Stop Scrolling, Start Selling: Your 4-Step Outbound Plan

I'm the oldest of four, and my siblings will tell you I've got big sister energy, the kind that comes out in full force when I see you doing something I know you should be doing differently. Today that energy is aimed at your sales process. You feel like you're selling when you're actually just scrolling, or worse, just making friends online. I'm breaking down exactly why your brain tricks you into thinking content is the same as outreach, and then I'm giving you a real four step plan to fix it, channels, frequency, volume, and your target list. If your marketing is working overtime and your sales calendar is still empty, this one's for you. 

Work with me at suzieconsoli.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I am the oldest of four siblings. I have three younger brothers. They are all married. And so I also have three bonus sisters who are amazing. And I was not surprised at all when a client told me the other day that I have big sister energy. I think they would all agree. All my siblings would. Especially this big sister energy comes out in full force when there is something that they are doing that I think they should do differently. Just can't help it. It just comes out. And today you're going to see a little bit of that big sister energy come out as well. I see people make this mistake all the time in sales. And we're going to call it out today and I'm going to help you fix it. The mistake that I see most people make is around thinking they're selling when they're actually scrolling or not selling at all. They are just out there in the universe making friends. And today we're going to turn that around. We're going to start selling, not in a way that feels aggressive, not in a way that feels sleazy, but in a way that feels true to your brand and is actually going to help you start making more money. Okay, you guys know I love an analogy. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You want to get in better shape. So you sign up for a new app. You sign up for a new fitness program. Recently, I signed up for Burn Boot Camp. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. I love it. It's a bit amazing. But as soon as I signed up for the Burn Boot Camp app, I instantly felt healthier. I instantly felt like I was in better shape. I was like, I'm so much stronger already. Hadn't attended a class yet, but I just felt like, oh my gosh, I'm making such great decisions for my life. This is the way that so many of us are treating our sales system. We log into LinkedIn, we log into Instagram, we start looking through our inboxes, we pull up that spreadsheet, and we're not selling, but we're doing things that make us feel like we're selling. This isn't new. We do this with so many different things. I downloaded a budgeting app the other day and felt like, wow, I've already become better with money. I've already saved so much more in my personal life just by downloading this app. I hadn't even logged in or added in my bank account. I just felt like, wow, I'm I'm doing so much better than I was before because I made an account. And that is exactly how UX designers think. They want it to be gratifying to engage with their platform. They want you to feel like you are making progress in something because they know that's going to bring you back to the platform over and over again. Engaging content, feeling like we're part of something is what makes these accounts so sticky. So, with that in mind, you have to be really cognizant of where you're spending your sales time. Now, I've shared this before in a different episode, but I think it's relevant to share here again the difference between inbound and outbound sales. Before we get into what I want your outbound sales to look like, before we get into why I think it's so important, I want to go ahead and define again the difference between inbound and outbound. Reason being, I have a lot of people who come to me and say, Well, Susie, I'm posting on Instagram all the time. Well, Susie, I'm sharing content on LinkedIn all the time. I'm putting up my podcast all the time. And I'm just not getting any leads. And whoof, you guys talk about big sister moment. I have to be like, I love your marketing plan. I think it's awesome. But it's not a sales plan. You are actually not selling. And they typically get a little miffed at me because they're like, I am selling. Do you know how hard I'm working on this content? Do you know how much blood, sweat, and tears goes into this podcast? Do you know how long I've spent putting together this newsletter? And I'm like, no, yeah, I feel you. But that's inbound. So I teased my house party episode a minute ago, but let me break it down for you, real quick, in case you haven't listened to it. I were using inbound and outbound marketing to fill my house for a party. Inbound would be me going out and putting flyers all over my neighborhood. Outbound would actually be me going out and personally inviting all of my neighbors to come. In order to fill up my house for this party, realistically, I should do both because some people won't be home and some people don't check their mail all the time. And so they might not get my invitation. They might see a flyer instead. But most people prefer to be directly invited. So if you have a good mix, you are more likely to have a full-packed 90s style house party solo cups in the yard. If you just do inbound, if you just put up flyers around your neighborhood, you are going to be sitting around waiting, wondering who is coming to this party. And that is what I want you to avoid. By going out, inviting people, getting RSVPs, you're going to have a much better idea of what your party is going to look like. Now, sales is the exact same way. I love your inbound efforts. I love that you are creating content and I think that's awesome. But Instagram and LinkedIn and TikTok and Substack and all these platforms are designed to make you feel like, man, I am really reaching my audience. They are going to schedule calls with me. I'm going to put this link in there and it is just going to go absolutely viral. Sometimes this happens, but most of the time it requires us to go and take it a step further. Further typically means reaching out to them directly, one-to-one. I want you getting in their inbox. I want you connecting with them on an individual level. That really is it. I don't want you posting to the masses all the time. I want you thinking about a target audience. And I want you finding them online and sending them individualized messages to try to get their attention. That's it. So then how do we actually put this into