If you feel like you are doing all the marketing things and still stuck below six figures, this episode is for you. On this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I break down what is actually keeping service-based entrepreneurs trapped in a revenue plateau and why more content, more visibility, or more funnels will not fix it. I share what I have seen after 9 years of working closely with consultants, coaches, and solopreneurs who are working hard but not seeing consistent revenue growth.
We dig into the real business strategy shifts that create momentum and sustainable business growth. I also explain how focusing on the right operational levers like pricing strategy, lead generation quality, and your sales process can change everything. If you are ready to move out of operator mode and start thinking like a CEO, this conversation will help you understand exactly where to focus next.
Here is what I see constantly. Business owners assume that if revenue is inconsistent, they need more marketing. After 9 years of working with service-based entrepreneurs, I can tell you that marketing is rarely the actual issue. Most revenue plateaus come from deeper business strategy gaps. When pricing is unclear, offers are loosely positioned, or the sales process is reactive, more visibility only amplifies the instability.
Breaking six figures requires clarity on how your business is designed to generate revenue. That includes knowing exactly what you sell, who it is for, and how prospects move from lead generation into paying clients. Without that structure, marketing becomes exhausting and unpredictable.
Inside my Focused Visionary Framework, I teach that sustainable business growth comes from strengthening three core areas. Pricing determines whether your business model can support your goals. Pipeline determines whether you have consistent, qualified opportunities. Sales determines whether those opportunities convert into revenue.
When service-based business owners focus on these pillars, they shift from operator mode into strategic planning. They begin making CEO-level decisions instead of reacting to short-term cash flow pressure. That shift is what allows revenue growth to become repeatable and scalable.
Reaching six figures is not just about working harder. It is about thinking differently about how your service-based business operates. Strategic planning, clear pricing strategy, and a defined sales process create confidence. Confidence creates consistent action. Consistent action drives business growth.
If you are stuck, the solution is not to add more noise. It is to simplify your business strategy and focus on the levers that actually move revenue. When you do that, six figures stops feeling out of reach and starts becoming a logical next step.
About the Host:
Michelle DeNio is a business strategist based in Sarasota, Florida, specializing in helping service-based entrepreneurs break through revenue plateaus using her Focused Visionary Framework. With over 300 podcast episodes and 9 years running her consulting business, she helps coaches, consultants, and service providers scale sustainably through strategic planning, pricing optimization, and sales process development.
Today we're talking about why you are struggling to break that elusive six figure mark.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And I'm going to be really direct with you.
Speaker A:It's not your marketing.
Speaker A:You don't need to do more.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:But I know marketing is the easiest thing for everybody to blame, right?
Speaker A:My Instagram's not working, my email list isn't converting.
Speaker A:I need a better funnel.
Speaker A:I need a new offer.
Speaker A:I need this, I need that.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:This constant changing of like changing your marketing, changing your messaging.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's really not part.
Speaker A:I mean, it could be part of the problem, but in my experience in working with hundreds of service based entrepreneurs over the last nine years, I can honestly tell you that marketing is rarely the problem.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And that if you keep throwing strategies at the wrong issue.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You end up exactly where you are.
Speaker A:And that is what is happening to a lot of people.
Speaker A:So that's what we're talking about today.
Speaker A:If you're ready, let's dive in.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:You're listening to the Real Truth About Business with Michelle Denio.
Speaker A:This is a podcast for service based entrepreneurs who are done with that generic advice and ready for some strategic clarity.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So today we're talking about why you can't hit that six figure mark.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:This elusive six figure mark.
Speaker A:Now, I have a lot of feelings about six figures because I think it's just kind of a bullshit number.
Speaker A:I don't even think people realize whether or not like what it actually means to hit that, you know, which is part of the conversation I'm going to have today.
Speaker A:But I also just want to talk about because I know so many people are chasing that.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:But first and foremost, I want to say that like, if you are not chasing six figures or you feel like you are not close, like I do not want you to think, think that you are a failure, okay?
Speaker A:And the advice and the information that I'm about to give you in this episode works at every, every milestone when it comes to revenue.
Speaker A:So it's not just about six figures, but I'm using that because that seems to be the point of success for most people.
Speaker A:But this information is relevant to everybody, regardless of where you're starting, okay?
