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Unlocking the Secrets to More Sales Calls: The Solopreneur’s Guide
The Power of Conversations
High-Impact Activity: Engaging Directly
Alison makes it clear that starting conversations is one of the most impactful activities you can initiate to generate sales calls. “It’s going to be having conversations,” she emphasizes. Whether it’s a new follower, a family member, or a friend of a friend, initiating dialogue can feel mentally taxing. The fear of coming off as salesy or pushy often holds many back. Alison’s advice is to shift your perspective on sales—view it as a natural part of being a business owner. This mindset change can be pivotal for making those initial connections feel less daunting.
"You're doing a disservice by not offering your help," she says. Viewing your offer as a beneficial and transformational experience, rather than a self-serving sale, can make the process easier. This new attitude can significantly lower the mental barriers preventing many from reaching out.
Clear Intentional Selling
Actively Selling Daily
The next major insight from Alison is the importance of active selling. She astonishingly points out, “You’d be surprised how many people aren’t actively selling.” Emphasis is placed on the importance of clarity and intentionality when making offers. Rather than assuming a passive CTA (Call-To-Action) at the end of a post will suffice, it's crucial to be overt and direct in your sales approach.
For instance, clearly stating “I have this offer, and here’s how it can transform your life,” followed by an actionable step such as “DM me, schedule a call, or apply to work with me,” can make a world of difference. Daily commitment to such direct selling ensures you are consistently putting your offer in front of potential clients, increasing the likelihood of sales conversions.
Cutting Through the Noise
Creating Attention-Grabbing Content
In today’s bustling social media landscape, capturing and retaining the attention of your audience is paramount. Alison suggests focusing on headlines that are immediately engaging and relevant to your audience's pain points. “Your headline has to speak to their soul,” she states. Rather than generic greetings or motivational quotes, which often get lost in the shuffle, opt for hooks that address a problem directly and hint at a personal story or solution.
Amy adds a practical tip to this: keeping a running list of what catches your eye as you consume content online. Note the wording and the structure, and apply those principles to your own posts. This subtle shift in how you approach creating content can result in more people stopping, engaging, and following through on your offers, ultimately leading to more sales calls.
Leveraging Data and Human Connection
Using Insights to Improve Engagement
Combining data insights with human connection can supercharge your strategy. Amy points out that Instagram and other platforms provide ample data to better understand what resonates with your audience. Regularly reviewing this data allows you to refine your approach based on what is performing well. Alongside this, direct engagement—be it through live sessions, DMs, or comments—adds a human touch that algorithms can't replicate. The real magic happens when you are both analytical and personable, consistently using data to inform meaningful interactions.
Building Confidence in Your Offer
Addressing the Mind Drama
One of the significant barriers discussed is the internal ‘mind drama’—fear of judgment, rejection, and not being good enough. Alison advises taking a hard look at these fears and actively working to overcome them. She shares her own experience, mentioning how concerns about what family members might think held her back initially. To this end, Alison suggests either muting or blocking those whose opinions are most worrisome, allowing you to operate without the added pressure.
Ultimately, the key takeaway is that you must become your first sale. Being sold on the value and transformative power of your offer yourself makes it easier to convey that confidence to potential clients.
Conclusion
The conversation between Alison and Amy offers invaluable strategies for solopreneurs struggling to get on more sales calls. By focusing on starting genuine conversations, actively selling daily, creating compelling content, leveraging data for continued improvement, and building confidence in your offer, you can bridge the gap between your efforts and actual results. Take these insights to heart, implement them, and watch your engagement—and sales calls—skyrocket.
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Transcript for Episode 388. The secrets to booking more sales calls
Amy [00:00:03]:
As a solopreneur, you're putting yourself out there, you're building your list, you're building authority and credibility. But are you actually getting on sales calls from all of that effort that you are putting forth? Well, if the answer is no, don't worry, I've totally got you. Today's guest, Alison Henderson, is a social media business coach who helps sleep consultants and coaches get visible and expand their network so that they can sign clients without having to post every day or run ads. Two major wins in my book. And Alison, I'm really excited for this conversation with you because this is something that so many solopreneurs are facing right now. They're doing all of the things, they're just not getting on those calls. So let's dive into this topic and unpack it. So before we dive in, can you tell us just a little bit about yourself?
