Sales & Business Growth for Busy Women | How to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business

49. Time management for women in small business - Tips for planning a successful holiday season

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your host, Lindsay Fletcher.  I’m a wife, mom of 4, dog mom, business owner x2, and I’m here to help you sell more, get time back in your day, and grow your business.  On this podcast we talk about sales, marketing, business growth, and time management so that your business doesn’t take over your life!  
 
Before we get into today’s topic, a couple of things: 
Please hit that follow button wherever you are listening to this podcast
If you haven’t joined my Women in Business community, you need to be in there with us!  We are at almost 1000 business women, and growing each day!  If you listened to the last episode, you know that I have some big things planned for 2025. I’m bringing on a leadership team of women that are experts in their fields that will be offering training to you at no charge inside the group - things like taxes, investing, business law, and of course sales, marketing, and time management.  It’s all free, literally no dollars will be exchanged inside this group - if you want to level up in 2025, join the group today!
Today's episode is about setting ourselves up for a successful holiday season.  Here are 3 tips to managing your time:
1. Set aside time to plan for the holiday season, and then set aside time to plan each week. 
2. Decide what your limits are for your business and your personal life.
3. Enforce those boundaries. 
 
You can do it!!!  You can take back your holiday season and it can look however you want it to look - you just have to be intentional with your time and effort.  
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the podcast.  I’m so happy you are here with me!  I’m praying for you and your business!  Talk to you next time!
 
Time Management for women in business | Task Management | Productivity Hacks | Time Blocking | Task Prioritization | Delegation Tips | Avoiding Burnout | Daily Routine | Workflow Optimization | Productivity Tools | Time-saving Tips | Time management strategies | time management for busy women 
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48. Gender gaps for women owned business

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your host, Lindsay Fletcher.  I’m a wife of 18 years, mom of 4, multi-business owner, and your resident sales and time management nerd. I’m here to help you sell more, get time back in your day, and grow your business.
 
Please hit that follow button wherever you are listening to this podcast - it really blesses me big time and I’d love for more people to find this show because I know it can help so many women out there - maybe you could share it with a business friend?  Just a thought and I’d be so thankful if you did!!!
 
In the last episode of the podcast, I talked a little bit about this study that found that women-run businesses are 11% less productive than male-run businesses. One of the contributing factors to this low number is high household work allocation and other cultural norms that make women less available for business matters than men, and the article I referenced suggested that we as women have to learn more effective ways of time management so that we can start to make-up some of that 11%.  
 
There were 5 categories where women-run businesses performed poorer:
Impacted by crime.  
Adverse business environments, like power outages.
Digital economy is key for women-run businesses.
Lack of access to foreign investment.   
Firm age. 
In this study, women-owned businesses shined in 2 categories and challenges this productivity gap:
Smaller size when compared to male-run organizations showed to be an advantage.  
Female run businesses had an advantage in the retail sector of business.
 
So here’s where my head goes - my experience as a woman, while this may not have been your experience, is that I was not taught how to manage money, make it grow, how to build a business, and everything that I teach on this podcast I’ve either figured out myself through trial and error (you win some, you lose and learn on some) or sought out education to better prepare myself for business.  I still have a lot of gaps in business like financial literacy, investing and learning investor driven business, business law, taxes, etc. And I know from talking to many women in business that they have gaps in knowledge too but can't afford to spend thousands of dollars to get the education they feel they need. 
If that's you, then join my Women in Business Community because you'll want what I've got planned for 2025.
I’ve talked about my online women in business community briefly on the podcast before, and I have big plans for 2025 inside there. I’m bringing on a leadership team of business experts that will be providing weekly training on a variety of topics, and you'll have access to these experts and will be able to ask questions inside our community so that you can grow your business, better manage your finances, do things the right and legal way, sell more, market better, manage your time and energy better.  All of this training will be for free, provided at no charge to you.  I personally know these leaders. We’ve spent time together. They are women that I trust, and I believe that this leadership team will help you take your business to the next level - wherever that is for you!!!
So again, if you haven’t already, join my online Women in Business community - you don’t want to miss out on the happenings inside that group. 
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I'm here to support you and help you grow!  So let's connect! 
Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co 
Free Resources >>> https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources 
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I'm praying for you and your business!
- Lindsay
 