Speaker A:Because these, this is the foundation of what it takes to build and grow sustainably and hit the income levels that you're trying to hit.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:But let's just talk about it.
Speaker A:So here's what I see constantly, right?
Speaker A:This, business owners that are just doing all of these marketing things, right?
Speaker A:They're showing up consistently, they're networking, they're posting on LinkedIn, they're posting on Instagram, they're posting on threads, potentially running ads.
Speaker A:They're building all these funnels, right?
Speaker A:They're spending all this time to build all these back end funnels and all of this, you know, making sure this process works.
Speaker A:And when somebody buys this, they move to this step, this step that, which is all great, but you got to get people moving into those things, right?
Speaker A:But what's happening is that they're still stuck, right?
Speaker A:They're stuck.
Speaker A:I have people come to me all the time.
Speaker A:I talk to somebody.
Speaker A:Most recently one of my most recent clients, she was like, I can't get past this, this price point, like, or this revenue number, like, no matter what I do, you know, I've been able to maintain it and I'm super grateful for that and I feel amazing, but I can't seem to move past it, okay?
Speaker A:And so she's like trying all these new things and trying this new marketing strategy and investing into this and whatever.
Speaker A:In reality, when we like looked under the hood of her business, like, marketing was not the problem, right?
Speaker A:Not the problem at all.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And so the thing about it is, is you've got to really look at and understand what marketing's purpose is.
Speaker A:Marketing is to get people interested, right?
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:That's the only thing that marketing is technically responsible for, is getting people interested, making people aware of you.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Interest doesn't equal revenue.
Speaker A:So marketing is not necessarily the be all, end all to your revenue problems, okay?
Speaker A:And so what you really need to be asking is like not necessarily about how do I get more people to know about me, but it's how do I get the people that know about me to convert, but also at a price point that's going to help me to hit my revenue goals, okay?
Speaker A:And that's really what I want to talk about today, right?
Speaker A:So, because if it's not marketing, then like, what is it, right?
Speaker A:Like, why can't we get past this certain income point?
Speaker A:Now I will preface to say too, there's a lot of mindset stuff that goes into this, right?
Speaker A:There's a lot of mindset, subconscious work, somatic work that goes into getting past a certain dollar amount in your business.
Speaker A:There's a lot if your body doesn't feel safe with it, again, that is not my area of expertise.
Speaker A:I can speak on it from a place of the more I learn into and lean into it for myself, the more I see a difference in it, right?
Speaker A:So there is definitely I can speak to it from that place.
Speaker A:But I can't necessarily.
Speaker A:I don't want to talk about it like I'm an expert at it, because I'm not, I am not certified in that.
Speaker A:And I, and I don't want to.
Speaker A:But I do want to say if you're a mindset or subconscious reprogramming expert listening to this, then yes, of course there are strategies in the things that I discuss are strategies.
Speaker A:But if the body doesn't feel safe to receive or expand, then all of these strategies aren't necessarily going to be the answer either.
Speaker A:Okay, so, but let's talk about the three things that I see holding service based business owners stuck.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So first and foremost, it always comes down to pricing, right?
Speaker A:Your revenue ceiling.
Speaker A:But it's not just pricing, it's capacity.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And this is what I mean by capacity.
Speaker A:I want to give you an example.
Speaker A:So let's say that you want to make $120,000 a year, right?
Speaker A:Which is 120, 100,000 with 20% going to taxes.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:$120,000 per year.
Speaker A:You're charging $500 per month.
Speaker A:Well, if you do the math on that, that means you need 240 clients in a year, okay?
Speaker A:And that's 20 clients per month, meaning every single month, right?
Speaker A:Like every single month you got to have 20 new clients, not reoccurring clients, 20 new clients.
Speaker A:Because you need 240 clients on a $500 offer to $120,000 a year.
Speaker A:Now how many of us can sustain 20 new clients a month?
Speaker A:Even if you have a community or a group offer, that's still a massive amount of clients every single month.
Speaker A:That's a very.
Speaker A:And unless your audience is ridiculously large, which if your audience is that big, you shouldn't be stuck less than 120,000, right?
Speaker A:Like, let's just be honest and real about that is like, but for the most part, you're going to cap out.
