Ready To Consistently Convert LEADS Into Sales? Even If You’re An Introvert!
Are you ready to convert your leads into sales without making it weird? Even if you’re an introvert, you can build an arsenal of attraction! HOW? My guest today, Elena Ciccotelli, shares her sales expertise. She gives her strategy into building an evergreen sales funnel that you can put on AUTOPILOT…even on Instagram! Even if you have 1 client, Elena will teach you how to nurture that client and the steps to future sales…all without making it weird or scary!
Learn to NURTURE your leads and become memorable. Put the systems into place to sell on autopilot. Take small steps to find your voice, trust yourself and pivot your message to become a selling machine, even on Instagram! Learn how to share your expertise on Instagram and attract the leads you want!
Connect with Elena:
Instagram: @sidegig_central
Website: http://www.sidegigcentral.com
Grow Your Side Gig in 30 Days FREE template: bit.ly/sidegig30
Email: [email protected]
Full transcription available at the bottom of this blog post
Before you go, I’d love to connect with you and give you some gifts to help you grow your online presence!
Instagram @allisonscholes
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2594119307580743/
Work with me: https://bossladyinsweatpants.com/nstagram-success-method/
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Personal Branding Workbook: https://bossladyinsweatpants.com/rock-your-personal-brand/
Full transcription:
Welcome back everybody. Today, we are chatting with Elena all about leads and sales for online businesses, but before we dive into our amazing topic today, Elena, welcome to the show. And please take this time to introduce yourself and tell us about your business. Thank you, Alison. Thank you for having me on the show. I am a huge fan of your podcast and congrats on getting that five K milestone, which is I am. My name is Elena. I am currently a sales manager at Lyft, which is if you don’t live in the U S it’s the competitor to Uber and my side gig, or I should say my passion is sales coaching. So I have a sales coaching business and I help entrepreneurs get their sales in order and make sure that they’re closing deals and specifically service based entrepreneurs in the online space. So I’ve been loving it.
Speaker 2:
It’s really a whole lot of fun. Excited to talk about this topic today. I am too. And I have to mention Elena, you also have a podcast, the sidekick central podcast, which is amazing. And I love all the information that you were putting out there for entrepreneurs. So listeners, if you have not already subscribed to the psychic central podcast, make sure you do okay. You’re welcome. All right. So I’m just going to say this word sales and if you’re listening and when you hear the word sales, go ahead and insert the emoji that pops to your head for myself. It’s either the eye roll emoji or it’s eyes bugging
Speaker 3:
Out of the head of emoji because let’s be honest, a lot of entrepreneurs hate the word sales, or they simply say I’m bad at sales, but Elena, I think you would agree that we need a strategy to convert leads into sales if we want to grow our online business. So what is an evergreen sales strategy and why do we need one?
Speaker 2:
Yes, such a great question. And just to back up a teensy bit. So the reason why I’m so passionate about sales coaching is because as you had mentioned this idea of central podcast, you know, your side gig is going to stay a hobby unless you can make some sales, right? Let’s be real. It’s not a real business of lists. You have sales. So, um, that in that way, um, I feel like sales is such a critical component to your journey as an entrepreneur and your journey to building a sustainable business. So with that said, evergreen sales strategy, um, you know, you don’t need a PhD in business management to understand how to make this work for you. So simply pull it. Evergreen sales is putting together a funnel or a system, a system of events that you can put on autopilot and that you can basically set it and forget it.
Speaker 2:
And then you are not consumed in the everyday hustling. I’m selling to all different people at all times. Um, so we’ll just take a they’re very basic funnel. Um, and again, I’m trying not to use too much jargon here, but say for example, you have a lead magnet, something that is very, very high value, uh, something that, you know, your ideal customer is really wanting to learn about or to, uh, you know, develop their skills in this way. You capture their email address. And then from there, ideally this is all automated right? Use the robots to your advantage here. Um, you are then going to put that often into a series of, I don’t want to say sales emails, but the value filled, uh, customer journey emails that are going to then fire off in two, three, four day increments. And from here, you can really insert your personality.
