Great sales start with even greater detailed meticulous planning.  All the homework, research, and effort you put into your pre-call sales plan will lead to great conversations and even larger sales.  The proof of this is in your own experiences and in the habits of the highly successful salespeople in your company.

Putting in the effort to plan for your sales call removes the risk of error, nasty surprises, and wasting of time.  The more you prepare, the easier the sales call is.  In fact it is so easy it is like having a great conversation!

Doctor, bare with me.  You and I are going to be looking at this presentation for the very first time. – Anonymous Salesperson

Failure To Plan Is A Plan To Failure

Yet most salespeople do not do anything in regards to pre-call sales planning.  (Looking up information in your computer before you walk in to a call does not count as pre-call sales planning.  It is more like cramming for a test.)  The excuses as to why not are as numerous as the stars in the sky.  You have:

• I know all there is to know about my customer.  I have been calling on them for years!
• I have so much to do that there is no time!  Besides, I have practiced my presentation numerous times.
• The data is old, wrong, and not applicable to my customer.
• A personal favorite… Hmmm, let me think about it and I’ll look up some information after the call.

Do any of these sounds familiar?  Have you said them yourself before?

You know when a call goes bad because you did not plan at all for it.  Questions sound awkward.  The customer is politely listening but you can see in their eyes they feel sorry for you or even begging that you end the torture.  What was once an hour appointment is done in ten minutes.  You never even get the chance to ask for the business and if you do it is completely inappropriate.

The sales call is so bad, so horrible, that you even consider becoming a hermit.  If you do not have that insight and you cannot understand why you are not making sales… well, what does your pre-call sales plan look like?

Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous. – Mark Caine.

9 Steps To Pre-Call Planning

1. Review all the sales notes, previous contracts, previous buying habits, and other information on the customer you are going to call on.
   • If it is a brand new prospect – review who their vendors are, buying habits for same priced items, and how they win business.
2. Review the image of the company you are going to visit by looking at their website, facebook, twitter, blog, and any other information you can find on the internet.
3. If the company is public review their annual report.  This will help you see how profitable they are, what their vision is for the future, and if they have announced any major plans that will effect your business.
   • If you know other vendors that work with your client/customer talk to them.  Find out about payments, length of contract negotiations, and who they turn to in times of trouble.
4. Google who you are meeting with and where.  If they are on LinkedIn, see how removed you are from them and if you can get connected.
5. Compile the information from your research and look for gaps in information.
   • You will turn these gaps into “areas of interest.”
   • Create a hypothesis as to why these gaps in information exist.
6. Write open-ended questions that will test your hypothesis and help you fill in the information gaps.
7. Visualize the sales call:
   • How do you expect it to go?
   • What will you do if you are cut short?
   • What will you do if you are given more time?
   • Where do you expect the customer give you objections?
   • When do you want to close the sale?
8. Create anticipated objections from the information you have gathered.
9. Practice your sales presentation with your questions in front of the mirror, your friends/family, and in the car.

A lot of my time was spent searching, thinking and planning my life. – Ryan White

Time Invested = Big Money

Pre-call sales planning is a time consuming process that reaps huge rewards.  You are likely to spend more time on the pre-call plan than you are on the actual sales call.  That is okay.  It means that you are digging deep to understand more about the needs of your customer.  It means that you are preparing to enter into a deep conversation that will be enlightening and have an impact.

What most salespeople do not like is the fact that proper pre-call sales planning takes time away from other things, like watching TV.  Yes, you have been called out.  The dirty little secret is that you, the salesperson, get paid the big bucks because you do not punch in/out on a set schedule.  Sales can occur at anytime.  Therefore you have to use your downtime to plan, practice, and prepare for success.

Will you use everything that you have planned for?  Most likely not, but you will be prepared.  That preparation equals confidence, which equals being ready for anything.  Having that feeling you will walk into any presentation, sales call, or meeting looking taller, stronger, and calmer than the other people in the room.  Your confidence will rub off on everyone else.   You will feel as ready as ever to take on the world.

