Improving Sales With Better Dialogue 4 21 09

* BusinessWeek, Feb 19 2009

For companies, resistance to social media is futile*. –

Sales with Web 2.0 is a Dialogue

Is the insight and interaction you have with your customers as outdated and obsolete as the phone book?

Paper No color Doesn’t travel No fuzzy logic Updated annually No depth of insight No personalization in message No standards or best practices to follow

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Wouldn’t you rather the insight and interaction you have with your customers be leading edge?

SEM Text Email Webinars Podcasting and Vodcasting Blogosphere and Microblogosphere On Line Communities and Group affiliations New thinking: Selling is hard, but buying is easy.*

*From Frank Rumbauskas, author of Never Cold Call Again: Achieve Sales Greatness Without Cold Calling

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Web 2.0 gives you an opportunity to be available and communicate with thousands of prospects at once, at their convenience, with minimal effort on your part.

Web 2.0 allows you to utilize your best pitch repeatedly by positioning the message in various media outlets.

A statement of reassurance, people still want to buy from people they know and trust, give them a reason to trust you. Open communication without corporate controls creates transparency and as a result, trust.

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The classic sales cycle with a different spin, the BUYING cycle, think differently about each contact for the following stages:

Groundwork Recognition Attention Commitment Execution Development

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Groundwork - Take a dry run through the buying process.

Where are you looking for information? How quickly can you find what appeals to you? What characteristics do you have in your offer that resonate in

the marketplace? What can you mimic from the positive experiences you have? How do you feel about the companies that respond to your

inquiry?

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Recognition - How can people looking for your products or services find you today?

Website – at $2 per domain and $18 hosting why not? Simple tools for improving search Blogs and other short communication services Podcasts Free downloads of success stories or white papers

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Attention - How many years has your catalog been the primary sales vehicle?

Must offer an incentive for contact Use the channels available (repeat the message so it can be heard)

Direct Email Fax Phone Text

Use your referral program

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Commitment - Timing, being everywhere all the time will fix timing issues and facilitate buying.

Regular interaction via a quality, unbiased, informational content vehicle

Social Communities and Groups Social Communities and Groups for customers Two way interaction (Webinars, Twebinars and Slideshares)

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Execution – This can happen without you being there

Communication prearranged Executive Assitant Referral Cross sell Upsell

Recording and sharing content Video YouTube Twitter backchannels

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Development – Making the relationship grow

Make good feedback easy Blog Digg Retweet Events (on or off line survey)

Accept bad feedback and learn from it (human element)

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