Alison Henderson [00:01:02]:
Thank you so much for having me. So, like you said, I am a social media business coach. I have had my business now running on about six years. So my wheelhouse is strategy. Like, I want you getting visible, I want you creating content. I want people to know who you are and what you're all about. So my big thing, I am on Instagram. So I.
Alison Henderson [00:01:20]:
A lot of what I teach is how to get clients on Instagram, using your stories, using your posts, going live, all the things. But my, my big thing is I want to help moms. I want to help women who are really just in the thick of motherhood. But I want you making income from home. Like, that's my big thing. I know a lot of you have this big, like, just you, you are a heart centered entrepreneur and you want to make a big impact, but you also want to be home with your kids. And so that's a really big part of my mission is help helping moms make more money, helping women. I love more money because when we have more money, great things happen.
Alison Henderson [00:01:54]:
So, yeah, I'm happy to share more about getting on more sales calls, expanding your network, talking to humans. And yeah, that's, that's what I love to talk about.
Amy [00:02:03]:
That's amazing. And you said one of my favorite words, strategy, because there is a strategy to it. You know, the post and pray approach just really doesn't work. And like you said, you know, you don't have to post every single day in order to grow a successful business to make that money that you want. But there seems to be such a different disconnect all too often between where we are and where we want to be. So where do we even start? What would you say for the person that is just busy beyond belief doing all of the things? What is a high impact activity that we can start with today to start to get ourselves on more sales calls?
Alison Henderson [00:02:46]:
It's going to be having conversations. And the biggest thing that you're probably in your mind right now is like, what do I say? And like, what if someone's mean to me? Like, I think we all have that fear of like, I don't want to come off as salesy or pushy or awkward when I want to start that conversation with them. Maybe it's a new follower or maybe it's like a friend of a friend or maybe these are family members. Like, these are people that you know you can help. But we all. And I know when I first started I had the same thing of like, I don't want to come off a certain way. Like, I don't want people to think I'm just trying to sell them something. And so starting those conversations can be really like mentally hard.
Alison Henderson [00:03:25]:
It's not like saying the words are hard. It's mentally just sitting there and getting that energy to go, I'm going to do it today. I'm going to ask if they want my support or they want my help. Or it could just be basic of like, hey, how's it going? Like, how are you doing? Right? Like, it could be so basic. But I think a lot of people have a fear of people and they have that fear of what are they gonna say when I decide to start this conversation.
Amy [00:03:48]:
Yeah, overcoming that salesy mindset is huge. What advice can you give us to start to work through? Because you're right, you're saying so many things that I've dealt with with clients too. They're like, but I don't know what to say. I don't know what they're gonna think. I don't wanna be salesy. How, how can we overcome that?
Alison Henderson [00:04:08]:
Well, I think you need to shift how you view sales. You are a business owner now. So, you know, just like you're. When you know you're a mom running around with your kids like you have a certain hat on. It's the same thing when you decide to like show up in your office like you're putting a business hat on. And because now you're a business owner, there is a level of like a shift, I would say there's a shift, energetic shift that you have to make of, like, if I want to make money, I have to actually talk to real people or My message at least has to be getting in front of people. But I think when you're first just starting out, so even that, I would say the first two years is you just establishing these relationships, you talking to as many people as you possibly can. Eventually, over time, you can start running ads like you're going to have money and more cash flow coming in that you can invest in.
Alison Henderson [00:04:53]:
Saying, I want to maybe take a step back of constantly having to do this and I can put money towards that. But until you start getting that cash flow, I say all you have to do is actually talk to human beings every single day. So the easiest way to do that is where are your ideal clients? Clients hanging out. Right? So actually starting there and having you can go into Facebook groups, Instagram, TikTok, like LinkedIn, even, like, there's so many social media platforms where you actually know where your ideal clients are at. So that's the first step is like, where are they at? And you need to go there every single day and hang out there, start those conversations, see if people are actually shouting from the rooftops that they're struggling. They might not be. And that's okay too. You can even just start with like your network who were, some of your co workers know, past clients.
