Three Sales Strategies to Increase Your Revenue

0:0010 years ago, I made the decision to build my personal brand that was elevated, yet approachable, and reflected who I was, not just what I did. I created my website with ShowIt because it's true drag and drop freedom so you can easily build and update your site. Plus, their real human support team, game changer. Want to try it for yourself? Head to jasminestar.com forward slash show it for a 14-day free trial and first month free when you subscribe.

0:38Welcome back to the Jasmine Starr Show, where we start with an ever-present question that a lot of business owners might ask themselves from time to time. Sometimes, do you ever ask yourself, is it me? Am I just not a proper salesperson? I am here to tell you that you're not the problem. In fact, there are more people out there who want and need your offer than you could ever take on serving. There are more. Supply and demand, baby, you're in demand. There is a lot of supply. So I'm going to repeat that. There are more people out there who want and need your offer than you could ever take on serving.

1:17So I'm going to start a little bit with a backstory. 2016, I launched a$2 ,000 course. Now, it was a seven-day cart open. And on day number four, I was looking at nothing short of a disaster. I had never launched a$2 ,000 course. I hadn't made a$2 ,000 offer in my career. I was like, wow, I'm feeling excited, making big moves, going to hang out with the big kids and launch something like this. Okay. So we had spent tens of thousands of dollars on ads. And on day four, we were looking at sales and they were abysmal. I made a million mistakes. I felt humiliated and worse than all of that. I was panicked.

2:04I kept on telling myself, well, just as proof, I'm not ready. I will never be destined to ever sell or make a$2 ,000 offer. Like I didn't have that level of skill. And when I had made that decision or when I realized that that was the story I'm telling myself, like I could never do that, I was in fact living into the prophecy. I had already like kiboshed my possibility from the outset and things were so bad that, okay, here's a crazy side story. We got a bottle of wine, a bottle, I should say, we got a box of wine bottles. I think there was a total of six and it was addressed to us at our address, but it had no return address.

2:52So we have no idea if it was in fact like sent for us or maybe it was a mistake. I have no idea, but I am talking about like this box had six bottles of wine and the cheapest bottle of wine started at$300. Yeah, I know. Like we're like, wait, what the heck? Like we don't, this box had thousands of dollars of wine in it. Okay. So we were like, uh, you know, not that big expensive wine drinkers. We're like, well, we got to save this for a special occasion. Like something amazing is going to happen and we're just going to put it away. And so we put those bottles away. And on day four, when I realized that I had made a massive mistake with this launch, with this course, with this offer, and I was just like, it's done.

3:33I was so sad and I was so depressed. And JD sat us outside by our fireplace and he opened one of those expensive bottles of wine. And I'm like, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? This is not the special moment. And he told me that if we cannot open a bottle of wine to celebrate what we were learning, then we didn't deserve to open the bottle of wine when we learned a lesson on how to succeed. Like we had to learn the lessons and what not to do again. And he wanted to market. And I remember being like, no, you're not doing this right. Like that's a reward. Like we shouldn't reward ourselves for making this decision.

4:11I wanted to like punish myself for this decision. And I look back at that instance in that memory and I'm like, he is living his life. Like he's living life, right? Like we need to celebrate the lessons and we need to celebrate these moments as crazy as it was. I will never forget that moment. And it was that night that I had made a call to my mentor and I said, it's not bad. It's really bad. And I feel again, humiliated. I feel I made way too many mistakes. And I told him that I was absolutely panicked. And he asked me one question. He's like, tell me who you are in this moment. Just tell me what comes up for you.

4:49He's like, what is your truth? What is coming up for you? I'll never forget. It was like 10 o 'clock at night. And I'm on the call with his brother being like, I'm having a freaking nervous breakdown right now. Not a nervous breakdown. I should be very careful. I was nervous and I was breaking down. So that was the truth of it. And he said, tell me who you are right now. And I said, I don't know why this is coming to me. He's like, tell me what is coming to you. And I said, I'm a fighter. He's like, great. Then make the decision to fight. So I was making the choice to believe that I could find a way to sell this course if I showcased the value, if I highlighted the transformation, and if I showed up personally in this process.

