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Episode 271 – When Asking For The Sale Isn’t Enough
You can spend a whole month thinking about asking for the sale, agonizing over it, telling yourself you’re doing the work, and still end that month having asked exactly zero times.
That gap, between intending to ask and actually asking, is where a lot of revenue quietly goes to die. And it’s almost never a skills problem. It’s fear.
But there’s a second layer underneath that one. It’s possible to actually make the ask, and still not fully want it to land, because some part of you isn’t convinced you’re ready to deliver on it. Your audience can feel that, even when your words are exactly right.
If your sales aren’t coming in, or they’re not landing the way you hoped, this episode walks through both layers, the tactical gap and the deeper one underneath it.
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You Can Ask For The Sale And Still Not Want It To Land
Most of us aren’t short on intention. We think about asking for the sale constantly. We agonize over it. We tell ourselves we’re doing the work. But if you actually sat down and counted, how many times did you ask for the sale last month? Not think about it, not mention it, actually ask?
For a lot of us, the honest answer is close to zero. And that gap, between thinking about asking and actually asking, is almost always fear. Not a skills problem.
The Mumble vs. The Real Ask
There’s a difference between mentioning your offer and actually asking for the sale. A mumble sounds like referencing a program in passing, or telling a story that includes a client without ever saying “here’s what this is, here’s who it’s for, here’s how to join.” Mumbles are a real, useful skill. People who are already interested convert on them. But they’re not the same as an ask.
A real ask names the offer directly: what it is, what it solves, who it’s for, and how to get it. If you’ve been doing a lot of mumbling and calling it marketing, that’s worth a look.
Why “No” Isn’t About You
One of the biggest blocks to actually asking is what a “no” seems to mean. But a no rarely has anything to do with you or your worth. It usually just means the offer isn’t a fit right now, for this person, at this time. Maybe it will be later. Maybe they know someone else who needs it.
Either way, staying quiet doesn’t protect anyone. It just means the person who actually needed what you have never got the invitation.
The Deeper Layer: Wanting The Sale To Land
Here’s the part that’s easy to miss. It’s entirely possible to ask for the sale, and still not fully want it to come in, because some part of you isn’t convinced you’re ready to deliver. That hesitation is felt by your audience, even when your words are exactly right.
Sometimes that’s a tactical gap: no onboarding sequence, no clear delivery process, an easy fix once you see it. But sometimes it’s deeper: a question of whether you actually believe you’re capable of, or deserving of, delivering on what you’re promising. That’s not a messaging problem. It’s self-worth work, and it’s a different skill set entirely from sales and marketing.
What To Do With This
If your sales aren’t landing, it’s worth separating the two layers. First: are you actually asking, clearly and often enough, or mostly mumbling? Set a tactical, trackable goal around asking. Second: when you do ask, are you settled in your ability to deliver, or is there a wobble underneath the words? That’s the work that isn’t fixed by a better sales script.
You don’t have to resolve the deeper layer before you’re allowed to keep asking. Both can happen at the same time.
Below is the full transcript of the episode, where I walk through this in more depth.
The Month I Asked For Zero Sales
There was a month where I was very frustrated that sales weren’t coming in, and I couldn’t figure out why. So I sat down and actually looked at it. How many times did I actually ask for the sale that month? And the answer was zero.
I hadn’t asked once. I’d thought about it, right? I’d meant to. But thinking about the ask and making the ask are not the same thing, and the gap between those is exactly where, how much revenue goes to die quietly.
But today, we’re gonna go one layer deeper than that, because there’s a second thing that happens even when you do ask for the sale. It’s possible to go through the motions of asking for the sale and still not actually want it to come in.
And I know, that sounds crazy. You’re like, “I want to make money. Why would I not want it to come in?” But some part of you isn’t sure that you’re ready to deliver on it. And here’s the thing, your audience feels that even when you can say all the right words.
So if you’ve ever wondered why the sales aren’t coming in or why they aren’t landing the way that you hoped, this one is for you, so let’s get to it.
This is Money Simplified, the podcast where I help female entrepreneurs go from stress and struggle to unstoppable with money. Money is more than just budgeting and P&Ls, and we’re gonna take you through all of it.
Here, we blend proven financial strategy with mindset work and energetic alignment so you can create unstoppable finances, build an unstoppable business, and truly enjoy your unstoppable life. It’s time to take my wisdom, my expertise to help you simplify money and go beyond the numbers. I’m your host, Aimee Cerka. Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.
