All posts by Choncé Maddox

We’re all busy, but some handle it better than others. There’s also a big difference between having a packed schedule and feeling completely overwhelmed day in and day out. If you feel like you don’t have any free time in your day don’t get frustrated.

The best way to remedy this is to assess your current calendar and routine to find ways where you can save time and still be efficient. Check out these 7 ways to free up a busy schedule to help you get started.

Set Goals

Setting goals is so important no matter what stage of life you’re in because it helps you stay focused. If you aim for nothing, you’ll hit it every time. Take some time to really meditate on your values and ambitions so you can narrow down goals.

Start with a 5-year goal plan then break that down to 3 years and a 12-month plan so you know exactly what to focus on. Sometimes we get so busy being busy that we forget we actually aren’t working toward any goals.

Track a Typical Day

Another easy way to free up a busy schedule is to start tracking your regular activities throughout the day. Just like someone’s who’s trying to clean up their eating habits would keep a food diary, track your activities in order to clean up your schedule so you can stop being so busy.

Be completely honest with yourself and don’t make any judgments until you’ve tracked the entire day or week. Once you have everything written out, you can start to pinpoint where you may not be so productive and can free up time.

Realize that no one is productive 24/7, but you can try to replace some bad habits and fill in your schedule with more meaningful tasks so you can check off your to-do list more often.

Plan the Night Before

The key to having a successful day is planning out the night before. My evening routine is probably more important than my morning routine. Sometimes my mornings seem chaotic and that’s because I don’t plan well the night before.

Take time in the evenings to map out the following day, resolve any messages in your email inbox for the day, plan out your meals along with what you’ll wear, help the kids pack their bags for school, and so on.

I call it ‘power hour’ where I basically do all these things and organize my home in just a short amount of time. This can help anyone free up a busy schedule because you’ll have fewer things to do in the morning.

Say No to Free Up a Busy Schedule

It can be hard to say no to people in the beginning but realize that every time you say no to someone else, you’re saying yes to yourself. Say no to commitments that don’t align with your goals.

Be honest when you don’t have time to jump on a call with someone or have an unnecessary meeting. The more you say no, the more you’ll get crystal clear on what your priorities are. That way, you can focus all your attention on what gets you results.

Time Block

Time blocking allows you to shift your focus from a running busy to-do list for the day, to actually scheduling your day based on the time you have alotted. As the popular saying goes, work expands to fill the time allotted. This means a 1-hour task can take 3 hours if you allow it.

If you give yourself a 90-minute time block to work with, you’ll be surprised at how much you can get done. Time blocking your schedule can be life-changing if you are super busy all the time. Start being honest about how much time you have for certain tasks and set strict deadlines with your time blocks you can get a lot accomplished.

Delegate

There’s only so much you can do on your own. Eventually, you’ll have to delegate if you want to free up a busy schedule. You can start small by outsourcing a few tasks or hire a full-on assistant. It just depends on the needs of your business and the daily schedule you desire.

Consider outsourcing tedious tasks that you’d rather not do, along with administrative tasks. You can hire someone to check and respond to your emails, schedule meetings, send invoices, perform research, etc.

Schedule in Downtime

Downtime is an important part of everyone’s day. Whether you’re taking a nap, reading a book, catching up with your spouse or doing any other leisure task, you need that time to relax and recover your mind and energy.

For busy people who never seem to stop, scheduling in downtime is crucial. If you put it on the calendar, you’ll be more likely to respect the commitment and actually take a break. Plus, you can assess your calendar and choose when to have downtime so you won’t feel guilty for taking the time off.

Summary

Being busy shouldn’t be a badge of honor. You can still be successful and efficient without having a jam-packed schedule. Start to turn things around by tracking what you do throughout the day. Find areas that you can eliminate, consolidate or outsource. Also, don’t be shy about scheduling in downtime.

Is it laziness, or procrastination? The nice word is procrastination but it’s also very accurate if you’re someone who has a lot on their plate with only so many hours each day to get things done.

