41. Small Sell vs. Big Sell

You're making offers for your thing — your program, your membership, your product — and wondering why people aren't buying. Here's what's probably happening: you're only selling the "big sell" and skipping the "small sells."

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The five things people have to believe before they'll click your buy button — and why believing in your offer isn't even close to enough
• Why someone might love what you do and still never buy from you
• How to make what you offer feel as clear and obvious as buying an iron 
• How to sell people on making a decision TODAY.

If you've been putting calls to action at the end of your content and getting crickets, this episode will show you what's actually missing. 

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Liberatory Business. I'm your host, Simone Seol, and thank you so much for listening. 

Today I wanna talk about a concept that addresses a lot of people's confusion about how to make offers that people actually respond to. So when you are inviting people to take action on something that you are offering through your business — whether that's clicking the buy button, or joining your membership, or booking a session, enrolling in your program, applying for an opportunity — what I see a lot of people doing is that they will create content, they will write emails, they share useful, wonderful ideas, and then at the end, they'll just plop that call to action down. Like, "click here to buy," "join my membership," "book a call with me," and then they'll just drop that offer at the end of their copy or video or podcast, email, whatever, just tacked on. 

And there is nothing wrong with that, to be sure. That's a good thing. You should be making offers. You should be inviting people to take the next step with you all the time. But I also realize that's not enough. You should not just be making offers for your main thing.

That is what I'm gonna call your **big sell**, right? So let's say you are selling a book, a package, or you are selling paintings. The main thing that you wanna draw people to — like your membership, the thing where people give you money and you do the thing — that's your big sell. 

However, there's also a bunch of other things that you should also be making offers on, and those I'm calling the **small sell**. Let me explain more if you're confused.

## Understanding big sell vs. small sell

So let's say you have something you're selling. Maybe it's a program that people can enroll in, or a membership they can join, a product they can buy, a session they can book with you. Whatever the main action is that you want someone to take, that's your big sell. That's the big thing you're selling. 

Most of us — a lot of the creative business owners that I see around me — only ever offer the big sell and wonder why people aren't buying. They're kind of stuck in the world of the big sell, when there are also small sells that they could be selling that they're kind of ignoring. 

So what do I mean by small sells? 

Think about it. If you've ever been in a position of being somebody who's considering buying a product — which I'm pretty sure most of you listening have — you know that before you come to the decision to actually click that buy button or fill out that application or join that thing, there's a whole bunch of other decisions that have to happen first. 

Meaning, before you are sold on the big sell, you have to be sold on a bunch of smaller sells.

## Small sell #1: Belief in possibility

For example, you probably need to be sold on the idea that you could create or accomplish that change, right? Because all of us seek out products, programs, memberships, support — whatever — because there's something about our lives or work that we want to change or something that we wanna create. 

I am gonna use an example, right? Let's say it's about you wanna write a book. Let's say I wanna write a book and I need help. Like I've been trying to do it myself and I just can't do it. So in order for me to join a writing program or buy a course on writing or work with someone on my book, I myself first have to be sold on the idea that it's possible for me to write a book. 

Just having the desire of "oh, maybe this is something I'd like to do" is not enough. I have to be sold on the idea that it's possible I can do it. In other words, a smaller sell that builds up to the big sell is my belief in my ability to achieve the goal. 

If I'm not believing that it's possible, that it's in the cards for me to write this book, there's no way I'm gonna enroll in that program or click that buy button on the book writing product, right? No matter how great the offer seems. It might be the best, most well-designed, effective, valuable program with the greatest social proof in the world. But if I'm believing, "yeah, but I'm not gonna be able to do it," I'm never gonna join, I'm never gonna take that action. 

So in that case, the small sell is that you need to sell them on their self-belief, their belief in their own ability to accomplish the goal. And that's no small thing, you guys, right? Because I'm sure you can think about it in your own lives or the lives of the people that you work with. Believing that something is possible for you in itself is kind of an accomplishment if you can get to that belief, right? 

I think most of the dreams in our lives, we end up not really going for them because a lot of the times we think, "what's the point? It's never gonna happen. I'm never gonna be able to write a book." We shut down the possibility of taking action on creating change, and a lot of your prospective clients, that's where they are right now. So you have to sell them on this idea that it's possible for them to create the results. So that is one small sell.

## Small sell #2: It's okay to invest in support

Now, you might also need to sell them on the idea that it's okay to invest in support. That it's not inherently better, doesn't make you more virtuous or heroic or more moral or stronger just because you did something completely on your own. 

'Cause a lot of the times what keeps people from taking action is that their brain starts working in the other direction, convincing them: "Yeah, but you should be able to figure it out on your own. You don't need to buy this. You don't need to join this program. If you just had your shit together a bit more, if you were more disciplined, if you were more hardworking, if you could just get better habits and figure your shit out, you should be able to figure this out on your own. It's not worth the money if you can do it by yourself."

And those of us who have had wonderful, powerful experiences with things that we have bought — which I hope is all of us, right? Like, "oh, I'm so glad I bought that thing to get help, to support me with this thing" when doing it alone has been so much harder — we know that this idea that it's better to do it all by yourself has its limits. 