Speaker 2:
Again, keeps showing up with value because I think with an evergreen sales funnel, if you can provide some really quick wins for your potential client, they’re already feeling like, wow, I already got so much value from Alison already got so much value from Elena. Like it’s kind of then in their mind, they’re already opting into you as an expert and they’re opting into you as the idea of, okay, I’m going to trade my dollars for their skills and extra expertise. So in a lot of ways, you’re using sales psychology and you’re able to, to, to get these little tiny mini wins along the way along the customer journey. So then when you’re at email number five in your sales funnel and your evergreen sales funnel and you present, Hey, I have a strategy call that you would have bought, or I had a, uh, some sort of your, your course or your paid program, then that person is like, yeah, I mean, I’ve already gotten so much value like this.
Speaker 2:
This just makes so much sense. So, um, you don’t have to get in the weeds on how complex your evergreen sales strategy is. Um, but you just, you want to make sure it’s automated, right? Because you’re going to encounter new prospects at all times. And again, you want to use those robots to your, to your advantage. So that in a nutshell is really what evergreen means. It means that it’s always fresh. You’re, you’re introducing your, your knowledge and expertise and, you know, people are, people are going to get to know you. That’s the cool thing about the evergreen funnel.
Speaker 3:
I was just gonna say that I was going to point that out. Like that’s another, um, I think a key element to having an evergreen funnel is to build the know like, and trust factor, because think about when you are looking at someone’s services that you have found online, nobody just instantly buys from anybody. They first want a little taste of what that person has to offer, and then they’re going to get on the email list. And then once they are getting so much value from that person, you are building the know like and trust factor. And once they trust you, that is really when they start to buy from you. So I love that you talked about putting that evergreen sales strategy on auto pilot, because then you’re just letting it do the work almost for you. It does take some time to build that, but it’s so worth it. Now what I come across as a lot of entrepreneurs are, service-based, there’s a lot of people that have product based, um, things that they sell. But in my opinion, I think a majority of mompreneurs mainly have service-based. So why is selling a service online so difficult? Like for me, I’m always, I feel like I’m always saying the wrong things.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. This is, this is a very, very common pain point for a lot, like you said, for service based entrepreneurs. And I think a lot of it has to do with, with trying to get the big major wins upfront. And I wrote about this on Instagram a little while ago, and it said something to the effect of it’s still a warm lead you just gave up too soon. Right? Sometimes we think that the sales process is going to be very quick. Like, I’ll take the job that I’m doing currently at Lyft I’m in B to B, right? It’s very service based a sales environment. Sometimes that sales process can take 30 to 60 days. But again, I’m going after clients with like six and seven figure revenue here. Now, if we take that sales process, we’ll say it’s a 30 day sales process. And you know, maybe you’re not selling a really, really high ticket offer, right?
Speaker 2:
Maybe it’s somewhere in the three figure or maybe even two figures, you know, maybe it’s a lower ticket offer, but the concept of the sales process is still there. You have a lot less decision makers, right? So you know who the stakeholders are in that, in that sales process, you right. So say that you’re, I’m just going to say photographer, right? Service based business. You’re selling to brides maybe to go and photograph their wedding two stakeholders at most, right. The bride and the groom, unless there’s a really crazy mother-in-law right in that situation. Right. So then you can say, all right, maybe the sales process is a little bit less than that 30 day cycle, but if they don’t give you the yes and the adds to cart and the credit card information off the bat, late after that week of you conversing with them, do not give up on that lead, still continue to nurture them.
