THE 5 STEPS TO TAKE TO GET UNSTUCK & SELL MORE.
Are you struggling to make the sales you need or scale up your beautiful business?
Maybe you feel like you are doing ALL the things, and nothing at all is working?
If so, I get it. While it can feel impossible – especially when you’re in the thick of it and have x7456 other things to do as well as trying to figure this whole issue out - it’s actually not hard to land on what you need to fix and implement those changes.
Here’s the marketing low-down: every business has three main stages that can be broken down into 5 steps that you need to be moving your ‘ICs’ (that's ideal clients or customers) through to making that all-important sale!
And in this blog? I'm going to walk you through all 5 of these crucial steps so you can audit your own business, find where the blockage might be and then smash through it so your ICs can keep moving through and CONVERT!
So let’s jump in.
GET TO KNOW YOUR SALES FUNNEL.
First of all, let’s take a quick look at the three stages of the journey every business has, and what you need your potential clients/customers to move through!
STAGE ONE – GET SEEN: The start of someone’s journey where you get SEEN is called the “top of the funnel.” This creates awareness and has people seeing we are the one for them and why they NEED our offer.
STAGE TWO – GET LOVED: The middle of someone’s journey where you get LOVED is called the “middle of funnel” where people can consider what you offer, overcome their objections, have risk removed, and be persuaded to convert. This is relationship building 1.0.1.
STAGE THREE – GET SELLING: The conversion part of someone’s journey where you get SELLING is called the “bottom of the funnel” where they click that final button and become a customer or client. $$$
And to move people through these three stages? There are 5 main things our businesses need. So let’s work through the stages and those elements now to make sure you have all yours working seamlessly for your business.
STEP ONE: GET SEEN.
Ok, so the first step? Is all about getting DISCOVERED by your ideal customer or client. ‘Cause here’s the thing. You can have the BEST content, product, or branding in the world but it means nothing if no one is seeing it! *cricket sounds*
So it’s crucial to make sure your business is getting seen, and this normally starts with social media.
WHAT TO REVIEW FOR STEP ONE: Look at your Instagram or Facebook insights. Are you getting enough eyes on the place where people first see you? Are you getting impressions on your social media so people actually know you exist?!
Ideally, and depending on your capacity in your biz, you want to be driving hundreds of people per month OFF your social media to your next step like your website, group or email list. It’s important to remember that only a small percentage of these people will convert which means you want to get seen by thousands of people per month (minimum) on the place people first met you – on your social media!
So, if you aren’t getting those numbers, it’s time to fix that! Once people discover that your amazing business and offer exists and you can concentrate on turning those clicks into your customers.
With this in mind ask yourself, what engagement and visibility activities are you doing to get in front of your ideal customer or client? It’s time to take ACTION as visibility doesn’t just happen, you need to create it!
CHAR, WHAT DO I NEED TO ACTION TO ACHIEVE THIS?! Look where you can collaborate, meaning using other people’s audience that are your ideal audience to get visible! This might look like collaborating with complementary brands (AKA if you sell fashion, someone who sells shoes. If you are a designer, partner with a copywriter) and share each other’s brands with your complementary audiences. This could be through story takeovers, live rooms, lead magnet sharing, shared posting, and the list goes on!
Use the functions the platforms give you that are high reaching at the time – like reels, lives, carousels etc for Instagram. Whatever the platform is favouring at the time should be a tool you use to get your content – and your offer – out there.
You should also be interacting where your IC hangs out online, leaving valuable posts or comments in Facebook groups or on IG pages. Of course, you can use paid ads to supercharge your visibility as well!
But whatever you do, you need to take control and create your visibility! And when you are getting seen by enough people? It’s time to move to step 2!
STEP TWO: GET LOVED.
All right, so you’re getting seen. Now it’s time to convert those people saying, “she’s the one for me!” and taking some kind of action to have you in their life!
If you can see you are getting people to your Instagram or Facebook, but you are not growing or getting engagement, your content or brand messages may not be speaking to your ideal client or customer.
So let’s fix it! And that starts with your bio.
Why your bio you may ask? Well, when you do get visible through step 1, the first thing people are going to do – especially on Instagram – is scan your bio and your profile to make sure you are dishing up something that is going to add value to their life. So you need to use this space to tell them why you are the one for them!
WHAT TO REVIEW FOR STEP TWO: Check your insights. If you can see you are getting quite a lot of impressions every month on your social media, but this isn’t translating to followers or clicks to your bio link, it’s time to revisit your brand messages (aka who you are, what you do, and why choose YOU)! Get this in your bio ASAP.
CHAR, WHAT DO I NEED TO ACTION TO ACHIEVE THIS?! If you need a helping hand rewriting your bio or getting clear on your brand messages? Check out a step-by-step method WITH TEMPLATES here. Then come straight back so you can move on to Step 3!
STEP THREE: GET LOVED.
