Start Selling on Social Media without Feeling Salesy

One of the biggest challenges in business is how to actually sell on social media, without feeling awkward or like a sleazy salesperson. I’m sharing my personal journey and my tried-and-true “sandwich method” for making sales feel natural, fun, and effective. Whether you’re pushing a low-ticket digital product or a high-ticket offer, I’ll walk you through exactly how I show up every day, explain my strategy for converting followers into buyers, and talk about why your excitement and real client wins make all the difference. We’ll discuss using different platforms to drive traffic where it counts, and I’ll present  you with a challenge to help you start selling with confidence, no hard sell required.

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• My struggles with selling on social media and the early challenges I faced in my business around feeling salesy. 
• How I was able to lean into Instagram stories as a sales tool in a way that felt comfortable and familiar. 
• My go-to Instagram stories strategy, also called “the sandwich method” with a breakdown of each step.
• My personal approach to selling higher ticket vs lower ticket items on stories. 
• Integrating client successes and testimonials into stories in a way that feels natural and shares excitement. 
• The role of sales funnels and email marketing and how everything works together to drive sales. 

Featured content in this episode:

• Shannonmckinstrie: First three stories to share

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 053: Use Customer Insights to Create Reels That Attract and Convert
• Episode 056: The Reel That Had Me Clicking Buy Immediately
• Episode 073: Staying Top of Mind with Instagram Stories
• Episode 092: This is the Era of Experiences and Belonging

