Episode 605: Do You Want To Close More Brand Deals – How to Recognize Buying Signals from Brands with Nikki Rausch

EBT605 – Nikki Rausch

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Supercut  00:37

Hey, food bloggers, check out our new SEO supercut, a bonus 15 minute episode capturing highlights from SEO episodes we have recorded recently. Go to eatblogtalk.com/SEOsupercut to get access today. 

Megan Porta  00:53

Is landing brand deals, doing paid sponsorships, part of your agenda for the coming year? If so, oh my goodness, you have to listen to this episode with Nikki Rausch from Your Sales Maven. She talks about closing those brand sponsorships that you want so badly. Everything she delivers is really simple, but a lot of it is stuff that I just don’t think about as someone who’s a creative individual. I don’t always think about how to close the sale. Nikki talks about things like utilizing the network you already have established to get more sales. Sometimes we look past this and dive right into 100 cold pitches. She also talks about how to create curiosity, to open up conversations about potential sponsorships and recognizing and acting on those buying signals from potential sponsors that we might otherwise miss. I think you’ll find this episode really helpful and valuable. It is episode number 605 sponsored by RankIQ. 

Sponsor  01:59

Hey, we have a few spots available for the 2025 mastermind groups, and I want to give you a chance to grab one of them. One of the reasons this group just works so well is because when you invest in yourself and in your business in a really big way, you become more focused, dedicated and serious about what you do. For more information and to apply for these groups, go to eatblogalk.com/mastermind. Current member, Lucy from Southern Food and Fun, talks about that in this clip. “Anybody on the fence, you know, I highly recommend the mastermind. It’s expensive, but it’s an investment in your business, an investment in yourself. And I feel like, definitely, for me, when you have skin in the game, you will put more into it. Like, I feel like I’m working harder because I’m paying this money for this mastermind. So I need to be present and focused and get as much out of it as I can. So that’s definitely helpful to me. I highly recommend it.” 

Megan Porta  03:01

CEO of Sales Maven, Nikki Rausch has the unique ability to transform the misunderstood process of “selling”. With 25+ years of selling experience, entrepreneurs and small business owners now hire Nikki to show them how to sell successfully and authentically. Nikki has written 3 books, all available on Amazon. And she has a podcast called Sales Maven which you can find on your favorite podcast platform.

Megan Porta  03:29

Hello, Nikki, welcome to the podcast. How is your day going so far?

Nikki Rausch  03:31

My day is going great. Thank you so much for having me. 

Nikki Rausch  03:34

Yeah, super excited to chat with you. We’re going to talk about closing brand sponsorships today, which is a very relevant topic for food bloggers. Before we get to that, though, do you have a fun fact to share about yourself?

Nikki Rausch  03:48

You know, the one that comes to mind that most people are always surprised is that I got my driver’s license when I was 14. They don’t do that anymore. This, this also ages me out. But, yeah, when I was 14, I got my driver’s license. Couldn’t drive at night until I turned 16. But I will say learning like getting my driver’s license was like the highlight at that point of my life, because it felt like freedom.

Megan Porta  04:12

That’s so funny. Where did you grow up with? 

Megan Porta  04:14

I grew up in Idaho. 

Megan Porta  04:15

Okay, so it was more than a permit. It was an actual driver’s license. 

Nikki Rausch  04:19

Yeah, it was an actual driver’s license. They don’t do that anymore. They certainly now you have to be 16 or 15 and a half, I think, even, to get a permit. But yeah, back then, I think it was because it was more of a farming community. So they allowed, they allowed for 14 year olds, which, when I think about that now, and a 14 year old driving around like, Oh my gosh. 

Megan Porta  04:42

I have a 14 year old child, and yeah, when you said that, I was like, oh boy, no, no, that is not gonna happen. But yeah, that’s the first fun fact I’ve heard of this caliber. I love it. That’s a super fun way to start. Sure. So Nikki, I would love it if you told us a little bit about your business. You are not a food blogger, but you definitely have information that can serve food bloggers. So tell us about Sales Maven.

