Interested in learning more? DM me on LinkedIn.
Ever feel trapped on that endless sales call hamster wheel? You know the one—where your calendar is packed but conversions are scarce, and each call leaves you more drained than the last? That's exactly where one of my clients found herself recently, questioning her entire business model despite having plenty of interest in her services.
The breakthrough came when we realized her problem wasn't her expertise or offer—it was a sales system completely misaligned with how she naturally works. Together, we crafted a five-part framework that transformed her approach and had her operations director literally dancing with excitement by the end of our session.
This episode walks you through the exact blueprint we developed: lead generation that filters early to attract only qualified prospects, a qualification system that ensures calls are mutually beneficial, sales conversations restructured as "business therapy" rather than overwhelming info dumps, a gateway offer that builds true trust without giving everything away, and an upsell moment that flows naturally as the next logical step. The magic happens when these elements work together in harmony, creating a sales process that honors your unique strengths and working style.
What makes this approach different is its focus on alignment rather than tactics. When your sales system fits you—not the other way around—you reclaim your energy, attract clients who genuinely energize you, and transform selling from a draining chore into an enjoyable, effective process. Whether you're struggling with too many bad-fit leads or feeling exhausted by your current sales approach, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on creating a system that actually works for you, not against you. Ready to build something that fits perfectly? This is your roadmap to get there.
Join my events community for FREE monthly events.
I offer free events each month to help you master your business's growth through marketing, sales, systems, and offer strategy.
Join the community here!
Join the Tiny Marketing Club >>> Join the Club
Come tour my digital home :) >>>Website
Wanna be friends? >>> LinkedIn
Let's chat every Tuesday! >>> Newsletter
Catch the video podcast on YouTube >>>YouTube
Episode Transcript
Welcome to Tiny Marketing.
This is Sarah Norrblatt, andthis is a podcast that helps B2B
service businesses do more withless.
Learn lean, actionable, organicmarketing strategies you can
implement today.
No fluff, just powerful growthtactics that work.
Ready to scale smarter?
Hit that subscribe button andstart growing your business with
(00:20):
tiny marketing growing yourbusiness with tiny marketing.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello, I feel so tiny in this square it feels wider
than normal.
I am Sarah Noelle Block, andwelcome back to the tiny
marketing show.
This show helps B2B servicebusinesses, specifically indie
consultants, do more with less.
I'm your host and today I'msharing a story that might sound
a little too familiar If you'vebeen stuck in that sales call
(00:55):
hamster wheel that we often getin, where we're hopping on a
call and it goes nowhere becausethey're a bad fit lead or
they're not ready, they don'thave the mindset to make that
shift yet.
That happens to us all the time.
But earlier this week I workedwith a consultant to help them
(01:17):
build out a system that wouldwork perfectly for them, because
we are all different, we workdifferent, we have different
gifts and one sales system thatworks for me might not work for
you.
So what you need to do is youneed to build a system that
excites you, that lives withinyour magic, so that it doesn't
(01:43):
feel like a chore and it canseamlessly integrate into your
life.
So let's get into it.
This client was taking all ofthe calls, but none of them were
closing.
At first glance it looked likea lead gen win.
She was getting a ton of leads.
That's great.
(02:04):
Her calendar was full, peoplewere interested, but underneath
the surface the calls weredraining.
Nearly every person she talkedto was a bad fit.
She'd get off that call andshe'd be like that's not going
to go anywhere.
They're not for me, it happens.
She was exhausted, she wasdoubting her offer and she was
(02:26):
wondering if she needed to scrapthe whole thing and start her
business over from scratch.
But, spoiler alert, the offerwasn't the problem.
The real issue was her leadgeneration and sales process.
They were out of sync with howshe actually likes to work.
She was attracting the wrongpeople and then giving too much
(02:51):
away too soon to try andconvince them that they were a
good fit or that she could solvethe problems and she could.
I know her well.
She can solve the problems.
