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Distractions with Melinda Emerson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero, ignition, lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Business Chat podcast today.
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  Hi there, everybody.
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  This is Melinda Emerson, the small business lady, America's number one small business
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  expert.
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  And I wanna welcome you to another episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  You know, I wanna get real with you guys today and talk to you about something that every
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  entrepreneur faces, and that is distractions.
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  Listen, if you wanna scale your business, grow your revenue, and create a consistent sales
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  system in your business, you cannot afford to get distracted by things that don't impact your
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  bottom line.
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  And and I'm gonna get you know, there's a lot of craziness going on right now.
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  There's politics.
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  There's industry gossip.
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  There's social media debates.
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  Will we do TikTok?
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  Will we not do TikTok?
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  Listen.
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  Do not let these things suck your energy and your attention away from what really matters in
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  your business.
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  Look.
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  I have a say.
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  If it don't make no money, it don't make no sense.
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  You have to make sure that, first of all, there is no one administration that is in office
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  forever.
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  This is a very, very temporary situation.
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  And I believe that all of this chaos and stuff is going on really to distract us from what
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  they're really doing.
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  So listen.
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  Do not worry about it.
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  I want you to focus on things that deserve your focus, and that is your customers, your value
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  proposition, your sales process.
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  That's what needs your attention.
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  So if you're feeling like you are being pulled into a million directions, this episode is a
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  reminder to tune the noise.
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  Excuse me.
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  Tune out the noise and dial into what is actually growing your business.
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  So let's dive in.
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  The first thing I wanna talk about is distractions killing your business.
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  So every day, there's a new hairline.
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  There's a new controversy.
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  Sometimes there's three controversies in one day.
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  Right?
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  Or some new social media trend that people will lose their minds over.
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  Guess what?
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  None of that stuff.
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  I wanna repeat.
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  None of that stuff is paying your bills.
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  Politics?
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  There is no politician cutting you a check.
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  Industry drama?
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  Look.
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  Competitors are not gonna put more money in your pocket.
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  Focusing on them, that's not gonna work either.
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  And social media debates, TikTok, listen.
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  I told people a long time ago, do not build a house on land you do not own.
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  Social media is great, y'all, but email is trackable.
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  And all those people who built their businesses on TikTok have had to learn the hard way.
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  And more than that, let's say you deleted the TikTok app off your phone.
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  Well, guess what?
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  You can't download it again.
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  So, really, I want you guys to focus on not just leads.
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  I I really think everybody's good at getting leads.
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  People are good at getting visibility.
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  But visibility is not going to pay your bills.
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  Guys, likes and comments do not equal sales.
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  But let me tell you what does.
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  Knowing what your customer needs and delivering on it better than anyone else, that pays your
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  bills.
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  When you focus on external distractions, basically, you are pulling energy away from the
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  number one thing that can guarantee your success, and that is your ability to sell.
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  If you do not control your focus, your focus will control you.
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  And trust me, distractions are expensive.
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  Let me really tell you about the only thing you should be focused on, and that is your
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  customer's pain points.
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  Are you solving an urgent problem for your customers?
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  Are you a vitamin?
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  Are you a painkiller?
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  Are you a dessert?
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  Are you a cure?
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  That's what you need to be focusing on.
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  How can you sharpen that value proposition so that your customers see you as the best and
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  only option?
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  Are you speaking directly to what keeps your customers up at night?
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  And when is the last time you either interviewed or even surveyed your customers?
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  Do you know what they want right now?
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  I mean, a lot of times, people are focused on the next contract.
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  What you need to focus on is the next need your con your customers are gonna have.
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  And you also need to look at if your customers are not opening your emails.
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  Like, if your open rate on your emails is below 20%, I got news for you.
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  That means your message is not converting.
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  Your visibility is not your issue.
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  Your clarity is.
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  Because if they don't know why it's valuable for them to open your emails I gotta tell
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  y'all, we have a 37 to 51% open rate on every email that I send.
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  I know my list reads my emails.
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  Now if your list is not reading your emails, a couple Number one, your message isn't
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  resonating.
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  Number two, you got you carrying dead weight on your list.
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  You have to have good list hygiene.
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  You should be pruning your email list every quarter.
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  People haven't opened your emails in ninety days, cut them.
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  Because you're paying to send those emails.
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  So you wanna make sure that you are sending emails and content to people who want it.
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  This is not about begging nobody to love you.