Speaker A:You're going to cap out from a capacity standpoint, okay?
Speaker A:So, so depending on whether or not you're at a one to one, even again, even if you're at a group offer, how are you supporting 240 clients in a group offer, depending on what's included in it, right?
Speaker A:Without coming up against a capacity.
Speaker A:But also remember, like, that's no breaks, that's no months off, that's no vacation.
Speaker A:I mean, yeah, you could take a week here or there, but like again, not sustainable, right?
Speaker A:So first and foremost, the math doesn't math right?
Speaker A:Now on the flip side of that, Right.
Speaker A:You could charge $3,000 per client, depending on your business model, and that's 40 clients a year to hit 120,000.
Speaker A:It's still, you know, three to four new clients a month.
Speaker A:Can you sustain three to four new clients a month?
Speaker A:Again, what you've got to look at is how long is this offer for, how long are you serving them, how many hours, you know, a month is it taking up of your time to serve each $3,000 client?
Speaker A:Now the Focus Visionary is 3,95amonth.
Speaker A:So I think that comes.
Speaker A:It's like what, four, $800 for the year?
Speaker A:So that's a $4,800 client technically.
Speaker A:So could I put 40 people in at that and still serve them really, really well?
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, because of the way it's set up, there's already about 20 in there.
Speaker A:Could I add 20 more?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Is it more time out of my schedule?
Speaker A:A little bit.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because the more you onboard people, especially in the beginning, as people are going through the framework, it does take me a little bit more time to get people onboarded, but ultimately they.
Speaker A:I'm still only showing up on Thursdays for the Q and A, on Wednesdays for the peer to peer mastermind, for the reflection and planning event.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, there's no additional time out of my calendar required to take on more clients.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So that is a scalable business model.
Speaker A:But again, you've got to look at your capacity.
Speaker A:Like how much time do you have versus how many hours each client that you have to take on and does your pricing reflect that?
Speaker A:And this is where I see the biggest, honestly, if I were to give you one place of where people are stuck with their revenue is because they have capped themselves at a ceiling through their capacity.
Speaker A:I was working with a client yesterday inside of the Focus Visionary accelerator.
Speaker A:She's new.
Speaker A:We were on this step of really offer and financial alignment and same thing.
Speaker A:We looked at her capacity.
Speaker A:She wanted to take on new clients.
Speaker A:She only had the capacity to take on about two more clients because she was booked solid with all these other things.
Speaker A:I call it the grind versus the goal.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Her grind was over committed.
Speaker A:So it really only left her time to take on two new clients.
Speaker A:Well, two clients wasn't going to get her to her revenue goal.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Which means something's got to change.
Speaker A:Her.
Speaker A:Her grind has to change.
Speaker A:She's got to free up time.
Speaker A:She's got to look at where, where that time is going.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That is what I see is pricing and capacity are not in alignment.
Speaker A:And that in itself is going to cap you at a ceiling, okay?
Speaker A:So that's number one.
Speaker A:You've got to make sure that your pricing is in alignment with your capacity.
Speaker A:You've got to make sure that the math will.
Speaker A:Math, right.
Speaker A:You can't just pick a number out of the clear blue sky.
Speaker A:You can't under price, right?
Speaker A:You've a lot of people are underpricing themselves and I get it.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:I keep my pricing low.
Speaker A:I have a very, very strong feeling about that.
Speaker A:There are, you know, I've raised my prices as the years have gone on, but I still try to keep my rates as low as possible.
Speaker A:And I do grandfather people in.
Speaker A:And so that does, can be a capacity issue, right?
Speaker A:Like if you have somebody who is grandfathered in at a low rate and they're taking up time and it's capping you, you have to look at that, right?
Speaker A:So again, there's all kinds of things that come into play there, but you've got to really understand that like your pricing either creates your capacity problem, okay?
Speaker A:Because it's, you're going to either come up against it or it's going to solve it.
Speaker A:And you've got to know how to look at it and do the math around it, okay?
Speaker A:So if you're maxed out on hours and you're still not hitting your six figures, right?
Speaker A:That's not a marketing problem.
Speaker A:More people isn't going to fix that because you can'.
Speaker A:Bring more people in if you don't have the capacity to serve them.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So this is to me out of my entire framework, both, you know, the Focus Visionary framework, both in the Focus Visionary and the missing piece intensive.
