How to Sell More, Work Less and Travel More

Welcome to episode 108 of Dawn of a New Era with myself, Dawn McGruer, the business growth coach. And in this episode, we're going to look at how to sell more, work less, and trouble more. These are the three things that, as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, that really truly align with why we started our business. Nobody wants to work more, and one of the myths and beliefs that has carried forward for several generations is that we have to work really hard.

And the opposite is actually true. We can put systems, automations in place, and processes that allow us to actually sell more, create a better digital online experience and customer experience for our clients, and the ability to travel more. It could be that travel isn't on the agenda for you, that you want just more time, more freedom, more fun, more experiences back home to spend with your friends and family, and that's fine. It's not everyone's dream.

But one of the things that we see is that when we start our businesses, we want to really engage our passion. We want to empower others with the experience and knowledge that we have. But the more we put in, the more that we give, we could literally be working 24 hours a day. And in the beginning, starting your business, it is tough, and often we go through a feast and famine cycle where we'll get some money in, we'll get some clients, and then the project ends and we have to start the whole thing over again.

And this puts a lot of pressure on cash flow. So what we want to do is really get the foundations right from day one. So looking at increasing sales so that we can work less, travel more, if you'd like to, is an attractive idea. One of the things I've noticed is that actually the more travel I do, and it could be business trips combined with holidays, is that I tend to be even more effective and efficient because actually, as I'm working towards that time where I'm packing, I'm going away, I know that I'm going to be out of the country for like seven, ten, fourteen days, I'm actually planning.

And what it's forced me to do is actually get super efficient and really streamline the business, looking at all of the things that we're selling, looking at really stripping everything back and making it simple so that we have all roads lead to one place, to our marketing. Everything is automated. If there's a task that is repeated day in, day out, we take that away from me and the team. No one wants to do the same thing day in, day out.

And that's one of the first things that if you notice that there's something that you're doing regularly, you think, well, actually, is there a way that we can make this better? Could we make it more efficient, not just for you, but also for the client? So it's like things like onboarding, having a process that as soon as someone maybe pays an invoice, pays a payment link, that that onboarding process starts straight away. It could be an offboarding process, a process that as soon as the client project comes to an end, you enroll them onto the next automation, whereby it's driving that experience, making sure that you're collecting things like reviews, case studies, getting feedback, looking at the next opportunities to help that client get to the next level of success.

So one strategy we can look at to achieve the goal of increasing sales, working less and traveling more, if that's on your agenda, is to follow the 26% formula, which consists of increasing the number of customers, the average sales size, and the purchase frequency. I always talk about these three core pillars and objectives because regardless of the niche, regardless of the business or the company stage or age. These three things are ultimately what will scale a business because as long as we're increasing clients and we're making sure that we're attracting and converting more and more clients each and every day, then if we start to push the average sale price, the average order value, and the frequency of those purchases, then clearly we start to get more money in more regularly. And a key concept here is looking at recurring revenue, really, really looking at how can we get one client to buy from us more.

The recurring model is definitely the fastest, easiest way to scale. And once you inject this into a business, it's like the core foundation. It makes the business really unshakable because when you've got that forecasted revenue each and every month, that you step into the month knowing that you've already earned that money before you do anything, then life becomes easier and everything starts to flow. So another suggestion includes delegating non-sales tasks to free up more time for selling and focusing 100% on revenue-generating activities.

Look at your to-do list. Look at the things that actually move the needle in your business and be honest with yourself. Are you just being busy? And I fall into this trap so many times, and it doesn't get easier.

Sometimes your business grows, it feels like you create a new product and it's kind of grown legs and it becomes big again. You simplify things back down and keep delegating and decluttering. And I do this on a weekly basis because if something stays on my to-do list. Longer than a week, I'm not going to do it, am I?

There's a reason, there's a barrier there, and it could be that I just don't want to do it, or I don't have time to do it, or I'm not seeing the value in it. And we have to empower people outside of our own task list to help us out. Think about your productivity tactics, such as developing a sales plan, implementing things like a CRM tool. CRM tool is basically a database of all your customers, your prospects, and your suspects.

And you can have all of the data in one place. Now you can analyze this data, providing you with more and more detail behind who's buying what, what they're buying, what's your most popular product, what's the revenue coming in, what comes in faster, what's the easiest thing to sell, and what offers have worked. Now, when you start to drill down on the data and you get laser focused on what you're selling and looking at products and services individually, you start to see trends. And when you hop on these trends, you're creating the momentum behind it.

And one of the things I always talk about is really drilling down your tasks onto a daily level. You know, to work less, some people adopt the four-hour week. I've never, ever been able to do that myself. But even when I'm away, I'll still dip in, I'll still do some work because I like to feel like there is nothing backing up.

Everything feels in flow. And does it really cost a lot just to kind of dip in for an hour here and there when you're away? No, not really, because you start to then be able to just delegate a few things. Your mind is at ease, your mind is at flight.

And business owners, you know, this is our baby, this is our passion. It's fine to step away and not be able to do anything. And I'm lucky that I have a really solid team that when I'm away, 99% of everything is dealt with. But there's always going to be a percentage here and there that you will have to give that flex, and that's fine, as long as it's not invading and dominating our time away.

Ten minutes in the morning or something just to touch base. Touch base check-in is nothing, and just maybe using WhatsApp and not checking your emails, giving that activity to someone else. Now, I don't use emails. I purely operate through WhatsApp.

All of my clients, we always have around about 100 people at a time, either in groups or programs, all managed through WhatsApp. And it means that every single day, the first thing that I do, I check all those groups. Clients come first. They're my priority.

They're the whole fundamental core of my business. And if the clients are happy and the clients are in flow, then things will work. So it is possible to sell more and work less if you get the right team in place. And one of the things that you need to do is if there's a barrier and there's something that you feel that you could be doing and it would really enhance the business, but you don't have the skills or capability yourself, think about what the team is.

And often in a business, having somebody who is operationally managing things, for me, that was the biggest change. Having someone looking at all of the team, all of the projects, managing our whole plan, that was the biggest free up of time. And then secondly, having someone who was our tech, someone who was managing the landing pages, connecting everything, making sure everything was working and everything was syncing, and that there was no blockages for customer sales. Everything was absolutely 100% up all of the time as far as possible.

And if something was broken, to jump on it and get it fixed. If there was something that we wanted to be dynamic on and create an offer that we could get that up and running in a matter of hours. And having that ability to be dynamic definitely improves creativity. So I hope this has given you some food for thought.

I hope you've enjoyed today's podcast. And as ever, don't forget to come and join me on all of the normal social channels. Say hi. So just go and have a look for @DawnMcGruer, and you can always go and check out www.

DawnMcGruer.com. We've got lots of freebies and resources ready for you to help you scale and grow. So have an amazing week, and I will see you on the next podcast.

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