Alison Henderson [00:05:37]:
Even like, who are the people that really do love you and maybe just haven't checked in with them in a while. All right, so I always say start there. But I want to go back to what I was saying earlier of like viewing sales. Like, I want you viewing sales differently. Like when I think of sales, I'm like, wow, what I sell is so beneficial. It is so life changing. It is a transformational experience. So when I come on social media and I'm like talking about my offer, I'm not going, God, like, I, I, if somebody buys this, I'm taking money from them.
Alison Henderson [00:06:08]:
Like, like, how dare they buy this? Or it's like, no, it's like when people buy my offer, I know that this is going to change their life and this and I'm doing them a disservice. I'm literally, my audience right now is like internally going, I want help, I want help with my business or I want help with my strategy, my content or whatever that is. And because I decided to show up today and saying, hi, look, look at me. Like, you know, you follow me? Like, don't you want more help with this? I can do this for you. And here's, here's how I can help you. I actually share, this is how I'm going to Help you and why this is so important for you. And over time, like internally I feel so safe when I show up and sell because I see that there's such a significant return for them, whether it be financially, because that's a lot of what I'm helping people with as a business coach. Right.
Alison Henderson [00:06:55]:
But like also just like their confidence, their, their whole life changes when they decide to work with me. And so it's a big shift that I think everyone needs to make is like viewing your offer as something that is so transformational. And I know probably a lot of people that are listening to this are entrepreneurs who have like an actual service based business. And like, so if you do not believe that your offer can change somebody's life, check in with that. Like, where in your offer. Like, what about your offer feels wonky, feels weird. Why aren't you wanting to every single day being like, listen, I have this amazing thing that all of you need. Like, here's how to sign up for.
Alison Henderson [00:07:32]:
Like, why aren't you doing that? And it could be too, like you're not sure what to say. You're really not sure or clear on your transformation. And those are things where like, you know, I would say, I don't want to say it's easy, but like it could be kind of easy for you to sit there and go, what is that? Like get, get help. Use chat. GPT to even be like, these are the things that I want to help people with. Like, help me understand like what I need to say to get them to buy this. Right. But yeah, you want to make sure that, you know, you have the audience.
Alison Henderson [00:07:58]:
That's a big thing. Like, but you're also selling and sharing what you can offer every day. Every day is somewhere. Like you're at least sharing that with the world. So if it feels weird for you to sell, really check in with that. What about the sales process or the marketing even? Like, what about this feels hard for me? And a lot of it's a fear of judgment. Let's be real. Like, you know, you're afraid of what people are going to think about you when you do decide to start selling, selling.
Alison Henderson [00:08:22]:
And I've now been doing this for many years. But like before I was like, what is my mother in law gonna think of me when I start talking about my coaching offers and how much things cost? Like that was a big thing too, where I'm like, you know, I have like now it costs thousands of dollars, you know, to work, work with us. You know, it's like, what are People gonna think, are they gonna think it's too expensive? And are they gonna DM me being like, no one's gonna buy that. That's too expensive? You know, like, we all have, like, one person in mind that we're just so afraid is going to say something mean to you. So who is that person for you? Like, everybody, like, probably has that one person, or maybe it's a handful of people. And what I always tell my clients, like, can you block them or, like, mute them or, like, make it so they don't see your stuff so you just internally don't get that, like, bubble up feeling of, like, what am I going to. Like, what are they going to say? So those are always just things that I'm like, think about your offer. What feels weird about it? If you're not super confident, or you might be so confident, but, like, why is it so hard for you to sell it? Like, what's really going on? And it could just be a switch in your mindset that just says, I want to make money, so I got to show up.
Alison Henderson [00:09:28]:
Like, what's more important? Fear, judgment, or me not making any money?
Amy [00:09:32]:
Such an awesome point, because you're 100% right. You have to be your first sale. If you're not sold on what you're selling, how in the world do you expect anybody else to be? So just showing up unapologetically as yourself, and by doing those things that you just described, that's going to make you stand out in a noisy world that takes the algorithm out of the equation. Because now you're in the driver's seat because you're intentional in how you're using the platform. It's no longer based off of, oh, is this viral? This real going to go viral? Oh, nobody's engaging with it. Nobody's seeing it. Something's like, no, you're the one now standing out because you're taking the time to just be a human, to be like, you know what? You have this problem. I see you, I have a solution if you want it.