Two Ways We Talk About Asking For The Sale
Welcome back to Money Simplified. Today, we are talking about asking for the sale, and this is something that there’s so much emotion around, right? Like, we can talk about the logical thing, and I’m sure you’ve thought about asking for the sale, right? Like, you own a business. And there can be almost like two schools of thought here.
If you are somebody who leans more to the spiritual, heart-centered, really mission-focused, you can struggle sometimes with asking for the sale ’cause you’re like, “I just wanna help people,” right? We can go down that rabbit hole. That’s a whole different conversation. We’re not even really getting into that one today.
But the thing that we’re gonna talk about, how many times have you actually asked for the sale versus how much have you thought about it and agonized over asking for sales? But it’s probably a lot, and the intention here is, “I’m gonna ask for the sale. I’m gonna do this so that I can have the revenue.”
And we kinda get into, I think that was last week’s episode, where we talked about all the marketing channels and busy versus productive and what’s actually working. We do the same thing with sales, right? We’ll get into what a mumble means, when you’re asking for a sale, which is a great strategy, but it’s not actually asking for the sale.
The Mumble vs. The Real Ask
So you’re doing all the things, like, right? You’re thinking about it. It’s so much work. Like, you feel like you’re doing all the things, asking for the sale all the time. But the month ends, and you still haven’t hit your revenue goal. The sales aren’t there.
But how many times have you actually asked for the sale? Okay? We can think about this constantly, and then we don’t actually do it. And the gap almost always is fear, not a lack of skill. I mean, we can all ask, yes, sales and marketing, great skills to have.
Something that we should always be working to improve, I feel, ’cause we’re either ripening or rotting. There’s no staying stagnant when it comes to our skills. So yes, I hope that we are always growing. There is always new levels to achieve, all of those things.
But not asking for the sale, that’s not a skill thing, ’cause you can fumble through it and actually make an ask, make progress, right? Get into the messy momentum. And sometimes maybe you get into the messy momentum, right? And you’ve made the ask, but you’re not ready.
Like, there’s a part of you that’s like, “Oh, if they buy this, I’ve gotta deliver on this. Can I deliver on this? Am I good enough for this? Do I deserve this?” And that energetic wobble right there, people feel that, and then they don’t buy.
My Own Zero-Sales Month
So, like I mentioned in the intro, there was a month, it’s probably been about a year or so ago now, that I was frustrated, and was like, “What the heck?” The sales numbers that I wanted to hit didn’t happen at all. I was frustrated. This isn’t working, and, you know, just having a little mini meltdown, for lack of a better word.
We’ve all had them, right? But I know what to do, right? We know how to go back and check the logic. When the emotions come up, we’re not letting them run the show. We feel them, we process them, but, hey, what’s actually going on here? Okay?
Went back, looked at the data. I hadn’t asked for a sale at all. Part of it was I had done a big push the month prior to that, and it felt like that had taken up so much of my mental energy, and I was like, “Oh, wait. That wasn’t actually last month. It’s been that long since I’ve asked for a sale.”
What A “Mumble” Actually Looks Like
And even, like, things directly. So here, I’ll give you an example of what a mumble is. So, on Execution Lab this month, we were talking, and I had a client that was asking about bookkeeping, and we edited the sales.
Um, bookkeeping and entering sales on Execution Lab this month. So, we had a client who was a little frustrated. Things weren’t lining up when it came to entering sales within her QuickBooks, and that’s such an important thing, because when we can see how, where our sales are actually coming from, you know what the return is when we’re asking for the sale, but you can also see what is the biggest needle mover for you, okay?
So, that was a mumble. Not a great one, but it was a mumble. Execution Lab is my monthly coaching and co-working membership that I host. I didn’t say, “Hey, let’s join Execution Lab. This is what this is for. This is what it was created for. This is why it’s a fit,” which I can do, and that would be a true pitch.
That would be a true asking for a sale. But the mumble is, like, Execution Lab, and I threw in a client as well, that I had, we were working with a client. So, those two things, if you’re listening, you’re like, “Oh, well, what’s Execution Lab? Oh, she’s got clients.” Mumbles. Wasn’t an outright ask, but if somebody’s already interested in working with you and you insert mumbles like that into your content, those can convert.
And for those who are interested, I’ll put the link for Execution Lab in the show notes, because so many of us know what to do and we’re not actually doing it, and that’s the gap that Execution Lab was designed to fill. So that’s a mumble. Fantastic, awesome skill to have. Now that I’ve shared it with you, you’re gonna hear me do it in a lot of my content in my videos, right?
