The social revolution has changed the way you sell forever. Only problem is, most salespeople have no idea of that – YET!
As business social media evolves and matures, all salespeople, executives, and entrepreneurs will expose themselves for who they are and who they aren’t WAY BEFORE a sales call or sales meeting of any kind takes place.
Think about the impact of that.
I’m gonna Google YOU. I’m gonna Facebook YOU. I’m gonna find you on LinkedIn. I’m gonna look you up on Twitter. I’m gonna search you on YouTube.
Feel a little overwhelmed? That’s because you’ve been asleep at the wheel waiting for the economy to “rebound.” Or you think the internet is about your company, not you. Or you’re waiting for your attorneys to figure out a “corporate plan” for social media, while your competition KICKS YOUR ASS.
Here are a few things you should do, and can do – that if you don’t do, you’ll be “doo doo”:
• Look at your competition and their people. Study their online presence and their social media presence. • Talk to your customers IN DEPTH. Find out what they would consider valuable to know, and make a plan to deliver that information, whether it pertains to your sales or not. HINT: If you provide valuable information, it directly pertains to your relationship, and their loyalty to you.
• Allocate more of your time to learning what you don’t know about “online.”
At least an hour a day. If you’re behind by your competition’s standards, that’s one issue; but if you’re behind by your customer’s needs, that’s THE issue. If you don’t know what to do, start studying, and start getting involved. • Set achievable goals and measure your results. Start with LinkedIn. Get 200 connections and expand your network from there. Create a few videos on YouTube that feature your customers talking about how great you are.
• Communicate value messages, not product offerings. The purpose of your presence online is not just to sell, it’s also to attract people who want to buy. Especially on social media. • Seek professional help, BUT BEWARE. Get personal one-on-one references BEFORE you spend a dime. There are a lot of people who can help you, but many more who CLAIM they can, but cannot.
• Waiting is more expensive than starting. Whatever you budget for online and/or social media presence, it’s cheap compared to doing nothing while others pass you by.
Social media is not going away. My bet is that your business social media presence is lacking. And there is not one good reason for it, other than your foresight is limited by your insight.
Hopefully this will help you kick-start what you’re doing online – especially your social media participation – so you’ll have no regrets (also known as hindsight).
I totally agree. You can gather a lot of information in the internet, almost unlimited so to speak. Specifically, social media has allowed us to gather relevant information and connections that can help our small businesses. I also agree that using the web can be overwhelming. I am receiving at least a hundred emails a day in my google account which is also linked to my other social networking sites and checking all these emails can be tiring and boring sometimes. But because of these, I am able to update myself to the newest trends and happenings.
As what they say, there is no reward for not doing.
Thanks for sharing Jeff.