As more and more people are trying to figure out how to leverage Social Media to help grow their sales, it serves us well to remember some of the basics of effective selling. The best salespeople seek to help. That may sound obvious, but it’s not. So many salespeople are trying to sell what they have to everyone instead of being targeted in their selling efforts. It makes more sense to find people who are interested in your product and service and help them. Social Media allows you to do this. You can observe discussion threads in LinkedIn Groups, you can follow conversations regarding Twitter hashtags, and you can see interactions on Facebook Fan Pages. These are all valuable sources of sales leads. Learn to skim information and identify places where you can help. And help doesn’t mean, “Buy my product, buy my product.” Just remember not to kiss on …
When Harry Met Twitter
Remember the scene in “When Harry Met Sally” when Harry and Sally are in their apartments talking on the phone and watching Casablanca and commenting on the actors? You can probably relate to that scene. I know that I’ve watched something on the television while talking on the phone with someone else who’s watching the same thing. This is a great analogy for Twitter. So many people are still confused about what Twitter is and why it’s interesting. One of the reasons it’s so interesting is because we can now communicate in real-time with people all over the globe on any of an endless number of topics. During the Super Bowl, World Series or Golden Globes it’s staggering to watch the volume of tweets (the 140 character messages) that are being sent all over the world. People are commenting and having a great time discussing things. Imagine if you could …
Sometimes Fast is Slow and Slow is Fast
As we all become more and more connected, we’re finding that it still takes time to build relationships. We have the ability to learn tremendous amounts about people from a distance hiding behind our computers. I’m not talking about stalking here. Stalking is trying to find out something about someone that they don’t want you to find out about them. I’m talking about looking at their Social Networking profiles and figuring out who they represent themselves to be and determining if this is someone you’d like to connect with. We can add connections with lightning-like speed, but relationships still take time, and always will. Just because you’re connected to everybody and their brother doesn’t mean that you have a relationship with everyone and their brother. And it doesn’t mean you should have a relationship with everyone and their brother. You can’t. There just isn’t enough time in one lifetime. So …
Here’s to a Blessed 2011!
Well, we made it. For many folks, 2010 was somewhat of a nightmare. Unless you were living on an island somewhere with a volleyball named Wilson, you know what I’m talking about. 2010 is behind us, so let’s start 2011 the right way. Let’s be thankful for all that happened in 2010. Even the crappy things. Gratitude wakes us up and helps us realize that it’s not what happens, but how we handle it. If you’re only grateful for the good things that happen, is that really gratitude? Gratitude is an attitude. It’s the attitude that no matter what happens, it’s all a lesson and something we can learn from, even if it’s learning what not to do. That’s called wisdom. You can get bitter or you can get better. Let’s start 2011 with the attitude that everything is a blessing, even if we don’t realize it at the time. …