I subscribe to far too many mailing lists.
My assistant creates filters in my gmail account so that I can sort the wheat from the chaff on a regular basis, but even I recognize I'm still on far too many lists. Some lists I'm not even sure how I got there - or they only send me an email once every blue moon, so I forget to unsubscribe before I hit the delete button.
Today, I got an email from one such list. But I shan't be unsubscribing just yet.
One little sentence saved him from the dung heap.
Normally, I don't like ezines that force me to click through to read the article. But his title was compelling, revealing the business trend we witnessed in 2009 - how 7 figure companies were fast dwindling into 5 figure companies due to a failue to adapt to change.
The one little sentence that caught my eye (despite the problems with formatting on the page)?
"It takes us longer to convert a lead into a customer but it is much more gratifying in the end."
Hello! Welcome to the world of marketing your business!
Gone are the days of sticking a business card in your prospect's face and expecting them to buy a couple hundred dollars worth of your product. In fact, Bob suggests that going after bigger ticket clients is actually a better strategy because they understand the value of your product, and are less likely to shop based solely on price.
The reality of that, however, is that people who shop based on value take a little more time to assess, resolve and decide to make the purchase.
I'll have a guest that attends 3 or 4 parties before they ever purchase a thing. I'm on the verge of writing this person off as uninterested just as they are whipping out their checkbook to pay for a $300+ order.
I wish I was joking, but I'm not.
See, the flip side to our "instant gratification" world is that there are still people that believe in taking their time, doing things the right way, and NOT rushing into anything. In our rush to service the next in line, we sometimes forget what serving our clients is really all about: finding their needs, and helping them make decisions that will improve their lives.
And sometimes it takes more than four point two seconds to determine if the value of your offering really is better than the other guy. Sometimes value is determined by how much time you actually SPEND WITH the client.
This isn't just a direct sales application. This is a life application. Our best friends are usually the ones we've known the longest - or it at least "feeeeels like we've known them foreeeeeeeever". Longer relationships are much more gratifying.
That's the dilemma of social media. So many direct sellers have jumped on the SM bandwagon thinking it's the road to fast riches. NO. Just like eveything else bout direct sales, it's not get rich quick. It's get rich by building relationships - on a national platform instead of a local one.
So if someone sold you that bill of goods, my apologies. The strength in any relationship - business or otherwise - lies in the number of genuine, valueable connections you have with that person. Sometimes you can take shortcuts, but you can't short circuit the entire process.
© 2009 Lisa Robbin Young.
USE THIS ARTICLE FOR FREE IN PRINT OR ONLINE!
Please do not alter it and include the following information (with active links as appropriate):
Lisa Robbin Young is a certified direct sales marketing coach, teaching direct sellers to grow their business like a real business instead of an expensive hobby. Sign up for her free weekly ezine at http://www.homepartysolution.com
Showing posts with label linkedin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linkedin. Show all posts
Social Media DON'T: LinkedIn Presentation Blunder
File this in the "Oh NO you DIDN'T!" category...
Some of you may know that I've had a linkedin profile for a while, but never really used it.
I started making a few connections a couple of months ago, and I'm starting to think it was a bad idea.
From what limited info I have about linkedin, you're only supposed to "accept" real people that you know. So that's what I did.
This week, I got a peculiar email from one of my linkedin "contacts".
In essence this person sent me a slide show to review under the guise of getting my professional opinion. This person said they had "just finished" the presentation and wanted to get my honest feedback on it.
OhhhhhhHHHHhhhhh. I don't really think they want my honest feedback, so I'm going to share it publicly so that YOU can learn what went wrong and how you can prevent looking like a total flake when you're using LinkedIn.
1. The presentation was posted over a month ago.
This was not a NEW presentation, which was the first giveaway. If this person reeally wanted help, why wait a whole month to have someone review your presentation?
2. The FIRST Slide was titled "Why is NOW a graet time to join XYZ Co."
Oh NO you DIDN'T! When I clicked through to the person's profile, I saw that this presentation was one of the most viewed presntations on LinkedIn... for obvious reasons. This person was capitalizing on the good nature of people to view the presentation, when in reality the goal was either to get people to join the biz, or to push up the popularity of their presentation. Either way, it's a limy, underhanded tactic, and to use it on smeone in yuor own profession HAD to be one of the most ignorant moves on the planet.
Yep, I'm seething a bit here, but there's more.
3. It was not a personalized invitation.
Now I'm not one to consider myself arrogant, but this person didn't use my name ONCE in the email that I recieved to review the presentation. That tells me I'm just another name on the list getting this email. God knows how many other unsuspecting folks have been hit with this same email. This person played the "I know you're a busy professional, that's why I want your professional opinion" card. Yes, shame on me for clicking through, but if it saves you a world of grief, my work here is done.
4. The entire presentation was TOO wordy.
Since they really asked for my opinion of the persentation, here's the long and short of it. The slides had WAY too many words on most of them. Instead of using them as visuals, they were sales pages, loaded with way more content than you could even READ in the micro-sized format that linkedin offers in the preview pane.
Now I'm pretty verbose myself, so if I think it was wordy, it was REALLY horrible. The slide was so full, it sscrolled off the page! I couldn't even READ the entire story of the company founder - not that I really needed to, or WANTED to. But if I did, I couldn't. This person needs to brush up on Seth Godin's 'Really Bad Powerpoint' Post before composing another presentation.
