Show Notes

Erika Tebbens is a Sales Strategist for ambitious misfits who want success, but aren’t willing to compromise who they are to get there. She works with service-providers, consultants, and coaches to create custom growth plans that avoid complex systems, sleazy sales tactics, or battling burnout and hosts the weekly Sell it, Sister! Podcast where she dishes out B.S.-free business advice.

Contact Erica:

Website: https://erikatebbensconsulting.com/

Instagram:  instagram.com/erikatebbensconsulting

No Sleaze Sales Method guide: bit.ly/nosleazeselling

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Watch the Podcast Here:

Hey there. Thanks for listening and welcome to the marketing matchmaker podcast. If you're looking to grow your business, increase your revenue and scale your impact all while staying true to who you are and the people you serve. This is the show for you. I'm Jennifer Tamborski, digital marketing strategists, fractional CMO, and founder of Virtual Marketing Experts. My team and I work with six and seven figure coaches, consultants, and online entrepreneurs who are tired of playing the guru game of one size fits all marketing. They're ready to create a business and marketing strategy that actually builds relationships with their ideal clients creates massive shifts in their business and rapidly increases their revenue. As your marketing matchmaker, I'm going to help you find the perfect marketing match for you. This show will teach you how to reach your ideal client, connect with your audience, build that perfect relationship and generate more revenue. All through a process I like to call dating your ideal client. Now let's go have some fun!

Jennifer (01:14):

Hey there everyone. Welcome back to the Marketing Matchmaker. I am super excited about today days guest. We generally hear talk about marketing and today we're going to dive into how marketing kind of relates to sales and starts that synergistic growth of your business. And more importantly, how you can do it in a way that is authentic to you and feels comfortable. So my guest today is Erica Tebbens. She's a sales strategist for ambitious misfits who want success, but aren't willing to compromise who they are to get there. She works with service providers, consultants, and coaches to create custom growth plans that avoid complex systems, sleazy sales tactics, or battling burnout with 17 years of experience running successful businesses from solo operations to multi-million dollar retail teams. She knows there's no one perfect way to operate. Only one. That's perfectly aligned for you, your strengths, values, and visions. She also hosts a weekly Sell It Sister podcast, where she dishes out BS-free business advice. Welcome Erica. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Erica (02:39):

Yeah. Thank you for having me.

Jennifer (02:41):

I love, before we started the camera's audio rolling, we were kind of talking about sales and the no sleaze sales method that you teach people. So tell me a little bit about what that means.

Erica (02:59):

Yeah, so essentially, I, when I started my current business, cause I've had lots of different businesses, I've run since about 2004. When I started this one, four years ago, I actually had a totally different focus. I was going to focus on customer experience and I was just not getting any traction with that. And I was really confused and I was doing a lot of voice of the customer research, trying to be a good marketer. And I was like, I was talking to all these people who were like, yeah, like, you know, getting like providing a great customer experience. Sounds great. Having, like I was talking about like how you can get raving fans and that helps grow your business. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That all sounds great. The problem is like, I don't have not like getting enough clients to begin with for, to make sense to hire you for that.

Erica (03:49):

And I was like, this is very baffling. Like people kept saying the same thing over and over. And so I took a step back. I got curious and I was like, what is, what could help them? Like, what is this gap? And can I fill it? And I realized that a huge part of the problem was, was they felt weird about selling. And I was like, why is this not like, this doesn't seem to be an issue for me. And so I really started to dig deep and I was like, oh, okay. I see exactly what it is. And I know how to find a workaround. Like I know how to teach people how to do it in the way that I do it, which has always just felt really natural and good and like just like a regular conversation. And so I put it into a framework that is really easy to remember because it's just the word SALES, just the acronym S-A-L-E-S.

Jennifer (04:44):

I love that. I love first. I love the fact that you took a step back after talking to who you wanted to work with and looked at the problem, like from a different perspective. Cause I think a lot of people often forget to do that. They have this like tunnel vision of this is what I'm going to do. And then when it doesn't work, they forget that maybe what they wanted to do, wasn't what their audience needed or wanted from them. So I love that perspective. So how do people sell, and it come naturally to them?