5:28So for every day, I went live, I sent personalized videos. Honestly, I must have sent well over a thousand direct messages. And it was in three days. I was just like, I'm going to fight. I don't care what it takes. I'm going to do everything. And I worked pretty much straight for three days. But in those three days, after the efforts on day one of those, we saw sales coming in. And I'm like, oh, this is working. and by day seven, the sales had soared and we ended up closing that launch with$355 ,000. And that's crazy. When I read that, when I think about that, when I say that, that's crazy to me.

6:10We went from, this is a disaster, how are we ever going to bounce back? To, oh my goodness, what just happened? And it was in that moment that I understood the power of belief, that I understood the power of confidence. And when then I understood the idea, the power of selling the transformation. So in this episode, I want to walk you through three psychological strategies that will simply shift what you're already doing based on what I learned all those years ago. So let's get started with point number one, selling the transformation. It's oftentimes it's small shifts in your messaging that can make a big difference in your overall results.

6:49So whether it's through your content or your conversations, whether it's, I'm going to say that again, whether it's your content or your conversations, a mistake that you might be making when leading to your offer is just listing off the features. Like this is what it has instead of painting a picture of the transformation of what it provides. So this is what it has versus this is what it will do. So why is that important? Because when you showcase the impact that your offer has on your customers, your clients, you're going to highlight its unique value proposition, and then you're going to differentiate yourself in the market.

7:25So let's get into that. I'm going to give you a quick, tangible way to increase your sales by mapping out the transformation of your offer. Now here's a little framework called FBI. See, you can't forget it. This is the FBI method, feature, benefit, and impact. So F is for feature. The features of your offer are the characteristics or qualities of your product or service. Now, this is important for people to know, but this alone doesn't sell. Selling your features, good. It doesn't alone sell. B is for benefit. This is the benefit of your offer and it showcases positive outcomes or advantages that clients or customers get from the features.

8:06Hmm, cool. Benefits. Benefits are closer, but the benefits alone don't close the deals. In fact, even if you're talking about the features and the benefits closer, but you're still not going to lock in that sale as easy as frequent and as lovingly as you want. Now here's I, I is for impact. The impact is the ultimate result that occurs in your customer or client's life as a result of experiencing the benefits. So the impact is what evokes emotion. And as we know, emotion is how we are making a buying decision. So it is the combination of FBI that really gets somebody to say, yes, I need to buy that.

8:51So let's get into some industry specific examples. FBI for a service-based business. Let's say I'm a health coach. Let's say the feature of my program is a 60-minute one-on-one coaching call. Feature. Now, the benefit. The benefit of that feature could be custom coaching, digging into their unique challenges and their personal needs. Okay, but here's the zhuzh, here's the magic part, the impact. The impact of that benefit could be focusing on your specific health and body needs so you can achieve your goals in less time. That's the impact. Now we're like connecting the dots for a prospective customer.

9:28Now, when we put it all together in this program, so we're gonna combine the FBI. In this program, you'll receive a 60-minute one-on-one coaching call feature so that we can spend a whole hour digging into your unique challenges and personal needs. That's the benefit. So that you can achieve your goals in less time. We just walked that through service-based business owner FBI method. Let's go. Now, let's do the FBI method for a product-based business. Let's say I sell jewelry. Now, a feature of my jewelry could be that it's made with hypoallergenic materials. Cool. Now, the benefit of this feature could be that it won't irritate your skin or corrode or tarnish or maybe even rust over time.

10:12Great. Feature benefits. But what does this actually do? Ah, impact. The impact of this benefit could be that you could wear it more comfortably day to day and extend the lifespan of your jewelry line. Okay. So when we put that all together, we might say, our jewelry is made with hypoallergenic materials, feature, so that it won't irritate your skin, corrode or tarnish or rust over time. B benefits. So that you wear it more comfortably day to day and extend the lifespan of your products, getting the most out of your money. Ah, impact. Okay. For me, I am CEO of Social Curator and I sell a software as a service.

