When I started my business, I kept hearing this story that potential clients had to have seven interactions with my content—seven ‘touchpoints’—before they would buy.
Five years in, and I can tell you for certain that the ‘seven touchpoints’-advice doesn’t hold true.
Here’s the thing. There’s no recipe for making sales. There’s no magic number of interactions. There’s no magic content plan. There’s no funnel to fix your lack of sales.
In this post, I share what I’ve learned to be the truth of making sales. It’s what I call ‘the black box’ of sales. I’ll share what we can do and what we can’t do, as well as a bit of encouragement if you’re going through a slow(er) period.
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The black box
The marketing and sales gurus make it seem so easy. You put in the work, and sales magically appear. You follow a ten-step-plan and customers and clients come knocking.
If you’ve been led to believe that making sales is a matter of hitting on the right formula, plan or funnel, not making sales quickly feels very personal.
If you’re not making sales, maybe you’re not doing it right? All the other people seem to be making sales, then why can’t you? Are you even cut out for being a business owner? When will this get easier?
Paradoxically, marketing and making sales started to feel a lot less scary to me when I realised that I actually have very little control over whether people buy my services and products.
I grew up an over-thinker, prone to anxiety, always on the lookout for imagined or real disasters. Once I started my business I’d already begun to leave a lot of that behaviour behind. And while that was mostly due to CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), my business has actually helped me try to grasp control less and less.
Because you see, no matter how many plans you have, you can’t control your business. And one of the biggest things you can’t control? Sales.
Let’s say you send a carefully worded, inviting sales email. You just launched a new collection of products and you feel great about it. The email goes out and then…silence.
Or, you haven’t sent out a sales email in a while. You continue to send out regular emails, but none of them make explicit that you have something to sell. And suddenly: three commissions come in, out of the blue.
The second scenario is traditionally seen as bad marketing practice. People should always know what you’re selling (which I agree to up to a certain point).
But having been in both scenarios I can tell you that there’s only so much we can control. And the part we can’t control about our sales? That’s the black box.
The part we can’t control about sales? That’s the black box.
There is a slower, gentler and more profitable way of running your business.
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The black box contains all the things outside of our influence.
How our newsletter subscribers feel when they receive our newsletter. How much they have to spend in a given week or month. The birthdays they have coming up in their family, or not (making them less or more likely to be on the lookout for thoughtful gifts). The products, courses, houses they bought right before our email came in. Their emotional bandwidth. Any big deadlines or holidays they have coming up. And more.
All of these are uncertainties that you have zero control over. And the only way to do business is to accept that.
(Also, please don’t try to factor in all of those uncertainties. It will drive you insane.)The black box also means that when we don’t make sales, it isn’t our fault. Yes, there are things you can do to make people more likely to buy from you, but ultimately, it’s not all down to you.
What you can do to make sales
The most important thing you can do is to make it as easy as possible for someone to work with you or buy from you. This means taking a good look at your marketing channels.
If someone lands on the homepage of your website, how easy is it for them to figure out what you’re offering? How easy is it for them to learn what your core offers and any special or new products are? How easy is it for them to book a call with you, to buy your product? How easy is it for them to discover the price of what you’re offering?
Does your newsletter contain links to your offers and products? Not every newsletter is a sales email, of course, but if people like what they read or see, where can they find more? How explicitly do you remind people that you have a new collection, new services, new spaces for clients?
How clear are your offers? When is your service right for potential clients? What is the question you’re helping customers answer in your mini-course? What is the difference between your coaching packages? How are you helping them decide?
My biggest piece of advice? Keep going. Stay the course, stay steady.
Business can be really hard.
And when we’re in a slow season it’s so easy to conclude that it’s our fault that we’re not making sales. It isn’t.
You have limited control over making sales, the only thing you can do is to be there, to invite potential clients and customers—and to do so at a pace that works for you. Root into yourself. You know best what is right for your business.
If my newsletters and free resources resonate with you, I might just be the right mentor for you. I don’t believe in 10-step-plans, or get rich quick schemes. I do believe that it is possible to create and run a business that fits you and your life: your values and rhythms, your strengths and passions. I strongly believe that you don’t need to do all the things, or be on all the channels to make your business work.
I’m here to help you feel more supported in your business. I’m here to give you the confidence to run your business from that place of deep inner knowing inside of you, offering my signature blend of mindset shifts and practical steps.
What you can’t do to make sales
The one thing you can’t do in business? Make people buy from you.
And that can be really hard. Business can be a lonely place, especially when it’s going slower than you’d like.
I’ve had clients sign up for my most expensive offer without reading a single newsletter.
And I’ve had clients that have been longtime readers and only decided to work with me after a few years.
The majority of the people on my newsletter list will never be clients. They will never buy from me. They’ll read my newsletters and hopefully feel inspired and seen, but that is enough for them.
As business owners, we need to be okay with that. We need to hold the uncertainty of business and stay close to ourselves.
An experiment
Take a moment to think or journal about these questions:
- How do you feel when you decide on a purchase? What makes you buy something or not? Remember this next time you wonder why or why not people buy from you, it will help you see how relative sales are.
- If you’re in the mood for some Spring cleaning, review your website, offers and newsletter. How easy is it for people to buy from you? How easy is it for them to discover more from you?
I’d love to know which of these strategies to feel more supported in your business you’ve tried, and which you’re going to try out? I’d love to know!
Please feel free to share this post it with business friends, in your newsletter or on social media. 💛
I’d love to support you in all phases of your business. Providing clarity, focus and next steps is something that my clients tell me I’m really good at. If you’re curious about how we can work together through 1:1 mentoring, check out what I offer or send me an email–no strings attached. I have payment plans available, and flexible options for mentoring calls (30 or 60 minutes).
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