The worst sales advice I’ve heard.
ALL THAT JAZZE PODCAST • EPISODE 191
The worst sales advice I’ve heard.
There’s some sales advice out there that really grinds my gears. One such piece of advice is to do everything you can to AVOID actually connecting with potential clients during the sales process. It’s the “how hands off can I get?” mentality. In my business, I’ve taken the exact opposite approach and created a sales process that is efficient, personalised and lucrative and it has been the BIGGEST needle-mover in my business, both in terms of conversions AND retention of aligned clients. Not surprisingly, these are the two biggest correlators to strong monthly recurring revenue.
In this episode I cover:
> Why having a highly-personalised sales process is needed more now than ever
> 3 ways to personalise your sales process for more conversions and retention
> The sales activities I commit to every week to create consistent sales in my business
I’m Jazze Jervis
Hosted by holistic business coach, 5/1 Manifesting Generator, and “strengths-led strategy” pioneer, Jazze Jervis, All That Jazze is THE business Podcast for do-ers, shakers, and ambitious action-takers who also want more joy, fun, spaciousness, and abundance in life and in business!
Summary of episode:
Hey there, fellow entrepreneurs! Today, I'm excited to delve into a topic that's been on my mind lately—the approach to sales that seems to be gaining popularity but, in my opinion, might not be the best fit for everyone. We're talking about the "how hands-off can I get?" mentality in the sales process.
I've been in the coaching business for a while now, and over the years, I've come to realise that the key to not just conversions but also long-term retention lies in creating a personalised sales process. In this episode, I want to take you behind the scenes of my own sales process, share some recent reflections, and provide you with three actionable strategies to infuse more personalisation into your own sales strategy so that you can make more conversions and improve your retention long-term.
The "Hands-Off" Sales Mentality
Let's address the elephant in the room—the idea of doing everything possible to avoid connecting with potential clients during the sales process. Now, I get it. Time is precious, and automation has its place, but if you're in a profession like coaching where personal connection is paramount, avoiding it altogether might not be the best route.
My 5th line opinion on this? If you want to be a coach but shy away from connecting with people, is coaching your ideal career path? The essence of coaching is in the human connection, understanding your client's needs, and providing tailored solutions. It's not just a transaction; it's about building relationships.
The Game-Changer: Personalisation in the sales process
In my experience, creating a personalised sales process has been a game-changer in my business. Why? Because it directly impacts both conversion rates and client retention—two crucial factors for a thriving business with solid monthly recurring revenue. Let's break it down:
Conversions:
By crafting a sales process that is more than just a transaction, I create a space where potential clients can see the value of my offer tailored to their unique needs and desires. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach; it's about understanding and addressing individual concerns.
Retention:
Because of that personalised and spacious sales process, I’m giving people an opportunity to make informed decisions which ultimately attracts clients who are genuinely aligned with my offerings from the start. This alignment translates into long-term relationships, contributing to a healthy monthly recurring revenue. The average time a client spends with us is a solid 18 months, thanks to this personalised approach.
Recent Reflections: Real Stories Speak Louder
I wanted to include some screenshots of messages that people have sent me about my sales process. The feedback ranges from small gestures like thanking me for my time to a significant moment where a client decided to invest sooner than planned - solely because of the sales process:
I’ve always found this last point fascinating ^^^.
I’ve seen so many coaches who have an understanding of human design create SO MUCH urgency as part of their sales process which is completely contradictory to some people’s unique design (for example, being an emotional authority in human design means that it is going to take longer to make a decision. If there is urgency created during this process, that person might make a decision from their emotional low or high rather than emotional clarity, leading to misaligned decisions and investments.)
Remember how I mentioned RETENTION above? This is part of having a long-term focus. By creating a spacious and personalised sales process, you’re not only going to attract more aligned clients that are right for your business, but that client is more likely to stay for a long period of time if they’ve made an aligned decision from the get go.
By chasing instant gratification and creating urgency in the sales process, you might get the sale, sure. But it might not be the right sale and you’re less likely to have a long-term relationship with that client.
What does this create?
