318 | You Need To Be Selling Each And Every Day With Katie Hunt

You know we like to keep things real with you here at Proof to Product and the truth is, there will be a lot of businesses that will close their doors over the next year. There will be lots of reasons for this.

Some business owners will decide that they no longer want to navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
Some will be unable to keep their doors open due to financial strain.
Some will shut down entire revenue streams to focus on something new.
Some will close because the business owner’s life circumstances have changed.

There are so many unique and different reasons why this will happen. But we’re about to see a cycle of small business closures.

Everyone I talk to in business right now is trying to reduce costs - for services, software, teams, and more. But there is another side to this coin. It’s something that will keep your business stable and strong. It is where you should be focusing your time, energy, and effort.

It’s selling.

Selling your products should be the main focus in your business always, but particularly right now.

During today’s episode, we are discussing how you can make sure you are selling every single day. You’ll learn why you need to sell every day and three actionable ways you can make sure you are doing so.

Today’s episode is brought to you by our Proof to Product LABS coaching program. This is a coaching program specifically built for product-based business owners, with members from across industries and across the globe.

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3 Ways to Ensure You Are Selling Every Day

I know this sounds obvious… but if you look at the number of hours you work in a given day… how many of those hours are explicitly spent on selling?

If you’re anything like most product brands, you’ll likely spend very few hours dedicated to sales.

So what can we do to ensure we’re selling every day?

1.Audit Your Sales Process

The first thing we can do is audit your sales process.

How easy is it for your customers to purchase from you?
Is your website easy to navigate?
Is the checkout process smooth?
Are you offering multiple payment options?

On the wholesale side, do you have clear terms & conditions, and do you offer multiple ways to order? Is it easy for people to find you?

Conversely, are there any barriers in place that may make it more difficult for them to purchase? Is there anywhere in your sales process that is creating extra friction for your customers and causing them to bail before they make it to check-out?

I’ll share a few examples of this — on the wholesale side, friction is created when we don’t include our pricing or our terms & conditions clearly on our website or in our wholesale catalog.

It is difficult for store owners to know how much things cost, how much they need to spend, or how quickly the brand ships. Leaving out those important details makes it much more difficult for a wholesale customer to purchase.

On the direct-to-consumer side, one common pain point is not offering multiple payment options at check-out.

Systems like those listed below can not only expedite but also streamline the check-out process.

Shop Pay
PayPal
Apple Pay
Google Pay
AfterPay, which allows you to offer payment plans…

I was on a website the other day ordering pajamas for my kids, and the only option I had at check-out was to enter my credit card number.

But I was recently sent a new card with a new number & I didn’t have the physical card on me. I didn’t have it saved in my phone yet. I didn’t have the number or security code memorized… so I got up to grab my wallet so I could finish checking out… in the process, I got distracted with my kids needing something…. and you know what? I never went back and finished checking out for those items. It fell off my priority list. And I bet this happens more often than we realize.

We want to start by auditing our sales process so that anyone who lands on our site - whether through proactive or reactive outreach - will not only stay on our site but also purchase from us or join our email list.

Both scenarios enter them into our sales engine, which leads us to the second thing you should be focusing on to ensure that you’re selling everyday.

text overlay: "Now is not the time to be shy. If people don't know about your products or services, they won't purchase from you."

2.Create a Sales Engine

This involves auditing your customer journey and adding multiple opportunities to sell proactively. When people come into your world, what is their experience like?

Think about what you want them to do first, second, and third. What are the specific steps you want them to take when engaging with your brand, and how do each of those steps lead them to want to purchase?

An example of creating a sales engine could look like the following:

Post a best-selling product on social media & link that post directly to that product page on your website (not your homepage!)
Ensure there is a strong product description, photos, and a clear buy button
Show the customer similar, complimentary products so they increase their average order value

We want to guide the process every step of the way.

This also plays into the customer journey post-purchase.

What currently happens after someone places an order with you?
Are you taking the opportunity to communicate consistently and clearly with our customers?
Do we have welcome emails, sales emails and nurture emails set up. Not one or two emails here or there, but sequences of multiple emails that consistently ask for the sale.
How are we speaking to customer segments differently?

For example, if a wholesale customer hasn’t purchased from you in the last six months, what type of follow-up are you doing?

If someone has a full shopping cart of products but hasn’t checked out yet, are you taking that opportunity to reach out, recommend additional items, and remind them to finish their order?

Each of these are opportunities to enhance your sales engine and customer journey.

Also, for any of our LABS members that are listening, don’t forget we have templates for your welcome sequences, abandoned cart emails, and a training about setting up your nurture sequences, including recommendations for subject lines and calls to action. You can get all that within the LABS community, which will help you speed up the implementation and get this sales engine running faster.

Check out this episode on seven ways to enhance your customer journey.

3.Focus on Your Existing Customer Base

The last sales note I want to make here is to encourage all of you to focus on your existing customer base for now.

Your existing customers already know you, and your high-quality products, and it’s always much easier to get an existing customer to come back and buy more than it is to convert a cold lead into a paying customer.

text overlay "It's always much easier to get an existing customer to come back and reorder form you than to convert a cold lead to a paying customer."

This is particularly important on the wholesale side if you offer wholesale.

Put more effort into your follow-up, outreach, and connections with the accounts that already purchase from you and your reorders and AOV up.

I talked about those two key wholesale metrics in episode 307 if you want to go back and listen.

Increase Your Sales

I want you to be building sales into your daily tasks.

How are you asking for the sale each and every day — through automated channels like your sales engine or proactive outreach and connections with customers?

Now is not the time to be shy. If people don’t know about your products or services, they won’t purchase from you.

Quick Links

Here is a quick recap of links to other helpful blogs and podcasts shared in this post.

If you have ever wanted to pick my brain, or get my eyes and ears on your business, Proof to Product LABS is the place to do it.

We have monthly group coaching calls and a wide range of On Demand training specifically for product-based business owners. We open up the doors a few times a year so be sure to sign up to learn more!

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Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct