Most coaches in the online space are taught to use sales calls.

“If you can get someone on the phone, you can close them.” 

While this might be true, is it what you want for your business? Is it what you want forever?

This blog isn’t to demonize sales calls, rather to show you that you have options. 

And if your lifestyle doesn’t work with the restriction of sales calls, or you simply don’t need them in your onboarding process but feel they’re the only way…

Today’s blog is for you. 

Prefer to learn on video? Watch here:

My name is Annie Miller, and I help you build profitable and sustainable online health and fitness businesses without butt selfies or selling your soul to vanity metrics. 

Today I do that by (hopefully) helping you get the clarity you need to confidently move away from sales calls, or potentially make your sales call process more enjoyable.

Sales calls have NEVER fit my life. 

When I started my business, I was fresh out of college, in an internship, and coaching competitive cheerleading while training people in person. 

My schedule was hectic, to say the least.

Could I have hosted sales calls on the phone driving from one location to the next, I suppose? 

Did I feel it was necessary? No. 

Did that seem appealing to me? No.

Once my business was sustainably profitable, generating $3000-$4000 a month on the online side (in addition to my in person training), my husband and I decided to travel the world for a year in 2018.

That’s when I went fully online.

While traveling the world, sales calls were also not conducive to my business or life. I was not trying to manage time zones on a rolling basis.

So, I’ve never done a sales call, and I quite frankly hate being on them from the consumer side of things. 

I like to peruse at my own pace, gather the information I need, and then decide if I want to purchase something. 

This is, in essence, how I run my own business as well. 

Both on the fitness side and the business side. It’s how I’ve operated it since 2015.

Please don’t be mistaken in thinking that in not doing sales calls, you don’t need to be good at sales or consider sales… 

It’s quite the opposite.

In not having sales calls, you need a full-proof sales strategy. Also, one that doesn’t require you to get on the phone and confirm that someone’s a good fit. 

Your messaging has to be on point. 

You have to mitigate those possible objections that come up on sales calls….without being on a sales call.

In short, today’s blog is going to be about your SALES PAGE, and EMAIL MARKETING, as well as your ONBOARDING process for any offer.

Sales is all about: 

• Clear messaging
• Understanding your own offer
• Understanding your ideal client

That’s true whether you’re on a sales call or if you use a different approach. 

So grab a pen and paper or your Notes app while you’re reading this because you’re gonna need it.

Before diving into how to get clients in the absence of a sales call, I do want to acknowledge the value that can come from having several conversations with potential clients.

Which is, in my mind, is the value of having some experience with sales calls.

When you’re on a sales call, you have the potential to expedite understanding where your potential clients are at mentally and emotionally BEFORE they work with you (when they’re in their contemplation phase). 

• What past experiences have they had? 
• What do they want?
• Where do they want to be?
• Why haven’t they been able to get there?

These are all things we need to know about our ideal client. 

NOTE: You can gain all of that information from an application. No sales calls needed.

This first step in making sales online without sales calls might pucker your butthole a little bit, but it’s vital in a sales page working.

How to Make Money Without Sales Calls as an Online Coach

Step 1: Price Transparency

List your prices clearly on your site or application. 

Think about ALL of the tips I share today from a consumer standpoint. 

Put yourself in your potential client’s shoes. 

Do you appreciate it when you can’t find the price of a service or product? I doubt it. 

You’re a grown ass adult and know how much you’re willing to spend on something (I hope). 

Even if you know the value, but don’t have the funds now. It doesn’t mean you’ll NEVER buy. 

The same goes for your prospective clients.

I keep a record of how long someone has been in my ecosystem before purchasing with me and the average time is 9-12 months. Sometimes even 3 years or more!

I get it. 

If someone is right for your program, you want them in now. Maybe they should join now and stretch their finances, or “find a way” but that’s just not my philosophy. 

Stay in my ecosystem, apply my free stuff like a machine and then invest when it feels right (and likely slightly uncomfortable) for you!

