E4: What Do You Actually Need to Make Your First Sale?

In this episode, we’re taking it back to one of the biggest milestones in your business journey...that very first sale.

We share our own experiences (and the nerves that came with them!), and break down what really matters when you’re trying to get your first, or next, paying client.

This is for you if:

• You’ve been quietly working behind the scenes but the sales aren’t landing
• You’re overwhelmed with tech, tools, or 'must-haves'
• You feel like you’ve done everything but still hear crickets

You’ll hear:

• Why your audience is more important than your logo
• The 3 key questions to ask if you're not selling (and what to do about it)
• What role your messaging and content really play in making sales
• Why visibility matters and how to build connection, not just followers
• The tech you actually need to take payment and track your income
• Why overcomplicating = missed sales (and what to simplify instead)

Plus, we talk about how people buy from people and why showing up as you (yes, really) is a huge part of selling with confidence.

🛠️ Practical Takeaway:

If you’re stuck at 'no sales' go back to basics:
💬 Are you speaking to the right people?
🎯 Are you solving a real problem or desire?
💡 Are you making it easy for someone to buy?

Simplify the steps. Focus on connection. And just keep showing up.

🔗 Links & Resources:

💥 The £99 (or Less) Offer Idea Generator Prompt
Plug this prompt into ChatGPT and get 5 low-ticket offer ideas your audience will actually want to buy.

https://info.simplifybusinesssuccess.com/free-01

Want support building your business without the overwhelm?Check out our Business Builder here:

https://info.simplifybusinesssuccess.com/free-02

☎️ Join our free bi-weekly 'don't ask google, ask us' call where we can help you first hand move the needle in your business.

https://info.simplifybusinesssuccess.com/dagau-425226

📱 Connect with us on Socials:

https://www.instagram.com/simplify.business.success
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https://www.linkedin.com/company/simplify-business-success/

🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@SimplifyBusinessSuccess

Final Thought:

Hit Follow now and join us each week for the strategies,...

Transcript

Welcome to the Real Talk and a Slice of Cake Podcast with your favourite business besties, Emma & Leanne

No fluff. No jargon. Just straight-talking advice, smart strategies and a dash of mischief to keep things interesting.If you’re starting or growing a business and feeling a bit overwhelmed don’t worry, we’ve got you.

Between us, we’ve built four successful businesses - and learned a lot the hard way.  Now we’re sharing what actually works… PLUS the stuff we wish someone had told us sooner.

From hobby to hustle, side gig to full-time business…you’ll get honest conversations, practical tips, and lots of laughs along the way.

So grab a brew, cut yourself a slice of your favourite cake, and let’s dive in!

 Hello and welcome to Real Talk and a Slice of Cake with business besties, Emma and me, Leanne. So today we want to dive into that first sale. What do you really need to make your first sale in your business? Because at the end of the day, we're here to make money. So Emma, can you remember the first sale that you made?

No, I absolutely can. And this is going back to 2006 when we launched our e-commerce business and we started that business on eBay. You know, the very first launch of that business was, was on eBay. And I remember listing these greeting cards. They were on eBay getting that first sale, and it was like, to this day, that is probably the best sale we have ever had, because somehow it reminded us that.

It was working that, you know, all the hard work was starting to pay off and you know, he probably made us about three pence, you know, 'cause it was a very low ticket item so the profit wasn't there. But yeah, it was so, so exciting, so, so excited. But you know what, I still get a buzz when I get sales now because I get the buzz.

Not necessarily because it's a kerching in my bank, although that is a nice feeling, but actually, because I know I've got the opportunity to help somebody else. Can you remember yours? A hundred percent. I can remember mine and I, as you said, now I still get that to this very day that somebody has invested in themselves, but that they, they trust me to, to take them to where they need to go. And I, I hope that feeling never leaves me because that's, that's, that is my whole why. I, I really want to help as many people as I can. Um, so it's definitely not a kerching for me. No, no. I mean, like you said at the beginning, we all, we all need to make money. You know, if we don't make money, we can't offer the products and services.

