Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Using social media tools to expand your potential customer base

Twitter and Linked In and Blogs…. Oh My!
Twitter and Linked In and Blogs…. Oh My!
Twitter and Linked In and Blogs…. Oh My!

Sometimes it would be great to ask the All Knowing Wizard of Oz to tell you what to do with these new marketing tools. Since he is not available, I hope that I can answer some of your questions.

I started to try out Twitter a few weeks ago as a way to expand my connections. My goal is to find small companies that are ready to expand their sales and marketing efforts in the US. I then help them to connect with sales people and customers across the country and the world. The way I think of the social networking sites is like a TV commercial. I am sending out a very small message to a large pool of prospective customers. The focus of the message is my brand, me, and where to find more information as a fellow up. For example, books that I am reading, updates to my blog, meetings I am attending and that I am looking for sales people to sell my client’s products.

How does this tool fit into my sales strategy?

Think about the classic sales model of a big funnel. The inputs into the funnel are raw unqualified prospects. In the old days of the 1980’s the inputs came for responses to advertisements. The outputs of the funnel are customers that purchase something from you. The challenge in this model is to mover prospects through the selling process from raw leads to closed sales. The Social Networks are a way to get people that are interested in your specific message and then drive them to the next step in the selling process. In my case the Twits drive traffic to the Blog. The Blog drives traffic to my Web site, which gets people to send me an email requisition more info.

Who is reading my messages? For me it is a lot of people that I do not know. My goal for now is to let the network grow. The bigger the audience the higher the probability that my commercial with hit the one person that I am looking for.

If I post someone finds interesting, great!
If they read that leads then go to my Blog, Wow!
If they read the Blog and then contact me, Hurray!

Some people commented on my Linked In postings that Social Networks do not have a good ROI. I learned from Bill O’Leary in the early 80’s that ROI is Return On Investment. What is the investment in a Blog? What is the investment in a Tweet? Nothing but my time! The ROI for only one hit is huge and worth my investment in time.

I hope that you found this interesting. Please post any comments or questions, and please add your name to the followers list.

8 comments:

  1. Seth,

    I'm looking forward to learning more about how you are recommending social networking to your clients. I think it's still relatively new ground for many reps.

    I am a marketing consultant, but I often work with sales people who have been forced to be their own marketers. I've just started a series of posts on my blog called 12 Steps to Dumping Your Marketing Department. htpp://www.themarketingsurvivalist.blogspot.com

    Of course, I don't really believe in getting rid of marketing, but some reps need to take their destiny into their own hands. I will be including more on using social media tools in future posts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Melissa,


    Have you read "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott?

    I am currently reading this book and getting a lot of really great ideas from it.

    Yours Truly,

    Seth Frielich
    www.salesrepusa.net
    seth.frielich@salesrepusa.net

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here's another tool you may want to consider:
    emrnet.wordpress.com article titled" Expanding the conversation ... posted July 1, 2009

    ReplyDelete
  4. always great to see, how those new to twitter and others, start to use the new tools and applying their professional skills to new environment.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Seth and followers

    Seth, we go back many years and over the time I learned to respect your view of marketing.

    Reading what you wrote here makes me wonder about the type of sales one can promote that way. Are we talking about commodity, sales which are limited in price? Do you really expect to find someone that wants to buy an automated warehouse or a million dollar machine marketing it that way?

    Do you separate or identify the difference among things that can or cannot be promoted over the social networks?

    Avner

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think the key to this Seth is to take the next step with your initial contacts that you make on Twitter and form some deeper relationships with them.

    Calling people or even sharing direct emails with them is a better way to make the most of the connections you make on Twitter or Linkedin.

    I personally have made some amazing contacts over the past couple of months and I am convinced that using social media is a must for sales professionals.

    In my blog, I wrote recently about the use of Social Networks. Check it out when you get a chance at; http://networking.saleshangout.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. WOW!

    Thank you to everyone who posted comments.

    My first suggestion is to refer you to a book that I am currently reading "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott. I am finding his ideas tremendously helpful.

    Addressing the comments posted by Avner, I think that this concept is directly applicable to sales of higher value products or services.

    I am posting comments on Linked In and Twitter, with links to my Blog. The Blog is sending people to my Web site, and then I am receiving emails directly from people who are interested in my consulting services to grow their company’s sales.

    I think that with the current state of the economy we all need to take a fresh look at how we conduct business. Business is all about connecting with people and building long term relationships based on trust. The old methods of placing advertisements in magazines as a way of finding new customers and looking for quick results do not work any more.

    I am using these new social media tools to send my message out to new people, establish credibility with them, and then build on these new relationships to find new clients.


    I would be very glad to talk to anyone who would like help or advice about using these techniques.



    Yours truly,

    Seth Frielich
    www.salesrepusa.net
    seth.frielich@salesrepusa.net
    617-549-1187
    Skype sdfsmc

    ReplyDelete
  8. Useful tips..I am still learning how to use twitter for business generation...this might help...thanks

    seema
    www.witsindia.com

    ReplyDelete