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If you love making content but you're not making sales, or if you hate making content but love going live, this episode is gonna change how you think about selling. Welcome to the Mothership Creator Strategy, and today I am joined by British Hill, a woman with a cool name and an impressive career. British is a Livestream Shopping expert turned content creator and educator with more than twenty years of on air live selling. She is a former HSN personality and top 1% TikTok shop live creator. She has the receipts people.
Helen:She's helped brands drive significant sales through live commerce while building a loyal audience of women looking to grow their confidence, influence and income online. And she is currently live streaming for QVC, as well as her own page. British is also the co founder of the Prime Collective and that is a community just like our community at at the Muthership Creator Studio, but her community helps women creators over 40 navigate content creation, live streaming, brand partnerships specifically in the creator economy. And I'm going to ask her a little bit about that. So we're not just talking about sales tactics today, we're talking about why people actually buy.
Helen:Whoo. Let's get started. British, welcome.
British:Hello. Hello. Thank you. So happy to
Helen:have you here.
British:I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you.
Helen:Yes. And for for the record, I was a a speaker in British's community for, an editing workshop. So That's true.
British:This has
Helen:come full circle in a beautiful way, and I'm so happy about it. Alright. So before we get started, a little bit about what you're doing in your community for specifically the brand partnership connection. Would like you to elaborate on that a little bit so people understand it.
British:Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Again, thank you for the opportunity to come on and and speak to you again and also and meet everyone else. Thank you for having me.
British:So the Prime Collective, was really born, out of the need for a community that spoke the language, quite frankly, of content creating women over the age of 40, 50, 60. And there's a lot of great things about it. Of course, we teach there how to be effective with creating content, sales, psychology, live streaming, which is my big part. My co founder is lovely to Currico. And then a big part is, and what I think makes us unique as well is that we help to connect these same members, these content creating women 40 to brands that are actually looking for us.
British:They're looking for the demographic. Because prior to the Prime Collective, you'd be surprised. It was not very easy for brands to identify. They're pretty basic and inorganic in terms of how they find the creators. They go on to, say, example, a platform like TikTok, and they watch videos and they send out, you know, just like this, just huge spattering of just, hey, would you be interested in, I'm paraphrasing, interested in being in this campaign?
British:And, you know, they don't really have, most of them, a targeted way in which to find their demographic. But now with the Prime Collective, we actually have all of our members in the Prime that are in that demo. And not only do these partners that we are working with, these brands have access to women creators over the age of 40, but they know that these women over 40 are part of something that's helping to train them and help them be ready to to be parts of the campaign. So that's what we really do. And and and I think that's a big part of of what we offer.
Helen:You know what I love is that we're very... We're kind of in similar lanes, but we also do very different things. So where I'm helping, and that's why I was able to speak to your group and you're able to speak to my group because we offer different expertise and your expertise is in the selling and the brand partnerships and mine is in making the content and how to make better videos and do the editing, which is what I did for your group. So it's really nice when you find someone that you can collaborate with where it's perfect symmetry. I love that.
Helen:How is TV selling different than livestream selling? Because you have a lot of experience in that. Are they different? And what is the difference that has happened in your career?
British:Absolutely. Excellent question. So there is a difference. First of all, there's also there's things that are pretty similar, in terms of my experience. And then there's also some very distinct differences.
British:So in my experience, with on air selling for HSN, specifically in some of the work I did for QVC before I started streaming, that's where I learned a lot about my presentation. That's presentation skills, how to connect with confidence to the camera, all of those, how to successfully spell out like take a product from introducing a product to now calls to action. So a lot of those sort of tactical ways of presenting product effectively so that people wanna buy. Learned a lot of that from TV selling. Where I was able to take that experience and expand and grow was in a live stream, totally different live streaming side when I started on TikTok, live selling, in October 2024.
British:And the biggest difference is that TV selling is really in many ways one-sided. It's one
Helen:way street. One way street.
British:Right. Right. With those occasional people being able to call in, worked in shopping channels. Right? So people could call in.
British:Back in those days and I'm in the early days before social media or live streaming was like, I don't even know if it was a dream in someone's head back then. That's when I started. That was the only way we were doing it. But, you know, if they got lucky enough to get a producer, get through the line, then they had like twenty seconds to say a few words about the particular product being aired, and then they were off of there. Whereas, you know, so it's very much one way.
