Podcast Episode

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome back to the Sales Show. I'm your host, Maree Kirkpatrick. And today's episode is coming from a place, from a whole heap of conversations I've had over the past few days with many different business owners, many different industries, and it's all around ads. So whether that's Google Ads, Facebook ads, marketing agencies, anything like that, the message and the concept behind all of this is still the same. And so I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings around this stuff.

So before you spend another dollar or hand your money over to Google or Zuckerberg or any other marketing agency, I want you to really stop and think. Because one of the biggest mistakes I'm constantly seeing is when people outsource all of their marketing or all of their ads, spend generation, all of it. So, so obviously in business there are times where we need more leads, more sales, more visibility, more people coming to into our world, basically. And so off some businesses will go and they'll find an agency or they'll outsource it to their VA or someone else on their team or a marketing company. And I want to be really clear on this, right?

None of that is ever a bad decision. Ads is like running ads is never a bad decision if you're set up properly. Because agencies are incredible at what they do, the results that they can get, the speed that they can get things set up, their knowledge around all these platforms, phenomenal. And this environment is constantly changing. So I'm not saying that the ad agencies or marketing agencies or anything like that is wrong.

But here's where I see where businesses come unstuck, they hand over everything to these companies. So they hand over the targeting, the setup, but they're also handing over the messaging and the optimization of their sales. So they expect, or companies expect, that the marketing agency and the ads agency will optimise everything, that they'll have it all figured out and then they will know exactly what their business needs and to get everything up and working to generate you millions of dollars in sales. But this is the part I really want to challenge you on today. And it's not the millions of dollars, it's the messaging.

You cannot outsource the messaging to anyone else. You need to have your document set up, your clear guidelines around your messaging, your sales process, your sales strategy, so that when you bring someone into your business, whether that's an agency, whether that's a va, whether that's a marketing manager, that they know exactly who your ideal client is, how your ideal client thinks, acts, talks, and how you connect with them. Right. You need to be the person that does that because the ad agencies are not inside your business most of the time that the people that we get to do our marketing or our ad generation are all external or it's one of our team members who may know a little bit about your business but will not know the business better than what you do. These people are not inside the sales conversations that you've had.

They're not in the deliverables that you have executed for your clients. They're not hearing the exact words your clients are using. They're not seeing where people are hesitating when the, where the objections come out, where the questions are and what it is that your clients truly want. Like on the ground truly want. And that's the difference between ads that convert and ads that look great and are up and running and set up in the back end, but not necessarily making you the money that you want to be making.

So what tends to happen when you skip this and you try and outsource your messaging completely is that you end up with ads that are obviously running. They're polished, they're professional, they're technically correct, and they may draw in the leads, but they may not be the leads of your ideal client. And the leads just aren't what it is that you want. Okay. They may not have the impact that you're wanting.

They may not be generating the income that you desire. And so if your ads are not making people stop and think and being like this is exactly what I need or ready to take that next step, they're just not working the way that they should be. And even if people are taking that next step, so maybe they are downloading your opt ins, maybe they are booking the calls, are they delivering on the spot of where your ideal client needs to be for them to take a step closer to working with you, to really connecting with you. And it's not always about people being ready to buy. Like we don't just want always hot leads.

Like we, we don't go from cold all the way straight through to burning desire. Yes, shut up and take my money. It obviously depends on what you're running the ads for. But if you were wanting to to run ads and take someone that is cold or slightly warm, never heard of you before, into a paying client, then there needs to be some obvious steps right in that sales process. So if you're running the ads that don't have those steps in that sales strategy so set up, I can guarantee you're losing money and you're probably throwing a bucket tonne of cash down the sink and feeling frustrated and not understanding why things aren't working.

You blame the ad agency. You blame that your budget's not big enough. There'll be a whole heap of reasons. But when you think about why your ads aren't really working and whether your audience is wrong or, you know, maybe ads aren't right for your business, I just want you to pause for just a second.

People will go through and change a whole heap of things. They will change the creatives, they'll change the targeting, they'll throw more budget into it and oh my goodness, it literally sends me wild. There is so much money lost in this space because adding more to your budget, changing the creatives, whatever it is, won't fix the core issue that is still there and not being addressed. That core issue is your messaging getting on the floor with your ideal clients. Ads are not magic.

