Practical ways to generate money, when business is tough

Today’s episode of the podcast is all about how to find clients, make sales and generate money, when your business is struggling.

In this episode I share practical tips for action you can take right now, to stop you spiralling into panic and to help you find solutions.

I recommend saving this episode somewhere that you can easily come back to it if you need it.

And of course, I would love if you could share on your socials and let me know where you're listening!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

What actions you can take to find new clients
How to use social media to reach out for sales
How to add value through cold outreach


 
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Example 'ways to work with me' fully booked sales post from Becci at Be Heard Socials

Example 'ways to work with me' sales post from Teresa

How to become more visible and grow your audience podcast episode

Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter

 
Transcript
Hello, and a really warm welcome to this week's episode of Your Dream Business. And as always, I am your host, Teresa Heath-Wareing. So how are you doing this week? I'm about to enter a very busy season in my business. I have a number of speaking gigs, both here in the UK and in the States. I have, a number of in-person events where I've put on the events and it's just gonna be a crazy few weeks.

So I am hoping to batch my podcast so I get them all done ready for me not being around so much. Which is the beauty of having the business that I have, is that I can batch ahead. I can get things ready and I don't have to do so much while I'm away, which is less about taking time off and more about being able to focus on the things that I've gotta do.

I dunno about you, but I always tell myself like if I'm at an event, oh, I can do that while I'm there. No, it's absolutely rubbish. I absolutely cannot do things while I'm there. I think I can. I can't. So it's just best if I plan to not actually be around or not actually have to do anything, and then I can do it.

Just spend the time focusing on the event. So today I wanna talk about sales and coaching business owners and talking to business owners inevitably at some point most months it comes up that some of my members are struggling and they're struggling to get sales. And I think it's naive of us to think that that won't happen or never happens or isn't the case for most businesses because it is.

There are points where...

Today’s episode of the podcast is all about how to find clients, make sales and generate money, when your business is struggling.

In this episode I share practical tips for action you can take right now, to stop you spiralling into panic and to help you find solutions.

I recommend saving this episode somewhere that you can easily come back to it if you need it.

And of course, I would love if you could share on your socials and let me know where you're listening!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST

What actions you can take to find new clients
How to use social media to reach out for sales
How to add value through cold outreach


 
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Example 'ways to work with me' fully booked sales post from Becci at Be Heard Socials

Example 'ways to work with me' sales post from Teresa

How to become more visible and grow your audience podcast episode

Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter

 
Transcript
Hello, and a really warm welcome to this week's episode of Your Dream Business. And as always, I am your host, Teresa Heath-Wareing. So how are you doing this week? I'm about to enter a very busy season in my business. I have a number of speaking gigs, both here in the UK and in the States. I have, a number of in-person events where I've put on the events and it's just gonna be a crazy few weeks.

So I am hoping to batch my podcast so I get them all done ready for me not being around so much. Which is the beauty of having the business that I have, is that I can batch ahead. I can get things ready and I don't have to do so much while I'm away, which is less about taking time off and more about being able to focus on the things that I've gotta do.

I dunno about you, but I always tell myself like if I'm at an event, oh, I can do that while I'm there. No, it's absolutely rubbish. I absolutely cannot do things while I'm there. I think I can. I can't. So it's just best if I plan to not actually be around or not actually have to do anything, and then I can do it.

Just spend the time focusing on the event. So today I wanna talk about sales and coaching business owners and talking to business owners inevitably at some point most months it comes up that some of my members are struggling and they're struggling to get sales. And I think it's naive of us to think that that won't happen or never happens or isn't the case for most businesses because it is.

There are points where we will struggle to come up with clients and money, and this is the point in which we have the opportunity to not panic. Because that is obviously the first thing we're gonna do. That's the first thing that we will kind of go to is that panic mode. So rather than going into a panic mode, which is going to put you into the fight, flight, or freeze mode, and I think lots of us freeze and think, why on earth did we decide to do this?

I want to give you some really practical tips today. If you ever find yourself, and you might wanna save this episode, you know, make a note of it somewhere. Save it to your favorites or something, or share it on your social so you know, you can come back and find it, because inevitably, at some point you, and maybe your business friends are gonna feel like this.

So if you know someone else who is struggling, then please share this episode with them. But at some point in your business, you are gonna get to the point where it feels like nothing is converting and you've got no customers or you've not got enough customers and you're not bringing in enough money.

So what do you do? What is the thing that you do at that point? And what do I recommend to my members and my clients when they are in those times? And it can be a case of they've just started their business and they haven't got customers yet. Or it could be a case of they are well established and they have got a lot of customers, but it's not enough.

Or they're not bringing in enough money that someone else might look at and go, wow, I wish I was bringing in that. It doesn't matter what level you're at, it doesn't matter what size of your business you've got. It can happen. And normally it catches us by complete unawares. And sometimes it's like it aligns to.

You know, get in our way, but it, it can happen. So I think having an awareness it can is always a good thing. And what you can do, and maybe that's another episode I talk about, but what you can do kind of proactively to make sure this doesn't happen. But what today we're gonna talk about is what do you do when you are literally in the mud getting stuck going, I've got no clients.