Speaker 2:
Still continue to maybe even educate them on things that you can help them with in your space. Because, um, you never know, in what capacity you can possibly work with that person. Yes. The I, the, the, the ideal situation is they’re trading dollars for your service, but what about maybe partnering with someone, creating an ally, maybe in a different space. Maybe that prospect that you’ve been going after is in a different industry. And they could be a cross functional partner for you. Sorry, too much jargon. That was Silicon Valley talking, sorry, no cross functional partner that instead someone who you can legit work with, who is maybe another person in that industry that you could reach out to, and maybe, um, you know, they will use you down the line. So my point here is very long winded, but do not give up on that lead, you know, just because the sale wasn’t instantaneous now, I’ll say give you a hard, no, and I’m sorry.
Speaker 2:
They moved off. That’s okay, too. If they opt out of your email list, that’s okay, too. It happens. We get attrition. We get churn with, you know, with, within our lists and things like that, but that’s okay. Um, I think as long as you keep it professional, and as long as you keep the message to educating, and I’m going to be your ally in this, we’ll just say wedding, right? I’m going to be your ally in this wedding right here. You’re going to be way more likely to land the sale. Then if you didn’t position yourself that way,
Speaker 3:
And I love earlier, you brought up the word nurture. And I think that’s what we need to remember when we are offering our services on line is don’t always have the sale is your goal because that’ll just drive you crazy. I think you just need to nurture and nurture and nurture your audience. Because what happens is when you nurture your audience, I find that you become memorable. And maybe that person says no, but when they remember you and you’re at the forefront of their brain, they might recommend you to somebody else. So just because the sale might end with that person, doesn’t mean it’s over, you are opening up your audience to other people.
Speaker 2:
Now you’re making your shareable
Speaker 3:
Memorable. And I think that’s where the magic happens is when you nurture your audience. So, yeah. Right. Okay. So what if I only have one client, how do I build from this and put systems in place to get fully booked?
Speaker 2:
Yes. Okay. One client, we’ve all been there, right? So we’re, we’re building this thing. You’re building your brand from zero. You got one client, maybe it’s your mom, maybe it’s your best friend who cares that one client, you are going to treat like a King or queen. They are the ultimate VIP client. And the reason why I’m saying this is because not only are you going to learn, you’re going to learn a lot from this very first client, right. But you’re going to be able to tailor your future offerings or your future services, uh, based on the feedback that you’re going to be getting from this first very important client. So, um, a couple of things here. So the first is you want to work on, so you’re stabilizing your revenue. You’re thinking about how can I serve this person in the best possible way, right?
Speaker 2:
Trading dollars for your service. All right, got it done. Now, we want to get even deeper into what the pain points are for your, for your VIP client right here. This is the part where I would go the extra mile and schedule account reviews with this person. I would go in, I know we’re in a weird state of affairs at the moment, but zoom is always a great place to Google Hangouts, whatever you prefer, just so you can make that connection with your eyeballs, with your client, jump on there, you know, 10, 15 minutes review all the things, all of the deliverables that you’ve gone through with that client checking in, how is this working? How is this feeling? You’re really getting, um, some real time feedback. So then from there, once you do all of this, you’re building an arsenal of, um, personal of attraction.
Speaker 2:
I don’t know if I just coined a new phrase, but maybe, um, so you’re building an arsenal so that you can then share those things on what you’re doing with your email list, with your social media, following on your blog on however you choose to show up online, and then you’re then setting that customer up. Obviously they’re getting phenomenal results from you. They’re loving working with you. Then the ask for the testimonial is going to be so easy. You know, they’re probably gonna write you a novel of how amazing experience it was to work with you. And then you’re also setting the stage for referrals. Like Alison, like you had mentioned prior about really honing in on, um, the ask for the referral. Cause sometimes people get tripped up in that. They’re like, eh, I don’t know. I still kind of, I feel kind of weird or in my weird Italian way.