Nikki Rausch  05:11

So it’s a sales coaching and training organization. I started it back in 2013 and really, I started it because I have a pretty extensive background as a career in sales and technology sales specifically, and I have a pretty extensive background in neuro linguistic programming. And if that’s a new term to you, Megan or anybody listening, it’s really the study of communication. And I started studying NLP, because I thought, Oh, it’ll it’ll help me in my sales career, and it certainly did, but what it really helped me do was become a much better communicator. So when I started my business in 2013 it was this idea of wanting to be around entrepreneurs. And I feel really inspired by entrepreneurs. I never thought I would be one myself, but I wanted to help them. And a lot of times, the piece that entrepreneurs struggle with is the money piece, how to make money, and that means how to make sales. So that was piece I knew how to do, and I just started helping people actually on the side of and then somebody finally pulled me aside and said, like, why aren’t you doing this? And sales Maven was born back in 2013 and now I work with clients around the world doing everything you could possibly imagine, mostly service based businesses, but really teaching people the conversation of sales. That’s the piece I excel at, is the conversation, and when I mean, when I say conversation that can be written communication, it is also spoken, right? So when you’re having live conversations with people, that’s the piece that I find to be that people often struggle with, like, I’m not sure what to say or how to say things. That’s where I step in and and teach them really easy strategies that allow for their natural personality and their genuine you know, want to connect with another person show up, but also be strategic in that conversation and move it to the place where you exchange dollars for services or product.

Megan Porta  07:04

Yeah, that’s amazing. I feel like a lot of food bloggers come into the space being super creative, like they’re photographers and writers, and you know, all the creative things are flowing. So when it comes to sales, I’m not speaking for everyone, because there are some who really excel at this, but a lot do not, yeah, so this is where we really need some help, because working with brands, getting those sponsorship deals is really important for a lot of food bloggers, businesses like honestly, to keep it afloat, then we don’t have the skills necessarily, to make the sale and have that conversation, that communication that you’re talking about. So you are really filling a gap for us here today. 

Nikki Rausch  07:48

Good, good. 

Megan Porta  07:49

Yeah, yeah. So how would you say, is there like, a set of rules that you go by? How do we best get that sponsorship business that we want so badly, but it feels like it’s so hard to get sometimes? 

Nikki Rausch  08:04

Well, first and foremost is, I would say, you identify who, who are the people that you want to be sponsors, and you reach out and you ask. Now, that sounds really like simplified and that that is the most simplified version of it, but if you don’t actually ask people for their business, you’re very likely to not get it. And when you learn how to ask for the business, you’re more likely to move the conversation forward and find out what is it going to take to earn their business. Now, from a sponsorship standpoint, the piece that I think a lot of people want to teach you how to do, and I can teach you how to do it, but I will say I like to take the easiest possible, fastest route. So a lot of times it’s like, oh, just reach out to these brands cold. Well, chances are there’s a lot of other people reaching out to them cold. So my first and foremost suggestion is to utilize your network and use your connections to make introductions and open doors for you. Most people, when I talk about like prospecting and reaching out to the people they want to do business with, this is the one that people do last, but it’s actually the one you should do first, and that a lot of times they do it last is because they don’t want to have to ask a friend or a family member or a current client to introduce them. But when you think about it, if I don’t know if anybody’s ever asked you if you’d be willing to make a connection or make an introduction to them, but if you’ve been, if you’ve been comfortable enough to say, Sure, I’ll do that, and maybe something great happens for them. And you didn’t necessarily get anything out of it, but you kind of do because it feels really great to do somebody a favor, to to open a door for somebody. You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that saying, like, lift as you climb. Like the idea is for us to help each other. So there are people right now in your network around you that would absolutely open a door for you, but they don’t even know that you want them to open the door. You haven’t asked them. So start, first and foremost, identify, you know, again, who are the people that you want to work with, who are those sponsorships? And then next, start looking to see who are you connected to that is also connected to them. And remember that you’re not selling to the brand or the name on the business card you’re selling to a person. So you have to interact with people like you’re having a conversation, whether it’s a written conversation or a live conversation. You sell to people, you don’t sell to brands. It’s not like you can go on their website and fill out a form and say, be my like, be my sponsor? Maybe, maybe that is a thing. I don’t know, but chances are you’re not going to get a lot of sponsorship sponsorships that way. You’re going to get on more by having live conversations with people, or having some kind of a dialog back and forth. So ask somebody to open a door for you, ask them to make an introduction, and then once they do, now you need to know how to make that conversation valuable for the for the sponsor. 