Speaker A:This step right here, which is step number three, this is the step where we find the biggest gap almost always in everybody of why they can't get to that next level, whatever that next level is in their revenue.
Speaker A:This is the, the reason why it's not just about raising your prices.
Speaker A:Because again, raising your prices is only going to get you so far if you still come up against a capacity issue.
Speaker A:You can, you can't, you can't just keep raising your prices because you only have room to take on one person, right?
Speaker A:Like, I mean, you can to an extent, but at some point you're going to out price yourself in your own market, right?
Speaker A:So that's not the answer either.
Speaker A:And that's what we, you know, that is the thing that the framework diagnoses.
Speaker A:It picks it up immediately, okay?
Speaker A:So anyways, that's number one, pricing number Two is pipeline.
Speaker A:There is, you know, think about pipeline is your pipeline is everything between like, I never knew you existed and I want to stay in your world forever.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And a lot of people have leaks in between there.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:And so I was having this client conversation again with a client yesterday inside of our FBA call and I said to her, where in your pipeline do you feel like you struggle the most?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Because it's one thing again to do marketing.
Speaker A:Marketing is only step one in the pipeline.
Speaker A:Marketing is only going to make people aware of you.
Speaker A:Remember we talked about this.
Speaker A:Marketing creates interest.
Speaker A:So depending on how many steps you have in your pipeline, it might solve two of them.
Speaker A:Awareness and interest.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But after that it's no longer a marketing issue.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:And so one of the, the problems, some, several of the like most common problems that I see within people's pipeline of where they are kind of losing revenue, which is also, again, why maybe are not hitting that six figure mark or whatever, again, whatever revenue number that is for you is that there is no clear path for people from like absorbing and reading your content to booking something with you.
Speaker A:Whether that's a discovery call, whether that's a conversation, whether that's filling out an application.
Speaker A:Like the path is unclear.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Or there's lead magnets, people that create lead magnets.
Speaker A:There's a lot of people that love to create lead magnets, but if there's no follow up behind them, if there's no funnel behind it, if there's no connection behind it, you know, again, like lead magnets, so many people are so used to opting into a lead magnet and then unsubscribing.
Speaker A:And that's because like there's nothing done to build the, to build the relationship beyond the lead magnet.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Another like pipeline problem that I see a lot of times is like having conversations or getting discovery calls with people that are never going to be your ideal fit client.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That are not qualified.
Speaker A:And then you end up in the business of convincing.
Speaker A:We talked about that in a previous episode of like in this convincing energy.
Speaker A:That's a pipeline problem.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Long gaps, right?
Speaker A:This like assuming people will just remember you.
Speaker A:They're not going to, right?
Speaker A:Not everybody's going to remember you.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And so, right, like you can post all the valuable content you want.
Speaker A:You can, you know, and you can even get people to engage and you can get them to download your lead magnet.
Speaker A:But, but then if you don't do anything from there, right, that's where you're going to lose people when you lose people, you lose revenue, and that's what keeps you stuck, right?
Speaker A:Because if you don't have a system that moves people from like, oh my gosh, that was super helpful.
Speaker A:Or wow, I really kind of like her.
Speaker A:Two, I want to work with you and make it easy.
Speaker A:How can people honestly work with you?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So if your pipeline is not clear and you are not taking responsibility for it, right, Then you're going to cap yourself again because marketing is only going to get people to step one, maybe step two in your pipeline.
Speaker A:And that's it.
Speaker A:That's it, right?
Speaker A:So you need to make sure that your pipeline moves people intentionally and that everybody that comes into your world knows what their next step is, right?
Speaker A:And if they don't know, then that's where you've got that pipeline problem.
Speaker A:And also too, I would really look at, like, where do you struggle the most to move people through your pipeline?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like, so some people are really, really great at getting people aware of them, right?
Speaker A:You can get people aware of you.
Speaker A:You can get people to like, lean into you and have conversation and then it drops off from there, right?
Speaker A:Like, I don't know what to do.
Speaker A:I don't get them on a call, right?
Speaker A:Like, that's it.
Speaker A:Like, that's where it stops.
