Today's guest is Shawndel Spader. Her business has really grown a lot over the past couple of years, so I'm really excited to dig in and hear what she's done to grow it and also how she's managed to blast through some of the limiting beliefs that might have got in her way.
Shawndel is the powerhouse behind Spader Group LLC, a virtual Bookkeeping and Office Management Company. She has a degree in Business Management and Accounting from Rasmusson Business College and over nineteen years of experience in managing business finances. Shawndel greets each client with a smile and energetic initiative to develop a plan for them to accomplish their goals.
In the few years before Shawndel launched The Spader Group, she was doing Daycare. She really wanted to go back to where her heart lived however, as although she loved her kids, she really needed more for herself. At the time she first launched The Spader Group, she held the limiting belief that nobody would believe that she was qualified to do it because she thought that people would look at her most recent experience and say that she ran a Daycare. She was belittling, in her own head, where her experience was lying. Once she got over that and realized that she had actually been running a business for the last three years and she was more than capable of being supportive to other business owners with their finances, bookkeeping and office administration, huge doors opened for her. Listen in to find out more.
Show highlights:
- It's interesting that women tend to keep perpetuating the beliefs which are their own worst enemies. Shawndel explains how she managed to overcome these limiting ideas that she held about herself. Two big things happened- one of them was that she decided to step right outside of her comfort zone and she joined a Networking Group. This was terrifying for her at first as she had never before had to go out and promote herself. The women in the group understood and supported her and helped to pull her out of her shell and so she soon realized that she could both speak the speak and walk the walk. The second thing was that she met Ursula very early on, through Tena Pettis, who she really looked up to. Then huge doors opened for her again, through her knowing that she had support and that people believed in her, and through having Ursula help her to transform those ideas into tangible tools.
- Shawndel attended a Sales Camp with Ursula and then four months later, she noticed a huge upswing with her sales, although she hadn't quite doubled them yet, at that point. Then, a month later, she actually tripled her sales! From there she let go of most of her limiting beliefs and seeing the true, hard numbers, she realized that she was actually playing a whole new ballgame. She realized that with selling, consistency is key and also knowing that she needed to be really clear and focused about what she was going to say, really changed things for her. She became confident about her abilities from that point on.
- Shawndel's clarity on what she was offering and on how she could truly help other business owners was huge and it really helped them to see her company's value. Shawndel became laser focused and clear about what she was selling, so it became easy to explain to clients how they could utilize her company's services.
- Shawndel explains what she did differently and how she managed to close almost all of her sales, right after Sales Camp. She had become intentional and she knew what she was going to say. She knew that what she was offering was exactly what her company could serve. She could verbalize things in a way that was clear to others and it's hard to catch her off-guard when she's really clear.
- The number one limiting belief that Shawndel changed was the “who am I to do this?” belief. She changed that to “why not me?”. She now knows that she has tools and resources and she wants to share them.
- The top two strategies that Shawndel and her team implemented in order to triple their sales for the first time, were consistency and a laser focus on exactly what it was that they were sharing and how they could be of service- Bookkeeping being their front runner in that area, with the Office Management piece following just behind that. This pertains to both new and existing clients.
- Shawndel's team manages and takes care of their clients and she takes on the sales role, so she went back to her “why not me?” conversation with herself and pep talked herself, in order to become really clear about what she was doing and to overcome any resistance she may have had, to following up with prospective clients. She also relies on notes that she's made, to pick up where she left off with the prospective clients.
- She uses an Excel Spreadsheet to help her keep track. They've dabbled with a few different CRL's, but have always reverted back to Excel, due to its consistency. She keeps her notes right there, in her Spreadsheet.
- Shawndel's had to follow up nine or ten times, with certain prospects, before converting them to sales, so it's always worth following up until you get a clear “yes” or “no”.
- Shawndel gives some strategies that she uses. Really knowing your numbers, so that you can make educated decisions is really key, so keeping your Spreadsheets up to date is really crucial. She thinks that everybody needs to use a bookkeeping tool of some kind, even a simple one, so long as you can have your sales and expenses in front of you and that you know what the numbers are telling you. Best to schedule an hour a week, to stay on top of it. Also, you should know which things you should be doing in your business and which things should be delegated, so that you can do what you're good at and grow your business.
- All your business processes should be really clear and consistent. Consistency is key in whatever you do in your business.
Shawndel's special offer: A free 30-minute consultation, to talk about where you're at with your business and in the areas that Shawndel's company can serve you, you will get a 10% discount for the first consultation. You can find her at www.spadergroup.com. You can call her, or send her an email. All the contacts are on her website. Mention that you heard about her on this Podcast.
