar position. I had just reached the biggest goal I had ever set in my life: making over $100,000 in less than 12 months. I was thrilled. And also confused.
I didn’t know where to go from here. I asked my mentors what I should aim for next. Honestly, I don’t even remember what they told me. Nothing stuck. So I did the only thing I knew how to do.
I aimed lower. Specifically, I aimed for working as little as possible and maintaining my revenue.
I was able to do that too. And this year, when I did my end-of-year bookkeeping and realized that I had achieved yet another year of stagnant revenue, I found myself no closer to having a new goal. Sure, it’s great to work 20 hours a week and bring in $150,000.
But I wanted more.
I just didn’t know what that “more” was.
I’m not in it for the money. Yikes, that sounds like a humble brag. Yet, money is a key way I create plans for growth, efficiency, and product development. Not having a new money goal was holding back my ability to plan.
As I’ve written about before, I got it into my head at some point down the line that the kind of work I could do was worth about $40,000 per year, max. It’s why I stomached working 60 hours a week for $28,000 per year at the Borders I managed for nearly 5 years.
Having a 6-figure business was inconceivable at 25. Yet, with over half a million dollars in revenue between the ages of 28-31, I’ve achieved it over & over again. But where to go from here?
The obvious answer might be a million dollar business. But when “what’s possible” doesn’t jive with what you can conceive, you can’t set the goal.
I have a very difficult time seeing big jumps forward—new possibilities—in terms of the kind of revenue my business can generate. And small jumps just don’t motivate me. More work than it’s worth, right?
So I’ve spent the last 3 years in search of a new goal, a new way to shake the foundations of what I know and push me into the realm of what might be possible.
We are all raised with different capacities for envisioning what’s possible. Some of us have a great capacity for seeing what’s possible with money. Others can see what’s possible with social change. Others can see what’s possible with software. Still others can see what’s possible with organization or logistics.
If you don’t expose yourself intentionally to those who see possibilities in areas other than you, you run the risk of always thinking small. Click to tweet!
You can uncover new possibilities in lots of ways. You can hire a coach, spend time with a mentor, or read lots of books. But the place I’ve had the most new possibility aha! moments has been at conferences or live events when lots of people with different capacities for possibility thinking gather in the same place.
Last week, I was at Pioneer Nation in Portland.
Photo Courtesy of Chris Guillebeau & Pioneer Nation.
I realized that it had been over a year since I was part of a big event. And I was so glad I went and fully engaged with what the event had to offer.
And sure enough, new possibility thinking abounded.
We heard from Rena Tom, founder of Makeshift Society, whose parents brought her up to believe that her career possibilities were doctor, lawyer, or engineer. After receiving a degree in both engineering and English, Rena discovered the new possibility of working for herself.
We also heard from Laura Roeder whose vision for her company was originally limited by the thinking that she was limited to hiring independent contractors. She worried that she couldn’t find talented full-time employees to work for her. But somewhere along the line, she was introduced to the new possibility that potential employees would jump at the chance to work from home for a company that was committed to success and creativity.
And we heard from Lori Allen, who shared that her original possibility was weaseling her way into a marketing position at a direct marketing company. Later, she was introduced to the possibility of developing a million-dollar line of travel products for that same company. She now oversees a business that produces 6-figures per month.
These 3 women broke through their original goals to see the possibility of something so much bigger.
I’m happy to say that I had that moment last week, as well. I’m already hard at work on those plans and you’ll see the fruits of them soon enough.
If you feel like you’ve stagnated, or like you’re wandering the Microbusiness Earning Plateau, sure, there are lots of business strategies I can teach you how to implement. I can help you build plans and execute them. If you feel like you’ve stagnated on your mission or bottomed out on the power of your organization, I can connect you to coaches that will help you plan and brainstorm.
But if you aren’t intimately connected with what’s possible, those plans won’t pull you out of your hibernation. You’ll ooh and ahh, but you won’t act. Because it just doesn’t seem real.
Today, I invite you to connect with new possibilities. Maybe it’s with a new coach, a new friend, or a new community. Or maybe it’s just with some targeted Google research.
Take the time today to find out what new possibilities are waiting for you.
5 Ways Impostor Complex Hurt My Business (And Probably Yours, Too)
It still happens to me.
I get a new email. It’s from someone “important.” Maybe it’s the client I’ve been wanting to land but never hoped of getting. Maybe it’s someone I really admire who’s looking for some advice. Maybe it’s a big company who’s doing cool stuff that wants to showcase my work.
I get excited.
Then I open it, read it, and proceed to panic.
That panic–and all the nagging negative voices that accompany it–that’s the Impostor Complex.
I can’t tell you how many great business opportunities I’ve missed out on due to the Complex.
And while it does still happen, I am now more skilled at recognizing the signs, implementing the tools I have, and moving forward. I’ve identified 5 ways that Impostor Complex has reared its ugly head in my own business and the businesses I work with on a regular basis.
Which sounds the most familiar to you?
1) You don’t ask for the help you need.
If you were good enough, smart enough, or talented enough, you wouldn’t need help, right? Asking for help is like admitting that the nagging voice in your head is correct. Oh boy, have I felt that before.
But it’s just not true. I find confident, capable people are the very best at asking for help. Knowing what you need and asking for it is a sign you really mean business.
The times I’ve been able to beat back my own Impostor Complex have been the times that I felt best about asking for help—and received the most help, as well. When you ask for help, you’re not signaling to anyone that you’re incapable. You’re owning the fact that great things require the support of a team.
