I definitely fall into the camp of not having any regrets because all of the fuck ups and failures and totally embarrassing & cringe-worthy experiences I’ve gone through has gotten me to where I am now…

But I did do a mental exercise the other day & ended up thinking about “What do I regret not doing sooner in my business”

And there were a good 5 things that I identified as key elements that would’ve gotten me to a successful, scalable, profitable business in 2 or 3 years instead of 10.

I’ll take you through all of them in time but one I really want to highlight today is sales.

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One key to growing your business: Sales calls that give value

It’s one thing that I know limited my earning potential - being unwilling to do sales calls.

Probably beyond even that was not realizing that I should be doing sales calls in the first place.

A massive perspective shift I had relating to this was going from thinking of myself as a marketer, as a freelancer, to thinking of myself as an agency owner - a business owner.

I see this over and over again with service providers. They love their craft - they love being a healer or graphic designer or coach, and they totally identify with being that identity - that service provider identity.

And it IS important to be obsessed with your craft - to think the work you do in the world is insanely important and transformative & so interesting & fun!

But to not identify first and foremost as a business owner is causing you to have a bottleneck in your business.

And a part of being a business owner is focusing on marketing & sales.

And a part of growing a business as a service provider is doing sales calls.

So many people want to avoid this - to go straight to launching a course or program instead of getting good at sales.

But the way to most easily grow your business & to hit success quickly in your business is to fall in love with sales calls.

Is that a stretch??

At least to be willing to consistently prioritize doing sales calls.

To get comfortable doing sales calls.

Maybe you call them discovery calls or initial consultations… but they’re still ultimately sales calls.

So let’s start with a little affirmation to open you up to Sales Calls that Give Value:

I am open to prioritizing sales calls.

I am open to sales calls being fun.

I am open to sales calls being of deep service to my potential clients.

The truth is that sales calls are money generating activities.

One big action item I have the magical people do in the Alchemical Business Accelerator is to cut the fat out of their business.

To cut out the shit that doesn’t matter.

We can talk about systems and automations and delegating all day long. I love all of those things so so much.

And hiring a team & delegating things off your plate is a sexy sexy thing. It makes you feel powerful & like a boss.

But.

If you’re hiring & delegating and building systems for things that don’t actually make a large impact on your business then you’re just wasting time. And you’re wasting other people’s time. And you’re paying people to waste time.

Yikes.

So first - you got to get clear on what actually matters & what actually moves business forward in your business.

And that is on you. The CEO.

You may be tempted to do research and take more courses and (procrastinate) in the most innocent and seemingly productive ways…

But if you have generated sales in your business, then you know how to make more sales. Just do more of the shit that worked.

And if you haven’t generated sales in your business then you need to commit to experimenting and taking action and doing the hard & potentially triggering things.

Like reaching out to real humans to schedule some fucking sales calls!

When you’re below capacity in your business - as in you can take on more clients - then your first order of business is to focus your attention on marketing & sales. And of course delivering stellar work & results.

But cutting out the fat in your business looks like cutting out the things that are not bringing you more clients & bringing your clients more results.

If you’re a service provider then that is most likely getting people onto sales calls with you. At least if you’re charging enough & selling larger packages & higher end offers. Which is a great way to go & focus on if you are starting out or if you’re below 6-figures or even multiple-6-figures in annual revenue.

So what happens when you cut out the fat & you just start focusing on the needle moving, revenue-generating, results-creating activities?

As in you stop spending hours a day on Instagram & instead focus on relationship building?

Time & space opens up.

And you may be tempted to FILL that time & space.

As the laws of nature will encourage you to do.

But let’s not do that, okay?

On the most practical level you need to be reserving enough space in your calendar to serve the number of clients you want to serve.

What I mean by that is if you have 5 clients right now & you want 10 clients. You really do need to reserve space in your calendar for those 5 additional clients.

Or else you’ll be on this teeter-totter see-saw of marketing versus fulfilling.

Filling up time with marketing & then getting a boat load of clients, and then all of your time is filled with delivering client results & you neglect your marketing efforts & then you don’t have a pipeline of clients gearing up to work with you so you have to then focus on marketing…

And back and forth of stressful playing catch up.

When you really just needed to be more potent with your time. To cut the fat. To proooobably raise your prices…

(But that’s a topic for another day)

So let’s go back to sales calls. The one thing I “regret” not committing to earlier on in my business.

Sales calls are all about your relationship with your work & your relationship with your potential clients.

RELATIONSHIPS are a key component in building an In Flow Business & when you don’t double down on relationships then you will feel icky in your business, in your marketing & with your money.

Sales calls are you having a conversation with someone who is interested in working with you. They want what you have to offer & they want the transformation you are an expert in giving.