Business Growth | Sales Growth | Revenue Growth | Scaling Your Business | Business Strategy | Market Expansion | Customer Retention | High Performance Sales Team | Sales Planning | Sales Strategy | Time Management for women in business | Task Management | Productivity Hacks | Time Blocking | Task Prioritization | Delegation Tips | Avoiding Burnout | Daily Routine | Workflow Optimization | Productivity Tools | Time-saving Tips | Time management strategies | time management for busy women | Women in Business | Female Entrepreneurs | Business Success | Small Business Tips | Entrepreneurial Success | Business Coaching | Professional Development | Business Coaching | Business Consulting
 

47. Effective time management strategy for Women in Small Business

Effective Time Management Strategy for Women in Small Business
 
Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your resident sales and business nerd Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn how to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business.
 
I recently found an article that intrigued me on Forbes’ website.  It was about effective time management strategies, and they suggested the following:  Time is infinite but energy is renewable,and they suggested that managing your energy will improve your time management. 
 
This article talked about a couple of studies. One study where data was collected between 2009-2016 showed that female-run businesses are 11% less productive than male-run businesses.  I’ll let you read the article if you’d like - I’ve linked this study in the show notes. But basically, women-run businesses performed poorer than men-owned in 5 categories when controlling for a variety of firm characteristics. One factor called out in this study is high household work allocation when compared to men and other cultural norms that make women less available for business matters than men.
 
Another Study in the Harvard Business Review done in 2006 took 106 employees at 12 regional banks in southern New Jersey through a curriculum of four modules, each of which focused on specific strategies for strengthening one of the four main dimensions of energy. These four dimensions of energy are body, emotions, mind, and spirit.  Before diving into increasing these four areas of energy, they took an “energy audit” of sorts.  They were given 4 questions on each area, and most of the participants answered 8-10 out of 16 questions that they were doing things that were counterproductive to creating and having positive energy.  
So how do we use this information to better manage our time?  Based on this information, we start with managing our energy.  Speaking in simple terms, let’s ask ourselves what tasks give us energy and what ones take energy away. We can take a week and log our tasks and energy. You can probably categorize some of your tasks right now into energy-giving and energy-taking. Then schedule your tasks by pairing a -giving with a -taking one, and give yourself short breaks in between.
 
Start the week by making your to-do list, and instead of just checking the items off as you go, you’ll want to categorize them into these two categories and then pair them together on your schedule. 
 
I think this is a really interesting way to think about your day and the tasks that you need to complete, and I am interested in applying this to my time management or rather energy management skills.  
 
I’d like to continue this conversation about gender gaps in the next episode, so be sure to hit the follow button where you are listening to this episode so that you don’t miss it!
 
I'm praying for you and your business!
 
My best, Lindsay
 
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LET’S CONNECT!
Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co 
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46. 10-Minute Sales Tip - How to make time for sales and marketing in small business

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for Busy Women. I am your resident sales and business nerd, Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn how to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business.
Please hit that follow button wherever you are listening - it will bless me big time because your podcast listening app will know to push this out to more people!
 
Today, let’s talk about making time for sales and marketing in your small business. This is something that a lot of women struggle with because there are always going to be a million and one things to do…taxes and BOI forms, customers to call or text or email back, the actual work that your business does in addition to sales and marketing to get people into your funnel and moving though.  It’s important to do, right?  But there may be some resistance if this isn’t your lane or zone of genius.  
 
So let’s talk about it.  How do you find the time to market your business and have sales conversations?  Here are  questions or points that I want you to think about:
Are you putting these activites / sales and marketing items on your schedule?
If you don’t know what is working in your business, you need to start tracking your sales and marketing activities and revenue to see what actually work and do more of those things.  I have a free downloadable Sales Growth Tracker that you can find on my website at lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources - click on Sales Growth Tracker, enter your email address and I’ll send it over to you!  
There are a million fires that could occur in your small business at any given moment that you’ll feel the need to tend to immediately, so if you need help deciding what you actually need to do right now versus what needs to go on your schedule, go back and listen to episode 20 where I talk through Eisenhower’s Matrix 
It may be time to hire someone to help you with tasks that are taking up your time when you could or should be focusing on revenue generating activities.  This is something that my business coach - shout out to Lani Jackson - we talked about this often. What items could you delegate that you could pay someone else, or perhaps get an intern, to do?  Again, Episode 20 will help you decide what could be delegated. 
Finally, the third thing I want you to think about is this - you are responsible as a business owner, especially if you have a team, to ensure that revenue generating activities are being done for your business, your customers, and your team.  Whether that’s you that’s doing them or you have someone on your team doing them, it is your responsibility to ensure those things are getting done.   
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Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co 
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Small Business Growth | Sales Growth | Revenue Growth | Scaling Your Business | Business Strategy | Market Expansion | Customer Retention | High Performance Sales Team | Sales Planning | Sales Strategy

