It’s no secret, the consistency of your team’s sales activities will directly impact the quality of results in your business.

So I wonder, have you recently stopped to consider what tasks you and your team do on a consistent, daily basis that move you closer to achieving your revenue and sales goals?

And what tasks could you and your team be doing that you’re not, to get even better results?

The trick is that it doesn’t always have to be the big tasks. 

Sure some days your team will focus on bigger revenue generating activities but on the days in between, it could be small steps. It’s often the small actions that lead to significant and impactful outcomes.

The most important thing is that you create a constant flow of action, even if it’s one small thing every day.

So what revenue growth actions (or habits) can you and your team take?

• Find different, interesting ways to reach out and talk to contacts (existing or lapsed clients, existing or previous leads)
• Send a loom video, voice note, LinkedIn connection
• Research and add contacts to lead lists
• Make that follow up call that’s being avoided
• Write and send a thank you card
• Get testimonials from your ‘raving fan’ clients
• Share an article that made you think of someone, adds value and shows interest
• Check in with clients to see if there is any other way that you can help them
• Share regular content to your (relevant) online marketing channels
• Send an EDM or newsletter
• Create and sharing a video to add value

Don’t overcomplicate this. Just make sure your team is doing one simple thing each and every day.

Be patient and be consistent.

It’s natural to have sales peaks and downturns. Consistent action keeps your team proactive instead of reactive and minimises the impact of these ups and downs on your bottom line.

Cheers,

Nicky

Understanding your sales super powers (aka strengths and blind spots) will give you a very clear path to successful sales conversations… and conversions. The clues to your natural super powers lies in uncovering your sales archetypes. There’re four sales styles archetypes and you’ll typically be a mix of two.

The Initiator, Influencer, Supporter and Specialist. 

The most common archetype in Australia is the Supporter (36.5%), followed closely by the Influencer (30.5%), the Specialist (25.2%) and the Initiator (7.8%). 

What style do you think is most needed in sales? 

Well, each has their pros and cons (perks and pitfalls), yet no matter where you sit, you can master the art of sales. There are no limitations, other than the limitations you place on yourself, when it comes to sales. The biggest thing needed is the will to want to learn and the openness to stretch into each area. Because in reality all styles are needed for a great end-to-end sales cycle, and experience, to be seamless for your clients.  

Let’s break it down.

The Initiator is focused on results, outcomes and winning. They love to get the conversation started and are the hunters when it comes to finding new clients. They’re great at the big picture, future visioning of solutions and thrive on achieving and exceeding targets. 

Perks: Initiators will get in and get the job done. They’re not afraid to pick up the phone or send that voice note and will often lead the way with new initiatives and embracing new tools to help the sales process along. If it will get results, they’re in.

Pitfalls: The detail feels suffocating to them, and they feel like having to slow down holds them back. This means that client notes or attention to detail with touchpoints, presentations or follow ups can easily fall by the wayside. They can be very direct in their communication and when they’re stressed or under pressure their communication filter can disappear. 

Initiators are amazing at staying focused on the results and outcomes however they need to be aware of their pace and make sure no-one gets left behind.

The Influencer loves connecting and driving relationships with people, focusing on delivering the human element in a sales relationship. They are also ‘big picture’ people, who have a knack for reading the client and developing rapport quickly.

Perks: Influencers are less prone to procrastination and don’t need to have all their ‘ducks in a row’ before getting out and talking to clients. They’re confident in talking ‘outcomes and benefits’ with the client and are able to build rapport quickly and easily.

Pitfalls: Because they’re focused on the big picture outcome, their attention to detail can suffer and they may at times, avoid the detail at all costs (just like the Initiator). This might for example, result in a lack of focus and follow up on the client in the post-sale relationship, which is just as important as the close.

Influencers are born relationship-builders, but their avoidance of detail can affect those relationships.

The Supporter is all about connection and making sure people are taken care of. They’re a natural nurturer and sales conversations are an opportunity to support and help. Communication is about keeping people happy and making sure the way forward is collaborative. 

Perks: Supporters will make the time to ensure the client and prospect is taken care of and that all attention to detail has been considered for them to feel genuinely nurtured and supported throughout each step of the sales process.

Pitfalls: Can be held back if they feel like a sales touch point isn’t genuine and can be highly cautious about coming across fake. High paced sales environments can be a challenge as they like to take their time to consider all angles and aspects of a client interaction and the solution being presented. 

Supporters embrace collaboration and care for all their interactions but they need to make sure that this thoughtfulness and deliberation doesn’t keep them stuck.

The Specialist tends to be analytical and naturally detail-oriented, finding meaning and purpose in gaining an in-depth understanding of how things work. Not only do they love the detail in their work, it is their comfort zone, which can result in a natural aversion to sales and selling.

Perks: Specialist can quickly identify problems (potential and actual) and confidently find solutions; they know which service or solution will optimise performance and ultimately, achieve success. They are diligent in the information they provide, and accuracy is always top of mind.