Sales calls are only icky if you don’t believe in what you’re selling - so there’s some mindset homework for you right there.

Sales calls are icky when you aren’t talking to the right people - you’re selling an eskimo a fan, instead of selling an eskimo an insulated jacket.

Sales calls are icky when you feel like you’re TAKING something away from someone & you believe that your potential clients' money is more valuable to them than the transformation you provide. That you are causing harm to them by taking their money.

But you are a heart-centered intuitive magical person.

You are doing incredible, life-altering work in the world.

You would not be like a used car salesman that is pushy & is lying about the car's features or mileage.

You have an offer that you’re selling, a service that you’re selling, and honestly… it is not your decision to decide whether or not your potential clients decide to pay you.

Sure, you can choose not to work with someone because you get red flags on your end… but you making a clean offer & then waiting for their response is not fucking up to you.

Your responsibility is to instead get reaaalllllyyyy clear on the value of your offer & you need to get reaaalllllyyyy clear on who it is perfect for.

You have a responsibility to demonstrate the potential future reality for your potential client if they decide to work with you.

Okay?

Let’s get into some Sales Call best practices.

In an ideal world your prospect knows of you already. But it’s not required.

Ideally they were referred to you.

Ideally they are already a fan of your work & they read your articles & emails & listen to your podcast.

They already know, like, and trust you.

If that’s the case - sales calls are very easy.

You’re just quickly connecting to be clear about the nuts and bolts and to feel each other out in a 1-1 setting.

A step away from that ideal scenario - you gotta think about the level of awareness your prospect has:

The 5 Levels of Awareness of Potential Clients

Level 1: Unaware

These are prospects who don't realize they have a problem at all. They simply don't know a better way exists. (Don’t go after or market to these people, please)

Level 2: Problem Aware

Problem aware prospects know they have a problem, and have some idea of what that problem is, but they may not completely understand it. They haven't dealt with this problem before. They're totally unfamiliar with potential solutions or that a solution even exists.

Level 3: Solution Aware

Solution aware prospects know about solutions like yours, but don't know your specific product or service.

Level 4: Product Aware

These prospects know your offers, but haven't bought it. They're familiar with what other people in your industry are offering. They're just not sure if your solution is best for them. They’re shopping around.

Level 5: Most Aware

These are your best customers – your multi-buyers. They're brand loyal. They're enthusiastic about you. They read your emails & watch your IG Stories & all the things.

I gotta say - don’t go after Unaware people. It’s an uphill battle.

The easiest sales calls will be the ones with the Most Aware, Product Aware, and sometimes Solution Aware level people.

So let’s look at some stats…

Sales Call Statistics

92% of buyers find a meeting valuable if you provide industry/market insights and give them a new perspective and help them better understand their needs. 92%!

(HubSpot)

This is in stark contrast to the fact that only 20% of people value conversations with salespeople. Or, put another way, 80% of people find a conversation with a salesperson to be useless.

(Gartner)

So here’s your big differentiator. Give the people what they want.

Instead of just talking about pain points and desires & painting a picture of their future… (which is standard sales call flow) … Give value - give information - change their perspective.

Go out there & try this out for yourself - prepare for a call by doing some research. & you’re the expert - you’re the thought leader - so ask yourself - what big perspective shift can I give my potential client?

This is how you up your sales call closing rate.

This is how you deeply serve your potential clients whether or not they buy from you.

This is how to feel really good about doing sales calls.

Excited to do these calls!

Because you’ll see the transformation you’re able to give people before they even hire you.

The sales call is valuable in and of itself.

So…

I haven’t talked about sales before on this podcast!

What a fun topic.

And it’s a big one.

So I’ll leave you with a final bit.

Sales Call Mindset Work

So much of this is mindset. If you believe your offers or services are the shit & your people would be crazy not to buy from you then selling becomes real easy.

And you can create any belief you want.

Creating new beliefs is a skill you can develop.

Building relationships is a key part of doing business - with yourself, with money, and with your clients + potential clients.

This is a major part of the framework I teach in the Alchemical Business Accelerator.

When you actively build relationships then you build a larger pool of people who are already a YES before they even get on a call with you.

And when you give value through changing a prospect's perspective on a sales call - you are giving them what they WANT & you will convert more people from potential clients to actual clients.

And guess what.

Apply for the Alchemical Business Accelerator

We’re starting to enroll people into the next round of the Alchemical Business Accelerator that starts in October.

If you join before mid-July you get a bonus 90-minute 1-1 call with me & you get premier access to our resource library, including sales call trainings, and our 28-day marketing cycle training.

There are a limited number of spots available so click here to learn more & apply.

After you apply I’ll reach out to schedule a call with you to see if it’s a good fit.

See you next week everyone!