The great conversation – the magic – that happens from investing your time into pre-call sales planning will result in larger sales.

How do you plan for sales success? What are some examples of pre-call sales planning failures?

I was once told that when a customer gives you an objection that the selling really begins.  The theory being that there is interest by the customer but they need a reason to buy.  Their objections are there for you to help them justify buying.

Well, I object!

Sorry to cut your head off with that answer.

When a customer asks a question, it is just that… a question.  Sadly many salespeople see it as means to dig deeper and present harder.  You see they have been trained to do a number of steps to overcome the objection and win the sale.  Instead they simply talk past the customer – the one politely listening and nodding – that wishes the torture would just end.  Most times, the sale is never made and another customer is annoyed.

Doubt me?  Be the customer and go engage in a sales conversation.  Ask a question and watch how the salesperson goes through their steps.  You will be amazed about how they never really answer your question.  That is because they are overcoming an objection.

If you are in sales, do you do the same thing?

The way you see people is the way you treat them. – Zig Ziglar

Does It Come In Blue?

So how do you overcome the sales trap of overcoming the “objection”?  Easy, recognize that a question is just a question.  That is a question is a tool used to learn more, to become better informed, and to weigh the pros/cons of a decision.  If you believe a great sales call is a stellar conversation, then you know that questions are an integral part of great conversations.

Imagine you are at a car dealership looking at a brand new car.  You are listening to the salesperson present all the features that this car has.  You ask a question, “Does it come in blue?”  Which answer would you prefer?

A)   Yes it does! We’ve got one on the lot right now, would you like to test drive it?

B)   How do you feel about the color blue?

C)   Yes.

D)   We’ve got over ten different colors to choose from; blue is one of them.

Is this your sales process?

If you are a standard salesperson than three of those answers will do.  Most of them answer the question as an objection and do not seek to find out more from you.  You might like blue, hate blue, or simply don’t care.  What you do care about – what 99.9% of all customers care about – is being listened to.  Therefore there is only one choice above that is correct.

To answer a customer’s question you first need to understand the thought process behind the question.  So by answering the question with a question you are demonstrating that you are listening and seeking to better understand the needs of your client.  You are using the tools of a great conversation.  The answer your client gives you will determine if it is just a question or some deeper need.

Remember, you only have to succeed the last time. – Brian Tracy

Sales Is Not A Process

Each sales call you have with a client is unique.  You cannot place a process upon it.  Sales calls do not follow an algorithm.  A sales call simply has a beginning, middle, and an end.  What happens in between is different from sales call to sales call.

When you treat sales as a process you might as well be telling your customers that you see it like an automatic phone system.  The ones that ask you to listen to options and make choices.  (Oddly those options are never what you need when you call.)  The same automatic phone systems that follow an algorithm designed to make it difficult for you to actually get in contact with a human being.  I have yet to meet a person who enjoys going through that torture.

If sales calls are not a process then the questions a customer gives you are not objections to be plugged into a flow chart, but a means to engage you, the salesperson, in a conversation.  Your job is to listen and seek to understand what information the customer needs to make an informed decision.  Heaven forbid, you might even have a conversation with your customer!

What are your thoughts on objections vs. questions?

I am guilty as the next person.  I get offended if I walk into a store and no one asks if they can help me.  Yet, if they do, I completely blow them off.  It is as if I am looking forward to telling them that I am “just looking”.  The reality is that I have been trained to respond to a specific set of “sales” behavior and when I don’t get it… well I am just offended by the poor customer service!

Yes I like bad openers.  We all do really because stores get graded poorly if the salesperson does not ask us the bare minimum, “Can I help you?”  That is right… you, me, the person on the train/plane/car lane next to you… we expect bad openers.

That has translated into most sales professionals having contrived uninteresting boorish presentation starters.  These range from the “How would you feel if I told you that you could ____________?” to “Hi, I am here to _____________ about ____________.”  (If this were a Madlibs you could have a great time filling in those blanks!)  None of them reach out and grab your attention.  I believe it comes from two things:

1.)  Fear of being told that the client is “just looking.”

