How to create a ready-to-buy audience

By Erin Flynn | June 2, 2020

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You know how some people seem to sell out their services easily, every single time they open their mouths?

There’s a reason for that.

It’s because they’ve laid the groundwork and have an audience that is ready and waiting to buy so every time a spot opens up, it’s claimed quickly.

How do they do this? Well, I sat down with Savannah Hamilton of Wild Savannah to find out exactly how SHE creates an audience of raving fans who can’t wait to buy.

You’re going to love this episode, tune in now, or hit the transcript if that’s your style!

Visit Savannah: Wild Savannah | Untamed and Unapologetic | Online Business Checklist | @the.wildsavannah

Transcript:

Erin Flynn: Hey everyone! Welcome back. Today I’m here with Savannah Hamilton. She is the CEO and Founder of Wild Savannah, as the name implies, she has been pushing the boundaries of an ordinary life since she entered this world.

Previous Nurse Practitioner, turned Business Strategist, she uses her relationship based business approach and fine attention to detail to help other online female entrepreneurs create a wildly in demand brand to reach their 6 figure goals.

As the host of Wild Within Podcast, Untamed and Unapologetic Facebook Group and an International Retreat host Savannah uses all her platforms to support female entrepreneurs in living a life of their wildest dreams.

Thank you for being here, Savannah.

Savannah Hamilton: Oh, Erin, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to dive into some juicy conversations with you.

Erin Flynn: So Savannah and I we’ve met on Instagram and we’ve gone back and forth and we finally are getting to actually chat today. And she is like really a queen at connecting with her audience. She is so great at it. And I know one of the biggest struggles for most creative entrepreneurs is getting clients. And I know that you have a fantastic method for creating a raving and ready to buy audience. Can you tell us more about that?

Savannah Hamilton: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for asking. So, a little bit, just tad bit about me. I come from a background of health care, and I was a nurse practitioner. And I was always this bubbly nurse that was interacting with my patients and always kind of having these patients that would ask for me every time they were back in. And long story short, now I have transitioned into becoming a business strategist, but I’ve really allowed my previous experience in healthcare to kind of come to the forefront in my business approach. And that is through relationships first marketing approach. Because I really believe that many entrepreneurs when they start, they’re so busy with doing all the things. Whether that be creating courses or content, or just all the things, but then they forget to bridge the gap between the main component and their business. Which is their audiences. And through my approach, I like to put relationships first and before any of my clients do any marketing, any course creation, it’s all about nurturing their community.

Erin Flynn: I love that. And I think one of the things that I’ve realized, so much in running a business and getting clients is so often we get so, kind of honed in on here’s my offering, no matter what it is. Here’s my offering, buy it, buy it, buy it. And that becomes our basically marketing message. And it’s just like this kind of constant selling, which is no wonder selling feels so icky and sleazy, so much of the time. Because there’s not a focus on those relationships. Is that something that you’ve noticed as well?

Savannah Hamilton: Oh my gosh. And I did the same thing. Truth be told. I did the same thing. It was a lot of trial and error and now really stepping into remembering what it feels like, just like we were talking about before this, it feels good to connect to people. One of our human basic needs is connection. And if we just pull back all of what we should be doing and just remember to be a human being, and connect with people, see people and just take the ickiness out of it. And I always say, instead of selling, you’re just sharing. So if you learn to just share your product and what you’re passionate about, you’re going to be able to connect with your audience a much deeper level, than if you’re just, just like you were saying before, we get so focused on the, this is it, this is what I’m doing, kind of like the doing, versus the actual being of being a human being.

Erin Flynn: So how would you recommend someone if they’re trying to make this connection? How would they get started with sharing versus the selling? How do they find that distinction and start doing it the right way as opposed to the sleazy way?

Savannah Hamilton: Oh my gosh. I love this question because I think in the beginning I didn’t come from a sales background, so it was a very like, can I talk to these people? Is it okay? They’re like these foreign land, but I really just try to make it as simple as possible. I think as busy entrepreneurs, and as women, were wearing so many hats. And if we could just strip it all down to the basics and just imagine for me, my business and most of my clients are on Instagram.