Speaker A:On the flip side of it, there's other people that are like, once they're in my world, if I can get them on a call, I know that I can e convert them, I can nurture them, I can keep them in my world once they're on a call with me or once they've connected with me.
Speaker A:But they struggle with the awareness, the visibility, that marketing piece, right?
Speaker A:Both are equally.
Speaker A:It's not like one is better or worse.
Speaker A:Like they're both equally going to cost you time, money, referrals, clients, et cetera, because they're both gaps in your pipeline and they are keeping you stuck.
Speaker A:And again, I was working with a client inside of the missing piece intensive.
Speaker A:We were doing this and she kept saying to me, I need new leads, I need leads, I need leads.
Speaker A:And when we really looked at it, she had all the leads.
Speaker A:She just had no way to A, track them and B, know exactly where they were at in her pipeline so that she could move them through.
Speaker A:Once we figured that out was like, wait a second, what about this person?
Speaker A:What about this person?
Speaker A:She realized that, like, she actually had leads and we started putting them all on the leading conversion tracker and she was like, holy crap.
Speaker A:Like, this is so exhilarating to see that.
Speaker A:I actually do have leads, and now I know exactly what I need to do to kind of move them through the pipeline.
Speaker A:So again, a lot of times you have these people that are there, they're in your pipeline.
Speaker A:You just.
Speaker A:They're just not being moved.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:So I actually did create a free lead and conversion tracker.
Speaker A:I put the link in my show notes.
Speaker A:It's a free tool.
Speaker A:It's completely free.
Speaker A:You can opt into it, but it actually.
Speaker A:It doesn't just give.
Speaker A:It's not just a spreadsheet that tracks leads, but it actually tracks your conversion rate, which is a topic for another day.
Speaker A:But understanding your conversion rate gives you so much information, but it's very hard to calculate on your own, and this spreadsheet will do it for you.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So if you are struggling, if you feel like, yes, pipeline is where I am struggling, it is a huge gap for me.
Speaker A:Like, just jump onto the show notes, grab the.
Speaker A:The lead and conversion tracker, and start filling it out, right?
Speaker A:Give yourself the visual of exactly where people are at in your pipeline.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And then the third breakdown that I see is the conversion gap.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:This is sales.
Speaker A:Sales and conversion, right?
Speaker A:And this is where people, a lot of times, give me the most resistance, right?
Speaker A:People don't necessarily want to admit that they have a sales problem.
Speaker A:They'd rather say, like, oh, the algorithm's not doing its job, or my funnel broke or my email list isn't converting or whatever.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:It's a sales problem because you're not actually selling, right?
Speaker A:And so if you don't have, like, a structured sales process where it's.
Speaker A:You are clear on your offers, you're going into these calls knowing what to say, knowing how to say it, knowing that you've got to come up against objections, right?
Speaker A:If you don't have any process for that and every call is wildly different, then that leaves so much room for interpretation.
Speaker A:It leaves room for people to slip through the cracks, right?
Speaker A:Because again, you're not.
Speaker A:You're not coming into it with confidence, with authority, with any level of expertise a lot of times.
Speaker A:And so it ends up being a little bit more casual of a conversation than it could be.
Speaker A:All right, so there's a difference between having, like, casual get to know you coffee chats versus discovery and sales calls.
Speaker A:If it is a discovery or sales call, you need to be talking about the sale, right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:You can give value.
Speaker A:I am a huge fan of getting giving value.
Speaker A:Every strategy discovery call that I have, I make sure people walk away with something, some tangible takeaway.
Speaker A:I Don't just sit here and talk all about my offers.
Speaker A:I ask them questions, I make sure that they understand that.
Speaker A:But I also say, okay, well, let's talk about it.
Speaker A:What direction do you think is going to be better for you?
Speaker A:You know, you came into this call thinking that the intensive was the good fit.
Speaker A:Like, let's talk about this.
Speaker A:It's two days, it's da, da, da, da, right?
Speaker A:Like you've got to ask for the sale.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And don't undervalue your offer during the conversation.
Speaker A:I've been there, I've done this, I understand this.
Speaker A:This is a muscle that takes confidence and it takes a long time to build.
Speaker A:But you've got to go in confident in your offer.
Speaker A:Do not undervalue it.
Speaker A:It's like we're going to move fast.