Or, you may just be one of those people who push things off until the last minute. Why work on a certain task when you can give yourself 20 minutes of downtime to browse on Facebook or watch a YouTube? Procrastination is common among American workers. In fact, at least 1 in 5 people are chronic procrastinators.

You may feel that you work best when you’re procrastinating and trying to push a deadline, but it can be a very stressful and uncertain way to live 24/7. If you’re tired of dealing with the drawback of pushing important tasks off for later, here are 10 ways to overcome procrastination when it comes to your next project.

7 Ways to Overcome Procrastination

1. Put it on the Calendar

I don’t know what it is about putting stuff on the calendar, but it just makes everything feel official – especially when you’re running a business. Putting tasks on the calendar is a great way to stay organized but it also gives you a hard deadline.

I’m the type of person who thrives on deadlines but I’ve also trained myself to work ahead. You can use your calendar to help you get ahead by pushing some of your deadlines up to avoid procrastination.

This may allow you extra time before the real deadline to check things over or prepare for the next project.

2. Knock It Out First

You know yourself better than anyone. If there’s a certain type of work task or project that you always tend to push off, be aware of that. You’ll definitely want to prioritize knocking that task out first.

Even if you’ve been avoiding the task because you feel it’s too difficult, my advice is to just get started and see what happens. Commit to dedicating 20-minutes of your focused attention and you’re bound to get into a groove with your work and possibly finish the task up in one sitting.

3. Break It Up

Sometimes we procrastinate because things seem too daunting. Whenever you’re faced with what seems like a huge task, realize that procrastinating won’t make it go away or get any simpler.

One of my favorite ways to overcome procrastination is to break up the task into smaller parts. For example, I’ve had 3,000-word articles to write before. To avoid procrastination, I might break that task up over the week or two weeks. One day I can spend 30 minutes doing a detailed outline.

Then over the next days, give myself an hour to write pieces of the content. By the end of the week, I’m almost finished and the task didn’t seem as daunting since I started early and broke the work up.

4. Minimize Distractions

Distractions will only cause you to slow down, be less productive, and procrastinate more. You may have gotten so used to distractions that you actually look for these small or large interruptions in your day.

Take the time to identify your key distractions and set yourself up for success by avoiding them. If a friend or family member is always calling or texting you during the workday, put your phone on airplane mode or silence it for a bit. Establish a morning routine that takes care of all your smaller tasks so you can focus clearly when you sit down.

Work in a quiet place and block certain distracting sites and apps (even if temporarily) to help you stay on track.

5. Promise Someone

Yes, you can promise someone you’ll complete a task at a certain time to avoid procrastination. We make promises to ourselves all the time but tend to break them.

When you promise someone else, it opens up a whole new level of accountability. Have someone follow up with you to hold you accountable for tasks that you don’t want to procrastinate on. This can be a partner, friend, or even a mastermind buddy.

6. Tackle Things in the Moment

Know that stuff is going to pop up and it can overwhelm you in the long run. If you don’t want to let things pile up, try to tackle them at the moment. Smaller tasks like making phone calls, sending email follow-ups, or running errands can all be bundled up so you can take care of them one after another.

Set a ‘power hour’ each day where you commit to tackling these short tasks so they don’t pile up and start to overwhelm you. Also, set goals and intentions for each week so you know exactly what you need to do. Having a clear plan and schedule is one of the best ways to overcome procrastination.

7. Reduce Your Workload

Are you one of those people who says yes to everything? If so, you’re probably a frequent procrastinator. When you bite off way more than you can chew, you leave yourself with very little choice but to procrastinate and push things off.

Start saying no to projects and tasks that don’t align with your vision and mission. Ask for help when you feel overwhelmed and pay attention to when your calendar is becoming too full so you can plan accordingly.

Summary

We all may procrastinate a little from time to time, but it’s important not to let it become an unhealthy habit. If you’re looking for real ways to overcome procrastination, start with this list and focus on what applies to you. It’s also best to determine the root cause of your procrastination and what you can do to solve this issue to truly break free in the future.