The problem was that theclients or the prospects that
were reaching out to her justweren't ready to receive that
(03:12):
yet and mindset stuff alwaysfeels so mushy, but it really
does make a difference and theirmindset wasn't in a place yet
where they were ready to receivethe answers.
This probably sounds reallyfamiliar to you.
It's something that a lot of usgo through, where we attract
(03:34):
leads or we're getting referralsand they're not a good fit.
They're not ready for theanswer, because sometimes they
don't want to hear the answer.
Sometimes it's like I washoping you were going to say
something else.
They need to be in a placewhere they're ready to do the
work and understand the entireprocess that you're going to
(03:58):
take them through before theycan get started.
And that's why we have ourwhole system of the little mini
offers that lead up to the bigoffer, because we're taking them
through that mindset piece atthe beginning.
Within that first offer, we'retaking them through what does
this really look like?
What does this process looklike in the gateway offer before
(04:22):
moving them through to theupsell?
And that I like this story isthe reason that we have that
process of little micro yesesbefore we get to that big yes,
because you're getting them tothe place where they're ready to
receive the answers.
So back to the story.
Yesterday we changed thatproblem Together.
(04:44):
So when I'm working with youwith a client, we're
strategizing together.
I'm listening to you and I amtaking your brilliance and I'm
turning it into an actionablestrategy.
Together we built a SAL systemthat feels good to run and gets
the right people saying yes, andI knew we'd nailed it when her
(05:09):
operations director called itquote the most doable
operations-friendly strategy wehave ever seen.
And when we wrapped the call,they were literally dancing.
So let me walk you through whatwe created so you can be
dancing.
So let me walk you through whatwe created so you can be
dancing and how you can create asimilar blueprint but match it
(05:31):
to you to build your own perfectfit sales system, because,
remember, what is a perfect fitfor me might not be a perfect
fit for you, so you need to makeit for you and your magic.
All right, you ready?
Okay?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'm ready.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Part one is the lead generation that feels good and
filters early.
Filters early is the keywordhere.
The first thing we tackle istop of funnel.
So no more post and praycontent, no more freebies that
attract the wrong audience.
Instead, we leaned into herstrengths, how she naturally
(06:10):
shows up.
We created content and outreachsystems that filter early.
So only the right people showup to engage, subscribe and
schedule a call.
Your energy is too valuable towaste on leads who are never
going to be a fit Period.
That's it.
Don't waste your time.
(06:30):
I feel like I've had thisconversation several times this
week.
Earlier this week, I hosted amasterclass and someone was
telling me something similar,where they were getting on these
sales calls but people didn'twant to get the stakeholders
together, the decision makerstogether, to talk to her all at
(06:53):
one time that they thought, canyou just email me this proposal?
And that, right, there is adead giveaway that they are just
price shopping and you are notgoing to get that job.
So if someone, if you havetried to schedule a meeting to
go over a proposal and you don'tsend it beforehand and they're
like, no, just email it red flagthat tells us, right there,
(07:16):
they are not going to go withyou.
Okay, enough with that rant.
Part two the qualificationsystem that actually qualifies.
So the next thing we did isadded a layer of clarity.
Before anyone can get on thecalendar now they go through a
qualification filter Simple,human, not robotic, but designed
(07:38):
to make sure the call ismutually beneficial.
So this is how you stop wastingtime and start protecting your
energy for real conversations.
I've had to do this with a fewdifferent clients.
I have one client that has aton of leads, but they are this
is a different client than theone I'm talking about right now
but they are at a lower levelthan they should be to work with
(08:03):
her.
So what we did for her is wecreated an application process
to get on her calendar becausethat particular client she gets
a scheduled calls every singleday.
They're just flowing in, but90% of them are not a good fit,
so we added an applicationprocess that needs to be
(08:25):
approved before you can get onthe call.
Now for this client that Iworked with this week, what we
did is she does an amazing jobat cold outreach, which I am
terrible at, so I'm like veryimpressed that she's good at it,
but this strategy isn't builtfor me, it's built for her.
