A while ago, I was doing some consulting with a business who are in their initial stages. They had finalised what it was they were going to be offering to their customers and now the conversation very much centred around how to bring business in. How were they going to get those initial sales?
If you’re currently in the same stage of your business where you’re ready to generate sales, then this blog post is for you.
Sales Generation Tip #1: Keep it Simple
In these initial stages, many companies I’ve come across will go into meetings and say how they want to do all these complicated things at the start. This very often includes extravagant social media marketing tactics, as if this is the magic formula that can catapult the business into instant success.
However, this shows a tendency to force things in a way that doesn’t necessarily lend itself towards true organic and sustainable growth in the long term.
Key things such as a solid business growth plan or market research can get forgotten about in favour of getting lost in the initial excitement of the launch (which I’ve previously talked about In some of my videos).
So many entrepreneurs just want to get going that they almost force success and try to move too fast at a pace that’s not actually viable or realistic. That’s where mistakes happen and where they risk selling themselves short. They inevitably end up going round in circles.
Instead of rushing ahead and getting too into details, focus on improving the business by just 1% each day rather than 100% overnight. See how much more manageable that sounds? Remember, little steps will all lead to big results – plus you’ll have a lot more time to iterate and improve along the way.
By having the time to make these little improvements, your coaching business will eventually get that exponential growth curve that you were trying to force in the very beginning – only at a much more manageable and realistic pace.
Sales Generation Tip #2: Give Your Clients a Taste
Let’s go back to the company I mentioned earlier. After speaking with the team for a while, it became clear that the most logical way forward was to just knock on the client’s door and demonstrate their offerings right there and then.
And hey, if it’s good enough, it will eventually sell.
Doing all these fancy things are all well and good at certain stages, but the easiest route at this time is to market their offering through a sample. There are a few options for this if you want to do the same.
This can work in many ways.
Say, for example, you’re a content creator and you’re looking to reel in more clients.
You might follow a business online, see some of the content they’re publishing, and perhaps send them a mail that says something like this: “Hey, I follow your business, I think what you’re doing is really great. It actually inspired me as a content creator to create some sample content for you. I’m just going to give it to you free of charge. And hey, if you like it – perhaps I might be able to work with you.”
If your work is good enough, they will pick up the phone and commission work from you.
That feels a lot less scary than just a typical cold selling, right?
Sales Generation Tip #3: Take Inspiration from Others
There are so many different ways you can provide samples. Take a look at what some other companies in your industry have done to inspire you. As you start to generate more sales, you’ll soon find your business growing in line with a natural growth curve.
Perhaps your business is a restaurant and you’re opening soon. An idea might be that while you’re doing up the space, you could put a few ads up saying something like: “Opening on 1st February…the first 20 people here each night on our opening week get a free meal!” Whatever works best logistically for you and your business, there are a ton of different ways to entice potential clients with incentives.
There’s a great example of that here in Dublin (where I’m from). There’s a chain called Chopped and every time they’re opening a new space, they put posters out the front saying: “Opening on X date. Free salads for the first 500 people that come in!”
And whenever they open, there are queues going down the street! It creates such a buzz. Everybody is talking about it.
I think this is a huge part of why they’ve done so phenomenally well.
Sales Generation Tip #4: Don’t Overcomplicate Things
When you’re starting out in business you might think there are loads of things you need to do in order to market, when in actual fact the most efficient way might be just picking up the phone and reaching out to whoever it is you are looking to attract.
Experienced entrepreneurs know that everything has its natural growth curve. They don’t try and force it – they go with the flow. If you’re ignoring organic business growth and looking for shortcuts, you’ll find yourself running before you can walk. For example, perhaps you’re already thinking ahead and throwing money at marketing agencies before you’ve even got your messaging right. If you don’t have a business growth plan and a marketing strategy in alignment with it, you’ll be wasting that budget too early.
These things need and deserve time.
If you believe in your product, others will, too. So have the confidence to show it to them, and the sales will follow. If you want some more guidance and support while generating initial sales for your business, I’d be delighted to chat through your goals and challenges. Get in touch and let’s see what we can do together!