I'm A Traveling Mompreneur. Here's Why Ditching Sales Calls and Using DMs Was The Best Thing For My Sales Live sales calls tie you down to a specific time and place. Direct messages helped free up my time and sales strategy — It can do the same for you.
By Sara Tyler Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You finally have the freedom and flexibility to start your own service-based, online businesses so you can work as you travel with your family. It's every travel-loving mompreneur's dream. But there is one thing standing between you and the ability to work from anywhere in the world: the dreaded sales call.
When I started my remote business, I thought I had to do sales calls because everybody else was doing that. But I was terrible at them. Eventually, I realized that the problem was me. The idea of pressuring potential clients on the spot just felt manipulative and icky. Not to mention the logistical nightmares of being a digital nomad mompreneur.
Sales are the heart of any business, so I needed to figure out a way to sell that felt good to my potential clients and to me. I stopped scheduling sales calls and started closing clients in the DMs (direct messages) instead.
As a busy mom who is always on the go, selling through chats was my answer — even if we aren't currently traveling! It helped me grow my business by serving more clients and hiring employees to take care of repetitive tasks.
In this article, I will cover the challenges that location-independent mompreneurs face when it comes to live sales calls and how you can implement a simple, five-step system to start selling in the DMs.
Related: The Death of the One-Size-Fits-All Sales Process
Why digital nomad moms should reconsider sales calls
You want to change your sales strategy from live video calls to social media chats if you frequently work and travel. These are three that stand out:
1. Wi-Fi Issues
Some parts of every country (some better than others) don't have a signal or are too weak to handle video calls. Airports, hotels and other public spaces have shared Wi-Fi and often have the same issue.
By speaking in a chat, you can use your phone and cellular data to respond on the go. Both myself and my assistant work on our phones most of the time.
2. Kids
If you are a traveling mompreneur, you have at least one child to take care of while running your business. Unfortunately, children are unpredictable and have the worst timing. They cry, throw tantrums, interrupt and otherwise distract you (especially when you are talking to someone else and there is video involved!).
Chats have several advantages on this point. No one will hear the screams or loud noises if you send a written message, and if you get interrupted, you can continue the conversation later without wasting the other person's time waiting on a live call.
3. Delegating
Who has to be on live sales calls? YOU. That makes it hard to scale and grow a business when you have to speak with every potential client, most of which won't purchase your services anyway. Not only does it waste time, it keeps you tied to a schedule, which isn't the freedom and flexibility you wanted when you started your business.
If you chat, you can hire an assistant and delegate all lead outreach, qualifying, closing and onboarding. This was a tremendous time saver for me. It allowed my business to grow, and I could focus on helping paying clients. My assistant works Monday through Friday, so we often pick up where each other left off when a potential client answers a message hours or days later.
Related: The Pros and Cons of Working from Anywhere
How to generate, qualify and close leads in your DMs
Speaking with potential clients through messages uses the same steps as a sales call sequence. The ultimate goal is to have a conversation to see if you can actually help this person with their pain point and find out if they have the means and motivation to buy from you.
First, to save yourself from repeating the same answers to the same questions, set up a Google Doc or shareable PDF that includes information about yourself and your business, services, packages, prices, testimonials and success stories, and FAQs.
Then, you can follow these rapid and easy steps:
- Create lead-generation posts on your social media profiles, business pages and relevant groups.
- When someone comments expressing interest or asking for more information, reach out by sending a private message (note: I send a friend request or follow their profiles first, so my message lands in their inboxes and doesn't end up in the message requests tab).
- Ask qualifying questions (for example, I sell publishing services, so I ask leads what they would share in their books and their motivations for becoming an author) just like you would on a sales call.
- If the potential client is a good fit, send the link to your shareable doc or PDF and ask which service or package they want.
- Once the client confirms which service or package they want, you can send your contract and invoice directly in the chat or by email.
Related: The 3 Best Selling Systems for Generating Leads and Customers on Facebook
3 tips for selling more in the DMs
- Always address the person by name. You can even send a personal greeting by a voice note.
- Write out the message in several parts, so the recipient knows you didn't copy and paste it.
- If you don't hear back after two days, send a message to bump the chat to the top of your lead's inbox.
That's it! It's a simple process to implement and teach. Now you (or your assistant) have followed all of the steps you normally would on a live sales call, but through messages in a social media chat.
If you implement the steps I outlined in this post, you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration, finally feel good about your sales process, and spend your time on what you do best in your business.