Okay, so. This is the time I want you to think about what action can you take, and I want you to almost take this as a bit of a list or a bit of a kind of checklist of things that you can do in order to bring in money. And this is the other thing, like when I coach someone, I always have to understand how much they need the money to come in.

There is a very big difference from someone who would like more clients because. You know, and this is not a, this is perfectly good reason why they want more clients, but they wanna feel like they're bringing in their share or they want to feel like, you know, like they, they mean, you know, their business is a proper business and that is completely understandable, but that is very different from someone who potentially can't afford to pay the mortgage or are struggling, you know, getting to the point where they're starting to think about how else can they manage their business cuz the money's not coming in.

So, this is for either of those occasions, but obviously if I am coaching someone, then my advice would be slightly different if we were really at that panic mode. So let's think about things that you can do today if you need to bring in sales and it's gonna be things that is gonna push you out your comfort zone, and I'm so very sorry about that, but.

At the moment, if you're still in your comfort zone, that might be why you're not bringing in some of those sales. And these things are not comfortable. But the more you do it, the more you get used to it, the less you find it bothers you. And also, what's the worst that can happen? They can say, no, that's it.

You haven't lost anything. So by not even asking, you're not even in it. So the first thing I would suggest anybody does is look at where their kind of warm leads, their low hanging fruit is. So obviously the people who you are currently working with are probably, hopefully your best people because they're working with you and they obviously love you and they love what you do.

So, is there anything in addition to what you do for them that you could do? Is there more services that you could offer? Could you offer a review where you look at how you've worked together? Is it a case of they might need an increase because they haven't had an increase in a long while? And I know that's not always an easy thing to do, and sometimes if you haven't got the money coming in, you do not wanna risk losing another client.

So I don't say that likely, and everyone should do that. I just say, is that a possibility? So like I said, go back to those existing clients. First off, is there anything in addition you can do from them? Is there any way of increasing the order value for each of those clients? That's the first place you can start.

The second place you can go to with those clients. Because they love you is, is there anybody they can recommend? There is nothing wrong. And I think, and I think what the social media world has taught us is that we have to constantly make out like we're hugely successful, we're doing amazingly, and life is just pretty and amazing.

That isn't the case. There is nothing wrong with you being vulnerable in saying to them, I could really do with a couple of other clients. Like if any of the people that I work with came up to me and said, I don't suppose, you know, anybody I could do with a couple of clients, I wouldn't sit there and think, oh you're obviously terrible, aren't you?

Cuz I've made up my decision about whether they're good or not cuz they work with me. So I obviously think they're good and I would actually try really hard to help them out to, to see if there was anybody. And even it just meant sharing a post of theirs, go and "I love this person. They're brilliant if you are looking for a whatever it might be."

So go back to those people you are currently working with and say to them, Is there anybody that they could recommend or refer or could they just share or you know, could you get a testimonial from them? Could you do a case study? The next thing is to go to maybe past clients. Now, obviously, As long as you ended on a good relationship, is there anybody in the past that might be able to help you?

And again, there's a number of things you can go to them for. The first one is, do they need anything now? So let's say you're a copywriter and you did a piece of work for someone, specific piece of work. There's nothing wrong with you reaching out, saying, "Do you need anything else doing?" Same if you're a designer.

If you are a, web designer, why not go out to those people and say, "Did you wanna refresh? Do you want to change anything?" So go out to past clients and say, is there anything that you need help with right now? If that's a no, then again, there's nothing wrong with saying to them, is there anybody that you know that might need some help right now with X, Y, Z, or, I am looking for more clients in such and such sector.

Is there anybody you could refer to me? Is there anything you can do on that side? The next thing to do in terms of the warm people is. Follow up on past quotes. So you have probably put out quotes to people you've had conversations about things. Go back to those past quotes and go and have conversations with them again and say, I quoted for you ages ago.

I just wanted to touch base and just see if you had any need or requirement at the moment. Just to see if there's anything I can help with. If you manage to get that sort of completed. Is there another project or anything else you just don't know? What might be coming up for them? You don't know where they might be, obviously depending on how well you know them.

It might be a little bit harder to go, could you refer me? Because they haven't actually experienced your work, and therefore, understandably, I wouldn't do that. Someone said to me the other day, did I wanna be affiliate for something that I have no experience of? And the answer is no, obviously not, because I'm not going to refer to my amazing audience something that I haven't done and I'm, I am not a hundred percent confident in.

So yeah, go back to those quotes. Go and ask them do they need anything else? Is, you know, have they sorted out their thing that you quoted them for? The next thing that you can do, and obviously we're getting a bit cooler and a bit cooler and probably a bit more at your comfort zone, is follow up with past connections.

So if you have met people in person and you had a conversation with them, then why not follow up with them and just say, you know, It was so great to meet you had a lot of time. Even if they haven't asked for any work, even if they don't need any work, just follow up with them and say, is there anything that you need right now that I could help with?

Like I said, what is the worst they can say, "No", you're not doing a hardcore sales follow up. You're not trying to, like, I, I think the thing with sales, what we don't like as humans is when we think we're being sold to and they're not being direct about it. When it's like, When you're trying to push us into something.