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  It ain't about begging nobody to do business with you.
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  You have to work with people who already see your value and are interested in your content.
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  And your email is a really good indicator as to whether or not anybody's paying attention to
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  you.
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  The next thing I want you to think about is your value proposition.
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  Are you making it painfully obvious why people should buy from you?
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  Or do you have a way to stand out in the marketplace, or are you blending in with the
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  noise because your brand just isn't really that creative?
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  It just really isn't that unique.
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  You know?
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  I think there's a lot of people that do the same thing.
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  So you have to figure out how you are going to put a stake in the ground and claim a lane and
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  own a lane.
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  I own the lane of small business lady.
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  I own the title America's number one small business expert, and I've owned it for a really
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  long time.
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  But I have to tell you that you have to be intentional about your business.
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  You have to be intentional about the colors on your website.
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  Look.
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  Just because you're selling to women doesn't mean your website needs to be pink.
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  There's plenty of ladies out there who can't stand pink, myself included.
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  I'm a purple girl.
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  Anyway, my point is you need to figure out how you're gonna stand out.
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  And the way to stand out is to really create consistent, valuable content.
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  Emails that people save because that's how good they are.
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  And so I know that my newsletter is extremely well read.
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  You know how I know?
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  Because I have a huge email list, and I even have almost 15,000 people on LinkedIn
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  subscribed to my newsletter.
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  So what does that tell me?
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  My loose netler is awesome.
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  Right?
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  So you wanna figure out how you can clearly communicate something of value to your target
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  customers.
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  And then that way, when you send them an offer, they're gonna already know that they need it
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  because they already trust you.
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  You're already pouring into them.
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  And then you're gonna send them an offer, and they're gonna be like, I I I don't care what
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  she sells.
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  I want it.
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  Because I know her.
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  I know how she does things.
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  I know that she doesn't come out with any content that is not of high value.
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  And that's how you wanna be perceived.
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  Right?
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  Your brand reputation is really what other people think about you.
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  So when's the last time you really focused on that?
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  When is the last time?
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  And it's okay to pivot.
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  Right?
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  It's okay to add something to what you're doing if what you're doing isn't working the way it
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  used to.
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  So don't be afraid to look for other greener pastures to go and find customers at.
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  Here's the thing.
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  If people don't immediately get it, like, why your offer's worth it, that's a good indication
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  that your value proposition needs work.
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  So sharpen it.
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  Work on it.
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  Use these AI tools out here to help you tweak it, but get real clear about what you do, why
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  you do it, and who you do it for.
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  And that is gonna make a huge difference in all of your sales efforts.
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  And speaking of sales, let's talk about sales process because as you guys know, 2025 is the
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  year of all of us tightening our sales processes, and I am doing webinars every single
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  month this year about sales.
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  It's gonna be some other aspect of sales, but every single month, I'm a be barking at you
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  guys about sales because I am tired of people with poor sales outcomes and poor sales
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  outreach and pitch slapping people on LinkedIn the second after they connect with you.
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  Stop all the nonsense.
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  And, oh, by the way, all you guys are out here using automation to generate leads on LinkedIn.
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  Know that people can tell that you're doing that.
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  And people like me, I have a little trap set up on my LinkedIn account.
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  So I always know when people are using automation because they usually put the wrong
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  company name in the pitch.
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  So first of all, those automation tools can get you banned from LinkedIn.
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  And two, I'm not sure they really work.
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  Do yourself a favor and hire some salespeople, some appointment setters to go through your
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  LinkedIn and make it much better because the stuff most of y'all are doing is trash, and
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  y'all need to stop.
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  So let's talk about sales and your sales process.
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  Number one, do you have a clear and repeatable way to turn leads into paying clients?
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  This is a yes or no question.
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  Do you have a way to do this?
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  Do you have an onboarding system that makes it easy for new customers to feel confident then
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  they know how to leverage your product or service?
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  I mean, look.
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  Even if you're sending out just an ebook y'all, you should have some onboarding emails that
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  explain what's in the ebook and why they should open and read it.
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  It doesn't matter.
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  It doesn't have to be a big piece of complicated software.
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  And by the way, those of y'all that sell software need to do a much better job too
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  because you guys' onboarding systems are really rough.
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  And you could save yourself a lot of customer complaints and customer calls if y'all got
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  better at onboarding systems too.
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  And here's another question for you.
