Tell me if this sounds familiar.

You get to the end of the month and you’re running some reports – looking at inventory and sell through and expenses – and check in to see where your total sales are for the month.

You set the range “month to date” and click run report, gritting your teeth, shrinking away from the screen and holding your breath.

The number pops up and your first thought is “well….that needs to be higher!”

But where do you start? If you already feel like you’re running yourself ragged, trying all the tactics, doing all the things, setting out to grow your sales can be overwhelming.

How could you possibly take on more work?

Enter: The Sustainable Sales Strategy.

What is a sustainable sales strategy?

A sustainable sales strategy takes into account a realistic inventory of your resources – not simply your budget, but your bandwidth, your teams talents, your goals, your vision, values and energy.

It can be easily replicated, executed and is directly tied to specific outcomes within the business for you to quickly analyze your progress, double down on what’s working and pivot when you aren’t seeing the results you want.

If you’ve ever hit a significant benchmark in your business, and looked back and thought “holy sh*t, I don’t have it in me to do that again” or  “how the f*ck did that happen?!” – that strategy wasn’t sustainable 😉

We want running and growing your shop to feel good – meaning that you’re able (and willing) to replicate your successes instead of constantly reinventing the wheel.

A sustainable sales strategy is made up of 3 core elements:

1. A Strategy To Grow Your Audience

Where are you connecting with, getting in front of or being discovered by new folks? In order to keep growing your sales, it’s important to make new connections as you build relationships with the customers who already know and love you. This means having a specific, ongoing tactic that is meant to grow awareness of your business is pretty important.

2. A Strategy To Create Context Around Your Shop

Selling 24/7 just doesn’t feel good. You’ll exhaust yourself and your customers. Instead how are you using your platforms to provide value in addition to the product (through experiences, content, events)? This helps your customers see your shop in the context of their lives and offers more meaningful points of connection – a way better experience for everyone IMHO.

3. A Strategy To Make Your Customer Experience Incredible

Finally, when it comes to your actual sales process, be human! Listen, be curious, share the things about your products that you love and are proud of. This could be on your social channels, in store, through email etc. When you have a clear vision of how you want to make people feel, you’ll be able to create super effective programs, automations and promotions that feel more like offering a service than straight up selling.

By thoughtfully crafting your own unique sustainable sales strategy, you are set up to streamline your day to day operations and understand exactly what is moving the needled for your business – no desperation, no uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach and definitely no “well, now what!” feeling.