Savannah Hamilton: But if you just take it back to the bare bones of imagine you being in a coffee shop and striking up a conversation with somebody, it’s just like, “Hey, how are you doing? I love your dress. Those are awesome earrings, where did you get those?” Versus when we do feel icky and we slide into people’s DMs and we’re like, “So I have this five week fitness program, would you want to buy it?” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Running this promo. You look like my ideal client, that feels gross. And that would feel gross at a coffee shop as well. So just being human and having fun, I think we forget to do that and infuse our personality in it as well. And if you just think of it as like your girlfriend striking a conversation, it really gets to be less tedious and more in alignment with I think, more feminine flow.

Erin Flynn: I think that’s so true. And I think that that’s, again, something we get caught up in. And especially maybe if we’re trying to, let’s say batch content, I know I’m guilty of this. The personality and the connection tends to go out pretty quickly because my focus is on something like I need 25 posts or something. And it just becomes this kind of robotic messaging or stuff that I’m sharing as opposed to connections to. Do you have any tips on how you would, if someone is trying to schedule their content or connect on social media, in maybe a bigger way, and then kind of getting down to the more microscopic, like DMs that are not sleazy DMs, but how would they do the bigger messaging, say they’re posting on Instagram or something?

Savannah Hamilton: Yeah. Once again, another great question. Because I do think that I’m a type A, masculine minded, masculine is where I live. That’s me and I easily just get into the doing. And so what I recommend for my clients is I love batching. I think it’s a great idea because that allots you more freedom and more time. And you can really focus on one project at a time. I literally schedule in DMs. So when I’m engaging in nurturing with my audience, so for me when I was starting out, it looked like an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, and actually being consistent with that. But scheduling that, I know a lot of the times it can be, we’re batching content, and then we’re just randomly DMing people. And maybe just here and there, or we forget about it all completely.

Savannah Hamilton: And then we’re only reaching out to people when we’re selling. And your audience is less likely to convert when you have no continual communication with them. Versus if you’re already talking to them all the time, you know what they have going on, you know they have a course launch going on, you’re following up about that. Then it feels less icky when you’re like, “Hey, I actually just created this course. I know you had a launch going on. Is it something you’d be interested in?” So going back, circle. Consistently doing it and scheduling time to do that as well is really important.

Erin Flynn: I think the scheduling time is probably one of the key things. We can talk about mistakes in a second, but I think that’s one of the key things, because if you are trying to maybe just do things on the fly and you’re like, I don’t know, between other calls or between client work or something.

Erin Flynn: And you’re just like, I to need to bang out this DM. And I need to send this ten per day or whatever you’ve made this goal about, and you’re just trying to knock it out. As opposed to saying, I have an hour, I’ve scheduled an hour of my time to form a real connection with people. I think that’s just, you’re going to have a much more natural flow, if you’re not trying to just cram it in, in a quantifiable way. And instead, you’re looking at it more as a connection forming. You may or may not make a sale in that hour, but you are forming a connection in that hour. So it’s reframing the goal. But I think ends up of course, being quantifiable when those people actually turn into a sale, because you actually made a real connection. But I think so much of the time the approach is just numbers, numbers, numbers.

Savannah Hamilton: Right, right. Yeah. And I think it goes back to also having that continual relationship with them and not just reaching back to them when they’re selling, because then if you go back to remember to having fun, you’re just connecting with your girlfriends, you’re connecting with your audience, you’re having fun doing it. You have a scheduled time into doing it. And then you’re not just reaching out to them when you have a sale. And also I might add to that. So I schedule times for engagement, but then I also have a community nurture list, which I would recommend anybody that’s building an audience. So any of your listeners there in the beginning, having a community nurture list and that’s people that have reached out to me, that have been my previous clients, that I know are my ideal clients, that I have something coming up for them.

Savannah Hamilton: It’s a list. And every Friday I have four hours, a long time. I literally, relationship building is the foundation of my business. And because I know that I can sit down and crank out some work on [inaudible 00:09:02] or being creative or writing some content fast. I can’t crank out reaching how you were saying before. It feels pretty gross when you’re just reaching out to people. So four hours on Friday, it’s my Friday afternoon. I pump up some music. I get in a good vibe. I think energy is contagious. I might have a glass of wine with me. And then I, every week, am reaching out to the people on my community nurture list. And that makes a huge difference as well.

Erin Flynn: I love that. That’s something I know that I’ve had in the back of my head that I need to do, because I do have a group of people that I try and chat with regularly, but I haven’t formally made a list to make the effort, to remember to check in with them weekly or something. And I think that’s something that anybody can do and set aside some of that time for nurturing those. We just have to actually sit down.

Savannah Hamilton: And do it, yeah.

Erin Flynn: And go through our DMs and do it, which is something that I have definitely not yet.