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  Do you know exactly what steps someone should take from start from the beginning of the
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  relationship to the closed deal?
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  Do you have a defined customer journey?
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  If your sales process is messy, I promise you you're losing money, and it's really time for
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  you to tighten this stuff up.
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  If it doesn't directly improve your retention, your revenue, or your customer experience, it's
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  a distraction that you don't need right now.
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  It's harder than ever to get and keep customers.
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  So you wanna make sure that you are always focused on what your customers care about.
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  And this is the this is this is something else I wanna talk about.
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  You know?
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  We need to stop letting temporary things distract us.
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  You know?
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  Now, you know, the biggest business killer in the world is temporary distractions.
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  You know?
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  All this political stuff is crazy overwhelming.
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  My gosh.
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  It's only been, like, two weeks, and it feels like two months already.
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  But all of it's temporary.
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  Here's the thing that's permanent.
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  The work you put into building your business can withstand any economy.
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  I'm a say that again for the people in the back.
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  The work that you put in to building your business can withstand any economy, any crazy
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  new laws, any administration.
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  So when others are distracted, you have the competitive edge.
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  When everyone else is panicking, you wanna stay strategic.
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  When everyone else is arguing online about crazy stuff, you need to be booking new
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  clients.
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  When everyone else is waiting to see what happens, you're growing your revenue because
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  you have a plan and you're working your plan.
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  So I just want y'all to stay focused on making money.
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  Your ability to tune out the noise and focus on sales is what will make your business or break
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  your business.
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  I promise you, if you get distracted, you lose.
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  If you stay focused, you win.
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  And let me also say this.
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  No matter what is going on, God is still on the throne.
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  So I also want you to keep your faith.
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  We serve an awesome God.
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  He's a way maker.
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  He's a promise keeper.
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  He's a problem solver.
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  He's a healer.
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  He got this.
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  And if God before us, who dare be against us?
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  As believers, we are his chosen people.
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  He loves us, and his love never changes.
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  So please don't fear any paper tigers out here or saber rattlers that wanna scare everybody.
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  Now listen.
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  If you are tired of feeling stuck in content creation mode instead of money making mode, if
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  you know that you need a better sales system, but keep pushing it off, pushing it off, stop
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  it.
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  I want you to consider my sales accelerator boot camp because it is exactly what you need.
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  In six weeks, I'm gonna take you from I hate selling to closing high ticket clients with
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  confidence.
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  You're gonna learn how to craft a clear, really irresistible offer that makes people say yes.
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  You're gonna create a repeatable sales process that works whether you're selling on Zoom, DMs,
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  in person, or at live events.
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  You're gonna build a lead generation system that doesn't rely on social media trends, and
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  you're gonna finally feel in control of your revenue instead of hoping for sales.
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  And here's the best part.
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  This is the last sales training you will ever need.
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  Now listen.
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  I have very limited spots in my course.
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  Classes start March 4.
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  And if you want some information or wanna get enrolled today, here's what I want you to do.
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  Go over to https//smallbusinessladyuniversity.net/bootcamp.
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  I want you to get enrolled today, and I want you to know that we offer payment plans, but I
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  want you to think about what it's costing you not having a good sales process.
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  That's what I want you to think about.
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  But remember this, distractions don't pay you.
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  Sales do.
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  So I want you to stay focused.
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  Let's get to work.
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  Don't forget my sales accelerator boot camp program.
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  Classes start March 4.
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  So I want you to head over to smallbusinessladyuniversity.net/bootcamp.
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  Get the details.
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  I'm going to teach you the fundamentals of sales.
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  I'm gonna teach you lead generation and qualifying leads.
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  I'm gonna teach you how to close.
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  Okay?
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  I'm gonna teach you how to sell to corporations.
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  I'm gonna teach you how to create amazing landing pages, and I'm gonna show you how to
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  hire and set hire and onboard salespeople, whether they're appointment setters or an
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  actual sales rep.
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  So I promise you, this is the last sales class you will ever need.
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  I want you to head over to smallbusinessladyuniversity.net/bootcamp.
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  Get all the details.
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  Get signed up.
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  I built this for you because no more distractions.
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  Distractions do not pay you.
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  Sales do.
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  Stay focused.
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  Let's do this work.
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  Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small business lady, America's number one small business expert, and
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  it is my honor and privilege to be your host.
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  See you next time.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 18:27
  Subscribe to this podcast sources and small business success strategies by visiting
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  Melinda's website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.