Amy [00:10:24]:
You know, it all comes down to it being an invitation. And you're right, we do get so wrapped up in our heads. The whole cycle of, like, judgment and rejection and all of those things, but taking the time to get curious and go, well, what is it about this? Like, that is a powerful exercise that I think most of us don't take the time to do, to pause and go, where is. Is that disconnect in the process? Because the things that we are doing as entrepreneurs, it's awesome. We bring so much value to the table. And if somebody else is successfully doing it out there, that's, like, proof of concept that we can use to, like, fuel our fire. That if she can do it, well, guess what, girlfriend? So can you. But we have to get past that mind drama.
Amy [00:11:10]:
You know, I heard an analogy once that was like, you know, if somebody offers you a stick of gum and you're like, no, thanks. Like, you don't spiral out of control. You don't start to, like, make it about your worth. You're like, oh, my gosh. Like, she didn't want my stick of gum. I'm a horrible person. It's the same thing with your offer. If somebody says, no, thank you, like, congratulate yourself because you had the courage to put yourself out there, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Amy [00:11:34]:
I am loving all of these things that you are saying, Allison. What are. What's another way that we can really help ourselves to get on more sales calls? We talked about being human. We talked about having conversations, really identifying those disconnects. What's something else we can do?
Alison Henderson [00:11:52]:
Yeah, well, something that comes to mind. And I know a lot of people might be doing this, but, like, straight up saying, and this is in your content, in your stories, maybe even going live, but just literally saying, I have this offer. If you want it, send me a private dm or we can have a conversation. I have coached hundreds of coaches and entrepreneurs over the last few years, and you'd be surprised how many people aren't actively selling. Okay. And you might think you're selling because, like, you know, you're maybe at the end, like, having a CTA that's like, you know, if you're struggling with this, too, send me a DM or comment below. And I'm like, okay, that's a start. But, like, what if you actively said, this is my offer? This is the transformation I'm going to be helping you with.
Alison Henderson [00:12:41]:
This is probably what your life is like right now. This is how you want your life to look like. And if you are really, actively looking for a solution to this, like, send me a dm, let's have a private conversation, or apply to work with me, or click the link in my bio to book a sales call. Like, just being really intentional and clear that this is your next step, and this is everything about my offer. So I sell in my stories pretty much every day. I'm dropping a link to something. Like, if you want sales every day, you gotta be selling almost every day. We can, I guess, automatically assume that, like, okay, I sold two weeks ago, like, I did a, you know, a sequence maybe of story slides of like talking about my offer.
Alison Henderson [00:13:17]:
Like, that needs to be something almost every day, maybe not like 10 slides talking about your offer, but like every day somewhere you're showing up saying, if you want more information about this, apply here. If you want more information, send me a dm. So really being intentional with, I'm actively selling every single day. And once again, this could be, you can go live maybe, like, maybe that's something you need to like, kind of get out of your shell a little bit and come on and, you know, do a live. And people get notified every time that you are posting or popping up on there, you know, talking about this in your stories and even in your grid posts. So that's, that's the one big thing I think people think they're selling, but they're not actually actively selling. Does that make sense?
Amy [00:13:55]:
Oh, my gosh, absolutely it does. Because, well, it comes down to clarity. We think so often that we're doing things and then again, going back to the mind drama, we tell ourselves these stories that, oh, gosh, I don't want to bother people, but the reality is nobody's paying attention. You know, that's why the children's play sends five emails in the morning.
Alison Henderson [00:14:15]:
I'm annoying, right?
Amy [00:14:17]:
So many entrepreneurs do that. And it's like you almost have to be. You have to repeat yourself over and over and over. It's almost like trying to talk to your toddler when they're not listening and you're telling them for like the 20th time to, you know, put a toy away. Like, no, you have to be persistent. You have to be so super clear because people are busy, our lives are busy, social media is busy. People are scrolling very quickly. And if you are not so crystal clear on what it is that you do, they're going to keep on scrolling.
Amy [00:14:48]:
So I'd love to know too. Like, so how do we then, when we're selling, really stop the scrolling, get people to take notice?
