You're listening to cubicle to CEO episode 228. We talk about visibility a lot on this podcast, but some of the best sales strategies for revenue sprints are not always publicly visible efforts. After taking an intentional three month break from selling, holistic Business Coach, Tiffany Napper came back with a bang and manage to generate $70,300. In just four weeks, she signed 10 total clients during the short window, five of whom were previous clients she brought back into her ecosystem with the quote unquote invisible strategies she'll share in our case study today. Ready to easily create this kind of cash injection for your own business? With five six figure self funded business ventures under her belt, keep listening for Tiffany's invisible sales strategies that have brought her revenue on demand for over a decade.
Welcome to cubicle to CEO, the podcast where we ask successful founders and CEOs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host, Ellen Yin. Every Monday go behind the business and a case study style interview with the leading entrepreneur who shares one specific growth strategy they've tested in their own business, exactly how they implemented it, and what the results and revenue were. You'll also hear financially transparent insights from my own journey bootstrapping our media company from a $300 freelance project into millions in revenue.
Hello, friends, I have a super exciting guest on the show long overdue one of my dearest friends in business, Tiffany Napper. Many of you have seen her in our community throughout the year on our newsletter on our podcast in our CEO collective roundtables, and probably all over social too. I mean, Tiffany was at my wedding, Tiffany was part of our 2022 event, Let's get visible. You guys know and love her. Welcome to the show.
Thank you, Ellen. Oh, my God, it's so fun to be here.
I'm so excited to have you. And we have a really exciting case study for you all today. Because we all know that in the new year, you want to kick off the year with a fresh energy, right? You want to inject your business with cash you want to really revive your offers. And I think you're going to really love Tiffany's case study today. But before we get into that, Tiffany, I want to hear your cubicle to CEO story. I know you have a really interesting corporate path. So give us the goods.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, I would love to because I do think it's interesting. And I do think it's a very relevant part of my story. But I was in the corporate world for 10 years before I became an entrepreneur. And I had three, well, four, technically, we're gonna go with the three that really kind of made an impact on me the three corporate jobs. Before I became an entrepreneur, I worked for Getnet, the newspaper publisher, I was an editor of a weekly paper in Florida. And then I worked for the American Cancer Society doing their PR, and then I went into work for Yamaha, working on PR and creative direction for their artists Relations Division. So I credit those experiences with me, having a lot of knowledge I didn't even realize I had when I became an entrepreneur, because I had seen what it's like for these large, you know, international global companies to set up and operate their systems and their teams and how the leadership kind of functioned. And so it definitely gave me a leg up when I became an entrepreneur.
Absolutely, and some of my favorite tips that you shared during our 2022 events, let's get visible was from your time at the American Cancer Society. And at Yamaha, you had some really interesting creative out of the box ways to engage your stakeholders at the time your audience with the organization. And I feel like that's why I am especially looking forward to dissecting today's case study, because a lot of those tips that you mentioned, then, as well as what you're implementing now, in your own business, are things that are invisible to the eye, right? Like they're not your typical things that you would recommend, like Oh, make sure you post this type of content on social or, you know, send out this type of newsletter once a week or whatever. These are things that are happening behind the scenes that may not be visible to your audience.
So just to give you guys a high level of Tiffany's case study, this is going to examine how Tiffany injected $70,300 in revenue into her business in four weeks time. That's 10 new clients that she on boarded during this four week window, again, using this concept of invisible strategies, which is this phrase that we kind of tossed around when Tiffany and I were Vox during ahead of this interview. So let's actually first define for our listeners, how do you think about invisible strategies? What are they and why do you believe they are necessary for service based businesses? like yours.
So I had a PR and branding agency for 10 years from 2011 to 2021 is kind of when I started to silently close my doors and come to the end of all of my contracts because my coaching business was fulfilling me so much. And I was so busy. But for 10 years, I ran that PR and branding agency without a social media account. Well, I had an a placeholder account, I'll clarify if you were with me back then. But we didn't have a strategy we didn't post if we posted, it was like an intern in my office throwing something up on the account, it was not a thing. We did not get traffic or business from it. And I didn't have an email list at all. And yet, I was running a multi six figure agency for 10 years. So the invisible strategies are what I was doing behind the scenes to keep the business, you know, booked and busy.
And I kind of like to think of it I was thinking about this this morning, Ellen. I was like, it's a difference between trendy and classic. Okay, I have a I love fashion, I wanted to be a fashion magazine editor when I was a little girl. So trendy in my mind is like what reels are reposting right now what email marketing strategies were we using right now. And as we're looking forward at another year ahead of us as we're recording this, and we're starting to see people talking about what they expect for the trends to be on Instagram, for example. And I think of what I'm teaching and what I used to inject that 70k into my business as more of the classics. So like maybe you wore cargo pants at one point in time. But in reality, like a white button down shirt is probably going to last you longer. And that's how I think of these invisible strategies. They're timeless, they've been around since the big literally like anxious times, we can date back to these authentic sales strategies that we're going to share with you.
