Hey Reader,
What happened to travel credit card benefits...? We haven't had access to a single airport lounge on this trip 😭
Messy Musings
Last week someone in The Breakroom asked a question about rebuilding momentum when you're already busy. And I broke down a couple of "frames" that I like to think about... but this one has been sticking in my head ever since:
“Normal” vs “Bare Minimum” routines - if you think about people who build impressive morning routines, often times they completely fall apart as soon as they travel or get interrupted - but for some people they build “home” and “travel” routines, the home one is when everything is normal and they can afford to spend 60-90 mins on a routine, but when they’re traveling they’ve boiled it down to the bare minimum 10-20 mins that are necessary for them to still have a good day.
Business can be thought of in a similar way - you have daily and weekly “routines” that make for a healthy & sustainable business (marketing, sales, admin, & client work). Some weeks you have more time to commit to each area, some less, but what is the “bare minimum” routine that you don’t have to think about that’s automatically done?
I'm writing this from a patio table on the back porch of an Airbnb in Boise. We spent the weekend in LA visiting family which is great, but also we slept on a pull out in the living room, and then our flight delayed and we only got here at 1:30am this morning.
In ~2 hours we have our first dinner with people going to Craft & Commerce, and we've booked our next 3 days down to 30 min increments to see as many people as we can while were here - and we're excited!
But... in the back of my mind I'm now asking the question, what's the "Bare Minimum" routines that our business needs out of us.
On Monday I was replying to questions from a potential coaching client & sending our Monday updates for The Breakroom from a second story balcony because that's where I could find peace & quiet to knock out a few things (and watch Apple's WWDC keynote, IYKYK 🤷♂️).
Today Jo was following up with someone who voiced interest in a Power Hour (secret coaching offer 👀), and getting them booked & invoice paid.
We want to grow right now - so bare minimum routines for me is starting conversations with people who frequently watch our stories on IG who we'd be okay working with.
We're on a "tour" of scheduling Coffee Chats right now to get to know our audience better. Because I have a premise that 'social media isn't social anymore'. Especially with Meta rolling out paid tiers last week for business accounts to pay to rank higher in search, and individuals can pay to view stories without the account seeing their name.
TL;DR - our bare minimum routines are changing. Back in the day when we owned a photo business the bare minimum was about replying to clients & delivering assets on time.
Now as coaches & community leaders it's about making connections, and I actively try to intro two people at least once a week (shout out if you've gotten a "I just wanted to connect you two real fast..." on IG recently).
And yes, when we stick to these routines our sales go up. It feels counter intuitive, but it's working for us right now..
My question for you: what's your "bare minimum" biz routine that you need in order stay sustainable, even if you don't have time to do everything?
This Week's Needle Mover
Clarify the Goal of New Launches: Clarify your underlying goals before launching something new: are you doing this simply for curiosity, for immediate income, or to generate leads for bigger projects?
I can't tell you the number of times early on we launched new things with the goal of "making sales".
Don't do what we did - please - actually do the math and break it down into actions that you can take.
If your goal is 3 sales with a launch, dig deeper into the actions in 2 ways:
First - What needs to be true for this to happen?
- Do you have the systems in place to sign a contract & send an invoice as soon as someone asks for one?
- Does a sale require a face to face conversation, 3 touch points, just VMs on IG?
Second - What does the "sales funnel math" look like?
- Document all the steps in your sales funnel from "first contact" to "money in the bank" with your best estimate for conversions between each step.
- (bad) example: Viral Dancing Reel --> 5% of non-follower viewers convert to follower --> 20% DM you --> 40% book an discovery call --> 50% purchase
- To make your 3 sales that means you need 1500 non-follower viewers on a viral dancing video #math (we have a template in Biz School inside The Breakroom that'll do this math for you)
Based on these two things, you now have clear tasks you need to do to get to your 3 sales with a launch - not just hopes and dreams that it'll work out.
This Week on the Podcast
You know that feeling when you get on a Zoom call with someone you don't know and just stare awkwardly hoping they'll speak first?
That's not how your sales calls should feel!
This week on the pod we sat down with Leslie to talk through the 4 phases of a good sales call:
- Set the frame
- The 3-Layer Discovery
- The Pitch
- Close & Objections
And exactly what you should be doing during each phase to position yourself as the expert and genuinely understand the person your talking to, all without feeling slimely or salesly.
I loved how she broke down using a simple pitch deck that you can use in every sales call to show your value, explain your offer, and more quickly get to the sale.
Leslie also broke down her process into this free workbook for you.
Listen on Apple Podcasts / Listen on Spotify / Watch on YouTube
See you next week!
Lyndon
Ps: Before you go: What's part of your "bare minimum" business routine?