When you’re running a business, it’s common to feel like you have a never-ending to-do list and very little time. That’s life, but it doesn’t have to be your reality 24/7. If you’ve been reading this blog or exploring the options of trying a calendar tool, you know that you can maximize your productivity by utilizing the right resources and strategies.

We all have the same 24 hours each day, but it’s all about how you spend that time and set up your day. One of the best time management strategies for small business owners is the Pareto principle also referred to as the 80/20 Rule. Here’s everything you need to know about using this strategy to improve your focus and get more done in less time.

So Wais, What Exactly Is the Pareto Principle?

The Pareto principle was named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist who founded it back in 1895. Prior to defining the 80/20 rule, as it is popularly called, he studied how our effort and input yielded certain results.

Ultimately, he realized that pretty much every economic activity was actually subjected to this principle – in the sense that 80% of the Italian wealth of that time was actually controlled by as little as 20% of the population.

The Pareto principle may be applied to almost every circumstance. In essence, 80% of the outcome is actually produced by the 20% input. By understanding the principle, you also learn how to prioritize the tasks by the day, week, and month.

When it comes to business, the 80/20 rule is essential in relation to strategic planning. This is something that every team leader should know if they wish for the business to be fruitful.

How to Use the 80/20 Rule in Your Business

To put it as simply as possible, the 80/20 rule is a concept that will suggest that 2 out of 10 products or items (on any to-do list) will prove to be worth more compared to the other 8.

What is generally sad but true is that people tend to procrastinate on the 20% of the tasks that are actually important, the “vital few,” and tend to focus their energy on the remaining 80%, the “trivial many.” Indeed, while these may be simple to do, their contribution to business success is actually quite small.

Adding the Pareto Principle to Your Overall Strategy

Once you understand the basics behind the Pareto principle, you can easily use it to help your business. Here are the ways in which it can give your business a boost.

Increase Overall Productivity

The Pareto principle is a very effective way to help you determine the areas in which you need to focus your resources and efforts for maximum efficiency. By using this rule, you may prioritize the tasks in a way that you can focus on the vital 20% that is responsible for producing the 80% result.

Let’s face it, quite a bit of what we focus on during a typical work day is fluff. Some tasks will yield a much better return than others. Pareto teaches us that we should not be wasting so much of our time on trivial matters. It is time-consuming and it will not bring us enough value for the long-term goal.

This Pareto principle can also help you determine the reason why your business is unproductive. As a manager, you might actually use the rule to find the 20% of the reasons why your team is not being productive.

Increase Your Profit

If you identify which areas of your business to focus on for maximum results (20%) you’ll naturally increase your overall profit as a result. Think about it. In the past you might have focused more on areas of your business that didn’t yield much results.

With the 20/80 method, you can be more efficient and narrow down your focus. When it comes to your team members, you may find that only around 20% of them are yielding desired results. The Pareto principle may be used to determine if you want to improve the skills of that 20% staff even further – or if you have to place your focus on the other 80% that are barely getting through. When you know where to place your focus, your profitability will also get higher.

Improve Your Marketing

According to the 80/20 rule, the overview of your website analytics will suggest that 80% of the traffic will land on 20% of the pages. These pages usually tend to attract most of the viewers – being the pages that are critical to the servicing process of your company. The same goes with your marketing messages and ads.

When sending an email to your list, realize that the bulk of your audience may only process and read 20% of the message, especially if it’s a long one.

By utilizing the Pareto principle, you should be able to narrow down on your marketing and optimize your strategy in a way that makes it much easier for your audience to respond. This should also tell you which pages need to be worked on so that you may get the best of returns.

Identify and Fix Major Issues in Other Areas

Just as the Pareto rule can tell you where things are going right, it can also determine where things are going badly. You may prioritize the problems, and see which issues enter the 20% that is likely to affect your business the most.

This will not only help you identify the problem – but it will also allow you to find the appropriate approach so that you may fix it. Before long, your profits should be able to get a boost.