5. The final slide was a cheesy graphic of themselves with all their contact info.
Now really, if you weren't convinced that this person was actually just trying to recruit me, nothing says it more than the final slide. I mean, seriously, if you're giving a presentation to people that already know you, WHY would you need a whole slide just about you - with contact information too?
Let's get to the heart of the matter. This person was pitching their product/biz opp to anyone with a puls. Granted, these were at least business professionals, so I applaud their desire to work with business builders, but if you're wasting your time in LinkedIn or any other venue (online or off) trying to push your presentation on someone, you need your head examined.
Yep. I'm still seething. But I feel a little better now.
But here's the cherry on top of the sundae: This person is connected to the owners of the direct sales company this person represents.
Everyody say it with me now: TACKY!
Not only is this a horrible reflection on Direct Sellers in general (I've 'dis-connected' myself from this person), but it also means that the company will get a black eye to boot.
This is exactly why we need more online marketing strategists and social media coaches working with direct sellers. At such a critical time, when companies are FINALLY embracing social media (or as Jennifer Fong pointed out, at least they're dipping their toe in), we've got galactic blunders like this hurtling about cyberspace just TRYING to ruin it for everyone else.
So while I doubt this person will EVER see my review of their "presentation", let my advice to you be plain: DO NOT BE THIS PERSON!
Lest you incur my wrath as well. :-)
Some of you may know that I've had a linkedin profile for a while, but never really used it.
I started making a few connections a couple of months ago, and I'm starting to think it was a bad idea.
From what limited info I have about linkedin, you're only supposed to "accept" real people that you know. So that's what I did.
This week, I got a peculiar email from one of my linkedin "contacts".
In essence this person sent me a slide show to review under the guise of getting my professional opinion. This person said they had "just finished" the presentation and wanted to get my honest feedback on it.
OhhhhhhHHHHhhhhh. I don't really think they want my honest feedback, so I'm going to share it publicly so that YOU can learn what went wrong and how you can prevent looking like a total flake when you're using LinkedIn.
1. The presentation was posted over a month ago.
This was not a NEW presentation, which was the first giveaway. If this person reeally wanted help, why wait a whole month to have someone review your presentation?
2. The FIRST Slide was titled "Why is NOW a graet time to join XYZ Co."
Oh NO you DIDN'T! When I clicked through to the person's profile, I saw that this presentation was one of the most viewed presntations on LinkedIn... for obvious reasons. This person was capitalizing on the good nature of people to view the presentation, when in reality the goal was either to get people to join the biz, or to push up the popularity of their presentation. Either way, it's a limy, underhanded tactic, and to use it on smeone in yuor own profession HAD to be one of the most ignorant moves on the planet.
Yep, I'm seething a bit here, but there's more.
3. It was not a personalized invitation.
Now I'm not one to consider myself arrogant, but this person didn't use my name ONCE in the email that I recieved to review the presentation. That tells me I'm just another name on the list getting this email. God knows how many other unsuspecting folks have been hit with this same email. This person played the "I know you're a busy professional, that's why I want your professional opinion" card. Yes, shame on me for clicking through, but if it saves you a world of grief, my work here is done.
4. The entire presentation was TOO wordy.
Since they really asked for my opinion of the persentation, here's the long and short of it. The slides had WAY too many words on most of them. Instead of using them as visuals, they were sales pages, loaded with way more content than you could even READ in the micro-sized format that linkedin offers in the preview pane.
Now I'm pretty verbose myself, so if I think it was wordy, it was REALLY horrible. The slide was so full, it sscrolled off the page! I couldn't even READ the entire story of the company founder - not that I really needed to, or WANTED to. But if I did, I couldn't. This person needs to brush up on Seth Godin's 'Really Bad Powerpoint' Post before composing another presentation.
5. The final slide was a cheesy graphic of themselves with all their contact info.
Now really, if you weren't convinced that this person was actually just trying to recruit me, nothing says it more than the final slide. I mean, seriously, if you're giving a presentation to people that already know you, WHY would you need a whole slide just about you - with contact information too?
Let's get to the heart of the matter. This person was pitching their product/biz opp to anyone with a puls. Granted, these were at least business professionals, so I applaud their desire to work with business builders, but if you're wasting your time in LinkedIn or any other venue (online or off) trying to push your presentation on someone, you need your head examined.
Yep. I'm still seething. But I feel a little better now.
But here's the cherry on top of the sundae: This person is connected to the owners of the direct sales company this person represents.
Everyody say it with me now: TACKY!
Not only is this a horrible reflection on Direct Sellers in general (I've 'dis-connected' myself from this person), but it also means that the company will get a black eye to boot.
This is exactly why we need more online marketing strategists and social media coaches working with direct sellers. At such a critical time, when companies are FINALLY embracing social media (or as Jennifer Fong pointed out, at least they're dipping their toe in), we've got galactic blunders like this hurtling about cyberspace just TRYING to ruin it for everyone else.
So while I doubt this person will EVER see my review of their "presentation", let my advice to you be plain: DO NOT BE THIS PERSON!
Lest you incur my wrath as well. :-)
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