Don’t you wish you could do your job and not have to travel all over the country or world? Don’t you wish you could let people know about your products and services without going to endless networking meetings? Here are some uses of the social media that can help you reach that magical place where you can sell without having to leave your office.
Don’t you wish you could do your job and not have to travel all over the country or world? Don’t you wish you could let people know about your products and services without going to endless networking meetings? Believe it or not, with the right use of the social media you can do just that. Notice we said with the “right use” of the social media. Even though your purpose is to sell your goods or services, you must be careful not to abuse the new technology. Unfortunately, many people have not gotten that point. What we want to do is actually increase our sales, not turn people off.
Whether we are selling door-to-door as was done in the past, where the aggressive salesperson kicked your door in to make his pitch; or whether we are selling online, we must adhere to the know-like-trust factor. If you pay attention to that basic tenet in the world of selling, you can accomplish a lot by using the social media. Before long, you’ll make fewer and fewer trips from your office.
The social media are excellent platforms for qualifying leads and for prospecting. They also provide excellent sources for information. Here are some uses of the social media that can help you reach that magical place where you can sell without having to leave your office.
• Use Twitter to brand yourself. What do you do best? Are you great at understanding certain nuances of your product or service? Are you great at finding unique uses for your product? Are you best at understanding your customer’s needs? Once you determine what you do best, share that good stuff on Twitter with short Tweets.
• Niche your Twitter following. Search your product, services and/or industry. Follow people with like interests. Your search will not only produce people with that word in their bios but also people who Tweet about what you’re interested in.
• When you Tweet, be sure to use all the methods of communication. Ask questions of your following. Re-tweet something another person in your following sent that you found useful. Use the “@” symbol to communicate directly and publicly with your following and when you are ready, direct mail someone privately. Do not send a direct mail with a sales pitch unless someone asks for it.
• Set up additional Twitter accounts that target different audiences. You don’t need followers who are interested in cooking to blend together with followers interested in your products and services. Keep your accounts niched and Tweet relevant information to each account.
• Use TweetLater (http://www.tweetlater.com/) to set up daily Tweets. You can backlog as many Tweets as you like and schedule them. That way you can stay active without staying on Twitter all day.
• Identify the thought leaders, authors, or notable bloggers in your niche and follow them. They may not follow you back, but you want to follow them so you’ll stay up-to-date with the latest trends in your industry. When you read their blogs or online articles, you can Tweet them to your followers. That way your customers begin to rely on you for the timeliest information.
• Sprinkle your Tweets with industry information as well as the latest information about your products or services. When you hear or see questions or concerns either on or offline, share answers to those questions in your Tweets. You become the knowledge leader.
• Write your own articles and blogs that deal with industry related issues. What are customers saying? What do they want? Provide answers in your articles and blogs and then Tweet links to your articles and blogs.
Whether you are using Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook to build a relationship predicated on the know-like-trust factor, you must do three things:
• Brand yourself around a particular niche. Narrow your market.
• Listen to the market. Listen before you start participating.
• Become the knowledge leader and knowledge broker.
Now that you’ve done all these things, you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your hard work. It takes time and patience to build trust. All good salespeople know this. Whether you are selling on or offline, you must exercise patience. Take your time, build your credibility and wham! You’ll make a sale without having left your office.
Social Savvy Means Time Management
How can you budget for social media time? People keep asking me how they can add social media to their already packed daily schedule. They fear that employees will be using their work time to Tweet about personal things or to talk to their friends on Facebook. One of the biggest complaints I hear from salespeople as well as CEO’s relates to time. Here are some time-saving tips!
5 Tips to Use Social Media to Sell without Selling
What is your Social Media IQ? We all know about traditional means to market our products. We know about advertising, branding, finding our niche. What we do not yet understand is the power of the social media in all this. The point of it all is to sell without appearing to sell. Here are some tips for using the social media to help you sell without “selling.”
Tips to Open the Floodgates with Social Media
How can businesses open the floodgates? Is there a strategy for involving customers in your business decisions? Tannebaum and Schmidt (1970) created a model based on participation and authority, theorizing that as you give more participation to groups in the decision-making process, you give up authority or control. This model presents a new way to think about how much customer involvement you want and how the social media might play a role in that involvement. It gives us some tips for developing a strategy for opening the floodgates.
