MBA2291 Q&A Wednesday: How do I get some quick sales ASAP?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The $100 MBA Show – Episode MBA2291 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Get Some Quick Sales ASAP?

Podcast Information:

• Title: The $100 MBA Show
• Host: Omar Zenhom
• Episode: MBA2291 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Get Some Quick Sales ASAP?
• Release Date: April 19, 2023
• Description: Awarded Best of Apple Podcasts, The $100 MBA Show delivers practical business lessons for the real world. These no-fluff episodes are packed with only the pure business-building training you want.

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Introduction

In Episode MBA2291 of The $100 MBA Show, host Omar Zenhom addresses a pressing concern from one of his listeners, Frank, who is grappling with an unexpected surge in web hosting costs due to bot traffic. This surge has left Frank in need of making quick sales to cover his expenses. Drawing from his extensive 20+ years of entrepreneurial experience, Omar provides actionable strategies to help Frank and other listeners generate immediate revenue.

Listener Question

Frank’s Challenge: Frank reached out to Omar with a situation where a surge in bot traffic led to a hefty bill from his web host. While he successfully adjusted his hosting plan to prevent future occurrences, he now faces the urgent need to generate quick sales to manage this unexpected expense.

Frank’s Quote:

"I got a surprise bill from my web host. I got a surge of bot traffic that caused my hosting bill to be quite large. I've been able to adjust my hosting plan so it doesn't happen in the future. But I need to make some quick sales to cover this expense."
— Frank [00:32]

Omar’s Advice on Making Quick Sales

Omar delves into several strategies that Frank—and any entrepreneur in a similar predicament—can employ to generate rapid sales. These strategies are prioritized based on their speed, ease of implementation, and effectiveness.

1. Avoid Overpromising

Before diving into sales tactics, Omar emphasizes the importance of maintaining product or service quality. He warns against overpromising and underdelivering, which can harm trust and brand reputation.

Omar’s Insight:

"You don't want to sacrifice quality or do something that you can't fulfill or promise something you can't fulfill."
— Omar Zenhom [02:15]

Actionable Tip: Sell what you already have and know well. If necessary, create a minimal viable offer that you can deliver reliably.

2. Tap into Your Existing Customer List

Leveraging your current customer base is the quickest way to generate sales. These individuals have already experienced your product or service and are more likely to make repeat purchases.

Omar’s Strategy:

"Emailing your existing customers an offer is one of the fastest ways to make a sale."
— Omar Zenhom [03:00]

Implementation Steps:

• Segment Your List: Identify customers who have purchased before and exclude those who might not be interested.
• Craft a Compelling Offer: Use proven email sequences like the "4-Day Sale" to create urgency and entice purchases.
• Execution Timeline: With a sufficiently large list, you can potentially solve your sales needs within a few days.

3. Leverage Partnerships with Other Audiences

If your customer list isn’t large enough, partnering with another business or influencer whose audience aligns with yours can expand your reach quickly.

Omar’s Advice:

"Partnering with somebody, finding somebody who has an email list or an audience that would be interested in your product or service."
— Omar Zenhom [04:30]

Key Considerations:

• Relationship Building: Cultivate partnerships in advance to have them ready when urgent needs arise.
• Collaboration Models: Options include co-hosting webinars, mutual email promotions, or affiliate commissions.
• Lead Time: Partnerships typically require more planning time compared to email campaigns to your existing list.

4. Emailing Your Leads

Your existing leads—people who have shown interest but haven’t yet purchased—are a valuable resource. Crafting targeted offers can convert these warm leads into paying customers.

Omar’s Recommendation:

"Sometimes we don't recognize the fact that we don't offer our leads an opportunity to buy enough. Your leads should be given an offer at least once a month."
— Omar Zenhom [06:00]

Effective Tactics:

• Personalized Offers: Tailor messages to address the specific needs and timing of your leads.
• Compelling Copy: Ensure your offers are irresistible and clearly solve a problem for the lead.
• Frequency: Regular engagement with the leads increases the chances of conversion.

Additional Strategy: Re-engaging Canceled Customers

One often-overlooked strategy is reaching out to customers who have previously canceled or requested refunds. These individuals are already acquainted with your brand and may be open to re-engagement under the right conditions.