Erica (05:22):

Yeah. So I think it's very much like anything that we have to practice, right? Like knitting or skiing or cooking or whatever it is. We get more comfortable. The more that we do it. I mean, I think it's also important to remember that a lot of times, you know, we have been conditioned to, you know, not really ask anything of people or to not like value ourselves or to not put ourselves out there and say like, I can help you if you pay me. Right. That's not something that of us are really culturally conditioned to believe is, is okay. So there's that hurdle that we have to get over. And then there's also a lot of fear of rejection, right? Like that doesn't feel good, but it's also just part and parcel of doing business. And it's very, very normal and there are ways that you can get better at sales and, you know, with your messaging and your marketing and all of that.

Erica (06:23):

So that you're actually attracting the types of people who are more likely to say yes, but also like I like to remind people that sometimes no is actually "not now" and "not now" doesn't mean "not ever". Right. We can probably all think of somebody who we eventually invested in or something we eventually purchased, but we just needed a little bit more time. Right. So the first thing that I in the sales framework is the first S is set the tone. So it's set a welcoming tone. And what I mean by that is like really in everything that you do and everything that you put out there, I like to equate it to, if you went into a really nice boutique, you would expect that they would pay attention to you, right? Like that somebody would greet you that they would maybe introduce themselves, say, hi, see if you needed any help and just be, you know, they would, they would set that really good tone. So anywhere that you're putting out anything, whether it's on social media or content you're putting out or trainings you're doing, or even at the beginning of a sales call, you just want to make the other person sort of feel like seen, heard, and welcome into your space.

Jennifer (07:46):

Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think one of the things that people forget often is that sales and marketing are kind of interrelated, right? Yes. So your marketing should be warming up your audience to get them to that sales call and building that rapport on that first sales call is so important. I think one of the things that you said was that no, it doesn't necessarily mean no forever. It's not right now. And the part of that I think is, is your sales cycle, right? Learning how often you need to connect with your audience to really get them ready to say yes. So if they get, so they start with building rapport, getting someone on a call and, and kind of building that connection. So what's the second step. What's the "A"

Erica (08:40):

Yeah. So the second step is, so this kind of goes back to like what I said at the beginning about that customer research. Like you can do this in general, but you can also do this in specific on the sales calls and that's ask good questions. So when we know what people really need and are struggling with, we can make better suggestions. We're not assuming we can really get to the heart of the matter. Now, sometimes we, you know, the way that our ideal clients would say, like the thing that they're saying that they're struggling with, we as experts might have a deeper or more like more holistic understanding of what is causing them to struggle with that. But at the same time, it's good to just like get it in their own words. So I always just like to say, like ask good questions, like when you're engaging with people, you know, again, like some of this can even be done in terms of a sales call, like in a really good intake form.

Erica (09:44):

Right. You can ask some really good questions on your intake form before you even hop on zoom or hop on the phone, but you can also do this. If you are thinking about a new offer you're creating or anything you can post in your stories, you can ask on Facebook on LinkedIn wherever, and just really see like, Hey, is this, you know, is this thing an issue or is it really more like this thing, right? Or there's different ways that you can craft questions to really, you know, not be like loose. Open-Ended like, what's your biggest challenge in business right now, but like really good thoughtful questions.

Jennifer (10:26):

Yeah, I mean, it's gathering the information you need right before in order to both market and sell. Cause that's the whole point of business. And asking your ideal clients what their struggles are, is going to help you a whole lot faster. I think than assuming. Right?

Erica (10:47):

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'll give like a, kind of a good example. That really is just this just happened yesterday. Actually, a friend reached out and said, I have a client who needs help with reels, with doing reels. And you know, I want to know, like, I know, you know, a lot of people, Erica, who do you know, who can help with that? And then I responded and I was like, does your client need help with the tech side? Like learning how to do them? Do they need help with the strategic plan for like the content of them? Do they, you know, like I was like, I was asking questions. Cause I'm like, depending on the answers, I'm going to, which this goes like a perfect segue into the next one, which is L which is listen, limit and lead at stands for all three.

