Selling in The Age of The Socially Enlightened Business

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

You’ve got to love freshly trained door to door sales people don’t you?

Those eager young men earnestly using poor sales tactics on you at the door, because that is what they have been taught to do, by companies who continue to use old marketing strategies as hackneyed and predictable as a Roadrunner cartoon laughable of course, but predictable.

I have two in the past fortnight come to my door one to sell me a subscription to paid TV and another who insisted that if I showed my electricity account to me he could prove his was cheaper. Uhuh!

Both used similar, fear-of-lack techniques what was I missing out on? In one instance it was access to the movies and shows of my choice including all the sports channels, he did make me smile when my statement that I hated watching sports left him speechless, lol.

The other was doing his best to play into any fear I had around not having the best deal. Now, Yes, these still work, however the foot-in-the-door approach to stay talking and insisting until I gently shut the door in their faces do not! The young man from the electricity account actually told me he could not leave until I had showed him my electricity account. Bless him… Bye!

AND then there are those lovely tactless and needy people from the Asian countries who cannot believe that you just don’t want another phone, or better yet the ones who are ringing from Microsoft very worried about the state of your Windows platform. When told there is no way they could possibly have access to my Windows or my computer without my approval they insist because they work for Microsoft they do, I then let them know they are in fact breach of about 100 international privacy laws and hang up.

What about those people who email you twice a week with the latest “Amazing deal!!!” on something you may or may not have use for? Internet marketers, used car salesmen same-o same-o… In fact I was privy to a private webinar the other day for the older internet marketers, you know the ones who try to find ways around the system, and the algorithms that are gradually making it harder and harder to phish, spam or irritate.

I found it absolutely fascinating, they were informing all the listeners including myself about the new changes to the internet and how these changes were going to severely hamper their style. Apparently the major search engines and free email services are going to be keeping an eye on your emails and if you are sending too many emails of a certain type or just too many emails from your email address your emails will be stopped before they are sent to your recipient. There are other changes as well such as Google severely limiting the ability of landing pages, squeeze pages and microsite to rank or even be seen.

For me this is welcome news! How about you?

Would you like to know the answers, tips and tactics to counter these regulatory moves? I thought you might, lol.

They made my day…

1. Have a Voice – the people who will survive the control, regulation and censorship are those who have a brand with a voice, projecting legitimacy and backing up their products and services by being there, visible and approachable. Tell your story, your own story and tell your audience how you got where you are and why you are doing what you are doing.
2. Be consistent – be online and found on social sites, and be found on a daily or almost daily basis! Stop automating and start to be social.
3. Be the Source – you want to be the source in your niche you don’t have to be the #1 in the world you just have to have a focus area

Hmm… where have I heard these tips before now…???

Oh yes, in the pages of this website, scroll through some of my blog posts and Oh YES! There it is, I am the source on social media, lol.

It’s about time old marketing caught up to the new social age of business and marketing, stop selling to your market and invite them into your world, be vulnerable, get to know them, faceless marketing just doesn’t cut it any more than old foot-in-the-door tactics do. We have been trained to be rude by these old outdated tactics, I now hang up on poor Asians and Indians who ring me desperate for a sale, I quietly and nicely shut the door in the face of these nice young men who don’t know any better. It’s time for things to change. Don’t you agree?

Isn’t it nicer to have services and products recommended to you, because someone you know, has gotten to know a business owner who is trustworthy, reliable and gives great value for money?

Social business and marketing is here to stay, as I have said before on these pages the world has found its voice on social media and is now saying clearly, “We want to do business with people we like, and we will vote on you and your business whether you take any notice of us or not, you will know how we are voting when you find your bank balance empty.”

Here’s a thought? What if money was not the only reason to be in business? What if I have a passion for what I do, what if I love doing it and revel in the relationships being in this business allows me to form and money is second best to all of that? What if I have an intent to add value to your life in my own way and being paid is secondary to that?

Would you be more likely to spend your hard earned dollar on my products and services?

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• How to Use Social Media for Sales: Actively Participate in the Discussion (lockergnome.com)