By: Andrea Mac | July 26, 2023

If you can only take me in small doses, here's what's new:

What I am working on this week: Stakeholder Interviews! We have three clients right now relying on us to gather feedback and insights from their critical stakeholders (both internal and external.) I love this work. It's like piecing a puzzle together.  

What I read last week at the beach: Everyday Feminists by Latanya Mapp Frett (Its women involved in every and all movements that change the world for good. Such brilliant research and writing) and Poor Economics by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo (a book about what people experiencing poverty are able to achieve, and where, and for what reason they need a push.) You know, just some light reading. Let me know if anyone out there wants to have a mini-book discussion. 

 It's not all profound over here: You might also want to know that I have seen every season, every episode of both 90 Day Fiancé and Below Deck, even the spin-offs.  

Building Prequal (#6): Hello caller, what's your question?  

There are so many lessons that go along with being an entrepreneur and building a business. One of the early lessons I'm learning is that it's challenging to scale, and scale strategically. 

Some founders have the problem early in their business of not generating enough revenue or opportunities, and thank baby Jesus, I have not had that problem. Sidenote: I'd wonder how good of a sales coach I was if I had that problem. 

I have a different kind of problem. 

As a sales expert, my approach to generating revenue has always been to simplify sales into actionable steps. I have been doing this for a very long time for a variety of industries with a variety of professionals. I have a tool, a method, and a script for every step of the sales process, and I've tested it all. I have years of proof that my stuff works in all stages of the sales and business development continuum. 

When I can teach people the best practices and coach them through opportunities, I know I can make a real and direct impact, not only for that client and their business, but for my mission. I want to scale not only with revenue but with impact. The two go hand-in-hand. 

It has been my mission since the beginning to take the sales tools and methodologies I use to coach corporate clients and bring them to the masses of women who have started businesses in the wake of the pandemic. I really want to help women make more money and have greater economic empowerment. 

That being said, we are a small team. It's very hard to scale when you're a small team because training and consulting, when you do them right, take time. 

 Last week, I talked about mid-year plans and how much I love them. Part of our recent planning has been to consider how we scale and what are the ways to scale. Two interesting approaches have unfolded. We plan to build out and test both to see if they drive the impact we're looking for.   

I feel like now is as good of a time as any to share about product number one. 

Here it goes... 

What I've learned over the past 3.5 years is that there's a consensus that sales planning and skills are critical. As a strategy it tends to be an area that companies and founders will invest in because who doesn't want sustainable and predictable revenue? 

It also has become clear to me that most people, even when they see the importance of having a solid sales plan and sharpening their sales skills, don't want to become sales experts. Yet everyone I coach (sales professionals included) benefits consistently from a new perspective, and having someone offer "here is what I would do in this situation." 

I have come to the realization that people mostly just want you to tell them what to do in sales situations. They want someone to say this is how I would approach this. Here's the next step. Here's how you say this. They really want you to simplify it and tell you what to do. 

With that reality in mind (drumroll, please), we've been exploring the idea of building a sales helpline, a sales hotline, a sales request line?... We're still working on what we'd call it. But we do know it would be a place where you could text a sales question and get an immediate answer. For a membership fee, you could have access to a live person who gives you a tool, a script, a methodology, or something to try to help with whatever you're dealing with at that moment that needs counsel. 

I personally love this idea, but I recognize that I am the president of my own fan club. I love this hotline idea for a few reasons: We could reach more people. It would allow access to resources at a lower price point. It would allow me to scale my business more quickly and create more impact (winner winner, chicken dinner.) 

I'm not sure yet how we implement or roll it out, but we can figure that part out. If I'm not the only one who thinks this is a good idea, then we'll begin working through logistics. 

So, what I want to know now is: What do you think? Am I onto something here?  

Always cheering you on,   

A.  

P.S. I'm serious, I do need you to weigh in. If you are reading this on LinkedIn, vote in the comments using a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji. If you read this newsletter from your inbox, reply here with just the appropriate emoji as your subject line.