British:Whereas live streaming, it's a two way street.
Helen:Right.
British:In fact, with TV selling, the host and the producer and the director and the floor manager and all of that is guiding the show and showing what they wanna show
Helen:Right.
British:When they wanna show it for however long they want to show it.
Helen:Right. So we can cut away from you and onto that on screen. Interesting. And now you don't have that. Now you
British:are Now you don't have that.
Helen:You are running the show, basically.
British:And there's another line
Helen:of Girl.
British:In fact, that's that's another thing that we can talk about. One of the biggest distinctions where some people people would have oftentimes say to me, you've been doing this over twenty years, of course you're great. Nah, all right. I definitely pulled those skills and I think all of us can pull past skills. You don't have to be someone that comes from my past to be a successful livestreamer.
British:In fact, most people who are successful did not have my past, kind of a unicorn. But what you do have to learn is this other side, no matter what, and that is the difference. Here, it's two way. And in fact, one of the biggest distinctions is that with livestream selling, it is the audience that's really guiding. And you need to be able to kind of do this and that.
British:So it's a push and a pull and a push. Let me push and share. This is what I have planned for you. You may go on thinking, I'm going to be talking about this pin most of the time. In fact, this is going to be my number one, what I call hero item, focus item.
British:But your audience, when you're live streaming can decide something different. So you have to be ready to pivot because in the audience, I mean, have access.
Helen:You're getting feedback.
British:So you're getting content feedback. You're getting content feedback. They also have access to the entire cart. They see everything that you're going to be presenting in that live. Whereas TV shopping, when I was doing it, they don't see what's coming up.
British:They probably they have a theme. They have an idea of what you're going be talking about for this one hour or two hour or twenty minute show. But with with, live streaming, it is very much up close and personal. And that's one of the biggest differences. Again, it's the interaction.
Helen:I know and I can't wait to talk. I know we're gonna get to this, but I wanna talk about that interaction and how you move and pivot through it. I wanna... I'm I'm really anxious to hear your thoughts on how you work that because that's one thing that even going live intimidates people just simply about the conversation when it's not even selling. Like how a conversation can go suddenly you find yourself down a path where you didn't even mean to be talking about that and then you're deep into it and you have to back your way out of it.
Helen:I know that's happened to me a couple of times where I say things and I'm like, why'd I say that? Because now I've opened up a can of worms, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So it's tricky.
Helen:But I would say that when you're thinking about doing the online shopping and the people who are making videos, there's TikTok shop videos powering out at us all the time. And what would you say is the main differentiator between video, that type of buying from a viewer that's, you know, the cart's right on there, they can tap and then the live streaming. What would you say the biggest difference is between those two things specifically?
British:Yeah. The biggest difference is that when someone is buying from a video, they really are kind of just buying ecstatic. Right? They're they're they're watching the video, but they're getting only the information that that content creator who created the video is giving them. If you're selling, you know, if I'm, for example, I have a gem.
British:Thank you.
Helen:Said it right when I saw you. I'm like, I love it. It's really
British:cute. Thank you. And if, you know, it's a denim maxi dress that I'm selling. And so the buyer or that I'm wearing, until the buyer is, you know, kind of held hostage to just the information that the video maker, that the creator has provided them with. And so if he or she is not saying, oh, this doesn't have stretch and this is not, you do you want to buy this true to size or this runs large or this one, you know, or it's a maxi, you wouldn't know it.
British:You know, I'm just sitting here. You think it might, is that a shirt? Is it, so the buyer on a video, they may be left with lots of questions that they may or may not. So they have to make a decision in that moment whether or not they're going to buy it because the video has been, it's the video, it's there and that creator has moved on. Sure, you can ask questions in the comments, but maybe or maybe not.
British:Right. You might get those questions answered. Right. Whereas Maybe. Live streaming is right here and right now.
British:I am not only a live streaming host, but I personally buy almost everything from TikTok shop and other platforms from live streaming. When I'm buying... Because when I'm buying on a live stream, it's like it's a personal shopper. He or she is right there and I can ask questions. Does that have stretch?
British:What are the sizes does that come in? What size are you? Should I... Do you think I should size up? Or gosh, has it...
