The ONE Metric Crucial to Business Growth with Amy Traugh
- Amy Traugh
- 19 minutes ago
- 13 min read
🎧 The Metrics Maven: Data Driven Business Growth Strategy for Solopreneurs is streaming on all platforms. Listen here. Also streaming on YouTube.
The One Metric That Can Instantly Reveal Why You’re Not Getting Consistent Sales
Did you know there’s one simple metric that can instantly help you understand why you’re not making consistent sales—without needing to guess, overanalyze, or add even more to your already full plate?
Let’s talk about conversion rates—the single most underrated data point that can completely shift how you run your business.
Why Conversion Rate Matters More Than You Think
Here’s the deal: it doesn’t matter how many people watch your stories, like your posts, visit your website, or download your freebie if those leads aren’t buying. If that’s the case, you’ve got a traffic jam in your sales flow.
Think of your conversion rate like a flashing light on your car’s dashboard. It doesn’t tell you everything, but it’s a clear signal that says: “Hey, something needs your attention.”
What Is a Conversion Rate?
Your client conversion rate is simply the percentage of people who take a specific action—typically buying—compared to the number of people who were given the opportunity to do so.
For example, if 20 people book discovery calls and 4 become paying clients, your conversion rate is:
4 ÷ 20 = 0.20 or 20%
That’s it. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. Yet so many solopreneurs have no idea what their conversion rate is.
What’s a Good Conversion Rate?
Now that you know how to calculate it, let’s talk about benchmarks. Keep in mind—these are guidelines, not hard-and-fast rules. Your own data will always be the most important, but here’s what we typically see in service-based businesses:
Discovery calls: 20–40% is considered strong
Sales pages with cold traffic: 1–3%
Sales pages with warm traffic: 3–8%
Live launches: 2–4%
Email marketing: 1–3%
Start tracking your conversion rates over time so you can spot patterns. Personally, most of my conversions come from my email list—so that’s where I pay extra attention.
Three Common Conversion Gaps (and How to Fix Them)
Now let’s dig into the sneaky spots where sales conversions tend to fall apart. Just because your conversion rate is low doesn’t mean you’re “bad at sales.” That’s a story. The number is just data—it’s trying to point you toward the real issue.
Here are the three most common reasons conversion rates fall flat:
1. You’re Attracting the Wrong Audience
This is a top-of-funnel problem. You’re getting attention, people are clicking or even booking calls—but they’re just not the right fit. You might hear:
“I love what you do, but I can’t afford it right now.”
“This sounds amazing, but maybe later…”
Or worse—crickets after someone downloads your freebie or joins your list.
Why this happens: your content is attracting people who like you, but they aren’t aligned with the specific problem you solve.
Fix it with clearer messaging:
Speak directly to the problem your ideal client is actively trying to solve
Be transparent with pricing (yes, even on applications or your sales page!)
Add FAQs to filter out the “just curious” crowd
2. Your Offer Messaging Isn’t Clear
If people are showing interest but not buying, it’s time to revisit your offer. When people don’t feel urgency or clarity around what you do, they hesitate. Signs of this:
People say, “This looks great, but what exactly is it?”
You’re repeating your offer a million times and still getting confused looks
You hear, “I’ll think about it” more than you’d like
Fix it by simplifying the message:
Focus on the outcome, not the features
Use their own words—go back through DMs, emails, and sales calls
Clearly paint the “after” picture—what life and business look like after working with you
Address common hesitations like time, money, and uncertainty (not just in posts, but in emails and across your site)
3. Your Audience (or You) Has a Confidence Gap
This one’s sneaky and often overlooked. People want to buy, but they hesitate because of doubt—usually based on past bad investments, fear of failure, or timing.
This also shows up on your side. You might feel hesitant to fully own your value. Maybe you over-deliver or undercharge because deep down, you’re not fully sold on your own offer.
Fix it with consistency and belief:
Build trust by showing up regularly and delivering value
Do a belief audit—would you buy this offer at this price?
Ask for feedback from peers or mentors if something feels off
Practice selling—remember, it’s a skill, not something you’re born with
Shift your mindset: a “no” isn’t a rejection of you—it’s just a no for now
Your Conversion Rate Is Just the Start
Once you start paying attention to your conversion rate, you stop relying on guesswork. You stop assuming the worst. You start making smarter decisions with clarity, confidence, and ease.
It’s just one number—but it’s a powerful one.
Need help figuring out your numbers and where the real gaps are?This is exactly what I help my clients do inside my signature program, Metrics Mastery—because when you stop guessing and start tracking the right data, consistent sales become so much easier.
👉 Get started for free at amytraugh.com
Until next time—STOP guessing and START growing.
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Transcript for Episode 421. The ONE Metric Crucial to Business Growth
@0:08 - Amy Traugh (Amy Traugh)
Did you know there's one metric that can help you diagnose exactly why you're not making consistent sales without guessing or overcomplicating the process?