Enhance the Overall Customer Experience

Quality customer service and support is crucial. By using the Pareto principle to help improve customer support, you’ll know that 80% of the complaints are tied to about 20% of your products – which will further on allow you to tackle the improvement of that particular product.

Similarly, by using the Pareto rule, you may also determine exactly which customer support members get the most complaints. This way, you may rearrange your staff so that your clients are also happy with the support that they get.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Pareto principle does not tell you to eliminate any of the least critical aspects of the situation. Instead, it will teach you how to shift your focus to the tasks with the utmost importance – and those that will be yielding the best results. From there you can start to shift your schedule and divvy up your time accordingly to maximize your results.

Have you ever thought about using the Pareto principle in your business? Which areas do you feel it could improve?

How much time do you spend checking and responding to emails each day? How much time do you spend sorting through your inbox and trying to organize it? Being overwhelmed by emails can affect your productivity. Having the ability to manage your emails effectively can make you more efficient at work, or at home if you’re a freelancer. Here are several tips to help you effectively manage your email inbox better.

In a modern business environment, few tools are more prominent than your email.

Email offers the convenience of reaching people who you may not be able to contact by phone or other means. While this may be true, your professional email inbox may also provide a source of frustration in terms of management and organization.

Dedicate Time to Review Your Emails

When you procrastinate in opening and reviewing emails, they can accumulate in your inbox quickly. Once you find a window of opportunity to check out your emails, you may be overwhelmed by the large inbox waiting for you.

Instead of leaving your email system open, set aside a time of the day to go through them and respond to any important messages. Once you are done, you can turn off the email app until the next time you open your messages.

I typically like to check my emails 3 times per day – once in the morning, once around lunchtime, and once more before I log off for the day. It took a while to get to this point because I’m a recovering email addict. However, I found that batching up this task helps consolidate the overall effort and save time. Plus, I still feel in control of my inbox.

Create Automatic Replies

An email reply does not always have to be a message you spend several minutes to craft. There are too many messages throughout the day to spend adequate time responding to each one individually. If you can develop pre-written templates to handle more mundane or residual emails, you can save a significant amount of time in managing your inbox.

The future of email management is automation – and delivering messages in as short a time as possible can make you a more valuable performer at your organization.

Consider setting up an automatic reply that can answer common questions or direct people to some next steps they can take. This may mean booking a call with you, checking out your resources page, or following another link to learn more info about your business. Receiving an instant response will help people feel like they’re getting helped ASAP and can even cut down on follow up emails.

Depending on your email service, you can often set a timeframe for how often you want to send automatic replies. For example, you can set it to only send the automatic email once per day for each person. That way, someone doesn’t have to get the same autoresponder if they’re emailing you back throughout the day.

Make Immediate Responses to Important Messages

An important email management practice is to respond to important messages quickly. If certain items can be handled immediately, then do not hold them for tomorrow. Otherwise, you may end up adding more to your email pile and things can only get more difficult the next day. Immediate action does not only mean responding to emails but deleting the non-important ones as well.

Browse through your inbox and take prompt action in marking unimportant messages for deletion. Narrowing down your inbox can further help you manage it and find more important messages to respond to. Even if you cannot respond to important messages adequately, you can still let the sender know that you have received their message and will follow-up with another message to address their inquiries.

Add Labels and Categories to Your Inbox

This is a trick I learned when I was working at a small start-up and I’ve adopted it for life. Many emails can be deleted, but there may be those messages which you may want to retain instead of removing completely. For example, there may be correspondences between employees, clients, and managers which may not be directly addressed to you, but are there for your knowledge and reference. If you are in line somewhere or waiting on hold on the phone — these are prime time moments to clear out some email.

These are messages to not only keep in your inbox but attach labels to in case you need to refer to them again. Most email programs allow you to organize your messages into separate categories. The more you improve your filing and organization, the easier it is to find specific emails when they are needed.

Unsubscribe from Promotions and Automated Messages

The volume of advertisements, promotions, and newsletters can quickly accumulate in your inbox and make it difficult to find important messages. This clutter can then be a detriment to your performance and efficiency on the job. You can easily cut down on these messages by unsubscribing from them.