British:How... Is that tall girl friendly? And so I get immediate response.
Helen:Satisfaction. Yeah. Immediate satisfaction. Satisfaction. Because I noticed that when I post the couple of shop videos I've posted, I have to pay attention if the questions are coming in.
Helen:Because if I don't answer them timely enough, I've lost that sale. I, which is why I don't do it a lot, but when I do, I try and go back and think, oh, every day I'm checking the messages, but that person's gone already. And the likelihood of them even looking at that comment and coming back to the video is slim to none. Know, I know that's the reality. So that is the difference.
Helen:It's like, it's like, this is how I like to relate it, is when you're in a store and you're online, those impulse buys that are right there while you're waiting because cause you're live in the moment and you only have this moment to grab it because you have to move up on the line, which is a little bit like livestreaming. I hadn't really... Right. Because you're there in that moment. You have to make that decision before you're at the cart and then you're out the...
Helen:Out of the store. So same thing when you're live. But what about this? Let's say somebody's watching you, and then all of a sudden they're talking about your necklace. And...
Helen:You know what I mean? Have you had things like that where you've had to... Well, we'll we'll talk about the necklace next. Let me get on. Like, how do you navigate when someone asks you something off topic?
Helen:Yeah.
British:No. Excellent. You're spot on, Helen. Because all of this does happen. So two things I wanna say to that.
British:Number one, yes, it definitely does happen and it will happen. Number two, I believe that that as a live seller, that's one of the reasons why I try as much as possible and I give this advice, what you are wearing, do your absolute best to make sure it's for sale. Make sure it's So being if you're on TikTok, right, live streaming, make sure they can buy it on TikTok. Oh, wow. And then you make sure you have that thing pinned inside.
British:If it's not your focus item, maybe you're never even gonna mention it, but it needs to be available in the card. Great. Near the sneakers
Helen:of the shirt. Someone's gonna ask. The glasses.
British:Someone's gonna ask. They're gonna ask. Now there are times... I'm glad I'm glad you said that. These particular glasses, they're not available on TikTok.
British:But these are my best glasses. Like I wear these, okay, a lot. I have some other ones. And so that might happen. So then you just are honest and I say, oh, these aren't available on TikTok because I got them online.
British:You know, send me a DM and I'll tell you where to get them.
Helen:And you're allowed to do that, right?
British:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a great question too. I'll be very, I'm not, you know, yeah, let me show you the website and yeah, the name of the brand is, then you can get a violation.
Helen:You could get a violation, right?
British:But I very discreetly will, and I'll be honest, and say, ah, these are not actually available. But you know what? Are you following me, Karen? Yeah, I'm following you. Or no, are you...
British:You know, go ahead and give me a follow and then send me a DM.
Helen:Send me a message, yeah.
British:And I'll make sure you have some info.
Helen:I love that.
British:Okay. So that's Algo's not gonna pick that up. Yeah.
Helen:Good. Good. Good. Good strategy. I love it.
British:But the... But I will finish that that point though, because it's it's important. What you you wanna do though, is people are gonna ask you about what you're wearing. Try to wear as much as you can that is actually for sale. Customers will appreciate that, even if it has nothing to do with what you're selling.
British:And then, lastly, why not? Because you wanna be able to make a commission on it.
Helen:Mhmm. Yeah. Of course. Of course. Yeah.
Helen:And now I wanna get into a little bit of the psychology before we get into specifics, but why do you think people are more likely to buy when you're in... When they're in a livestream? What's the psychology that's happening there? Tap into a little bit of your background and and what you know. Sometimes somebody like you, it's so natural to you to know that answer, but a lot of people don't know it intrinsically.
British:Yeah. Yeah. So there there are several factors, but one main factor I wanna focus on and build up is that as a live streaming host, our job, your job when you're live streaming sales, right? You wanna make sure that you're helping people gain confidence. Okay.
British:That is the biggest, biggest part. Okay. People, most people don't buy because they need more information when you're on the live stream. They buy when they feel confident. And them feeling confident means that you have answered their question.
British:If they're asking questions in the chat, you want to make sure you answer the question. You also don't want to make sure you're just asking, answering the question. Someone says, is that coming as small? And you answer, yes, it does. And then you just move on to the next product or you move on to the next comment.
