Learn More about the Life First Business Lab: https://www.deeplyrootedbusiness.com/lfbl?podcast

Summer doesn't have to mean slower sales.

If you're juggling client work, kids at home, vacations, or simply have less time to market your business, this episode is for you. We're sharing 3 proven sales strategies that help you keep revenue coming in—and how AI can make each one faster, easier, and more effective.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to use AI-powered voice of customer research to create content that actually resonates
• Why reconnecting with past clients is one of the fastest ways to generate revenue
• How to personalize your sales pitches and follow-ups with AI without sounding robotic
• Simple ways to spend less time marketing and more time on the work that matters

Whether you're a coach, freelancer, agency owner, or service provider, these strategies will help you stop spinning your wheels and start selling more intentionally this summer.

Check out the Life First Business Lab: https://www.deeplyrootedbusiness.com/lfbl?podcast

A plug-and-play AI employee membership designed for non-techy business owners who need real support without building everything from scratch.

Meet Your Hosts

Jessica Walther is the founder and CEO of The Launch Collaborative and Sustainable Success Systems. As a launch strategist and systems consultant, Jess is dedicated to helping solo business owners and small-but-mighty teams build businesses that deliver both peace and profit. She specializes in creating sustainable growth strategies that align with her clients' values and lifestyles.

Rachel Lopez is the founder and CEO of Gal Marketing Agency, a boutique email marketing and strategy firm. With over a decade of experience, Rachel helps heart-driven entrepreneurs craft intentional marketing strategies that attract, nurture, and convert leads sustainably. Her human-first approach ensures that marketing efforts feel authentic and effective .

Together, Jess and Rachel blend systems, storytelling, and soulful strategy to help you grow a business that's deeply aligned with your life—not just your revenue goals.

Connect With Us:

• Jess Website
• Rachel's Website

Hang Out & Say Hi!

• Deeply Rooted Business Instagram
• Jess Instagram
• Rachel's Instagram

All right, I want you all to picture this.

It's 9am You've broken up one fight over screen time, you've made two snacks that nobody's finished, and you're trying to answer a client email while the kid's hanging off your arm and you're asking you if he can go to the pool.

And someplace in the back of your mind there's this little voice saying, I should be selling something right now.

What am I selling?

What am I selling?

And how do I get there?

The guilt.

It's showing up.

And because summer is when everyone online is either posting pictures from the beach, they're saying they're making a 40k with margaritas in their hand, or telling you you should lean into the slow season because burnout is real and blah, blah.

And so you're sitting here thinking, what is happening?

I have way less time because the kids are home, but the bills are the same and the clients are still demanding.

Yeah, so.

So I am definitely feeling this right now.

We've got two home that I just handed my phone and said, order some Instacart because I've been calling calls all morning.

It's one o' clock and I don't think they've eaten.

Don't call CVS on me.

There's food in the fridge, they can go grab it.

But that's the reality right here.

And but you know what?

We do have the same bills.

So we want to say up front that summer does not have to be the time that your revenue dips, but it is a time where you need to get a little more creative or a little more innovated in how you sell because you can't show up and sell like the version of you that has eight hours hours while the kids are at home and not in and out.

So today we're going to share some strategies that hopefully don't add more to your plate.

But we're going to be sharing three ways to get the most out of the little bit of time that you have dedicated to generating revenue in your business.

And our goal here is to give you ROI that has less effort, but you're going to get more returns.

So let's get into it.

All right?

Before we dive in, let's do a quick energy check because we're a little woo woo here and we own it.

And I think things marinate a little bit bit better with the intention.

So wherever you are right now, whether you are picking up from daycare, whether you're doing a little morning walk for self care, or if you're hiding in the pantry for five minutes of quiet or the bathroom, that whatever happens, I've been there, done that.

I want you to take a deep breath with us and let this episode hit wherever it needs to hit.

We want to know a little bit more about how is your energy around selling feeling right?

You feel a little pressured?

You feel behind?

Are you just tired of thinking about having to add a bazillion other things to your plate while you're executing client work?

And all of the other things that you have to manage Wherever you are with that, we want you to leave this episode feeling one thing lighter, whether that means you've gotten a little aha.

Or you can take one of these things and run away with it.

What we don't want is that you don't want you to feel busier because of this episode or more behind because of this episode.

So.