I cannot encourage you enough to be up front and transparent with pricing. 

Get in front of objections if needed (“Yep, this shit ain’t cheap, here’s why…”) 

Or just let your sales page (which is step 2) do the talking for you.

How to Make Money Without Sales Calls as an Online Coach

Step 2: High Connective, Clear and Converting Sales page

For Built By Annie, my One Liner is: “Learn as you train and enjoy your lifts again without programming for yourself.”

This is the equivalent of the sales call, so I want MOST of your focus to be here.

The clarity you gain for your sales page messaging is going to permeate anywhere else you talk about your offer – on social media, in video, in graphics, via email, etc. 

Be Sure Your Sales Page Includes These 9 Components: 

NOTE: They don’t need to be in this order, but the order you drip them in needs to flow nicely. 

1. Your Brand One Liner, Or Offer One Liner 

For Built By Annie, my One Liner is: “Learn as you train and enjoy your lifts again without programming for yourself.”

Most people cannot say what sets them apart, or clearly articulate what they sell. 

On the fitness side of my business I sell joy and quality education in the gym. Not PR’s, not weight loss. Increased mobility, strength, and capacity and muscle size are byproducts of that approach.

2. A Power Statement 

What can you say with a big chest? 

This statement should connect with your ideal client. It should fire them up or deter them if it’s not for them. 

For my Big Lift Audit resource my Power Statement is, “Be the girl that videos herself in the gym but also knows her shit.” 

What is a philosophy or belief you have in regards to your offer that solidifies shared values with your ideal client?

3 & 4. Pain & Pleasure Points

Bullet point where your prospect is now and then where they want to be.

>> If you don’t know that, you need to do some market research to find out. 

That’s where you can pull from past clients and past sales calls. 

Use the verbiage they would use. 

This section is where your potential client is affirming their yes or no. 

Reading: 

“Sound like you?” 

“Sound familiar?” 

“Been here before?” 

Ideally they read this section and are like “Fuck yeah Annie, how are you literally describing my life?”

OR

They read it, they’re not a good fit, and they say, “Hmmm, actually that’s not where I am at, and that’s not what I really want.”

YOUR SALES PAGE IS NOT THERE TO SELL EVERYONE. 

It’s like a sales call, remember? It’s there to affirm the RIGHT people, and to filter out those who aren’t a good fit for your program.

The goal is not for every reader to sign up.

It’s for the RIGHT ready to sign up.

5. Your Introduction or Bio

Doesn’t have to be here but at some point, you should have an intro which is: 

Who you are and why you do what you do, etc. 

Humanize yourself as the coach they will be working with, but also list some credentials here.

6. The Process

The process is your how. You have a process whether you know it or not. 

If you can’t currently articulate that, work on it.

• What steps do you take every client through? 
• What does the process look like? 

Again, I’d hope you’re covering this on a sales call anyway. Put it on paper. Coin it. This is your method laid out, or the pieces of your method (whatever is accurate to your offer). 

If you have deliverables (“what you get”) that could be coupled with this section.

What do they get access to or need access to? We want to touch on that here as well. 

Think of this section as the logistics. 

This is for the person who is like, “Results are cool, okay but HOW?! Let me see inside the program.” 

You likely aren’t letting them inside the program, so give them the clearest info you can. Show them the map.

7. Expectations Upon Completion Of The Program / Course

• What can they expect to get out of this? 
• What outcome are they expecting in working with you?

I hope to baby Jesus in the manger that you know the answer to this…

8. Social Proof

Social proof is vital. You can’t beat when clients do your selling for you.

If you need better social proof, check out my previous blog on How to Ask Clients for Reviews or Testimonials HERE. 

They have the power to be a game changer in marketing. When a client says, “I did X and it worked.” That client has no strings attached. 

When a client describes where they were before working with you and after working with you, a potential prospect can see themselves in that story. 