So you’re in people’s lives and your follower count is growing because they love what you have to offer. Now it’s time to get them to start taking action and turn them from ‘just looking’ to ‘hold on, this really is for me!’.
And to do this? You need content that moves people along in their journey, shows them why you are for them (over everyone else) and engages them enough to have them taking action! To move off social media and further into your business to consider you or CONVERT!
Why? Your follower count doesn’t pay the bills. You need to get those people who already love you to REALLY see you have a solution for them – so much so that they take the next steps. And here is now:
WHAT TO REVIEW FOR STEP THREE: Are you getting followers and engagement on your posts but not getting people off your Instagram or Facebook and further into your business to consider you and then convert?
If you’re nodding your head, and your followers or engagement is growing but not your sales or conversions, you need to look at your content. Because while you might be giving them value or entertainment, you may not be creating the foundation they need to know you, to trust you, and to really really understand why they need what you offer in their life, right now!
Don’t get me wrong, quotes and memes and entertaining reels are great, but you need content that positions and persuades, too! So look at your content and ask yourself, “in my last 12 posts, have I shown people not just entertainment and value, but have I positioned my offer to SELL?”
CHAR, WHAT DO I NEED TO ACTION TO ACHIEVE THIS?! It’s time to level up your content plan! You need to ensure you are using strategic content pillars and plan not only to add value and entertain but also to show people why they NEED the thing you offer, create an emotional connection, show them why you are the one for them and overcome their objections.
And here is the exact Signature Content strategy I advise my retainer clients to adopt to help! It’s broken down into 5 pillars that cover all the elements your customers or clients need to convert from “just looking” to “paying now!!”.
Educate – this is where you add value to your audience! Solve their problems and encourage their desires!
Engage – here is where you use ‘easy to interact with’ content like memes, quotes, aesthetic photos to create engagement.
Connect – in a small business, your personal presence or storytelling is a superpower. Add a human touch or connection here.
Build – Use this pillar to show ’em why your business is the one for them. Build trust, and demonstrate your unique points of difference.
Sell – you have positioned your offer above, and now, it’s time to show off and sell! Focus on benefits, solutions and strong calls to action.
By using these 5 pillars, and rotating through them regularly, you can strategically create content that CONNECTS, COMPELS and CONVERTS!
PSSSST: If you're after done-for-you content that is written under these 5 pillars and can help YOUR brand get seen, loved and selling? Check out my Content Busting Bundle. I’ve spent months writing content to help your amazing small business with all the strategies done for you. All you do is cut, paste, plug in some details and POST!
Download the Content Busting Bundle here!
STEP FOUR: GET SELLING.
So now you’ve been seen and loved, and people are heading over to your website to consider you even more!
BUT if you are getting people off your social media and into your website but you’re not converting at the rate you want, your website may be off and you need to focus on that.
This can be seen by a high ‘bounce rate’ on pages (more than 50%), not getting to the contact page or people not adding items to your cart.
WHAT TO REVIEW FOR STEP FOUR: Look over your website critically from the eyes of your ideal customer or client. Is your copy clear and compelling? Does it speak to them in their own language, showing them ‘hey this is for you!’? Are your product or service descriptions benefit and transformation focused and is your website structured with conversion in mind?! These things are key to conversions.
CHAR, WHAT DO I NEED TO ACTION TO ACHIEVE THIS?!
If you are missing one of the above elements, it’s time to rework your website. Websites do not need to be visual masterpieces. They need to give the content and structure people need to easily navigate and have their final questions answered to establish your offer as being the one for them.
STEP FIVE: GET SELLING (THE FINAL SALE!)
If you are getting people to move around your website and getting close to becoming a loyal, loving customers or client but abandoning their conversion (AKA not completing their checkout or not submitting enquiry forms or applications)? You need to have ways to capture them so you don’t lose them altogether.
WHAT TO REVIEW FOR STEP FOUR: Are you retargeting them? Are you capturing them in an email list or a welcome sequence or an abandoned cart or via FB ads to get back in front of them and nurture them more? Not everyone is a buyer straight away, but you need to make sure you have ways to turn “just-looking” into “buying now!” when they are ready.
CHAR, WHAT DO I NEED TO ACTION TO ACHIEVE THIS?!
It’s important to ensure you have a full strategy in your business to make the most impact and income you desire, and these elements are part of that. Ensure you have a FB ads retargeting campaign in place, an enticing opt-in to capture the email addresses of people who aren’t quite ready to convert so you can nurture them through email, and also abandon cart emails for product-based businesses to ensure you have the opportunity to recover these lost sales.
So, there you have it. Making sales isn’t rocket science (even though it can feel like it some days). It’s a set of simple steps that when you break them down one by one in a business audit (whilst making sure to take that all-important action), it is so easy to ‘fix your funnel’ as they say in marketing land and get people seeing you, loving you, and converting those clicks into customers, with ease.