Try this
1. Try to really step it up. Where is your customer going for information? Local television? Radio? Twitter? Websites? Pinterest? Find where your target market hangs out, and make your presence known. Post comments and/or photos. Let people know who you are and what your company can do.
2. If youâre not doing it already, you really should explore mobile devices such as iPhones, videos and audio presentations. Itâs like a digital studio in your pocket â you can create marketing materials and apps that have an impact.
3. Stop trying to sell people. Help them make the best buying decision. They may not buy from you, but they will refer you to friends they think you can help. You want to be the go-to information source in your local region.
â Linda G. Green
How to Close the Invisible Sale
If the title of business consultant Tom Martinâs seminar at the 2013 International Pool | Spa | Patio Expo â âHow to Close the Invisible Saleâ — is puzzling, just ponder this: He says that research shows customers are 57 percent of the way through their purchase decisions before they make contact with you. Theyâve been researching online, scoping out your brand and company as well as your competitors, to see what fits their needs best. Youâll never know that you were even in the running until they make themselves visible to you via phone, email or by visiting your place of business.
Yes, itâs a brave new world in which to be selling pools and spas, and success will come to those who are digitally savvy like todayâs consumer. Martin, the founder/principal of Converse Digital in New Orleans, can help you tap into this trend.
His seminar, scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 13, 9:45-11:15 a.m., includes these learning objectives:
* Social selling â how to extend your sales teamâs reach beyond the showroom.
* Prospect triage â how to quickly identify self-educated buyers when they enter your business.
* Aikido selling â learn how to leverage the buyersâ self-education to more rapidly close the sale.
* Day-after selling â turn your new customers into powerful social testimonials.
Surefire techniques
Business consultant Tom Martinâs Expo seminar this year, âHow to Close the Invisible Sale,â no doubt was inspired by his brand-new book, The Invisible Sale: How to Build a Digitally Powered Marketing and Sales System to Better Prospect, Qualify and Close Leads (Que Publishing, 2013). The release date is Oct. 11, and it is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.
That title certainly gives you an idea of what the book is about, but letâs go over the ground that it covers.
In this book, Martin reveals techniques he has refined over two decades of developing sales and marketing programs for his own company, Converse Digital, and his clients. He says heâs experienced a 25 percent year-over-year growth rate on average, so he knows his techniques work.
In the first section of the book, he shows you how to make the case internally for augmenting or replacing your traditional outbound sales methodology. It includes case studies and research findings.
The second section helps you build out your digital footprint via âcommunications outposts, digital embassies and your home base.â He also talks about the important role propinquity plays in a successful online effort.
The third section is packed with content tips, tricks and shortcuts for creating more video, audio, photographic and text content. Martin shows you how to create your own Webinars, tutorials and product demos (recorded and live).
The fourth section explains how to sell to the self-educated buyer â the digitally savvy consumer who checks out your brand and company online long before he or she ever contacts you.
There are a number of ways that pool and spa professionals can benefit from the book.
For example, Martin says, âIf theyâre considering moving into this digitally centered market, theyâll find facts and statistics to understand why they should do it. It details how to build a [social] platform. And, this is most important for these professionals, they will learn how to multipurpose things.
In other words, take an interview and use it different ways — on Twitter, audio, video, even text it out.â He adds that the book also contains information about apps and software that make it easy to reach prospects, and for them to reach you.
Americansâ infatuation with smart phones, computers and social media shows no sign of stopping, yet some recent studies are finding that many companies still fear social media.
While some participants in these studies see the value of using social media to promote their businesses, many shy away from the idea of deeper interactions. One study that sparked discussion came from the Harvard Business Reviewâs Blog Network. More than 250 organizations took its Social Readiness Assessment. While 50 percent of the respondents exhibited a positive attitude toward social media, the other 50 percent was torn — 14 percent doubted social mediaâs potential to produce results, 1 percent saw it as folly, and 35 percent were fearful of it.
Facing your fears
Enter Tom Martin, a business consultant specializing in working with companies that are digitally challenged and fear they are falling further behind the digital knowledge curve. He says the two biggest fears, or hesitation, for using social media are as follows: (1) Business owners worry about content marketing, thinking they canât produce enough content and/or they are afraid they donât have enough staff or the money to hire an agency â and they donât want to do it halfway. (2) Thereâs also a fear of going on Facebook or Twitter to sell. They donât know how to do it and are concerned that theyâll look foolish. What should they tweet?
Such thoughts run through the minds of many business leaders, says the founder/principal of Converse Digital, based in New Orleans. To help them overcome their fears so they can become adept at using social media to benefit their companies, Martin uses a combination of technology and principles.
To explain how that works, Martin says a lot depends on propinquity. It means ânearnessâ in Latin, and is defined as nearness in time or place, or nearness of relationship. âPropinquity underpins how relationships form,â he explains, noting that an MIT study in 1950 showed proximity helps strong friendships form. Two students living on the same dorm floor have a higher propinquity than those living on different floors. Likewise, two people with similar political beliefs have a higher propinquity than those whose opinions are very different.
How does that translate into the business world? âIf youâre going to use digital content to market your company, you must be in lots of places, not just have a blog or a website,â Martin suggests. âGo where your target market goes for information and entertainment, and make sure they frequently bump into your brand. It creates âtop of mind preferenceâ rather than âtop of mind awareness.â You need them to prefer you. Thatâs the primary principle. Find out where they are â and thatâs where you should be, too.â In other words, cultivate propinquity.
That can be done at popular social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Martin notes approvingly that the pool/spa industry is using Houzz and Pinterest to its advantage, joining in the posting and sharing of photos of great pools and spas on both websites. âTheyâre the perfect places for pool and spa companies to be,â Martin notes.
Another reason itâs so important to have a presence on sites visited by your target market is because consumers like to research online before making contact with a business, especially if theyâre considering high-ticket items. Martin calls this type of consumer the âInvisible Buyerâ and you wonât know theyâve been checking out your company until they call or visit you, but that wonât ever happen if they donât know about you.
Word to the wise
âSocial and digital selling technique is more relational than transactional,â Martin continues. âThe prospect must be willing to buy â it requires more patience and elegance. I say itâs more like a seduction.â
Indeed, he says the single biggest mistake salespeople make is lack of patience. Ever the word painter, Martin offers another, final image for sales professionals hoping to hone their social selling skills: âThey arenât patient enough to reel the person in; they want to go to the close too soon. I like to say itâs like trout fishing: Youâve got the bait; now present it perfectly, then the fish will bite.â
