Real Revenue vs. Feel-Good Followers

You're scrolling, aren't you?

You're seeing it everywhere.

Those massive follower counts, those what I'll call TikTok tigers of influence, the viral videos with millions of views, the online gurus flashing big numbers, always talking about effortless income, living these incredible picture perfect lifestyles.

And then deep down in those quiet moments when you're comparing your reality to their highlight reel, you might be asking yourself some tough questions.

Like this one, why isn't this translating into my sales?

Or this one, am I missing some secret?

Or how about this one?

Why don't I see the views and likes as they do?

And finally, you might say, this is all my effort on social media.

All this posting, all this engaging, just for nothing.

Let's be honest with each other for a minute.

You've put in the work, you've posted the content, you've tried to build your own audience, but your bank account, well, it just simply isn't reflecting that online popularity.

That's frustrating, isn't, can really make you feel like you're doing something fundamentally wrong, like you're shouting into this empty room, I don't know about you, but it's not fun to feel that way, is it?

That feeling of pouring effort into something that yields no tangible return, that right there is soul crushing.

So today we're gonna pull back the curtain on the biggest, most deceptive illusion in modern business.

As they used to say when I was a kid, don't believe the hype.

We're talking about the painful, often hidden difference between those feel good followers, you know, those feel good followers, those likes and thumbs ups.

We're gonna talk about the difference between that and the real tangible revenue.

See, today this is about cutting through that noise, silencing those constant distractions and focus in your precious finite time and energy on what truly matters to your bottom line and in the end, to your peace of mind.

So stay with me, we're going to get to the heart of this today.

Hey there.

Welcome back to Grit and Growth Business.

I'm Ralph Estep Jr. Now if you missed last week's show, we, we had an incredibly honest, deeply personal conversation about burnout.

Yes, it was a big one.

We acknowledge that silent enemy and started to see the vital work of rebuilding ourselves so that our businesses can truly not just survive, but thrive.

So if you missed it, I want to encourage you to go back and listen.

We're on episode seven, so there are six before this and I encourage you, if you missed any of them, to go back and take a look and take a Listen, this week we're getting into a topic that touches almost every modern business owner, especially those of us who are trying to make your mark online.

And listen, if you're like me, it's a source of immense pressure, constant comparison, always looking around, and often in the end, if we're being honest, profound disappointment.

Today's topic is really pretty simple.

Real revenue versus feel good followers.

And listen, I know what it feels like.

I know the allure because I felt it too.

Hey, listen, there was a time not too long ago for me when I was absolutely convinced that the path to growth was through massive online visibility.

That was going to be my goal.

I was listening to those guru narratives.

So I was opening up my phone.

I would see these massive Instagram accounts and TikTok stars doing these viral stupid dances and YouTube channels with millions of subscribers.

And the narrative was always the same.

Just build a huge audience and the money will just start flowing in, man, they'll be bringing it to you in suitcases.

And that sounds so simple, so effortless, doesn't it?

So naturally, you and I, we pour our hours, we pour hours into content creation.

We obsess over engagements, rates.

How many people are watching this?

How long did they listen?

And we chase those like we actively seek people.

Hey, share this with your friend.

Share this with everybody.

We just can't wait for those comments, hoping that every single follower represents that future customer that's going to equate to that bottom line of revenue.

We feel a little rush.

It's kind of like a hit of dopamine when that follower count ticks up.

Hey, look at this is getting traction.

And if you're honest with yourself, it feels like progress doesn't.

Feels like you're doing exactly what you're supposed to do in this digital world.

It's a validation.

Hey, look, I'm making progress.

Look at all these followers I have.

Look at all these likes.

Look at all these shares.

Look at these comments.

But then, my friend, the painful reality hits.

Almost like a cold splash of water first thing in the morning.

You got thousands of followers, maybe even tens of thousands of followers.

But then you look at that profit statement.

Your actual sales haven't moved a bit.

They're just stagnant.

Yeah, your engagement looks great, but your invoices aren't getting paid on time.

You're spending precious finite time and energy chasing these vanity metrics.

And that's really what they are.

They're just vanity metrics.

They, they look impressive on paper.

Yeah, they make you feel popular.

Everybody knows him That's Ralph.

He's got the show, or he's got to this, or he's got the likes.

He's got the TikTok following.

But in the end, they don't actually contribute a single dollar to your profitability or more importantly, to your business stability.

And I've seen countless incredible entrepreneurs, I'm talking about people who are dedicated craftsmen, brilliant service providers, brilliant engineers, get completely derailed by this.

Their business gets completely derailed by this.

I'll tell you right now about a client.