Erica (11:40):

But then like I, so it was my friend, Rachel, she sent me a message on Voxer, said, I have a client who needs help with reels. So then I am like, okay, you know what, with reels, like, let's talk more about this. And she was like, oh, great question. I'm going to go, I'm going to go ask them. Right. So when you listen, when you're a good listener them, you can limit the options. Right. Cause I don't want to just say, oh, or here are 10 different people they can go to. That's overwhelming, super overwhelming. So you want to limit it to two or three? No more than three options that you're going to direct someone to, preferably to, again, cause like, there's that saying? The confused mind says no. So we don't want to overwhelm people. And then you want to lead them to whichever one you think is better.

Erica (12:33):

So let's say you have a, I don't know, a high touch one-to-one service and you have like a DIY course for the thing that you do as you're talking to somebody and you're asking those good questions, you might think like, you know what, here are, you know, here are a couple options, right? I have high touch one-to-one I have my DIY course. And honestly I feel like for where you're at and what you need, probably you'd be fine with the course or you are super, super busy. I don't really feel that the course is going to serve you the best. I actually think that like you could still take it or maybe you have somebody on your team who could take in implement the strategy for you. But I actually think we should do this one-to-one right. So you're, you're listening so that you can limit the options, the suggestions that you're going to make and you're going to lead them to whatever you honestly think is going to be the best for them.

Jennifer (13:37):

I love that. I love that because part of it is when, when we go back to the dating your ideal client concept, it's about creating a relationship. And if you're listening to what they need and then providing them, what's going to best serve them. That relationship, that bond, that interaction is going to become stronger, where they end up becoming lifetime customers. Not just one offs.

Erica (14:04):

Yes, exactly. And I feel like there's a couple parts of this. So on the one hand, like where I said, honestly, you know, whatever that thing is, it might be your lowest cost thing you have. But like you said, with lifetime customers, they will be so appreciative that you did not try to just sell them your highest price thing, just to get extra money that builds a tremendous amount of trust, which leads to them coming back again and again, and becoming raving fans and telling their friends and on the, you know, on the flip side of that, like even if it is like, what, like whatever it is, if you realize, I actually don't think I'm the right fit. Like I've done this before, where I'm talking to somebody and I'm like, I really think what you need is a messaging expert. Like somebody who that is all they do.

Erica (15:03):

Like I can do messaging since it's part of marketing with my clients, but like a specific messaging expert. And I will say like, I have, you know, a couple people who I recommend, I'm going to give you their contact info. You can check them out. Because again, that does the same thing. Like it shows to them that you are operating in integrity and that you have their best interests at heart and they might actually never need you. But the moment anyone they know needs, the thing you offer, you will be top of mind and they will sing your praises because they'll know that you're legit.

Jennifer (15:40):

Yeah. Yeah. And that's so true because I think, I think often when people start growing their business, start selling, whatever it is that they offer that sometimes they do it from a place of scarcity. And like, I need this client as opposed to looking at it from a place of the right client will come to me and then I will be able to service them. And so I do that a lot. There's a lot of people that come to me and they're not ready for ads. They're just not, they don't have whatever structure, framework, whatever. And so I'll refer them to whoever that person is that they need. And oftentimes they circle right back to me when they're ready. And I think that's, it's about building trust, right? That's the whole point of a relationship, the know like, and trust and kind of growing that. So what does the E stand for?

Erica (16:33):

Yeah. So the E is really brief. It's sort of like a bridge between the "L" and the "S", which we'll see in a minute. E stands for expect the yes. So this is really can be really hard, especially at first, as you're getting better with this, it's just a little reminder for yourself of like, I'm about to suggest the thing I'm about to make the ask. And I trust that I have done what I need to do up until this point in integrity. And in service to the other person that I can expect a yes or that like, even if it's, even if it's not a yes, like again, this will all be okay. Like I've done, I'm doing a good job. Right. So it's expect the, yes. So it's just like a reminder to like, just like take a little breath and just, you know, kind of like release the tension and that some of the nerves, because the last one is suggest, so this is when you're going to say, Hey, I think that the best solution for you would be X and then just pause, take a sip of water if you need to something, just breathe.