Alison Henderson [00:14:58]:
Yeah, well, and you probably know this from being a strategist of like your headline that, like initial, like it's literally two seconds probably that you get to capture that person's attention. So every single piece of content you create, like that first slide on your stories or that grid, post that first slide on a carousel or on a reel, whatever the first words that they're seeing has to be relevant, has to be relevant to their life. It has to really speak to their soul in some way or Another, like, when I see posts that's like, happy Friday, like, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, girl, like, how about something that's like, I almost died today. Let me tell you about this story, like, or something, right? Like, it's eye catching. It's like immediately going, wait, hold up. What? What? Like, I need to hear about this. But really it's like, what.
Alison Henderson [00:15:46]:
How is your post going to be relevant to that person who's struggling today or wanting to make a significant shift in their life? Right? So we can't be posting. I don't want to say fluff, but a lot of like, it's like motivational quotes and just really being motivating and inspirational. And I'm like, but what if you just totally called them out on their bs, like, or their excuses or their failures this month or whatever, like, and you're like, but I can help you. Like, that's really what you know. And being intentional with your messaging is like, really being intentional with understanding that your client is struggling today or wanting to make that shift. And how can this post lead them to take an action after this? But that first, once again, less. You probably have like two seconds when they're in that. Like, I'm really hurrying up here, like, or I'm, you know, in the line at Starbucks or I'm in the car rider line picking up my kids or dropping them off.
Alison Henderson [00:16:39]:
Like, you don't have a ton of time. And like, how can we capture their attention? And this is all like, what. What entrepreneurship, I feel like is all about is, like, keeping their attention. And so that headline is the biggest thing that you can work on. Or we call it a hook, even, whatever, like, want to call it, but it's that first thing that they're going to see when they come across your content.
Amy [00:16:59]:
Yeah, that is such good advice. You know, and one of my favorite things I learned from a friend, it was probably about a year or two ago, and this has made a huge difference. I keep a running list. So as I'm going through email, social media, anything that I am consuming, I take note of what catches my attention. Just how they're wording it. So not necessarily like stealing their things, but really noticing those patterns, like, what makes me pay attention. And for entrepreneurs, that's such an easy way that we can do to start to get us to think differently because we get stuck in those thought patterns and we're saying the same thing over and over and over. And then everybody's doing the same trends, everybody's saying the same things.
Amy [00:17:44]:
But it's like, okay, what was that one thing that they said? And why did that catch my attention? What about that made me stop? So that's been a really simple yet effective exercise that I've been using as well. And I don't remember stuff. I have the memory of a gnat, so I just write it down. I have it in my notes app on my phone, and I just keep these things. And then when I'm stuck, I'll go back and I'll be like, okay, what about that made me take notice? And again, it comes back to, as you said, intentionality, really just taking the time to notice. Okay, where are those disconnects? Because, again, in even Instagram, there's so much data right there. So by taking the time to leverage that and to be a human, to talk to people, these are just such easy ways that we can get on more sales calls, that we can get noticed, that we can actually be able to present the invitation to the next call step, because we have an awesome solution. And speaking of getting on more sales calls, you actually have a Freebie that describes 10 ways, 10 different ways.
Amy [00:18:56]:
So if you liked what you heard in this episode, make sure you go to Allison's website. We will link it up in the show notes. All you have to do is click the link and you can download her free guide, 10 Ways to Get on More Sales Calls. It is amazing and full of even more strategy. And you also have a podcast. Tell us about your podcast, Allison.
Alison Henderson [00:19:17]:
Yeah, it's called the Ambitious Coach. So I have experts just like Amy and myself that we come on, and I also do, like, my own soul episodes where I just talk straight up with strategy. I do work a lot with mindset, and I know that's usually one of the biggest hurdles. So if you want to get on more sales calls, make more money in your business, assign more clients, that the ambitious coach is where you probably want to be at. And, you know, tune in. It's free, obviously. And, yeah, tune in on my Instagram as well. I go live and I have tons of content for you if you're really trying to grow your business on Instagram.
Amy [00:19:50]:
Amazing. Alison, you are just such a wealth of information. Thank you so much for taking time to share just such actionable strategies with us. So go implement. Use these strategies because they work. I can 100% attest to the fact that this works. All right, everyone, until next time, leverage your data and shatter your sales plateau.
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