Remember a client?

She was a phenomenal restaurant owner, and she spent nearly half of her work week in, you know, creating these intricate Instagram carousels and chasing those.

Those viral trends.

I remember her telling me, ralph, this is going to be the secret sauce to success.

And in the end, she did gain thousands of followers.

She saw her, like, soar through the roof.

It would appear she was setting the world on fire, as they say.

My, my grandfather used to say all the time, he's setting the world on fire.

But then we looked under the hood.

Her actual client pipeline was drying up.

I remember going into her restaurant one day and there was hardly anybody there.

The restaurant was rarely filled up.

There was no reservations on the book.

She was starting to offer, you know, two for one Tuesdays and things like that.

I remember talking to her.

She was exhausted.

She was demoralized.

And at the end of the day, hey, I'm the finance guy.

She was financially stressed, and we started to unwind.

Hey, what's going on here?

And we had to come to a very harsh and stark reality.

She was so focused on appearing popular online, she wanted to be that, that rising TikTok star.

Hey, I saw your restaurant on YouTube, or I saw it on TikTok, or I saw it on Instagram.

She was so focused on that.

But in the end, she'd lost sight of the fundamental purpose of her business.

To serve customers and to generate revenue to make good food.

Yeah, she was serving her followers, but not actually cultivating customers.

She'd invested in expensive social media tools that netted her followers hundreds and tens of hundreds of those.

But those people weren't walking in the door of the restaurant.

Funny, when we looked at it, they weren't even relatively close to her restaurant.

She chased fleeting trends instead of building a clear, compelling value proposition that actually attracted paying customers.

You know, those who come in the door, sit down, place an order, and share that experience with other people.

Does this sound familiar to you and your business?

See that allure of the viral video that will take you to the top of the influencer network is so alluring.

It just grabs your attention.

It does.

Listen, I've been, I've been victim to that.

But in the end, after all that time, all that money that you spend, all you have in the end, and this, you need to hear this right now is an empty bank account and just deep seated pain of like, where did all my time go?

Where did all those monies go?

Where did all that effort go?

And in my client's case, an empty restaurant and staff looking for new jobs.

Yes, her restaurant closed.

She lost her life savings.

She lost it all because everything was put on the line.

She was chasing that next, like that next follower, that next share, that next comment.

And what's absolutely ironic is on the last day of her business, I want you to hear me on this.

She reached a pinnacle of just over 25,000 YouTube followers.

Well, that's great.

You accomplished it.

But now you got 25 employees looking for jobs and your business is closed.

And let's talk about that pain.

See, the pain here is just absolutely deep frustration.

The pain is immense.

Wasted resources, both time and money.

And all the time you put into that, all the money you put into it and that crushing realization that all that effort, listen, if you're doing this right now, it is a ton of effort.

It isn't actually building the business or the life that you want.

So here's my truth bomb as we get rolling today.

And I told you, I'm always going to give you the truth.

You might be popular online, my friend.

Yes, you might be popular online, but you're still struggling to make payroll.

You're still wondering how you'll pay next month's rent.

Yep, you are in a bad spot.

And if you're honest with yourself, I mean, deep down honest with yourself, you got your priorities way out of whack.

Well, now you're thinking, wow, Ralph, you certainly painted a really dark picture.

Man, why did I even bother listening today?

And it's true, I have.

I have painted a really dark and bad picture.

But it's true.

It's a true picture.

And it's time to answer some critical questions.

The first one, I think you've got to.

And you need to be honest with yourself.

Take a moment and think about what I'm getting ready to say.

How do you know if you're caught up in this feel good followers trap?

How do you know if you're caught up in this feel good followers trap?

What are those common symptoms that tell you your online strategy might Be profoundly disconnected from your actual business goals.

And then how does this manifest as real, tangible pain in your business?

Hey, listen, if it's happening in your business, like most small business people, it's happening into your life also.

Well, let's talk about the signs and symptoms because you might not even see it.

You know, they see, a lot of times you can't see the forest from the trees.

So let me share with you some signs and symptoms so that we can prevent you from losing your business.

Closing that door.

And your employees are looking for a new place to work.

Here's the first one.

And you got to be honest with yourself as I go through these low conversion rates from your audience.

And here's the indicator.

This is the clearest, most heartbreaking indicator.

Ask yourself, you got a decent following, whether it's 500, 5,000, 50,000, maybe 150,000 people, they're all your followers.

But then once you launch a product, once you offer a service, once you make that, ask for a consultation, very few of them actually become paying customers.

See, it's one thing to have followers, but are they paying customers?