Megan Porta  11:03

You’re so right about that, as far as like, I’m going to connect with a brand, you think of the brand. You don’t think of the humans that make up the brand, right? And that’s such a simple thought, but just breaking it down and remembering that there are humans there that you’re going to have to connect with and and sell your services to. I mean, it’s like, so simple, but of course, so do you recommend? I don’t know, like doing a dump on paper, like just brainstorming all the people you can think of connections you’d like to make. Like, how would you go about making that list of potential connections. 

Nikki Rausch  11:42

Okay, so I’m going to say there’s actually two lists that I want you to make. So the first is, who do you want? Like, who do you really want to be sponsors? Like, who? Who makes sense to sponsor your blog, right? And then so put that list down. And then the next thing you’re going to ask yourself is, who knows somebody at that company that you know that mean that’s doing a little bit of research, that’s looking on your LinkedIn connections and seeing who are they connected to at this company, or that is looking on social media and seeing what like, who are the people behind the brand, and then do you have any kind of connection to anybody there? And sometimes, you know you you might not get the person that you need to speak to, but the person who opens the door for you that is your connection, they might be willing to do you a solid and open the door to the right person. And this makes such a difference. If it’s coming from somebody that that person knows, they’re much more likely to pay attention to it. So. So that’s the first list I want you to make. So you know, see who you know, and then or who you want to work with, and then who knows them. And then the second one is, and this actually is the easier list to make, write down all the people who know you, who who like you, who appreciate something about you, or who find value in what it is that you offer. And I’m not saying, like, Oh, my whole email list. No, let’s like, get like, dig deeper. Who are the people who are your biggest advocates and ambassadors out there, and then write that list, and then let’s reach out to them and ask them, Who do you know that would be an awesome sponsor for what I do, and would you be willing to make an introduction on my behalf? Because if you’ve never asked that person, they’ve probably never asked themselves this question, and it may just turn out that, oh my gosh, my sister in law is the head of XYZ at, you know, ABC brand. And I would totally open that door for you, but because you never ask the person, they never make that connection. 

Megan Porta  12:32

This makes so much sense, because in our industry, I hear a lot of people doing cold pitches, and that’s so cold you don’t know anyone. You’re just reaching out to person X, who you found for is part of the marketing team or whatever. But yeah, like, if there’s any sort of human connection that would give you so much advantage, I imagine, over just sending out a ton of cold emails.

Nikki Rausch  14:09

Yeah. And, you know, I actually had a client that I did this with where I gave her this exact advice. And so she, she went to somebody who was a client of hers at the time, and she asked, you know, who, who do you know that would be that would, you know, find value in what it is that I offer? And the person gave her a name, and so she reached out to the person directly, and got crickets, nothing. And she was like, I don’t know what to do now. And I was like, let’s go back to the person who gave you the name and say, Hey, thank you so much for this. I’ve tried reaching out to this person a couple times. They haven’t actually responded. And I’m just wondering, would you be willing to make that introduction on my behalf? Because if that person has any kind of rapport with the person they’ve recommended you connect to, you get to ride the coattails of whatever rapport like they’ve got with this person. Right? So, so that’s what she did. She went back and she she said this to him, and he came back and he said, I’ll do you win better. I’m going to introduce you to this person’s boss, which happened there was an introduction. The boss actually got on a call with her, and it opened a door for a ten million sale, ten million and like this same strategy. Now, again, not all of these are going to turn into ten million sponsorships, but the fact of the matter is like, and it wasn’t ten million initially it was like $2 million and then it was $7 million and then another million dollars that they did. So ten million.

