[00:00:00] Welcome back to Selling Your Expertise. It's Friday and this week we've been digging into why people really buy. I'm Renee Hribar, your host and trusted sales coach, and today we're talking about what happens after you connect with someone when they don't buy right away. Spoiler alert, that's totally normal.

Here's the deal. People are in different phases of their buying journey all the time. Some are ready now. Others are watching, waiting and warming up, and that's why I believe in follow up forever. Or sometimes I just call it follow through because I never wanna be that annoying. Hey, you want it now? Hey, how about now?

Hey, hey. Wanted to pop this to the top of your inbox? How about now? You know, it reminds me of Green eggs and ham. Right. How about in a box with a fox [00:01:00] in the rain on a train or that fly that just won't leave the car? You're like, I have rolled down the window. Please stop trying to hit your head on the glass.

This is your opening. Please take it. Right? The follow through is my mindset when it comes to the need to follow up forever. I have people ask me all the time, Renee, how many times do I follow up? Forever until they buy or say goodbye, right? BUY or BYE. Now, let me tell you about a client of mine because this is really the best way to tell you this story, to kind of exemplify this, right?

Like I love theories and I love strategies, and I know you get it, but for me to really embody it, I need to hear a situation. I need to hear some context. So here's some context for you. This one client of mine, she is so brilliant. She runs corporate marketing workshops and also happens to be married to an editor.

So together they [00:02:00] host book club nights. Yeah. Book club nights. She doesn't have a book. Neither does he. But they read them before, have you? So they only host 'em a few times a year. This is not like a monthly or even really quarterly thing. I mean, it's quarterly ish, but it's not like on a dime. Right? It's not like on a schedule.

So it's really, I mean, it's super casual. No sales pitch. It's just fun. But this is. A part of the bridge that she and I built because she had proximity, consistently gets proximity with players, big businesses, big decision makers that she could never get in the room with otherwise, but she's in the room because of her corporate marketing workshops.

But we needed this reason to reach out. We needed a way to follow up without feeling. Annoying, like we're just asking again and again and again and again. Hey, so you like that workshop? Do you want another one? Hey, do you want more coaching? Hey, do you want [00:03:00] more support? Right? Because we are gonna do that, but that can't be the only thing we do, and this is where I think a lot of experts go wrong because they haven't had that experience in sales and now you're getting the inside story.

So these. Quarterly ish book club nights. She invites people that she meets through her corporate workshops. Some of these people are employees of those companies. Others are middle managers at those companies. Uh, many are executives at these big brands and, they're pretty amazing. But this.

Book Club Night is not about work, right? They are not like traditional book clubs either. So if you're already sweating, thinking about the book you didn't read for the last book club that you went to, don't worry. Check this out. When she and I devised this idea as this bridge, we knew we had to lower the barrier to entry so that she could genuinely, easily show [00:04:00] up once a couple times a year with her husband, super fun date night, and invite anybody that she met and their spouses if they wanted to.

So we made it super easy. Anybody who gets invited. Can read any book or at least have read a book at some point, and everyone brings the book they wanna share while they sip or snack, and there's laugh together. It's, it's really fun. It's all virtual, it's all on Zoom. So it's super low tech. There are no rules.

They're, they just bring a, any, any book. I mean, these could be beach reads, total smut, nonfiction business books. Or a children's book. One person had a, had brought a, a new-ish kind of children's book that they said their toddler made them read 75 times that month. So it was the only book they could even think of.

And here it is. We all loved it. I also go to these, by the way, so I don't just advise my clients to do things. I participate because I just love these women so much. [00:05:00] So guess what? Those nights that she's. Just hosted these totally no rules, casual snacky, zoom based book clubs. Those nights have led to listen in hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts.

Why? Because she stayed in the conversation long after the initial work was over. This is huge and it's been a huge turning point for her because she was always stuck waiting for them to make the next move. Does this feel familiar? Right. I mean, they had paid her to do the thing that she's great at. She introduced herself, she, they understood.

It wasn't like she skipped the part about the other work she does after the workshops, right after, they usually need. Continual support and they're getting it from someone, but she was waiting for them to call her. She even started sending feedback forms and [00:06:00] got glowing feedbacks work based on her workshops, glowing feedback, documented forms.

I mean, it was beautiful, but it still didn't turn the dial. The calls to get continued support around implementing what she taught at the workshop Still. Weren't coming in. She was waiting for them. And guess what? They were waiting for her. They were waiting for her to follow up. I'll tell you what, when we started doing this, the biggest response we got from people was, oh, I didn't think you had time.

I didn't think you were allowed to offer that to me, or, oh, I didn't think you were willing to do that for us. And these are like big brands with massive budgets, and so you can see how it, it's sometimes you just need that extra place to have a different conversation for a minute to bring back up the things that are most important for your business.

So, because the reality was she did not want to sound pushy or [00:07:00] salesy. So this book, Cub Book Club, the book Cub, I read, um, Cubs are cute too. was built as a bridge. And so you'll hear me talk about that a lot, like find your people, get them to an offer that's the bridge, and then close with clarity for ongoing support.

So it's an easy invite for anyone that she met. It's a connection to her, a love of reading, and even the fact that her husband was co-hosting these with her was making it so personal and created such a living room feel. It became something she really enjoyed inviting her context to, and she enjoyed.

Delivering it. So it wasn't as if, ugh, one more dang thing I gotta do to get a sale. She just created something that she liked. I've never seen this in a rule book. It wasn't something that we had looked up on ai. We just created it based on what she liked to do. Something she could do with her husband, sort of work related, but it wasn't really right, because here's the thing, like it doesn't [00:08:00] all have to be about work.