Most promotional messages will present you with options to unsubscribe from them. In addition, you can filter your inbox by searching for emails with the word ‘unsubscribe’. Once you clear your inbox of unnecessary promotional messages, you will find it easier to manage. Make it a habit to audit your email inbox and unsubscribe from unwanted email lists regularly. Also, remember to back up your emails if necessary, especially if you will be out of wifi range.

Summary

Being efficient with email is crucial when it comes to measuring performance and productivity in your business. The clutter and distractions that come with modern work can prevent you from efficiently reviewing and managing your inbox.

With tips to help you effectively manage your email inbox better, you can make it easier to handle your emails and improve your work productivity. Start with some of these suggestions and you can get closer to having a clean email inbox to manage daily.

The alarm clock goes off. You groan and wish you had 15 more minutes…or two hours. We all have days when we’d rather lay in bed. But the earlier you get up and face the day, the better odds you’ll have to be productive and successful.

Being an entrepreneur does come with the freedom of setting your own schedule, so take advantage of that. Who said you have to wake up and start working immediately? If the thought of doing this makes you feel overwhelmed, switch your schedule up and create a morning routine that motivates you to get out of bed in the morning.

Here are 7 productive things you may want to do before you start work each day.

Make Your Bed

Believe it or not, making your bed can eliminate stress and help you have a better day. It’s the easiest way to get your day started off right and also encourages you to keep the rest of your space tidy.

It’s interesting to believe that just a simple action can lighten your mood and make you feel more optimistic but studies show that it’s true.

Select Your Outfit For the Day

Most people who work from home have the luxury of working in their pajamas. Whether you go into an office or not, it’s important to get dressed and ready for the day. The most successful people actually simplify their wardrobe and plan out their outfits to eliminate the time and energy spent on the decision making process.

Choosing an outfit that makes you feel confident and getting ready will help you get prepared for whatever the day throws your way.

Exercise

Exercising in the morning to release endorphins that can make you feel better and more energized. For me, it just feels great to get exercise out of the way and feel motivated afterward.

If you sit at a desk all day, starting your day with exercise can give you something to look forward to. You can do a 30-minute workout routine, attend a class, walk your dog around the block, or ride your bike.

Listen to a Podcast or Read

Consider spending about 10-15 minute reading a book when you wake up. This can help clear your mind and give you something else to focus on instead of the challenges you may have to face during the day.

Plus, it helps get your creative wheels spinning. If you’re reading a self-help book that can enhance your life, this will give you plenty of ideas and knowledge that you can expand on.

Another option you may want to consider is listening to a podcast. This is something you can do while you exercise or get ready for the day.

Review Your Bank Account Transactions

It’s important to be on top of your personal and business finances. The best way to do this is by checking in daily. It may sound tedious upfront, but a daily check can take less than 5 minutes and put your mind at ease.

Some people don’t check their bank statements until the end of the month and by that time, it’s too late to check any errors or fix serious problems. You can give yourself plenty of peace of mind and stay organized by doing a quick check in the morning before work.

Pack Your Lunch and Prep Dinner

It’s easy to get caught up in the day’s events and forget to eat properly. The trick is, you need to start prepping your meals. It only takes a few minutes to prep your lunch and you can even do this for the whole week. I usually shop on Sundays then head straight home and fill out my meal plan for 2 weeks.

I also spend about an hour or two prepping meals. This makes it super simple to just grab food during the week and even take some time to sit down and eat a healthy breakfast.

Go Over Your Schedule For the Day

Before you jump right in with the first project, be sure to go over your schedule for the day so you have a plan of action. Narrow down your tasks and select 3 things that you want to accomplish no matter what.

You may even want to take some time to outline tasks, set up or move meetings, and get a clear picture of what your calendar looks like for the day.

Going over your schedule in the morning is one of the most productive things to do before you start work.

Summary

Realize that you may not be productive from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. It’s better to ease into productivity by implementing an effective morning routine that motivates you to crush your goals for the day.