Megan Porta  15:36

Lots of million dollars, lots of millions of dollars. 

Nikki Rausch  15:38

Can’t be but the thing you know is this person. He didn’t get anything out of the introduction, other than it just felt good, like it’s nice to do favors for people. Now, don’t be reaching out and asking people who don’t know you to do a favor. That’s weird, but if you reach out to people who who have appreciated something about you, or who find value in what it is that you offer people will open doors, you just have to ask, yeah.

Megan Porta  16:05

And that goes back to your point earlier, where you do that too for people, right? Oh, yeah. If somebody reached out to me and said, Hey, Megan, do you know so and so, can you connect me? If I felt like there was a good connection all around absolutely, I would love to. Can I love connecting people? Yeah, so just doing that for others, as you would want them to do for you. 

Nikki Rausch  16:26

And I actually do recommend that’s usually like, the third piece that I recommend for my clients when they’re doing this strategy is I say now I want you to make one to three introductions that don’t benefit you at all. I want you to introduce at least one to three like combined people and see if that will open a door for somebody else. Because that good feeling that you get is a good reminder that when you’re asking someone to do a favor for you, you’re actually giving them an opportunity to get their own gift.

Megan Porta  16:57

Oh yeah, that is so true. I love that. I love that it’s part of your process to just kind of encourage that giving, because giving can bring things back to you in so many ways. I feel like, Yeah, okay. So once you find those connections with the people, the brands or sponsors, whatever, how do you get into the conversation where you know, it’s like, okay, let’s talk about business. 

Nikki Rausch  17:24

Well, really, where you’re going to kind of go in the beginning of part of this conversation is, I want you to be thinking about, can you create some curiosity? Can you pique the curiosity of the person that you’re in conversation with, to make them want to know more, to prompt a question for them? And there’s a lot of ways to do to do this, to create curiosity. But if you don’t know how to create curiosity, when you’re talking about what it is that you offer, what it is that you do, oftentimes the conversation goes really flat, or it just doesn’t really go anywhere, because they don’t know enough about you yet to ask questions, so you have to make it easy for them to go, oh, well, how does that apply to me? Or what would that mean for our brand or or, oh gosh, we never actually tried something like that, but you’ve got to peek at first in order for them to, like, get into the conversation with you. So I want you to think about creating some curiosity at the very beginning. And one of the ways to do this, there’s lots of ways to create curiosity. I teach a lot about this. It’s part of my signature framework for a sales conversation. It’s actually step two of five in a sales conversation, and it’s the most misstep. But one way to do it in the context that we’re talking about from sponsorships, is the way you ask questions. So a lot of times, and what I mean by that is a lot of times you think, like, Oh, I’ve got this person on a call with me, for instance, and now I have to, like, prove my value, and I’ve got to, like, put on this like, dog and pony, like, I’ve got a dance for this person, right? I need to impress them in some way, but realistically, like you just spewing all of like, why you’re so great and why, why they need to have you know, why they want to give you money. That’s usually not interesting to the other person. Yeah, you actually demonstrate your your expertise, and you can demonstrate the value that you can bring by asking strategic questions. So for instance, is it, instead of saying, like, you have to help me here a little bit Megan, because again, you know, like, blogging is not my expertise. 

Megan Porta  19:32

Yeah, absolutely. 