They are literally a magnifier. They will magnify if you don't have a sales process. They will magnify if you don't have a clear strategy on how you move people through your customer journey path. And they will absolutely show you the gaps in your sales process that amplifies what's either there or or what is not there. They aren't that magical in just creating bucket tonnes of millions of dollars.

Okay, so if your messaging is unclear, if your messaging is not connected and it is not drawing in your ideal clients, you will absolutely struggle and it will cost you a bucket tonne of money. But if your messaging is really clear, if it is simple, if it is connected, if it's on the ground with your ideal clients and it's compelling enough, ads will beautifully for your business. But you need to sort out your sales process and strategy first. Okay? Because we don't want this vague, generic, surface level AI generated rubbish that's out there.

Because that just means expensive ads and expensive potential lead generation. I'm not about expensive lead generation. I want your sales to be predictable. I want them to be so clear and easy that when you want more leads and more sales, you turn on your marketing tap. And when you want things to slow down, you turn off your marketing tap and you go into a different phase.

It is not about just lead generation, it is about good, high converting lead generation. So let me give you a few practical tips that you can work with. If you're about to start ads or even if you're currently running them and you are not getting the results you want, I literally want you to Pause, pause the ads, pause your brain, pause the marketing company, whatever that is, and ask yourself, are you super clear on who your ideal client is? And not just a matter of the age, the location, the gender or the demographic type stuff. I want you to be really clear on what it is that they want right now, today, in today's world, in today's economy, in everything that's going on, really clear on what it is that they want today.

What is frustrating them, what is sending them sideways, what is keeping them up at night? What are the conversations that they're having with their girlfriends around a glass of wine on a Friday night that like, this stuff is not working? I don't know whether business is right for me. I don't, I don't know whether I can do this. What are those sort of conversations get in their head?

And then I want you to also know, what have they tried before that hasn't worked? And why it hasn't worked? And what is it that they really, really want? Not just like, I want more money, great, so does frigging everyone. What do they really want?

What are the things that they are thinking and not necessarily saying out loud? And can you clearly communicate that? Do you know the words that they are actually using? Not what you think that they are using. What are they actually using?

Then we also want to look at what is the outcome of working with you and your business. What will it give them? Why would they work with you? Not just what's included, which is what I see all the freaking time. What is the actual outcome?

Because the outcome is what makes people move. People want to buy the solution and the outcome, not the inclusions. I don't care if it's a five week programme, I don't care if it's a ten week programme, I don't care IF it's $7. What will this give me? Thoughts, feelings, outcomes.

So if you're saying things like, come and join my programme, work with me, here's what's included. It's only $7, normally 90 cents. All rubbish, all rubbish. I want you to answer the question clearly. What is in it for them?

And if you're not doing that, this is where you'll be losing clients or potential clients. Whether you're running ads or not, or if this messaging is not clear and the outcome isn't specific, people go, oh yeah, I'll opt in for that. Maybe it's a freebie, I'll download it. But they're not actually moving further through your business. And this is a very, very Very expensive way to run your business.

Or people just scroll past and you're paying for people to just scroll past your stuff. These will create constant money leaks in your business and it makes me so frustrated when I say this. It is such a waste of time, energy and money and it makes people doubt their ability. So depending on who you talk to, some people will tell you to up your ad spend or you need to change the graphic or all of that. No cheque in with your messaging because I can guarantee you it's a messaging and connection problem and I see it all the frickin time and if I could yell this stuff from the rooftops, I absolutely would.

This is why we're on the podcast, right? Or the other thing that I see is people coming to me too late. So they decide to run the ads first and then they decide to set up their sales process. So they spend a bucket tonne of cash with the marketing agencies or a bucket tonne of cash on marketing, on, on ad spend. But they haven't got their sales process set up.

So when they turn on that marketing tap, they're pouring beautiful, connected, potentially ideal clients into a bucket with holes in it rather than a connected sales process that is high converting. So when people come in and say to me my ads aren't working or I've spent all this money on ads and I finally realised it's probably my actual sales process, I want to stop you doing that first. I want you to be able to see why things aren't working first. Save your freaking money. Don't over overhaul everything.