If you find that you’re not really motivated to work in the morning or you’re just wasting time, start adding some of these things to your schedule and track any noticeable changes.

What are some of your favorite productive things to do before work?

Small business entrepreneurs always have a hard time getting started. It is not easy to make a place for yourself on the market, and often many entrepreneurs don’t even make it there. Ecommerce makes things a bit easier for merchants since it is easier to set up an online store, and it is cheaper to take care of it.

That being said, there are a few tips that can help small businesses grow bigger and stronger so that they can compete even with big brands. Here are some of the tips you should follow to better market yourself online.

Content Marketing

In the digital age, content marketing is one of the best marketing tools. The best thing is that there are many free ways to realize this. First of all, it is essential to have a blog. Use the blog to talk about your products and services and show that you are a credible brand that can be trusted by customers.

Your blog doesn’t have to use only words, and it can also come with some beautiful visual items. You can use infographics to explain the most critical points.

Make sure that your viewers remain interested in your blog. Don’t merely use your blog to promote yourself. Instead, you must think about your readers and create valuable content that answers key questions that your viewers may have.

You should also take advantage of social media. It is free, and it attracts a lot of attention if used properly. Social media usually requires a lot of pictures, so that is what you need to focus on. Create a Facebook account and an Instagram page and make sure that you keep them regularly updated.

Content marketing may sound like a big task, but you can always outsource your efforts by hiring blog writers and social media experts, so you have a consistent flow of content and promotion.

Produce Videos For Your Products

While pictures are beneficial, you can’t see all the details in a picture. Try to take things to the next level and include videos for your products. Customers will understand better how the product looks and works, and it will be more likely that they will buy that product. 73% more visitors who watch the video will buy.

To increase the chances that your videos will convert, make sure they are well shot and clear enough, and if you can, use proper lighting.

You may find it easier to record a 30-60-second video than to write content surrounding your products and services. Make sure your lighting is good, and the picture is clear. You can even bulk record several videos on one day to save time.

Use Ecommerce Platforms

Small business entrepreneurs can receive a lot of help from e-commerce platforms such as Shopify. Shopify helps merchants sell online, and they take care of most of the technical details. For example, Shopify will let you choose a theme for your store, and it will help you set up your payment options.

If you are interested in acquiring a store that is already set up, Shopify has an app called Exchange by Shopify that you can use for this purpose. If you find it hard to get started with your business, you can always buy a store that is already created. With Exchange, you can see the exact traffic and the revenue data since Shopify provides them.

User-Generated Content

It is crucial to receive feedback from your customers since it can also influence other possible buyers. Reviews can help your business, but they can be quite hard to obtain sometimes.

You can try offering a discount for any person who writes a review or leaves feedback for use in testimonials. Some customers only buy if they have seen authentic reviews and testimonials. Odds are, you have pleased some people in the past and should have collected a review from them. 

It takes hardly any time to reach out and ask that they give feedback or set up an automatic email with a survey link for them to use.

Build a Sales Funnel

If you don’t have a sales funnel, you could be missing out on a ton of opportunities to reel in new customers. Setting up a sales funnel is easy, and it’s one of the most efficient ways to grow your business.

Let’s break down why. To grow your business, you need more customers. For customers to buy, they often need to know like and trust your business.

You can easily do this with an email funnel. Create an offer for people to receive when they opt into your email list. Then, once they sign up, you can automatically add them to a sequence of emails that are helpful but also allow you to market your business.

Focus on offering helpful tips, information, and resources as part of your email-funnel. Becoming a resource for your customers and clients pain points can help people get more familiar with your business and how it can help them. When it’s time to present your offer, it will be a much easier sell for the people who have gone through your email funnel.

Summary

To grow your business efficiently, focus on automation and outsourcing once you nail down the best strategy. You can put a lot of tasks on autopilot once you have a clear plan and know how to execute it.

Using the strategy mentioned in this article, you can continue forward and get familiar with the right tools and resources to help you succeed.