The Real Ask
But that’s not actually asking for a sale. Asking for the sale is, “Hey, I have this. This is what’s available. I’d love to support you with that. This is the problem that it solves, this is who it’s for,” et cetera, whatever the detail is there, right?
Because that’s actually asking for the sale. We can think about it all day long, right? Nobody’s a mind reader. But here’s the thing, to get over that obstacle, that hump, right? We have to remember that if they say no, it is nothing to do with you and who you are. It just means the offer’s not a fit for them right now.
And that key there, right now, maybe it’ll be a fit later. Maybe they know somebody who’s the perfect aligned fit. It’s not for them, but they knew someone. We can’t take it personally, which I know is so much easier said than done.
But when we take this action, you’ve gotta anchor back into what you know, because you owe your audience the invitation. If you don’t ask, what does it change for them? Who is out there sitting frustrated, scared, stuck because they need exactly what you have to offer?
All right, if this is landing for you, asking for the sale is just one of the 16 patterns that I’ve identified that can restrict your cash flow. What we do inside this free tool that I built called the Cash Flow Calculator is look at those patterns inside your business and your life, uncover which one to two are the ones that you need to shift to truly unlock your cash flow.
That link is https://aimeecerka.com/cashflow. It’s also in the show notes. Now back to the episode.
Setting A Tactical Goal Around Asking
So that’s the first gap, right? We have to start asking for the sale, and I would encourage you to set a tactical goal on this. As you know, we blend this tactical strategy and the energetics. So this is set the tactical goal, set a minimum. And we talked about my activity tracker a couple weeks ago that I share with my Unstoppable Experience members now.
So I keep a record of it. It’s like I sent out an email. I also have an email snippet that I’ve created that go out in my emails with something about, because it’s not all about the money, and I give a couple things. Like, what I’m loving about life. I link to a popular piece of content.
There’s a support bubble there. So it’s like when you’re ready to take the next step, here’s this thing that I would recommend that you do, right? When I send out an email, that counts as a PS because it’s in there, but it’s not truly an asking for the sale. I have received sales from that, and it is a little bit better than just the generic, “Here are the ways to work with me,” which I used to have.
Been there, done that. I like this one because it’s a little more current, and then it doesn’t matter where you’re at in my email funnel, you’re always seeing the current things as well. So that’s a fun little email snippet. If you are like, “Hey, how does that work?” Just shoot me a message. I’m happy to share that with you.
The Deeper Layer: Do You Actually Want It To Land?
So that’s the first thing. Like, we have to start asking for the sale. But once we’re doing that, that’s when we get to turn our attention to the deeper layer, and I don’t want you to not ask for the sale because you’re working on the deeper layer.
Like, we can do this simultaneously, right? That’s the action and growth at the same time. So like I said, it’s possible to ask for the sale and still not actually want it to come in, because some part of you is like, “Am I good enough? Can I do this? Is that possible?” and I’ve got an example for myself on this as well.
My Highest Opt-In Launch, Zero Sales
So my signature program, The Unstoppable Experience, has had a couple iterations over its lifetime, right? It started out as a membership. It was Money Masters Inner Circle, and then from that, Money Mastery Academy was born, the first versions of it.
And there was a timeframe in there where I created an iteration, and the promise and the marketing around it, I had listened to a couple different coaches, and they had the right intent, and part of it was me and where I was at, but I shifted the marketing of Money Mastery Academy to focus on strictly increasing revenue and making revenue promises and those things.
I did a launch and it was my highest opt-in launch, like, for the webinar. I had the most amount of opt-ins that I had had to date for this webinar. Cart closed, zero sales. Because, and there probably was other factors in there, but I know part of me was like, “Can I actually deliver on this? Can I promise that cash flow? Can I promise that they’ll hit that revenue goal in their business?”
And I knew that I didn’t, that I couldn’t. It’s certainly possible. I’ve had clients increase their revenue. I’ve had clients that have done so many things that we unlock the cash flow, all of those things. It all can happen. But the work that we do around healing your relationship with money and taking your power back with money, that’s so much more powerful.
The revenue will come. I can absolutely guarantee you that. It will come. But the timing of it, I can’t commit to that being during your time in Money Mastery Academy at the time.
