Work Social Media, Get More Business
The web has created a serious challenge to our ability to control the process of acquiring paying customers. Precisely when a need arises, a customer's natural instincts tell it to search the web for solutions, narrow down who to call, make that call and decide who to buy from.
Essentially, that means our target prospects, rather than us, are in the driver's seat.
Given that, how do you reach prospects before they search so that they buy from you? How do you stay in front of prospects 24/7 so that, at precisely the time they have a need, the money available to buy and the authority to spend it, they call you and not your competition?
The answer lies in knowing how to find and establish the respected “go to guru expert” reputation where your natural prospect audiences “hang out” online to “talk shop.”
I use the following with my clients to help them proactively accomplish that and acquire paying customers without competition:
First, use the web to find and understand your specific target audience, what it cares about, and the actual selling messages you need to build to connect with the audience online and generate sales. To do that, ask yourself these questions:
• Where is my target audience? Who are they? Where do they “hang out” online?
• What do they care about? How and where do they source?
• Where do they go for industry updates and information and how can I get featured there?
• How can I think from the point of view of my target audiences so I can relate and connect?
• What do I specifically “say” that can instantly capture the targeted audiences so they will want to talk?
• How do I differentiate myself from the pack?
• How does my target audience evaluate issues and solutions?
• How can I define my key audiences and position myself to be of service to each audience so that they want what I have to offer?
• How do I become a respected expert contributor where they “hang out?"
The answers will reveal where target audiences are, where the “influencers” are, where they go to commiserate and discuss their issues online. It's where you need be active in the identified social media and blogs to create a “go to” reputation so that you get the call to solve the issue or provide the product.
Next, using what you found, apply two key sales axioms to tap into what you learned, using and leveraging each identified path, then messaging your prospects individually to help position you as the “go to” source:
* Axiom #1: People do things for their reasons, not yours.
* Axiom #2: Imagine the prospect has a sign on his forehead that reads “So what?”
These principles guide the selling process, whether in social media, on your web page, your blog or in person. If you remember these two axioms, your sales approach and what you say in them, you'll be able to connect with issues and concerns that prospects have instead of focusing on product pitches that link or position what you “offer” as a way to solve those issues. This also provides you with a proactive strategy to help you, and not your competition, land the all-important, interested prospect.
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Neil Licht, of Marlborough, is CEO and managing director of Here We Are, which offers business and marketing consulting. Contact him at callhereweare@verizon.net.
WBJ Web Partners
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