So of course we're not dissing that it's money coming in. But yeah, the opportunity to help people when you get that, uh, when you get that sale is still fantastic. Don't think it quite tips that first one because that first one, there's something really special about that. That first sale. I still remember my first sale in this business as well.

Um, I still remember, you know, the first person signing up to, um, I put power hours out there. That's what I did at the beginning, 99 pound power hours. Um, and I actually got two sales. Was it three? No, I think it was two sales on the first day of putting that offer out. I'm not saying here that I put an offer out on day one and I made sales.

I'd done a hell of a lot of work on the run up to that. But when I actually got my first sale, I got two, literally back to back. Um. And it was amazing. It was amazing. But you know what? I was scared to death. Oh yeah. It it, and it's just actually, it's nice just to talk about it, isn't it now, and just have a little bit of a trip down, down memory lane.

And I think, you know, I have, and I'm sure you do as well, I have a lot of clients that come to me and say, I've got everything lined up, but I'm just not making the sales and. That is, that is really difficult, isn't it? And I think this is where we wanted to talk about this episode today, because it isn't, it, honestly, some people make it look easy, and for me it isn't, it isn't easy.

It isn't just a case of going out, talking about something and then people are buying left, right, and center. So what, what would you, what advice would you give Emma to somebody that that came to you? Starting a business. They've done all they think they've done all the things behind the scenes, and they're just not seeing that reflect in their bank balance.

And I, and I think I'm just gonna talk generically here because I think depending on what that business is, there is, there may be things that are affecting that. So we're just gonna talk generally here. But I think from a process perspective, I think the things that I. Spring up to me are always gonna be, first of all, have you got an audience?

So have you actually got people who potentially are going to buy your products and services? Because you've gotta be talking to somebody you know, that could be footfall that walk past if you're a high street shop. That could be followers on Instagram, that could be an email list, depending on your business.

Where those audience are will vary, but you need to have people who are interested in what you sell. So I think that's number one. That is always where we dive into first, and that is quite often the the problem. Um, number two for me would always be about understanding what your audience's problems are.

Now, when I say problem, a problem can be a need or a desire. You know, I go into a coffee shop, they know I wanna buy cake. That's a desire. It's not, it's not a problem. Although it could consider problem. Well, you thought you gonna say coffee then Emma, when you go to coffee shop? No, no, no, no. Evil stuff. We don't drink coffee.

We don't drink coffee. That's something mainly I definitely have in common. Um, so I think it's then about making sure you understand what their problem need, desire is. You need to understand that. And then I think the third thing is making sure that the products and services that you are putting out there.

Mirror that they are the solution to that problem. You give me cake, I'm happy, I'm gonna buy it from you. So I think it's about making sure that, one, you've got people, two, you know what their problem is, and three, your product is meeting those needs. It goes deeper than that. And then we can start going into the marketing.

You've gotta make sure that you messaging and the content that you're putting out there is. Is is telling people how your solution solves their problem. But I think for me, they're the three things to really think about at the beginning. Does tech. Tech isn't the Liam there? Is tech my favorite, um, topic.

Um, and, and again, I don't think it needs to be complicated. We, we, we've called the business simplify business success for a reason, and that we want to keep, keep our kind of nuggets of information as simple as possible. So in terms of the tech, you know, you need, you need a way to. Be able to promote yourself to be, to be visible, so, you know, social media and all those things, but also a way to make it as easy as possible for people to pay you because we, we know that if that customer journey from that, from you really getting under the skin of, of the person that needs to buy say, yes, I want to buy this and I want to buy this now.

We want to make it as easy as possible for that transaction, that, that customer journey to, to go through. So the tech. Um, I mean, we, we both use the same system. I dunno if we want to talk about what systems we use, but there are different systems for payments. Making it, I say seamless. Um, and then you also need a way of tracking it in terms of who's bought what.