A Case Study: The Pay Cut That Saved A Marriage
I have a case study of a client that went through, it was Money Mastery Academy at the time. It’s the equivalent now would be the Unstoppable Experience. She went through that program, and she’ll tell you in the case study, it saved her marriage. Things are in such a better place now. But she didn’t increase her revenue.
They actually took a pay cut. But things were better because of the work we had done. They were in alignment with money. So you can take the pay cut maybe. You might not. We don’t know what the situation is, but the point of the story, the side note, right? That deeper layer, I knew that I couldn’t squeaky clean deliver on that promise, and it showed up.
Tactical Fix Or Self-Worth Work?
So if it’s going through the motions and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, if they buy this, can I do this? Am I capable of this?” And there’s imposter syndrome. There’s a like, I don’t have the onboarding sequence set up, so if somebody buys, that’s gonna be a really poor delivery experience for them, right?
Like, we have those things, easy fixes, right? Then as heart-centered entrepreneurs who want to give more and people who have a tendency to over give, over deliver, right? Then we have to work on the anchoring into what is actually our self-worth, what is true. And those are different skills.
We can get into the tactical. If it’s like I need to have an onboarding sequence set up so when they buy they actually receive the thing and I feel good about it, and it’s a good customer experience, spend the hour or whatever it takes to get it set up, and then you’re good. The storefront is open, and you can feel settled in that.
If it’s the other part, that’s where you’ve gotta anchor back into your self-worth, and so much of the work we do inside the money confidence pillar and the unstoppable momentum pillar, again, inside the unstoppable experience is where we have the time to go deep on that.
Because again, it’s not just the tactical strategy. It’s your mindset and the energetic piece.
Finding Your Actual Bottleneck
So if you’re asking for the sale, going through the tactical motions of asking for the sale, and you feel like you’ve done this enough, ’cause again we gotta look at like how many times did you send out one sales email and that was the one thing that you counted on, or posted one reel that 1% of your audience sees, what’s the gap there?
You’ve gotta find where the bottleneck is when it comes to asking for the sale. Because again, we’ve gotta ask, we’ve gotta ask where it can actually be seen, and we’ve gotta get the misalignment fixed. Because you can use all the right words. As a buying audience, buying power, we’ve gotten more evolved, even if we’re not aware of it yet, like we feel it. And it’s not necessarily the copy and the pitch, although it could be that, and I am not a messaging expert at all.
So if it’s messaging, we gotta get you some resources, right? But the point here, it’s not just did I ask. And the other part is, did I feel good about the ask? Was I excited about it?
Where To Start This Week
Okay, so if today was like, “Oh, this is something. I need to look at this,” and you haven’t already gone through my Cash Flow Calculator, or maybe you’ve gone through it and it’s been a bit and you need to revisit it, go through the Cash Flow Calculator. You don’t need to know any of your numbers, but it’s going to show you exactly where to focus first because there are 16 patterns that I have uncovered that keep you from unlocking your potential with your cash flow.
But we don’t have to fix all 16 at the same time. There’s typically one, maybe two levers where you fix that, and then you’re golden. You move forward. You’ve got this. It might be asking for the sale. If so, you’ve got the content here. You’re ready to shift things. If not, then you’ve got your place to start to move forward because again, money is not just tactical strategy.
It’s energetics, emotions, mindset, all of those things. They all affect your success of your business. Welcome to being a business owner. So that link is https://aimeecerka.com/cashflow. I’ll also put it in the show notes for you. And remember, you don’t have to figure this out alone.
So if you’re like, “This was really good. I want support,” I’ll put the link for The Unstoppable Experience, in the show notes as well because that is the 12-month group mentorship experience for us to truly shift your relationship with money, heal your relationship, take your power back, all of those things. We set up the strategy with the tactical systems.
We work on the mindset. We work on the energetic piece so you truly are unstoppable with money. Okay? Remember, you’ve got this, and I’ve got you. We’ll see you next time. Bye for now.
Thank you so much for listening to Money Simplified. My favorite place to hang out is on Instagram. You can find me @AimeeCerka to catch all the behind the scenes of my stories. Send me a message to share your biggest takeaway, or just to say hi. I love hearing from podcast listeners.
When you’re ready to take action on your mindset, your money, or the systems behind it all, I’m here for you. Whether you’re snagging a free resource, exploring a mini course, diving into the fundamentals with Money Mastery Academy, getting in-depth support inside the Unstoppable Experience, or scheduling a complimentary bookkeeping consult to finally get hands-on help with your books, your next step is waiting for you.
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