Hey there small business boss lady!
Does this sound like you?
→ Are you struggling to find paying customers for your products or services?
Do you have a hard time selling and promoting your work because the idea of sales makes you feel uncomfortable and you wish you could focus on simply doing your work and not having to actively sell your work?
→ Are you struggling to create content and grow a following of potential customers through your platforms?
Do you believe it’s too late to gain a following online, like platforms are oversaturated and you struggle to attract your ideal customer so you don’t even bother posting or engaging much on your accounts?
→ Have you been questioning the best way to promote your products or services?
Do you believe digital marketing and online business just isn’t profitable for you and wish you had a simple, turn key strategy you could use to market your business on auto-pilot without having to spend thousands of dollars a month on ads or paid promotion?
7 Reasons Your Business Is Not Making Sales
From my 8 years of experience working full time on my business, I know there are 7 very common reasons your business isn’t making money. Let’s discuss them to identify what issues may be causing trouble for your business revenue generation.
#1: You don’t have much of an audience yet
When we are first getting started, even if you are doing everything right, there is going to be a period of time where you just don’t have enough of an audience yet to expect to see sales, or to even really learn what you are doing wrong so that you can correct it. If you are still in those beginning stages with less than a thousand followers, you may be in this grey area. It doesn’t mean you should give up, it just means that you need to let enough people see your offer before you will make sales. Think about it this way- even if you have 1,000 followers, and are creating great content marketing to sell your offer, you can’t guarantee that all 1,000 of those people have seen it, and taken the time to learn about it. I believe that is actually takes someone 3 interactions with any offer before they really truly consider it. The first time they see it, it may not register in their mind much. The second time, they may recognize they have seen it before. The third time, they may actually stop and consider the offer and make a purchase. So, if you have a smaller audience, you need to simply keep at it and let your audience grow while you continue to make the same offer over and over over time.
#2: Your audience isn’t the ideal customer for your offer
Now, let’s say you do have an audience online built up, and then you begin making offers for things they can purchase. If that audience isn’t the ideal customer for the offer, it doesn’t matter how many people are following you or seeing the offer, the wrong person is just never going to buy. I see this situation happen often with influencer type businesses who have been creating content for fun and building an audience on their specific interests, and then suddenly decide they want to start a business since they have a following. You need to be very careful of what you decide to offer because you can’t just sell your audience anything. If your platform was filled with food inspiration and shopping trips to Target, and then you turn around and start a business reselling designer handbags, there might not be much interest from your audience. There could be some overlap for sure, but it’s more likely that the audience you have built follows you because they want to see what you’re cooking and what you bought. So, you might have better luck with selling them a recipe eBook or becoming a member of an affiliate network that works with Target so you can earn a commission from the things you buy and show off to your customers.
#3: You haven’t proven yourself to your audience yet
It’s been well established through business research that customers prefer to buy from businesses they know, like and trust, so if your business hasn’t done enough of the legwork to spread the word about who you are, what you are doing and why, it’s very likely few people will want to take you up on any offer you make. This is especially true if your presence online has been inconsistent. If you are someone who doesn’t post high value content or posts infrequently, you are sending the message to your audience that you aren’t reliable or knowledgeable. No one wants to buy from a business they aren’t sure knows what it is doing or can follow through with any claims their offer makes.
#4: You aren’t selling consistently
Sales is without a doubt one of the biggest issues women face in their businesses because we have so many weird, untrue and negative stories whirling around in our minds about what it means to be salesy and self-promoting. But none of those stories are true. You are not a scammy or pushy person for sharing about your offer and your business online, and if you keep choosing to believe that and continue to feel bad about selling, it is going to stop you from talking about your offers and making sales. I know selling and marketing seems hard and time consuming, and it absolutely can be if you aren’t following a strategy. For example, did you know that using the marketing strategy of a sales funnel can bring you three to four figures of sales for your offers in a single month. And they can be put on auto-pilot so you don’t have to spend as much time actively selling. However you choose to do it, you need to sell consistently in order to make sales.
#5: Your offer is unclear, confusing or incomplete
Your business could sell a variety of different offers. Those offers could be for specific products, either digital or physical. They could be for services you perform for others. They could even be affiliate offers where you receive a commission from products you refer customers to. In order for people to really understand your offer, however, and determine if they need what it is that you are selling, the offer needs to be clear. If it’s not clear, or if people are confused about what it is, how to use it, what problem it solves and why they need it, they will not buy. Talking to your followers and ensuring they understand the offer is a great way to troubleshoot this situation. This is why you want to be consistently selling and creating content that shares your message with your audience so you have ample opportunity for feedback.