And they work, they don't go out of style. So some of them might be reaching out to previous clients, engaging and building relationships with existing customers and looking at how you can turn that into referrals and direct connections, following up with leads that were quote unquote, dead that maybe never booked with you, following up or finding your dream clients and reaching out to them. These are all of some of just some of the invisible strategies that I'm going to kind of share with you today.
Yes, and I can really attest to what Tiffany said about not only the effectiveness of these strategies, but how they truly are the I think foundation blocks of many service space businesses. When I was a freelance Social Media Manager at way back at the beginning of my entrepreneurship journey in 2018, I was able to secure a roster of six figures in contracts from social media or marketing clients. Same thing as you, Tiffany without a website without business cards without social media. It wasn't any of those front facing efforts that really brought in those clients at the beginning. I think the key here, as you're listening is to realize, does social media does an email list? Does a website have an impact on the scalability of your business? Absolutely. And if you look at you know, the work that Tiffany does, now, you'll see a lot of front facing content.
But I think what's admirable, Tiffany is even 10 plus years into your entrepreneurship journey, you have a very successful public facing brand, but you are still utilizing and going back to these foundational pieces, these classics, like you said, to add revenue to the business. So prior to this four week sprint, when you added $70,000 You actually did something interesting you took a break from selling altogether. So in the month of August, September, October, so a three month timeline, you entered what you call your soft CEO era. Now this word soft being soft this idea I've seen this all over social, I mean, not just from you from so many different people who are really feeling this, this pull towards their soft era. And that's such a hard pendulum swing from hustle culture of years past. I would love to know like what did you define as your soft CEO era? And why did you feel it was important for you to close down all your public contact forms and send everyone to a waitlist instead of simultaneously still entertaining inquiries and pre selling packages, let's say while you were on this selling hiatus?
Yeah, so quick backstory because it's relevant. And yes, I created soft SEO era after I saw soft girl era trending on Tik Tok. And I was like, Well, I'm going to enter my soft CEO era. And I'll explain more kind of what I meant by that. But my quick backstory is in 2017, I completely restructured my PR and branding agency because I was coming off of five plus years of running four businesses simultaneously and being fully in my masculine energy, hustle, hustle, no breaks. And I did not like who I love saw in the mirror and so 2017 was the beginning of my massive internal transfermation. That's when I went to Bali, that's when I went to yoga teacher training, that's when I like shut down my agency as it was running at the time, and completely restructured it and took it back to where everybody was just a contractor and I didn't have a team and I didn't have a brick and mortar space anymore. And I made all these changes. And yet, just because I feel like I've come a long way, and I've really learned how to have this, quote, unquote, balance that we're always kind of that elusive thing we're always going after, it doesn't mean I don't sometimes notice myself slipping back into what I would define as an unhealthy situation for myself.
So I say that because the preface is, by July, I had launched my mastermind, and I had these women that I wanted to be fully present for, like fully present. And I knew that I was starting to feel a little bit burnt out. And so I don't even know, I don't even really remember, the moment when I thought this is happening. Maybe it just kind of naturally flowed this way. But I probably was talking to my business coach at the time. And I don't know, I just realized I needed to write the ship a little bit before I felt too depleted. And I had nothing left. You know, we use that analogy, like you can't pour from an empty cup. Really, you can't need to be overflowing in order to fill out of your full cup. So I just thought I need to shut down some access to me, I need to stop my scrolls on Instagram, and what else can I do to protect my peace?
And the first thing that came to me was, what would it look like if I was no longer available for intake forms, sales calls, because that like constant door open, can be a bit of a drain mentally, even though it's not that large of a burden. But mentally I can always be thinking, Oh, no, I got to respond to that person who asked about working with me. And so I just thought, what would it look like if I shut it down? And you couldn't inquire about working with me. And I knew I was going to be embarking on an experiment. But I think that's the whole part of being an entrepreneur. It's all one giant experiment. So I was like, let's do it. Let me enter my soft ceo era, let me protect my peace. Let me pull back a little bit. Let me give all of my energy to my existing clients. And you know, whoever it was already, like working with me at the time. So I did I shut down my lead magnets and funneled everyone to a waitlist and just thought if you want to work with me, hopefully you'll still want to work with me when I'm ready to work with you. If not, I'm going to trust the timing of everything. And it ended up being three full months before I was ready to say okay, doors are open, I'm ready to book my clients for the next year.
Wow. You know, one thing that stood out to me as you were explaining your stance on that Tiffany is you're right, in that if you have you know, your intake forms open, even if you're not actively like, Okay, we're gonna book you and start working with you right away, even if it's pre selling, you know, like what I was asking, why not pre sell? I understand what you mean about it's like having an open loop all the time, you never get to fully close the loop. Right? So it's like your brain is always has this open door somewhere. And it's thinking about something like you said, Oh, I gotta respond to this. Oh, I gotta remember to follow back up on so and so's question. And I can definitely see how peaceful it would be to know that you are not owing anybody a response during that three month window.
I want you to insert like an early hot take here. Do you believe that taking that three month break away from sales actually prepped you for more success when you came back and decided to sell again? Or do you feel like that break didn't necessarily have an impact on the sales that followed? It was more so just like a mental health decision?