So, like we do in the tarot world, take what resonates and leave everything else behind.

And so let's dive in.

Okay, so way number one is you really want to get super, super clear on who you're talking to.

Not only that, but what are they experiencing right now in this moment, in this season?

So take this podcast, for example.

We know that most of our people that are listening, we think, tell us if we're wrong, are female entrepreneurs that have kids that are probably home this time.

So we want to make sure that we're talking to those specific pain points, just like we decided to do in this episode.

So getting a little meta with you.

I think sometimes the temptation when you're short on time is, oh, I just need to post something.

I think give yourself permission to not post as much, but post more intentionally.

And really take the time to do the research to figure out what your competitors are doing right now.

What is that voice of the customer?

What are they saying right now?

And that way, the messaging and the marketing that you're putting out is really hitting.

So I know Rachel shared with me last week that she was super excited about creating some content because she is doing the impossible.

You really haven't been creating content all year.

You're here summer and busier, slower time, but you've still managed to crank out a bunch of different content.

I'm jealous because I haven't gotten there yet.

Tell us what your strategy was last week.

Yeah, well, one, it took me a lot to realize that the kind of point of reference that I kept going back to was very much outdated.

It wasn't the current moment.

And my typical Workflow with this was I will pull up my phone, open TikTok or Instagram and I'll scroll around and then before you know, it's 30 plus minutes gone and you're like, oh, was I supposed to be researching content or was I supposed to be just looking for the next sourdough bread recipe?

That was my life.

So I said, okay, I need to do this where it's not going to put me in a squirrel moment where I'm distracted.

I hacked to be able to get clear and focus, create a framework.

So one of our new assistants is something that we came up with where it's a content template where essentially it gave me my five reoccurring patterns of people in my niche.

So this is using data that is pulling from your voice, of the customer, from your competitor research, and anything that is online that is surrounding these topics that, that you've niched into.

And it says, here's the analysis, here's the reoccurring themes and the hooks and the structures that tend to work really well.

And so I use that as my starting point.

It's fresh, way fresher than what I was doing before.

And it saves you the kind of squirrel moments of getting to the place where you're like, what am I even talking about?

How do I find inspiration and how do I create this into a framework that is repeatable over and over?

So in connection with TikTok, Tina, I took this content template structure that is fully designed around my business brain and had it give me and script out five videos.

Do I use the videos 100% to the T?

No.

I'm very good at rifting, so I will take what I want from it and I'll be like, oh, I love this and I'll go into it.

And I've given myself the permission that I don't need any fancy editing.

So the last couple of videos that I've posted, I just record it, cut out some of the dead space and literally throw captions on it and get it out there.

I think so many people are really stuck in that perfection mode because it was me and I was like, I'm not going to do this because I need it to look good.

I need the little things to top up.

I need the words to go behind my head and I just need to build the habit.

So that was my intention, was build the habit and do it in a way that's making you spend less time on your phone.

So that was the goal so much.

And this is when people push back and they're like, yeah, I don't know if it's for me.

And I'm like, once you see that competitor research or voice of the customer assistant, do what it's done and present you with a 30 page thing that probably would have taken a human two weeks to do.

I think just go search through all the webs, pull the exact quotes from Reddit of what people are saying or complaining about, go find different articles that are relevant to your niche or whatever.

I'm like, that would have taken freaking forever.

And this is where it blows my mind.

Or even I have a client that has a coaching certification where they have 900 students in it and we get 900 student surveys and it has really amazing data about what hesitations they had before they joined, what finally made them join their demographic and all of that.

And for a human to compute and be able to digest all that info out, I don't even know if it would be possible in the way that AI can do it.

So if you're not using AI to help you build out a voice of the customer document, do customer research, do competitor research.

I think you're really under leveraging it in a way that can help you build content that is really relevant to where your customer's at in the current state of mind, using their exact language.

So you can mirror that and showing you trends and patterns as well.

Yeah.

And I also think too, in the sense of Justin, I were just talking about before this call that this year feels like it's going so fast.

It is extremely difficult for me to keep up because I do try to prioritize my family life.

I'm done at 4pm if my son needs me, I'm like, sorry, this has got to wait kind of thing.

And that building of pressure really caused some, I don't know, I'm having brain retention issues where I'm like, oh shoot, I forgot that, or oh shoot, I forgot this.