So what we did for her is webuilt a qualification sheet and
(08:51):
they had to get three out of thefive have met criteria in order
to move on to the next phase,which I'm not going to share
because that is her personalnext phase and it's also
brilliant.
So what we did in this part twoqualification system is set
(09:13):
criteria and before someone canschedule a call with you, they
need to hit three out of thefive criteria.
Part three sales calls asbusiness therapy and not info
dumps.
So here's where it reallyclicked.
Her sales calls used to feellike interviews.
It was info overload, lots ofexplaining and she gave them a
(09:37):
lot of the answers on the phone.
But now they feel more likebusiness therapy.
She listens, she asks greatquestions and she just creates
space for someone to be able toshare the challenges they're
going through.
This is where that mindsetpiece comes in.
Sometimes all someone needs inorder to move through their
(10:02):
mindset issues and into ready totake action is to be heard and
talk through their problems.
So create space for people tobe able to share the challenges
they're going through in anonjudgmental space.
That feels really good forpeople and, in return, prospects
(10:22):
get clarity.
They trust her as their guide.
She doesn't need to pitch andthe value is already felt in
just creating that space for theperson.
Part four is a gateway offerthat builds true trust in
someone.
So the next thing we did is wecleaned up her gateway offer.
(10:42):
It used to give too much awayand people walked away satisfied
but not ready to commit,because they were overwhelmed.
It was information overwhelm.
So now it delivers just enoughto build trust and provide a
roadmap of what they need to doin order to move through their
(11:06):
challenge into hitting theirgoals, and it shows the value of
continued support and the valueof moving into the upsell
moment.
So this gateway offer acts as abridge and not the destination.
It moves people from theirbusiness therapy stage into I'm
(11:28):
ready to take action.
This is a bridge.
We're showing them the processof moving from pain to gain to
gain.
Part five is the upsell moment.
That flows naturally.
So the last thing we do is welook at the upsell not as a
pitch but as a next step.
(11:48):
She doesn't need to push, shedoesn't need to invite them into
, she just needs to invite theminto the next chapter.
Because if you build the rightfoundation, the next step is not
hard to sell.
It's a no-brainer.
And you deliver thatimmediately after you deliver
the gateway offer.
So when you do your reviewsession, going through that
(12:13):
gateway offer, the last piece ofthat call is this moment.
It's this upsell moment whereyou show them this is the bridge
, this is how you get to thedestination you want to get to.
You can do this yourself.
You can take this blueprint andrun with it, or you can work
with me.
This is what it would look like.
(12:33):
So that happens on the gatewayoffer call.
And it makes sense because oncethey have seen the roadmap of
what they need to do in order toget where they need to go and
they're like I don't want to dothat myself.
The next step is who's going totake me there?
Who's going to be my guide andtake me to that upsell moment?
(12:55):
Who's going to take me to thedestination?
You become a Sherpa, all right.
The result A sales system thatfits her.
It's one that protects her time, honors how she likes to work
and brings in clients who lighther up.
That's the kind of strategy Iwant every indie consultant to
(13:17):
have, because when your businessfeels aligned, you get your
energy back, it feels good, andthat energy it's what drives the
kind of work you actually wantto be doing.
So if your sales process feelslike a grind, maybe it's not you
, maybe it's just time to builda better system, and that's what
(13:39):
we do here.
Thanks for listening to TinyMarketing.
If this episode sparkedsomething in you, make sure to
hit subscribe and share it withyour favorite indie consultant.
And if you want me to work withyou to build your sales system
that takes people from vaguelyknowing you exist all the way to
(14:02):
a client, then please reach out.
You can contact me atsarahnoelblockcom or email me
directly at hello atsarahnoelblockcom.
I'll see you next week.
Until then, go build somethingthat fits you.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
You love all things tiny marketing.
Head down to the show notespage and sign up for the wait
list to join the tiny marketingclub, where you get to work
one-on-one with me withtrainings, feedback and pop-up
coaching that will help youscale your marketing as a B2B
(14:42):
service business.
So I'll see you over in theclub.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.