Omar’s Insight:

"Customers that canceled, customers that left you, customers that refunded... these people are actually really good quality leads."
— Omar Zenhom [07:30]

Implementation Steps:

• Segment and Understand: Identify why customers left and address those specific issues in your communication.
• Personalized Outreach: Craft messages that acknowledge their past interaction and present a tailored offer.
• Example Provided: Omar shares a case where a hotel offered a personalized discount and free breakfast to a customer who had to cancel due to COVID-19, successfully enticing them to return.

Steps to Implement Strategies

Omar outlines a step-by-step approach to effectively implement the discussed strategies:

1. Create a Compelling Offer:

   • Ensure the offer is attractive and solves a significant problem for your target audience.

2. Choose Your Audience:

   • Decide whether to target existing customers, partnership audiences, or your leads.

3. Craft a Sequence of Messages:

   • Develop a series of emails or messages that build on each other to drive conversions.

4. Fulfill Promises:

   • Deliver on your offers promptly to maintain trust and encourage repeat business.

5. Analyze and Optimize:

   • After the campaign, review performance metrics such as open rates, click rates, and conversion rates to understand what worked and what didn’t. Use these insights to improve future campaigns.

Omar’s Final Advice:

"Take this in steps. Step one, focus on creating a compelling offer. Step two, choose an audience and reach out to them. ... Step four, make sure you fulfill on your promise."
— Omar Zenhom [08:30]

Conclusion

Omar Zenhom provides a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs like Frank who need to generate quick sales to address immediate financial challenges. By focusing on existing customers, leveraging partnerships, targeting leads, and re-engaging canceled customers, business owners can implement effective strategies to boost their sales swiftly. Omar emphasizes the importance of maintaining quality and following a structured approach to ensure long-term success and sustainable growth.

Closing Quote:

"Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care."
— Omar Zenhom [09:00]

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Additional Resources:

• Website: The $100 MBA Show
• Contact: Listeners are encouraged to submit their questions via email at [e-mail] for future Q&A episodes.

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Note: The transcript contained several advertisements interspersed with the main content. This summary focuses solely on the substantive advice and discussions provided by Omar Zenhom, omitting promotional segments for brands like Mint Mobile.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

@Mintmobile.Com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] and we're back folks.

[Jim]

It looks like Jim from sales just got in from his client lunch and he's got receipts.

[Sales Team Member]

His next meeting is in two minutes. The team is asking can he get through his expenses in that time?

[Jim]

He's going for it.

[Sales Team Member]

Is that his phone?

[Jim]

He's snapping a pic. He's texting.

[Sales Team Member]

Ramp Jim is fast, but this is unheard of.

[Jim]

That's it. He's done it. It's unbelievable.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

On ramp expenses are faster than ever. Just submit them with a text. Switch your business to ramp.com.

[Omar Zenhom]