10:49And we are an all-in-one platform for creating, organizing, and scheduling and auto-posting your content. So let's break this down with the FBI method. A feature of Social Curator is that it has an AI social media manager, Dottie, who writes your captions in your specific voice for your specific business in your specific industry. Okay, that's just a feature. That alone is not going to be enough to move people into the subscription. But what if we list the benefits? Well, the benefit of that feature is that we have on-brand quality social marketing post written for you in less than two minutes.

11:24Cool. That's the benefit. Still not enough to move a lot of people off the edge and make the decision. But here's the impact. The impact of that benefit is saving energy, saving hours of time, getting a clear plan, showing up consistently. Why? Why does that matter? So you can spend more time doing tasks like nurturing leads or closing sales or spending time with your loved ones. So when we put this all together, Social Curator is your AI-powered social media marketing manager, Dottie, who writes your specific captions in your specific voice. That's the feature. So that you can have customized quality captions written for you in under two minutes.

12:03That's the benefit. This way, you could save your energy and hours of your time so you could spend more time nurturing leads and closing sales. And or spending time with people you love. All right, the impact. Okay, so when you're pairing the feature, benefit, and impact all together, you inform them of what they're receiving, how it's going to help them, and what life would look like if they said yes to your offer. Hot dang. There we go. That's just number one, y 'all. That's just number one. I said some three mindset shifts. That was number one. Number one was selling the transformation. Now let's dive into number two, using persuasive language.

12:41language. Now, words can affect your mind in a lot of different ways, but some of the most persuasive words in the English language are you, instantly, because, and new, right? Like I tried coming up with a cool acronym, but I was like, that didn't have enough vowels. So you, instantly, because, and new. Seriously, write those down. And the more that you incorporate them, the more that people are going to have like their ears honed up. So let's break each of these down so you could use them strengthening your specific sales language. Now I love when you can say you, but what is better is in like direct messages or in emails, if you could use their name, that right there, Ooh, game changer.

13:23But in case you can't use their name or you're not familiar with it, you could say you now position and explain the power of using the word you. This is what we're going to do right right here. Now we can't call out our audience by name in all of our content, but we can use the word you. Now the word you forms a connection between you and the reader or the listener, the viewer. Using that word draws a connection. So it encourages us, encourages me and you, encourages specifically you to visualize and place themselves in the shoes of the path that I want you to follow. Now this is going to humanize your product or service with your audience.

13:59And then they're going to immediately think of your product and service and they're putting themselves in that situation and they're going to say, wow, this is how it will be the solution to my specific problems when you say you. So I want to give an example. Like let's paint a picture here. I love a good example. Good Lord. I'm like, I got examples for examples. Now let's do an example with you. Are you feeling tired, stressed, and overwhelmed? Join our mindfulness workshop to learn techniques that can help you manage your stress levels. Now, let's use that same example without you. Feeling constant stress and overwhelm?

14:33Our mindfulness workshop offers techniques that can assist in managing stress levels. I mean, both are good, but one felt like I was having a conversation with you. Now, there's going to be a difference, and I want to hone in on adding that word you, and these differences bring in personalization. You creates a sense of personal connection, and it makes the content more relatable and engaging and consumers feel like they're, you know, like you're speaking right to them. Now, I really love this because I studied this and I discovered what they call a reader focused approach. By using you, the content shifts the focus onto the reader and their needs.

15:11And it highlights the benefits and solutions that are relevant to them. I love when business owners talk about how much they love their product and why they started the business. I love all of that, but I need you to also add why you love your business and why you started it, but what it means for them. That is called a reader-focused approach. And then I think that when you use you, you're going to get a very clear call to action. So when your content addresses the reader with you, it naturally prompts them to take action. It's the difference between, oh, that's nice. She's hosting a workshop.

