An automated sales process is so essential to the long-term success and growth of your business. Before we get into why an automated sales process is so crucial, it’s important to understand why the alternatives are so detrimental to your business success.
If you’ve been live launching your course or offer, you likely know how wildly risky it is. You may have a fantastic turnout…or a complete bust. And you have no way of knowing until after your live launch is over and the sales either come in or (more likely) don’t.
Even if you’ve had some success with live launching, the reliability just isn’t there. And, no matter what, it’s incredibly high stress. Not only do launches take tons of planning, but the actual launches themselves are draining. What if you don’t hit your number?
And, if you’ve tried evergreen, you also know that an evergreen offer is equally risky. People just aren’t likely to buy if they always have the option. They can do it tomorrow. And “tomorrow” becomes weeks, months, or even years from now.
Automated Sales Processes Increase Predictability
When sales are automated, you begin to gather reliable, consistent data. You gain a pretty good understanding of what sales you’re likely to get.
For example, you may make three sales one day, one another day, five on another, and maybe zero on one day. Over the course of weeks and months, you can start to see patterns. You’ll be able to confidently say, “I typically make two sales per day.”
Armed with this information, you also know what dials you need to adjust to increase sales (and by how much).
Year-over-year, you’ll also be able to see seasonal trends—if they exist—for your business. For example, you may see an uptick—or a decrease—in sales around the holidays or in summer. Or you may find that February is just the month people purchase most. Armed with this information, you can make informed business decisions.
For example, you may come up with a special bonus to add to your offer to make it more compelling during traditional low sales seasons.
Or you may decide to dial up or down ad spend during particular periods.
Regardless of what your data tells you, you’re able to make smarter business decisions.
Without Automation, Business Planning Is Chaotic
If an automated sales process increases predictability, it stands to reason that tactics like live launching decrease predictability.
And, yes, that’s 100% true. But it’s worth emphasizing just how chaotic and, frankly, dangerous the alternative is for your business.
With live launching, you’re trying to base your entire business plan on historical launch numbers. And, when you live launch a handful of times a year, there’s not much data to work with.
You’re unable to test new tactics fast. Instead, if you want to try a new tactic, you have to wait to see if it works or, worse, fails. (There’s a reason people tout “failing fast.” You certainly want to continually test to optimize, but you need to do it in a way that allows you to pivot equally as fast if it’s not working.)
This is tantamount to crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. It’s not a business plan and, as CEO of your business, it’s not a place you want to operate from.
Sustainably Scale: Hiring, Investing, and More
Without having a reliable, automated sales process, you don’t really have a business. What you have is a chaotic way to occasionally make sales.
But when you are better able to predict your sales, you’re better able to predict your revenue. And when you’re able to predict your revenue, you can increase accuracy in your business planning.
That means you can look forward instead of backward. You can make smart, strategic business decisions. Of course, this doesn’t mean they’ll all work. But it does mean you go in with a much better sense of which ideas the most potential to work, and what ideas make sense to put in your parking lot.
You can consider your next staffing and investment moves. Can you afford to hire someone to take all of your social media off your plate? Can you hire a copywriter to write a monthly newsletter that keeps your paying customers engaged? Do you have the ability to hire a developer to redo your website?
These are the types of questions you can ask and you’ll have the necessarily numbers to make the right decisions for your business’s future.
That’s how you scale a business.
Your Turn!
If you’ve instituted an automated sales process, what are your biggest wins from it? If you haven’t, what’s holding you back? Share your thoughts in the comments below!