Hey. Welcome to the $100 MBA show. Business insights delivered on a silver platter every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co founder back 2014. And today's episode is Q and A Wednesday. On Q and A Wednesdays, we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you got a question you want to ask, go ahead and email me [e-mail] Today's question is from Frank and Frank asks, hey Omar, I need to make some quick sales right away. I got a surprise bill from my web host. I got a surge of bot traffic that caused my hosting bill to be quite large. I've been able to adjust my hosting plan so it doesn't happen in the future. But I need to make some quick sales to cover this expense. What's your advice? Thanks so much for your help along the way. Frank. Frank, there's going to be some times in business like this one where you're going to need to make some quick sales. You need to get an injection of cash, especially at the start of your business where you just don't have a lot of buffer or Runway. Now if you're listening and you might be just like Frank looking for a quick injection of cash or you just want A boost of sales in general to give your business some life so you can invest it into making more sales. This episode is for you. I'm going to share with you some of the best ways for you to make a quick sale or quick sales in your business. Now I should preface this with the fact that you must have an existing product or offer. Whether it's a course or a training or a consulting package. This makes things a whole lot easier. If you don't have one, you better create one and apply today's techniques. So let's get into it. Get down to business. So Frank needs to make some quick sales in his business. Here's my best advice. The first thing I want to mention is in this process, you don't want to sacrifice quality or do something that you can't fulfill or promise something you can't fulfill. Like say I'm going to give you XYZ and you just don't have the time to give XYZ or don't have the resources to give xyz. So don't over promise give something. That's why I suggest give something or sell something that you already are selling. Something that you already are offering. Something that is tested. If you don't have something like that, then create something that's minimal viable. A minimal viable coaching package or consulting package or even just a consulting hour. Don't over promise in the hopes of making money or trying to sweeten the deal to make it easier to sell. So how do you do this? The first thing I always recommend is to tap into your existing customer list. Anybody that is buying from you right now or has bought for you in the past, there are the most likely person or or most likely demographic to buy from you again. They have already have gotten value from you. They trust you. They know that you can deliver. You've built a relationship with them. These people are primed to buy. They're super warm because they've bought before. So emailing your existing customers an offer is one of the fastest way to make a sale. A lot of people use the formula of the four day sale. There's a lot of versions of this online. You can Google this or YouTube it. Some people call it the 4 day cash machine. Some people call it the 4 Day Sale. But basically it's an email sequence over 4 days making the same offer. And this is pretty straightforward. You're just emailing your list of existing customers with an offer that is up their alley. Now some people might have bought that offer before. That's okay. May want to exclude them from getting these emails. But those who haven't bought it might be interested. Fastest, easiest way if your list is big enough, this probably will solve your problem in a matter of a few days. Now, if you don't have an existing list of customers or you don't have one that's big enough for you to cover the amount of sales you need, then the next best thing is leveraging somebody else's audience, partnering up with somebody, finding somebody who has an email list or an audience that would be interested in your product or service. Reach out to them. This is why relationships are so important. Because with partnerships, you can say, hey, I want to get in front of a new audience and make them an offer. Whether you want to run a webinar for them or they just send an email promoting your product or service and you can cut a deal with them, whether you do the same for them, or maybe you do some sort of affiliate commission or referral fee for every sale. Now, this is not the quickest way emailing your existing list is the quickest way, because it's just a matter of how long you can take to craft an email sequence. This is an afternoon, right? But partnerships take time because you got to manage calendars. Maybe somebody's not free tomorrow or the next day. The next time they're free is a month from now. This is why you should always have partnerships on your calendar. You should always have them all lined up in advance so you're constantly doing partnerships. But if you haven't done this yet, this is still a great option and some people might be able to squeeze you in next week to do this partnership. Of course, if this is a webinar, you're going to need a little bit more time and a little bit more lead time if this is an email campaign to their list, not as much lead time required. Another option is emailing your leads the offer. Now, I put these in a particular order. Easiest, fastest and most effective is, number one, emailing your existing customers or past customers. Number two, partnering with an audience that you want to get in front of. These are fresh leads people have never heard of you, never heard of your offer, haven't been fatigued, so it's going to be effective. And then number three, your leads. Your leads probably are aware of your products and services, probably have seen a couple of your offers and said no because they're not customers yet. But if the offer is right and it just might be timing, they'll be willing to buy right now. It's right time for them and they just needed a reason to buy because of this promotion, this sale. And really if you want to have an impactful effect on your campaign, you're going to want to make sure your offer is solid, meaning it's compelling. It solves the whole problem completely, it's a no brainer and gives them what they're looking for. So emailing your leads is a great way for you to tap into some people that may be ready to buy right now. So sometimes we don't recognize the fact that we don't offer our leads an opportunity to buy enough. Your lease should be given an offer minimum once a month. So if you haven't given them an offer recently, it's time to do it now so that you can make that revenue notice with all these options. Whether you're emailing your own customers or you're partnering with somebody to promote you to their audience, or you're emailing your leads, these are all warm contacts. People that are familiar with a brand, familiar with the person that's emailing them or messaging them or running the webinar. These are not cold leads. Cold leads are more long term, meaning if you're going to run some ads to get them to go to your website to get them through your opt in, this is going to take some time for them to get warmed up. But depending on what you mean by asap, this might be an option for you. Depending on your deal size, your funnel and how good your nurture sequence is, you might be able to convert people within a month. In my experience with, you know, paid advertising really going through the roof, the best bang for buck across a lot of industries has been Facebook lead ads where they capture the lead right on Facebook. Now remember, these leads are still cold. You need to warm them up in your email sequences in your marketing before you start making offers. So they are educated on what you offer and the value and why they want to buy from you. But if you got a month, you got five weeks, six weeks, you could probably warm them up in that time to get them to a point where they're ready to buy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail].

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate, first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] and we're back, folks.

[Jim]

It looks like Jim from sales just got in from his client lunch and he's got receipts.