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Transcript

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:00]:
I am your host, Shannon McKinstrie. Welcome to Good Content, the podcast where I remove the never ending content creation, guesswork and overwhelm so that you can actually enjoy being on social media again and growing your business with what has always worked. Good Content. You guys, I could cry. I just recorded the whole podcast and I hadn't pressed record. And let me just tell you, it was real literal gold. So let's just hope and pray.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:31]:
my brain is, oh my gosh, I'm so mad. First time I've done that before my type B self. This is what happens when you just are like, you know what, I wanna record the podcast right now. Cause I wanna talk about something and then you just get too excited. And actually that brings me to my point. Today we are talking how to sell on social media. Mainly we're gonna be talking about Instagram, but again, this works. I'm gonna also talk about other platforms, but what I like to say to everyone is, I am the worst salesman of all time.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:00]:
I do not like selling. In fact, I hate it. I get clammy, I get sweaty. I don't like talking about my offers. I'll get DMs. People are like, so what's the reels lab about? I'm like, I don't know. Here's the sales page. And I honestly though, I usually voice people and talk about it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:13]:
And what I usually talk about is like, you know, if you want in, you can. If not, it's not a big deal. Have a great day. Like I suck. But it's so funny because I actually don't mind being sold to. And that's horrible for my husband because I will literally, if I were to go into a car dealership right now and they told me the price of the car, let's say it's like $60,000 and Ryan knew there was one on the lot for 50, I'd be like, sold. Like, I just, I don't barter. I don't like to ruffle feathers.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:43]:
I don't like to. I'm just like, oh, sure, whatever the price is. I just, I don't know what it is about my personality. I'm probably the people pleaser in me. I just, if you say it's this, it's this and whatever, I will all. I'm also the worst. I will pay full price. I will not wait for something to go on sale.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:57]:
I'm not very responsible with money, but that is why I don't teach money. Okay, Shout out to the money advisors and the finance people. You Guys are holding it down for people like me, okay? So with that said, I don't like feeling salesy, even though it's funny. Because if someone's selling to me, I'm like eating it up. I'm like, ooh, tell me more. That sounds great. But this is what has happened to me over the years, right? I started my social media management business. I was very severely underpricing.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:21]:
I was working with clients that drove me nuts day in, day in, day out. It was a rough time. This is like 10 years ago. And a lot of it was just not having confidence to sell. And I. Cause I couldn't sell. And I was like, I'm a bad salesperson. How am I ever, ever going to make money? And then Instagram stories came along and I was already very obsessed with Snapchat.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:41]:
Like, my friends and I were on Snapchat, so. So when stories came out, I was like. And I'd already had my business Instagram. And I was like, you know what? This gives me a chance to talk more about my day. Cause that's what I use Snapchat for. So when Instagram stories came around, I was like, oh, I'm just gonna do the same thing. Like, here I am doing this. Now I'm about to do this, and here I am doing this.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:58]:
And here's what would happen. I would have a consulting call or I would. Let's say I'd be. Cause I used to literally go out for my social media management clients and go take pictures for them. So in the video I'd be like, hey, guys, Cam's in the backseat. Cam was little. And I'm like, Cam, we're going. We're going into D.C.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:14]:
and I'm going to snap some pictures of this house. Come with me. People would be like, you're doing what? For who? How do I work with you? Then once I started consulting, I'd be like, oh my gosh, guys, after the consulting call, some really, really excited. Because that's the thing with stories. It's in the moment, off the cuff. And that's why Instagram story looking videos are doing so well everywhere. Because it's in the moment and people can feel your energy and they can tell you're excited because. But I would get off the call and I would get on Instagram stories and I go, oh my gosh, guys, I just had this breakthrough with this client.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:43]:
Here's what I told them to do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And what would happen? People would go, oh, what you do? What how do I sign up for that? Send me that. I used to sell hashtag vaults. I'd show a little picture of the hashtag vault. I'd be like, I'm sending this to so and so in wherever in Denver. And they're like, what's that? Where do I pay? This is before the link sticker. This is before I had swipe up. Remember swipe up? This was before all of that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:05]:
But I was making money and I was like, holy crap. That's how you sell. You just document what you're doing. You tell on Instagram stories. You share your client win. You share your customers win. You let people into your store. You let them in.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:17]:
Okay. You invite them into your world. So I found that just simply sharing what I'm passionate about was leading to sales. And I was like, I can fricking do this now. This business is actually going to make money. Cool. Because I wasn't making any money for the first time, two, three years of my business. Truly now.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:34]:
There's so many ways to make money on social media. I have personally found that Instagram stories are my. I hate even saying it, but, like, a gold mine for me. But that's probably because I'm obsessed with stories and I love stories. But I'm going to tell you exactly what I do that works every freaking time. And this is actually going to click for so many of you, and I know it. Now, real quick, I have a method that actually a lot of people are so funny. They're like, I call it the sandwich method.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:57]:
