UWR 030 Sales Activities Versus Goals

Published: Sept. 27, 2019, 6 a.m.

In today's episode, I'm speaking about sales activities versus goals. This episode is the audio from a Facebook live that I previously did, but the content is incredibly useful, so I wanted to share it with you here in the podcast. So, let's dive in. Typically, what I see that they have a cashflow issue, and sometimes it can be a cashflow issue, but often, it is an issue of not enough sales. It's not that there's a problem with cashflow as such. It is that the sales are not high enough, and they don't actually support the level of expenditure. So, there's a piece that needs to be done in making sure the expenditure is appropriate for your current level of sales, but there also is a big discussion that needs to happen around sales activities, and are you actually setting aside time for sales activities in your business? Those things that actually generate you those consults, or those discovery calls, or whatever you call them, whatever those things are that get people into your business. So, are you doing the activity that actually drives those sales conversations? And are you being really consistent with that activity? And are you monitoring that activity? And are you recording the results of that activity? This can usually be a huge, huge piece, so I want to speak about it today. Here are my big things about your sales activity. First off, it's identifying those things in your business that you can personally do that are going to drive sales conversations, that are going to help generate sales conversations, not waiting until those sales conversations fall in your lap through inquiries, through referrals, whatever that might be, but what conscious action can you take on a daily basis to move people through and to get those sales consultations on your books, in your diary, in your calendar? What can be done? Is that engaging in more two-way conversation in Facebook groups? Is that DM strategies on LinkedIn? What do those actual activities look like in your business that are actually going to help get people on a sales call with you, on a consult with you, in order to move them forward, in order to ideally bring them on-board as a customer or client? Because when we're starting out or when we have a five-figure business, we can feel scared about these types of direct sales activities. We can feel like we are being salesy, the stereotypical view of a salesperson being in a kind of shotty brown suit on a car forecourt. That is not what selling is. Selling is providing your solution to people who are looking for it. There is nothing pushy about it at all. Selling is a conversation, whether that's done online or offline, and in this online world, of course, the sales conversation begins online. So, it's making sure that you are in the right place to be starting those conversations and then usually pulling them offline into a call. What are you doing each day to get people into calls? What activities are you doing? Are you showcasing your expertise by answering questions in, say, other people's Facebook groups when your area of expertise shows up? Are you producing content that converts, content that is going to be getting people into further conversations with you? Are you being consistent in the activity that you are doing in your business? Once you can identify those activities that start driving sales calls, that start driving people to book into your calendar, to start booking those sales calls as time to speak with you, fitting calls, discovery calls, consults, whatever you call them. Once you can identify that activity that is driving that, you then need to be making sure that you are consistent with that activity, that you are monitoring that activity. You may find that for every 100 people you connect with on LinkedIn and send a direct message to, then you end up with 10 consultations on your books. So, what do you have to do? You have to make sure that you're doing as many of those activities every day as you can,