I don't have any like real data to say yes, but I will just go with my gut instinct, which is I do think yes, it had an impact. We all know, like scarcity. We know some of the sales strategies, right? So I do think subconsciously, maybe, you know, people kind of getting wind because I did make a few very subtle announcements that, you know, said, I'm no longer taking applications and I probably sent it out in an email, like if you're interested in working with me, my doors are closed for now you can hop on this waitlist, right. But my waitlist, by the way, was not large. Like it wasn't like I didn't do a big promo about my wait list and got flooded with people who were saying, Oh, my God, yes, I want to work with you in three months. That is not how this went down.
It was a very under the radar kind of a thing. But I do think subconsciously and I do think in from my gut instincts. Yes. I think also what I was really hoping I would witness from that experiment. And again, there's no hard facts data here for me to share when it comes to this, but what I was hoping was that by taking care of me and embodying what I preach to my clients, that I would attract more of those clients, those dream clients who want to be successful, but not at the expense of their health and well being. And so my hope was just that I would be that person. And that by embodying that person, I would attract more of that person. And I do think that that's what happened.
I can see that modeling the behavior that you want to call in. Absolutely. How would you respond, I guess, to the approach that's commonly held in business that you know, I mean, this is such a bro acronym, but the ABC always be closing or like, always be selling this concept, right? Taking a very intentional break from sales. What would you say to people who are like, Oh, well, even if you're not in the middle of launching, even if you don't have open doors for something, you should always be using your content, you should always be in some form or manner selling, right? Do you believe that's true? Or do you really take that polar opposite stance of I think you can actually truly take intentional lols from selling and it's beneficial to your business like it was for yours?
Well, I mean, I have two answers, really. But my first answer straightforward is I don't believe that that's true for everybody. Right? I know, my energetic capacity. I don't know if you're into this sort of thing. If you're listening, I'm into like my human design and my Enneagram and I'm a manifester, on the human design. I'm an Enneagram four, I'm a creative, I'm an individualist. I'm an idea girl, and I have an energetic threshold. And I have to be really careful about going over that threshold and then not being good for anybody. So then my close rates are probably going to suffer, right, I'm not gonna be able to show up and doozy as I'm selling that offer. So for me, personally, I don't think always be selling as a good mantra.
But there are some people and I have clients of this caliber that are just always high energy. They're they're manifesting generators, or generators on the Human Design scale, and they just thrive off of that engagement. Always be selling would be great for them. But you know, what was the second thing I was gonna say was, we can look at Europe, right, who takes a whole month off every year, and they're still in business, they're still operating as a country. So, you know, that would be my second response to that.
We can learn a lot from Europe, the one month vacation and the daily siestas in some parts of the continent that way. Right. So I love it. That's such a good analogy. What made you feel ready then to come back to selling one on one client packages in November? Was it always meant to be a three month hiatus? Or were you kind of just waiting to see when it felt right? And then it just happened to be right around that three month mark? What were the telltale signs for you?
Yeah, I knew I wanted to open my doors back up in November, because I knew I didn't want to be selling in December. And I also knew that I wanted to go ahead and know who I was going to be working with for 2024. So that I could have a peaceful December. So it was kind of all a little bit premeditated, in the sense of, okay, I'm going into this office era, I'm going to open my doors in November. So I will do whatever I need to do behind the scenes to kind of prep for that. But I'll say it wasn't a lot.
And then that was that I did not know what to expect. I didn't have any data to look at. I've never done this before, in such an intentional manner. So I really just thought, okay, November, I'll open the doors back up. We'll see what happened. I had a goal for myself, I wanted to sign four of my Thrive clients thrive is my high level one on one coaching package. I wanted to get four of those committed for 2024. And then I thought, Okay, I'll be satisfied. I use that word intentionally. Because we're always trying to beat our own move our goalpost. Right, but I knew that four would make me feel confident moving into the new year. Nice baseline for myself. Yeah. And it turns out, okay for me.
Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot of wisdom in the way that you plan things to like you said, you want a peaceful end of year so you can join the holidays. But then you also want to walk into 2024 knowing kind of at least a baseline projection of what your revenue or your year looks like if you've already filled those primary client spots.
One last tactical question on your soft SEO era before we jump straight into the numbers and the details of the case study breakdown. You said earlier that you sent everybody to a waitlist during this time so people couldn't actively like write you in a contact form to inquire about your services. Did you just so our listeners can tactically understand that did you keep all of your sales pages live during this time window so people could like read about your different offers? And did you just swap out the inquire or buy buttons with a waitlist form? Or was there anything else that you did to lead people to the waitlist?
That's literally all I did as I went onto my website, I use Squarespace and then I use Flodesk and honeybook if you're like someone who loves like the real strategies behind the scenes. So all I did was go into Squarespace and anywhere that it mentioned to work with me and fill out and it was sending them to the Contact Form honeybook, I changed it to go to the waitlist and flodesk. And that was that so all those buttons any touch point on my website, so that would have been on my homepage and then on my coaching services pages, just directed all those buttons to the waitlist.