I'm like, that actually is really smart. And I don't know why. I think that if you go to my Instagram right now, Shannon McKinstrie, pinned to the top is a post that says the first three Instagram stories to share every day. I have shared this post three or four times, and it goes viralish, viral for me every time. Because people love it, right? They're like, oh, that's. I can do that. I can do three stories. I'm like, yeah, you can.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:18]:
Now, the first story, not to bore you, because most of y' all know it probably, but I'll just tell you real quick, first story of the day and just follow along in my stories. If you watch my stories, I do it pretty much every day. I didn't do it today because I had to let everyone know there's some email scam going out about me, and it's not me. I would never. And that's actually funny. That's why I wanted to talk about this when I was trying to think about what to talk about because I would never hard sell like this email is doing. So I'm like, my people will know this is not me. Like, it's so gross and sleazy.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:44]:
But I had to set. I had to warn everyone. So my story order today was off. But every day I will typically start and go, hi, guys. Here's what I'm up to today. I'll include a sticker or something fun and engaging and whatever the next story is. Something to convert. And when I mean by convert, I don't always mean money.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:01]:
Sometimes it's to my email list, it's to a podcast. I was on this podcast, right? It's going, hey, guys, I have a YouTube now. Go to that. It's something to get direct people to other places to get what they need for me. And people always tell me, they're like, shannon, you never sell in your posts. I'm like, yeah, I don't need to. I sell in stories. But so you know, because here's the thing that this is my rule of thumb and this is again, I am not a sales person.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:25]:
I'm not a funnels person. Those people are absolute fricking geniuses. But this is what works for me. I sell mainly in email and I sell in stories, and that's pretty much it. But I will say, this is why I do that. Because most of the things I sell are quote unquote, higher ticket, right? They're not $30 pieces of jewelry. It's not a $60 sweater from J. Crew.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:48]:
It's not a $99 floral arrangement, right? It's not that it's typically stuff that people aren't going to make a rash decision and go, sure. Now, am I the person. I already told you, I'm irresponsible. Am I the person who will go and pay full price and I'll see a story and be like, oh, I want it. And it's like a 500 something. Probably because I'm just one of those impulse people, it's not great. But obviously, if it's something I need and I'm looking for. But I have literally, I always joke, like the copywriters I've hired over the years, bookkeepers, whoever, I'm just like, they're like, oh, you wanna get on discovery call? I'm like, no, I just want the invoice and I just want you to work with me right now.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:26]:
I am just that type of shopper. And remember, we're all different types of consumers. Some of us need weeks to decide. We need major sales. We have 1 million questions. I need to know every bell, every whistle. I need to know everything. I'm not one of those people.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:41]:
But we always have to prepare for those people. So here we go. Ready? We always think. I mean, we love to think. Well, I. No, no. What do. How do people's brains work? So if I am selling, I'm like, you know what? Let me sell my grow your gram Guide.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:55]:
It's a 37 product. I don't typically need to, like, you know, hey, guys, like, sell it hard. Because most people see and they go, that makes sense. I know what it is. It's obviously a guide about how to grow in the gram. And it's 37. It won't break the bank. Here we go.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:08]:
One story will suffice. So I'll be like, hey, here I am having my morning coffee. Here's what I'm up to today. What's up, guys? Have the best day. Next story, grow your gram guide. Buy it. Go to the podcast, do this. It'll be something simple like that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:20]:
If I'm selling Reels Lab, which is a $297 quote unquote product and it's a membership, so it's every month, that's going to require typically more than one story for someone to just go, yep, sure, Shannon, whatever you say. They're like, girl, what? That's a grocery bill, right? So what I will do. And so it's fun. A lot of people call my three first three stories of the day thing. They call it the sandwich method. Right? So I want you to think. And I just thought of this analogy. I thought it'd be kind of fun to tell you guys.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:47]:
Think of my sandwich method. The three stories where it's greeting my audience, it's converting, and then the third is just going on about my day and taking you guys through my day and whatever, whatever. Heck, I feel like sharing. This is going to go from sandwich to a Big Mac. Sorry, are y' all hungry now? My bad. I am too. So what I'll do, I will make. So think of the meat in the middle.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:08]:
Sorry. To my vegan friends. That's what I will do. I will do three stories in a row, selling. So I want you to think of email sales sequences. If you guys do that sort of thing, I want you to think of sales pages. All that. Right? It's almost the same.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:22]:
I start with going, here's the thing. Hi, guys. Here's the real slab. Here's what it's all about. Here's what's inside. Click the link and get in here. And they're going to go, yeah, okay. Bye, Shannon.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:32]:
Who? What? That's $300. Next story. Meet Patty two, man. I'm over just geeking out all the time by myself. Sorry, y'. All. That next one is testimonials. It will either be one single testimonial where I'm talking to the camera and I'm going, oh my gosh, you guys, I just got off a Reels Lab call and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and this breakthrough happened and such and such.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:52]:
Or I'll put like, literally like four happy DMs from happy members, right? Third sales story. Third meat patty is why I created it. The heart behind the product. So very similar to a sales page. You start with introducing what it is. Give them the price, give them the, hey, buy now. You. You don't need more information.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:14]:
Buy now. See ya. See inside. Next testimonials. Load up the testimonials. Third, bring it on home with the come to Jesus moment where they. Where you go, I'm gonna level with you. You need this, right? And usually what I'll do is I'll get on camera and I'll be like, look, I know you've been burned by courses.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:29]:
I know. Da, da, da. This is what I'm guaranteeing. This is what I do. Dah dah. Okay? And then I'll go about my day. So on Instagram, when I need, I'm launching something, I'm desperately needing people to get into an event, I will double down on the selling that day or every day until it's full or whatever it is. So with that said, Instagram stories are an amazing thing to do.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:53]:
While I do struggle, quote unquote, selling and being, quote unquote, salesy, what I do, do, do, do. Sorry, I am 43 years old, but doo Doo will always be funny is tell y' all how much I freaking love what I've created in the Reels Lab, because I'm really proud of it and it lights me up. And guess what happens that gets sales. I didn't know that at the time, but when I would talk about my social media management packages, when I would talk about my speaking engagements, I just get excited and that leads to sales. Okay? So try that story method. And again, let's say it's a product, let's say it's a candle, let's say it's a house. You're selling. Whatever it is, let's say it's a coaching call.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:38]:
Maybe you do a quick QuickBooks audit. I don't know. First one is, hey, did you guys know I have this QuickBooks audit? Click here. Next one. You talking to the camera or testimonials talking about why it's so good and why people love it. And they're gonna be. Let me level with you. Here's the deal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:52]:
And this is. And maybe it is a $5,000 mastermind, whatever it is, right? Or a $5,000 coaching call. Or it's. That's when you talk from the heart and you will make sales. I have a client who just made almost $3,000 on a $37 product from her Instagram stories the other day, all because she did this. She go, hey, you know, I hear you guys need this. I made it for you. Here it is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:13]:
And luckily it was a $37 product. So with all that said. And I have a Grow your gram guide, right? My grow your gram guide is $37. And it's actually getting a makeover guys. So get excited. If you've bought it, you will get the re. Because every time we update it, we send it. If you've bought it before, we send you the new version free of charge.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:30]:
But yeah, wait for. It's going to be so, so good. It's going to be updated because obviously hashtag rules have changed and things like that. So. But if I'm selling the gram guide, I will definitely put that in my caption. Hey, comment grow. Right? Then manychat Automations. Right? So, and I know you guys know manychat at this point, so things like that, I'm like, oh, I know people will want it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:48]:
When Reels Lab, when we were doing Reels Lab Automations, and I was like, I just don't know if it's converting because that's a large purchase. They need time to think about it, typically. So I more so sell that in email where they have more time to think about it. And emails, just emails are fricking amazing, guys. Email marketing is bomb. Okay? So with all that said, that's how I sell on Instagram. Other way is obviously manychat for like, things like that. Now, I will say with other platforms, I don't really sell on other platforms, but here's what I do, do I guys, I can't.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:18]:
You guys hate me, don't you? This is what I would suggest to you. Wherever you make the most money, LinkedIn, TikTok, et cetera, use Instagram, Pinterest, whatever those ones are to drive people to that money making platform. That's why my Pinterest, I try to get people to Instagram because Instagram is where I sell. That's why I try to get people on TikTok. I'm like, hey guys, I, I'm on TikTok, but Instagram is where I coach and where I do things. Come on over to Instagram. And I literally had someone the other day say, oh my gosh, I saw you on TikTok and then I found your Instagram. So there you go.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:49]:
So many ways to sell on social media. But I'm telling you, no matter what, if it's LinkedIn, if it's TikTok, whatever it is, even if you look at the camera and did a TikTok video, a reel, a LinkedIn video, and just said, oh my gosh, guys, I just got off a call, I just had a client, I just had a customer and da, da. And tell that story, then talk about the testimonials and then push why the why behind it. You're going to sell. So that's what I encourage you guys to do. That's your challenge. Try this Instagram Big Mac challenge. And just know that if you just talk about why you love what you do and what you sell, right? Do you know how much I don't even want to tell you how much we just paid for Chloe's birthday party.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:23]:
Do you know why I bought it? I did it so that I could be present because I'm, I'm one of those moms who I freak and I will overthink and then I will sweat and I just won't even enjoy the party. And it was the first time I've actually had one of my girls birthday party where I felt actually present and it was, that was worth every penny. But I also had met the owner of this company and you could just tell her heart for what she does. So I knew she would not miss a detail. I knew she would go all out for us. And she did. The heart behind what you do is what's going to sell, in my opinion, even more than a funnel ever could. Unless your funnel has that whole story of why you love it, which makes sure it does.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:55]:
All right, I've talked too much. I love you guys. If you're in, you know, by the time this airs, the snowstorm will have already come through the east coast. I hope everyone is safe. We are about to buckle down. I love you, friend. Social media is amazing place to make a difference, but it's also amazing place to change your life and make life changing money like I have. Love you, friend.