45. How to overcome mistakes in Small Business

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for Busy Women. I am your host and resident sales nerd, Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn how to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business.
Please hit the follow button wherever you are listening - it helps Apple, Spotify, and all of the major platforms know to push this to more people, and I really really appreciate it your help!
Today, I’m preaching to myself with this episode, maybe more than I’m preaching to you. I hesitated to talk about this but I think it's important to share the hard things.  I also think it’s super important to talk about as we roll into the end of the year, and especially the upcoming holiday season, and things get super busy.
As a small business owner x2, I know that schedules get full, small and large fires come up, and things slip through the cracks. I woke up on Saturday morning with a pit in my stomach…I missed publishing Friday’s episode for this podcast and my newsletter last week.  Last week, my schedule was a bit wonky and not typical, and I didn't schedule in time to create podcast episodes and . So first off, I’m so sorry if you were looking for an episode from me and it wasn’t there. Secondly, I’m only human and while it’s definitely not my intention to mess up and miss sending out content that I promise to deliver, I know it won’t be the last time that I mess up.   
 
So let’s talk about how to best handle mistakes or misses in our businesses - whether it’s free content like this podcast or my weekly newsletter, or it’s with a paying customer.  I believe how we handle these types of things can make or break our businesses. So here are our 4 steps on how we handle these situations:
 Acknowledge that you made a mistake, or missed something that you should have delivered.  So we acknowledge that we made a mistake.
We fix it if it.  That’s pretty self explanatory, right?  
We review where things went wrong or how we (or I) got off track, and a create a plan forward to avoid making the same or similar mistakes in the future.
Give yourself some grace. You are human, after all.
To download my free Sales Growth Tracker to track your sales and marketing activities and revenue, go to https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources and enter your email address. I'll send it to you immediately! 
 
Here are some other important links:
Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co 
Free Resources >>> https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources 
Need community?  Join Women in Business >>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/367731782244780 
Follow me on IG >>> https://instagram.com/lindsayfletcher.co
 
 
 

44. How to overcome Imposter Syndrome in Small Business

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your host Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn how to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business.
Please hit the "follow" button wherever you are listening! 
Join our online Women in Business Community HERE.
 
Today, we are going to have a conversation around imposter syndrome.
Do you ever get it?  I do. Often. Like way more often that I’d like to admit.  I used to get it about this podcast. I get it about the Women in Business Online Community that I’m building. I get it about our local small business sometimes. I’m just going to assume you’ve had imposter syndrome types of thoughts. Mine typically sounds like "Who will listen to me?" and "Who will hire me?".  
Here's how I handle this when it creeps in…
I ask myself “what’s the worst thing that could happen?” Most of the scenarios in my head aren't real, so I remind myself that "nothing" is likely the answer to that question.
I remember that God has placed big dreams in my heart, and if He called me to it, He’ll walk with me through it.  I wouldn’t need Him if I were qualified, and quite frankly, that's just not a place I want to be.
Here’s where the magic happens...I ask myself “what could go right?” and then my mind jumps to impact that I can make in the lives of women and their families, their businesses, and how they spend their time. Focusing on the impact keeps me motivated to push through the imposter syndrome (because Satan wants me stuck in my own head) and I take action on moving this ship forward!
I'm praying for you and your business!
My best,
Lindsay
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LET’S CONNECT!
Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co 
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43. Selling your products or services from Your Booth at Conferences, Trade Shows, Community Events

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your host Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn how to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business.
Today we are talking about how to get ready for a trade show, conference, community event where you will have a booth and want to connect with potential clients.  This is something that I have recently helped a small business team with and thought I’d share these tips with you!
 
