Podcast Episode

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Can you believe we are 9 weeks into this podcast for 2025, and we have covered some epic topics already. We've looked at your lead generation. We've looked at your pricing. We've looked at your lost leads and any money that you potentially leaving behind from not having a follow up process. We have looked at how to keep your clients coming back. and that retention strategies we've looked at your content, and how to get it into a high, converting place. Man, what a year already! And let me tell you, if you have been implementing what we have talked about. Your business should be shifting in a huge way. But today I want to tackle something that will completely change the way you operate within your business, because I see so many business owners guessing what they're selling when they're selling it, how they're going to sell it instead of actually planning it, and what I mean by that is, I see people plan launches. I see people plan opening doors to new strategies or new offers on the table. but what I don't see is people putting a real strategy behind their sales. So they're sitting there going. What should I sell today? Or, oh, I need more cash in the business. What can we promote? Or maybe I'll run a promo this week, and we can kind of look at that or holy cow politically correct way of not swearing. It's mid month, and I haven't made enough sales, and I better do something about it, because cash flow is extremely tight.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is not the best way to run your business.

If you don't know where your money is coming from every single month or every single week. Then you're setting yourself up for not only stress and burnout, but an absolute roller coaster of income within your business. Now, I don't know about you. I'm not a huge fan of roller coasters, and especially when it comes to income within the business.

So this is where my framework comes in around the cash calendar. This is the exact framework I use with my clients, and my clients swear by it when I go through, whether it's on a VIP day whether it's in her sales club. And we map this sort of stuff out. They're actually planning their revenue in advance. So they don't have those slow months. They map out their offers sometimes for the entire year. It doesn't always have to be for the entire year. but I like to look at the entire year overall. So they know exactly what they're selling, and when they're selling it, and what they need to do about it. And then what we do is. We then align their marketing with their sales plan, because that is a beautiful marriage. so that their content actually converts instead of just getting engagements or people saying, Oh, that's nice, or people joining your email list, but not actually becoming a paid client. So if you are sick of predictable income, random launches, or putting all your eggs in the launch basket, which I also see. and you want those sales to be coming in regularly. Then this episode is going to be for you.

So let's look at the actual chaos that happens of not having a plan. I call this throwing shit at the wall method type of business. You don't just throw out random offers post whatever comes to mind and hope something sticks. Maybe you feel like you're always launching, but you're not making enough money, and you're putting so much energy and time and essence of yours into your launch. But then you look at your income on a monthly or weekly basis. And you're thinking there's just not enough. or you have no clue what your next offer is, and you're just constantly scrambling for more. And you're just throwing things out. Going. My cash flow is not on. I need to do something about it. Let's throw something out there, or the other option which you know we're coming towards the end of the month is that you feel like you still haven't hit income goals. So you panic. And you're selling stuff at last minute. and this as a cycle is freaking, exhausting. It is so draining to be constantly on with your business and worrying about money and cash flow. I've been there. I've lived the old done. I need to make more money this month. Let me pull something together really quick. and let me tell you it is a 1 way ticket to Burnout and inconsistent income. Now, I know, if you're listening to a podcast called the Sales show with Maree Kirkpatrick, you're looking to increase your sales right? You're looking to make more money.

And this is why, as I said, I created the cash calendar cash calendar framework. Because when you have a plan, you know exactly what you're selling, and when you wake up each morning with a clear revenue strategy and a marketing plan to go with it, and you don't have to stress about last minute sales because your marketing is already doing the heavy lifting. You're really clear that when you sit at your desk on a Monday or a Tuesday, or whenever you sit at your desk to understand what you're doing for the week, there's no more guessing. There's no more stress. It's just predictable income, predictable action steps you need to take. And your business feels in control. Right? We're not just winging it. We are in control. So let's look into this cash calendar framework. It is what my clients rave about every time we sit down and do it whether we do it at the start of the year, and we look at their 12 months and we color code it. And we look at when they're launching what office they've got, what their suite of products and office is. And we map it out throughout the whole year. It's not just like, Oh, yeah, this month we might sell product a or offer a, and then, oh, maybe we'll look at product D next month like we need a really clear plan. So let me give you some steps because I'm all about taking that action step one is, map out your offers that you have in your business overall.