Nikki Rausch  19:33

So correct me as I go through this. But, and I don’t know if you have any Betty in your like, the listeners of like people that specialize in, like, food photography, I think you you said, Maybe, yeah, right, definitely, yep. So instead of talking about, like, what beautiful pictures that you know, how great your pictures are and and how valuable people find them, about the the food, but what if, instead you said, how important is it to you to. That the pictures that are used in the food blog that that you would sponsor does X, Y and Z, like, whatever the X, Y and Z would be for you or for them, that would be of value. So instead of saying like, this is what my pictures will do, you ask it as a question. Like, how important would that be? Because now that gets them thinking like, well, that’s really important, is that something you do, which, of course, now you can say yes and here’s here’s how I do it.

Sponsor  20:28

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Megan Porta  21:08

Yeah, so it’s like the same information you’re just tweaking a little bit like you said, to pique curiosity and to get them to maybe ask you some questions back.

Nikki Rausch  21:17

yeah, because it should be a conversation. Sales, yeah. You know, one of the mistakes I think people make about sales is they think that sales is something that you do to another person and that feels manipulative and gross, right? Yeah, right. If you think about like, none of us like to be talked at, even though we’re talked at all day long through social media and the news and everything else, right? Like people are talking at us all the time, but sales actually something you do with another person. It’s a collaboration and with means conversation. That means both parties should be asking questions and answering questions. Both parties should be like, you know, directing conversation and and like, finding out what’s most interesting to both people in the conversation. So by asking really smart questions, it helps plant the seed of, like, where we could go in the conversation. Now, if you ask a question, like, what I gave you an example, and they’re like, No, it’s not really important to us at all. Okay, so you gotta ask a different question. Now, right? Like, don’t take it as a rejection, just like I’ve got to ask a different question. And now I know that when I am, you know, if we get to the place where I get to propose them being a sponsor, and what that would look like and what the sponsorship sponsorship packages would be, then you know, you’re not going to highlight the the photography as part of the package, because they’ve already said that’s not important.

Megan Porta  22:44

right, right, how do you recommend getting past the fear of the conversation I’ve had this for so long. I know I’m not alone with this, but the conversation with the person where you’re selling your service or your product or whatever, is so scary, and I imagine repetition makes it easier, but yeah, do you have any thoughts for just like, getting past that? 

Nikki Rausch  23:07

Couple things? One is having a plan. So you need to know, like, where do you want the conversation to go, and what is the most likely way to get there? So I’m not a big fan of like, here, let me just give you a script and you just, like, regurgitate it onto the other person, because that’s not a real conversation. But having a plan and having some questions prepared ahead of time is a smart thing to do, because it kind of keeps you on track. It keeps you kind of moving the direction that you want to go. And then the other thing too is remember that the person that you’re talking to is a person, no matter what their title says on their you know, on their email or on their business card or whatever it is, they’re still a person. And so you you want to treat it like Can, can we offer, can I offer value here? And it really is a conversation that you’re establishing through that conversation. Do they have a need? Do they have a want? Do I have a solution that meets that need or want? And do I have their permission to put it in front of them? And when you can focus on those things, it helps take you out of the like, what are they thinking about me as you’re so focused on the relationship. You’re focused on finding out what’s important to them, and then you’re focused on getting their permission to put a proposal in front of them. And if you do those things, then like you’ve got your focus. So even if you’re nervous or it feels a little bit uncomfortable, it will be easier if you know where you’re going. And so I think having a plan is important, knowing you’re okay, yeah,

Megan Porta  24:44

That makes sense. So looking for permission, what is that cue where you’re like, okay, they’re ready for me to put my proposal in front of them?

Megan Porta  24:53

So a couple things, they’ll start giving you buying signals. So buying signals are verbal and nonverbal cues that people give that. Indicate interest buying signals. I actually wrote my second book about buying signals. So, like, there’s 17 of them that I give in the book, but buying signals, a lot of times are come in the form of a question, so something like, so if we were to sponsor, you know, what would the XYZ be? Right? So that’s a that’s a great question. It’s a great buying signal, because then you can answer the question, and then you follow up with the invitation. So if somebody’s asking you a question about like, like, what? What could we expect results to be? Then you say, these would be the expected results. Is that something you would like to consider? So you issue an invitation, you ask a question about next step that is super important, because if you don’t ask the question, if you just give the answer, but you don’t follow up with the invitation, they may never know, like, what the right next step is. And if you’re not sure if you got a buying signal or not, then you ask a question, is this something you would like for me to prepare a proposal for you on so you ask that question, and then when you ask these invitation questions, you you issue the invitation, or you ask the question, and then you be quiet, and you wait and you let them respond.