Here are 5 tips on selling from your event booth:
Know your goals for the conference
Have a succinct way to describe what you do - a micro elevator pitch
Have a question that you can ask most, if not all, of the people who pass by or come to your booth - something like “What brings you to today’s event?”
Ask if you can share what you do and how you can help them (if you find a need/want)
Close the conversation
Listen to the full episode for more details on these tips!
 
LET’S CONNECT!
Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co 
Free Resources >>> https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources 
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42. Strategies for Small Business Growth so you can stop worrying about follower counts

Hi friend!  Welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for Busy Women! 
 
Today's episode is about strategies to help you grow your business without worrying about follower counts.  Here's the deal: Followers don't equal dollars.  For the majority of us small business owners, we have to figure out what works and do that consistently.  Here are 6 strategies that I share in this episode in no particular order:
1. Know your Business DNA - go back and listen to Episode 32 where I talk about this in more detail.
2. Find growth gaps - go to episode 34 where I talk about this in more detail.
3. Learn how to sell.  I'm biased, but it is the missing element for so many small business owners.
4. Micro-niche your messaging.  If you are talking to everyone, you are talking to no one. So narrow your focus. 
5. Share your business.  Network.  Expand your circle.  Share your business.
6. Commit to a strategy and track it.  You can use my Sales Growth Tracker to figure out what works and what doesn't.
 
If you need help with your elevator pitch, teaching others how to sell your business for you to their family and friends, sales and marketing strategy, I'd love to jump on a FREE call with you. Schedule you SALES GROWTH AUDIT HERE.
 
I'm praying this episode blesses you, releases you from the stress of follower counts, and sets you on the right track for business growth!
My best,
Lindsay Fletcher
 
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Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co  
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41. Buyer Psychology - How people make decisions to purchase

People buy from people they like, know, and trust. Fact or fiction? 
 
Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your resident sales and business nerd Lindsay Fletcher, and I’m so glad you’ve joined me for this episode.  I’m just going to dive right into today’s topic because this is one of my favorite topics in sales. I hope that the info that I’m about to share will help you in your conversations.  We, you and me, are going to talk about buying styles - how people make the decision to buy.
 
Buyer psychology is absolutely fascinating to me and there is so much to it.  Today we are going to hone in on how people make decisions to buy and I’m going to give you a framework AND a worksheet on this so you can print it, post it, put it in your planner - I’m a paper planner girl so I’d do that, but you can also save it to your phone or computer and reference it.  It will definitely help you understand your buyers better!!!
 
There are 4 main buying styles or decision making style categories that people fall into when they are deciding to make a purchase.  So without further adieu, let’s get into the good stuff here.
 
If you are taking notes, you should go to my website because I’m going to make your life a lot easier. Head over to my website https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources and click on the “buying styles guide” button.  Drop your email and I’ll send you a link to download this PDF so you can follow along.  Don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you hit pause to go do that!
 
Something we hear a lot in sales is “People buy from people they like, know and trust.” and I’ve actually heard this a lot lately, but is that really the case?  Today I’m going to walk you through the 4 major buying styles and how that impacts people and their decisions to buy from you (or not).  I’ll let you decide for yourself if this statement is true or not. After learning about buying styles and applying it to almost all conversations, I no longer believe that statement is entirely true and I’ll explain.
 
The 4 main buying styles are Relators, Sympathizers, Analyzers, and Achievers.  Each category’s name gives away a lot about who they are as buyers.  There is no right or wrong type of buying style but rather this is how people internally make decisions. Now, just to be clear, these are generalizations and there are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but these 4 categories haven’t failed me yet. And I do want to point out that these are not personality types, they are how we make decisions to purchase a product or service or buy into a way of thinking.
 
As I’m going through these, I want you to examine yourself under the lens of buying styles.  And then start examining people that you know - your spouse, your best friend, your sister or brother, your parents. I’m telling you this is fascinating stuff!!! 
 
Let’s dive into to buying styles. 
 
First up is Relators.  Relators are all about relationships and recognition.  They are typically warm and talkative.  They buy from people they like.  They want you to know them and they want to know you.  If you are selling to a Relator, you’ll need to build rapport and build your relationship.  Relators can be a little impulsive with decisions because they are fast paced.  You’ll also describe this type of buyer as personable, outgoing, and quite the conversationalist.  They also love compliments and recognition.
 
