Ep. 051: Ethical Selling in Uncertain Times
In the best of times selling can be one of the hardest parts of running a business. Even for entrepreneurs who are making money, it can still feel cringey to ask for a sale.
Now add a global pandemic to the mix where people are genuinely freaked out and many are in difficult financial situations and it feels like it would be wildly unethical to sell. But it's not! Tune in to hear more about it and why you don't need to start giving away everything for free.
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Erika Tebbens: Bro marketing culture and sketchy MLMs have given modern business a bad reputation. It feels harder than ever to succeed as an entrepreneur, even though we've got an abundance of info and tech, right at our fingertips. If you feel frustrated, running your business, stress over your sales schools or are baffled by marketing strategies, you've come to the right place.
You deserve to run a successful sustainable business without spamming all of your friends or wasting time and money on marketing gimmicks. This is The Sell It Sister, Podcast, and you're going to learn how to make more money without complex systems or sleazy sales tactics. I'm Erika Tebbens, and I teach highly motivated female and gender expansive entrepreneurs that selling doesn't have to suck. I've been running successful businesses and teaching others how to sell smarter, earn more and create raving fans for over 15 years. And I'm excited to share what I've learned with you. If you want success without truly serving your clients, profits without any passion, or the next get rich quick scheme, I'm not your gal. But if you're all in as an entrepreneur, want to make a difference with your work, and are ready to run a business you're proud of, then get ready to sell it, sister.
If you find that you're struggling with sales conversations, if they stress you out, or you find that you're always stumbling over your words, or you're not closing as many sales as you like, or you just are really petrified of coming across as that pushy sales person. I have great news for you. I have eight totally free, completely. A hundred percent free, no catch, no sleaze sales method guide just for you. So when you download this guide and I'll give you the URL in just a second, you are going to be able to start selling smarter this week.
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I know. I do. I know it's worked for me for many, many, many years. I know my clients love it too. It gives them a ton of confidence when it comes to selling. And that confidence translates to closing more sales. Right? So if you need this, if this is a tool that seems like it's beneficial to you, I want you to go to bit.ly/sellit sisterpodcast, it's all lowercase. And it's all one word. Again, that's B I T dot L Y Bitly, essentially forward slash sell it sister podcast. It's really, really quick to go through. But if you have any questions or anything, be sure to reach out because I want to make sure that you are a selling superstar.
Welcome back to the podcast. Today I want to talk about how to ethically sell in uncertain times. Because if you're listening to this in real time, when it first airs, it's a really weird time. And hopefully if you're listening to this six months from now, things are better. But who knows only time will tell.
Uh, I know that selling, even in the best of times, uh, gives people the heebie-jeebies. We feel bad. We feel greedy. We feel sleazy, slimy, icky, all sorts of feelings. Right? But then something happens like a global pandemic, and a lot of people are out of work, and things feel financially terrifying. And all of a sudden it's like, well, if I'm making any sort of money right now, I'm probably a terrible person. Right? Um, I'm a horrible, terrible greedy opportunistic person. And I would say that, sure. If you bought up a bunch of baby formula and now you're trying to resell it on the local, you know, Facebook marketplace, garage sale site for a 300% markup, yeah. You're being pretty opportunistic and terrible, but I know that's not, you, you are just trying to keep your business running. Right? So, uh, one thing that I want you to think about first, actually two things, and these are, uh, these are some like practical mindset related things.
I want you to think about the fact that we generally view people who have money as evil, right? That's sort of a, a thread that we have. If, you know, if you grew up in America, you just feel like, well, money equals greed, money equals bad person. Uh, and you know, money equals you've done something horrible to get it. But I want you instead to think about all of the really amazing philanthropic people who are able to give generously and really bless others with their money because they have excess money.
Right? So people like Oprah, Melinda Gates, uh, Ellen, um, Bernay Brown, Glennon Doyle. Oh my gosh. There's just, there are so many there's many many, many more than I'm not even able to think of in this moment. Right? And even in local communities, there are local philanthropists, local wealthy people who give back generously to their own communities.
And these might not be famous on a national or a global level, but it doesn't mean that they aren't making a difference for the people who live and work near them. So when you have extra money, when you, you know, when you are, when you have an abundance, you are able to do great things with that abundance.
