These days, there’s a strong focus on social media marketing and creating an online presence. Over and over, we see many of our clients invest a ton of time and dump a lot of money into curating their social media, making sure they are doing it “right” with the right marketing strategy, algorithm hacks, etc. While perfecting your marketing strategy is valuable, these same clients seem to forget to make the same investment in selling.
It’s as if they are avoiding the very thing that makes money.
If you’re intimidated by sales or think it’s a skill that you just simply lack, then you’ve come to the right place.
Being successful in sales has nothing to do with a certain personality or a certain pitch; sales simply boils down to connection. It’s about making a connection, establishing a relationship and sticking with it. That is not something a fancy website or a clever social media post can do, but you can!
Sales strategy starts by asking yourself, “How can I serve people?”. It’s a small shift in mindset to begin by thinking about how to meet a need, not in just closing the sale. Think of what you sell as a gift - your gift to them and then follow up by asking yourself, “What do I have to offer that will help them?” These questions help you start to focus on the relationship, not the sale.
Next - let’s take a look at your sales process. These is where many of our coaching clients struggle, not only by having a process but being consistent in executing it. However, like relationships, sales take time.
The truth is that it’s rare that someone buys from you on the first meeting. The vast majority of the time, it takes multiple contacts before someone realizes the value of what you offer.
In order to get your sales process down and be consistent in your strategy, start by digging into a sample of your recent sales to determine how many touches it takes to convert a lead into a sale. Take note of which platform generated the post leads. Is it referrals? Your instagram account? Website inquiries?
Then, commit to tracking that process. Seeing it broken down can provide valuable insight into where leads are dropping off, and where you can create engagement or streamline your process so you don’t re-invent the wheel. Take what is working and lean into that more, then double down on your follow-through, and you’ll see results.
Finally, the last area we see people struggle in sales is spending too much time on activities that don’t bring in money. You may be investing hours on marketing or developing your website, but if you aren’t following up with your leads, you are losing the most valuable tough: personal connection.
If you’ve broken down your sales process (see above) you’ve identified the activities that are making you money. Make a commitment to those activities and you’ll see a return (increased sales) on your (time) investment. Once again, consistency will pay off!
Perfectly polished social media accounts and online presence will bring in sales, but only if it builds a personal connection with your audience. A relationship is really what they crave! If you go the extra step and show them that you care, that’s when you’ll see sales take off. Your interaction must be real and sincere, and to do that you need to just be yourself.
I can’t emphasize enough how important relationships are to sales. If you shift your mindset to think of each sale as a relationship – and focus on building those relationships at each stage in the process – you’ll find sales much easier.
Here at Legacy Creatives, we have a wealth of resources available to you to increase your profits by learning to sell authentically, and from the heart. Connect with us here, we would love to share them with you!