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Welcome to Make More Money without Selling Your Soul with me Polly Lavarello, evergreen marketing expert. This podcast is for you if you are an online entrepreneur who is looking to simplify their business to scale.  On this podcast you can expect to hear regular talk about wealth, about selling and about wellbeing. Because I believe these three core fundamental things are pivotal to your growth moving forward.

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Hello and welcome to make more money without selling your soul with myself Polly Lavarello, evergreen marketing expert and cushy business pioneer.

And today we’re talking about my three top tips for making sales over summer. This felt like such a fresh, relevant topic to be speaking about right now. And it has to be one of the most common questions I receive either in my free workshops or from my paid clients. You know, it’s like how do I make sure that my cash flow is looking healthy over the summertime because let’s be honest, when it comes to kind of business, New Year’s, September and January strong ones is when people’s motivation their own drive is at its highest. So if somebody’s about to invest in something sales seem to come in a million times more easy and January and September. And that’s certainly what I tend to see for clients when they’re just starting out before they’ve kind of got solid evergreen funnels in place which have got kind of tried and tested marketing strategies to bring people in there is distinct trends and certain times a year as to how easy it is to make sales. And also, to be honest with you, I think there’s an element of there’s various marketing out there that drives the fear that it’s hard to make sales over summer that it’s hard to make sales over Christmas. And the reality is that there are so many businesses that are absolutely thriving over the summer, and absolutely thriving over Christmas.

So before we even get into my three top tips, I’d really like to drive home the message that if you are in fear of something occurring of something happening, you are like a million times more likely to manifest it. If your assumption is that none of your clients want to buy either right now or over July in August, or whatever it is that you’re fearing. Maybe it’s an entirely different date, the tips I’m sharing with you today will still be relevant. If you have this fear that people aren’t going to be buying from you, you’re million times more likely to manifest it to see evidence of that, because your messaging will somewhat subtly communicate it. The efforts you make will be slightly guarded with a view to Well, I don’t think I’m going to make sales anyway. Your sales call energy will be one of like, and here we go. They’re about to say this sounds great. But let’s get started in September. And believe me, honestly, the people who go into the summer fearing that this is going to be their reality. See it time and time again, those who are like, Yeah, well, I don’t see any reason why summer has to make any difference. My bottom line are the same ones who also see incredible results. A lot of my clients, my evergreen clients have had their very best months in July and August, particularly August, August gets to be an incredible month. There are various people who kind of amateur early like leave everything to September, leaving so much scope for those who actually get ahead of the game, and start making it clear why people should be thinking about the end of the year now in the summertime, and not just waiting till September when they’ve got a measly number of months left to make 2023 a strong one. Okay. Firstly, I want you on board with the fact that this summer gets to be an expansive abundant summer, okay, because it does, it really, really does. So let’s get into it, shall we? Tip number one? Now, this is pretty bog standard marketers advice yet at the same time, it’s something that I I just see people just really underestimated every single time. Like, if I were to say to you, let’s make some more sales. What do you think of immediately? Do you think of creating reels? Do you think of creating funnels? Do you think of creating workshops? Or do you think of reaching out to your existing clients, or previous clients to see where there’s an opportunity to serve them at a deeper level and support an even bigger transformation? If you’re not thinking that, then you’re missing a really obvious opportunity? Because people you’ve already invested in you once or something like I don’t know, I don’t know what the number is, but it’s something along the lines of like at least 10 times, if not more, more likely to work with you again. So if you’re not doing some of the basic things like directly reaching out to previous one to ones checking in to see how they’re doing because we live in a busy busy world.

The amount of times my clients come to me and say, oh, you know, I’ve been talking about my offer for like a week now and I’m still not see ain’t enough response yet. And I have to highlight to them, you know, are you sending it in via email? Are you sharing it in your stories? Are you reaching out to people who should be hearing about this? We’re a really good fit for it. And so many times we say no, okay. And it’s really important that you make it impossible for them. It’s not that you need to hound them. I’m not somebody who advocates for the kind of pray and spray dem strategy. I never do cold outreach messages. But I do also make sure if I know somebody in my world is a good fit for an offer, I’m going to reach out to them and let them know about it. Because I work with really busy CEOs, they’re not necessarily going to see my latest offering. And I do it in a really non aggressive, non spammy, pitchy way, I essentially just reach out to them and say, Hey, I’ve got a brand new offer. And I feel like it’d be perfect for you, would you like to hear more about it? It’s as simple as that. Okay. So if you have something that you think is perfect for someone, it gets to be a simple two liner message like that, which nobody is going to find offensive. And if they do, they will probably never going to come work with you again anyway. And hopefully, the majority of people will turn around and say, Yes, I would like to learn more. In which case, it’s then easy for you to kind of share a little Google document or whatever it is, your sales page, whatever it is, let them know how it is they can work with you.