And then come November 1 All of those buttons started going back to the lead forms. It was a pretty slick Simple little on offs, you know, toggle for me and my team. And yeah, not complicated. And then on the waitlist side, all we did was in flow desk, we had an email that they got that said congrats, you're on the waitlist, we'll be the first one I went doors open again. And I did give them the opportunity to submit questions that I would answer via video if questions came through. And once a month, I would share a video answering some of those questions with that small weightless community. Very low touch for me didn't require much energy, except hopping on once a month and answering a few questions.
I love that. So during so just so I understand clearly during the three month, interim, you were hopping on once a month, so theoretically sending three total videos during your soft CEO window, answering these questions and were they only questions related to your offers? Or could they ask any questions?
Anything related to business. Yeah. I remember, one person asked me about launching a course we chatted about you, Ellen. One asked me about the recession. You know, it was just any it was anything that was on top of their mind. I was like, Look, I'm not available right now. But if there's a question you have and I can be of service, I'm happy to hop on and record a little video for you. And that's what I did. That's kind of how I served that waitlist, if you will, as a thank you for being patient with me.
That's so generous. And I love that it feels really personalized. But without you having to send individual one on one videos to each person just collectively answering all the questions in one video a month. I love that that's such a brilliant weightless tip. Definitely borrow that if you have a waitlist going, that's a great way to stay top of mind and be of service. So love, love. Love that. All right, let's break down the numbers. Tiffany, you already kind of you know, alluded to this, but you sold four Thrive clients spots. So that's your top tier, your six to 12 month coaching package. What is the price point of that package?
Yeah, it's 15 to 18k. So depends on how long they're sticking around with me. So $15,000 to $18,000.
Amazing. So you sold four of those, then you also sold two Ignite packages. So Ignite being your mid tier three month coaching package. What is the price point of that one is?
2400
2400. Awesome. And then to round out your 10 total booked contracts during that four week sprint, you also were able to sell four custom end of year packages that totaled to 5,500. I'm not sure if you remember off the top of your head. But if you do, do you know the general breakdown of what each of those four packages costs for the range?
Yeah, it was 1100 to $1,500 for that end of year session with those clients, depending on how long how many hours we spent together.
Amazing. So 10 total new clients, $70,300 and revenue injected. I want to get to each of the different invisible strategies that you implemented. But let's start with this last one for the for custom and of your packages. How did you come up with these custom offers on the go? Can you like walk us through an example of one of the ones that you offered and sold?
Yeah, I mean, obviously, my goal, as I mentioned was to say, Okay, I want to know who are my four women who I am showing up for and supporting month after month in 2024. But if I had someone who inquired, and they weren't quite ready to commit to that, but they wanted to work with me. And to be clear, some of those Indivior custom packages were for people who have already worked with before, these weren't all brand new customers, right? A lot of these were customers, I've served in the past, so. So if they came in, they're like, I don't really need the six months or the 12 months, I really just need your brain for three hours, or I want to help plan out my year with you or whatever it might be, then I was willing to say, okay, great. Let me create a custom package for you. And that's, you know, pretty simple for me, because I kind of have an hourly breakdown. And I knew once I had one person who wanted to have an interior package, I knew I'd probably have more.
So then the structure of that day, you know, I recreate it once and then I've just got to duplicate it for each client. So yeah, it was really just a matter of what do they need? Do I feel like I can do that for them? Can I deliver that for them? One of the things I always do for myself when creating a custom, like off the cuff package is a check in with myself and make sure it feels good to me. And that it feels like I'm not going to leave them with something that's not actually going to do them good. And what I mean by that is it's like I like to use the analogy of a personal trainer. If I was a personal trainer and someone wanted to come to me for just three sessions, I might say no, because three sessions is not going to change your body. Right. So as a business coach, it's a similar approach. I know the longer we work together, the more progress we can make similar to a therapist as well. However, if it is very straightforward, what we're trying to accomplish and I do think we can get it done in three hours, then I'm happy to create that package and I can sell that authentically, you know feeling really good about it.
So wise. Yes. And I I love that your a transformations led coach that is so different I think than just being like a hire me out, kind of pick my brain sort of thing when when there's no really direction or intentionality behind, like why you're spending that time with the person. You kind of already answered a question that I had on my mind, which was, Do you offer these custom type packages only for returning clients? Or is it for new as well? It sounds like both and your case. I'm curious, what advice or additional insight might you add for our listeners who are thinking about where kind of off the cuff custom package could fit into their offer suite? Is this something that they kind of keep hidden in their tool belt and only pull out when any of the pre made packages are not a good fit for the client? How do you know when to I guess, offer it to a new client without almost like competing with your main offers or distracting them from actually taking the leap for one of your main offers?
Yeah. And if you're in the service based business industry, and you're listening, and you're on the online space, you're probably going to be familiar with the term I'll use, which is going to be called down selling. So for me, I do think this is an invisible package. This is not something that is, you know, forward facing, this is not something that I would sell on a regular basis. And even to answer your question, it's not something I would really want to do for someone who I don't know much about their business, I only took on one of those four was a brand new client. And in hindsight, I now know I wouldn't do that again.
Interesting. Okay.