Megan Porta  26:16

That’s hard, that silence, that uncomfortable silence, oh gosh. 

Nikki Rausch  26:21

I always tell my clients, you’re playing the game. Whoever speaks second wins. I want you to win. Oh,

Megan Porta  26:26

That’s a good one. I like that rule. Oh, it is so hard. You just want to fill the void. Like, okay, they’re not saying anything. I’ll just keep talking nervously. And

Nikki Rausch  26:36

Yeah, you can do what’s called selling past the clothes when you do that. And so when you sell past the clothes, oftentimes you overwhelm the person, or you interrupt their decision making process. So learning how to just put your lips together, press, be quiet, wait, see what they say or do next, because that will give you an indicator of what you should say or do next. So again, remember, it’s just a conversation, and the worst thing that can happen is you invite them, or you ask them if they would like a proposal, and they say, No, thank you. Like, okay, yeah, at least now you know, and you’re not going to spend any time or energy trying to put together a proposal to wow, they’re, you know, knock their socks off if they’re not even going to look at it.

Megan Porta  27:20

Do you suggest always getting on a call? Or can we make deals, or, like, go back and forth and have this conversation over email? 

Nikki Rausch  27:28

You definitely can do it over email, although, when you have the person in a live conversation, you have so much more of like, the communication pie chart to work with, right? So they say that, you know, words are just like this tiny little sliver of the full like communication pie chart. As a matter of fact, there’s a study from years ago. It’s called the mahr study, and they say words are 7% of the conversation. So if all you’re if you’re just writing, the only thing you have to work with is this tiny, little sliver, the 7% and so the words you choose are so important, and the way you phrase things are so important. And then the other thing you want to think about is when you have written communication, and you could tell me if this has ever happened to you, Megan, but maybe you got an email from somebody, and you thought to yourself, like, dang, that person’s having a bad day, yes, but who added the tone? Yeah, we did in our mind reader, right? So you don’t know what tone person is going to add to your message, but if you can get in a live conversation, even if you’re you know you can’t see their facial expressions or their body language, you now have opened up the pie chart. That’s another like 38% is voice quality. It’s that saying, like, it’s not what she said, it’s how she said it, right? This is the how you say things. And so when you start to open up and get more kind of ability to communicate in multiple ways, you increase your chances of success because you could, you could change you know, you could change your phrasing, or you could notice something about the way they’re they’re engaging. Maybe they’re a fast talker, and you tend to be a slower talker. Might want to speed up a little bit or or vice versa, but you can’t do that in email. So to answer your question, yes, you can definitely sell just via email and written communication, but you’re missing out on a lot of the nuances that you’ll get. And if you can get them on a video call or face to face, and you can actually see their facial expressions and their body language, and they can see yours, yeah, it just gives you so much more to work with.

Megan Porta  29:39

It gives you such an advantage, I feel like even just a video call versus a phone call, because, yeah, like you said, you can just, you can see the expressions and all of the things that you can’t even you have no idea what’s going on on a phone call. So how do you propose asking for. For a call. Do you? I know some people are like, okay, these are the dates that work for me. Please tell me your your best option, or do you leave it more open ended? Like, what works for you? Let’s get on a call.