So I'd really like to get on a coffee chat and have a chat with you about this. No, I don't want a coffee chat. What do you want? Like that's how I look or when I read those things or how I think when I read those things. Whereas if you said, I loved having a chat with you, really enjoyed it. Listen, if you ever have any need for X, Y, Z i.e. what you offer, then I'd love to have a chat with you about it.

That's it. You don't need to say anything else. You don't need to hardell them. I mean, you could almost write the chunk of that as a kind of template and then just add your personal bit on the front of where you met them or the conversation you had. And again, this isn't about, you know, trying to sell underhandedly.

This isn't about being sleazy. This is about thinking to yourself, I need clients and I need to do things that are stepping me outta my comfort zone. And yes, that might step me out of my comfort zone, but I'm going to do it. The other thing that you can do is, obviously post on social media, so there is nothing wrong again with saying I have availability.

You know, people who do things like project work, like websites or, my mind has gone completely blank. There is nothing wrong with them saying I have some availability. I now have space for someone to work with me in June. If you're a coach or whatever, you might wanna say that nothing wrong at all.

It doesn't look needy, it doesn't look, you know, at the end of the day, we need to ask for sales, and if anybody thinks it looks needy, then. Well, one, they're not your customer, and two, it's not, it's being direct and saying like, okay, let's take, I worked at McDonald's. Have I ever told you that? I worked at McDonald's obviously very, very, very, very long time ago.

And you know, there's the whole Would you like fries with that? It's not needy, it's just adding it in. It's just offering another service. So, instead of the, would you like fries of that? It's like, if you would like to work with me, I have space. The other thing that you can do and I'm gonna get Becci actually, when she writes the show notes for this to tag in her post and my post on Instagram, we both did posts that say how you can work with me.

And actually I think hers was, I am full, but these are other ways that you can work with me. So you could do that. You could do a post and we did carousels on Instagram, but you could do a post that says, this is how you work with me. This is how, what the services I offer. This is kind of how we can work together.

And again, it's not needy. It's not salesy, it's just being direct and just saying. Because there might be someone who could looks at it and goes, oh, I didn't know you did that. Like that would be really helpful. So these are all kind of really proactive ways in terms of you reaching out and you getting in front of people and kind of really directly asking for the connection.

Now, the next way is one that is gonna like. You're not gonna like, I know you're not. Cuz I wouldn't like it and I don't want to do it. Is the cold outreach. And I think when we think cold outreach, we think horrible, salesy, yuckness that we don't like. And that is a concern cuz we don't wanna do that. We don't like it.

We don't wanna come across that way. But I do think there is a way in which you can cold outreach that doesn't feel like that. I think there is nothing wrong with reaching out to people saying, "Hi, I wanted to introduce myself. This is what I do, this is how I can help." Yes, it's not gonna be as successful as some of those warmer things, but you might be at that stage, you might need to be doing that cold outreach.

I have an amazing, Executive club member in the mastermind who did this, she did cold outreach, and what she did was she found a particular industry within her business area that was quite a tricky one to do the thing that she does. This sounds very critical. Like cryptic, but I don't wanna give we who she was cause I haven't asked her permission.

But basically it's almost like when you do the cold outreach, nicheing down or getting a specific on a sector as you can is better. Because for me, so let's say like I'm a coach, I can coach anybody I work with any small business. Me trying to do cold outreach would be an absolute bloody nightmare.

Whereas I could say, okay, what specific product or service am I trying to push? So actually, if I was going to do cold outreach, it would probably be the coaching because the effort I would go to would have to be worth its while. So if I'm gonna cold outreach coaching, I'm not just gonna cold reach out, cold outreach, gosh, can't my words wrong?

Coaching to anybody I might think, who do I really wanna work with? Or who have I worked with in what sector that's worked really well. And then what this member did is she put together a PDF specifically for this industry, specifically for the thing that she did, and basically helped them and give them advice on how they can do something.

So she's adding value to them, very specific to them and their industry. Even though she deals with many industries, she'd had a lot of experience in this one. So that was what she went after. So she went for the warmest thing, even if she wasn't going for the warmest people.

So again, can you, cold outreach, is there a particular industry that sticks out more that is particularly, helpful to, to kind of focus on when you're called outreaching? Okay, so these other things are a little bit different, but worth mentioning. So the first one is other people's audiences. Now, I literally did an episode a few episodes ago, we'll linked to it in the show notes, on visibility and around visibility.

In fact, it was episode 293 and we, we talked about how to get in front of other people's audiences to grow your audience. Now this is a slow burn. This isn't gonna get you a sale overnight, but this is definitely somewhere that you should be focusing on and looking at. Another thing that you can do is think about other ways that you can make money.

Because sometimes when we need to make money, that's the focus. Yes, you might want a particular type of client in a particular type of industry, but sometimes, and I'm not talking about taking business that you would never normally take and putting yourself in a position where you don't wanna do the job.

I'm talking about what other opportunities are right there. So when I look, and one of my other sort of small tips for you is to have a spreadsheet of all the money that comes in and. So on my spreadsheet of my finances, I literally have every product...