And just because some people choose not to, doesn't mean that you can't or that you won't. Right? So it's really important to just have that mental shift, first of all. And know that when you are making money, and when you are still spending in your local economy, that that really helps people, right? So if you have the extra money to, uh, be spending with any local restaurants that are still open for, um, to go orders. If you have extra money that you can donate to food banks or to Venmo too, uh, ER, an urgent care nurses who are working frantically right now. That is really great. That is a way that you can do real good with your money. Another thing I want you to think about the other thing is, think about places that you love to spend money. Think about times where you have spent money with somebody, for a product or a service that made your life better.
That solved a problem. That you were really happy that you spent that money. This could be something as simple as the person who does your hair. Right? I love getting my hair done. It's not inexpensive. Uh, but I love the person that I go to. She is so professional. She's so fun. I, like feel better afterwards.
I'm just, I'm so happy to spend that money. And then I think about other people who, uh, maybe, you know, redid my branding. Or, uh, were, uh, paid coaches of mine. Or have done, uh, branding photo shoots for me. Any of those things. They're not things that are necessary for me to live, but they helped me solve a problem.
And it felt like money well spent. And even just, you know, if you have a local favorite restaurant that you go to every Friday, and it's sort of like your cheers, they all, they all know you. And you just love it there. And it feels like, you know, home away from home, you probably don't feel bad about giving them your money.
Right? So there are a lot of times where we spend money on things where we are actually so excited that we were able to spend money with that person that we either go back again and again, or, you know, we recommend that person to as many people as possible, because we just had such a great experience.
Right? So those are two really important mindset shifts that come with the giving and receiving of money that need to be in place before we can talk about actually selling. Okay? So if you know that you have been helped buy a product or service that you were happy, you spent money on, then it's possible to see that whatever it is that you are selling also has value to somebody else.
So I'm going to give a few examples and how in these examples, how this service, this person, this business, can really be a blessing for someone else. And then we will talk about pricing and, and, uh, you know, offers and payment plans and things of that nature for the time being. But I just want to give you these examples first.
So let's say you're a social media manager and you help people get found by their ideal clients on Instagram. So right now, people who've been getting clients from in-person networking desperately need your help. Right? So if they can't afford to put their business on hold, they can't go to any in-person networking events.
They need you. Right? So if they can't network face to face, they risk that decline in their business. But they also don't necessarily want to spend the time or the energy to just researching Instagram and the trial and error to hope that they get it, right? Because maybe now let's say, they have kids that they're homeschooling suddenly, right?
They don't actually have any extra time to figure this out. Well, you can come along and say, "Hey, I can help you. I can, I have a solution for you that is going to protect your business. And it's something that I am an expert in."
Okay. So that's example one. Example two, could be that if you're a digital course expert who helps one-on-one service providers move their knowledge and skills online, well, right now, you know, people who are offering in-person stuff that has been impacted. And writing a course, putting together a course, selling a course, all of that, is really, it can be really daunting and really scary and challenging and incredibly time-consuming. Right? So if you listen to the previous episodes about making a course and selling a course, you know, that there's a lot that goes into it.
So again, if you are really desperate right now to do this pivot and to be able to still impact people online, it could be in your best interest to hire somebody who is going to help you through the process. Or my third example is you're a life coach for moms and you help them navigate mindset and parenting issues.
Well, right now, working parents are being asked to be home all day with their children. And homeschool them. Right? So now they, they can't go to their office anymore. Now they're doing their work from home. And now their kids are at home. And now they're also educating them. That's a lot. Right? So it's all of these new challenges on top of the old challenges that were already there.
So you can help them deal with the challenging feelings around this and help them create new routines and structure and communication tactics and all of that. Right? So these are things that are really, really, really vital. And I don't want you to just endlessly give away all of this for free. So again, like I said, well, we'll chat a few ways of how you can maybe be more price and financially like sensitive in just a second. But here's why I don't want you to do it for free all of it, because burnout is real. So I know from experience that if I am actively coaching clients, I kind of max out at three hours in a day. Right? So I can do other stuff. I can be on other calls. I can like do consulting calls, discovery calls. I can do other things. But when it comes to actively coaching, I really can't see more than three clients a day.