Nikki Rausch  30:10

I love this question so much. This is one of the things that my clients oftentimes when, when they first start working with me, they’re like, I hate this. And then they’ll tell me later, they’re like, this works so well. So if you want to make it easy for someone to get on a call, you actually give them three ranges of time. So you would say, and this is the language I actually recommend you would say, Would you be open to us scheduling a insert amount of time, 15 minute call to talk about potential ways that you know I could be a resource to you. In case you like this idea, here are a few possible times. And then you give ranges of time. So you don’t say, like, you know, whatever, October 1 at 10am you would say october 1 anytime between 10 and 11am Oh, yeah. So you give a range, and you do it three times. And then, if you’ve got a calendar link, then the next thing you would say after that is and in case this is easier for you, here’s a calendar link where you can find a time that works better for you, and then you put your calendar link. So notice that my language is in no way saying, Here’s my calendar link, find a time that I’m available, because that sounds like it’s about me, and I’m trying to earn their business. So it’s not about me, it should be about them. And so it’s all for their convenience. And so by doing this, like three times, these three ranges of time, this is actually how I get almost everybody on calls. Is because you’re making it so easy for them to look at their schedule and go, Well, that one doesn’t work. That one doesn’t work. Oh, I can meet with you october 1 at 1045 for instance. Yeah, well, now we have a time right now, it’s booked. Now I can send them a calendar link, and we actually have a time to communicate. But when you say like, I know you’re really busy, so just let me know when you’re available. I know the intention there be really kind, but what you’re really saying is, I think my time’s more important, so why don’t you find a time and then all decide whether or not I’m available, and that’s not gonna that’s definitely not going to work, especially when you’re talking to again, people in the corporate world with brands and things like that, like they’re scheduled, and we live and breathe our calendars. So saying to you know, somebody says to me all the time, like Nikki, I know you’re so busy, so just tell me when you’re available. And my answer is, I’m never available. My calendar like it doesn’t exist in my world. I’m not like, I don’t just have big chunks of open time. So if you want to earn my business, if you want to meet with me, make it easy for me. And so that’s what I would encourage your your listeners, to do too, make it as easy as possible, and limit any effort the other person has to take, like the minimal amount of effort that they can take, they’re more likely to do, versus asking them to jump through a bunch of hoops and tell you times they’re available, they’re not going to do it.

Megan Porta  33:02

That is so true. I’ve received emails to where it’s like, yeah, I don’t know it’s that seems kind of complicated like for me to have to go look through my calendar then provide them times is, yeah, what you’re saying is, like, just giving them permission to make it super, super easy and streamline, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, what are we forgetting? What other part of the process do we need to focus on? Is there anything else that you would recommend that we just need to have at the top of our minds? 

Megan Porta  33:31

Okay, I have one more thing, so let’s say that you, you get a potential sponsor on the call, but they aren’t able to make a decision, right? Maybe there’s a committee, or maybe there’s a budget meeting or something and they need to or maybe they want to see your your proposal before they make a decision. Your job now is to schedule what I call a circle back call to review the proposal or to answer any questions. So before you end that call with them, do everything you can to get your next time to talk scheduled before you get off the call, because if you don’t, getting them back on a call is going to be so much harder. And also, if you’re going to spend time and energy putting together a beautiful proposal, which I’m sure you would, even if you’re just sending a list of your sponsorship packages, the fact that you’re taking effort to do that, if you want them to actually look at it, it needs to be on their schedule that they’re going to review it and time. Lot of times they might review it two minutes before they get onto a call with you, but at least we got them to look at it. Versus, I don’t know if you’ve ever sent something to somebody, and you feel like, well, now they’ve just ghosted me. Chances are they never even looked at it, because you didn’t make it easy for them to, like, initiate any next step. So get, get your next call, get your circle back call scheduled. And usually the way that I say this to somebody is I would say, you know, I’ll go ahead and send that proposal to you. You’ll have it later, today or tomorrow or whatever. Let’s go ahead and schedule a circle that call now that way I can answer any additional questions that come up for you, and then we can talk about next steps from there, do you have time this week? On Thursday, you know, at 10, like, I’m going to suggest a date and time, yeah, and then get get it count, you know, get it on my calendar, send a calendar link and have it scheduled.