Okay? So you want to dump them all down. What offers are you selling? What launches do you need to have? What promos are you wanting? What services and products. Can you offer to bring in consistent income? And then what you want to do is you want to map out those offers? I like to do it over the year, because then you can map it out around school holidays. You're not launching school holidays. You can put offers in that are less time consuming for you. If you're in the, for example, middle of school holidays, or you've got busy periods in your business, or Heaven forbid! You just want to take a freaking break right? It's not just about taking a break and not having the income. It's about having your year planned for that consistent income on a regular basis. So map out your offers for the year, and then that'll stop making you making decisions off the hop. Right? You can still do that if that's the way that you want to run your business. But I highly suggest that you've got some really key foundation income planned month on month, and then you can just sprinkle your creativity or your sporadic offers. If things come to mind that you want to do so. Step 2. We then want to set. What are your monthly income goals?

Now I'm going to be upfront and honest when I did my planning for 2025, and I think I've mentioned this in previous podcasts. I had an income goal. And when I mapped it out, based on what I'm selling and how many I plan on selling, I was way off. And when I say way off, like nearly 50% off, when I say 50% off, it's not the difference between making 50 K or a hundred K, I'm talking like multiple 6 figures, right? And so if I'm planning to have a multiple 6 figure year and my offers, and my targets aren't aligned with that. I've got a freaking big issue. so we want to know every single month we should know how much you want to make. or how much I should say you need to make, because sometimes they're 2 totally different things. We also want to look at what offers are driving that revenue, and how many sales you need to hit that goal. So, for example, if you're wanting to make 10 k. Per month, your cash calendar may look like 2 VIP clients at 3 k. Each, which will give you 6 k. And then 5 core sales at $800, which will give you the 4 k. so in total, the 4 K plus the 6 K, you're at 10 K. Planned in advance. No surprises, no stress. Your marketing is clear. You know exactly what you need to be doing to drive those sales. Okay, simple. and then step 3. We want to align your marketing to your sales plan. So this is where many business owners mess up. They create random content. They think that they've got to be so consistent on social media. So they're just constantly pumping stuff out with these random content that's not actually leading to a sale.

Your content should be tied to what you were selling, and your focus for the month. So if you're launching a course next month, your content this month should be warming people up for it, it should be dropping tips and strategies and advice and value, so that people can see exactly what it is that you do, how you do it, get a taste of what it is that you do. If you have a membership, your marketing should be then bringing in new members consistently whether that's Quarterly Weekly Monthly, whatever that is for you and your business, and if you were selling high ticket services, your content should be constantly building the authority and the trust, so that people are booking in calls with you so that they're reaching out to you back in the day. People used to say, you want to have your marketing so that the phone rings to get the phone to ring. I don't know about you, but I think phone calls have changed a lot these days. It's very rare for people to call up and inquire, but they will put an inquiry through on your website. They will reach out to you on social media and send you through messages and things like that. But your goal is to constantly get people to be reaching out and connecting with you. If you're selling high ticket services. so your marketing and sales should always go hand in hand. I know I harp on about this, but they should be a beautiful married, happily, happily married couple. and when they do, sales is so easy. so much easier, so much sexier, everything just flows.

And so when we look at why my clients love the Cash calendar. It's because it's giving them assistant a system that they can follow. It takes the guesswork out of it. They never go back to the old way that they've done business. So instead of waking up and thinking, what the hell should I be posting today? They already know they're already clear on what they're talking about, because it's tied into their sales plan. They're making more money with less stress. They're finally feeling in control of their business and in control of their income. And they're hitting their goals because they're actually tracking what's going on in their business. So they've got their clear goals for the month, and then they track it as the month goes on. It's not just at the start of the month we hit it. We set a goal and then track it at the end of the month. What we actually want to do is track it regularly so we can peak. That's not right. We can pivot and change our direction as the month is going if things aren't on track.