A one way ticket to an income roller-coaster and the feast/famine cycle that so many online business owners experience.
Behind the Scenes of My Sales Process
Now, let's dive into the nitty-gritty of my sales process.
I have a unique perspective on social media in that I believe that it's essentially journaling if you're posting without a sales strategy. If you don’t know where you’re taking people but you’re still creating content, you’re basically writing in a journal for all your followers to see.
I’m sure you have your own private journal for that. So what’s the approach you should take instead?
Well first, your content should lead people somewhere, whether it's a product, program, or a space to further educate and nurture them toward becoming your clients. By always knowing where you’re taking potential clients, you can create more effective content AND have a more robust plan for your sales process and how you’ll personalise it.
Let’s explore more…
For me, I know that there are a few things that convert best for me and so my priorities each week are informed by those top converting funnels which are:
Visibly YOU bonus call that we offer
Visibly YOU is our super popular 3 step visibility process that will ignite your visibility + fuel your profitability (it is linked at the bottom of this blog post). This coveted resource is just $37 PLUS it comes with a 30 min bonus coaching call with me where I review your strategy and provide feedback on your messaging, shop front + sales funnel.
Naturally, clients come to this call and receive so much value from our time together that they then go on to join another program.
In fact, I recorded a Podcast episode on how this $37 offer created an extra $80k in revenue (now over $100k). I'll link at the bottom of this blog post.
Free and on demand masterclasses
We have two free and on demand masterclasses that we are consistently referring to because many people watch these webinars, go through our nurture series and convert into an offer.
The Conversion Framework: Set solid foundations for consistent sales (without having to sell every single day!)
In this FREE masterclass, I share a simple 3 step framework I use for our clients to create foundations in their business for consistent conversions now and over the long term
This is perfect if you’re desiring to create consistent $5k months and will be linked at the end of this blog.
Built For Scale: A roadmap to go from $50k to multi-6 figures (without burning out, breaking your brain or adding more products or problems to your business)
In this 65 minute masterclass, you’ll get the simple 3 step framework I use to create a multi-6 figure pathway for my clients so their success is scalable, sustainable + stunningly profitable
This is perfect if you’re already at $5k-$10k months and desiring to scale to multi 6 figures spaciously + sustainably and it will be linked at the end of this blog.
Our Podcast
The All That Jazze Podcast seals the deal for many people considering working with me. With average episodes capping around 35 minutes, this is transparency, precision and depth at its finest. As a line 1 and Capricorn stellium, I go ALL IN on telling you what I know, including my journey to my first million, hitting burnout and then changing my whole business model to usher in more spaciousness, sustainability and profit.
So what does this all mean?
Calls-To-Action (CTAs)
It means that every week, I strategically use CTAs on social media, directing followers to all of the above 3 things.
Because PSA! Social media followers are not leads!
They’re not leads until you’ve taken them somewhere, preferably into a funnel.
The Personal Touch: Transparent Reach-Outs
Once people are in a funnel, I’ll then reach out to them personally every Wednesday (Wednesday’s are ruled by the planet Mercury so this is always my biggest communication day) allowing me to connect with potential clients on a more individual level.
Additionally, if I’m on a Visibly YOU bonus call and I believe I can make a positive impact in someone's business, I let them know that and I ask their permission for whether they’d like me to record a personalised video for how my work could be applicable in their own business. This might involve taking them through a personalised Loom, a 10-minute video outlining how I would coach them based on their unique needs.
Sure, not everyone converts immediately, but transparency and personalisation contribute significantly to both conversions and retention. It allows clients to see the application of strategies to their business and sets clear expectations for our co-creation journey.
3 Strategies for Your Personalised Sales Process
Now that you've peeked into my sales process and seen the value of a personalised strategy, let me share three strategies to infuse more personalisation into your own sales strategy:
1. Consider Where You're Sending People:
Rather than directing everyone to a sales page, consider sending them to a top-of-funnel experience, preferably to the place where you convert the most!