And the pain here, this is soul crushing because you look at your effort, you feel like you're pulling all your effort into attracting people who aren't interested in buying what you sell.

They're not buying what you sell.

They're not making those appointments, they're not buying those products, they're not scheduling those services.

Or then you might say, hey, maybe my message just simply isn't compelling them to take action.

It's like this.

It's like having a huge crowd gathered outside of your brick and mortar shop cheering your name.

Go Ralph.

Go Ralph.

But no one's actually walking through the door.

And if they are walking through the door, they're not buying anything.

Yeah, you're getting applause, yes, but no sales.

And I remember this myself.

I remember feeling so proud of hitting a certain number of email subscribers.

Like, I had this.

I wanted to have this many email subscribers.

And I was like, oh, I got to these, oh, this is going to work.

This is going to, this is going to make it all work.

And then I realized when I actually launched the new coaching program, only a tiny fraction even opened up the email, let alone bought anything.

That open rate was miserably low.

Yes, I had a bunch of email followers.

I was so proud of that.

Let me send out these emails.

And then, oh my goodness, did anybody even look at this thing?

Even the ones that opened it up was so small, the click through was horrible.

And that Right there, my friend, was a wake up call to what true engagement meant.

So that's the first one.

Let's move on to the next symptom.

And that's obsessing over vanity metrics and losing sight of the big picture.

It's so easy to do this.

We got to be honest.

Ask yourself right now, do you check your follower account?

Do you check your likes?

Do you check your shares and your comments constantly throughout the day?

Are you always on your phone going, well, let me see how many people watch this video.

Oh, let me see how many shares there were.

Oh, there's a lot of thumbs up here.

This is going to be a good day.

And then do you find that your mood is tied to these numbers?

I mean, they're making you feel a certain way.

There are moments of elation and then there's moments like, I can't believe nobody's watching this.

I can't believe nobody's sharing this.

I can't believe no one's comment on this.

And then you got to ask yourself this question.

Do they determine if you feel success or if you feel like a failure on any given day, regardless of your real world sales?

See, this is the problem.

There's such a disconnect.

You're not looking at your profit and loss statement.

You're not looking at how many revenue dollars are coming in the door.

That's not making you feel good or bad about your business.

It's how many likes you got, how many shares you got, how many comments you got.

That pain right there, that's a huge emotional drain and a grave misdirection of your focus.

See, here's the problem.

These false metrics, they offer emotional validation.

Yeah, hey, I got a bunch of followers, Ralph.

Listen, I am doing it.

I'm setting the world on fire.

Ralph, you should see all likes I got.

You should see all the shares in the comments, man, I am doing it.

And it's this fleeting sense of popularity.

But guess what?

If they're not turning into sales, those metrics aren't paying your bills.

They simply don't pay your bills.

And see this obsession?

And that's what it is.

It's an obsession.

It's a huge distraction from genuine strategic business building activities.

It takes you away from refining your product, looking at your product, saying, is this a good product?

Is it impactful?

Are people interested in, do people want to, you know, do people say, I got to have that?

It takes you away from improving customer service.

You're not paying attention to the fact that nobody's answering your phones or your staff is terrible with customer service and it completely distracts you from a long term strategy where you actually build sustainable growth because you're just looking for that next piece of content which leads to likes, followers, shares and comments.

You get the idea.

Think of it like this.

It's like a chef, right?

A chef of a restaurant.

They've got great food, but this chef's just meticulously polishing their knives.

You know, there's food on the burners, there's food in the oven, there's food on the stove, but they're sitting there sharpening their knives.

See, nobody cares about their knives if the food is lousy.

If the food comes out burnt, who cares about the knives?

So that's the second one.

Let's look at our third symptom.

And this one is, this is brutal.

Marketing efforts don't clearly connect to sales.

I'll say this, you're always playing that guessing game.

Yeah.

You're actively creating content, you're running ads, you're engaging online and, and you're busy doing it.

Yeah.

You're spending a lot of time.

I'm not going to argue with that.

You say, ralph, I'm putting in a lot of effort.

Yes, you're putting in a lot of effort.

You're engaged, you're running out, you're spending probably a ton of money on trying to get likes and followers and shares.

And you are busy doing it.

But then when you step back and try to analyze, you look at, okay, I spent this money on these ads.

I spent this money putting this content together.

Hey, maybe you've hired outside consultants who are, who are helping you with your quote, social media strategy.

But then when you step back and analyze it, you can't draw a direct line from those specific activities to actual sales.

You can't say, hey, I ran this particular piece of content and man, I can't believe how many people came in and bought it.

Now if that's the case, great, you're doing the right thing.