Savannah Hamilton: Yeah. And I didn’t do it at the beginning either, but now that I’ve seen such great results in the increase in engagement and the easier conversions, and the referrals and just the deep connection of knowing what you’re doing is making a difference. Because I think especially in the beginning, if you don’t have that link, you question everything that you’re doing. Because you’re like I put it out there and no one liked it for the fifth post in a time, or you have that course that didn’t sell out. And it really, when you take this more community based approach, it’s just, there’s so many benefits to it. And it really, really allows you to step into who you are competently as the female entrepreneur.

Erin Flynn: Now I know some people are going to say, “Well, this is not scalable. This doesn’t scale well.” And I do think there’s of course a difference if you’re selling maybe a very low ticket offer that’s $50 or less. Then of course this method is going to be very difficult to hit a high number. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, but it’s going to maybe not have the same monetary result. But if you’re selling a high ticket service, or a high ticket program, this is such an incredible way because you’re going to be working one-on-one or in a small group with that person, anyhow. So it’s almost like a great way where you can screen them and make sure that they’re actually the right fit.

Erin Flynn: As well as encourage them that this is something that they’re going to want to do just by naturally chatting with them. And they’re going to be like, Savannah’s really cool, or Erin’s really cool. I do want in her program, or I do want her to build my website, or whatever it is. I think in terms of scalability, of course, there’s going to be some maybe criticism for this, but in terms of having those real connections and having, especially with a high ticket offer, this is like the perfect method.

Savannah Hamilton: Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I would honestly, I would challenge that it is scalable. Because once you, maybe you’re not always going to be in the DMs, engaging with your people, but that’s something that you can easily outsource, for having the community nurture list. You can have somebody outsource that does that for you easily. So if you’re getting so busy and that’s easily one of the first things that you could outsource. Yes, I do believe that gets some criticism from people. Because a lot of people think that’s inauthentic, but it’s not that you don’t have… So for me, for instance, I recently hired someone to help me with that as well. And I have my eyes on everything. And in fact, because she helps me, I’m able to reach more people and serve more people. So in my eyes it’s actually super beneficial and is scalable.

Savannah Hamilton: And if there’s someone that like my VA easily flags it for me and says, “This is something you should handle.” So when it gets to the selling, I don’t have them do any of my sales, but if it’s the community nurture or the reaching out for new growth, that’s something that’s easily able to be outsourced.

Erin Flynn: Yeah, I agree. And I think that if anybody feels weird about that, they can be very open and honest and, the person that you have that comes in can be like, “Hey, I’m Susie. I work for Erin. And she wanted me to help check in with you and, see how you’re doing.” And that kind of stuff. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If somebody is feeling weird about it, there are ways you can approach that in a way that feels good to you and works for you and your audience.

Erin Flynn: So there is no shade, on my part, in either way that you do it. I think as long as you’re serving, it totally makes sense because then you’re able to serve and share, and help more people. But anybody who’s listening, who’s like, “Oh no, I could never do that. That feels wrong to me.” There are ways that you can do that, that you’re open and honest and there’s no way that people are going to mistake that they’re not actually talking to you. They’re talking to someone who’s working on your team and that’s totally fine.

Savannah Hamilton: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s something as female entrepreneurs, maybe we struggle with a little more because we do think we need to do it all. But there comes a time when you have to give your priority to your one on one clients or your group coaching programs. And it’s not that you’re not overseeing it and it still doesn’t replicate you. You have to remember that at the end of the day, it’s still a business. And if you expect to be profitable through it, you’re not going to be able to… I mean, you can do it by yourself for so long. But if you want to scale, like we were talking about, if you want to hit six figures, if you want to hit seven figures, if you want to really reach the masses, you’re not going to be able to it all alone the whole time.

Erin Flynn: Mm-hmm (affirmative). And I think, well, one thing on the flip side of that, for those who are listening, who have very high ticket offers and who don’t need that many connections, if you’re selling a website for $10,000 and you only need to sell ten per year, well guess what you don’t… I mean, you totally can hire a VA, but you definitely don’t need to. So if you’re doing a very high ticket offer, you can do it all yourself. If you choose to. Now, is that the best use of your time debatable, but just putting it out there that you… It totally depends on how much of an audience you truly need to reach, but the method that you would use to scale that or not. And so I think that that’s something that anybody listening can say, “Okay, with my business, what actually makes sense for me, is bringing in a VA, a good option?” If yes, great. If you could, do ten sales a year, you might not need it.