15:44And oh, I feel like she's talking to me. I want to go in response and register. Small, little, tiny differences have a huge impact. Now to quote Dale Carnegie, He said, remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest, most important sound in any language. I just think about that. When somebody says your name, if somebody you haven't seen in a while or casually had an introduction and they come up to you and they say your name, wow, it has an impact. Why? Because to that person, that is the sweetest, most important sound in any language. So when you use somebody's name, they feel significant.

16:24Now to add on making people feel significant, people love to talk about themselves, right? Let them ask good and relevant questions that are specific to them. There's a quote that says, why do we love our parents so much? It's because they loved us first. Hmm. So if we have a really great example of a parent who loved us first, how might we emulate that with the people that we meet? And I hope like sometimes I have the opportunity to run into a podcast listeners, the podcast, it makes us feel like we're friends. and I'm like, I love that. Thank you. What I really want to do is express love by way of sharing what it is I have and sharing what it is I know.

17:03So on that note, thank you. I appreciate you. I create for you. Okay. So now let's focus on the word instantly, instantly. The words instantly, instant, and immediately. Ooh, those are good. I just snapped. Hold on. Let me do a mic. Oh, yes. Okay. That triggers anticipation. SaaS companies, what I have, if you have a SaaS company, a membership or a digital product, we kind of have an advantage here because what the customer is wanting to purchase, that's instant. So my team and I can say with Social Curator, once you sign up, you're going to get instant access to our all-in-one platform for creating, organized scheduling, and auto-posting your content.

17:44Now, we can even say you can immediately create social posts for your sales. Oh, it's a small difference where it's triggering in the brain. Now, if you don't have an instant offer, let's get a little creative. You can create a free resource and give it away immediately when somebody orders your product. Or you can create an online community where you add your clients to connect and support with each other. And you could do that immediately. If you're a service provider, like maybe you're a coach, a consultant, maybe you're an accountant, you can send over a questionnaire of some sort that says you'll instantly get the questionnaire to fill out so I can start working on a custom plan for you.

18:21Now, the bottom line is that people want something as soon as they purchase, big or small. Next up is our persuasive language series. You know, it's like out here being a teacher, Jasmine, is the word because. I want us to focus on giving a reason. So even a weak reason has been proven to be more persuasive than giving no reason at all. So here's a real life example of how a weak reasoning can work. Now let's say JD, my husband and business partner, maybe he was sitting on my favorite spot on the couch. Which of these two options sounds more persuasive? Number one, hey JD, could you move to a different spot?

18:59Or number two, hey JD, could you move to a different spot because I really want to sit in that corner of the couch? Of course, giving excellent reasoning is better, but make sure like you give some sort of reasoning, even if you're like, I don't know why. Why can you not just say, because it's amazing? Because I made it just in time as a result of the feedback that I've been getting. Because I've decided to change the strategy of my business. When people feel like they're on the journey with you, it is very persuasive for them to have a deeper understanding. And when people have an understanding, they feel informed.

19:31And when they feel informed and when they feel educated, they feel empowered to make that decision. So when customers understand your why, the reason why you created your offer, the reason why it's on sale, the reason why you believe it's the best, they develop a deeper connection to your offer. And they're more empowered to buy because they're educated by your point of view. Last up is the fourth word, you know, our little persuasive word series. Here we go. Persuasive words when it comes to sales is new. We as humans, man, we are naturally attracted to the novelty, right? New experiences. The word new gives us a sense of excitement and curiosity, and it captures our attention.

20:12This piques our interest. This is exactly what you want in your business. The word new can imply things like fresh, different, exclusive, valuable. Now at Social Curator, we launched our new upgraded platform and our customers, both our current users and new users, they were very excited to jump in and test all of the new features and benefits. Do you see how I'm saying like new here? Like catch it. I'm teaching so you're aware, right? So the words, the phrase new and improved can apply to software. It can apply to recipes, but research shows that this is extremely important with products because people kind of lose interest in items just after a couple of years.