But if you can't draw that direct line from those specific activities to actual sales to paid projects or concrete client inquiries, that's a problem.

And I'm going to use a fancy term.

The pain here is a profound lack of roi.

We, in the accounting term, a fancy term, we call it return on investment.

I don't usually put those into the show, but I'll let that one slip by.

I try to keep the language plain here, but it's a deep sense of uncertainty.

That's what I'm really talking about you're spending valuable money.

Yes, you're spending valuable money, but more importantly, even above that, you're in.

You're spending invaluable time without a clear understanding of its measurable impact on your bottom line.

You're doing this.

A lot of people talk about this, throwing good money after bad, because that's what you're doing.

You're throwing good money after bed.

You can't draw the line between the connection of this content to actually producing profit for your business.

And that, my friend, that is never a wise plan.

And in the end, your marketing feels like it's just a shot in the dark.

A giant gamble with your precious resources.

I'm gonna say something kind of harsh, but maybe you'd be better off taking a casino and just putting it all on red and hope for the best.

Yeah, like I said, that's harsh.

But maybe you'd be better off because that's what you're doing.

You're flying blind.

You're just throwing marketing dollars a shot in the dark.

You have no idea if they're working or not.

And listen, I'm not telling you something I haven't done.

I've been there.

I've thrown money at ads.

It brought website traffic in, man.

I remember I was so pleased to hit 20,000 people in YouTube subscribers, and I spent a ton of money doing it.

But guess what?

Big goose egg.

Zero sales from that.

Zero sales?

Yeah.

I had 20,000 YouTube subscribers, man.

I could go there and say, oh, look at all the subscribers.

YouTube's telling me, oh, man, your channel is growing, Ralph.

Of course, I spent a bunch of money to get there, but zero sales, zero engagement, zero revenue dollars.

Zero of those 20,000 followers were helping me pay my bills or grow my business.

And let me just tell you right now, personally, that was a hard lesson in understanding something very critical.

And I've said, and it's not just in this particular discussion, I've said this to people in my career from the beginning.

Activity doesn't equal effectiveness if you're not tracking what truly matters.

Activity doesn't equal effectiveness.

It just doesn't if you're not tracking what truly matters.

Let's now talk about number four on my list.

Chasing trends over building authority.

And when you do that, absolutely losing your identity.

Let me ask you this question.

Are you constantly trying to adapt to the latest social media algorithm changer?

You're tracking those.

The newest viral challenge or that hot new platform.

You're just so desperate to stay relevant, and then is that Shifting your focus away from consistently communicating your unique value proposition and that deep expertise that you brought to this.

And let me just tell you right now, you're listening to this, it's time to be honest with yourself.

Are you chasing an inconsistent brand message, a fragmented online presence and attracting the wrong audience?

Because see, you could be attracting noise.

I attracted 20 plus thousand people.

But is it the right audience or is it the wrong audience or people who are just interested in that fleeting trend?

Oh, this is cool.

Look, look what this is.

This is great, but not your actual long term solution.

And this is what I'm going to say next.

It's a huge identity crisis.

You become a content creator first and you're desperately chasing virality.

You want to be that, you want to have that viral video and guess what takes a second seat.

Yeah.

Busy being a business owner and you completely lose focus on your core expertise and who you're trying to serve.

And when you do that, and you don't want to hear this, but it is the truth, your authenticity gets diluted.

And a lot of times, and if you're lucky, it just gets diluted, but in some cases, you lose it altogether.

I'll give you a great example.

I'm working with a coaching client right now who is focusing on their business first.

And this is after they put way too much effort into the content.

And it was good content, it was excellent content, but it's content that simply wasn't working to build consistent revenue.

Now let's move into my last symptom today.

And this is another one that I felt.

And I bet as you're listening to this right now, you might be feeling this too.

You're feeling pressured to be always on.

You're like a marathon runner on that digital hamster wheel.

It's that relentless pursuit of engagement.

It's just relentless.

It all makes you feel like you have to be online constantly, always posting, always responding, every comment entering, interacting, being visible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You're always checking your YouTube channel, you're always checking your TikTok.

You're always checking your Instagram.

You got to be available.

Hey, this is what's going on.

I got to be connected.

Ralph, the pain here, immense exhaustion.

We talked about this last week, which may out, may lead to absolutely outright burnout.

Because what happens is this pace prevents you from focusing on core business operations.

You're so distracted, you're so burned out from being engaged online that you completely lose track of your core business operations.

The quality control of your Products, that strategic thinking that put you in the business in the first place.

And then honestly, if you're being honest, you're moving along that out that burnout cycle, it just takes you away from living your life.