Otherwise, I'm just not good beyond that point. And I also have the other things in my business that need to keep it moving forward, like marketing and all of that. So I can't sacrifice that time or else I'm hurting my future business. So I don't, I definitely don't want to do that. So I can't just open up my schedule to unlimited free coaching. Right now, or any time, because it's going to take away from showing up as my best self for my paying clients. And it's going to take away from me showing up as my best self in my own business to keep moving my business forward. But if you're like, well, you know, "What can I do?" I, I know that people are hurting. I know that maybe, uh, you know, people who are in your ideal client pool are really struggling. So here are some ways that you can think about showing up and serving and doing it in a way that is sensitive to what is happening right now, or if there's another challenging time in the future. So you can teach stuff for free.
So this is going to maximize your time because it's one to many, right? Instead of one-to-one, it's one to many. Now, chances are you're already giving away a lot of great free content and help. So please don't discount the fact that you're probably already giving away a lot of great free value to people. But you can use your social media, a blog, a podcast, whether that's your own or other people's, uh, zoom like host like a group coaching on zoom or group co-working on zoom or just a try, like a free training on zoom. Free Facebook group, you can be, um, on other people's platforms to show up and teach something useful with your expertise. I know there's a lot of free online summits happening right now and all sorts of stuff.
So there are ways that you can do a one to many model of sharing your, your talents and your knowledge and your skills. Another thing you can do is offer, um, flexible payment options on any of your existing offers, right? So let's say you have a a three month coaching package. Will maybe you feel comfortable spreading out the payments for people who need it to four months, five months, six months, whatever you see fit.
And then you just make sure you have a really good contract in place. If you have a course that you normally have like a two payment option on maybe split that to three payments. Uh, or if you are like, well, I am doing, you know, a one-on-one coaching or one-on-one, um, you know, a done for you service, and you don't want to spread out the payments, you can decrease the deliverables.
So maybe make a smaller package right now that still honors you and your expertise and your time and all of that, but it maybe has fewer components in it. And if you feel comfortable, you can do a pay what you want or pay what you can. And please give people a suggested price range. Uh, in terms of creating new offers, it is possible to do a one-off offer right now that helps to sort of like triage what is happening for people. So you heard in my intro, um, the offer I'm doing right now, prioritize to profit. That was something that I felt inspired to do because it's adjacent to what I normally focus on, but it is what is urgent for a lot of people right now.
So to go back to the earlier examples I gave, a social media marketer could give someone a content calendar to implement. So that could be a smaller one-off offer something that is, you know, under $500. Uh, you give them the, their content calendar, and then they have to implement it on their own. A course creator you could charge for just an outline.
So you tell people here is the outline, and now you go create it. And then that's it like, that's where the work ends. And then if they want, you know, future ongoing help, then they can pay you for a regular package. Uh, or if you're that life coach, you could do a one hour session instead of like, let's say maybe you start with like a minimum of three or something.
Maybe you just do a one hour session right now to help them keep, you know, get unstuck and keep moving forward. Uh, and one other thing that you can do if you're like, "I don't want to change anything about what I'm doing." Right? Like maybe you just have one package and you don't want to offer a smaller one-off, uh, or you don't want to change things up, but you still want to do something.
I have seen people who are diverting a portion of the money from sales to a community resource that is in need of support right now. So for instance, you know, if you have a $500 offer, let's say then for every new person, that books that offer you are going to give $50 or a hundred dollars to the local food bank.
So that is, those are various ways where if you are so feeling like I need or want to do something right now, hopefully that gave you some ideas. And I really want you to think, you know, when, if you are thinking about creating a new offer. Before you do it, I want you to pause and ask yourself, "Am I doing this out of, you know, scarcity or fear, or am I doing this out of love and being of service?"
So I'm going to give you a very real example. Because you know, I'm all about being real and, and transparent. So I love to strategize business for people. I love it, love it, love it. And I thought, okay, well, what if I did a small one-off offer who, you know, for people who need to pivot right now, right? To help them strategize what they can do.
And then I started thinking about it and I was like, "That would be really unethical. Because at the end of the day, I don't have all the answers." Like if somebody is an, a Massage Therapist, right? That's an in-person thing. And they don't do, like, I know some people who do massage, but they also do energy work and they can do energy work, like be a zoom and, and over the phone and things like that.
I'm just talking, I'm not talking about those people I'm talking about just pure, uh, Massage Therapists. That is not something that can easily be switched to an online model. Like sure, you can teach people, some self massage techniques and things like that. But like, if people want to go and have that 60 minute massage, they want that 60 minute massage.