This has the potential to be LITERAL money.

Obviously, social proof can come in many forms. The key is to make it easy to digest and consume.

9. Call to Action

This seems obvious, but throughout the sales page or in one spot on the sales page you’ll have a button to call someone to take action: 

• “Apply now” 
• “Enroll now” 
• “Join today”

AND THE PRICE IS SHOWN ON THE PAGE. 

If you have a price range, post the range, but don’t be secretive. 

What’s the fucking point? Do you work with autonomous adults who know how to spend their own money? I hope so. Give them the info they need, and let them decide.

If you’re able to close a sales call simply because someone feels put on the spot, then you’re not succeeding. You’re gross.

NOTE: If you opt to keep doing sales calls, then your call to action would likely say “Schedule a Consultation” or something along those lines. 

And you can absolutely start that sales call by confirming that they are aware of the investment, naming it again.

That brings us to step 3 on how to make money without sales calls as on online coach. 

Step 3: Onboarding Process

Create an application that covers everything you’d ask for in a sales call.

Sales calls are often redundant. Frankly, if you wholeheartedly enjoyed them, you wouldn’t be here. 

The absence of sales calls should not DECREASE communication. You simply transfer that communication to other places (sales page, application, etc).

When we don’t have sales calls, then the application becomes KEY in the onboarding process.

I want you to think of RED FLAGS if those exist.

Ask questions that get you the information you need in order to determine from an application if this client is a HELL YES or a NO.

NOTE: If there’s no application and someone can simply pay and enroll, then disregard the application piece.

Most people doing sales calls are providing a service that also requires an application, which is why I mention it.

I’m not going to hand you an application on a silver platter. But be sure your application gets you the data and answers you’d need in order to give someone a green light.

Once someone reads the sales page and fills out the application, then the rest of your onboarding begins.

That could include a more in-depth application, straight to payment link and contract. This is independent of your business and offer.

But limit lag time if at all possible. 

For even CLEARER communication on the sales page or application, have the timeline laid out.

For BBA, my sales page says “How It Works”:

Then in their welcome email which is sent immediately upon paying, they are informed AGAIN that they’ll get an invitation to set up their True Coach account and access their program within 48 hours.

Start clear and concise communication from the get go. 

This is one way you can do that. People appreciate knowing what’s coming – what they can keep their eye out for. So, provide them with that if you can. 

I always say that you don’t have a client until that money hits the bank. Someone filling out your application does not = a sale for you.

The sales process does not stop at the sales page. 

That’s why your application is key as well, if you have one. 

The 4th step is not required, but is something I personally love. It has been the goat of sales in the online space for….decades?!

How to Make Money Without Sales Calls as an Online Coach: 

Step 4: Email Marketing

You could absolutely use email marketing and probably should use email marketing regardless of if you’re doing sales calls or not.

It’s a great addition to your overall strategy.

Having an email list or waitlist for your offer provides a place to nurture and inform your warmest leads. 

If you want to make sales, you need leads.

Email is THE PLACE to host your leads.

If leading an email list to your sales page for a launch or push of your service (so you’re opening spots), then you can pull from your sales page messaging and share a tidbit or EXPAND on one sales page component to get them to go learn more about the offer.

THIS BLOG is on how to launch with email or properly nurture an email list. 

But I suggest having an interest list of some kind that you either email regularly or that you email specifically 2-3 weeks before opening spots / enrollment for your offer (depending on your business model). 

Having a solid sales page with the 9 segments we went over can make email marketing way more seamless. 

Your messaging lives in one place, and you can use it in email and your sales page, but ideally in an even more connective manner.

So go get some high quality, raving testimonies, and make the most of them within your marketing.

Join The Discussion: 

Write in the comments below if you currently use a sales page and an application or just an application? Just a sales page? What is your current set up? I want to know!

I hope you enjoyed these educated gains and I will see you in the next blog. 

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