2.)  Some internal desire to transfer the torture of practicing a sales pitch over and over without regards as to who will actually hear it.  (Imagine if you will a salesperson saying to himself, I don’t care how I get into the sales presentation! As long as I do, I am a success!

You do not want to be like this, you want to be different.

Somebody is boring me.  I think it is me. – Dylan Thomas

One Chance To Get It Right

Successful sales people do not just have a presentation, a canned opener, and stock questions.  No, they train themselves to have detailed intense (some could say almost intimate) conversations with their customers.  They start by having an opener that will spark that conversation, realizing that each conversation is a different event and each customer is unique.  How you get to that level is through belief and practice.

To build special insightful conversations that will make your clients want to buy from you, refer to you, and rely upon you then you must make these fundamentals core to your salesmanship:

Belief….

• You must believe that each customer is unique and different.
• You must believe that each contact with a customer can educate you and them.
• You must believe that the interaction you will have may be life altering.
• You must believe that no one can help them like you.

Practice…

• Asking open-ended questions that keep a conversation alive.
• Practice different ways to open a conversation with a complete stranger.
• Smiling.
• Listening.
• Talking professionally for measured impact.

Leave no interaction to chance.

That last part implies that you have only one chance to get it right.  Just like your first impression, not matter what you do afterwards it leaves a lasting mark.  So too should you approach each sales call as if it is the one opportunity to get it right.  When think of a sales conversation as such, you will remove as much randomness as possible.

Stellar salespeople believe in themselves and their clients.  Stellar salespeople practice earnestly with creativity so that their interspersing of product information is natural and not forced.  Stellar salespeople do all the necessary preparation to make sure that chance is removed from the equation.   All of this translates into stellar salespeople having openers that don’t sound like openers, instead they sound like the beginning of a beautiful conversation.

You can be that way too, if you desire.

Salesmanship is an art; the perfection of its technique requires study and practice. – J. C. Penney

What are some of the worst openers you have experienced?

You ever have a great conversation that changes the way you view things?  You know, the type of conversation that makes you use everything you’ve learned, makes you take a stand, and leaves you feeling refreshed.  Ever have one of those?

Did you know that you could have one of those conversations when it comes to your business?

Yes you can.

Engrossed in conversation

It begins with you believing that every sales call is an opportunity to have a conversation with your customer/client.  You must believe that this sales call will challenge they way you think and provide you with an opportunity to educate the other participant(s).   In order to have a successful conversation you have to believe in yourself, your product/services, and in the best interest of your customer.

You have to believe.

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That’s why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet. – Truman Capote

Anatomy of A Great Conversation

Close your eyes.  Think back to any of the great conversations you have had in your life.   What components did they have in common?  How did you feel during them?

I bet as you look back through your conversations you will find that the common components were:

• Having time.
• Asking great challenging questions.
• Opening your personal filters to accept new opinions.
• Allowance for a natural flow – give and take.
• Listening.
• Trust.

Notice what is missing?  Intimate knowledge of the other participant who is part of the conversation.  Granted that most great conversations are with family members and/or friends, there are times when they are held with complete strangers.  When they are held with strangers the same components apply.

A conversation goes sometimes into personal things and that’s nicer. You look to each other and you have a different picture, you get into a relationship. – Maximilian Schell

Practice + Sales Call = Great Conversation

So how do you make a sales call into a great conversation?  Well you must have the same components!  To have those same components you have to practice!

You need to believe in what you are going to ask, say, and demonstrate.  They only way to get this belief is to practice.  Practice your sales call in front of a mirror, practice on your family, and practice on your friends/colleagues.  When you practice with others it should not be a “you speak, they listen” approach, instead it should be in the form of a conversation.  This will help you test your questions, respond to objections that might arise, and… practice listening.

Now, I am sure you a saying to yourself, “Hey! Aren’t conversations supposed to be natural and not staged?  What is up with all this practicing?”  The answer is yes, conversations should occur naturally.  The reason to practice is for you to know when and where you will introduce your product’s benefits for your client.  Through practice you will sound natural when you speak about your product information.

