This is about why salespeople need to be online.
There are three times a sales prospect is going to go online in the sales cycle;
- Before you call them.
- As soon as you call them to make an appointment, but before they see you.
- Right after they bought from you.
Before you call them…
If you are talking to business owners who have ever been thinking about the product or service you sell, they are going to go online and do a search for your product/service. What they see matters. You want them to find your company, your brand, your product, and you…..and you want them to find these things in a very positive light. Think of online marketing (as a salesperson) as brand building image advertising. Whether or not your company has already done this, you need to make sure that your prospects find at least one website for your company, several great reviews for your service, and at least a few Youtube videos with you talking about your product..even full demonstrations if it’s a physical product…or a full presentation if it’s a service. You need to make sure you are listed in all the popular online directories; Angie’s List, Yelp, Kudzu, and in the 11 different Yellow Page online directories. Display ads aren’t needed, but you need to be listed.
Why do you have to be everywhere online? For two reasons….sometimes a prospect just wants to buy, and you want to make very sure that they find your website, video, or listing before they find your competitor’s. The second reason is that you want them seeing your company as a substantial player in your field. In my town there is an insurance salesman that has his face on dozens of billboards. I once asked him if this advertising ever generated sales. He said “Every once in a while. But the purpose of all that advertising is so prospects will take my call. When I call they recognize my name and have a good feeling about it. That’s why I advertise”. And that’s why you need to be online, before you ever call the prospect….so if they ever go online to research your industry, they see great thing about you.
As soon as you call them for an appointment…
If you make a cold call or are calling a referral for an appointment, as soon as you get off the phone, assuming you made an appointment, the prospect is often going online to “check you out”. Is it because they are interested in what you are selling? The company you sell for? The product you sell? Maybe. But often they are looking for a reason to cancel the appointment. You want to make sure that they find great things listed on Google when they do a search. This is when it’s valuable for you to have testimonials on your website. You can also have short Youtube videos of these testimonials. You goal is to have several listings online that show up at the beginning of a search, when prospects are searching for your company name, brand name, or name of your product.
A personal Facebook page will show up well in the searches as well as a company Facebook page. Videos show up well in searches. they are easy to make, can be very short (a few minutes) and are easy to upload to Youtube. Here is where it helps to have demonstration videos online…videos that actually sell what you are selling. Why? Because you want the prospect actually thinking about your product/service when you see them. And when they see videos explaining what you sell, it speeds up the process when you get to see them. And..I know you are thinking this..”hat about price? Should the video show the price?” Yes. And the reason is, it gives the prospect time to get used to the price. It gives them a prioce expectation when you first see them. It may even help you make the sale in one call instead or three. That’s been my experience.
Right after they bought from you…
Right after someone buys from you, this is te time they are most excited about your product/service. But it’s also the time they are most likely to have a change of heart and want to cancel the sale. Your online presence gives them assurance that they made the right decision. And this is when it’s most important that they find testimonials, preferably on video…of happy customers talking about why they bought and how satisfied they are. If you don’t have any of these videos, they are incredibly easy to make. Just see a few customers , ask them to talk about their purchase, and record it on your Smartphone. Then transfer it to Youtube. Make sure your company name and product name are in the title of the video…because that’s what your customer is going to type in when they do their search.
I talk a little about this in my book One Call Closing.
