How to Make Sales in Your Business
What we dive into in this episode:
- Using social media to make sales
- Practical strategies that sell
- Prioritizing customers and people over your business
- Highlighting your unique brand
- How to market your business
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Why is Social Media Good?
Social media is a tool that people use for entertainment purposes (aka doom scrolling), but people do not understand how powerful social media can be for your business. We know many of you hate social media, and we get it (especially Haley). But let’s look at it from a different standpoint. What if you could build a huge incredible business and make an impact on social media space? Think about it, where else could you reach hundreds of people in ten minutes? You can hate it, but it works! Instagram can bring in new communities, new clientele, and new connections – IF – you have the right strategies, know your audience, and do it right.
And if you’re still not on board – think about your ministry! Social media is the only place where you can share a bible verse or your testimony and reach thousands of people quickly!
What is a consumer?
Your consumer is your clientele, your audience. Where most people mess up is finding the *right* target audience. When you’re starting a business you want to provide something for everyone, but in trying to reach everyone, you truly reach no one.
When defining your target audience, we recommend trying to niche down as much as possible. When finding that perfect client it can be helpful to start asking yourself some questions about them. Ask yourself: What does your perfect customer look like? What are their personality traits? What type of reviewer would they be? The whole goal of this is to help you realize that you’re not trying to reach everyone, just your people. It helps you to know who you’re showing up for and serving and gives you a way to intentionally connect with your clientele.
When first starting out, there’s always this fear that if you niche down too much, you’re going to lose out on customers. It’s a normal fear, but it’s not accurate. Push yourself to go deep into psychographics and demographics. Figure out how old your customer is. Where do they like to spend their time? Who do they follow on social media? What are their comments? You have to turn into a little bit of a stalker in order to really get to know them. Then, you’re better able to tailor your content to the right people. So when you feel that fear that you’re niching down too much, kick it out the door. You can’t niche down too much!
Don’t be afraid to share your life. Sometimes our content becomes our life, but our life should be our content. We can become so hyper-focused on generating “good” content, but in reality, people just want to connect with you! Be your authentic self, whatever that looks like, and people will flock to you!
What is Branded Content?
Next is branded content. Branded content is all about what value you add, and why people come to your page. When people think of you, what are three things that would come to mind? Whatever those three things are, stand on that.
Your branded content also needs to be aesthetically pleasing. You want your viewers to know what they’re coming to your page for. You can’t just post and pray. You really need to stick to your brand and your values.
If you’re struggling to figure out what your brand is, we have a great episode to help you! Our episode with Bethany goes deep into creating your brand values, go and check that out here.
She’ll explain how to be a brand with value and be aesthetically pleasing too. Remember, your brand isn’t just a color palette and specific font, your brand is a whole personality. Once you form that strong brand, it’ll be so much easier to pivot and create content. You won’t have to think as much because it will just come naturally. When you know who you are, what you stand for, and what you offer, everything becomes streamlined. Thank us later!
Connecting is Converting
Ok. Let’s talk about connections. The harsh reality is: that if you’re not connecting, you’re not converting. You can post all day long, you can preach, you can do all the things, but at the end of the day, if you’re not connected, you won’t convert.
The connection is key, but the good news? We all connect with our customers differently. The way that we connect with our audience doesn’t have to be the way you connect with your audience. Noel connects by showing up and being a mess, but the beauty of it is you don’t have to be a mess. If you want to get up, do your makeup, and share your whole planned-out day. Do. It.
Haley connects with her audience through humor, sarcasm, and stupidity. Her reels relate to a totally different audience. Just like our friend groups and communities look different, your audience will look different too. But even if our audiences don’t look the same, we’re still asking ourselves the same questions. Who is my audience? What is my community? What do they connect with?
The key here? It has to be YOU – authentically you. If you’re trying to be someone you’re not, your network and audience will see right through you. So if you’re not a mess, don’t be a mess! If you’re not sarcastic, don’t be sarcastic! Stay true to you. That’s how you’re going to find your people.
Lead Capture
And the nitty-gritty of it all? Lead capture. Lead capture is a way to convert followers to customers. They’re tools in your toolbox to help collect contact information from your followers. We know – it seems a little slimy at first glance, but let’s change your perspective.
Not everyone is your next potential sale, future business partner, or regular client, but you can still connect with people. You may have followers that have never bought anything from you, but that’s ok!
Then you have your second set of people who need your product, service, or mentorship – that’s when lead capture comes in handy. Put simply, lead capture offers a way people can connect with you. Maybe it’s a form, an email list, or a link on your socials – whatever it is, you need to have a lead generation and a lead capture where you can nurture those new connections.
