Exactly four weeks ago today, I was at a conference listening to someone talk about having the best, the ideal clients (and not accepting anything less). “If you have a client who isn’t the right fit for you, let them go,” she said. “You can always get another one.”
My mindset wasn’t in the same place. “Pffft,” I found myself thinking. “Like it’s soooo easy. Just… get another client. Piece of cake!”
If you’re anything like me (and a lot of accountants and business owners I’ve been talking to are), it’s not that sales aren’t happening lately, or leads aren’t coming in: it’s that the process is going a lot slower than it used to.
Longer delays. More “can we pick this up in a few months?”, or months or even years of no replies before they get back in touch. More questions. More meetings to go through all the questions, followed by “I need to think about it and review my numbers”. More personal videos with additional information to answer other questions which come up.
And believe me: I’m here for all of that. This is what marketing assets are for: either ones you already have (like a video explaining your process), or personal, one-to-one assets you create for one specific prospect (like a summary document listing out all their questions and providing links to blogs or other content answering them).
But going back to the mentality, the mindset: “getting new sales” has just not felt that easy. As easy as, “Of course you can!”
That’s what the speaker, Lucy Cohen, was saying. She said you essentially have two voices – either within your own mind or from others, or both – one of which is saying, “I cannot do this”, and the other is saying, “Of course you can!”
Sometimes you’ve got to be your own cheerleader, your own “Of course you can!”
I spoke to Lucy after her session, and we talked about exactly that, and it really affected me to have someone standing in front of me saying those exact words: “Of course you can!” A solid visual of the positive voice.
It’s not just positive words. That’s a starting point: but it’s the action those positive words lead to.
I started thinking, “Well, if I can, what would it look like?”
And I realised we have over 450 leads from the past 12 months – from events at which we’ve exhibited, and all the marketing we’ve been doing ourselves. Leads are not our problem: sales conversion is.
What converts sales? Personal connection, and follow up.
I know this. I preach this to accountants. There’s an entire chapter of my book dedicated to follow up, because so many people give up after a few follow ups. And what was I doing? Giving up on the follow ups, and being tempted to think I couldn’t do it because of a few delays.
By the next morning I’d decided to follow Lucy’s advice and my own advice, combined, with a little sprinkle of James Clear’s advice on the little, 1%, rhythmic habits:
Consistent follow up on the leads we already have.
Literally one, single follow up every single day.
I could do more if I wanted: but it wouldn’t roll over. The point was consistency. So if I did 25 follow ups one day, that didn’t get me a pass on the next 24 days.
And that is what happened on day one: 25 follow ups. Energy. Motivation. Lists of people I’d been meaning to check in with.
Day two was 8, but then i settled into reality and most days I do between 1 and 3 follow ups.
I keep a note on my phone – simplest system of all. Works anywhere, and it’s a yes or no. Did I follow up a lead today, or not?
It might be an email, a reply to an old email, a LinkedIn DM or voice note, a WhatsApp message, an Instagram DM, a video… there are a billion ways to communicate and there’s no right or wrong way to follow up. It’s either-or. Have I initiated some form of follow up, this day, yes or no?
I’ve missed 3 days in the past month – and honestly on those days I know I was still communicating with a prospect, but I only count it if it’s an actual newly-instigated follow up (not a third email or Slack message to someone who replied to me).
But I’ve done 84 specific follow ups in a month, and we’ve made 5 significant, new sales (not including upgrades from existing clients, or quotes from the team I wasn’t involved in).
Friday 18th – 25
Saturday 19th – 8
Sunday 20th – 1
Monday 21st – 4
1 SALE WON
Tuesday 22nd – 1
1 SALE WON
Weds 23rd – 1
Thurs 24th – 2
Fri 25th – 2
BOOKS SOLD 10
Sat 26th – 2
Sun 27th – 3
Mon 28th – 3
Tues 29th – 3
Weds 30th – ?
Thurs 31st – 3
Friday 1st – 3
Saturday 2nd – 3
Sunday 3rd – 4
Monday 4th – 0
BOOK SOLD 1
Tuesday 5th – 3
1 SALE WON
Wednesday 6th – 7
1 SALE WON
Thursday 7th – 1
Friday 8th – 1
Saturday 9th – 1
Sunday 10th – 0
Monday 11th – 1
Tuesday 12th – 1
Wednesday 13th – 1
1 SALE WON
The thing is… absolutely zero of these 5 new sales came from the 84 follow ups I did.
Yes, I got a few replies. Maybe 25% or so of my messages got a reply on the lines of “No, I’m not ready yet” or “No thanks, I’m all set” or “Yea, maybe later”. I even made a real effort to ask specifically if they could give me an answer even if it was a no.
(One of my favourite follow ups I was on the receiving end of was a very simple email that said, “Are you still interested in looking at this proposal? I’d welcome a reply, even if it’s a no.” As it happened I was very interested and I did end up signing – but I liked the reminder/permission to say no.)
The point is, my entire mindset is different. That’s where those new sales are coming from: because when they do enquire, or fill in a discovery form, or ask for a call, my thinking is, “Of course we can!”
I’ve been sending more assets, more videos. I’ve been putting myself in the mind of the buyer, thinking, “How might they feel about this? What might they be worried or concerned about?”
And I’ve been doing more draft assets. Google docs, personal Loom videos, “not perfect but done”. Not perfect but specifically tailored to this one human person I’m speaking to.
It’s only been a month, so I’m very curious about the results in say six months’ time… but I thought I’d share all this with you in case you’ve been having a similar situation, and needed the reminder and a practical view on what you can achieve.
