Hi, I'm Deborah, your go-to business coach for bespoke offer creation and simple technical solutions. I've been helping coaches, consultants and service providers monetize their expertise and and scale their online business operations for over a decade. In 2007, I built NYC's first ever mobile juice bar and grew that into a 7-figure citywide wellness and catering company. Our success was rooted in smart systems, strong relationships and understanding the power of sharing your story. I offer coaching as well as hands on technical support to move your business project from idea to income in a short amount of time. My work is for soloprenerus with a few years in business who are ready to invest in operations that align with their soul and easily scale. Please check out my podcast and join my list for weekly marketing tips and exclusive event invites!
Gorgeous dinner! Did you invite anyone?
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If we've ever met in person Reader, or you've seen my IG stories, then you may know that hosting dinner parties at our farmhouse is one of my all time favorite things. I'm no pro, but I love trying to cook with whatever’s growing in the garden, setting the table with decorative elements and candles, gathering interesting people together and just generally celebrating community with the whole ritual of a sit-down meal. But, imagine I did all that… Then just sat down and waited for people to show up. Without inviting anyone. 😳 What if I posted a photo of the dinner. Surely someone would get the hint? Meanwhile, none of my neighbors know that there’s a place at the table for them. Some people may even feel left out, like the picture of my dinner with no clear invitation to them was a sign that it's not for them. Unfortunately, we do this exact thing in our businesses all the time. We create something useful - often remarkable! We share helpful content. Mention what we’re working on. But we stop short of saying: “I thought of you. Here’s how this could specifically help you. Would you like to join?” And then if a person expresses interest, we sometimes forget to check back: “Hey, did you have any questions? I’d love to suppport you.” These simple tasks of making the invitation, following up and giving people room to decide get totally skipped. You wouldn't do that if you were cooking a home-made meal with 3 courses. You'd reach back out and see if the people you invited could make it or not, so you knew how many place-setting to put on the table. You wouldn't skip the invitation or the follow up. You wouldn't just hope they guessed that they are welcome and then move on. This week, I sent personal invitations to join my November Sales Sprint and the first Premium members joined. 🎉 In each invitation, I was clear about why I thought it might help them. I made it clear that they are welcome and also that there's no hard feelings if it's not for them right now. But I also told them what I was cooking for dinner, so they know it's going to be good. 😉 Inside the Sales Studio, we practice these steps together: finding leads, making clear invitations, and following up. The Premium tier includes Monday strategy sessions at 2 p.m. ET, plus trainings and tools to support your weekly sales practice. We start Monday, November 2. It’s $97/month, renews monthly, and you can cancel at any time and stay in the free tier. Have something you’re ready to sell? Consider this your invitation to the table. 👉 [JOIN THE SALES ACCELERATOR] xo, PS. I'm not opposed to combining consistent business growth strategy with a giant farm-to-table dinner party... consider that seed planted! [Pic of recent neighbor dinner for party tax!] |
Deborah C. Smith, Business Coach, Marketing Strategist & Podcast Host
Hi, I'm Deborah, your go-to business coach for bespoke offer creation and simple technical solutions. I've been helping coaches, consultants and service providers monetize their expertise and and scale their online business operations for over a decade. In 2007, I built NYC's first ever mobile juice bar and grew that into a 7-figure citywide wellness and catering company. Our success was rooted in smart systems, strong relationships and understanding the power of sharing your story. I offer coaching as well as hands on technical support to move your business project from idea to income in a short amount of time. My work is for soloprenerus with a few years in business who are ready to invest in operations that align with their soul and easily scale. Please check out my podcast and join my list for weekly marketing tips and exclusive event invites!
Quick question Reader, When someone asks about your work, what do you tell them? Do you default to talking about details, describing the program, the number of sessions, the process, or what’s included? I’ve caught myself doing that plenty of times. 🙋♀️ It's important to be able to showcase our work and put it into tangible (sellable 💰) terms. But beneath the surface of what you sell is something more important: What all of those details make possible. Sales psychology 101 says sell them what...
“It’s faster if I just do it myself.” I’ve said it. Don't lie to me! I know you’ve probably said it too. And in the moment, you were actually probably right. But when I asked the question to this week's podcast guest, leadership and operations coach Lauren Glynn, she offered this perspective: “Short term, it’s faster to do it yourself. Long term, you will always be doing it yourself.” Oof. While you’re writing every email, building every slide deck, preparing every contract, and answering...
Hi Reader, As we head into the weekend, I made you a quick video to share more about what it's like inside Foundations, plus explain who it's for and how we work together. Here’s what I don’t want for you... I don’t want you spending a year of your life feeling like the marketing and sales part of your business is too much, too messy, or just something you’re not cut out for. Even if it's new to you, you CAN learn these things. Once you have a system in place, marketing and selling become...