For example, if you can crush sales calls, then the best use of your time is to reverse engineer a strategy that’s going to book as many sales calls as possible
If your clients often say, “I binged your pod and I’m ready to work with you”, then your strategy is going to revolve around getting as many people listening as possible and thinking strategically about how you present each episode
Nothing else should really matter
Why be on 1000 platforms when there’s 1-2 things you KNOW move the needle for you?
This is exactly what we teach inside Visibly YOU by the way → our 3 step visibility strategy (linked below!)
2. Start with a general behind the scenes video that you can send everyone (e.g. like our Loom)
We have a “behind the scenes” video for both Constantly Converting and NEON (our two core offerings) that shows people a little bit about how we create the impact that we do. Yes, we have in-depth sales pages but I know from the many conversations I’ve had with people (and my own experience with investing) that seeing how something actually works can be really helpful.
I’ll link these Looms at the end of this blog post for you but here’s some things to get you thinking about what you could do in your own business:
If you do a lot of personalisation in your spaces, can you show people how that works?
If there’s a specific framework you use, can you show people what that looks like in practice?
If you have a process that is in your modules, can you show people that?
Give people an opportunity to see how things would apply for them.
3. Start Personalised Reach-Outs:
Start by reaching out to individuals who download freebies or are in your funnel. This doesn't have to be an overwhelming task; tailor it to your business style. If personal reach outs feel too much, consider other approaches like tracking engagement and reaching out strategically. For example, maybe you only do personal reach outs when someone has clicked on a sales page 3 or more times from one of your emails.
Tune into the Podcast episode to listen to an example of how I do these personal reach outs.
Make it YOURS
As you consider incorporating more personalisation into your sales strategy, remember to align it with your unique business needs. For some people, the idea of reaching out like I do as a 7H Cancer Sun in astrology might be too much. So what else can you do? Could you send an email broadcast just to those people rather than reaching out individually?
This is exactly what we do inside NEON, especially in our quarterly 1:1s which are happening right now until March 18 2024!
These individual calls happen every quarter and are an opportunity for you to finalise your offer, sales and marketing strategy ready for Q2:
> What you’re selling (and of course, the most compelling messaging which is totally our zone of genius)
> How you’re selling it (including launch plans, testing for a future evergreen funnel, pre-launch strategy etc)
As well as creating a plan for converting in the immediate term, too!
These only run once a quarter so it's the perfect time to join us if you’re at $5k-$10k months (or maybe you’re at closer to $20k but it feels stressful and unsustainable) and you’re desiring to scale to multiple 6 figures.
Within 48 hours we can:
Onboard you into the portal and Slack channel (this is automated so will happen as soon as you purchase)
Review your whole product suite, provide feedback (and likely find extra $$$ you’ve left on the table while we’re at it!) as well as figure out which offer to prioritise this quarter and next to generate maximum sales and profits
Start refining the messaging for that offer and gather any feedback/data to create the sales strategy most appropriate for you and your business
If you’re at $5k-$10k months or maybe even at $20k but you’re doing it unsustainably and it's not predictable, then NEON is the space where we’ll support you with a personalised strategy to scale to multiple 6 figures.
EPISODE LINKS
VISIBLY YOU: Our 3 step visibility process will ignite your visibility + fuel your profitability. Get this coveted resource for just $37 PLUS a 30 min BONUS COACHING CALL with me where I’ll review your strategy and provide feedback on your messaging, shop front + sales funnel.
The Conversion Framework: Set solid foundations for consistent sales (without having to show up to sell every single day!)
In this FREE masterclass, I’ll share a simple 3 step framework I use for our clients to create foundations in their business for consistent conversions now and over the long term.
Perfect if you’re desiring to create consistent $5k months!
Built For Scale: A roadmap to go from $50k to multi-6 figures (without burning out, breaking your brain or adding even more products or problems to your business).
In this 65 minute masterclass, you’ll get the proven 3 step framework I use to create a multi-6 figure pathway for my clients so their success is scalable, sustainable + stunningly profitable
Perfect if you’re already at $5k-$10k months and desiring to scale to multi-6 figures spaciously + sustainably.
See our “behind the scenes Looms” as discussed in the podcast episode:
How we created $80k from a $37 offer.
