When do you introduce automation into your business?
Introducing automation into our businesses can be tricky, confusing, and downright frustrating, let’s be real here!
But automation, especially automating the selling process, can be the quickest way to scale your business, without costing you more of your precious time.
So first before we unpack this topic, let’s talk about what automating the selling process looks like. There are a TON of things you can automate in your business, but for my clients, they usually want to automate selling their passive products through a process that looks somewhat like this:
Facebook Ad for a freebie (this freebie can be a webinar, guide, training, checklist, etc.)
Entered into an email sequence that develops the know, like, and trust factor.
Based on habits inside of that sequence the subscribers get qualified as “ideal” or “not-so-ideal”. The “ideal” ones get put into a pitch sequence for a passive product. The “not-so-ideal” ones get put into a longer nourish sequence and then eventually booted off the email list if they don’t take action inside of that sequence.
Once the product is purchased, they get welcome emails delivered and are automatically enrolled as a new client and the on-boarding process begins.
Again, this is just an example of one of the many ways you can automate the selling process.
What are the benefits of automating a portion of your business, especially a sales portion of your business?
When you make money through a predictable, systematized strategy, your business feels a whole heck of a lot easier and you can scale it a whole heck of a lot quicker.
It can get to a point where it’s simple math:
A = sales generated
B = $ spent on marketing (paid advertising like Facebook Ads)
C = $ spent on systems (email CRM, timers, hosting, payment processing fees)
D = $ set aside for taxes
A - (B + C + D) = profit
When you know how much profit you are going to make thorough a proven method for sales, your business becomes much more predictable, secure, and scalable. You get rid of the feast or famine months and truly create a business that works FOR you and your family. #dreambusiness
Back to the entire premise of this article, when do you automate? You should absolutely start to automate when:
1. Your product has been validated by sales.
If your product has not been purchased yet, get some sales under your belt before you automate the sales process. This makes sure that your audience actually recognizes it as valuable enough to fork over their hard-earned money to buy it AND that it solves their problem. Do not automate the sales process of a product that isn’t validated.
2. You’re tapped out on time.
This is the biggest pain point that most of my clients experience. They’re doing 1:1 coaching or done-for-you services and the only way to scale their business is by working more, because of the nature of their business model. They’re essentially trading dollars for hours. If you can’t physically work anymore hours, but still want to scale your business, automating the sales process is a great option.
And to take this one step farther, two of the biggest mistakes when it comes to automating revolve around timing.
Some entrepreneurs will automate too early. Their product isn’t validated and their email sequence isn’t proven to convert. They pour a ton of time into automation, and get absolutely no results. They get frustrated about the entire automation process and decide it’s not for them.
The other side of this is automating out of desperation. Unfortunately, this is what happens for most entrepreneurs (myself included). They automate because they are so incredibly burnt out in their services that they are desperate for any sort of automated selling process. They maybe jump too soon, don’t realize that automation is a long-game, and end up feeling frustrated about the entire automation process and decide that it’s not for them.
Do you see the common thread? Frustration! Automation can be amazing, when it’s the right time and place.
Biggest takeaways:
Make sure your product is validated before you jump into automating the sales process.
Do not automate out of desperation. It will only fuel your burn out.
Once you have a system that converts (makes you money) it’s pretty easy to scale. It’s simple math at that point!
Automation, especially for sales, is a long-game. Know that you need to be in it for the long haul.
Two things I want to leave you with before you sign off:
If you’re looking to create more consistency in your business. Consistent income, consistent clients, consistent visibility, etc. then I want to gift you my 10 Ways to Create a Consistent Business Guide. You can download it here.
If you’re tired of DIY-ing your business, if you want to implement a strategy that actually gets results, if you want to hit your first 6-figure year but have NO IDEA how to make it happen, then I want to invite you to get on the phone with one of my team members to learn more about the Legacy Mastermind. You and her will walk through what the Legacy Mastermind can do for you and if it’s the right fit. You can snag a spot in her scheduler here.
If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to leave your biggest takeaway in the comment and/or share it to your audience!
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Email: allison@allisonhardy.com
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