Have you hit a sticking point in your business?
The first obstacle everyone must overcome is getting started. This includes attracting your initial audience, building your list, and making your first sales.
But that’s just the beginning.
There are sticking points at all levels.
Perhaps you’re making sales, but it’s not enough and they’re too inconsistent.
Or you’re stuck at making a few thousand dollars per month, enough that you’re grateful for what you’ve accomplished, but it feels like you’re working too much and it’s nowhere near enough to go full-time.
Or you’re at the 10k monthly level…but you can’t seem to grow past this no matter what you do. And it feels like you’re constantly running to maintain it.
I could continue listing the different sales sticking points at 20k, 50k, and beyond…or we could talk about other sticking points such as feeling like you’re on the treadmill of having to work all the time.
Another common one is experiencing sporadic success with paid ads, but you’re not able to scale because the results are inconsistent.
It would be great if success was a straight, ever-ascending path.
But it’s not. It has twists and turns along with a series of plateaus…and even a few “Go Back to Start” cards in the deck.
The solution varies by the obstacle you’re facing.
But here are a few suggestions that may help you…
1) Know your numbers.
Don’t make decisions based only on feelings. For example, I’ve heard people say, “I feel like this website should be converting better.”
Exactly how well is it converting now? This can be as simple as looking at the number of unique visitors and the number of sales over the past month. This at least gives you a baseline to judge changes.
What percentage opt-in to your email list? What percentage of those purchase your initial offer?
How many people visit your website from your social media posts (average over the past 30 days)?
It’s tough to optimize anything you’re not tracking.
2) Create your offer flow.
Make more offers. That’s the first step. But how do your offers fit in your overall customer journey?
Your first sale is just that. It’s the first sale. Most of your net profits will come from the other offers you make to your buyers.
What else do they want to buy? When are customers ready for the next step (often it’s sooner than you think)? What can you offer as an ongoing subscription? What about a higher ticket offer for the 5% to 20% who want greater access or service?
3) Congruent & customer-focused message.
In some cases, a sticking point can be overcome simply by writing a new headline, moving the proof to be more prominent, or improving the offer.
But I also look at each step in a customer journey. It’s amazing how often incongruent messaging sneaks in as changes have been made over time. This applies to ads, landing pages, upsells, thank you pages, emails, etc.
4) Build your systems and/or team.
It depends on your goals. You might want a one-person microbusiness that gives you a great income and lifestyle. Or you may be after that larger business with a growing team.
Either way, you can use systems and technology to streamline your work. You can also bring in other people to help. One person may want to hire team members directly while another simply hires outside vendors to handle specific activities such as managing your ads.
There are activities you’re doing right now that would be more efficient to hand off to someone else. If you want to scale your business, you’ll have to identify and let those go.
The above 4 suggestions are just the beginning.
Your solution will vary based on where you are in business and what sticking point you’re facing.
Find out details about my one-on-one coaching here…
I will taking a few new clients in August.
And there’s a good chance I won’t be opening new slots for a very long time after this.