Relators as a whole don’t enjoy making decisions because they are people pleasers at heart.  They want you to like them and they may even feel the need to impress you.  And because their natural tendency is to worry about what others think of them, they often need help in making decisions, and their indecision may be caused by their reluctance in appearing as though they are rejecting you.  So, to make it easier on Relators in the buying process, you’ll want to build social proof by sharing how others are loving your product or service and reviews.  
 
One thing to watch out for is that relators can and will also use their outgoing-ness to derail conversations if they want or need to.  They can and will talk about other things to avoid talking about things they don’t want to talk about, so that’s something to watch out for when selling to relators.  
 
To sum it up with Relators - they are all about the relationship and recognition.
 
Next up are Sympathizers.  Like Relators, they want relationships but they also crave security.   You’ll find Sympathizers to be warm and friendly, supportive, emotional, and concerned for others.  Sympathizers are slow to make decisions and you’ll need to build trust before asking for the sale.  They are people pleasers as well, but more in the sense that they want everyone to be happy, comfortable, secure with whatever they decide.
 
Because safety and security are key for Sympathizers, they often avoid decisions and will get caught in “analysis paralysis”. They are less motivated by rewards and recognition, and more motivated by reduction of risk.  You’ll have to walk them through identifying the risks involved for them. Then you’ll need to remove those risks, give them time, and help them recognize their decision to move forward is a safe one.  You can label this group as “Rather safe than sorry”.  Outline what happens for them what happens if they aren’t happy with your product or service after they purchase.
 
Sympathizers are all about relationships and security.
 
Moving on to Analyzers.  Analyzers are all about security and outcomes.  However, the security isn’t the same type of security as Sympathizers.  Analyzers are just that - they analyze the heck out of decisions.  They are not emotionally driven when making purchases, so they won’t be swayed by your enthusiasm or your charm.  You’d describe Analyzers as detail-oriented, logical, data- and fact-driven, and organized. They will ask a lot of questions and they will do their own research. Their need for security is that they want to make the “right” decision so they will research all of the options and they love peer reviews.  
 
When selling to an analyzer, you’ll need to be organized, well-versed, and ready for questions and objections. Because they are logic- and fact-driven, they will question the accuracy of your claims and will have a hard time not interrupting you if your proof isn’t accurate and well documented.  Analyzers make very rational, logical decisions once they see this is the right purchase for them and you’ve eliminated risks.  
 
Analyzers are outcomes or results and security driven.
 
And then last but not least, are your Achievers.  Achievers are recognition and outcome driven.  Achievers are quick to make decisions and results driven. They want to know if it checks the boxes or not.  You’ll likely describe this group as risk takers because they aren’t afraid of change and they often initiate it.  Achievers want you to be direct and to the point, and will often ask questions on “doing”.  They also have facts and will try to avoid emotions because that slows them down.
 
Achievers love making decisions and are most often motivated by their bottom-line benefits.  You’ll want to make sure that you let the decision be their own.  Let them tell you what their benefits will be and they will sell themselves.  Remember that they are motivated by benefits that will help them achieve certain results or help them appear in charge.
 
Now, I need to make something very clear about achievers: Trusting you and liking you are two different things. If achievers don’t trust you they will not buy from you. Achievers have to trust you but they don’t have to like you to buy from you if your product or service will get them closer to their goals. 
 
Ok so those are your 4 buying styles. Now, most people have a combo of two.  A third buying style can be learned with some education, training, or may come with a certain type of profession.  You’ll notice that many people’s professions gravitate toward their buying style - that’s why you’ll see lots of accountants and financial people are analyzers.  You’ll see lots of nurses as Sympathizers and Analyzers.  Again, these are generalizations and not every nurse or accountant is going to fall into those buying styles but it can be an indicator.   
This whole episode was inspired by a friend who also happens to own multiple businesses.  We were talking about buying styles and it turns out that we have the same combo: Achiever and Relator.  However, she has more relator than I am.  For example, when selling a house, for example, we agreed that we don’t need to like you to choose you to sell our houses if we believe that you’ll get it done the fastest with the most money at closing.  However, for something like lipgloss, for example, she has to like you and I don’t have to like you to buy lipgloss from you.  So we analyzed why and here’s where we landed.  She wants to like you because she’s probably going to buy that lipgloss again if she likes it and she wants to like whomever she’s buying from on repeat products or services because she’ll have to talk to you more than once.  And on the flip side, I don’t need to like you for something like lipgloss and I’m not going to spend time finding someone else that sells the same lipgloss. I do want to like you and if I like you it makes it that much easier for me to buy from you, but I don’t have to like you.  So I’d say I’m like 5% relator and 95% achiever.
 