Otherwise, your accountant is not gonna be very happy, um, at the end of the year. And, and I think that's, that's one of the things that I think a lot of people forget about until it's tax return time. You know, until it comes to doing that first tax return, you perhaps aren't logging what you've bought, what you've sold, and all of that type of stuff.

And that could go two ways. You know, it could be that you've caused yourself a whole load of stress when it comes to tax return time. 'cause you've gotta start digging deep to find out what on earth that. Five pounds was spent on and where that 10 pounds came from and all of that type of store. So it's a stress thing that you're gonna help to alleviate just by logging it.

It doesn't have to be anything fancy. A spreadsheet at the beginning is absolutely fine. Just log it and get in a habit of doing that. And then the second thing is that you could actually end up diddling yourself because you might be putting all the sales through, but you've forgotten that you bought this over there and you bought that there, especially if you paid for things with with cash.

I mean, do people do that anymore? Do people pay with cash? I dunno, I dunno, I dunno what happened to checkbook. Exactly. Where, where have they disappeared to? Where do they disappear? To Not quite sure what that's gotta do with starting a business, but there you go. Um, so I think, I think you need to make sure that you are, you are recording that somewhere because long term it's a nightmare if you're not.

I think as well, um, the tracking, so that's the T of our START framework, its tracking is, is super important because if you've got more than one service or product that you're selling, it's good to actually look and see how, how many of each of those. You have sold, um, to kind of design the, you know, what is it that people are coming to you for?

Um, so there's, there's, there's different reasons for, for tracking, but it is super, super important and we would always suggest that, uh, you track on a monthly basis. We absolutely would. We absolutely would. So just taking us right back to the beginning here in terms of, you know, what we were talking about today, um.

To get that first sale. You don't have to have everything in place. There are just some things that you need to make sure you've got took off. To make it doable. So the stuff Leanne spoke about in terms of, you know, you've gotta have a payment system and you've, you know, you've gotta have, um, a way of communicating with your audience to tell them, this is our product.

They are like the logistics, the things that you actually need to make it possible. And then there's the other stuff that means that you're actually gonna get the people to buy from you. So the things I spoke about in terms of having an audience, in terms of making sure that you know what their problem is and that you offer your product.

Gives them the solution to that thing. They are the things that are gonna mean that your sale happens rather than you just constantly throwing things out there. And I think when people aren't making those first sales, it's quite often the fact that they are overcomplicating it or they don't have the audience, or they have an audience, but they're not the people that the offer is for.

And I think that, for me, would be the biggest takeaway for today. Would you agree, Leanne? Yeah, I would agree. And I think as well, people buy from people, you know, we need, we need to talk about that. So this, this audience building. And I think if every time they see your face or hear your voice, you are trying to sell 'em something else, it it, that can turn some people off.

People are curious. Nosy. They wanna see the, the, the person behind the business. They wanna see the behind the scenes. They wanna see what it actually means. And I think, you know, I, I'm very much not wearing my heart on my sleeve, but it definitely comes from what you see today. What you're hearing today is.

Who you will get, whether you've bought from me or, or not. And I think that is, is is so key. And again, you know, we're talking about all lessons. That is something that for me, coming out of corporate, I was absolutely terrified of, of doing, you know, this is me. I don't, I don't, I don't want it to be about me, but it, it, it really is.

If they've got four or five people to choose from, you're, you are naturally going to, I think, Emma, do you agree that you're naturally gonna go to the, to the person that you are drawn to? Absolutely. A hundred percent. 100%. That's why I was drawn to you. 'cause you're like cake. I like cake. And we both drink Diet Coke and oh, we can give you a list of things that we have got in common, but I am sure that what you wanna do right now is switch us off and go and get on with making sure that you have everything you need in place to make your, either your first sale or your next sale.

Thank you for listening. We'll see you next time.

That’s it for today’s slice of real talk…we hope you’re walking away with something you can actually use.

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Thanks for tuning in and remember, no fluff, no jargon…just real talk.