Erica (17:58):

Because, and, and even for me, like, I think it's our natural human tendency to want to fill empty space. Especially when it's a new relationship with somebody, right? Like if it's our best friend we've had forever, like there can be empty space and it's not awkward, but we, we sort of default myself included to want to just like, keep talking at that point, but just you put it out there, take a breath, pause, wait, and listen for what they say. So you can say, you know, I, I think that you should do X here's how we would get started. Tell me your thoughts or does that feel like it would work for you or, you know, however you want to kind of wrap that up, whatever feels natural for you and then just wait to see what they have to say. Yeah.

Jennifer (18:48):

So what does, because I think one of the things that I like to go over in the podcast or with my clients in general is answering objections before they get on a call with you, right, before you're selling them. And there's always objections that come up when you're on a sales call of some kind or other. So how do people go about answering objections? What do you suggest that they prepare in order to answer them?

Erica (19:18):

Yeah. So since you are a marketing expert, we already talked about it a little bit already on in terms of like the voice of the customer research and stuff is the best preventative two objections is being super, super clear on who is the best fit to work with you, why that would be, and the promises like results, transformations, all of that, of your offers, because any of that front end marketing component is going to automatically bring more qualified people to you. Another thing you can do is if you have applications or intake forms, that's where some of those really good questions can live, that serve as qualifiers. And it's totally okay if you have stuff on there that automatically disqualifies people. Cause it's not that you are being rude or exclusive. Like for instance, I have a group program it's only meant for people who've already worked with clients and it's not meant for people who sell products only for services.

Erica (20:39):

Now, do I have other ways that, you know, I could potentially help those people. Yes. But the group program is not the container for it. So in the application, it's very clear, right? Like have you already worked with clients? What type of business do you have? What type of offers do you have? Things like that? Because I want to ensure that they will be served to the best of my ability in that offer. And it doesn't feel in alignment for me to bring in somebody who I can not necessarily deliver on the promise I'm putting out there for that program. So you can have that in there, but then let's say they get to the call anyways. So I'm never somebody who's like, you have to decide on the call and give me your credit card number. And like all of that, I don't do that.

Erica (21:31):

But I think there are very real things, right. So if somebody says, you know, if, especially if it's a large investment, I need to talk to my partner. I always say like, honor that because I mean, it, could it be an excuse or could it be a lie? Like, cause they just don't want to say they're not interested or whatever, obviously it could. But a lot of times it really is like, this is a huge investment. And I, you know, I trust my partner and I want to like, I want to have a conversation with them about it. Right. And so I always give space for that. I always allow people to have agency over their own decisions. So one thing I might do is just saying, you know, great, you know, can you talk to them? Is this a conversation you're going to have tonight?

Erica (22:25):

Like, could I reach out tomorrow or, you know, within 48 hours, something like that. I always try to let them know sometime either, you know, 24, 48 hours when I will be following up just to see, see how things went and, and all of that. If you have a proposal process with the deadline, you can also just say, great, I'm going to send a proposal your way. It has, you know, the deadline date of whatever I'm going to reach out before that, that deadline and just to follow up. But that is, that is a really, really big one other ones. Usually a lot of times objections are just, it's like unanswered questions, right. It's things that maybe they feel uncertain about either in themselves or with your program. And so I just always liked to see like, okay, like what, what questions do you have? What can I answer honestly for you? And if it really is a not now, then I put a follow up mechanism in place for them based on a timeline. That makes sense.

Jennifer (23:33):

Awesome. I, I love that. It feels natural, right? I love that. What you're teaching has this relationship quality to it that we can, we can help with that. What is, how do you, how do you have people practices? Cause that was like at the beginning of the show and that's what we were talking about is it's practice. And so what do you suggest people do in order to practice?

Erica (24:06):

Yeah, so I would say if you have any like business besties or anything like that, or even just a close, trusted friends that are not in business, just see if you can do some practice sessions with them and just, you know, you could say like, I feel really awkward. This feels really embarrassing, but you know, usually the people who care about us, they want to see us succeed. So they will probably happily be able to do some role playing with you. And you could even say like, I'm I want, you know, give me a few scenarios. Right? Like don't just immediately go like, yeah, great. Send the contractor, you know, like try it, try it a few different, a few different ways to see. And then I would just say, you know, whenever you are having those discovery calls and things like really just trying, like, I know this is easier said than done, but trying to remain calm.