And so if you are limited, and I know we had said that this podcast episode and the people that we talk to are for the ones that are juggling the kiddos and the this and the that, but this is really for anybody who is that small team trying to do it all type person.

And if you at that point where your brain retention, brain capacity, all of it is already stretched, we do encourage you to use the tools that you can so that you can say, I don't have and I probably won't have two to three hours of deep thinking work.

That window doesn't exist on my calendar and it probably won't for the next three to four months kind of thing.

And if you're like, yeah, that's right, then lean into the tools that are going to give you that output.

That would be just as impactful as you scouring all of the Reddit feeds and the Instagram and all of that.

Because it's changed my freaking life because I don't got time.

So, yeah, this is a divergent.

But I was telling you, I really slacked off last week.

I was just feeling low energy because I have miles.

We're not going to keep going over it, but I've got inbox Ivy who's checking all my slack messages and stuff like that.

Even if I wasn't all the way there, I opened my notion for the first time.

I did open my notion a lot last week.

Sometimes I just do that.

And all the task from all my client meetings and Rachel had DM me about doing something.

It was all put in there for me.

And then all I had to go back through my notion and clean it up and be, oh, I did do this.

I did do this.

Oh, I forgot.

I still do need to follow up with that person.

But it's giving you that safety net.

And I think one of the most stressful things about being an entrepreneur is that mental overwhelm.

That's overload of trying to hold everything in your head.

And installing these little scheduled skills and clawed has really helped protect that for me.

So that was a side thing.

But use the tools there.

They're amazing.

Even if they're not working 100% perfectly, they are still better than trying to do it all by yourself.

All right, so the second thing that you want to do is lean into your past clients.

Chasing strangers and converting strangers is a lot harder to do than reconnecting with a client who's had an amazing experience experience with you.

And you have another way to offer value or to help them gain ROI in their business.

Yeah, cold leads.

I say this to all of my clients, whether they're trying to run ads or they're just trying to grow their list exponentially.

Cold leads are expensive.

The amount of time and touch point and trust building that has to go into converting these cold leads is a lot versus if you build on retention, you build on customer lifetime value.

Past clients, if you've given a great experience and you're like, okay, great, our project ended maybe five, six months ago, check in with them.

Hey, is there an audit I can do for you?

Is there an analysis that I can show for this?

Is Working for you.

Hey, do you need any touch ups, any maintenance work?

Anything like that really can get you just a little bit further.

Is it long term type revenue?

Not necessarily.

Maybe we don't know.

I don't know your offers, but it's one of those that it really is the easiest way that I have been able to tap back into some of my old clients to be like, hey, I heard you had a launch.

How did it go?

Do you need a post launch analysis and maybe see some recommendations for your next one?

Anything where it's like, hey Rachel, great to hear from you.

I'm glad you were paying attention to my business.

Even though I'm not paying you to, it's less pushy.

You're supporting them still and it is already just one step closer to a conversion versus the 25 steps that you have to take in order to convert somebody that's never been a client with you.

Yeah, so we actually, I did this for one of my clients last week.

In their business, they're a dietitian and their clients graduate from working with them once their gut issues are all taken care of.

But every now and then you do need a tune up or a touch up or just want to see what's going on.

So we basically thought about what is a low effort, high return, natural next step.

Someone that's worked with me maybe a year ago needs.

And that was like, oh, let's do a GI map testing offer where we can do a little check in on your gut and give you recommendations on how to get it back to where it was when we first started working.

Or if we notice things have gone really off course, maybe we can work one on one together.

But I think just thinking about your past clients and then asking what's the next natural thing that they need right now.

And even if it's not a formal upsell, they're a past client.

You already have that relationship built with them.

So you're not going to need a whole sales page or anything.

It can just be a quick email or pitch.

Hey, I think this would be really helpful for you right now.

Let's kind of build on what we've already done.

Yeah, this is a trick, I think.

It's not even a trick.

That sounds so icky to me.

But this is something that I have practiced every single slow period in business.

And honestly, it's the easiest sale you'll make in these slow periods because it's somebody that you already know and they already know what it's like to work with.

You definitely Lean into this.

It's lowest hanging fruit and probably the lowest lift as well.

So yeah, okay.

Number three is pitch personally.

So whether you are cold pitching via email or you have clients that are booking with you and you're getting discovery calls and you're having sales calls and then pitching them after, you want to use your tools that you have available.

