This post is from my Remote Solopreneur Briefing sent weekly.
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The first quarter of 2024 has been odd, if not concerning, for many consultants, solopreneurs, and agency owners.
Since I have 100+ data points of clients and customers, plus regularly compare notes with peers, I've been advising my clients on how to close deals in a macro environment that's shown signals of anxiety and pullback.
Despite a record quarter for me, more in that in a moment, I've seen these same signals in segments of my customer acquisition funnel.
In fact, the first half of March, I felt it even more with a customer segment I wanted to grow more aggressively to finish out the quarter.
I have to take my own advice though...I had to listen to the market, observe the data, and make some adjustments.
And after I did?
I closed $56,474 in new revenue in the last 10 days...all while on Spring Break with my family.
Here's what I did...I hope it helps as you're looking across your clients, offers, and pipeline.
1. Killed low-performing offers.
Your goals may not align with conditions outside your control.
I really don't know if 2024 will look more like The Great Recession or return to the healthier market consultants experienced in 2022 and 2023.
What is certain is that there's much more talent on the market. Increasingly, that talent is deciding to join the ranks of fractional execs, consultants, or contractors rather than get fired yet again.
We also know that SaaS and startups are still weathering the storm of tight budgets and challenging fundraising environments.
Again, these are things outside of our control.
But what isn't are the offers you're trying to sell in these conditions.
Assessing my offer suite, I had to come to terms that the offer and customer segment I wanted to sell more aggressively just wasn't popping.
So I put 1-2 offers back on the shelf and refocused on the ones where there was a more seemingly insatiable appetite.
Within 5-7 days, I had a healthier pipeline of Lighthouse Client prospects that I could push through my Repeatable Closing System.
2. Went into hyper-sales mode.
It took me first releasing the cognitive load of an offer not performing to get re-energized.
Within the first day of doing that, I closed one deal.
It proved to me that refocusing could help me turn March around.
So, I went into "hyper-sales mode".
If you've read the newsletter in the past, I talk about these three modes across your three systems of marketing, sales, and client delivery.
My sole focus was on sales...I didn't worry about social media or marketing and thankfully had my client delivery systems rolling to let me focus on growing revenue.
I worked my Repeatable Closing System and closed another deal as Spring Break was getting started with my family.
I took one call with a prospect during that week, which went on to close. The rest of the closed deals were about ensuring there were no objections or uncertainty for those already in the closing stages of my sales pipeline.
The end result....closing $56,474 in new revenue in 10 days.
3. Recalibrated marketing system.
Returning this week from Spring Break, I'm taking these signals back to my marketing system.
I don't know when the other segments of my Lighthouse Client will open up again. I'm not abandoning those segments but I also have learned over time to not force offers not selling well.
So what I did, and what I recommend to you, is to use your sales and revenue to recalibrate your marketing efforts. I'm honing my content on social channels, leaning more into the pain points for this customer segment, and looking to bring in more of these leads over the next few months.
My seven-figure flywheel will still keep attracting each segment...and when the other segment shows signals of returning to its former state, I'll be ready.
There's how I closed $56,474 in new revenue in the last 10 days.
- Killed low-performing offers.
- Went into hyper-sales mode.
- Recalibrated marketing systems.
Get to it.