[Sales Team Member]

His next meeting is in two minutes. The team is asking, can he get through his expenses in that time?

[Jim]

He's going for it.

[Sales Team Member]

Is that his phone?

[Jim]

He's snapping a pick. He's texting Ramp.

[Sales Team Member]

Jim is fast, but this is unheard of.

[Jim]

That's it. He's done it. It's unbelievable.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

On ramp expenses are faster than ever. Just submit them with a text. Switch your business to ramp.com.

[Omar Zenhom]

I want to give one more strategy, one more tip when it comes to making some quick sales. And this one is one that's really neglected in our space and that is emailing, contacting, offering a compelling offer to customers that canceled, customers that left you, customers that refunded. I know this sounds strange, but if they're still in your email list, these people are actually really good quality leads. Now, if you have a way to filter and find out why they canceled, if they canceled, it's just because they're not using it or it's not a good time or they couldn't afford it at the time or whatever it might be, they might be ready to buy now, and it might be a good time for you to reach out to them and give them a great offer. A lot of times people cancel a refund or change your mind and it has nothing to do with you. I know this because when people cancel or go through the cancellation process with our software company or software webinar ninja, they go through a survey and we hear from our customers why they cancel. And the vast majority, we're talking about 95% of customers, when they cancel has nothing to do with us. And even when it has something to do with us, we might have changed, we might have improved. We might have offered what they were looking for or solved the problem that they had with our product or service at the time. If they're still on your email list, they haven't opted out. These people are great. And I'd like to target these customers instead of just lumping them in with all my leads or non customers because you could tailor the message. Hey, we were together at one point. We were in a relationship, right? Or you were a customer at some point. It wasn't the right fit, but I still want to serve you, I still want to help you. And I have something here that might be able to help you. If not, no hard feelings. But when you tailor the message to a group of people so they know that you're talking directly to them, it has a higher likelihood of converting. I'll give you an example of this. I recently received a message from a hotel that we booked but had to cancel and get a refund because you guessed it, Covid times. So I actually bought but had to refund. It had nothing to do with them. It just had to do with COVID We couldn't travel. They got back to me recently and sent me a personalized message. When I say personalized, I mean personalized to my situation. They said, hey, you weren't able to experience our hotel because of that situation. We would love to offer you a great rate and free buffet breakfast because we know that if you have the chance to experience our wonderful hotel, you'll be a regular every single season, every single year. They gave me a special offer. They gave me a deadline. It was such a good offer and great copy and great little message that they sent me. I shared it with my wife Nicole, who's also my co founder and thought, hey, this is really smart. I might share this example on the podcast. So Panorama Hotel in Jindabajne. Well done. Well, there you have it, Frank. Hopefully my advice today has helped. If it did, I encourage you to implement one or several of these and let me know how it goes. Just email me [e-mail] and if you have a question you want to ask. If you're listening right now, like, hey, I got a question for my own business. Go ahead and email me as well omar00mba.net so I can make sure I answer it right here on Q and A Wednesday in the email. Just let me know if you want to be anonymous or if you just want to use your first name. All good. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. My advice is to take this in steps. Step one, focus on creating a compelling offer. Step two, choose an audience and reach out to them. Whether it's inviting them to a webinar or inviting them to buy your product and service on the email, or contacting the partner so you can make something happen. Step three, craft the sequence of messages or emails that will be needed for this campaign. Next step, make sure you fulfill on your promise on the product or service that you are offering. And when it's all over, do an analysis. Do a quick retrospective. See what worked, what did it, how much did you confer how much money did you make? Which emails did best? Which one had the best open rates? Click rates. Take about 30 minutes to write down as many notes as you can so that you know what worked and what didn't so that when the next time you do it, you have some data to use for your next campaign. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

[Jim]

And we're back, folks. It looks like Jim from sales just got in from his client lunch and he's got receipts.

[Sales Team Member]

His next meeting is in two minutes. The team is asking, can he get through his expenses in that time?

[Jim]

He's going for it.

[Sales Team Member]

Is that his phone?

[Jim]

He's snapping a pic. He's texting Ramp.

[Sales Team Member]

Jim is fast, but this is unheard of.

[Jim]

That's it. He's done it. It's unbelievable.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

On ramp, expenses are faster than ever. Just submit them with a text. Switch your business to ramp.com.