And I don't have an answer right now for people. So I don't want to say like, "Oh, book this call and we'll chat for an hour and I'm going to help you pivot. And I'm going to give you all these new ideas and everything's going to be fine." Because the reality is, is like, I don't have an answer for everyone. We don't know how long this is going to last.
I cannot guarantee that every business and every person in every industry is going to be fine. So that wasn't something that I could feel good about offering. And it kind of just hit me, like, you know, like a lightning bolt the other night, is that I realized I have been homeschooling and running businesses for 10 years.
I had this, this new reality has been my reality. And in a lot of ways, I felt really guilty for that. I felt very privileged for that. Uh, I am not, I'm not scrambling right now. I, my son is 14. He's very independent. I'm incredibly lucky. I do not take any of this for granted of how lucky I am. And it occurred to me that one of the things I love to do is help people, especially moms, when we create their business plan, like their strategic marketing plan is how the hell to actually get it all done.
Right? And this is something that's just baked into what I do because it's, it's just part of my life. It's part of my reality. It's part of what I've had to figure out is how to maximize a really limited schedule, uh, where I'm juggling a lot of stuff all at one time. And so I realized that like, no, it's not for everyone, but there is something that I can do for certain people right now. Because, because a lot of my people right now, depending on what they're doing, like, they don't necessarily, they're not necessarily thinking about like, "Oh, well, six months from now, when I, you know, launch this new thing," they are like, "Hey, I already have paid client work that needs to get done. And now I'm, I have everyone in my home. I have no childcare and I'm homeschooling. I, I literally don't know how I'm going to do the work that I've already been paid for much less how to keep marketing, to bring in new works, that my business doesn't collapse, you know, next month or three or six months from now." So when I had that, that like light bulb moment, I realized, "Oh, I actually do have something that I can offer out of love and being of service to people and not out of a fear or a scrambling feeling of like, oh my gosh, I just got to get something out there."
Like, no. So take a pause. Think I'm it messaged me, you know, I love to hang out on Instagram, @erikatebbensconsulting, reach out. If you're like, "I don't know. Should I create a new offer? I don't know what that new offers should be. Should I just like, keep going as I was going, whatever." Absolutely reach out to me.
I'm happy to help. I'm happy to answer questions. I, you know, I'm not making any promises, but I don't want you to feel like just because some other people are pivoting, that you necessarily have to. Or that you have to scrap everything and start from zero. Chances are, you don't. Um, but I do want to encourage you that no matter what you decide, that if you are showing up with good intentions and wanting to serve people and you have value, you have something that will help another person, that, that is always okay. It does not make you unethical to charge for that. Uh, in, in any way, you know, like we don't, I know, like I'm not going to rant about like healthcare in America, but like that's, you know, that's not really my shtick on his podcast, but like, we, we don't say that like nurses and doctors shouldn't get paid, right?
Like all of these people who are risking their lives right now. We might have issues with like how our healthcare system is set up and insurance and all that. But we aren't, we are not asking these people to work for free. Uh, if anything, you know, we I've seen so many people showing up to help out nurses right now with, you know, money for meals and coffee and things like that.
People making masks just tons and tons of, of generosity. So in the same way that you wouldn't ask a doctor or a nurse or any other person to work for free, you don't need to work for free either. Because at the end of the day, you're running a business. You are valuable, even if maybe that is, is hard to admit, but you do have something that is incredibly valuable to other people.
It's been valuable to the people who've already worked with you. It will be valuable to the people who have yet to work with you. So please keep that in mind. Please reach out if you need me. Uh, it's a weird time. I think, you know, the more that we can just show up for each other, even if it's to say, "I'm a hot freaking mess right now, and I'm scared and I don't know what's going on."
Like that's okay. We're living in a different reality now. Uh, and, and it's okay. Like it's, things have changed and it's okay to acknowledge that. All right. Thank you for tuning in. I really do appreciate you giving your time to being here with me and as always, happy selling.
Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of The Sell It, Sister Podcast. If you loved it and you want more, be sure to subscribe. So that you never miss an episode and then head on over to sellitsisterhood.com to join my free Facebook community group. And as your mama said, "Sharing is caring." So if you got a lot of value out of this episode, be sure to share it with your biz besties too.
Okay. Now get out there and sell it, sister.