20:51But you know, like, man, if we can talk about the newness of it and why that matters, it shows continual innovation. It shows commitment to what it is you're doing and commitment to the product. So now it's time for a quick review. we've spoken about two psychological strategies that will improve your sales strategy. The first was selling the transformation and the second was using persuasive language. Now it's time for our third and final piece, communication and confidence. Okay. I want to chat a little bit about the power of being seen in person or on video. Now I know people are going to turn off and be like, oh no, this is where I stopped listening.

21:33Okay. Okay. But let's just chat about a few facts. Before we have an opinion, let's lay out some facts. Besides the obvious human connection that is built face-to-face with somebody, effective pitching, how you sell, and how you convince somebody, it requires clear communication. So how do we understand communication? Is it with words? Well, Albert Morabian, a researcher of body language, he broke down the components of a face-to-face conversation. And he found that communication is only 55 % body language and 38 % tonality and only, only, only 7 % words. Communication is only 7 % words. So ask yourself right now, how can I be seen?

22:20Like how might somebody be able to see my body language or hear my tonality for clear and concise communication? Like how do I show up on behalf of my business in a visual way? If our body language can sell more than our words, how might we show up personally to make our sales efforts way more effective? Now, if you can't be face-to-face or get on video, okay, fine, fine. You're totally against it. Well, at the very least, you can offer voice memos. Like let's share a little bit of a pro tip with voice memos. Now on the daily, like if you're reaching out to a prospective customer client, they're not getting voice memos via Instagram.

22:57They are probably like, oh, somebody sends me a voice memo. I'm not sure if I want to listen to it. So if I'm reaching out and I've never sent a voice memo to a person, I will send them something via like a text in a DM and just say, hey, I have some ideas around this. And then I'll send the voice memo. It's kind of like prepping them up. So they're excited to know what actually is in the voice memo and a higher likelihood of them listening to it. So another example I like to share with communication is the difference tonality can make. Okay, tonality. When you write something, it's a little bit confusing to understand.

23:31But when you say something, better yet, when you show something like on video, it makes a difference. Okay, so let's play a little bit of a game here. The phrase, I didn't say you ate my sandwich, has a different meaning when you emphasize a different word in the sentence. When you emphasize I, it implies I didn't say you ate my sandwich. Someone said it, but it wasn't me, right? Where we put the tonality. Now let's switch where we're putting the tonality. When you emphasize the word sandwich, it implies I didn't say you ate my sandwich, but I said you drank my LaCroix and ate my chips. Where we put the emphasis on our tonality changes the underlying messaging.

24:16So if you're ready to show up on camera, if you're ready to do more door knocking face-to-face, if you're ready to like call people, make those cold calls, like how does this happen without being so confident? Better yet, let's ask a better question. How does someone gain confidence? Now I have to tell you, I never got into the game or idea of speaking publicly. My very first speaking event was in San Diego. I was invited by two people in San Diego and they said, hey, we host this really large photographer gathering and we would love to have you come speak. And I was like, yeah, of course. And they had told me on average, they get around 50 to 70 people coming to these events.

24:56And I was so nervous and I had practiced. I mean, I'm talking about hours of putting together what I was going to say. And at the time I was living in Los Angeles with my husband and drove an hour and a half to San Diego, got there. I walked around this, like the center and I'm like, wow, a lot of people are going to be here. And then there were five people in the audience and two of them were the hosts. So apparently nobody wanted to show up when they didn't know who the heck was talking. So here's the thing. If somebody told me today, oh, that was a flop. That was a waste of time. That was so ridiculous that you wasted so much time speaking to three people in the audience.

25:31It might, it might make me feel a certain way, right? It might make me feel bad. It might make to feel sad. Or if somebody said that, Hey, Jasmine, great job. It was awesome. You persevered. You were dedicated. That might make me feel better, good, enlightened. But in both of those situations, what I am saying is me having an opinion or them allowing myself to shape the feelings I had toward that instance, that experience. I have to tell you both of those don't serve me. Somebody saying something and it making me feel bad didn't serve me. Somebody saying something and it made me feel good, it equally didn't serve me.