Yeah, just because I am such a, I dive into the numbers, I need to know the ins and outs of your business. And it's not that I wasn't able to serve them, it's just that it took me a lot more time before our sessions to prepare. So from a monetary standpoint, I would have either if I'm going to work with someone brand new, I should have charged more, because it just took so much more out of me to get prepped for that meeting versus my existing clients. I already know their services and their offer suite and their numbers forwards and backwards. So to jump back in is a lot easier. Anywho, that's a side note.
I would say for me, my best practice would be that this stays as a private downsell that you only bring up when you can tell that they're not interested in the thing that you originally were pitching to them. And the reason for that for me is because like I said, I try not to confuse my buyer, I try to make it really clear, this is my preferred way to work with you. This is what I know to be true as far as having the best results. Because it's tried and true. It's my number one offer. And that's the one I'm going to promote to you and pitch to you and offer to you. And if for some reason you don't take me up on that. And I think there's a way for me to serve you then I'll say, Well, I do have this other thing that I could do for you. That's in this price point. How does that feel? And if they say yes, great.
I would absolutely agree with your recommendation Tiffany about keeping this as an invisible down sell. I also wanted to really highlight the point that you made you because you said it so quick, I want to make sure our listeners don't miss this golden nugget, onboarding a new client and really learning whatever it is that you need to know about them to serve them the best is, I feel like an often undervalued step in the overall compensation structure that you need to consider. And I'm so glad you brought that up. Because even though I you know, don't have coaching clients in my business model anymore, I can relate to this even on a brand partnerships level, right? Like when we run a campaign with a client that we've worked with many times, it's so much easier than the very first time we work with a brand new brand where we have to learn everything about their messaging and their audience and their offers and everything. So I completely agree with you like the amount of work is not equal. So this is your reminder that if you are servicing a new client, make sure you are taking into consideration that onboarding process into your pricing. So great, great bonus point from you, Tiffany, thank you for sharing that.
Okay, so we talked about creating off the cuff packages. One more question on this is the three that we're returning clients that you offer this to? Do these people self select and add themselves to your waitlist, and that's why they were even presented with such an opportunity, or did you personally reach out to these people and offer this package?
Well, here's the fun part. They actually all reached out to me. They all reached out and said yes, said hey, and again, I think this goes into the notion that, you know, when I did pull back, it did probably catch some attention from people because it was an unusual strategy to take. And so then when I announced that my doors were open again, I think again, it just kind of, you know, people that were lingering, or watching on social media were like, Oh, she's available now. Okay, I'd love an interview session with her. So for my three clients that came back and said they wanted to work with me. They've been in my orbit for two plus years, all three of them and have worked with me in different capacities. over those two plus years, and all three, were very quick to tap my shoulder and say, Hey, can I get on your schedule for an interview or session? And I was like, actually, yeah, let's do that. So they came to me.
I mean, it's like that saying distance makes the heart grow fonder, right. Their time away from you made them go, oh, my gosh, I really miss Tiffany, and what she brings to my business. I love that. All right, some other invisible strategies that you implemented verbal invitations on the phone with existing clients. What's an example of a scenario where that opportunity would come up? Was this like on one of their regularly scheduled coaching calls? Was this a separate call that you schedule with them? And then could you even maybe walk us through what you might say on that phone to initiate the conversation?
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, as I mentioned, I had a PR and branding agency prior to having my coaching agency. So this strategy works for a myriad of situations, multiple types of businesses. And it's as simple as this, you're on a call with them, doing whatever it is that you do, whether it be coaching, PR, marketing, graphic design, SEO, whatever you do for them. And on that call, if it's coming to the end of your contract term, whether it's a six month contract, or just a project based contract, but it's towards the end, and you say to them, "I've really enjoyed working with you. I would love to continue this. I know we wanted to accomplish XYZ, I think we can do that with X amount of more months of whatever, would you be interested? Do you want to continue on?" It's literally that simple.
So for me, I did this at the end of some of my mastermind students who were graduating, and it was like, "Hey, I know we've got more to cover, do you want to continue on, I'd love to extend an invitation to you into my Thrive program." And they said yes, but even when I ran a PR agency, I would do the same thing with my clients. And here's what I think is the golden nugget, if you're listening is most people, I don't have a number most, way more than 50%, like 90% of the people are going to be too scared, too shy, too intimidated to actually say this on the phone. So they're going to slide it over in an email and hope that the other person responds. And if I can teach you one thing, it would be to use your voice. Because when you make that invitation verbally, you are going to receive a different response than when you just slide it over via email or social media or whatever it might be.
Yes, and it totally changes the dynamic of any following email conversations, right? Because at that point, if you've already gotten a verbal yes, or some indicator of interest, your next emails like, alright, let's solidify our next steps versus Hey, like, might you be interested in this thing? Right. And I think there is something about catching someone in the moment and really, essentially short cutting, you know, the wait time for a response. And I guess for someone on the receiving end, if one of your clients, you know, you pose this question to them? If they aren't an immediate Yes. If they're like, oh, you know, thank you so much for the invite. I need to think on this. What is usually your plan of action in a scenario like that?