Now when it comes to my husband making a purchase, he is your classic analyzer.  He will research all of the options and make sure that the one he’s going to purchase does all of the things that it’s supposed to and that he’s exhausted all of the other options on the market.  He’s outcomes driven but wants the security that he’s purchasing the best option.
 
If you’ve downloaded my Buying Styles Guide, you’ll see that I have these buying styles in a pie chart and the more you analyze your own buying style and others’ buying styles you’ll notice there are certain types of buyers that you don’t click with as easily and those are most often the ones on the opposite side of the pie. They are typically opposite of how you make these types of decisions. So, for me as an achiever, for example, sympathizers tend to be the hardest for me to sell to because they are slow to make decisions and I’m fast paced. Our natural tendency is to sell in our own buying styles, but when you start asking questions and presenting offers in your customers’ buying style you’ll see your revenue increase and you’ll understand your customers wants and needs better.
 
So, here’s your homework: figure out your own buying style and then start figuring out your current customers’ buying styles. This takes practice but this will open up conversations in ways you wouldn’t believe once you get the hang of it.  That’s why I created this free downloadable PDF for you - save it to your computer, post it on your wall, and put it in your planner or Bible or wallet or car.  Seriously, the more you study this, and go back to it, the easier it gets and the better you’ll be at sales! So go to my website and download my Buying Styles Guide at https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources and click on the “Buying Styles Guide” button to get your free copy! 
 
I'm praying for you and your business!
- Lindsay
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LET’S CONNECT!
Have a question? >>> Leave me a voice message here: https://speakpipe.com/lindsayfletcher
Email >>> hello@lindsayfletcher.co  
Free Resources >>> https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources 
Need community?  Join Women in Business >>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/367731782244780 
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40. 5-Minute Marketing Strategy Tip - Is word of mouth better than social media? (Listener Question)

Hello & welcome back to Sales & Business Growth for BUSY Women. I am your resident sales and business nerd Lindsay Fletcher, and this podcast is the place for small business owners to learn how to make more sales, have more time, and grow your business.
Today, I'm featuring a listener question:  
Hi Rene, thanks for submitting your question.  Do I think Instagram reels and stories are more crucial for small family owned businesses than word of mouth?  
 
That’s a great question. I love a good marketing strategy and if you are into doing all the social media things, then good for you.  However, I see lots of small business owners spending tons of time creating all sorts of content and not seeing dollars come out of those efforts. 
Can social media be crucial to your business?  Yes, if done well and done right for your type of business. 
 
Does it trump word of mouth? No.
 
For small, family-owned, local businesses, I like to think of social media business pages or profiles as a portfolio for potential customers to view as well as ways to communicate quickly with current customers. 
 
As I’ve mentioned before, we use social media in both of our businesses.  It’s one part of our sales and marketing strategy.  However, having reviews and people who have used your business out there cheering for you and throwing your name in the hat when services like yours come up in conversation, is critical to maintaining, building and growing your business. You want former and current customers to have a great experience with you and you want them to tell their friends, family and neighbors about your business, especially for something very local like pest control.  People buy from people they trust…and word of mouth is them buying from a person that they trust in a roundabout way, right?  It’s them trusting their neighbor or family member enough to use the same company because that person trusts you.  I think of these two things, social media and word of mouth, as different parts of your sales funnel and they may even be in different sales funnels as well.  
 
Thank you for that question, Rene.
It’s always great to review what you are doing, what is working, what is not, and how to better use your resources - including your time.  If you’d like to save time and sell more, download my SALES GROWTH TRACKER at https://lindsayfletcher.co/free-resources and you’ll see it at the top of the page!  I’m so serious when I tell you it will help you save time and sell more because it will help you figure out what is actually working and what is not.
 
With that, I send you on your way wishing you more sales, more time and lots and lots of business growth! I’m praying for you and your business!  Talk to you next time!
My best,
Lindsay 
 
 
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