Practicing with your dog counts!

Some of the best comedians present their comedy in a conversational way instead of the old setup and punch line.  As you watch them it seems as if they are bringing up all that funny stuff from the top of their heads.  The secret as to why it comes of so natural… practice.

The same is true in discussing your products/services with your clients.  If you do not practice then you will come off as pushy.  You will not truly listen to your client; instead you will only be waiting for your turn to speak to pitch your product.  In comedy they call that crow barring in a joke.  In sales it is called being obnoxious.  The result is failure either way.

Through your practicing you will be confident in yourself, you will believe, and that will build trust, allow for a flow in the conversation, and help you deactivate your personal filters so that you are open to the needs of your customers.  When you do speak you will present your information naturally as if it is a part of your personal belief system.

A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. – Mark Twain

Applicable To Any Sales Call

Obviously there will be times when you cannot have a conversation because the other party is just not interested in having one.  You will find that to be the exception though as you will be actively engaging with customers that truly desire to be helped and want a conversation that provides it.

Your goal should be that every sales call is a great conversation no matter if it is in social media, in person, webinar, or over the phone.  It can be done through practice.

Let’s talk about the dirtiest word in business.  You know the word.  It is the most important word that means the lifeblood to any business.  The word is… sales.

Person To Person Sales In The Andes

Why is it dirty?  Without sales there can be no revenue, and without revenue there can be no cash to pay salaries and the bills.  Sales are the most important component of business and it is typically the connection a business has with its customers.  Yet… many people don’t want to be known as a salesperson.

Could it be the polyester suit cheesy smile say anything promise everything close close close personality that most people have about salespeople?  Or is it that people who don’t want to be known as a salesperson are afraid of being told “no”?  Is it beneath them to ask for business?

Whatever the reason is without sales a business does not exist.

“We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.” – Alexis de Tocqueville

How To Overcome Your Sales Fear

You are going to be different than most people.  Whether you work for a large corporation or you are in business for yourself, you are going to embrace sales!  You are going to excel at it!

Before you begin your embracement of the dirtiest word in business you need to know what sales is not.  Sales is not…

• Being pushy.
• Wearing polyester plaid suits.
• Cheesy smiles.
• Lying about what your product/services can do.
• Being the perfect “pitchman.”
• Always knowing everything.
• Always talking.

If you think that those traits are part of sales, then you have been sadly misinformed or abused by an annoying salesperson.  Now that you know what sales is not, let’s talk about what sales is…

• Listening.
• Asking questions to learn about needs and be better informed.
• Educating customers and clients about options.
• Searching for the right answers to client questions.
• Sincere smiles and thank you’s.
• Honesty and integrity.
• Practicing.

I am betting that you identify with the traits and characteristics of sales just mentioned.  If you do, then you are ready to be an ultimate salesperson.  The next step is for you need to get rid of your fear.

The fear I am talking about is being told “no.”  To avoid that most people adopt a different personality that is not them.  I call it the “Salesperson Secret Identity”.  Why is it a secret, because even their loved ones wouldn’t recognize them.  They come of as stiff, unbending, not listening and when the pressure hits… pushy.  This all comes from the fear of getting shot down.

Don’t be like that!

Conversing about product quality

Instead recognize that sales is a conversation.  At the end of that conversation you are asking the other participant(s) to do something.  Successful conversations have the traits of what makes a successful salesperson as listed above.

You have conversations everyday in your life.  You are asking others to do things for you and in return they are asking you to do things for them.  It is as natural as breathing.

So unless you have a fear of conversing with another person, then there should really be no reason to fear talking to another person about your product/services.  With that “no” is a natural part of any conversation.

Your fear… easily laid to rest.

“Everyone lives by selling something.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Okay, Not That Easy

Well, actually it really is.  Most things in life are simple.  We allow them to become complicated through our fear, procrastination, and ease to distraction.  By doing so we don’t see how simple it is.

This month the Finding Answers Blog is going to help your remove the barriers, distractions, and fears to help you in sales.

