One of the questions I get asked the most is “why hasn’t my coaching business taken off yet?” followed by “why aren’t my offers selling online?”. Well social sellers, it’s not about knowing your ideal client inside out or that you’re trying to build a course before you’re ready. In fact it has nothing to do with your offer and everything to do with YOU and your audience. In order to sell on social media you need to call your warm audience to action! 

As a private practice owner you know that you’re responsible for filling several roles within your company on any given day. When it comes to selling online offers, you need to understand that among other things, you’re now a bonafide sales professional. 

Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be scary & you don’t need another degree – seriously. So what do you need?

What’s a Warm Audience?

Warming your audience up is simply the process you’ll take them through to have them ready to interact with you online and buy your offer. Warming up your audience can help you to:

• reduce product shock around your offer
• less second guessing by increasing product and brand awareness
• create true fans of your brand who can be sources of reference and visibility

Myths to Know

When it comes to social selling you might hear myths that are misleading at best. Let’s bust em!

“You need a large audience”

“You need sky high engagement”

Ultimately, these myths are just misconceptions that exist in this space. How you show up to serve is far more important than the size of your audience/following. 

While your engagement can be a great way to gauge how warm your audience is to particular offers & topics it’s important to understand that when we sell online or engagement rates naturally decline. There are people watching you online who will buy your offers without ever liking, commenting or chatting with you in the DMs.

Warm vs Cold

To identify a warm audience watch out for these signs and cues:

• Buying ahead of and during sales periods
• Commenting on posts
• DMs are lit up
• Reaching out for help/support
• Voting on your Stories
• Any and all other interaction
• You’re getting paid

Conversely, here’s what you may be experiencing on Instagram with a cold audience:

• Crickets
• Only liking posts
• Lack of DMs
• 0 interest in offers, feeler content is a flop
• No interaction on feed
• No sales

Going from Cold to Warm

1. Market Research
   • Allows you to create strategic content easily
   • Confirms language nuances between audience and you
   • Identifies pain and pleasure points
   • Considers audience wants and needs
   • Values audience input
2. Strategic Content
   • Make use of market research data
3. Relationship Building
   • Within your audience via engagement features
   • With other professionals for networking and collaboration opportunities
4. Sharing BTS
   • New offers coming soon
   • Sneak peeks
   • What you’re working on
   • Screenshot the hype
   • Share X days until ABC

Ask for the sale

Use your content marketing to sell for you while understanding you’ll need to sell both directly and indirectly. Ensure your content marketing strategy includes:

• Problem Aware and Solution focused content
  • Problem Aware: Reminds people of where they’re currently at / what they’re experiencing / their fears
  • Solution Focused: Reminds people of where they want to be / their desires / why they will pay money
• Education/value training
  • Positions you as an expert
  • Provides a mini transformation for them to get a small taste of what it’s like to work with you
• Inspiration/testimonials
  • Positions you as an authority
  • Shows you’re doing what you say you do, leaves the impression you’re a leader
• Personal Connection Points
  • Positions you as a relatable person
  • Share brand icons & elements of your real life to personalize your brand

And then you’ll also need to sell — indirectly and directly.

Indirect sales = Mentions that allow your audience to come to their own conclusion to purchase with you

This looks like talking about your programs/offers/services as they’re happening in real time. Talking about the transformations your clients are experiencing and the success you’re seeing by practicing what you preach.

Direct sales = Offering a direct pitch and call to action for a prospect to take

This looks like straight up, shamelessly selling. Remember: Selling is serving.

Remember social sellers, if you can become marginally better at marketing and sales you can exponentially increase your bottom line. My advice to you is to STOP spending time perfecting your ideal client avatar or your offer itself and start experimenting with selling online.