Erin Flynn: So who knows.

Savannah Hamilton: Absolutely.

Erin Flynn: If someone right now is struggling. They have a creative business. Most of my audience is service based, but they could have courses for whatever as well. If you could tell them one thing to do today to start creating that raving audience, to start building those connections, what should they take away from this episode and go put into action right now?

Savannah Hamilton: Great question. So, I’ll just tell this little tidbit first for service based providers, what is really nice is to join Facebook groups. Because often… I have a client right now that I’m tagging her in things all the time, but people are like, “Hey, I need a graphic designer. Hey, I need a web designer.” So I would go into groups where your ideal client would be hanging out, and looking for people there. But I think it’s a twofold. So if I could say two things. Looking at, are you connecting with your audience? So that is maybe reaching out to them on these Facebook groups, or reaching out to them on Instagram. But also knowing that success isn’t going to fall into your lap. You can’t just expect to post on Instagram. There’s so many of these complicated and intricate algorithms that if you’re just posting and you’re not getting engagement, you’re not getting consistent clients. I see so many people struggle with this. Then you have to realize that you have to go out and find your ideal clients.

Savannah Hamilton: I always tell my clients, permission to be thirsty and go find your ideal clients, because they’re not just going to fall into your lap. And I know in the beginning, people struggle with that because they’re like, “I don’t want to go hound them or I feel icky.” But when you’re reaching out to them and building a friendship, then it doesn’t get to feel icky anymore. But I just see so many people doing that. So I would say one, if you’re a service based provider, go finding your clients. So actively searching for your clients in Facebook groups. And then also not just posting and expecting success or your clients to fall into your lap.

Erin Flynn: I love that. And then for product based businesses, somebody selling courses. Do you have anything different that you think that they should be doing or it’s the same rules apply?

Savannah Hamilton: For me. I have courses and services that I don’t find too many clients on Facebook. It’s just not how it works for me. I use Instagram, but I’ve found with my own clients that are service based providers, because people are actively posting versus an Instagram people aren’t really actively posting like, Hey, I need a web designer. They might, but nine times out of ten, you’re not going to see that. So for service based providers, it would go being back to knowing where your ideal clients are using relevant hashtags, which is a whole nother story. But actively searching, seeing what hashtags they’re using, going and searching their user profile. I think a lot of people aren’t actively doing that. And it’s going and searching for your ideal client, making sure your profile, I call it the big splash method.

Savannah Hamilton: So I go and find my ideal client. I’m liking some of their photos. I’m leaving hefty comments. And I don’t think this has to feel icky, I know that some resistance that can come up for some people. But for me, I’m so confident in what I have to offer as we all should be in our own businesses. That it’s actually, I feel like my obligation. Because when I was sitting at home twiddling my thumbs on Instagram, knowing that none of my consistent clients were coming up to me, feeling really bad about myself. I wish someone would have popped into my DMs, And been like, “Hey girl. Awesome shirt.” We developed a relationship. And she was like, “Listen, I know that you’ve been struggling in your life. Would you love to do this course?” I would be so happy.

Savannah Hamilton: So I think that’s an easy tool is to ask yourself if that would happen to you. Would you feel icky? For me, I would have been so thankful. So for now that’s my obligation, is to go get my services in front of the right people.

Erin Flynn: I love that. All right. So to wrap up, what do you have coming up for us soon that we can go check out?

Savannah Hamilton: Yeah. I’m so excited about this. So I have… This month is action packed. So I’ll be releasing a new course in May. I believe when this episode comes out, it’ll be right before, it will be released, I think June 8th. And that’s going to go over honestly, everything that we just talked about. So finding your ideal clients, getting consistent sales, going over your Instagram content and hashtags, which are a big thing right now, all of that kind of tied into a little mini bundle.

Savannah Hamilton: That’s what the course will it’s called Snack Pack. And then I also have a really exciting entrepreneurial summit. That’s coming up June 8th through the 13th, I believe, which is pretty exciting. You guys can check out my Instagram profile at The Wild Savannah, which will have all the information on there. But I’m super excited for that because that’s one of my favorite things is to get like minded, entrepreneurial women together and share our expertise. So I’m excited about that.

Erin Flynn: I’m excited too, I’m really excited to see you launch those and get those out. And I will, of course, make sure all of the links are in the show notes for this. So thank you so much, Savannah. This has been a great conversation.

Transcript:

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