And I don't know about you, but I met a lot of people like this lately.

You're constantly focusing on the image that people see online.

What's that image they're seeing about me online?

But your business, that's a ghost town.

They never seen your business anymore because you're not running your business.

You're running social media content.

And in the end, it turns your business into a digital hamster wheel where you're running endlessly but getting nowhere, that truly matters.

Yes, as I said, you're growing followers, you're growing content.

You got the likes, the shares, and you got the idea, the comments.

But your business isn't getting anywhere.

I'm going to tell you right now, personally, there were weeks when I thought I couldn't even put my phone down.

I was terrified I'd miss an opportunity or some trending viral moment that I needed to be involved in.

It consumed me.

And ironically, if I was being honest with myself, and I'm doing that now, it made me less effective in my real business work.

So listen to me for a moment, because you need to hear this.

These are not signs that you're failing at social media or technology.

A lot of people just assume, well, I'm just not good at social media, Ralph.

I'm not good at technology.

They're not signs of that.

They're not signs that you're failing at that.

But what they are is they're powerful, painful signs that your online strategy might be profoundly disconnected from your actual business goals and, and the life you're trying to build.

That's the big key takeaway at where we are right now.

They're painful signs that your online strategy might be profoundly disconnected from your actual business goals.

They are not synced.

They are not combined anymore.

And I'm going to ask you again, are you feeling some of this right now, in your life, right now, in your business?

Be honest.

Are you suffering from one or even all of these symptoms?

Well, the doctor's in, and I've got some medicine just for you.

See, the power of focusing on real revenue isn't about abandoning your online presence.

I'm not saying that.

Hey, Ralph is saying, now I got to get off online.

I can't do it.

Not at all.

Not at all.

But what I am saying, it's about being strategic.

It's about being intentional and making sure that every single piece of your marketing effort online, or listen to me on this very important or offline, is designed to attract your ideal customer.

And more importantly, and hear me on this one, and convert them into a paying client.

Yes, I said a paying client.

Imagine that.

It's about building a solid, measurable bridge between your audience you have, the audience you've built, that you've spent a lot of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears, as they say.

But it's about building a bridge between that and your actual offerings, the solutions you provide, the products you sell.

This is about working smarter, not just posting more you've already learned.

Posting more isn't making it happen, Ralph.

Yes, it is about leveraging the digital world, but not being consumed by it.

So let me ask you right now, have I made my case?

Does any of this resonate with you?

Does it make sense?

Well, if so, I've got some answers for you today.

So here are some concrete, actionable steps that you can take right now, starting this week to begin this critical shift.

And it's going to be a shift.

You're going to have to have a mindset change.

But this is how you do it.

Moving your focus from those feel good followers.

Maybe you've been very successful with that, but moving that focus from those feel good followers to real revenue.

And it starts with this.

You've got to redefine your ideal paying customer.

You got to know who that is and it's got to go beyond the demographics a lot of people get stuck on.

Well, it's a middle aged man, such and such.

No, that's not what I'm talking about.

I want you to look at who actually pays you and pays you happily, who values what you do, who can't live without the service or the product that you offer, and even more importantly, who comes back for more and tells every single person they know about your service or your product or your business because that's what you're really looking for.

Brand ambassadors ask yourself, what are their deepest problems that your business uniquely solves?

When I work with coaching clients, one of the first things I asked him, hey, tell me about your business.

Okay, that's cool, Fantastic.

Sounds like you got a great business.

But what's the deepest problem that your business uniquely solves that nobody else can solve or very few people can solve?

So once you have an idea who these people are, what they're looking for, what the problem is that you solve, then you got to ask yourself this more complicated question.

Where do these people truly hang out online?

And here's a big problem that you might run into.

Like my restaurant owner client found out.

How about the people who aren't online?

Because here's the thing you've got to ask yourself, you've got to find out, how do they prefer to be communicated with.

Yeah, maybe email, direct marketing works, maybe phone calls, or hey, guess what, think about this for a second.

Maybe they'd prefer an in person meeting.

See, funny thing is, maybe your ideal customers aren't even online at all.

We're chasing after social media, which is.

But these people don't even bother with it.

They're offline, they're disconnected, they don't want to be involved with this.

And once you determine where they are, you figure out who they are.

What is the unique thing that you're giving them, how you reach them.

Then you've got to change your dynamic and focus your precious time and energy on genuinely understanding and attracting these specific people.

Not just anybody who can click that, like follow, subscribe, share, comment button.

And when you do this, you're no longer fighting, you're no longer shooting in the dark.

You're sharpening your marketing plan like an arrow.

And when you do that, it makes your efforts more efficient.

