In late 2022 some friends took us to Yellowstone National Park. And while the scenery is stunning and the wildlife is abundant, the mobile signal is…awful.
So even if I wanted to make sales and jump on calls, I can’t.
But, if we check out Stripe – we did over $6000 in revenue during that week alone.
I also needed to properly disconnect and spend time with my wife, and friends and be a little more at the moment.
I had no desire to try and sell to people, from the back seat of a truck while using mobile data.
I didn’t know when I’d be back in the USA, let alone in Yellowstone. So I wanted to take in as much of my time there as I could.
But, the business does still need to make sales.
A business that doesn’t sell and generate revenue while you’re not working, isn’t a business – it’s a job.
The tough part is that I, like most business owners, think that only I can make sales for my business.
And that’s partly true, no one will sell like you. It’s your business after all.
But if you can’t take time off and still generate revenue, your income will be forever tied to how much you work.
We want a sales process where you can take time off, check your phone, see sales rolling in and sell to clients if and when you want to.
The first and easiest thing to start building is recurring revenue.
Recurring revenue allows two things:
- It continues to generate income without the sales portion
- It’s easier to outsource/replace delivery than sales
If you have absolutely no faith in replacing yourself for the sales role, you can more easily replace yourself in a delivery and operations role.
Recurring revenue is a huge part of our sales and revenue process, taking pressure off me selling all the time.
With one sale, I could generate tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, while eliminating the need to sell over and over.
Roughly 50% of the $6500 I mentioned above was recurring revenue from previous sales and clients.
If you feel you can’t replace yourself in the sales role, you might find it easier to replace yourself in a delivery role.
I remember thinking about coaching and thinking “there’s no one who can do this like me” and the truth is, of course, there is.
In fact, we know there are better coaches, marketers, copywriters, and designers out there. I just used to really struggle with defining exactly what they’d do if they worked with a client.
And that brings me to my second piece of the puzzle.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was told I wouldn’t be able to work even if I wanted to.
This was a HUGE blow to me because working hard and being a coach was my identity.
In the past, I had tried hiring people to do my work. But what always used to happen was
- They’d follow my process
- Until they hit a roadblock OR
- They did something wrong
- I would have to correct their work OR
- I would end up doing it myself
So the idea of handing the coaching part of my business over to people terrified me. Because what if they did something wrong?
Besides, I probably could codify my coaching process. It was instinct, it was learned behavior combined with experience. You can’t teach that…
Can you?
At the time, I had just taken on Kate as a trainee coach.
Kate had coaching experience and I knew I wanted to train her.
But then…I had to take a lot of time off.
But Kate stepped up. And ran the coaching calls. Without a DROP of me “training” her.
She didn’t have a process to follow or an S.O.P.
In fact, she started writing the SOPs for her role.
Why?
Because the product was standardized. The coaching was focused on doing ONE thing.
Getting our clients more sales.
We ran calls at the same time each week.
They could ask questions and we’d answer them.
We would run masterminds and get input from our other clients.
And most of all, we have a structure in place for people to follow. We have a roadmap to get our clients from A to Z.
They just needed to follow that and bring their problems to the group calls.
We standardized what we sold.
The reason you’re struggling to even think of how someone else could sell for you is that you’re making up what you sell to them, on the spot.
Think how easy it’d be if you ONLY sold one thing.
- One problem solved for one type of client
- One methodology for one result
- One currency and function for them to see and walk away with
As soon as you stop selling “marketing services for businesses using your agency as a method” and start selling “100 new first-time customers for pet store products within 45 days via Facebook advertising” – you’ll find selling a lot, lot easier – especially easier to get other people to sell.
And that leads me to the final part of the process.
We have a standard delivery method (the coaching, the result, and the problem we solve for a client). And we have a standard sales method.
All our clients have to attend a strategy session to see if we can really get the results. It’s 45 minutes long and we map out what they need and how we can help (if we can).
In order to get on that call, they have to attend a mandatory 10-minute qualification call, where I’ll see if THEY are the right client for US.
What’s their attitude like? Can I get them killer results? What’s their revenue and sales process now?
And in order to get on that call, they have to fill out a qualification form. They tell us some basic information.
And to get to that form, they’ll either respond to an email or post telling us that they’d like to work with us.
Or, they’re given the opportunity to book a call after downloading one of our resources.
The point is that there’s a process.
Everyone follows it.
No one skips a stage.
And what that means, is that someone else can DO 99% of this without thinking too much about it.
That means that while I’m away, our ads run to new audiences, visitors land on new blog posts, email subscribers and social media followers are shown the same posts – all designed to move people through a DUN DUN DUN – FUNNEL- who’d have guessed?
Hell, look in the description of this video and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
A link to a landing page where you’ll be offered a free piece of content.
Sign up and I’ll qualify you for a call.
And in a few days, I might offer you a call again.
What this means is that I get to take REAL time off.
Revenue comes in, sales get made, leads get captured and work gets delivered.
If anything, we do BETTER the less time I spend in the business.