There's nothing like having a really beautiful vision or a goal that you really want and having incredible support and resources that can help you to do it way faster than you could have done it alone and have a lot more fun, while transforming aspects of your mind and your emotions and your life in ways that you wouldn't even have known to want before, because you can't see your own blind spots, right?

And yet in our society, we celebrate this idea that you should be able to do it on your own. In many situations, I think this expectation is kind of toxic because it often falls on — honestly, I think this is a feminist issue — it falls on women. A lot of us who are socialized as women, you know, it's like we grew up with this insidious belief like, "you should take care of the house and you should also be able to do the job, and all your goals should fall on you to accomplish, and you don't wanna ask for help 'cause that's weak. It means you are not enough," right? 

If you need help, it's because somehow you failed to be able to do it on your own. So a lot of us have this ingrained belief, and for that person to overcome that and consider taking that step — clicking the buy button, joining the thing, booking the session, whatever — you would have to sell them on the idea that it's actually not better to do it alone and that there's no shame in investing in support. 

In fact, choosing to invest in yourself and your goals and your vision could be the most powerful, forward-thinking thing that you can do. It could be the most cost-efficient, the biggest return on your investment of time and energy by far, compared to trying to do it all alone.

There's a reason that athletes at the elite level all have coaches, and the most elite performers in the world have coaches. For a top performer, for a top athlete, they always have top-notch support, top-notch help and guidance. So that's one way where you can challenge this idea that it's better to do it alone. You gotta sell them. That's another small sell. You gotta sell them, and that's kind of necessary for a lot of people to get to the place where they can say yes. 

By the way, when I say small sell, let me be very clear. I don't actually mean that the task is like minor and it's easy. Like when I say small, as you can see, these are big ideas. I'm calling it small sell because all of these have to be in place for them to eventually say yes to the big sell, right?

## Small sell #3: Your thing actually works

Now there's another example of a small sell. They have to believe that the thing that you're offering actually works. So that might sound really simple, but again, you can't take it for granted, right? 

Think about the first time you encounter something new — a new methodology, a new idea, a new tool or resource — and what were you like before you had any context for it? Right? It might be unknown for people and they just might not trust it, not because they distrust you, but because it's new for them. So what exactly is this and how is it gonna work for me? 

It's not like buying something totally familiar where you know exactly what you're getting. We know what's gonna happen when we buy certain things and we know they work. Like if you buy a clothing iron, you're like, "I know how this thing works because I've used it before. Everybody knows." But when you have a creative business and you're offering something a little bit more complex than an iron, it's not as clear cut in people's minds how it's supposed to work. 

So again, when I say you have to sell people on the idea that your thing works and you have to tell them exactly how it works, to the degree that it is as clear as an iron, you might also wanna give them some kind of reassurance that it's going to work for them, right? That this is something that can help them create results.

This is selling them on the idea of the thing that you do, your methodology, your approach, your product in general. Because again, they might be apprehensive because if they've never tried something like it before, or if they have, it was very different from what you do, and they're like, "ah, I'm not sure exactly what this is gonna do."

A small sell in this case is you gotta sell them on the idea of what you offer itself, so it's not intimidating or unclear. Maybe it's like being part of a supportive community where people really get what you're going through. Maybe it's like having a structured path that makes something that felt overwhelming feel really doable. Or maybe it's accessing insights or frameworks that shift how you see your whole situation. 

Notice how the more I describe it in concrete terms, the less intimidating it becomes, right? It feels a lot more like, "yeah, that's something that sounds like it could be helpful." So that's another small sell.

## Small sell #4: Why this is different

And yet a different small sell might be something like — okay, we're gonna go back to the writing a book analogy, but this applies to so many other situations. If someone is considering a program about writing a book or thinking about joining a writing membership, for sure they have tried to work on this book that they wanna write in different ways before, right? 

Because they've tried probably so many different things. You know, if someone has it in their mind to write a book, they probably tried — they probably read books about how to write a book. They probably tried an app or two. They probably tried a certain writing method. They've probably flirted with different programs. They maybe joined a peer accountability writing group. I don't know, probably they tried a bunch of things. 

And then the small sell here is this: you have to sell them on the idea of why this is different, because there are a million solutions out there. So why would they click your buy button or join your membership or book a call with you if they felt like, "ugh, I tried all this stuff before and this is probably similar to all the other stuff"? Then they have no reason to take action, right? 

You gotta sell them on the difference — the difference when it comes to your approach, your methodology, what's in your product, what's gonna work here where everything else hasn't gotten them there yet.

And I'm using "buy" at two different levels of meaning here, right? They're buying with actual money. That's the literal meaning of buy. And then there's the other meaning of buy, where it's like they feel compelled, they feel convinced, they agree with you, right? Like when somebody says, "Hey, do you buy that explanation?" That's like saying, "do you agree? Can you get yourself to believe it? Is it believable?" 

So you're creating belief in each of these areas where there is doubt.

