Practical ways to generate money, when business is tough

Today’s episode of the podcast is all about how to find clients, make sales and generate money, when your business is struggling. In this episode I share practical tips for action you can take right now, to stop you spiralling into panic and to help you find solutions. I recommend saving this episode somewhere that you can easily come back to it if you need it. And of course, I would love if you could share on your socials and let me know where you're listening! KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST What actions you can take to find new clients How to use social media to reach out for sales How to add value through cold outreach   LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE Example 'ways to work with me' fully booked sales post from Becci at Be Heard Socials Example 'ways to work with me' sales post from Teresa How to become more visible and grow your audience podcast episode Connect with Teresa on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter   Transcript Hello, and a really warm welcome to this week's episode of Your Dream Business. And as always, I am your host, Teresa Heath-Wareing. So how are you doing this week? I'm about to enter a very busy season in my business. I have a number of speaking gigs, both here in the UK and in the States. I have, a number of in-person events where I've put on the events and it's just gonna be a crazy few weeks. So I am hoping to batch my podcast so I get them all done ready for me not being around so much. Which is the beauty of having the business that I have, is that I can batch ahead. I can get things ready and I don't have to do so much while I'm away, which is less about taking time off and more about being able to focus on the things that I've gotta do. I dunno about you, but I always tell myself like if I'm at an event, oh, I can do that while I'm there. No, it's absolutely rubbish. I absolutely cannot do things while I'm there. I think I can. I can't. So it's just best if I plan to not actually be around or not actually have to do anything, and then I can do it. Just spend the time focusing on the event. So today I wanna talk about sales and coaching business owners and talking to business owners inevitably at some point most months it comes up that some of my members are struggling and they're struggling to get sales. And I think it's naive of us to think that that won't happen or never happens or isn't the case for most businesses because it is. There are points where we will struggle to come up with clients and money, and this is the point in which we have the opportunity to not panic. Because that is obviously the first thing we're gonna do. That's the first thing that we will kind of go to is that panic mode. So rather than going into a panic mode, which is going to put you into the fight, flight, or freeze mode, and I think lots of us freeze and think, why on earth did we decide to do this? I want to give you some really practical tips today. If you ever find yourself, and you might wanna save this episode, you know, make a note of it somewhere. Save it to your favorites or something, or share it on your social so you know, you can come back and find it, because inevitably, at some point you, and maybe your business friends are gonna feel like this. So if you know someone else who is struggling, then please share this episode with them. But at some point in your business, you are gonna get to the point where it feels like nothing is converting and you've got no customers or you've not got enough customers and you're not bringing in enough money. So what do you do? What is the thing that you do at that point? And what do I recommend to my members and my clients when they are in those times? And it can be a case of they've just started their business and they haven't got customers yet. Or it could be a case of they are well established and they have got a lot of customers, but it's not enough. Or they're not bringing in enough money that someone else might look at and go, wow, I wish I was bringing in that. It doesn't matter what level you're at, it doesn't matter what size of your business you've got. It can happen. And normally it catches us by complete unawares. And sometimes it's like it aligns to. You know, get in our way, but it, it can happen. So I think having an awareness it can is always a good thing. And what you can do, and maybe that's another episode I talk about, but what you can do kind of proactively to make sure this doesn't happen. But what today we're gonna talk about is what do you do when you are literally in the mud getting stuck going, I've got no clients. Okay, so. This is the time I want you to think about what action can you take, and I want you to almost take this as a bit of a list or a bit of a kind of checklist of things that you can do in order to bring in money. And this is the other thing, like when I coach someone, I always have to understand how much they need the money to come in. There is a very big difference from someone who would like more clients because. You know, and this is not a, this is perfectly good reason why they want more clients, but they wanna feel like they're bringing in their share or they want to feel like, you know, like they, they mean, you know, their business is a proper business and that is completely understandable, but that is very different from someone who potentially can't afford to pay the mortgage or are struggling, you know, getting to the point where they're starting to think about how else can they manage their business cuz the money's not coming in. So, this is for either of those occasions, but obviously if I am coaching someone, then my advice would be slightly different if we were really at that panic mode. So let's think about things that you can do today if you need to bring in sales and it's gonna be things that is gonna push you out your comfort zone, and I'm so very sorry about that, but. At the moment, if you're still in your comfort zone, that might be why you're not bringing in some of those sales. And these things are not comfortable. But the more you do it, the more you get used to it, the less you find it bothers you. And also, what's the worst that can happen? They can say, no, that's it. You haven't lost anything. So by not even asking, you're not even in it. So the first thing I would suggest anybody does is look at where their kind of warm leads, their low hanging fruit is. So obviously the people who you are currently working with are probably, hopefully your best people because they're working with you and they obviously love you and they love what you do. So, is there anything in addition to what you do for them that you could do? Is there more services that you could offer? Could you offer a review where you look at how you've worked together? Is it a case of they might need an increase because they haven't had an increase in a long while? And I know that's not always an easy thing to do, and sometimes if you haven't got the money coming in, you do not wanna risk losing another client. So I don't say that likely, and everyone should do that. I just say, is that a possibility? So like I said, go back to those existing clients. First off, is there anything in addition you can do from them? Is there any way of increasing the order value for each of those clients? That's the first place you can start. The second place you can go to with those clients. Because they love you is, is there anybody they can recommend? There is nothing wrong. And I think, and I think what the social media world has taught us is that we have to constantly make out like we're hugely successful, we're doing amazingly, and life is just pretty and amazing. That isn't the case. There is nothing wrong with you being vulnerable in saying to them, I could really do with a couple of other clients. Like if any of the people that I work with came up to me and said, I don't suppose, you know, anybody I could do with a couple of clients, I wouldn't sit there and think, oh you're obviously terrible, aren't you? Cuz I've made up my decision about whether they're good or not cuz they work with me. So I obviously think they're good and I would actually try really hard to help them out to, to see if there was anybody. And even it just meant sharing a post of theirs, go and "I love this person. They're brilliant if you are looking for a whatever it might...