Now. Tip number two, it’s not ignoring who it is that you’re selling to. One of the keys to selling successfully year round is really understanding your ideal client, understanding where they are stuck understanding where they want to be understanding the gap between those two places, and how your process helps them bridge that gap. When you can clearly communicate all of those things, you’re gonna make so many more sales, when we reflect on understanding who your client is, because believe me, I’m about to get more specific in terms of summer. It’s understanding what their patterns and behaviours are, and not always assuming the worst. So for example, you know, I’ve got some clients in my world, or ideal clients or prospective clients, who will be thinking right now, well, let’s take it a bit easier. I’ve got obligations over the summer, or just holidays, I want to take Why don’t want to be thinking about anything. I will come back to this in September. But for every person in my world who’s like that, there’s also somebody else who’s thinking, I want to make sure I’ve got everything set up for a really, really strong final quarter. And if I start working on it, now, it’s going to be way less stressful way easier. And so it’s understanding that ultimately, we mustn’t assume, particularly if you have a particular motivation, or a particular view of how you’d like to spend your time or money in the summer, that everyone else has the same view, because it’s just quite frankly, not true. And I see this time and time again.

So yeah, definitely do not write off summer months as being the months that you’re going to be making the least money and also, alongside always been my most financially abundant month. It was also the month that I work the least number of hours. So I literally was working, I don’t know two to three hours a week, majority of which were on a sunbed just writing up social media posts. So you know, you don’t need to be working really, really hard in the summer to have a really good sales month. And you also don’t need to be fearing that these months are going to be slow months, and that you have to wait for September for all the good stuff to come in. It’s just not true. But what we do need to understand is who our ideal client is and how they are thinking right now. So that if there are objections, or there are fears, to committing to work with us, rather than just hoping and praying that they don’t exist, that we face them head on, and we know how to speak to them. One of the kinds of traits that people can have around their fear of potential objections, people may be having it whatever time of year, is that sense of I really just hope they’re not thinking of this. I really hope if I speak about this other subject, there’ll be enough to distract them from it, which is not the right way to go about stuff. Okay?

The way it works with objections is I’m always saying to people, if there’s an elephant in the room, don’t ignore it, jump on that elephant straddle it, and learn how to make it work, no bit of whatever it is, but don’t ignore it. Okay. And I say this because for example, if you are hearing people coming on to sales calls with you saying this all sounds really great, but you know what, I’ve got a really busy summer. I’m going to come back to you in September. Rather than ignoring that bit of information. It’s understanding if Well, firstly, on that call, there’s an opportunity there to kind of find out better like why it is that they feel that September is the time for a fresh start. And that today isn’t but more importantly, in a less kind of salesy aggressive way, it’s understanding if this is the way various people are thinking right now, how do I manage this? So essentially, tip number two boils down to understand who it is that you’re selling to understand what their objections are. If the objections are based on like false beliefs, which you know, aren’t serving them, then don’t be shy to create content, addressing those false and limiting beliefs to help them get the better outcome from working with you. Like for example, as a business mentor,

I would never encourage someone to only be thinking about what they want this at 10 But October, November, December to look like in September, I’d be encouraging them to be setting everything up for a really strong end of year now.

And so I get to create content that speaks to that, to ensure that people who are serious about being the CEO of their business, are serious about sustainable and scalable results, that they’re putting the kind of groundwork in now in a gentle kind of sustainable way, rather than a rushed and panicked, September kind of vibe. So if you know those things that you can or should be speaking to, then do it. And at the same time, like I say, you get to have up your sleeve, potentially a week or two, where you run a summer sale, and then give people the opportunity to work with you at a slightly discounted rate, or perhaps with an additional bonus, or whatever it is, as a way to kind of create a cash injection. And finally, tip number three, who is thinking about your funnel list building is obviously really, really important. Whatever time of year, like it’s always important. And beyond this building, obviously, on the back end of list building, there should be a sales funnel that steers people into inquiring to work with you. And what I highly recommend is recognising what I recognise to be true is in December, and in the summer, people’s attention spans can be that little bit smaller. And generally speaking, just because there’s a lot going on, obviously, for totally different reasons. In December versus summer, there’s a similar kind of trend. And that’s why we see things like Black Friday, in November. I mean, I think it’s got much to do with holidays, and a hell of a lot more to do with how to kind of flog stock just before Christmas, and just before December where things can be a little bit less predictable. And then similarly in the summer, like I say, that’s where we also see things like summer sales, because people again, are trying to flog their stock before things become a little less predictable. But in terms of list building the activity you should be doing year round, and steering people to learning how to work with you. It’s thinking really cleverly about your funnel. It’s understanding again, when you understand who your ideal client is, and what it is they like to be doing.