## Small sell #5: Making a decision is valuable

Also keep in mind the importance of this idea that making a decision is valuable. You have to sell them on the value of making a decision. And a lot of people overlook this. They sell, sell, sell their product or offering, but then they never convinced people that making a decision today is a valuable thing to do.

And here's what I mean by that. A lot of people think that there are things that they wanna do. They have dreams, goals, visions that require them to make decisions. They're sold on the dream itself, right? Once again, let's say my dream is to write a book, and if somebody asks me, "Hey, do you wanna write a book?" I'll say, "yeah." If they ask me why, I'll say, "well, because blah, blah, blah." And I'll tell them all these great things about why I think it would be really great to write a book. "Then I'll be able to call myself an author. My ideas would be out in the world. The story needs to be told. It'd be really cool to have people interact with these ideas and benefit from them." All these things would happen.

So you don't need to sell me on my dream. I'm already sold on my dream. But if I've had the same dream for 10 years, but nothing has been happening, right? If I have the draft of one chapter sitting in my computer and I haven't touched it, and no progress is being made, it's not that I haven't been sold on my dream. It's just that I haven't been sold on the value of making a different decision about it today.

So if I'm making a decision that this book is getting written, I have to do something about it. I have to decide to open up my computer and crank something out. 

Because a lot of people think — again, this is just an analogy, but substitute whatever your thing is — for me, I work with creative business owners who are building their practices, building their businesses. And everybody wants a thriving business, right? That pays them well, where they're doing meaningful work, where they're having a positive impact on the world. Everybody wants that. They want a business that feels good and works well. 

But in order to create that outcome, you gotta start doing things a little differently than how you've been doing it before, if you weren't already creating that outcome, right? It means you have to take more risks. It means you have to do things outside of your comfort zone. That means if you decide that this is gonna happen and it's not been happening before, you gotta take different steps towards it. 

And just think about how many of us just hold on to dreams and goals and visions, and we're not really doing anything about it today 'cause we're telling ourselves, "oh, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it someday. Oh yeah, I totally am gonna do that, just when it's a better time. When the kids are out of the house. When all my money stuff is worked out. When I have more energy. When my partner gets a better job and I can relax a little bit. I'll start on that when my day job is less crazy and I'm not as stressed out," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 

There's always a billion and a half compelling reasons why it doesn't feel like a good idea to do something different today, to make a decision today, right? 

And if you think about it, if you're asking someone to buy your thing, you're actually asking them to make a decision, to take a step forward, and to admit to themselves: "You know what? My dream isn't just gonna randomly come true while I'm sitting here thinking 'someday, a better time, later, when things are more whatever, when the stars are better aligned, when I have more money, time, blah, blah, blah, when there's fewer distractions.'"

The value of making a decision today comes from when you decide the when is now, and I'm gonna do something about it today. 'Cause I guarantee you, so many of your people who love you and love your work and are totally thinking about buying from you are thinking, "ah, I'd love to do this someday."

I encourage you to really take some time today to clarify in your own mind the value of making a decision today for all the things that you wanna do, for the meaningful work you wanna create in the world. What is the value of making a decision today? 

On the flip side, right, what's the risk of putting it off for another day? What's the risk? What's the loss? What's the opportunity cost that comes with saying, "oh, you know, I'll get to it when blah, blah, blah, just not right now, it's not a good time"? When we believe this story, what's the impact of that over the course of our lives, year after year? So many things just never happen because we're always waiting for a better time.

## Putting it all together

So I just cited some examples in this episode, but I hope that you're gonna use your own brain to think more about all the things that people need to buy into before they say yes to your product, to your offer, before they take the final leap that allows them to take advantage of what you offer. So what are all the smaller sells? 

Make a list of them. 

They have to believe in themselves. They have to believe in your approach. They have to believe in you — not just that you're credible and that what you offer is valuable, but they have to believe that this is for people like them, that they won't feel judged for where they are. And you might think, "oh, why would they feel judged? Like, of course I'm not gonna judge them." But that might not be obvious to them, especially if they have some self-consciousness going on, like we all do from time to time. We're all human, right? 

You have to sell them on the value of making a decision about it today. You have to sell them on the idea that while change is uncomfortable, it's always gonna be uncomfortable, and it's worth choosing that over the status quo if you have something that you wanna achieve. If you want change, you actually kind of have to sell them on the discomfort, actually, right? 

If you've been through a transformation — which I know that every single person listening to this has — you know that it's never easy. It's never just a walk in the park. It always involves some discomfort and stretch. And unless you are sold on the value of the discomfort and the stretch, you're never gonna willingly step into it, or at least you're never gonna keep stepping into it. 

So how do you sell someone on the discomfort? How do you sell someone on making different decisions? These are all really juicy questions. 

And if you actually take the time and effort and the intentionality to address all of these in your own mind first, you are gonna be so much more effective at getting yeses on your big sell. When you've addressed all these in the minds of your people, when you invite them to take action, they're much more likely to say yes. 

All the smaller sells add up to the big sell. 

So my friends, I hope that sparked lots of ideas for you. Go to work with these concepts and let me know what you come up with. I would love to hear from you. I'll talk to you next week with another useful idea, and hope you have a fabulous week. Bye.