You know, if they say yes, "oh my God, yes. Great. You we go into, okay, great. I'll send an email your way with the official invitation. You can sign the contract, we'll get started on this date." If they're like, Oh, I'm not sure. Similar response. "Okay, no problem. Here's what I'll do, I'll send you a formal invitation. So you can see it all written down on paper, I'm a visual learner, maybe you are, too. So that helps you to kind of see that spelled out, I'll send that over your way. When you're ready to move forward, I'll be ready as well." You're going to kind of like change that ending based on the vibes you're getting back from the person. If it feels like they're really not interested in more work, then okay, you got the answer you needed.
But if it feels like they're just like, unsure for whatever other reason, you might be able to tap into on that phone on that call. Is it budget? Is it timing, like, when you're having a face to face or voice to voice, you know, conversation, you've now opened yourself up to answer any questions that they might have without these long delays. And without wondering what they're really thinking, because you can see their face or you can hear their voice. It's gonna like, like condense time for you. When it comes to you sitting over there wondering if they liked you, if they want to work with you more. It's like, No, I could tell by her energy. She's so excited.
And here's what really like, is the game changer was a game changer mentality for me. I put myself in their scenario and their shoes. And if I was coming to the end of something with someone, and I really enjoyed it, and I really loved the progress we made. And I didn't get an invitation to continue on. I might feel like why didn't I like, does she not like me? Like, why doesn't she want to keep working with me, right? But however, if someone gave me the invitation, and it was in my hands now to decide if I wanted to accept that deal with a compliment, right? So that little shift in mentality helps me Again, extend the invitation. There's no pressure, it's just an invitation. But I want you to know you're invited.
That is such a great mindset shift. I've never thought about it in that way. But you're so right, the client, service provider relationship truly is a two way street. It's a mutual choosing of each other. Right? And you are so right, that we always think like, oh, it's just us who's trying to impress the client, it's just us who wants them to like us who want to renew with us and whatnot. But we forget, there is the whole other side of the equation, like you said, of, they hope that they're a great client that you think that they are worthy of your time and your talents, and, and in service and whatnot. And so, love that tip for our listeners, thank you so much.
I do also feel that, you know, one of the things that you do really, really well is in addition to those, like in the moment, invitations and offers, you're also really great at just kind of like out of the blue, sending someone an email and saying like, Hey, I think we should do XYZ like being very directive. That's not the word. Proactive. Yes. Yes. Proactive and making the invite. So that's another invisible strategy, I would love to hear your thoughts on I know, you did that a bit in this four week sprint as well, emailing some past clients with a renewed offer, do you have one of those emails available that you could maybe even read a snippet from, or maybe just from your memory, kind of share the general format of how you approach that type of email?
Yeah, I can kind of do it off cuff, I'll give you a general kind of consensus. But this just goes back to realizing that this is, you know, Ellen, you use the perfect word, this is a relationship, right? Just because we're trading money back and forth, doesn't mean it's not still a relationship at its core. And so for me, if I have a client that I've worked with in the past, and maybe we took a break, or we needed some time to pass for them to implement some of the things or what have you, and I think of them, because I've got maybe a new offering, or the same offering, but they didn't take me up on it six months ago, when I want to extend it again, or whatever it might be. If I think of them, and I think they're a good fit, then why would I not reach out.
And it really is just like a hey, I was thinking about you How is such and such going and I reference back to something that we worked on together. I'll give an example of like, someone who's not a business coach, like if you're a graphic designer, and you develop someone's logo and website a year ago, and you might be thinking, hey, you know, so and so I really loved working with you. And I loved that logo. And I've loved seeing you put it all over social media, and you know that your audience respond. And I just want you to know, Do you need anything in the in the coming year? Do you need some new Instagram templates? Do you need some new X? Are you launching a new program? Like, what do you have going on? How can I support you? And that's it. It doesn't have to be this hard pitch.
I think what I see oftentimes with women in this I work a lot in the creative industries. And I see a lot of women who overcomplicate this and overthink it and think that they have to have this beautiful, polished presentation before they send it over. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. Short and sweet email short and sweet. Hey, how you doing? How's it going? You know, and let them respond.
I will echo that sentiment because, again, relating back to the work that we do as a media company when we are pitching brands or renewing campaigns. I think when you remove that burden of like oftentimes, like you said, Tiffany, I don't necessarily send a fully fleshed out pitch in that initial email. It really is, like my goal with that first email, whether it's that first contact or the first contact in a long time is simply to get a response. That's it. So like whatever question you need to ask to get someone to reappear, I guess in your inbox and have a conversation with you is really all you need to do so you can I guess reach out to someone without even having necessarily a pitch or a package in mind. It's just like, let's reinitiate that point of contact. So I think that's a great reminder.
Going to your waitlist. Now, you had about 19 people who signed up for your waitlist during that three month interim, where you are not entertaining any sales calls or inquiry forms. For those 19 people you sent an invitation to book a sales call once you reopen your doors for booking coaching clients. Of those 18 people on the waitlist. Do you remember how many ended up actually booking a call?
I knew you were going to ask me that. And I don't know. I don't know the final number. I was thinking I was like as you're as you're talking I'm like over the 19, how many of those became were you know, those were all new names, obviously. And how many of those became a clients I'm going to say, approximately and this is I'm just kind of glancing at some names. Yeah, I'm gonna say maybe five of those 19, maybe 50%. Five were recurring clients and five for new.
