Hey there, my fabulous listener, welcome to episode 219 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. 

Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them!

If you’re enjoying this podcast, I’d love you to take a screenshot, share it on your socials, and tag me in it.  How cool would that be!

Don’t forget you can get the show notes for this podcast at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/219

Before I get started on today’s episode – how did you go with last week’s episode? Episode 218? It was all about discounting your goods and services and the real cost of discounting to your business.  Great episode that’s created some great conversations within my community. If you didn’t listen into that one – then once you are finished here – slip back there for even more small business made simple GOLD!

One more thing, before we start, I want to plug my online marketplace and ask that, if you can, you support rural and regional small businesses this year when gift buying and gift giving.

It’s been another tough year in the bush, and I know every one of our sellers on the platform – www.spendwithus.com.au would appreciate your purchase or your help to spread the word about their products and services if you can’t financially help.  Sharing an Instagram or Facebook post or giving the platform a shout out in your emails or socials would be just as rewarding.

Thank you – thank you enormously.  Shop at www.spendwithus.com.au

Ok, onto today’s episode.

Managing leads.

In this episode, I am going to look at the “old” way we used to manage leads – old fashioned marketing strategies and techniques, vs the new way of managing leads.

So, let’s look at some of the old ways business owners, hopefully not you anymore, manage leads that come into the business.

• Promote to as many people as possible
• Promote all your products and services
• Convince people they should buy from you
• Apply pressure to make people buy
• Push people to make a decision
• Make what sales you can and repeat

Does any of this sound familiar?  Either as a customer of someone else’s business or perhaps some sales practices you’d rather forget from the past?

So, what are the new ways?

• Niche your area of expertise
• Provide answers to prospects’ problems
• Offer more value upfront
• Position your expertise with evidence
• Invite them on the first step of the journey with you
• Introduce the full range of services once they are in your world.

Does any of this sound familiar?  I am hoping so.

As the Americans say ‘ the riches are in the niches’ and as I say (and I am sure I have stolen the quote from somewhere) a confused buyer doesn’t buy!

So, what we can learn from these two lists are

• Niche your services and market your niche
• Lead with value and give, give, give, ask – value before the sale
• Deliver content that’s solving your prospects’ problems (or surprise and delight them!)
• Stop convincing people to buy from you and let them discover you and what you have to offer – and again, let them discover what problems you can solve for them.
• Know what you want to be famous for – position yourself as the expert in x, and
• Rather than promoting absolutely everything you do, understand what your prospects and audience want and market that, the rest of your services are add-ons or VIP services once they are in your world – again, market what you want to be famous for – niche!

If you follow lots of marketers like me or maybe what you’ve heard here today, you have heard lots from me – and I guess that’s the point!

This stuff is important.  Think of how you want to be “sold” to and use that as part of your selling strategy too!  No one really likes to be sold too and my guess is that as soon as you feel like you are being sold too – you start to either step or click backwards!

So, what content do you have in your business that provides value, services and solves the problems of your ideal client?

What’s your niche?

What do you want to be famous for?

What problems do you solve?

Or alternatively, how do you surprise and delight your customers/prospects?

We are now officially in December and the end of the year is nigh …. So, if you don’t have time to answer these questions today – note them down, save their podcast episode for later, and make a note to come back here later this year, when things calm down, so you can get 2023 off to the best start.

Keep an eye out for my 2023 Planning Sessions which will go on sale shortly – all online, so hopefully you can come along and join me and plan the absolutely heck out of 2023 to make it even better than this year!

Got ideas or questions?  Sing out.

I’d love your feedback and thoughts- head to my Facebook group Like Minded Business Owners or DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn or email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au – I’d love to know your thoughts on what are big futurist topics.

As always, if you want to chat about your profit margins, how to market better or how to have a awesomely profitable business – book a discovery call with me http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn and let’s do that together.

Otherwise, let’s chat in my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners.  If you’re not a member, come join!

See you next week on the podcast for episode 220!

But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

Oh and before I go, do you have a subject you’d like me to chat about on the podcast or a guest I should interview?  Please get in touch – DM me, or email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au – thank you!

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!