Running your own business and knowing how to sell go hand in hand. Whether you’re selling to other customers or other businesses, the idea of actually selling can seem overwhelming and time-consuming.

You may think that you have to do all this work to build up rapport into order to successfully sell. Or, you may be implementing all of these complex strategies without seeing real results.

The good news is that your sales strategy doesn’t have to be so complicated. You can simplify your sales strategy so you can earn more in less time. Sound good? Great! But first, here’s what you need to get started.

What You Need to Simplify Your Sales Strategy

Have an Audience

Sure, having an audience may sound like a no brainer, but you need to narrow it down to your target audience and grow the number of people who engage with your business. Anyone can engage with your business but that doesn’t make them part of your target audience. You’ll need to focus on who you’re actually looking to serve and create a customer profile based on these details.

Find out where your target audience spends there time and how they can be introduced to your business. Then, survey them to make sure their interests and needs meet the type of person you are trying to target. Also, realize that having Facebook fans can be great, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re your target audience.

Anyone can like something on Facebook or Instagram, but they can be hard to sell if they aren’t your ideal audience member.

Make Contacts

Sales is a contact sport. If you want to win, you must make the most contacts. Think about it. If you know or reach enough people in your target market who need your help, you don’t even really need to be good with sales.

You just need to offer them your solution whether it’s a product or service. People are really looking to improve will be motivated to buy. However, if you don’t make enough contacts, your product will never get put in front of the right person.

Share a Specific End Result

Whenever you’re selling something, focus on the end result and how it will help the buyer. Selling is not about the process or the effort you put in. People will feel led to buy based on the results or outcome the product or service will give them.

Think about it. When you go to buy a car, do you ask the salesperson how much work and effort went into making the car or even where it was made? More than likely, you’ll ask about the features of the car and consider whether it looks like it will meet your needs and preferences. The same goes for anything that is bought and sold.

How to Simplify Your Sales Strategy (Step by Step)

Now that you know more about what you need to start your sales strategy, here are a few things you can do to simplify it so you can win back more of your time without sacrificing increased revenue.

Collect Leads Automatically

One of the best ways to simplify your sales strategy is to collect leads often and put it on autopilot. If you have a website or blog, you can set up a form that allows people to enter their email addresses and get added to your contact list.

You can put this right on your home page, underneath blog posts, or even in the footer of your website and on social media. This allows people to sign up whenever they want and you can even set up an automatic email funnel to help market to them and provide value upfront.

Write a Killer Sales Page

Sales copy plays a major role in being able to convert prospects into customers. Don’t be afraid to go in-depth in your sales page and really discuss every detail about the product or service and how it will help others. Share plenty of testimonials from others who have bought from your business in the past, and answer common questions to help people overcome their objections.

You may even want to think about creating a video to share on the sales page or even hiring a copywriter. Quality copywriters are well worth the investment since they know just how to market your products so customers have the confidence to actually buy. With a killer sales page, you can just send prospects that way and expect conversions.

Survey Potential Leads

Don’t just jump on a sales call with anyone. Make sure you survey your audience in advance to make sure they’re a good fit for what you’re selling. For example, if you have a coaching program, you may want to have people fill out a form and apply to make sure they’re a good fit for the program.

If you’re doing several sales calls per day and not closing any because you’re talking to the wrong people, it can seem discouraging.

Add More Calls to Action To Your Marketing

Every business owner’s worst nightmare is probably sounding like a walking advertisement. I get it. Still, your audience wants to be told what to do. They are likely looking for direction or a clear call to action after interacting with your business. Plus, you want to be proud of what you’re selling and confident that it will help people.

If you want to direct your audience to more resources that can help, be sure to mention your products and services in blog posts, podcast interviews, videos, social media content, etc.

At the end of the day, selling is going to be a natural part of your business systems so it’s important not to stress out over it. Learn the basis and test out simply tweaks over time as opposed to bombarding yourself with complex and time-consuming sales strategies.

After reading this, how do you think you can simplify your sales strategy and still grow your profits?