When you ask for help, you get the support and feedback you need to create real growth in your business. You’re not a one (wo)man-shop, no matter how hard you try to be. Think proactively about building a team of support through your asks.
2) You don’t share what you’re doing with influencers (the media, potential mentors, etc…).
There are whole media outlets devoted to the news of companies that haven’t produced a single product yet. But when it comes to sharing your work of brilliance, you bristle.
Been there, done that. I’ve had the experience of having many people I admire tell me to let them know when I put out something new or ask how they can help promote my work. In the past, I never took them up on it.
I told myself I was waiting for something worthy of their attention. I was waiting to be worthy of their attention, regardless of the fact that I already was.
When I stopped waiting and started sharing, wonderful things happened. Testimonials came in. Programs got shared. Connections were made.
Every business needs influencers to help it spread its message. Whether it’s a big-time blogger, a magazine, a TV show, or a mover & shaker in your industry those stamps of approval help you get from one level to the next. And getting that approval is completely within your control.
3) You play small with your product development.
I’m all for iteration and bit-by-bit development. But what I see all to often is business owners playing small with their ideas. They’re following patterns that others have established because their Impostor Complex keeps them from imagining anything else.
I did this for years. I released tiny product after tiny product, burning myself out on launches and promotion. Once I was able to beat back Impostor Complex, I could create a business model that allowed for a bigger vision of what my business could become. I created a community that became a receptacle for my creative drive. I created a coaching program that is the foundation of a certification program.
Your ideas deserve to come to their full fruition and your business growth depends on it.
Which leads me to the next point.
4) You don’t plan ahead.
When you think of yourself as a fraud, you can’t plan very far ahead. If every day is just another chance for someone to call you out on your ability, why consider what your business will look like 12 or 24 months down the line?
In the years I listened to that awful nagging voice, I was only trying to stay afloat. I’d plan out the next 3 months of my business, max. That meant I was constantly reinventing the wheel instead of working on the systems that would support my longevity. It was a frustrating and exhausting place to be.
Planning ahead lets you stack success upon success. And it also lessens the pain of failures or mistakes when they inevitably happen. You owe it to your future self and your future business to plan ahead now.
5) You don’t communicate regularly with your community.
The last thing… and maybe the most simple, is that you don’t communicate regularly with your community when your Impostor Complex is telling you that you have nothing useful, entertaining, or profound to say.
This problem might be fairly simple but it’s devastating to your business. Business development is, at the heart of it, communication. It’s talking with your customers, your team, and others in your industry. If you’re not regularly in dialogue with your community, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities to learn, sell, and grow.
This might take the form of not sending out emails (clearly, I don’t have a problem with that). It might take the form of not asking customers for feedback for fear you’ve failed them (you’re an impostor after all, aren’t you?). It might mean not showing up at industry events like conferences or meet ups (my own Impostor Complex has made networking difficult).
Regular communication is a key way to get the feedback you crave, the customers you need, and the praise that inspires you so that you can take steps forward in your business.
The Way Forward
Impostor Complex is not something you combat on your own. I’ve had a steady group of entrepreneur friends who’ve helped me, as well as a coach who specializes in beating back the Complex. That coach is Tanya Geisler, who has helped me reverse more internal scripts than I care to think about right now.
If you’re ready to beat back Impostor Complex so that you can surge ahead with your business, those are the two steps I recommend: get friends who support you in this and get a coach who can really keep you accountable to your progress.
From Controlled Chaos to Meaningful Management: Concept5 Case Study
When I first met Gina Kearney & Rob Kenney, they were two masters of their craft–digital marketing strategy for manufacturing businesses–who needed help focusing. They had the know-how, skills, and connections to refine their business and move from controlled chaos to meaningful management, but not the big picture view.
We worked on picking out what really set them apart–a focus on strategy that produces results companies actually care about–and making that the cornerstone of their business model so that they could generate incoming leads beyond mouth-to-mouth referrals.
After 4 months, they had service packages that more accurately represented their unique strengths, messaging that set them apart in a crowded market, and more confidence to tackle the kind of projects that really turn them on.
Concept 5 Case Study
As the owners of Concept 5, we were guilty of violating our own rules. We routinely said “yes” to any client work, without considering if the engagement made any sense for our company to take on. As a result, we worked with B-to-B and B-to-C brands, with local and national businesses, with agencies and directly with clients.
In short, we lacked focus.
As big fans of the E-Myth series, we knew our business wasn’t working how we had planned. Sure, we were paying the bills, getting things done and pleasing our clients, but there wasn’t much focus on the big picture, and therefore an inability to scale and grow our business.
As subscribers to Tara’s email, we had admired how astutely she seemed to understand businesses just like ours. All her advice rang true. And so, last summer when the 10ThousandFeet sign-up appeared in the inbox, we took the plunge.
We had taken several coaching or guidance programs and always finished disappointed. But Tara got to the heart of things like no one else. The solid structure of 10ThousandFeet and all of the “homework” drove us to take a long, hard look at Concept 5 and, over time, chart a new course.
And now, we’re heading towards right where we want to go. Thanks to 10ThousandFeet, we have:
- Sharply defined our most valuable clients; and everything we do speaks directly to them
- Distilled our core offering down to the work we want to do
- Created organized service packages, enabling us to streamline our sales and execution processes
- Completely re-branded the Concept 5 website and sales materials
- Created a plan to grow our business in a smart, focused, sustainable way
But there’s something even more important than these achievements: we both completed the program feeling excited, energized and recharged. We have the confidence, and now the tools, to meet our objectives and better manage the business that we love.
If you’re interested in joining out next round of 10ThousandFeet, click here.