Megan Porta  35:23

See that is something I never would have thought of at all, because you’re right. You just let it slip through the cracks and you assume that they’re not interested. And if you just take the time to put that in your calendar, in their calendar, then yeah, they have a little bit of motivation to do whatever you’ve talked about. 

Nikki Rausch  35:40

And even if they look at your proposal and they’re like, you know, no way, we’re not, we’re not going to do this, then chances are they’ll just cancel, like, they’ll let you know ahead of time, like, Hey, we’re not interested. Let’s cancel that call. Well, great. Now, you know, go spend your time and energy somewhere else, but if they get back on that call with you, you have a pretty good chance of getting that business.

Megan Porta  36:01

Do you have a way of keeping track of people you reach out to? Do you have some sort of system? 

Nikki Rausch  36:07

My system is scheduling circle back calls. I know that sounds like super simplified, but I don’t chase clients. So if they’re not interested in scheduling a circle back call with me, I might follow up with them a couple times via email. And actually, I I have some strategies on following up, but, yeah, I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna chase them for long periods of time. I always leave it with, like, the last message I send, I call a closing the loop message, which is essentially like, Hey, have you made a decision one way or the other? Please let me know. You’re welcome to reach out to me at any point when you’re ready, which is like, Hey, I’m leaving the door open, but I’m not going to chase you, okay?

Megan Porta  36:45

And then in the future, so say a year down the road, if you think of them again, you won’t reach back out. 

Nikki Rausch  36:50

Oh, I might reach back out if I have some new thing for them. Okay, came back in. Yeah, for sure. I’m just not somebody who I just maybe that’s just my like, I want to work with people who are ready to go now, if a client says, or a potential client, a prospect, let’s say, says to me, like, Nikki, we’ve already missed our, you know, our years this year’s budget, so we’re not going to be looking at sponsorships again until, you know, next, you know, after the first of the year, for instance, then I would say, Can we schedule a Call after the first of the year, or right before the Aryans, just to check in with you to see what’s the next like, what’s the process to now be considered? And then I would schedule a circle back call, even if it’s a year out. I would schedule it,

Megan Porta  37:32

Okay, I am so motivated by this. 

Nikki Rausch  37:36

Oh, good. 

Megan Porta  37:37

I love all of this. And it’s some of it is very novel stuff, because, as I said, we’re creative individuals here in the food blogging space. We don’t necessarily love talking about sales or doing it, so this gave me a lot to think about. So I really appreciate all of this. Nikki.

Nikki Rausch  37:52

Thank you. I’m glad. 

Megan Porta  37:54

Do you have a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with before we say goodbye? 

Nikki Rausch  37:58

My all time favorite quote. I put this on the back of all of my workbooks for my classes, is, Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Megan Porta  38:07

Ooh, I love that.

Nikki Rausch  38:09

I believe in flexibility, and I think in sales, the more flexible you can be in your conversations, the more influence you have.

Megan Porta  38:16

Oh, I love that. What a great way to end we’ll put together a show notes page for you. Nikki, with all the information we talked about, you can head to eatblogtalk.com/yoursalesmaven. Nikki, why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you? And I know you have an offering you want to mention…

Nikki Rausch  38:31

I do. I love to wrap it around a gift for anybody. So hopefully, if you’re a blogger, you you might like to read. I have a very simple, easy to read ebook called Closing the Sale, and it’s all about boosting your confidence in the last kind of three steps of that five step process I mentioned earlier. And you can get it by going to yoursalesmaven.com/eat.

Megan Porta  38:52

Oh, awesome. I hope everyone goes and checks that out. Thank you for offering that. And thank you again, Nikki for being here, and thanks for listening food bloggers, I will see you in the next episode. 

Outro  39:06

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Don’t forget to rate and review Eat Blog Talk on your favorite podcast player. Thank you, and I will see you next time you.