Just say to them, just stop. Just turn everything off for a minute. I need to figure this out. I need to be really clear on what this looks like. Is my messaging connected?

Is my sales process optimised? Is my sales strategy converting? Because if you can't sell what it is that you do without the ads, turning on the ads will only give you more of what you've already got with a big freaking price tag on it. So we want to nail your messaging. We want to be really clear on where people are at, what's in it for them, what is it that they really want, what are they looking for?

Then we turn on the ads so that you've got better quality leads, you're having better conversations, you've got better conversion meaning better freaking sales, more cash in the bank. I want to make sure that your net, your messaging is nailed so clearly that it's a no brainer. And unfortunately for you, listening to this, this is your role. You cannot Outsource this. As the business owner, you can delegate a whole heap of other stuff, but you need to make sure that your messaging is nailed based on the people that you have worked with and based on the people that you want to work with.

Then the agency's role and the marketing agency is then their job is to distribute and to set things up so that they take the messaging that you've got, they get in front of the right people, they test it, they optimise it, they scale it, but they are not creating the depth and the messaging and the connection because that's got to come from you. So if your ads aren't working right now, stop throwing money at it, stop tweaking the surface level stuff, trying to not swear in this, and really come back to your messaging and that sales process to ensure that your ads that are going through and that are running through your business are bringing in the right leads, the right inquiries and you and the business are able to convert them. That is where the real leverage is. That is the place of ads. So once all of that is dialled in and it all is running smoothly, it will stop feeling hectic and out of control and really frigging expensive and it will start working like a beautifully well oiled machine.

Sales doesn't have to be hard. You've just got to have a sales process and a strategy behind it. So if this is something that you want help with, if this is something that you want to work through, I'm running the Sales Momentum Workshop that kicks off in Melbourne on the 24th of April. It is a in person, one day event because I want to make sure that the office that you're putting out there, I want to make sure that your messaging that you have is absolutely nailed to, tied in with your pricing strategy and your sales process. So then when you decide, whichever marketing you decide to do, whether it's social media, content creation, Facebook ads, networking, presenting, running webinars, whatever it is for you is all high converting.

Otherwise you're wasting your time and energy. If we keep focusing on this marketing stuff now, Facebook ads, but we're not actually clear on that sales process and the messaging and the conversion, you're going to have a really, really expensive business that is not generating the cash that you want it to be. So if you want to come and cheque out the Momentum Workshop, all you need to do is go to Maree kirkpatrick.com forward/momentum live in person. I will be in the room with you helping you work through this stuff. Stop throwing money at the problem.

Stop throwing money at Zuckerberg marketing agencies, Google Ads, all of that. That won't fix, absolutely will not fix your problem. Okay, so if you go to Maree kirkpatrick.com forward/momentum, you'll get all the details that you need. You can ask me any questions, come in and join us. There's a couple of different options that we're running on the day, so you can come just for the workshop or you can add on a sales strategy session where you'll have not just a one on one sales strategy with me, but there's a time where I you implement all of this stuff.

So when you walk out, you are really clear on what you're doing, you are clear on what the levers are that you need to pull to grow your sales and it will be a really cost effective way to run your business. It's not just about spending a whole heap of money on ads. A lot of people think, oh, I've got to run ads to grow my business. No. When I've worked with clients in the past that have run ads, we've turned them off.

We've turned them off. While we get all this sort of stuff sorted, let's just focus on your sales process now. And then in a month or a couple of weeks, then we can turn them on, see what happens. Some of the clients that I've worked with have had bigger launches with no ads. Lot more profitable, obviously, because they're not spending money on the ads and the profitability is just one arm of it.

But what we've done is actually focused on the conversion rather than pushing more people through. And their sales have sometimes even doubled or tripled because they're focused on the conversion and the messaging rather than the ads.

Once you have your messaging and your conversion and your sales strategy put in, go for it, go for it. Turn on your marketing, turn on your Facebook ads, turn on your Google Ads, whatever that is for your business. Okay? Just make sure you've got your messaging yourselves sorted first. Save yourself the cash.

That is all from me in this episode. If you've got any questions, please reach out. Otherwise, I look forward to chatting to you soon.