A way to funnel them into your community is vital! Freebies come in handy when trying to generate those new connections. Whether it’s free content, a guide, or a tutorial they can download, if you can give them something in exchange for a way to contact them, then you can start to make more of a connection with them in their everyday lives.
Selling Strategies
Ok, so you’re reworking your socials, and offering something free, but how do you actually sell? We’re getting into some of the hard questions and truths about closing the deal.
How to Be Authentic?
What does authentic mean? It means that you’re genuine, the real deal. It means that you really are who you claim to be. Being authentic means that you are who you say you are, and people have to see that.
People need to get to know you, and not just through posts and emails. In order to trust you, people need to hear your voice, see your face, and read your body language. Step outside your comfort zone and go live on Instagram, hop on a phone call with a new client, or connect over Zoom.
It can be great to know how to slide into DMs, but sometimes that extra, personable step makes all the difference.
Is Knowledge Power?
We’ve all heard it, knowledge is power. The hard truth is the more knowledgeable you are about what you sell and the value you bring, the more likely you’re going to convert.
So be knowledgeable about what you’re bringing to the table, but also about what your client is bringing to the table. For instance, if you know you’re about to have a conversation with someone, learn about them first. Do a deep dive into their world. Learn about their business, family, and life. Doing some digging first can allow you to make personal connections and comments.
And although it may feel slimy, it’s only actually slimy if you’re doing it just to make a sale. Your goal should be to have a genuine connection with that person, not just convince them to buy from you. Part of that goes back to having integrity as a business, we do a great episode that talks all about having moral integrity in your business here.
But another vital part is not being attached to their answer. You shouldn’t go into the meeting thinking that you’re going to get them to buy from you. Instead, focus on trying to genuinely connect with another person. Maybe that connection does not convert immediately. That’s ok! It may convert down the road at a conference or from a referral. All connections are important to the life of your business. It’s still community building. It can serve you well later on.
How Can I Add Value?
Everything you do should be adding some type of value for your consumer. Whether that’s aiding them in business, their personal life, or their spiritual walk, every interaction needs to add some type of value. If you can give them something they need, they’ll want to keep talking and learning from you.
Providing additional services or benefits alongside your main offering can help to differentiate yourself from competitors and provide extra value to customers. This could include things like free shipping, additional discounts, bonus services or products, upsells, etc. It increases customer experience with you, and it offers more value because you’re giving something in return for them buying from you.
One unique way that Noel adds value is by always sharing her lows. She made a promise to herself long ago not to just share the highlight reel. We recommend that you not only share the highs and lows but share your real life in general. People can’t relate to all your highs, but there are universal truths that we all have like: hard days, grief, and setbacks. Not everything should be shared online, obviously. There are absolutely private moments in your life that only a close few should know about, but you can share those harder moments with your audience in a tactful subtle way.
Your value is going to be different from someone else’s value because we are all different. That’s the beauty of humanity – we are all so different, and yet so similar too! Add value by putting your uniqueness on display. Trust us, your audience will love it.
Is Customer Service Really That Important?
Great customer service is rare these days. Focusing on caring for your customers really well will make your business stand out from the crowd. Continuously improve every touchpoint of the customer journey, from browsing your website and receiving their order to the services you’re providing. Make it easy, enjoyable, and memorable for them to interact with your brand. Automation and workflows are great for building your customer experience and streamlining the process of working with you.
Don’t be afraid to hire experts in these areas. Website development, systems, and workflows are their own niches. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t DIY it. Find someone who really knows what they’re doing and can help your business go to the next level.
It’s ok if you’re not quite ready to invest in a website overhaul, you can still go above and beyond for your customers. Handwritten notes, thank yous, and sending gifts in the mail for constantly supporting you will help your customers feel cared for. It adds that personal, authentic touch.
Should I Sell Everyone the Same Stuff?
When selling, it can help to divide your customers into groups based on factors like age, location, or interests. Then, tailor your marketing messages and offers to each segment to make them more relevant and appealing.
For example, if you’re selling skin products, like Noel, you could segment older women, who will more likely be focused on anti-aging products, and younger women, who will likely be focused on dewy skin or acne products. Segmenting your audience into different desires, like antiaging vs dewy skin, can help you tailor your marketing, offers, and products to those messages.
You’re going to speak to each of your segments differently. You could even segment your emails and send specific emails to each group. If you’re only on socials, then it might mean making different types of content, reels, carousels, and static posts, specifically for the older generations and then for the younger generations.
It all comes back to targeting your audience and knowing who you’re showing up for. Don’t be afraid to niche down. If mature women are your target, then base your content around that.
What Percentage of People Make Purchases Due to FOMO?
Way more than you think. The fear of missing out is totally real, so real that about 60% of people report making purchases due to FOMO. You can use psychological triggers like limited-time offers, exclusive promotions, or limited stock to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to buy now rather than later.