See, I've spent years trying to appeal to everyone.

I always thought, hey, I've got this accounting practice, I've got this coaching business, I just got to appeal to everyone.

Everyone can benefit from this.

But when I finally got ruthless.

Yeah, I did.

I used the word ruthless.

Now there's a power word.

But when I finally got ruthless about defining my ideal paying client, yes, the people that want to pay me, the people who had the money to pay me.

More importantly, my marketing became incredibly focused and my conversations and my connections soared.

It was a game changer.

So that's the first thing.

Decide who you're serving, how you serve them, what they're looking for, and where you've reached them.

Second step, you've got to audit your call to actions.

So many people have call to actions which are terribly miserable, they're horrible.

Ask yourself, is your call to action clear?

Is it unmistakable?

Do you understand it when you say it?

Is it compelling?

Okay, it's clear.

It's combined.

But here's the big one.

Is it revenue oriented?

Does it actually make you money?

Look at every single piece of content that you put out there.

Your social media post, your website, your blog content, even your email signatures.

Yes, your email signatures, your brochures, and ask this very profound and deep and important Question.

Are you clearly telling people what you want them to do next?

Are you clearly telling them what you want to do next?

I've seen so many people's call to action where I'm like, what are you telling me to do?

What are you telling your customers to do?

I have no idea.

That's piece A, piece B.

Is this and is the next step directly tied to a potential sale or qualifying lead?

Are you going to make money from it?

Do people understand what you want them to do?

And can you actually make money from it or do you create a lead from that?

Both of those things are fine.

But you ready for some tough love?

I'm gonna give you some tough love.

I said on this show I would always call it as I see it.

I detest this call to action.

Like this post.

Yeah, that's a feel good call to action.

But it doesn't offer any pathway to profit.

There's no revenue connection.

Hey, like this post.

Oh, everybody likes to be liked, right?

I'd rather people didn't like me, but as long as they're willing to pay me, I'm happy with that.

But see that like this post is a feel good call to action.

It offers no pay pathway to profit.

Stop using it.

It's not working.

If you have anything out there right now, stop doing it right now.

It's not working.

It's a terrible call to action.

Like this post.

I see all these clowns on YouTube and clowns on TikTok.

Oh, like and share this.

That's fine.

If that's what your goal is, to be liked and to be shared and to be commented on, then continue what you're doing.

But if you're like me and you want to make a business and you want to make profit and you want to improve your situation, stop asking for likes and, and start asking for money.

Start asking for them to become your customers.

Let's talk about some good calls to actions instead.

I'm going to encourage you to use things like this.

Visit our website for a free consultation.

It's very clear.

I want you to visit our website.

I'm going to give you a consultation for free.

Why?

Because I'm going to get in front of you.

I'm going to have the opportunity to talk to you and hopefully if I'm good at what I do, sell you my product, sell you my coaching, sell you my service.

Or how about this one?

Download our comprehensive guide to X.

Solve a problem.

I've got a problem.

I need it solved.

Oh, here's what Ralph wants me to do download the comprehensive guide.

We'll talk later in another show about what that comprehensive guide needs to look like because you can't give them all the.

All the gold and expect them to come back to you for revenue.

Here's another great call to action.

Book your service today.

What are you asking to do book?

I hope your button right there.

I hope though you click on this, they get to your.

Your contact or they get to a phone number, something like that.

That's another pet peeve of mine.

I talked about Ralph Ranci before.

If you are online, make sure that you have a way to be connected.

I have seen so many websites, so many calls to action.

Book your service today, and then I got to go try to figure out how to get in touch with you.

That's insanity.

Make it simple.

If you put friction in the way, guess what?

People aren't going to call you.

Here's another great call to action.

Get a custom quote here and here.

Better lead them to something.

Is it clear what you want them to do and does it directly affect revenue?

You got to make sure that almost every piece of content you put out there has a clear, compelling next step that leads to a genuinely interested person towards becoming a paying customer.

Don't leave it to chance.

Don't leave it to hope.

Get out of the casino and get back to your business.

You want to keep throwing it all on red and hoping that the wheel spins and you make money.

Then continue doing what you're doing.

But it's not working.

It's broken.

And for me, this was a painful audit for me.

I remember I was putting out great content.

I mean, it was excellent content.

I'm a little biased, but I thought it was good and I was just saying hope you liked it.

I hope you liked it.

Go share it with somebody.

It's not going to make any dollars for me.

Instead of if this resonated with you, here's how I can help you solve your problem.

Click here.

Book now buy this.

Listen, you got to be bold.

You got to tell your potential customer what you will do for them.