Speaker 2:
I say, Oh, I feel school buddies, but don’t feel school buddies. You don’t feel weird about it, right? You that it’s like you set the stage ahead of time. So then it’s like, so, so super easy to just flip that switch. And then that, that testimonial rolls in now leveraging all that information, leveraging that arsenal that you now have. Now you have social proof. Now you can go on stories, Facebook live your email list. However, you’re communicating with prospects and say, you know, of course permission-based, Hey, this is the amazing experience I had with Brenda let’s. This could be possible for you. So then it starts like that snowball of social proof. And then again, that person that you, that you treated like a King or a queen, they’re going to be a repeat customer. That’s exactly how I built my personal training company 10 years ago. So I was very heavy into B to C sales. That’s how I built my company. It was just like zip to the max. And you will be surprised how far that will take you.
Speaker 3:
That’s really cool. I love all that information. And just to go back to testimonials just for a bit, I find it almost laughable that we are afraid to ask for testimonials, but I think we need to come from a point of we’re just being genuine. So I am not afraid now to ask for testimonials for my podcast, because I just say, Hey, if you are loving the podcast, your testimonial helps the podcast
Speaker 2:
And it helps me deliver more content to help you. So like just make it genuine and almost make it like
Speaker 3:
That. Uh, almost a collaboration
Speaker 2:
Between you and your clients. If you put it in that form, the testimonial is just so much easier to ask for. Yes, yes, absolutely. And another trick here that works really, really well. And this is a Silicon Valley tip and trick I’m going to give to you, they call it quarterly business reviews, but it’s actually disguised as a testimonial. Okay. So all of the, what I was saying about the account review, that was all of the stuff that you can utilize to your advantage. And you could even be invitation to guys, write this down, the invitation to go and do a quarterly business review is your invitation to get them to do a testimonial. All you need to say is I want to feature you in X, Y, and Z. And what does your calendar look like? It shows that you’re respecting their timeframe. I guarantee you, they will get, get back to you within that day.
Speaker 2:
You’ll set the time they’ll get the testimonial. It works every single time. I love that. I want to feature you instead of just saying, Hey, can you give me a testimonial? I want to feature you. I love that because you are using the word you and you are almost putting your VIP client up on a pedestal. And they like that feeling like, yes, I want to like, just let’s see it just say different levels. Because again, I know in the online space, we’re always talking about serving, not selling, serving, not selling. And that’s like the ultimate, like just wrapping it up in a big old bow to, to move your business forward. Right. That’s what we want. That’s that’s the goal of sales. Okay. So what is the best piece of advice you can share with mompreneurs who avoid the whole sales process? Oh yes.
Speaker 2:
The whole sales process. So I think the biggest misconception that I, that I hear from clients that I work with, um, in my sales coaching business, a lot of them are saying, well, I feel I’m there. I’m an introvert. Right? I feel like I need to be an extrovert or very like this gregarious personality to get people to pay attention. To me, I feel a little bit weird going on camera, just talking, I need a script. Like I’m not. So those, those are things. And again, we’re talking about online service based businesses and you, Alison, you know this so well, you need to show up online. You have to it’s. It is a requirement guys. Absolutely have to. So whatever you need to do to get over that fear of being on camera, talking to the camera, like you’re talking to your best friend, writing, like whatever communication style feels for you, you have to start to get over it.
Speaker 2:
So, um, and Alison, you and I had had talked about this a couple of times where, you know, it’s, it’s posting that selfie of yourself, even if it’s just baby steps from there and talking about how you turned a really bad situation into a good one, and you helped a client. And then it’s baby steps into are hopping on, we’ll say Instagram stories, which does disappear in 24 hours, no harm, no foul. If you feel like it was very terrible, you can delete it if you’d like. So it’s again, it’s just building that confidence in it. And it takes a lot of times. So, so mom from mompreneurs, especially you guys are so strapped for time. It’s like that, that big, that, that kind of like weird voice in the back of your head, like who am I to even talk about this topic? Just take little steps every day to see if you can refine your message, because it will get better. Practice is really going to help you and you’ll be able to find your voice and really quick story here. Um, back when I first started my podcast, I would script every single episode. [inaudible]
Speaker 2:
I think the episode that I had you on, I don’t think it was like nights either. So like I scripted every single little thing because I didn’t trust my voice yet, but now, uh, I’m not, I’m not as far into podcasting as you are. Alison, what am I up to 42 episodes later, I can now do bullet points and then just speak to those bullet points and, and be done with the introduction and actually have a conversation with my guests instead of like, Oh, what I have. So it takes time. It takes time to figure out what your voice is and people, people connect with you on your message. People will, um, uh, connect with you on that know like, and trust factor when you feel really confident in your voice. So, so start that journey on, on being comfortable with your voice.