What Will they still be consuming, regardless of the time of year, for example, you right now listening to my podcast. And while you might not be deciding to come and work with me, I am still able to nurture our relationship through you listening to me through your ears right now, I hope this isn’t creeping you out. It’s creeping me out a little bit. Anyway, so it’s recognising that there are certain types of marketing that people will still be consuming regardless of the time of year. And if anything in the summer, perhaps even more things like listening to podcasts is something people do more and more as they find themselves, walking out down to the beach or walking out see friends or driving places, they’re going to be listening to this kind of content, perhaps even more than they are the rest of the year. And at the same time, perhaps they’re less inclined to be spending half an hour watching a webinar. This is why for example, I’ve recently added to scale with the power one, Lindsey Gould has come in and shared her private podcasting magic. And we are going to be sharing a strategy around how to create a private podcast to either nurture your audience or essentially use it as a sales funnel towards your evergreen offer. I also am about to launch my own secret podcast very shortly. So do keep your ears peeled for that one, I will be sharing more on that. But this has all been born from the angle of building the business you’d like to buy from. And what I recognised was I love a podcast. But as a busy CEO, do I spend much time watching webinars anymore, I don’t think I’ve watched one for over a year now, except for in the context of the webinars that my clients create. Now, I’m immensely proud of my On Demand training that I have.

And if you’ve not listened to it or watched it, I highly recommend you go check it out. Because I’ve not had one person watch it has not relayed back to me how valuable it was to them and understanding their business better understanding their business model better understanding how to scale better understanding when and if it’s the right time to do all of these things. I mean, it is chock a block full of really, really useful information. And I love it. And I’m so so proud of it. And I recognise that do you want to be sat on a beach in August watching a webinar? Not necessarily, but you probably wouldn’t mind sitting back with me in your ears. And I know that certainly me I love to be out on the beach, I like to be going out for walks. I love listening to podcasts when I’m doing that. And I’d like to say would not be watching the webinar. That’s the drive behind creating the private podcast is recognising? Well, if I wouldn’t, then why would my ideal client so this is what I’m going to create instead. I know when I share these things, it sounds really simple. It’s because it is it is really simple. But so many people neglect it because they’ll hear something like this and go Yeah, that makes sense. And then they’ll go on to Instagram and there’ll be scrolling and they’ll see somebody saying buy reels for 5k. And they’ll go oh, that sounds interesting.

And they’ll hear all these different strategies and methods to kind of generate regular revenue. And it’s that shiny object syndrome that people can get that steers them to making relatively poor and inconsistent and incongruent decisions with how they’re building and scaling their business. Honestly, when we take it back to building the business you’d like to buy from understanding your own buying habits understanding that you like working with people who’ve got a similar mind mindset to you. If you like working with people who are like, Oh my God, we so get each other, then create the sales funnel and the offers and all of those things that aligns to that person, because you do get to work with your most dreamiest clients. And that only happens when we allow ourselves to make invitations to make sales funnels to make offers in a way that truly speaks to them. That is why, for example, I do not feel bad reaching out to people, I think you’re an amazing fit for my offer. Because one, I’m massively proud of my offers. And I know that power they hold and to, if I’ve got something that’s going to massively benefit someone in my world, who I already know and understand that they would benefit from it, why would I not tell them totally changes the game, when you are building the business you’d like to buy from versus going, Oh, my gosh, my business mentors just encouraged me to reach out to people about my offer, and I feel so embarrassed about it. So just to kind of summarise, look at people who are already in your world, people who’ve already worked with you, and see if there’s a way that you get to support them at an even deeper level.

And if so, let them know about it. Tip number two is understanding who your ideal client is and how they like to buy this time of year, and ensuring that you are working with that and not against it. You’re not ignoring the potential objections, and instead figuring out whether you need to be creating content to help them understand and see things differently, or whether you simply just create something that does speak to where they’re at right now and make it really, really easy for them to say yes to working with you. And thirdly, understanding while your list building while you’re bringing new people into your world all the time, you get to do that as actively and as powerfully over the summer as you do any other time. Yeah, if not, perhaps more. And how do we invite people into it? Do you have a funnel that’s really effective? Is it speaking to ideal clients in a way that’s really going to make a difference for them? And if it’s not, how do you find a way to make it actually create some impact? You know, even things like PDF, something that someone can like read within like, I don’t know, less than five minutes and be a powerful tool for them to make a difference in their day is going to work so much harder for you than perhaps an hour long webinar right now. So there we have it, my lovelies here is to a prosperous, abundant summer. If you need any help with that prosperous, abundant summer, you know, you can always hit me up in the DMS and learn about my offerings because there’ll be a Summer Sale coming shortly soon. And if you want your name on the waitlist, just reach out to me. So there we have it. I’ll be in your ears again next week talking about why I shut down my membership. Until next week, see you then