This blog post has been authored by Stand Out Online Member Ryann Dowdy, The Connection Agency
Are your sales messages falling short of the mark? Are you struggling to connect with your ideal audience and achieve the results you desire? Your sales messaging might be making critical errors that are preventing your marketing efforts from hitting the bullseye. Let’s explore 6 Mistakes You’re Making in Your Sales Messaging. By understanding and these missteps, and taking actions to change them, you can improve your sales messaging and drive better results.
Overcoming Objections
It’s funny – we’re taught to overcome objections. And that is still a very important part of your sales process… but if you find yourself spending a lot of time overcoming objections in your content… so you might end up just turning people off.
I’m a big believer in energy and I’m a big believer on what we focus on expands. If we spend a lot of our time, effort, and energy overcoming objections, what we are very likely attracting into our world with our marketing are people with objections. If we spend all the time in our messaging talking about why you need to come up with the money to invest in your program, or why now is the time to do this and you do it excessively, you’re going to wind up just attracting people that HAVE objections.
What I like to do instead is speak to the result. Instead of talking about why you need to come up with the money – talk about the result you provide like everyone is already willing to give you their money. And talk about how that result is priceless.
It’s a very small shift, but I promise you it’s going to make a difference in who you actually attract – which are clients who don’t have objections.
I would rather have empowered people who want the result that I offer than spend all of my time overcoming objections and trying to convince people to buy.
Not Addressing the Starting Point
The second mistake that you may be making in your sales messaging is that you’re not talking about the starting point.
I’m going to give you an example. Say for instance, you’re a business coach and you tell people, “I help people make a million dollars.” Everyone thinks that’s amazing – we all want a million dollars!
What happens is you end up with an inbox full of people who want to make a million dollars, but all of them have no business idea. If you’re a business coach who works with people who are at the $250,000 to $300,000 a year range revenue wise in their business who want to get to a million dollars in revenue, then you need to talk about the starting point.
So many people are missing this, and that’s why they’re getting so many unqualified people on sales calls, in DM conversations, or registered to their webinars and launches.
Really lean into who you bet the BEST results for in your marekting. There might be people who want the promise of what it is that you provide, but they aren’t going to be ready to buy because they are not at the right starting point to get the best results from you.
Avoiding the Hard Truths
The third mistake that you may be making in your sales messaging you’re not saying the hard stuff. As humans, we don’t want to piss people off, but oftentimes we have to say the hard thing to make sure that we are attracting the right people.
So an example for us as an agency, I always talk about how I never make what we do sound easy, not because it’s hard, because we’re good at it and it comes very naturally to us, and we can deliver in a very easy way. But I’m not trying to attract clients that want an easy button.
I’m not looking for easy button people who want to make a million dollars overnight. That’s just not who we are. That’s not how we serve. It’s not what we do. That’s not who I want to attract into my ecosystem.
So, I am very candid in my marketing to talk about the fact that yeah, sometimes it’s going to take you 30, 60, 90 days to really see the results that you want, and you’re going to have to take consistent effort to make that happen. I say that because I don’t want people who are going to pay me and two weeks later tell me it’s not working. Of course it’s not working yet – it’s only been 2 weeks and we need 90 days.
When we say the hard things in our marketing, when we put the hard things in our emails, when we show up and we say that stuff, then we don’t even attract those “easy button” people to begin with. They’re completely turned off by us because we’re not offering the easy button.
I believe that is the difference between a mediocre marketer and a good marketer. Somebody who’s getting kick ass results from their marketing is saying the hard things that their audience actually needs to hear to get them into action.
Underestimating Your Expertise
The fourth mistake that you may be making in your messaging is that you are not talking enough about your experience and your expertise. You’re not telling people the experience that you have that makes you a better choice than someone else.
This is so hard, especially for my women business owners because we get really caught up in the idea of I don’t want to brag. And the first thing I need you to do is choose a different word. I understand the word brag brings up negative things. It doesn’t feel good in our body when we feel like we’re bragging. Nobody wants to brag.
So call it what you want, spreading your expertise, sharing your value – whatever. But, how are people going to know you are the expert and WHY you are the expert if you are not telling them? No one’s going to go do that research on their own.
Judging Your Audience
Our fifth sales messaging may mistake is judgement. I need you to let go of judgment of your ideal client. People often assume that their audience is full of freebie seekers, or that they’ll keep taking sales calls, but nobody has any money. And we’re just judging the shit out of the people that we serve.
When we judge the people that we serve, when we think that everybody’s broke, nobody has any money, nobody wants to invest, nobody see value in what I do… we are just muddying the waters energetically. And when we wind up attracting those exact people.
We’re literally changing how we show up based on the judgment of who we think is out there. Of course there are people who aren’t going to buy our stuff – and that’s okay. There are people who just want to talk to us for free. There are people who are not the right people, but that’s fine. Let those people be there and just know that your ideal client, the people who want to invest, are also out there – and always show up to serve those people.
Lacking Personalization and Storytelling
And then the sixth and final sales messaging mistake that you might be making is that you’re not telling any stories. There’s nothing personal in your marketing. We need to make sure that we are showing up in a way that allows our audience to realize we are human.
Making sure that you are telling stories and being a real person in your marketing is so, so important. We are hesitant to do this because we don’t want to air our dirty laundry, but listen. If you want to make money on the internet in 2023 and beyond, people are doing business with people.
And they’re more discerning than ever. So, they’re going to do business with the people that they feel connected with. They’re going to do business with the people that they feel like share life experience with them. They’re going to do business with people that they actually see as humans. If they see you as just a business robot, they’re might not be willing to do business with you over some one else who they have a more personal connection with.
Our most basic human need is to feel seen, heard, and understood. And we do that through connections, and we do that through a story. If we don’t tell those stories, if we don’t make an effort to connect, we’re going to lose a very large portion of the audience.
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Effective sales messaging avoids six potential pitfalls: Fear of Being Too Salesy, Lack of Clarity, Avoiding the Hard Truths, Underestimating Your Expertise, Judging Your Audience, and Lacking Personalization and Storytelling. By directly addressing these issues, you can enhance your marketing strategy and attract the right clientele. Confront the hard truths, showcase your expertise, suspend judgement of your audience, and ensure your marketing is filled with personalization and storytelling. This will resonate with your customers on a deeper level, fostering a genuine and meaningful connection.
Ryann Dowdy is a sales expert, business strategist, connection marketing specialist, and CEO/Founder of The Connection Agency.
She believes that we are ONE relationship away from anything and everything we want in life.
The Connection Agency focuses on the power of connection marketing, which is a relationship-first approach that helps purpose driven businesses owners build relationships and increase sales. Since 2005, Ryann Dowdy has sat in front of hundreds of business owners to develop marketing plans and taught thousands of sales reps, business owners, and entrepreneurs how to sell by focusing on the power of relationships! She’s grown multiple 7-figure businesses of her own – and now she’s helping others do the same.
The Connection Agency is perfect marriage of her two passions. It is a business combines a powerful background in sales and marketing WITH her love of connection