You’re Allowed to Sell the Thing
Small businesses are rarely too salesy, they are too quiet. Here is a ten-post test to check whether anyone can tell what you sell, and the one sentence that fixes it.
You’re worried your followers are sick of your sales posts. Most of them have never seen one. My take: small businesses are rarely too salesy. They’re too quiet. The people who would happily buy from you still can’t tell what you sell, who it’s for, or how to buy it. That isn’t modesty. It’s a small tax on the exact people who wanted to pay you. So this week you get permission. You’re allowed to sell the thing.
An ad never apologises
An ad never worries about being too salesy. Its whole job is to say what you sell to the right people. It can pay, too. Two results from my agency’s clients: a live music act made £15 in sales for every £1 it spent on ads, and an online shop made £10.30 in sales for every £1 it spent on ads, blended across all its advertising. Those are real numbers, not a promise about yours. Saying clearly what you sell isn’t rude. It’s the job.
The ten-post test
Open your last ten posts, or your last ten emails if that’s where you talk to customers. For each one, ask the three questions a stranger would need answered:
- What do you sell?
- Who is it for?
- How do I buy it?
Count how many of the ten answer all three. That’s your score. Ten out of ten is not the target, since most posts should just help. But if your score is zero, check your bio and your pinned post. Between them, they should answer all three. “DM me” counts as how to buy, but only if you actually say it.
The sell line
The fix is one sentence: what it is, who it’s for, and how to get it. A sports physio posts “Feeling stiff after your run? We can help.” Friendly, also useless. The sell line: “A 45-minute sports massage for runners training for a spring marathon. Book it at the link in my bio.” Same three parts. Add the price if you’re comfortable with it. It saves the person one more question.
Allowed to sell doesn’t mean selling in every post
Permission to sell is not an instruction to sell in every post. Here’s how I run it. First, make it easy to buy, everywhere, all the time: your bio, your pinned post, your website and the bottom of every email. It never shouts, it’s just always there. Second, save the loud push for the big moments, like Black Friday, a launch or a proper sale. Third, do the direct selling behind closed doors, with a list of people who asked to hear from you, such as your mailing list or your past clients.
Your one job this week
Run the ten-post test and write down your score. Then write one sell line and put it in two places: your bio and your pinned post. If email is where you sell, put it in your email footer instead. No new posts needed. That’s the whole job.
The week in brief
- OpenAI is switching off custom GPTs: on Enterprise accounts they stop running on 11 December, and on personal plans you can no longer make new ones.
- Google’s AI answers have started linking out again: since 11 September the share of AI Overviews carrying links jumped from close to 0% to more than 25%, according to Peec AI rather than Google itself.
- Search Console now reports clicks from photo searches, through Google Lens or Circle to Search, rolling out from 24 September.
- Etsy lets helpers in without your password: shops can invite up to 5 people, each with their own login.
- Perfect is out, character is in: Houzz’s autumn design report says homeowners now favour character over off-the-shelf perfection. Your slightly wonky product photo is something a big competitor can’t buy.