One of my clients bless her little cotton socks! She was doing about 3 KA month quite inconsistently. Some days she'd do some months. She'd do 3 K. Some months. She'd do $1,500. It just depended on how she was feeling where her energy was at. And then, when we implemented that cash calendar into her business and use that framework, she was steadily making 12 k months easily, just by implementing the cash calendar. Why? Because she stopped winging it and started planning it. and she was consistent with what she was doing, where she was going, and the steps that she had to take to get to those 12 K months consistently. So if I recap over this episode today. Think about your cash calendar and that framework. What do you need to be selling month on month? What do you need to be selling week to week. You need to plan your income, not just hope for it, or sit and meditate and hope that people come out of the blue.

The cash calendar helps you map out your offers. So you always know what's coming next. And then we align your marketing. So it is a hundred percent on target to your sales plan. Right? So clear. It doesn't mean that you have to stick by this, because I know there'll be some people listening. That'll be like. I don't want to plan it, and, you know, not. Have some creative flair in there. I'm not talking about that. What I'm talking about is planning for consistent income within your business plan for the consistent income, and then go and play in the other times. so that you know that you've got that security of income sitting there constantly, being driven into your business. Okay? What I also hear some people say is, Oh, I plan out the year. And then by February March I've fallen off the wagon. Then we haven't used our planning effectively. It's 100%. The reason why I have this annual sales. Planner. I was that person. I will put my hand up and say I was that person that was really inconsistent. I would pay so much money to plan stuff. I bought planners, I paid for planning sessions, I played for planning sessions that would touch base every quarter, so that I was holding myself accountable.

But none of that stuff worked because I didn't have an income strategy sit up. So the sale, the annual sales planner I created for myself, and it wasn't until I went to a business event, and I take my annual sales planner. Everywhere I go that someone was like, What's that? And I was like, oh, this is my own planner that I've designed and created. They're like. Where do I get one? And I said, Oh, they're not really for sale, like, it's just my own personal one. She's like, why aren't you selling it? And I was like, I don't know. Do people actually want what I've got? Yeah, apparently they do so the sales. So the annual sales planner was then put out to the public, and every year I tweak it and optimize it.

But there's room in there for you to plan out podcasts, marketing, income streams, funnels, your weekly plans, mapping out your goals and not having, like 50 billion goals for the year. But what are those top? 5 business goals? Top 5 personal goals. And every single week, when you go into your planner, you write out your goals so that they're front of mind crystal clear. So if you want to have a look at the planner, all you need to do is, go to mareekipatrick.com forward, slash planner. It'll also be in the notes. But even if you decide not to get the planner right here is what I want you to do after listening to this, podcast. Pause me if you need to. But I want you to take 30 min today and map out, what are your next 3 months of sales? We are currently pretty much to the end of Feb.

You have one more month left in this quarter. and then the 1st quarter of 2025 is done and dusted. We're putting it on the bookshelf. It is finished. So take 30 min today to map out your next 3 months of sales or your next quarter. Go all the way through to the end of next quarter. I want you to set your monthly revenue goals, and then assign your offers to hit those goals. And then, once you're really clear on what those offers are and what your goals are. Then you create a marketing plan that actually supports your sales strategy. So your marketing plan isn't just your social media. It is the whole bigger picture. It revolves around your whole business. And it is need to be streamlined so that it is laser focused on what it is that you are selling and that sales strategy. Okay, I want you to really map out and get super clear on this. If you're not super clear on it. Grab the annual sales planner. It's a step by step framework to plan your revenue. You can organize all your launches, and you'll never have to wonder where that next cell is coming from. If you have a team, my team is all over my planner as well. They're clear on what we're launching. They're clear on what we're doing. They're clear on our marketing strategy so easy.

That is all from me today. If this hit home for you, if it brought some stuff up, if I've made you mad. I'm sorry, but I'm also not sorry, because there's something inside of you that wants more right? So I would love you to take a screenshot and tag me at Mareekirkpatrick on Instagram or Facebook and tell me what you were implementing and what your cash calendar looks like in your business. Now go and plan your income like the CEO that you are, and I will see you on the next episode.