Don't leave it to chance.

Don't have.

What's Ralph going to do?

Be bold about it.

Tell your customer what you're going to do for them.

Now let's get a little technical for a moment because you might have the best call to actions.

You might have the best.

Hey, yes, it tells them what they want to do.

It's revenue.

But you got to understand how to track this information.

You got to implement a simple Lead to customer tracking system.

Because this is where the rubber truly meets the road.

Don't just hope followers eventually become customers.

Oh, I'm just hoping I got 25,000 followers.

Hey, eventually they'll become customers.

You're never going to know that if you don't have a system in place.

So I'm going to encourage you right now.

Set up a simple system.

It can be a basic spreadsheet.

Yeah, back to the numbers.

You can spend some money and get a simple CRM.

Okay, I stuck another one in there.

It's fancy terms, but basically that means customer relationship management systems.

Basically how you're managing your customers.

Hey, here's an easy one.

Just create a dedicated email inbox for inquiries.

Then you can see how many people are emailing you based on what you're putting out there and content.

It's tracking where your leads come from and how many of them are actually converting into.

Remember what we said, I don't care about likes, I don't care about shares.

I don't care about.

Oh, comments.

How many of them are actually converting into paying customers?

Because there's power in that data.

See, if you know that 10 website visits from a specific Instagram post lead to one actual sale, then you're understanding your ROI.

Again, return on investment.

That data right there is pure gold because it tells you exactly where you double down your efforts.

And more importantly, if this one's working, hey, put somebody in that.

But if you do one of those and it's not getting any leads to it, then pull it out.

Don't stop chasing after bad money.

Stop spending good money chasing after bad.

And when you do this, you're going to stop guessing and start knowing precisely what marketing efforts are delivering real revenue.

But again, it starts with understanding who your customer is, what is the value proposition, and then saying to them, here's what I do, here's how to do it, and it's revenue based.

When you do this, you're going to stop betting and start banking on a sure bet.

All of us like a sure bet.

Listen, for me, I used a simple Google sheet for years.

Just tracked the lead source and the conversion status.

It wasn't fancy by any stretch, it was a simple spreadsheet, but it gave me an undeniable picture of what was working and more importantly, what wasn't working, and allowed me to cut those wasteful spending dollars.

Now, as the doctor, I've got one more final prescription for you.

And this one may be tough for a lot of people.

We're living in a Society, nobody wants to be connected.

But I truly believe that this will be the biggest thing I'm going to mention today, and that is prioritize direct engagement with potential clients over broadcasting.

What in the world is Ralph talking about?

Let me explain.

Instead of just broadcasting to a large, possible unengaged audience like my restaurant client did.

Yeah.

You're putting out a ton of content.

You're talking to people out there in the big sphere of YouTube and TikTok and Instagram.

That's fantastic.

But I'm going to encourage you right now to dedicate a specific block of time each week to genuinely in person, by phone, direct email, connect with individuals who fit into your ideal paying customer profile.

Yes.

Get on the phone, get out the door and actually get in front of people, it's going to tell you a great deal about your business.

Hey, if you get in front of people and they're like, ralph, I'd love to use your service, but your customer service sucks.

When I call there, I can't get ahold of anybody or your prices are outrageous.

Ralph or Ralph, I don't understand what you offer.

You're never going to figure that out if you're just shouting from a mountaintop and just putting it out there as a broadcast.

Get in front of people, get on the phone, talk to your customers, talk to your potential customers.

And for you, this might mean responding thoughtfully to specific questions or relevant industry posts.

Get, if you want to stay online, get into some business groups and start looking at what people are asking.

Get involved in that.

Maybe it means sending personalized direct messages.

And I'm not talking about spamming, offering genuine value.

And like I said a minute ago, maybe actively participating in some online communities where you're, and we talked about this, where your ideal customers are actually asking questions and looking for solutions.

Or like I said, my dad used to say this when I first started in the accounting business.

He would, he would have meetings with us and he'd say, all right, guys, listen, we need to grow the business, get out the door and go get in front of customers.

See, it's kind of easy to sit there and broadcast.

Kind of easy to create oh, cool little brochures and, and just hope somebody's going to come by and look at your website or, or hope somebody's going to come by and grab this brochure.

Hey, maybe you're even direct mail you're doing.

But again, get out the door and get in front of your customers.

Because here's a truth bomb.

This one on one authentic connection will Always convert better and it builds stronger, more loyal relationships than any viral post ever will.

And you need to hear, this wasn't 10 or 15 years ago.

I hired a business consultant to come in.

I said, hey, I really want to grow my business.

I wanted to hire this marketing guy.

