Raise your hand if it’s been forever since you emailed your list.
And yes, it’s okay if you raised your hand.
This problem is more common than you’d think. Especially among established mission-driven business owners who have achieved success in their businesses. It’s even more true for client-based businesses, like coaches, consultants, and service-based businesses.
Why?
Because we (and I count myself in this group) don’t need as many clients as physical product businesses need customers. Once our client rosters are filled up, we feel like we can coast for a while.
BTW, product-based business folks, if you are in a situation where you have a steady stream of customers who support your mission and you feel like you can coast for a while, fantastic! Go you! Keep up the good work.
Whichever group you identify with, I’m still going to recommend that you send your regular nurture emails. Because eventually, you will have that hole in your client schedule, or your customers won’t buy as often.
And when that happens, you want to keep that steady stream of revenue coming in every month. Sorry to be mercenary, but marketing is all about supporting your bottom line so you can fulfill your mission and support your clients/customers.
Welcome to Part 2 of my series on why you feel like email marketing keeps failing you and how to transform whatever you currently have into a viable marketing channel that helps you grow a supportive community of subscribers who become customers and/or clients.
Last week I gave you a bunch of Do-It-Yourself solutions. And a couple of DIY-with-my-assistance solutions.
This week’s issue is focused more on when you’re ready to have someone else (in this case, me) do it all for you. Though there will be some parts I’ll still suggest you take care of yourself.
First, I’m going to pose a question:
When Is The Right Time to Hand Off Your Email Marketing to a Pro?
This is the question that business owners of every stripe ask at some point.
Being in a position where you can outsource some of your work, especially the stuff you don’t enjoy doing, is a fantastic place to be. I’ve done it myself and it is so freeing.
Knowing that someone I trust is taking care of the parts of my business I’m not good at (in my case, bookkeeping) relieves me of that responsibility. This gives me more time to focus on the parts that I am good at, like writing emails and building funnels for myself and my clients.
I know that letting someone else take over any part of your business can feel terrifying. Trust me, I feel that way too. But eventually you reach that point where “I want to do this myself when I have time” becomes “This just needs to get done and don’t have the bandwidth.”
Here are a few indicators that it might be time to outsource your email marketing:
- You haven’t sent an email of any kind to your list in a month or longer, and you know there are good prospects on that list, because you personally promised you’d follow up with them.
- You have a half-finished sales funnel sitting somewhere that you really need to be up and running, so it can bring in new clients for you.
- You’ve got a full client roster right now and it’s keeping you too busy to deal with your email marketing. However, you know you’re going to lose some of those clients soon, and you just don’t have time to deal with your email marketing right now. You also know that if you don’t, you’ll have a huge gap in your schedule and your revenue.
If you see yourself in any of these scenarios, it’s time.
Your business, your mission, and your sanity need you to let these tasks on your never-ending to-do list go. Then, you’ll have the energy and focus to bring your light to the world and support your people at the level they need from you. And time to enjoy the life you’ve built for yourself, doing all of this amazing work.
Email marketing is my brilliance, and I would love to shine that light to support your business and your mission.
“What If I Just Need Something Simple?”
For most client-based businesses, you have one basic offer and it usually involves someone booking a consultation with you first.
Simple.
All you need is one lead generation funnel that gives people a reason to opt in, like taking a quiz or downloading a lead magnet, and a welcome sequence that asks them to book a consultation.
Then your weekly nurture email, written by you, continues to remind them of why they were interested in working with you in the first place, while encouraging them to book that consultation with you.
If you don’t have that set up already, when are you going to build it yourself?
I see you glancing nervously at your calendar and getting a bit shame-faced because I just called you out on something you know you really need to do, but you just don’t have the time for.
I get it.
I work with a lot of coaches, consultants, and service-based business owners in this very situation.
I also work with business owners who have more complicated needs, like a single funnel that sends people to different offers, depending on the results of a quiz. Or one that prequalifies people to ensure they’re the right fit before they ever get on the phone with my client.
That’s why I offer a Done-For-You Funnel service, where you and I create a strategy based on your business’s needs and the clients you want to attract, then you hand the work of building the whole thing off to me.
I check in with you during the build, to get approval in stages. I walk you through the entire funnel, so you know how everything works and you can make changes in the future if needed. Most importantly, we stress test your funnel before you ever send it out into the wild to attract your ideal clients.
I also follow up with you at 30, 60, and 90 days to confirm your funnel is working properly, and to make fixes to any problems you may be having.
You get a fully-functioning lead generation funnel that grows your email list and puts consultations on your calendar regularly.
Meanwhile, as a special bonus, you get access to the Email Writing Accountability Group during your build. That way, you can warm up your current list and stay consistent with sending your nurture emails once your funnel is up, running, and bringing in new subscribers.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “I know I need this funnel, and it isn’t going to build itself because I just don’t have the time…” Let’s talk. There’s no obligation and I promise you’ll walk away from our conversation with something that will help you move forward.
If nothing else, I can help you assess whether this really is something you can (and will) do yourself, or if you need me to take this off your plate, so you can keep serving your clients and fulfilling your mission.
I invite you to find a time on my calendar that works for you.
Then you can finally get this long-awaited funnel working for you and stop worrying about those dry spells every client-based business goes through.
When It’s All Too Much and You Need Someone Else to Do It For You
As I said earlier, you may need a more complicated funnel to direct the right people to the right products or services.
Or you may need multiple funnels that work together, creating an entire email marketing system.
And you may launch sales campaigns regularly to bring new clients or customers in for a specific service, such as a course or retreat, that lead to your highest-level service.
Yes, that’s a lot.
Yes, the idea of doing all of that yourself is incredibly intimidating to an already overloaded coach, consultant, or service-based business owner.
Having someone take over everything for you, who is always there to help with strategy and organization, and who takes care of the actual campaigns and funnels would mean you could focus on making your business sustainable for you, and everyone who relies on your brilliance to help them achieve their goals and dreams.
Again, I get it.
This is what I do all day, every day for my clients.
We set up a customized strategy for your email marketing system, so I know what your goals are and how you want your people to get there. Then I go to work and make it all happen.
That includes writing the welcome and sales emails, writing and building the lead magnets, as well as the landing and sales pages, handling the automation, testing the system, and keeping everything running smoothly. All in your voice, communicating your vision, values, and mission, and attracting your ideal clients.
Depending on your business and how you prefer to work, I will even write your weekly nurture emails for you. I will always recommend that you write these yourself, even if it’s just once a month. However, I realize some people don’t have the time or the interest to make that happen regularly.
By the way, I work closely with the clients I do this for, so I’m always capturing their voice, their values, and their mission. I also help create their promotions calendar, so their email marketing aligns with, and can be based on, every other marketing effort they’re sharing.
Here’s what one of my clients had to say about working with me:
If you’re ready to hand off your email marketing, so you know it gets done without you having to do it all yourself, let’s talk.
Please schedule a consultation with me to see if we’re the right fit and how we can work together to make sure your email marketing is building strong relationships with your subscribers, so they turn into customers and clients.
I hope you now understand why your email marketing always felt like it was failing, and that, between these two newsletter issues, I’ve offered at least one solution that will work well for you and your business.
I look forward to the opportunity to help you even more, whether it’s us working together or you using one of my free resources and continuing to read these newsletters.
Finally, this week’s picture is of a glorious sunset from a recent beach walk here in Ventura.
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