practice? What we're going to do is write what's going to feel like a fitness plan. And if you're like Susie, enough with the fitness dinosaurs, you might want to find a different podcast. I use running and fitness metaphors all the time. I'll find another one eventually. But like I said, oldest of four, mostly boys. I like to use a fitness plan metaphor here because I like the flexibility there. No one can make you commit to a fitness plan that's like, you're going to work out 365 days a year, twice a day. What works for people and what feels sustainable is something that has a little gift to it. There are days when you wake up and you don't feel good. There are days when you just don't have time. There are days when you have to prioritize your family instead. And I get that. What I want you to do is write a plan that has some flexibility built in. You are going for an overall improved health of your business, increased revenue. But it doesn't need to be as rigid as if I miss a day, I should just give up entirely, right? That's where people end up in places where they're like, I signed up for the gym and then I never went. I want you to try to stick to something consistently as if you were setting a new workout goal. Okay, so let's now write your starter outbound plan. Step one, I want you to pick one social channel. So this can be LinkedIn or Instagram, anywhere where you can DM people. I recently had a client who she's a really great private Facebook page, and she just started to reach out to people that were within that private Facebook page that she owned. That can work really well. Also want you to choose one direct channel. I would recommend email, but some people have found great success in cold calling. But this is going to be however you can get directly into their messages. Step two, I want you to choose a frequency and try your best to commit to it. The same thing as if you're like, I'm going to try to go to the gym every Tuesday and Thursday. If three days a week works for you, great. Ideally, I'd really like for you to start every workday with some kind of outreach. Monday through Friday, first 15 minutes. This is the new way you're going to start your day. I don't want you worrying about client stuff just yet. I just want you doing something to move your business forward for the first 15 minutes. This is not going to take you long. Pick your frequency if you don't know what to do, first 15 minutes of every working day. Step three, I want you to pick your volume. So look at your channels. You have two channels and decide. I think I can get out two Instagram DMs or I think I can get out three LinkedIn messages, whatever that is, and I'm going to send one email to a business that I'd like to work with. Step four, I want you to start building target audience lists. So for me, when I got started, I was like, you know what? I really love all of our interior design clients. I'm going to start reaching out to interior designers around where we've done some other work for interior designers. For whatever reason, we were doing really well in North Carolina and in Texas for a while. So that's where I started. And I would reference some of my past clients. I would send them some case studies and say, hey, you might have heard of these people. I've worked with them as well. To finally beat the fitness analogy to death, there's no um secret sauce here. I really wish that I could tell you, hey, if you send out 50 of these messages, I promise you you're going to have more revenue in your business. Every business is different, and it is a math equation to get there. It's like me going to somebody and being like, if you just work out 50 times, you're going to be in way better shape. Nobody can promise you that. What they can promise you is that showing up consistently and trying new things is going to drive results. One of my clients actually just started getting into this routine and got really aggressive and was DMing and messaging a lot of different people across these platforms. And she was just like, I'm just not really seeing any results. I'm feeling really frustrated. I really wish that this was leading to something faster. Well, fast forward three weeks later, she had stuck with this. She was messaging enough people. It had been a slow season. Kids were going back to school, and all of a sudden she started getting replies. Momum started picking up. And she ended up booking two new clients just from the outreach that she had started. As you were getting this going, you might not know what your sales cycle timeline is yet. You might not know fully how long it's going to take to get somebody who's cold to start responding to you and what it will take to close them. But you're going to learn. And you won't know until you start trying. Waiting for them to come to you is a terrible way to start growing your business. Here's the absolute best news of all. Most people are sitting around waiting for business to come to them. If you want to beat your competition, go put a plan together and start doing outreach. Go find those potential clients before your customers do. They are waiting for clients to come to them. Don't make clients work that hard. Go to them, start solving their problem. I promise you, when you are genuine and you're reaching out to people and you are saying, hey, I actually created this with you in mind, the people who have a need for it will convert. If you are sitting here thinking, Susie, if only you could dive into my business specifically, I have so many unique things that I would love to talk with somebody about. I don't know how to do outreach for my specific target audience. Whatever you are thinking about in this episode, even if it's just, I wish I had more accountability. I wish I could have somebody like a trainer come in. See, we weren't done with the fitness analogy yet. I am there for you. I would love to talk with you about your business and see if I can help you get this ball rolling. Go ahead and head over to susieconsoli.com. I've got a couple of new things on there. I've got a couple of one-time strategy sessions that I would love for you to check out. Um, I've got 90 minute, I've got half day intensives that you can take a look at. And then, of course, I work with people one-to-one on an ongoing basis so that you have that support all the way through and don't feel like you've got to walk through this alone. Like I said, you can head over to susieconsoli.com, check that out. I would love to get to know you. Otherwise, thank you so much for listening. Go ahead, set that outbound plan. I can't wait to hear what it does for your business. Until next time, sell well.