So this AI to not make your pitches so generic, you can so easily Now a lead form comes in and it goes into a paste in the cloud and say, check out this person's website, check out their Instagram, give me a brief about the information about what they're currently offering.

What might their pain point be right now?

Look at their number of followers to kind of get an idea or if you ask those sort of questions.

So that I'm going into the pitch with, number one, an idea of what do I need more clarity on from their business to make sure that I'm pitching the right thing.

But two, already having a very deep understanding and being able to ask really thoughtful questions or even give little thoughtful advice and nuggets in there.

And then my favorite trick after is to paste the call transcript into AI and then tell it to be a coach for me.

What did I do right on this call?

What would you change?

And then what should my follow up look like?

This person and what it's able to do is analyze their hesitations.

Oh, this person is a very logical, ROI focused person.

So you need to make sure that you include a client example of how you've increased their revenue through this offer.

We had two very different clients come in.

Someone like our last quiz client was a very jolly person.

He really didn't even care about the roi.

He just wanted to be fun.

So my pitch to him was a lot more informal and was matching his tone.

Yeah.

And I do think that if you have a lot of pressure or you feel insecure around pitching one of those things, it's either they're just gonna delete it or they're gonna actually spend time reading it.

I've always felt a little bit more aligned when I don't lean on the assumption that I know anything about their business that isn't public facing.

So some of the people that have pitched me, they really do try to hit.

Oh, are you having problems with so and so?

I'm like, no, I'm not.

Thank you for creating these problems in my business.

But when you lean more transformation.

So what impact have you been able to give to your clients?

What lift, what areas that you've been able to alleviate for them.

Those are the things that you can feel confident in somebody that's, oh, I would love 20% lift in my open rates.

Oh, I would love to know that my retention plans are working and you're not just going in with the assumption that, oh, is your email list dead?

Like, things like that has just helped me release a little bit of that mental game of pitching because it really is.

It'll get you.

We used to do in the doers pitch challenges where the more you hear no, the more she says, the closer you are to getting to a yes.

And that mental challenged me so hard.

But just one of those things, however you can take your heart out of the process and make it a little easier on you is definitely worth it.

Right?

So all this stuff is really not about creating more effort.

It's just really pulling stuff from the things that are barely moving the needle and leveraging your time more to the things that are actually going to help you move the needle or help you if your business does slow down.

And maybe your packages that you can sell in January through May and September through December don't really sell in the summer.

Those upsells can be a great way to get you through while the bills are still coming in.

But yeah.

Do you have anything else to say about our episode here, Rachel?

Yeah, just be super intentional with your time.

Jess and I have talked about this where we're like, oh, we moved our recording days from Friday to make sure that we actually enjoy summer and we want that as well for the audience and the people that listen to us here.

This is a wonderful time to be outdoors, to get in the good weather, get your vitamin D, get in the sun, don't allow the pressure of being like, I need to do more, I need to do more.

We really want you to do less, but be intentional with it.

Do not do less of everything.

Just do less of the things that really aren't moving the needle right now so that you can have that time to enjoy your life.

Because that's what we started these businesses for.

So we definitely recommend these three ways.

Super more intentional honed in efforts to making sure your summer still has some juice to give.

All right, so if this episode hit home for you, make sure you share it with a business bestie.

You know, the one who is trying to white knuckle her, counting the days until school starts again and feeling guilty that she's not doing all of the marketing or sales activities that she can typically normally do.

That is okay.

I love what you said, Rachel, about giving ourselves permission to not do all the dings and the bells and the whistles, because that is so me where it's taking me an hour to do this.

But just getting your message out there is better than not doing it at all.

So I'm definitely going to be taking that advice.

And if you want help actually doing any of this, whether it is the voice of the customer, the competitor research, the upsell ideas, the lead briefs and all of the follow ups and things that come with that, is exactly what our AI assistants handle.

Inside of the Life first business lab, we have offer optimizer Olivia who helps you take your existing suite and upsell into or have your client upsells past client upsells.

It's a genius program and tool that you can use no material, modules or things that you're gonna have to waste time on.

You just download your first assistant and get the ball rolling.

If that's the summer that you want and you really don't want to have to figure out or put the brain thought into figuring out all of these things, you can find all of these assistants in the labs.

We'll drop the link in the show notes.

All right.

And next week we're rooting for you.