I mean, on these book club nights, she doesn't even mention what she does. not a traditional book club and it's not a traditional networking experience, but she does and listen in friends. Have a book recommendation list that she does share the link to. It's basically a Google sheet. I mean, it couldn't be simpler.

She has everybody fill it out with their name, their email, their LinkedIn profile, because that's how she communicates with people. If, if she's on any social media, it's LinkedIn. And that has been the perfect bridge to rekindle the conversation about work. So she's. Bringing it back up later. So now she's established common ground again, and together we use that as a jumping off point to have those specific next step conversations with the people.

Now she's already talking to again, right? That's your job now too. Not everyone you [00:09:00] talk to this week is going to buy, but if they know who you are and what you do, and if they're in a place where they hear from you consistently, even if it's not about work, you get the best seat in town, and that is the seat of trusted advisor.

Best part, when they see your name. It has good memories attached to it. Remember the Disney story I shared on Monday's episode? If not, go back and listen to it. Those results, those feelings, when they see your emails or a DM from you or a post that you share, they actually pay attention. So what's your action step today?

Invite your love list to something fun that you enjoy. Here's some other ideas. 'cause I, I've been thinking about what else people have done that are totally ty like non-typical. I had one client start a [00:10:00] remote walking club. She wanted to lose weight for her daughter's wedding and she wanted to look really good.

And so she was like on a mission to. Get those steps in right. Work out more. So what she did, she created a remote walking club. I thought this was brilliant. She did this on her own. I didn't even advise her to do it, but when I saw what she was doing, I knew we could do something amazing with it and make it even better than, than the initial idea.

And that's other part, you reserve the right to always make this better. So here's what they do. Remote walking club. She invites. Anybody, anytime, no commitment. It's not paid. She just basically invites them and they all join one channel and they've changed where they talk at different times. I know that that's evolved.

Like I know it started out maybe on Facebook Messenger, and then I think it grew to maybe a FaceTime, like, uh, I know like you have on your iPhone. it's once a week. It's one morning a week. And she's on the East coast, so it's wicked early. If you live in California and they just talk while they get their steps in.

That's it. Some women don't walk, they, because it's remote. You could [00:11:00] be sitting at your table having coffee, or you could be walking with them and they just talk about life. Business Sometimes mostly just life. Like, you know, the dog that they just got or, and the kid, you know, for her, she's talking a lot about the wedding, it's coming up, you know.

So that's one idea. Another client who does not have a podcast, and I used to do this, so this is something that I did give her the idea for, she hosts a monthly podcast. Listeners, virtual meetup. This is something that I did do back when I first started my business because I know the value of having a place where you can talk to people ongoing and have that reason to reach out.

So this is the same idea as the no rules policy for the non-traditional book club that my other client, I was. and it's great. It works out fantastic. What podcast have you listened to? Which ones do you recommend? She creates a list and then she, together we leverage that as a reason to rekindle the conversation.

Here's a fun one. I had another woman host batch cooking [00:12:00] parties for seasonal recipes. So basically four or five times a year. She, does not cook or sell anything cooking related. She does not have a fancy kitchen. she builds websites for a living, but she has four kids and a husband who travels a lot.

For work. So she needs to have ready-made food in that freezer during the week, otherwise, you know, pizza again. And she want, you know, she really values and loves cooking, but she really values that, you know, the healthy meals, she needs them in there. So it's, it's a chore. She's gotta do it Anyway, so she hosts these batch cooking parties with these seasonal recipes. If you've ever done batch cooking parties, like I have done them in person, I did not run them. I was a part of it. It was really great. My freezer never looked so good. We never ate so healthy, but check us out. She, he's doing it anyway. Guess how many clients that did batch cooking with her?

Totally unrelated to work, eventually bought websites from her. Now, she said it's been about six in the [00:13:00] last year. She's been doing it for a year. That's another thing too, is you can't just, you know, abandon ship. Like you can't just do it once and then never do it again. I mean, I guess you can, but sometimes you just gotta give things a chance to work.

So she said she's gotten directly from this. Six people to buy websites for her who have attended these batch cooking parties. So she meets people somewhere, somehow, some way, right? Sometimes she's on a summit and she invites other summit people. Sometimes she's on somebody else's email list and she's like, I really love your content.

Hey, I totally unrelated to work. But a total mom thing, I'm doing this batch cooking party. Do you want, do you want the link to come? You know, usually me and a couple other moms, we just get together, we cook for a couple hours, you know, once every few months and just fill our freezers. Do you wanna be a part of it?

It gives her that reason to reach out and she charges on average 5K for a website. So if you look at it over the last year, just by doing one of her chores. She made 30 K, she getting paid a lot and I guess they get an upgrade from the beef and broccoli [00:14:00] to maybe filet mignon or something. You know, truffle sauce.

Point is, is that you can do this too. You can follow up forever without being annoying or salesy or pushy. And whether it's things you gotta do anyway, or things you just love to do, or whether it's your version of a date night with your editor husband, like my other client, you can do this. So repeat after me.

Every single person I connect with is one of the three C's. They are potential clients, connectors and collaborators. And even if they don't buy now, they can refer you. They can feature you. They can simply become a new friend in your corner of the business world. Who doesn't need more of those, right? It takes a village.

You never know where one conversation can lead. Say that again. You never know where one conversation can lead. One thing always leads to another. So, hey, if you [00:15:00] wanna see this in action, join my email list. I got all kinds of things I can invite you to. Best part when you're on my email list, as you can hit reply to any email I ever send you and ask me anything.

We're in this together. There's no pressure, just lots and lots of possibilities. All right. See you on Monday. Have a great weekend.