Today, we're talking about a metric that is so simple, yet the majority of the time, solopreneurs aren't taking the time to look at this metric.
However, this one metric will completely shift how you run your business, leading you to the consistent business growth that you desire.
So what is this one metric that is most crucial to your business growth? It's your client conversion rate, because it does not matter.
How many people are watching your stories, liking your posts, visiting your website, or downloading your freebie if those leads aren't buying?
We've got a jam, a traffic jam in your sales flow. And your conversion rate is almost like a flashing light on your dashboard.
It doesn't tell you everything, but it tells you where you need to look. It tells you, hey, you need to pay attention because something's going on.
So what exactly is a client conversion rate? Your conversion rate is the percentage of people who take a specific action, typically buying, compared to the number of people who were given the opportunity to do so.
So how do you calculate this? It's actually super simple. So let's say 20 people booked a discovery call and four of them.
Fathom became paying clients. What you would do for paying clients divided by your 20 leads would give you your conversion rate of 20%.
That's it. It's nothing fancy. It's nothing complicated. But so many solopreneurs don't know this number. So what is a good conversion rate?
Yeah, it's great to know your conversion rate. But what are those industry benchmarks? Well, it can depend on your business model and the type of sales process that you're using.
But generally speaking, in service-based businesses, here's industry standard. Discovery calls, typically 20% 40% is considered a very strong conversion rate.
Sales pages with cold traffic, typically 1% to 3%. Warm traffic, I say 3% to 9%, 3% to 8% is expected.
Excellent. Live launching, maybe 2% to 4%. And email, 1% to 3%. So keep in mind, these are not hard, fast rules.
They are just guidelines to help you interpret what the data is trying to show you. And it's really important that you start to look at your conversion rates over time.
For example, my email list is where I get the majority of my conversions from. So it's important that you start to trend this and look at that data over time.
Again, we're just looking for patterns. mean, industry standards are just that. They're there to let you know, okay, on average, this is what's happening.
But always make sure to look at your specific business. So there's some sneaky gaps that come up over and over and over in our funnels that really can tank your.
And this is where it gets really juicy because so often we can think that, oh my gosh, my conversion rate is so low.
That means that I'm just really bad at sales. No, that is a story you're telling yourself. It's just telling us that something's a little off.
And there's three common gaps in the funnel that we see over and over and over. First one is top of funnel.
It's just the wrong audience. The leads that are coming in are just not aligned. Then we could have really an offer problem where it's just not clear what you do, who you do it for.
It's a messaging issue. And then number three, a lack of trust or belief in your process. So using these three things, let's dive in a little bit deeper.
So first of all, we have those wrong fit leads. So This happens when you're showing up, you're getting interest, people are getting on calls, but they're just not the right people.
They're not actually buying. So you might be attracting people who love your content but aren't actually ready to buy.
You must get in the friend zone with people. And a few signs that this might be your issue is, first up, you're getting those, I really love what you do, but I can't afford it right now.
Type some messages like that over and over. Or if you're on discovery calls, if you're actually talking to people, you feel like you're having to convince people, which is kind of the opposite of what we want.
Or you're getting ghosted after someone downloads your freebie or joins your email list. We see this a lot with summits and things that you get that instant boost, but then your email list tanks.
Because once they download the free... They just bounced. They were just looking for the freebie. So why does this happen?
Well, your top of funnel content might actually be attracting people who love you, but aren't really aligned with the problem you solve or the solution that you offer for them.
So how do we fix it? Well, we really want to take a look at our messaging. We really want to get specific that we are calling out specific problems that our ideal client is actively trying to solve.
Not just talking about general tips or surface level pain points, but really making sure that these people are pre-qualified, that we're speaking directly to their needs and their desires.
Another way you can really make this simple is, you know, be transparent about your pricing. You're right on my client application.
I state like, hey. Hey, this is the price to work with me. So that way I'm not wasting my time or their time hopping on a call when it's something that's just not feasible right now.
And something else easy you could do, could always put an FAQ section on your sales page or even social posts to filter out those that are just curious or just searching for freebies.
So once we've taken the time to really address our lead issue, let's look at our offer. So people are interested.
They're showing up, but they're not buying. It's another red flag that our offer messaging needs to be looked at.
We need to look into it. If your offer is not clearly solving a specific problem, your leads aren't going to feel urgency.
We have this gap in clarity because we get people that are messaging us saying, well, this looks great, but what exactly?
Or people are confused about what you actually do or how your process works. Or my favorite, you're having to explain your offer over and over and over and people just aren't looking.
And when your offer isn't crystal clear in its value, people hesitate. Confused people don't convert. They just scroll past you, delete the email, or tell you things like, I guess let's just think about it because I'm not really sure.
So how do we fix this? We really want to simplify the transformation. Focus on the outcome. So instead of listing a whole bunch of features, really dive into what problem does this offer solve?