He sits down in my office and he goes, hey, I've read about your business, I've looked at your website.

I understand what you're doing.

He asked me a point blank question.

He said, ralph, let me ask you a question.

I said, okay, let me hear it.

He says, ralph, what business are you in?

And I'm looking around, I'm like, wait a second, dude.

You just told me you looked at my website.

You looked at my brochures.

I'm in the accounting business.

Have you lost your mind?

He goes, no, you're not.

And I'm like, oh, this is great.

Obviously I hired the wrong guy.

He says, no, no, he's, bear with me here, let's get a little deeper.

I said, okay, fine, I'm in the consulting business.

You know, I thought, it's a little broader, a little bigger.

That makes sense.

He goes, no, not at all.

And I know we went through three or four more iterations and I thought, oh, I'm in a tax business.

I'm in.

And I finally said, God, I don't get it, tell me what it is.

He says, ralph, you're in the relationship business.

And you know, when he said that, it absolutely struck gold for me.

He's right.

And if you're going to be effective in business, you need to realize one very important truth.

You are in the relationship business.

It's all about the relationships.

And if it's in, if you're in a relationship, it's about quality interactions, not just the quantity of people looking at, not those 25,000 YouTube followers.

You don't have a relationship with those people.

What it is, it's about being a real human, solving real problems for real people.

So that's my challenge for you today.

Get in front of people and build relationships.

Now listen, I've been talking for a while today and friend, I know the digital world is a powerful tool.

It is an incredible amplifier.

And yes, it can be massive, but it can also be a massive soul sucking distraction if you let it.

Yes, I said soul sucking because that's what it does.

Listen to me.

Don't let the pursuit of popularity, the fleeting validation of likes overshadow the fundamental goal of building a profitable, sustainable business that actually supports your life, that actually supports your family and More importantly, actively supports your future.

Because here's something you need to hear and I needed to hear it and I needed to get hit over the head with it.

Your true value isn't measured in your follower counts.

I could care less how many followers you have.

I could care less how many people are listening to your YouTube.

What?

I don't care.

That's not where your true value is measured.

It's measured in the real impact you make on customers lives and the financial stability and the peace of mind that you create for yourself when you make those impacts on your customers.

Because here's something I know about you.

You've got the grit to create an amazing thing.

Amazing products, amazing services.

Now you just got to apply that grit to convert those amazing things into tangible, real revenue.

That's what this whole show today is about.

How to convert that thing that you offer, the thing that no one else can do, that relationship that you build into real revenue.

And I want to help you with this.

I've created a simple action plan sheet for this episode.

It's called Real Revenue versus Feel Good Followers.

This one, as usual, is a downloadable sheet.

It's absolutely free that will guide you through defining your ideal paying customer, auditing those calls to action.

We talked about that.

And setting up a simple lead tracking system.

It's a practical tool to help you focus your efforts on what truly grows your business.

And hear me on this one again, I say that a lot.

But what truly grows your business, not just your ego.

And you can download it right now by visiting our website.

You go to grit and growth business.com action.

Again, that's grit and growth business.com action.

Download the action plan sheet and start turning that online presence.

Maybe you've worked a lot, you've put a lot of money into it, but start turning it into tangible profit today.

Listen, your energy is finite.

Your time is invaluable.

You've got to direct it towards what truly matters.

And after listening today, I think what truly matters is serving your customers deeply, building those relationships, solving their real problems with your unique expertise, and building a robust business that delivers real revenue.

Not those feel good followers.

Don't let feel good followers distract you from your real mission, your real potential.

You've got this and I'm right here walking alongside you every step of the way.

So thank you for joining me today on Grit and Growth Business.

I'm committed every week to bringing you honest conversations and practical strategies to help you build your business the right way.

Now, next week we're going to discuss another crucial topic and that is from chaos to clarity.

We're going to talk about systems that save you.

We're going to explore how simple, repeatable systems can transform your business from a daily source of stress.

And hey, if you're a business owner, you got what I'm talking about there.

But I'm going to talk about how to transform your business from a daily source of stress into a well oiled, efficient machine.

Because here's why.

Freeing up your time and your energy for what truly matters.

Whether that's more growth or maybe more life.

Don't forget to download our action sheet today for this episode@grit and growth business.com Action.

Now go put these things into action.

God bless you and you have a great week.

Thanks for joining us today on Grit and Growth Business, the show where real business owners find the clarity, courage and confidence to build something that lasts.

If this episode spoke to you, go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss what's next.

Remember, success isn't easy and there are no shortcuts.

But with grit, growth is possible.

And when in doubt, just Ask Ralph.

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