We’ve been indoctrinated to believe and desire an inbox full of sales and inquiries to work with us. The way we think that needs to happen is by having more and more people join our list, that the way we’re going to drive that traffic is through all of these fads around reels or whatever the heck they’re doing these days. If you are a service-based business that sells premium services, we don’t need more volume to grow your revenue.
Myths that I’ve been hearing: The more customers or the more leads you have, the more of an impact you can make.
I realize that especially for women, the first thing they’ll tell you as to why they want to have a business is they start in with impact, If you actually dig deeper underneath that, it does become about the money and what they want to be able to do with that money.
It is providing some security for their family. It is being able to have choices and freedoms that they might not have if they didn’t have that money. It might be that they are looking to feel empowered around their dollars so they don’t feel maybe controlled by a partner or a spouse when it comes to money. So I get it.
On the surface a lot of you see impact, and impact gets equated with either volume of people or how much money you donate, and it is neither of those things.
First, the volume of customers doesn’t necessarily mean high profit.
It probably means the opposite because you’re going to have a lot of money going into lead acquisition, driving traffic, and you’re going to have a lot of money going into customer service if you have a high volume of customers.
The reality is that to make the impact that you want to make, whether it is a primary driver for you or a secondary driver for you, you need profit, because it’s not about how much money you give away. Impact comes in many different shapes and sizes. What’s more true is that healthy profits allow you to have more time for your family where you can make an impact, probably the greatest impact.
I always say even generational wealth isn’t about money. It’s about the knowledge you share and how you teach your children about money. Having that relationship with your family and being present for them is a huge impact. Or you have the time that you can donate and/or you have the financial means to support more local business owners, invest in things that you value, like other companies who align with your values.
If you were putting money into the stock market and you found a company that you’re like, “Wow, this company is really up to doing a lot of good work in the world. I believe in them, I believe in the impact they’re having,” you can take that money and invest it with that company and share in the profits of that company. Just by simply believing in the impact that this other company is making, you could potentially make profit as well.
Then, of course, there are charitable contributions. But that’s not the only way that you can make money, you can start a foundation. There are lots of ways that you can be making an impact in this world that doesn’t have anything to do with the volume of customers but everything to do with your profitability.
Let’s talk about the second myth. The volume of customers equals easier delivery.
I see this a lot where if I offer something for a lower price and more people buy, this becomes somewhat passive and scalable. But in the name of easy, it’s not. It is not easier. This is what’s really happening for us in our psyche and in our emotional body and in our energy, people believe that the lower the price, the less responsibility they have to the people buying.
I get why this is really attractive to women who already feel like they’re over-functioning. They feel like they’re over-delivering to everybody and anyone around them. They’re holding a lot. To hold something at a higher price tag, they believe that the people who are paying the higher price tag are going to suck the life out of them and be demanding. Instead, the opposite is typically true. I mean, it certainly has been true in my business.
As a matter of fact, in a recent McKinsey article I read, they stated that people paying the lower price—and it was for ice cream, they did this research around ice cream—but people paying this lower price for ice cream expected to get more for their money. When you sell at a higher price point, you actually get clients who are more understanding, value your work and boundaries and are looking for something to be solved quickly, or they just really want to learn from you and they really want your one-on-one guidance.
If you’re somebody who is sensitive with energy you also don’t have to be overwhelmed by showing up in a group scenario or setting and forcing yourself to do that. One-on-one or small-group programs can also be scalable in many ways, including price point, but delegating the customer service aspects to your team so you only have to show up for the delivery.
We do that a whole bunch over here, especially as we were growing.
In the earlier stages of my business where I was primarily just offering one-on-one, it was for my team, Lane, actually, to provide customer service, to answer questions, to organize prep sheets and everything like that so all I had to do was show up for the call and be present. That allowed me to, at that time, take more calls.
Some of you are like, “Well, I want to take a month off,” I’ve been able to do that as well. There are ways that you can do that as well. That shouldn’t be a reason why you don’t work in a way that feels easier for you, aligns with you, or is a higher margin.
Myth #3: more volume to grow your revenue and stability.
It can be true, but it’s not completely true. This whole belief of “I have more customers and I will make more money.” Listen, there are lots of ways for you to make more money. If you hone your craft so you can increase your prices, you’ll make more money. If you work on your confidence and beliefs around what you’re charging, you will make more money. If you have a system for client retention that lowers churn, something that’s really hard to do when you’re dealing with volume, you will make more money and be way more profitable.
I can’t tell you how many businesses don’t dial this in and they are chasing new leads in the front door and they are losing clients out the back door. It is some of the most inefficient businesses that I see. That would be a really good place to do some work to find some low-lying fruit, easy sales, and easy growth opportunities, would be to shore up as many leaky buckets as you possibly have in your business.
If you master the heck out of empathy-driven sales and relationship building, you will convert more of the leads you already have leading to more money. One day you’ll join The Bold Profit Academy and you’ll be like, “Oh, now I know what she’s talking about,” and then you’ll have a process for doing it again and again and again.
If you have a process that allows you the space to think strategically about your business, if you have a space that allows you to debrief at, look at what’s working and what’s not working, that will help you create process and systems that are repeatable, and that will allow you to make more money.
Volume of customers isn’t the only way that you can be making more money. If you elevate your customers and you find the right fit for your service, if you have a better market fit with your service, that will help you make more money. A perfect example of this was the case study we did with Cassie Christopher, around how making one B2B sale was able to reduce her need for 3,000 leads and 30 group coaching sales.
If you’re listening to this and you’re like, “Yep, Tara, I want you to help me find my invisible leads, the ones that are there, but maybe I don’t realize are there,” if you want help organizing those leads so you know exactly who to prioritize talking to and what conversations to have, if you want to understand why people buy, buyer psychology, why are people buying and how can you be positioning your offer to meet those people who want to buy, if you don’t have a sales process or want to fine-tune your sales process and start more conversations that convert, these are all reasons that you’re going to want to join The Bold Profit Academy right now.
We are in Q3 sales curriculum where we are specifically talking through what is a sales process, what are the different steps, and how you align the tasks and activities that you’re doing every day to fit into the sales process, then how we use the tools of the internet—whichever ones you like, I don’t have a preference to which ones you use—how do we use the tools of the internet to then help us scale our sales process, to help us reach more people, and convert better, convert more of the warm leads that we already have so that we can get paid like an expert, because that is what you truly are, an expert.