What does life and business, what does it look like after working with you? And put these things in their own words.
Go back. Through past DMs, past emails, past sales calls, and put the exact language that people are using to describe their challenges and desires.
Even do some market research. And what you can do is bake that into your sales content. And that does the selling for them.
And really take the time to step back and put your shoes into your perspective buyer shoes. What could be making them hesitate?
Is it time, money, trust? Address it in your content. Not just on social media, but emails, podcast episodes, your website.
Really make that transformation crystal clear. And then third, the lack of trust or belief. This is the confidence gap.
And it's really sneaky because it shows up on both sides for you and your audience. Maybe they really want to buy.
But there's something holding them back. Price, timing, or even failed past investments is a really big one we're seeing right now.
And it's a confidence gap for them and maybe for you too. You get people saying that, you know what, I really want this.
I'm just really nervous to invest again because I got burned in the past. Or you might feel just really hesitant when you have this perfect fit on the other side of the screen and you're so desperate.
But when it's actually time to sell, it just feels weird. You feel hesitant because you have that doubt. Or you may find yourself lowering your prices or actually over-delivering to the point where you should be charging more.
But because you secretly doubt your value, you keep repeating these behaviors. People don't just buy because they want something.
Yes, that's part of it. But they will buy when they believe it will work for them, you're the right person to help them, and right now is the right time for them.
And if your confidence isn't spot on that I know, I believe, I will get you this transformation, it seeps into your sales calls.
It seeps into your content, and people can pick up on that. So how do we fix this? Well, people build trust with what they see repeatedly.
Start showing up consistently. And again, it's not just social media. Nurture those that are already in your world. Do a belief audit for yourself.
You know, ask yourself, again, putting yourself into the shoes of your prospective client, would I buy this offer at this price?
Ask colleagues. Ask colleagues. Your friends. And if your gut says no, dig into why. Do we just need to adjust your positioning?
Do we need to be getting better client results? Do we need more clarity around your process? And let's just practice.
Selling is a skill. It's that invitation. And the more you practice, the more natural it will flow. And that pressure will just, it's like a weight is lifted.
The more you do it, the easier it gets. Remember, we're inviting, we're presenting an invitation. It is not a matter of our worth if they say no.
It's just a no for now. Remember a couple episodes back, we talked about the gum analogy. This is what selling is.
So another way to think about it is, let's talk about coffee shops. I know that seems like out of left field right now.
But let's pretend like your business is a coffee shop. You've got. Not the traffic. People are coming in, looking at the menu, smelling the espresso, but only a few people are actually buying.
Now, if you're the owner of this coffee shop, you wouldn't just assume the solution is just to get more people through the door, right?
Probably not. You'd start to ask yourself questions like, okay, is my menu confusing? Are the prices unclear or just way too high?
Are my baristas just giving a weird vibe? Like, what's the atmosphere like? Are people just coming in for the free Wi-Fi?
I'm really not looking to buy. This is how your sales process works. Your conversion rate tells you if the people coming into your coffee shop are the right fit, clearly seeing the value, and feeling confident enough to buy.
So if too few people are converting, it's not a traffic problem. It's a conversion problem. And unless you fix what's happening, once they're inside,
No amount of visibility will fix it. I recently had a client come to me, and she was so frustrated.
And this is like 99% of the clients that I work with. They're just frustrated. This client, she was amazing.
She was consistently showing up every single day. And from the outside looking in, she was really doing, quote, unquote, all the right things.
But she wasn't booking clients. And when we really took a look at her conversion rate, we realized that she was only converting 5% of the discovery calls that she was hopping on, which for her industry was far below the normal average.
So what did we do? We refined her call to action. So we were really making sure that those leads that she was hopping on calls with were more qualified.
And then we really cleaned up her messaging to clearly connect the dots between her service and the outcome that people wanted.
We were really clear. communicating that value of the transformation. And within a month, her conversion rate jumped to 30%, 30%.
And she had her first fully booked month. This is the power of data. It's telling you where to look, where that disconnect is, instead of just guessing.
So starting today, here's what you can do. First up, I want you to look at your numbers and calculate your conversion rate.
You don't have to do this for everything. Just start with one. Look at the last 10 people who booked a call.
How many people actually bought? And then compare it to the benchmark for your specific business. I shared those stats above.
Are you in the ballpark at least? Or is there a red flag worth investigating? You can even look back over the past couple months.
What is... What is your average conversion rate? And then step three, audit your sales process. Really get curious. Where are people falling off?
Where is that disconnect happening? Because if your conversion rate's low, it is not a reason to panic. It's actually a good thing because now we have awareness.
And when we have awareness, we can pause and evaluate. Because once we know where that gap is, we can fix it.
If this episode resonated with you, this is exactly what I love helping clients with inside my signature program, Metrics Mastery.
Head on over to amytraugh.com to get started for free. And until next time, stop guessing and start growing.
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