British:That is a big mistake that Livestreamers make. And some people get confused when I say that because they're like, but I answered the question. You did. But that's not building confidence. You need a follow-up behind that.
British:When someone says, oh, do those come in green, blue and brown? Or can I get those in the size? Is it wide foot friendly or whatever you're selling? Tall girl friendly? Yes.
British:Sharon, that actually, these are actually available in the colors. Then your follow-up question is, which color are you thinking about?
Helen:Or,
British:yeah, they actually are tall girl friendly. You must be asking because, are you asking because you're considered a tall girl?
Helen:Listen. I'm taking notes. Once you're high. I'm taking notes here. Right?
British:You're amazing. That is a big mistake.
Helen:We answer this. I'm guilty of the mistake. Oh my god. I don't even sell products so I can't wait to get into that because you're making such good points right now on the things that could be so easily missed. Like, you think you're answering someone.
Helen:Yes. But what is happening in the buyer's mind to to cross them over, like, psychologically without being specific? What what do you think happens that triggers that? Is it... Do you think it's based in trust?
Helen:Do you think it's like, oh, you answered their question? What do you think it's... It is that actually triggers the purchase when they're scrolling alone and they could say, I'll come back later. A lot of people do that to me in my lives. They'll be like, oh, I'm gonna think about it tonight.
Helen:And I'm like, you know, I I try to have the incentive. Like, but if you think about it tonight, you're gonna be too late to get quote whatever, the sale or whatever. So what do you think's the the click?
British:Yeah. Yeah. Great. The click is this. And you said one of the words, trust.
British:Because if Cheryl is asking the question, are those pants tall girl friendly? And you simply answer the question, yes, they are. Or no, they aren't or whatever and move on. Sure, that answered it, but you did not build trust. You did not make Cheryl feel more confident.
British:Cheryl wants to feel seen. Cheryl wants to feel like quite frankly, she's the only one in the room that you are literally, she wants to feel like you're her personal shopper, helping her to make a decision. And so if you look at yourself as that helper, no matter what it, electronics, I don't care, whatever it is you're selling, cooking appliances, it doesn't matter. This applies for all products and services for that matter. You answer the question, and then you follow-up with another question, and you do it directly by using her name.
British:We have access to names. Even if they don't have a name on there, I will say user six zero two four Yeah.
Helen:Yeah. Yeah. You'd call them out. I love to do that. It's like they are seen when that happens.
British:They are seen. I love And so from a psychological standpoint, what's beginning to happen is that user six, whoever, or Sharon or Carol, she is like, oh wow, Helen is not only did she answer my question, but now she's talking to me. And she's actually saying, oh, are you asking that question? You must be answering that question because you're one of my tall girls. What's your height, Cheryl?
British:I'm five'nine. Oh, that's great. Okay. Yeah, as a matter of fact, let me go ahead and look at the inseam on this for you. Yeah, this probably is going to work.
British:What, which... So had you already thought about the color yet? I'll hit them with a couple of additional questions. That little extra time makes a world of difference. The problem is that by, live streaming is people oftentimes feel like, oh, if I don't...
British:Let me answer Cheryl, I'm good. I gotta get to the next one. They feel like they're spending too much time with Cheryl or they're gonna miss out. The reality is Cheryl is closer to buying than you probably know. Yes.
British:Because she's asking questions about... That is not a yes or no. That is a I'm interested.
Helen:Right. So it's a... That's your little signal. Yeah. Trust.
Helen:All right. British. I love it. Build it. So what we're gonna do now is take a little break and I'm gonna say goodbye to my podcasting crowd and I'm gonna welcome in my community members to listen to the specifics of how to build that trust even further, how to create, to find your energy, because energy is so important, we're gonna talk about that in the next segment.
Helen:How to build that community in the moment, how to find the rhythm of the live and some specific examples for me. Like I think I always get in the weeds and I like to know, give me an example of this and then I can relate it to my brand or what I'm selling. I like examples. I'm a tangible girl. Like to hear because then I can immediately relate and have an analogy to work with.
Helen:So that's what we're gonna do. If you are interested in listening to this next segment, you can hop into the studio. It's in the show notes how to get there, and I will lead you to the rest of this wonderful podcast. And if you are leaving us now, see you next week. Have a wonderful one, I'll see you next Friday.
Helen:Bye.