Patti Pokorchak was NOT a born sales professional.

She was the shyest geeky tech pioneer proving that ANYONE can learn how to sell, AND love it too.

A serial entrepreneur since 1992, she helped co-found and run a software business, scaling to over a million dollars in sales and 20 employees before opening up her own hobby farm and garden centre.

When someone hired this unlikely million dollar sales whiz as her sales coach, Patti deconstructed her natural laid-back sales style so that anyone can sell more and not feel salesy either.

That’s why we sat down with Patti to talk about how to sell in a way that’s fearless, genuine, and fun, so you can grow your email list (and ultimately grow your business.)

First Thing’s First: Use Your Brain, Not Your Wallet.

You CAN scale your business without a full-blown marketing budget. Patti is proof.

“It’s coming up with creative ideas,” says Patti, “We are so lucky to have social media and so many free opportunities. I've used email marketing back when I was a farmer. And trust me, if I can drive traffic to that place [In the middle of no where], it was all about marketing.”

Which leads us to Patti’s top 5 ways to creatively grow your email list, without breaking the bank.

5 Easy & Free Ways to Grow Your Email List and Accelerate Business Growth

Getting more qualified leads to your business is easier than you think. Just follow these 5 steps.

1. Give it pizazz

“Give it a name, give it some pizazz,” Patti says, “make it fun!”

Instead of calling it simply an “e-newsletter”, think of ways your newsletter can reflect your business in a fun way.

2. Play to your strengths

Your niche will make it easier for people to resonate with your brand and mission.

“My garden center is called “Down to Earth Gardens” and is for busy novice and black thumb gardeners (because I was a novice gardener!) So I could hardly sell to the elite gardeners.” Her success came from knowing her audience and playing to her strengths.

3. Quality over quantity.

“Make sure that you know the people on your list are truly your ideal client or potentially your client,” she says, “The biggest myth is that you need to have thousands of people …. I don't agree with that. It's just the quality of the people that you contact [that’s important]”.

4. Keep it simple.

With consistency, you achieve simplicity, and simplicity is key. “People will come to your website, read your blog post, and sign up,” she says. So, forget about turning this into rocket science. The customer journey doesn’t have to be a long road with stones and curves, it can — and should — be as simple as possible.

5. Have a solid reason to discount your products or services.

“People discount too early and they discount for no reason,” Patti says, “I always believe in rewarding good behavior. So I never believe in giving away something free.”

Stop undercutting yourself. As Patti says, “If they’re only there for the treats, then they’re not really there.” Wise words.

Growing Your Email List is an Act of Creativity.

“When you have the right offer at the right place at the right time with the right call to action,” Patti says, “It can bring you thousands of dollars.”

So with a little bit of creativity, knowing who your ideal clients are, and playing to your strengths (along with a little pizazz!) quick and effective business growth is well within reach for any nutrition professional or wellness entrepreneur.

Patti is a small business sales coach who can help you make your sales & marketing feel natural, fun, and effective. Click here to check out her website! 

Email Marketing, growing your business, Getting Started

‍