Pitfalls: Their desire to have “all of the information” at hand before making a call can result in avoidance strategies and procrastination, cultivating a ‘stay safe’ mentality, instead of reading the client and adapting their communication and strategies accordingly. They can have negative and limiting beliefs about being a ‘salesperson’.  

Specialists are natural analysts and focused on solutions however, they can have limiting beliefs around being a ‘salesperson’.

You may find you relate to aspects of each of the sales archetypes and to use a combination of all is to truly win in sales. It’s important to remember there are perks and pitfalls to both. 

The key is to reflect on where you feel you (and your team) sit within these archetypes, in order to develop and extend your abilities and ultimately, best serve your client.

Leaning into natural strengths will accelerate results!

Happy Selling,

Nicky

P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, give it a like and share it with a fellow business owner or leader who’d like to hear about the sales archetypes and where they sit!

Someone once asked best-selling author, Nora Roberts, how to balance the juggle of writing and kids. She said the key is knowing that some of the balls you have in the air are made of rubber and some are made of glass. What happens if you drop a glass ball? It smashes and leaves a right old mess for you to clean up. There’s no recovery or coming back from that.  

And if you drop a rubber ball? It’ll bounce right back and will keep bouncing until you have a free hand to grab a hold of it again. You’re on Juggle Street, there’s too much happening and too many balls – both glass and rubber – in the air. 

Grab a pen and paper and play along to take the first step in getting off Juggle Street.   

Step 1: Write down all the balls (aka tasks, actions and priorities) you have on the go. All the things that are on your mind and in your focus. Get them out of your head and onto paper.   

We’re now going to look at what you can do, delegate, defer and delete and then just like the sorting hat in Harry Potter, sort them into priorities of glass and rubber balls.   

Step 2: Circle what is important, urgent and only you can do it. Those that are critical to the success of your business and achieving your wildly important goals or moving the dial when it comes to reaching your business vision. They’re the non-negotiable must-dos.  

They’re time sensitive and important enough to be glass balls. This is your do pile.   

Look at these tasks you’ve circled, and ask yourself, challenge yourself – are you the only person in the world that can do them? Could some of those tasks be delegated to either a team member or outsourced to a VA, freelancer or consultant?   

Step 3: Underline tasks that are important and only you can do them, but they’re not time sensitive so they can be parked for a later date. These are your rubber balls and fall into defer.   

Step 4: Put a star* next to the important tasks that are glass balls (they’re time sensitive and important to achieve your goals) but they don’t have to be done by you, you can delegate to a team member or outsource.  

Step 5: Any tasks left on your list are likely to be outdated, unimportant tasks that trick you into thinking you’re being productive. These are the things that have been on the list so long you keep forgetting about them. Or you might’ve gotten caught in the (quite common) trap of keeping something as a priority because it’s easy, in your comfort zone, and you feel a sense of accomplishment when you’ve done it even if in reality, it doesn’t get you closer to your WIGs and your vision. Be brutal, cross ‘em out, get them off your list right now. Dusty old tasks be gone!   

How aligned are your 4D’s with Culture, Operating Rhythms and Skills?   

If you were to put your do’s, delegate and defers into the three buckets below, how balanced are they? Is one bucket toppling over and full to the brim while another is empty or is it pretty even across the board. This is a great visual way to see if you are paying attention to not just one or two critical areas of leadership but all three. 

You might find that you’re juggling so many tasks but none of them are sitting in any of these buckets and that tells us there’s an attention gap that needs to be closed which goes a long way to explaining why you feel tethered to your business and getting off juggle street feels impossible. 

Nicky

P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, give it a like and share it with a fellow business owner or leader who would find this valuable.

“Regardless of product type, industry, or company size, the growth of a company lives and dies by the success of its sales”. I read this in a Salesforce report and couldn’t agree more. 

When sales are strong, you can focus on profit planning, growth, and investing in your team. But without sales, your business is at best a hobby or at worst a financial burden.

The biggest sales challenges I’m seeing in businesses right now are…

• Sales are feeling chaotic, there’s no system, structure, specific sales plan alongside your business plan. 

• Your team could be more proactive in getting out there and talking to clients, finding other ways to help them. Instead, they’re being reactive, waiting for the phone to ring (or email to come in) and leaving money on the table.  

• Finding the time to nurture connections, relationships, warm leads and prospects. I mean its damn busy right!? 

Looking at the sales trends over the last 12 months, we’re seeing that…

• Sales cycles are longer with more decision makers needing to be involved in the sales conversations (tighter budgets will do that!) 

• Conversion rates are lower… one contributor to this is because salespeople are giving up before getting a definitive yes, no or maybe (80% of effective sales requires at least 5 follow up calls after the first meeting, yet 44% people give up after the first try. How many follow ups are in your sales process?) 