Speaker A:Like if I were talking about the intensive, I go in valuing that.
Speaker A:It's fast, right?
Speaker A:It's two days.
Speaker A:It's one on one.
Speaker A:We're going to work through this together.
Speaker A:Like in, in two days, you're going to have clients clarity around exactly where your capacity is at exactly where people are falling through your cracks in your pipeline.
Speaker A:And you're going to know exactly what you need to be focused on from a sales perspective and how to do it.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like, I'm going in with this confidence about the offer and I'm not undervaluing it.
Speaker A:Like, I feel confident in the price because it's two days plus 21 days of support plus lunch, plus, you know what I mean?
Speaker A:Like, there's so much value in the two day intensive.
Speaker A:And so I want to make sure that I'm not undervaluing it in any way, shape or form.
Speaker A:And a lot of times we do that without even realizing.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then really, a lot of times what I also see is that you come up against pricing objections that really aren't actually about the price.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Pricing objections are the easiest one to get.
Speaker A:Like, oh, I just can't afford that right now, or let me think about it, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:But all of these things are just really just I'm not quite ready yet.
Speaker A:To me, this is them saying, like, I don't trust you enough yet to give you my money.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Which means, again, this is where you, it's the CEO come in and say, okay, what can I do to help change that?
Speaker A:How can I build more trust?
Speaker A:How can I follow up with you?
Speaker A:How can I nurture you?
Speaker A:Is there a lower step that you can give them if they're struggling with that?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So again, I Think a lot of times there is just no sales strategy, right?
Speaker A:There is no sales strategy.
Speaker A:You're waiting for people to come to you, and then when they come to you again, you don't take control of the situation.
Speaker A:You don't take control of the conversation, and it really, truly is on you.
Speaker A:So, I mean, I want to, like, I'll paint a few scenarios for you because I'm sure you've.
Speaker A:You've had this of like, oh, my gosh, I love this, but let me talk to my partner, Let me check my budget.
Speaker A:Let me wait until next quarter, right?
Speaker A:And instead, and you just say, yeah, absolutely, definitely talk to them for sure.
Speaker A:And I'm a huge fan of that.
Speaker A:Like, I think everybody has the ability to make their own decisions.
Speaker A:But here's where you got to change that and shift that is saying, absolutely.
Speaker A:When do you think you'll have a chance to talk to them?
Speaker A:Do you want me to follow up with you next week?
Speaker A:Would that make sense?
Speaker A:Or waiting until next quarter?
Speaker A:Yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker A:What are you thinking?
Speaker A:Are you thinking, like, April or what?
Speaker A:You know, but then also using their words back at them, right?
Speaker A:Because if they're saying, oh, if they come to a call with this immediate problem, and then all of a sudden it's no longer an immediate problem and it's something that can wait till Q2, just have the conversation with them and be like, yeah, I mean, I totally respect that we can absolutely wait until Q2, but one of the things that you mentioned to me was X, Y and Z.
Speaker A:This is what you're struggling with.
Speaker A:Like, honestly, by Q2, we could have that situation handled, right?
Speaker A:So again, some of these things are soft no's, and you're just taking them at face value instead of, like, going through the process and trying to dive deeper into it and figure out what that actual issue is.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So selling really, truly is all about being strategic.
Speaker A:It has nothing to do with being pushy, being slimy, being spammy.
Speaker A:Like, I think we have to get over that because at the end of the day, I know myself And I know 90% of you listening to this, probably even a hundred percent of you.
Speaker A:Like, you're not slimy assholes, okay?
Speaker A:Like, we relate that.
Speaker A:I remember a sales expert saying to me a long time ago, like, sales is the one and only profession where you only remember your negative experiences, right?
Speaker A:Like, we very rarely ever remember our positive experiences from a sales perspective.
Speaker A:And we have positive sales experiences all the time, okay?
Speaker A:So really, it's about being strategic.
Speaker A:It's about Being clear.
Speaker A:It's about being confident.
Speaker A:It's about being positioned as the expert and standing in your authority.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:It should feel natural to you.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:If it feels awkward or if you feel like you are pushing, or if you feel like you're trying to convince them, again, back into that energy of convincing, go listen to that episode.
Speaker A:There's something off with your positioning.
Speaker A:There's something off with the way that you're drawing people into you.