But we are warning you, please use integrity with this! We’ve seen so many coaches and businesses use fake FOMO just to complete a sale. If you’re always selling at 48% off, that’s a fake urgency tactic and can diminish your trust and authority with your clientele. Only use urgency when it’s truly there, otherwise, you risk tarnishing your reputation.
What is Remarketing?
Maybe you need a whole new facelift for your business, or maybe you just need tools like retargeting ads or abandoned cart emails to re-engage with your audience. Remarketing simply means to market again. It’s that second push to people who are already interested in your products or services.
So don’t feel weird about reminding your people why they are interested in your products and encourage them to complete their purchases. It doesn’t have to be pushy, just a simple touchpoint to reconnect and remind your busy customers what they are doing. It’s that extra step in their customer service.
Remember – your customer is busy. Don’t feel slimy over a follow-up because nine times out of ten your customer has gotten distracted. Don’t just assume you’re being pushy.
What is Social Proof?
Social proof is HUGE in consumer marketing, especially UGC content. Social proof is those positive reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content that build credibility and trust with potential customers. People are more likely to buy when they see others are happy with your products or services. Especially when you work in sales, third-party validation is so important because that person’s not benefiting at all from purchases. When you’re thinking about social proof, think before and after pictures and testimonials from people who like, know, and trust you.
This is why UGC content works so well currently because every video is commissioned to look like testimonials. They didn’t say to specifically buy it, they’re just raving about how excellent the product is and that makes you want it. Because it feels like you’re hearing from real people with real experiences.
What is Tiered Pricing?
Experiment with different pricing models, such as dynamic pricing or tiered pricing, to find the optimal balance between maximizing revenue and satisfying customer demand.
Having tiered (low, middle, and high) pricing is shown to increase the number of sales than if you had one stand-alone offer and pricing. It gives customers options to fit their budget. They’re more likely to purchase at least one option because they have them available.
How to Build Strategic Partnerships?
Collaborating with other businesses or organizations who share your target audience and offer complementary products or services can really take your business to the next level. Creating these partnerships allows you to reach new customers and create mutually beneficial relationships. Affiliate programs are a great example of this type of strategy. These types of programs offer you a way to get the product and your name in front of a different audience.
In simple terms, just be the customer you wish you had. Jealousy can kind of get us twisted. We think that if someone is doing the same thing as us it will diminish our light, but that’s not true. Be the customer you wish you had. If you bought a beautiful dress from your friend’s boutique, post that dress and tag her. Build up those collaborative relationships, because that allows you to reach new customers. Take those mutually beneficial relationships.
How to Utilize Your Analytics?
Take a deep dive into your sales data to uncover insights about your specific customer behavior, product or service performance, and market trends. You can utilize this information to make data-driven decisions and optimize your sales strategies for better results.
While it’s true that we have to remain true to ourselves and what we provide, we also have to consider and utilize social trends. It’s also so important to go back to your brand values when making these decisions.
As an online influencer, Noel makes these decisions every day. When you’re an influencer, companies come out of the woodwork to try to work with you, but when you know your analytics and what your consumer wants, it makes those decisions so much faster. If the business doesn’t align with yours, don’t just take the deal to make a quick buck. Only pick the products that are going to convert your audience.
Make sure you’re using your analytics on your website, blog, and socials to see what type of content is generating the most interest. The goal is to see what’s getting interacted with the most and then make more content like that. Data is key in improving your sales because it’s looking at what your customers do in real time. Our top tip? Make sure you are a business account, and then go look at those insights. Whatever people are engaging with the most, that’s the type of content you need to be making.
The content that gets the most engagement might not be the content that you enjoy making the most, and that’s a tough pill to swallow. At the end of the day though, it’s not really about you. It’s about what is performing well, and how we can serve our consumers best.
What is Customer Education?
Whatever service you’re providing, you need to become invaluable. That means you need to provide resources that your consumers keep coming back to again and again. You need to generate valuable content like tutorials or guides that help customers understand how to use your products, implement your services, or solve their problems. Once you’re offering this type of content, it will build trust and position you as an expert in your field, ultimately driving sales.
Don’t Sweat It
Remember, when it comes to sales, it’s all about connection and nurturing.
“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” Psalm 128:1-2 NIV.
God has promised to bless all those who fear Him and walk in His ways. Your fulfillment and joy won’t come from your business or following. Your financial situation, no matter how great or small, does not determine happiness.
But when we walk with Him, He becomes our joy. He becomes our success, and that can never be taken from us. So remember, it’s okay to have goals and strive for more, but life is not about how much money we have. Life is about building a relationship with Christ.