Erica (25:13):

Like I have, I have a few clients who, what they do, cause I've like, I've a mini course that goes over all this too. So they have they have their notes for themselves. They have them like right by their computer and right before discovery call, they will go through again. Just so it's top of mine, I have one she's so sweet. She like has a post-it that's like, don't reduce your price. Like she had this habit of like, she would get to the price and she'd be like, well, let's blahbity blah, but for you I'll make it. You know, she has that like reminder and then just like sort of like having those positive affirmations for ourselves, like I can do this, like, remember to breathe, you've got this, whatever, whatever it takes, like to just really ground yourself and feel really good.

Erica (26:05):

I think that that really helps. And ultimately like, if you do notice that it's something keeps not being right, then it's an opportunity to go back. Kind of like how I said at the very beginning, like I was having all these conversations and nobody was hiring me. Right. Get curious. Cause it might not be like, you might legit have people who are saying like, this sounds great, but like, I just really can't like, I just, not right now where the price whatever, just get curious and think like, what else might need tweaking? Like, is it that I need different messaging to bring in different people because I want to only offer this offer and stick with that? Or is it time to like, think of, I wonder if there's a different offer that would serve these people better and then not that you have to create something for everyone, but I've had it before were several years ago,

Erica (27:04):

My first group program was created because all in the span of a few weeks, I kept having discovery calls with these amazing people who all very honestly were like, okay, you're going to be on my to hire list. I just really can't afford to work with you One-To-One and I knew they were being honest. And I was like, what if I just got all of these people who can't afford the one-to-one? Like, what if I did a group and I lowered the price, like maybe that would work. And so I tried it, I did like a beta round of my first group program ever. I reached back out to all of these people and they were like, yeah, that sounds amazing. And then like, I got them all as clients and it was really wonderful. So it's just, it's always an opportunity if you're getting a lot of no’s or not now to not judge yourself, but just get curious about what might need to shift.

Jennifer (27:59):

Awesome. I love this discussion. So if our audience is struggling with their sales, what's the best way for them to get ahold of you or to get in, to listen to your podcasts, to do what's the next step. What's your suggestion?

Erica (28:16):

Yeah. So I would say especially, you know, if you're multitasking while you're listening and you couldn't take notes, you can actually get that sales framework for free. If you go to bit dot L Y forward slash no sleaze selling. So it's all lowercase, all one word. If you go there, you will get that as a PDF, download for free and you'll get some emails from me. The other way is my Sell It Sister podcasts. So it comes out every week. I have over a hundred episodes. Now there is so much good stuff on sleaze, free selling over there. And the place where I hang out the most online is on Instagram at Erica Tebbens consulting. So I really do love meeting new people. I'm a super-duper extrovert. So if you are an Instagram, be sure to come over there and say, hi, tell me where you found me.

Jennifer (29:09):

Awesome. Thank you so much. I will have all of that information in the show notes. So be sure to reach out to Erica, if you have that sales struggle, if you're bringing in your leads and they are your ideal client, and you're not able to close them, maybe look at your sales. So before I let you go, Erica, do you have one last tip for our audience or suggestion?

Erica (29:39):

Yeah, I would just say that, like I, you know, I already mentioned, but sales is a learned skill and I truly believe that everyone can learn it. If you genuinely want to be of service to your ideal clients, with your business then you will always be coming from a place of integrity and wanting to do right by people, you are, you know, not having to convince anyone or do anything that is unethical. Like no, there are, there are people out there who will be absolutely delighted to pay you. They will be happy to pay you and get whatever amazingness that you have to offer. So just trust that you absolutely do have what it takes.

Jennifer (30:28):

Awesome. Thank you for that. And thank you. My friends for joining us, I look forward to having you back on our next episode of Marketing Matchmaker. I will talk to you soon.

Thank You for listening to the Marketing Matchmaker podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear your feedback. Please head over to iTunes and leave a review so we can hear from you. And if you are a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact connect with me at yourmarketingmatchmaker.com. I look forward to hearing from you.