• Distrust is more widespread than ever before. With the growing amount of scams, spamming and AI it’s completely understandable that people don’t know who, where or what to trust! I mean, I don’t like answering my phone to unknown numbers – do you? Yet another reason it’s getting tougher out there. 

• People are struggling (your clients and your team alike) with all that is going on in the world on top of the ever-pressing need to keep up with the pace of work that’s become the norm. And so again, it’s no wonder salespeople are even more hesitant than usual about doing sales reach outs for fear of being ‘annoying’ or ‘intrusive’ (their words, not mine). 

• Sales has a bad rap. In a sales workshop I ran recently, 75% of people felt that sales is a necessary evil or something they avoid as much as possible. How your team feels about selling your products and services has a huge impact on the bottom line. You can have the best tools, strategies and systems in place but it’s their perception of sales that will subconsciously help or hinder their results.

Knowing these challenges allows you to prepare and plan for them, making sure the hustle stays healthy. If this era is teaching us anything, it’s how to be more resilient, consistent and creative when it comes to establishing and nurturing leads, prospects and client relationships.

How creative are your team when it comes to contact types and reach outs?

Most people want to avoid making cold contacts and reach outs because it feels the most awkward. Fair enough! Here’s some easy solutions for you to play with…

• Get great at nurturing warm and hot leads so there’s no need to do cold contacts

• Work closely with your marketing team (sales and marketing alignment can lead to 38% higher sales win rates, drive more than 200% revenue growth and 36% higher customer retention).

• Move away from the ‘traditional’ sales process to an ‘active’ sales process which includes more touch points 

• DON’T just rely on emails to contact and engage people – have a minimum of five touch points when establishing or nurturing relationships. 

• Understand your team’s natural selling style. This allows you to structure their day around their strengths and identify what support they need to build skills. 

If you want to double your team’s sales and get more yes’s, even in a tough market – Grab The Yes Code™️ HERE (only $100 until the 6th June).

Happy selling, 

Nicky 

P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, give it a like and share it with a fellow business owner or leader who might be at the perturbation point right now!

You’ve been in business for some time, right? Maybe 5, 10, 20 years? And chances are you’ve had to hustle, make sacrifices, and work long hours to get to where you are today. 

But here’s the thing: eventually, you might hit a tipping point—the “perturbation point”—where you start questioning:

• Is this even worth it?
• What’s next for my business, my team, and myself?
• How do I get to the next stage of growth?

And it feels really uncomfortable, because what got you to this point of success won’t be the thing that takes you to your next frontier of growth – both personally or professionally. There’s a heck of a lot of discomfort in this.

Why Do Business Owners and Leaders Reach This Point?

You’re not alone if you’re feeling like you’re on Juggle Street—doing everything for everyone, all the time. Your team might be doers rather than decision-makers, so they lean heavily on you for answers.

And if your business has grown rapidly, you might be caught in a whirlwind of business chaos, trying to reinvent the wheel every day.

There’s a critical point where business leaders start saying, “I can’t keep going like this.” This is the perturbation point, and there’s one of three outcomes that will unfold:

1. Go Backwards: If you stay in juggle street or chaos, your team will feel the stress, leading to disengagement, burnout, potentially walk. You’ll feel it too, and your business could ultimately fail.
2. Plateau: You might plateau, just keeping things “good enough” or burying your head in the sand. If you stay in this place too long, though, you’ll likely move backwards.
3. Momentum: By shifting your approach and embracing smart growth and peak performance, you can break through to exponential growth.

Shifting from Juggle Street to Peak Performance

So how do you avoid the first two paths and achieve momentum? The secret is to move from juggle street and chaos to peak performance and smart growth. There’s two key areas to look at. 

Peak Performance Strategies:

1. Culture: Create a culture where the team buys into your vision and is excited to come to work.
2. Operating Rhythms: Establish structures, checklists, and KPIs that reduce daily reinvention.
3. Skills: Develop your team through coaching and mentoring to empower them.

Smart Growth Strategies:

1. Planning: Share structured plans with your team to reduce chaos and maintain focus.
2. Sales: Keep customer acquisition and retention steady.
3. Profit Management: Monitor your financial metrics to ensure profitability.

Your Actionable Action for This Week

Reflect on this: What stood out to you the most as you read through peak performance and smart growth strategies? Was there one particular area that is holding you back from reaching that next growth curve?

• If it’s profit, check out our Profit Planner.
• If it’s team empowerment, grab our Team Code Guide.
• If it’s sales, use our Sales Productivity Strategy.
• If it’s planning and prioritisation, download our Prioritisation Tool.

Take the Smart Growth Survey to discover which phase of smart growth your business is in and receive our Smart Growth Blueprint. In less than 60 seconds, you’ll unlock the exact strategies to help you overcome the perturbation point and achieve exponential growth.

Click here to take the survey and access your blueprint!

Until next time, keep thriving.