#6: Your sales page sucks
There is nothing worse than going to make a purchase from a sales page that sucks. Your sales page is the page on your e-commerce platform that shows and explains the offer. Sales pages require clear images of your products, explainations of what people can expect to receive and answer frequently asked questions. You’d be surprised at how often I visit the websites for small businesses and they have little to no information about their offer on a sales page. So, ultimately I and I’m sure others who visit that page, walk away without making a purchase. If the sales page is lacking or looks terrible, why would anyone buy that offer? It’s just an omen of the quality they can expect from the product itself and a major turn off to buyers.
#7: Your expectations are too high
The digital market place is a wonderful place to build a business, but too many new business owners approach the task from a “If you build it, they will come” mentality. Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly how it works. You can set up a business online with a beautiful website showcasing your products and/or services, but that is not enough to convert sales. You need the following and the business assets working together to convert, and you need to set reasonable expectations for conversions. So many business owners get confused because they may have a few hundred followers online but not a few hundred sales. But, it’s not logical or realistic to expect that everyone who follows you is going to make a purchase. Even if you knew each of those followers have seen your offer, not everyone is ready to buy. In fact, this might come as a shock to you, but a good conversion rate online is 3%. Meaning if you make your offer to a group of 100 people, if that offer is made well and you are talking to a group of ideal customers, you can still only expect 3 people to purchase and that would be good. This is why we need to make offers continually, to share high value content consistently and ensure we are always focused on our ideal customer.
I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO PUT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO YOUR MARKETING, AND IT NOT PAY OFF WITH THE SALES YOU WERE EXPECTING!
I’ve been in that situation before and it does not feel good to invest your time and energy into work that isn’t paying off.
It really sucks and is majorly discouraging.
But it doesn’t mean that you should close your business or that your offer isn’t right, in fact, most of the time, the problem is that you either aren’t marketing enough or you are marketing your offer in the wrong way.
I know for female entrepreneurs, selling is something of a sore spot. We don’t want to feel like we are being too pushy or annoying when we do our marketing, and so many of us start adopting inconsistent, low-impact sales strategies that fail to properly market our work.
You’re probably thinking that sales and marketing looks so easy and effortless for everyone else, but why doesn’t it work that way for your business?
Well, it can!
You can develop an easy, streamlined marketing funnel that attracts your perfect ideal customer right to your sales pages and puts instant income into your pocket!
You can do it without a ton of expensive, complicated technology, software, or even ads. And you can do it on any platform you prefer to use.
Consumers today are so much more savvy and they choose to buy through authentic, value-rich content and social media funnels as opposed to blatantly salesy ads, endless click funnels and hard line marketing pitches. Value rich content is the key to selling without guilt or shame. Your followers and customers will love you for it and keep coming back for more!
Let me help you build your first profitable social sales funnel that will put your marketing and income on auto-pilot!
I’m not talking about old school digital marketing click funnels, the ones that require you to use a ton of technology and spend tons of money on ads.
I am talking about sales funnels 2.0!
Funnels that rely on great high value content, not gimmicks and false promises.
Funnels that authentically grow your community and build you a following of loyal fans who can’t wait to buy your offers and keep coming back for more.
I know I do sales and my funnels a little differently than others do- it’s something that many people have commented on.
People tell me all the time that they love my sales style that is very relaxed, honest, and never pushy, and I truly appreciate that feedback because it has taken me a lot of mindset work to get myself to a place where my vibe around sales is relaxed and confident and never pushy.
And, so, I think it’s time I share my secrets with the rest of the awesome female entrepreneurs in my community.
Because this strategy and mindset that I use around sales is so aligned with the needs of the modern small business owner.
I know you need a strategy that is simple and turn-key, that you can use over and over again with success.
I know you need a strategy that integrates seamlessly with the content and platforms you are already using (or want to be using) to spread your message with the world.
I know you need a strategy that supports an elevated mindset around sales. One where we don’t need to feel ashamed about promoting our businesses because we feel good about the work we are doing and the integrity of the business we are creating.
It’s about magnetizing the right customers to us, rather than pushing, convincing or guilting our followers into buying.
I think you know what I mean!
If this is something you’d like to learn, I welcome you to join me for a new business course and group coaching experience I have recently opened for enrollment.
Join me for #INSTAINCOME Sales Funnels
It’s called #INSTAINCOME and it’s the path to easy income building online.
Build a profitable online sales funnel, start to finish, using content marketing, social media and email in just six weeks. Zero ad spend required!
INSTAINCOME is a 6-Week Live Course including six video modules, six live co-working sessions, and six weeks of group coaching support to build your first content marketing sales funnel starting June 1st!
If you are curious, or perhaps you know you really need a sales strategy that works for your business…
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND ENROLL NOW!
See you inside and can’t wait to help you build your first content and social sales funnel!
xoxo,
