DM to Sale Playbook

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From Chapter 1: Why DM sales slip away

The four moves of every DM sale

Every sale that starts in a DM goes through four moves:

1. Ask: the buyer comments or messages ("Price?", "Do you have size 12?").
2. Answer: you give them what they need to decide.
3. Ask for the order: you make the next step clear.
4. Pay: they pay, and you confirm.

Most founders are good at move 2. The sales slip at move 1 (slow replies), move 3 (no clear next step) and move 4 (awkward payment).

What a slow reply costs

Example: A Nairobi fashion brand gets 60 price enquiries a week. It replies within a few hours and converts 15% of them, at an average order of KES 4,200. That is 9 orders, or KES 37,800 a week. With instant keyword replies, a price card and pay links, it reaches 25%: 15 orders, or KES 63,000 a week. Same followers, same content, about KES 100,000 more a month.

The one rule that fixes most of it

Every reply should end with a next step.

Not "Yes we have it". Instead: "Yes, size 10 is available at KES 3,800. Delivery within Nairobi is KES 300. Shall I send you the pay link?"

A reply without a next step leaves the buyer to do the work. Many will not.

What "good" looks like

None of the middle column is laziness. It is one founder answering 60 DMs by hand while packing orders and posting content.

The right column is not about working harder. It is about setting things up once so that the first answer, the total and the pay link go out in seconds, even while you are at the market or asleep.

So what does that actually look like? Picture a follower commenting one word, "DRESS", under your reel. Before she has even scrolled to the next video, her DMs light up with...