Speaker 3:
The other thing you’re talking about voice, I think a lot of entrepreneurs are confused and they feel that they have to have their brand voice defined before they can start talking. And actually it’s quite opposite. You actually have to,
Speaker 2:
And getting out there and talking, and then
Speaker 3:
We’ll clarify your brand voice. Like it’s actually the other way around
Speaker 2:
A hundred percent, a hundred percent. Oh my gosh. That is so true because you are constantly evolving. If you’re not evolving, you’re not learning and you’re probably not making any sales because you’re also not listening to the feedback that you’re getting from potential clients. I think one of the things that I really love about getting on video is that I didn’t get feedback in real time from potential customers and current clients and take their feedback. And then I have five posts for the, for the rest of the week, or I have, you know, six, seven blog posts. All right. And that dialogue is, is, is there for a reason.
Speaker 3:
That’s awesome. So what is something you wish you would have known sooner when you started your online business?
Speaker 2:
Um, a couple of things I wish there was a long list here. So I like to think of myself as an experienced entrepreneur, but you, or always, always learning. And I think the biggest, um, the biggest thing that I wish I had gotten over sooner was that not every single piece of educational content or sales content is going to resonate. Okay, you’re going to have to go through a couple of iterations. And I actually even said this to one of my clients the other day. I was like, we just need to get this launch over with, so you can already hear the critic crickets and get, get past the crickets and go to the next thing it’s inevitable. Right? You’re so getting over the fact that not everything is going to get a warm reception, not everybody’s gonna connect with it. Your joke could completely bomb, but just get over it and keep going.
Speaker 2:
I think the biggest, um, the biggest mistake, if you could call it that, um, earlier in my entrepreneurial career was that I would take it so personally and I would take it to heart and be like, Oh man, you know, I’m trying to sound like me, but I’m struggling with it. But in a lot of ways, it’s a good thing because then you’re like, okay, it’s like a laboratory. It’s like a science experiment. It’s like a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Um, and, and you eventually find the right concoction, the right recipe. And it’s just learning by doing, I think it was Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook that said that you need to just, you need to jump in and just learn by doing. And I wholeheartedly agree with that.
Speaker 3:
Your story sounds so similar to mine because if I wish I could go back and like kick myself in the pants, because my problem was I was consuming way too much content instead of
Speaker 2:
Creating my own and just putting it out there for the world to see
Speaker 3:
Once I got out of my own way and stopped worrying about what everyone else is doing and started just doing my own thing. That’s when
Speaker 2:
Things really turned around in my business. So thank you so much for all of the valuable information you provided us today. So where can we find you or connect with you on social media? Yeah, absolutely. That is a blast. Always love talking to you. Alison, it’s always a fun time. Yeah, definitely connected with you on Instagram. I am on there way too much fun side gigs. Central is my handle. You can also visit me on my website, which is psychic central.com. Uh, shoot me an email. And also I do have a 30 day calendar. We’re talking about with the clients. If you have one client and you want to build from there, I have a 30 day calendar of every single action that you could take, um, to build your client base and be able to generate more sales. Um, so probably through that in the show notes with your permission, Alison, and that’s where you can find me
Speaker 1:
Super cool. I will make sure all of that information is in the show notes. So thank you so much my dear for being on the show today.
Speaker 2:
Of course. Thanks, Alison.