That's amazing. I mean, five of 19 especially for the higher ticket packages. Yeah, that your, that your clients are investing at is really incredible. Did you offer them any sort of incentive to book a sales call with you? Or was it simply like, once the doors were open were like, hey, now I can take a call with you.
Yeah, no incentive, except that I was very clear on the limitation of spots. So I was very clear that there were only four spots available for thrive, and there was only going to be a handful of spots available for Ignite. And I did for the first time ever, on my lead form, give us a short paragraph breakdown of the coaching packages that were available. Because again, I was trying to be really mindful of everyone's time. And I only wanted to get on the phone with someone who kind of had already pre selected what program they thought they wanted, whether or not it was going to be the program best for them would be something we could discuss on the phone.
But I did want them to go ahead, even though it's on the website, and I'm very like, I'm big on price transparency, so I put my prices on the website. But still, as you know, if you're in the service based industry, and you do this, you might know you still get people who get on the phone with you and have sticker shock. And I wanted to avoid that. So this was the first time I actually put descriptions and prices on the lead form and actually asked them to select which package they were most interested in, just to book the sales call. And again, that was just because I wanted to make sure that people who did now come off the waitlist and book calls with me, were really ready to make a decision because I knew that I was ready to pick my four people. And I wanted it to feel like a mutual selection.
Well, from a buyer behavior psychology standpoint, if you will, I am now curious, when given let's say, I'm not sure if you put only Ignite and Thrive on there, if you put like three options, but because there's a huge price jump obviously between Ignite being right around like you said 2400 to Thrive being 15 to 18,000. Did you find that anyone right off the bat when booking the sales call immediately selected Thrive? Or did you find that people would default to the lowest priced option available?
A little bit of both, but I definitely had several who picked Thrive. And I think it goes, yeah, it goes a little bit into the messaging and the priming of what that looks like. And you know, the copy around that package and explaining that this is the highest level coaching package you're gonna get from me, and the woman who wants that level of support and wants to be held like that. It's like, it's like VIP, it's like what we say why why do people pay for the VIP line or whatever? It's because they want that VIP experience. And that's what thrive is for me. So yeah, I had people pick both.
That's amazing. Did you have anyone that picked a lower tiered package like Ignite that ended up actually choosing Thrive after your sales call?
Yes.
Is there any, any nugget of wisdom that you would share there about?
Yeah, I think my nugget of wisdom, well, first of all, I will say this, if you are going to do that, and you're going to have a range, and you're going to have the you know, a low, medium, high, and people are picking low medium, don't let it discourage you, because it might just be that that's what they feel comfortable with. But once you get on the phone call with them, and you can explain more about what they get. And those medium or high tier packages, they'll quickly be swayed and move over or move up. So don't let it discourage you. That's my first nugget.
Because I know I've heard people who are like, Oh, why are they picking it's like, don't judge anything until you get on the phone with them. But then once you're on the phone, if someone and this goes back to just really standing in your truth as a service provider, and what you provide and the value you bring to the table, and if I'm on the phone with someone, and I'm hearing them talk through the things that are going on in their business, and I know there is no way in H E double hockey sticks, that I can get to the bottom or the root of that in three months, then I'm not going to sell you on three months. And that goes back to just me saying like, I don't want your money, I want to make a difference.
And so I'll be very honest, me the way I am in my sales call, you know, skills is I will say to them, I know you pick to the XYZ package after listening and hearing you talk about what's going on in your business. I actually know that in order for me to feel good and feel like we can make the changes that need to be made here. We're going to need more time than that we're gonna need six to 12 months. That's it, I just say very matter of factly it's not something I think it's one of those things again, where when you know what you know, and you stand in your truth as the expert in whatever it is that you're providing. And you provide that in a very, you know, it's like a gentle but firm kind of conversation where it's like, you know, if it's not for you, it's not for you, but I personally am not going to just take your money for the sake of taking your money. I'm here to actually make sure that we get done what you're saying and what I'm hearing you need to get done. And I know I can't do that unless we have X amount of time.
Love the integrity behind that and I think that's another golden nugget that I'll just really pull out again for our listeners is we forget sometimes that our clients don't actually know what they might need. Right? It's like, they're, they're really leaning on you to be the expert and to recommend the best solution for them. So just because their immediate inclination was to choose one offer over the other doesn't mean that you are being combative if you suggest something different if you know better, because you should know better as the expert. So, like Tiffany said, really stand strong in your recommendations and understand that they respect your opinion as the expert, Otherwise, they wouldn't even be on a call with you. So love that reminder. Any other invisible strategies that you implemented during this time, Tiffany that we didn't get a chance to cover yet today?
Let's see, it was mostly invitations on phone calls, some emails, and then obviously, I did send the email out to the waitlist to book the sales call. I didn't end up having to use some of my other strategies that I would have used in other scenarios, because the spots filled up so quickly. But some examples if you're listening, and you just want to know what some of those other strategies might look like, would be asking a previous client to make an introduction to you of someone that they think would be perfect to work with you in the future, or, you know, asking for those referrals, but really asking for them to do the warm introduction is the is the key there that works like a charm, especially when you word the email in a way that makes it very clear that you trust their recommendations. And so therefore, you're asking for them to make just one introduction. Just one, that's it. Yeah, that's a really smart strategy. Go ahead.