Speaker A:But quite honestly, like, sales should just be a natural next step.
Speaker A:Especially if your pipeline is set up to move people through, it should be expected, right?
Speaker A:They should be actively and, like, engaged and expecting and wanting to be sold to.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like, I don't typically go into somebody's pipeline if I'm not interested.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:And again, there's always going to be like a negative person that does that.
Speaker A:But try to remember the positive experiences.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So here's how I want you to figure out which of these pillars is your constraint.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So number one, are you maxed out on time, but you still aren't hitting your revenue goals?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Are you charging what you charge when you first started?
Speaker A:And maybe you have people that are at a lower rate and you need to raise your rates because you have more experience now.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Are you feeling kind of resentful about, like, how hard you're working and how much money you're making?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:If you've answered yes to any of those, I would dive deep into your pricing and capacity.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:From a pipeline, it would be you engage with.
Speaker A:Do people engage with you?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But then they're not taking that next step.
Speaker A:They're not booking the call, they're not filling out the application, they're not signing up for the workshop, whatever that is.
Speaker A:Again, are you getting on discovery calls and then people are not actually ready to buy?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's a pipeline problem.
Speaker A:And then sales would be like, are you getting on calls with qualified people and they're not saying yes, and if so, why not?
Speaker A:Do you.
Speaker A:Are you hearing a lot of let me think about it.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Let me think about it.
Speaker A:Let me get back to you if you're getting a lot of that, or are you feeling super uncomfortable when you have to start talking about selling or the price?
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, do you get that pit in your stomach?
Speaker A:Do you feel yourself tightening up?
Speaker A:If so, you've got kind of probably a sales problem.
Speaker A:And also I want to just add to.
Speaker A:With sales, it's about having a focus.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:A lot of times the sales problem that I see is people are all over the place they're trying to sell all the things all the time, that's another huge thing.
Speaker A:And like, that is definitely going to cap your revenue because you can't sell all the things all the time.
Speaker A:People don't know what to buy.
Speaker A:Okay, so here's the problem or here's.
Speaker A:It's not really a problem.
Speaker A:Here's the thing about this is that most of you are going to recognize yourself in more than one of these, all right?
Speaker A:And that's totally normal because this is business, right?
Speaker A:This is just the real truth about business.
Speaker A:We all have been there, done that, gone through this, all right?
Speaker A:But there's usually one that is the biggest constraint for you right now.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And so like, if you honestly don't know which one of these is the biggest issue or where to start, Then book the CEO strategy call.
Speaker A:It's literally a 30 minute free conversation.
Speaker A:We'll dive into it, we'll look at it.
Speaker A:I can help you to distribute, determine, like, where is this?
Speaker A:Where is your biggest issue?
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:And then we'll just figure out what you need to do to take from there.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:The link is always in the Show Notes.
Speaker A:Book the call.
Speaker A:It's completely free.
Speaker A:Again, I will.
Speaker A:You we.
Speaker A:You will walk away with an action step.
Speaker A:But come to me with a like, which one am I struggling with?
Speaker A:All right, so anyway, the fastest way I just want to close this out is to shift your thinking a little bit and say like, the fastest way to breaking six months figures is to stop optimizing the wrong things, right?
Speaker A:You can't optimize.
Speaker A:You can't optimize a marketing plan that has you at capacity, right?
Speaker A:That's not going to fix a capacity problem.
Speaker A:Fix your pricing and capacity problems, tighten up your pipeline and strengthen your sales process.
Speaker A:Those three things alone will help you to move beyond that next revenue number, whatever that is.
Speaker A:If it's six figures, so be it.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:I'm telling you, like, these are the three biggest gaps and I see them all the time.
Speaker A:Time.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:So figure out which of the pillars your constraint book your CEO strategy call.
Speaker A:And like, let's just get you past this hump.
Speaker A:That's the goal, right?
Speaker A:Like, let's get past the hump.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:And if you're not subscribed to the Sunday morning Brew newsletter, head on over to the Show Notes.
Speaker A:Again, all of the links I mentioned are all in the show notes.
Speaker A:Everything is there.
Speaker A:I'm going to have mult I have all these resources for you.
Speaker A:Please utilize them.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I love you and I will talk to you soon.