Actually, I was gonna say one of our mutual clients turn friends Mary Carlisle of Virtual Busy Bees, she was part of I first met her through actually my co working space here in town before I closed it. And then she joined our mentorship program again, before we closed it, and then eventually, you know, entered your circle through the Upleveler Society. And I remember when you hosted your Make That Money Honey challenge for your Upleveler Society people. One of the things that you tasked them with on one of the action days was to you know, make an ask for a referral. And Mary actually reached out to me and I remember sending, I can't remember exact, I think it was like two introductions her way. And she like, excitedly messaged me back was like, Oh, my gosh, I have two sales calls booked. Now, I don't know what came of those calls. But it works. It really works to like, get in front of people who know your work who trust you and want to refer you out. Because, again, if had she not reached out to me, it's not like I didn't want to recommend her. It just wasn't top of mind. I didn't wake up thinking, Oh, I should, you know, send an introduction her way today because it didn't cross my path. But because she intentionally made that us. It was so easy for me to do. So I just wanted to, you know, affirm you and how well that worked with me?
Well, first of all, that makes me so happy to hear because that means you were on the receiving end of these templates that I've written. And yeah, it's like you said, we, as women, I'm going to speak, you know, in a general terms a little bit, but what I see a lot firsthand from from women is this little bit of timidness, that we don't want to be a burden. And we don't want to ask anybody for help. And it's why I have this little sticker that I pass around that says Help is not a four letter word. Because it is a four letter word. It's not a bad word. Right. But, you know, how did you feel? Ellen, when you got that email from Mary, I'd love to know, like, how did it make you feel?
It really made me feel like she valued our relationship that she trusted me as someone who would be in contact with the type of business owners that she would want to welcome into her services, you know, and I think that's another piece of the helping aspect of it that we often forget is, when we ask people for help, they feel value, too. It's not like you're taking something away from them. Now granted, sometimes the ask that you make is not something that they have the capacity to fulfill in that moment. And that's totally fine, right. But it doesn't mean that they still didn't like to be thought of as a person that you would turn to for help. So I love I know, I keep saying I love that reminder during today's interview, but I really, there's so many great reminders for our listeners. And so that was another really great nugget.
And by the way, if you're curious, like what was that exact, like DM that Mary sent you like what was that template as Tiffany alluded, all of these invisible strategies, and so many more that were not even shared in today's case study are things that she has distilled into a 30 day action plan where each day and I've seen this firsthand with my own eyes because she sent it over for me to take a glance at you know, each day it literally tells you like one specific action item so I don't know what day that was for Mary but like clearly on one of the days it was like reach out to x person and send this message asking for a referral. And Tiffany has written for you all of the words that you need to say in a follow up email or in that initial DM reach out to that You don't even have to overthink it, you just plug in your own information, send it out into the universe and come what may, and you are re offering this or I should say, for the first time to the public, right? Because previously, this was only for your clients. Tell us about how people can replicate this invisible strategy action plan in their own business.
Yes. So this will be the first time I'm offering this to the public, I'm really, really excited, I wanted to make sure that it was foolproof basically, and that anybody who picked it up and got their hands on this plan and implemented day one, day two, day three, day four would have a positive end results. So it's called Making That Money, Honey. It's a six week accelerator program, and 30 days of action, 30 days of walking hand in hand, step by step together with everyone in the program, and myself guiding you, and then two weeks following for ongoing coaching, because what happens is, you're going to end up with all these sales calls and in these conversations, and you might not feel very competent, and how to close the loop. And I want to be there to support you through some of those common objections you might hear. And just to make sure that you can kind of really close the loop on some of those sales. So it's called Make That Money, Honey, and we are kicking off live together on January 24.
So exciting. So if someone's like, Okay, wait, I need this 30 day action plan. I want to start the new year off strong and really get this cash injection. I mean, who knows, you might even surpass Tiffany's results, right? You might even inject more than $70,000 into your business. I think as mentors, we always hope that our students can exceed even our wildest imaginations. And I know you've seen that your own work. Where can people go? Sign up for this challenge? And this accelerator?
Yeah, come to Tiffanynapper.com. You'll see it it's called make that money, honey under my coaching services. Or if you can remember, it's just Tiffanynapper.com/make-that-money-honey, is that I get all the words in there.
With a hyphen between each word, right?
Make that money, Honey. It'll be all over my social media starting on January 9, so you can learn more about it or just send me a DM I'll give you the link.
Awesome. Well, we will include Tiffany's Instagram handle the direct link to Make That Money, Honey. And also, of course, just her general website, link. Oh, and podcast This Or More, one of my favorite business podcasts that I do tune into regularly. We'll make sure all of Tiffany's links are below in the show notes. So please do yourself a favor today and check those out. Thank you, Tiffany for sharing your number so transparently with us in this case study.
My pleasure, so fun to talk about. So thanks for having me.
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