So will you do me a favor and give some of the solutions here a try?

Mistakes.  They happen.  They are going to happen.  The best you can hope for is to avoid them as much as possible and minimize their damage.  Mistakes.  They are what make us human.

In social media, mistakes are going to happen.  There will be miscommunication, misunderstanding, and failure to recognize opportunities.  Should this be the end of the world for your business?  No, and it should not be the end of your business’s foray into social media either.

The best way to minimize mistakes is to plan.  The best way to minimize the damage from the mistakes is to learn from them.  The best way to move forward is to recognize that mistakes can have hidden golden opportunities.  The only way to do that is to have a plan.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting – Buddha

Social Media Plan

Each interaction in social media needs to be coordinated against a larger plan.  This plan is your business’ overall approach to how you are going to use social media.  This plan will be adjusted as new initiatives and opportunities to arise.

Your social media plan should have the following components:

• Determine who is responsible for initiating, monitoring, and engaging in social media.
• Determine the goal of each message.
• Develop a decision-making model for conversations.
• Develop metrics to be measured for success/failure.
• Develop time frames for each initiative, conversation, and response.

These components will have to fit with the platform you have chosen as your social media platform.  That will have a determination on how important each component is.

Planning should involve all the key actors for your business.  This should include the decision makers all the way down to the communicators that will be implementing your social media plan.  This will help your team understand their roles, understand the decision-making model being used, and have the important buy-in by all parties involved.

During the planning sessions role-playing should be used to extrapolate the diversity and breadth of potential conversations that can be had.  This time can be used to discover where mistakes can be made; test assumptions of your social media plan and help create confidence in the use of the platform you have chosen.  Role-playing will help your team be able to identify weaknesses and opportunities when they arise.

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure.  Continue to reach out. – Benjamin Franklin

Recognizing Mistakes

What social media planning helps your company do is be prepared for when mistakes happen.  They are going to happen.  It is in those mistakes that serendipity typically reigns and only well prepared companies are able to turn them into opportunities.

If you have a plan then you can make a decision.

Without planning and practice – through role-playing – your company will not even know when a mistake has been made and how to respond to it.  Take for example when Kevin Smith, the director, was asked to get off of a Southwest Airlines flight due to his size.  He got off and tweeted it immediately.  This could have caused a huge firestorm for Southwest Airlines if it did not have a social media plan in place.  Since Southwest did have a plan in place it was able to respond quickly and get all the facts out.  The result was a healthy conversation about the policies of Southwest and questioned motives of Mr. Smith.  The final verdict was left to those witnesses this social engagement and the potential for a bad public relations day was avoided.

The mistake was on both parties.  For Southwest, it should not have allowed Mr. Smith to take the earlier flight (it was packed) because of his size and their policy of charging larger passengers for two seats.  The flight he was on did not have enough.  For Mr. Smith, tweeting about this incident near the release of a new film of his made it look like it was self-serving to get free publicity.  The result was healthy education through social media engagement on the policies of Southwest and the steps they took to accommodate Mr. Smith.  Both got exposure and both got their side of the incident out.

Without planning, the mistake by Southwest would not have been able to be forward leaning to have a conversation about its policies online.  It would have had to approach everything in a reactive and defensive mode.  Southwest would not have been able to be part of the conversation.  Southwest would not have been prepared to respond.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way. – Dale Carnegie

Accepting Responsibility

Having a social media plan helps your business take responsibility when there is a mistake.  In a hyper-litigious society most companies never really say sorry and take responsibility.  The British Petroleum accident in the Gulf of Mexico has a sideshow of finger pointing as part of its narrative.  While there are about 35,000 barrels (roughly 350,000 gallons or 1,400,000 liters) of oil a day spilling into the waters.  The CEO of BP even made matters worse by complaining on his Facebook page.  Talk about not having a social media plan and making a mistake worse!

Social media – which allows for companies to have a direct conversation with customers while others watch – allows for companies to take responsibility.

A perfect example is in Chicago.  The Dominos Pizza franchise of Chicago uses social media to promote specials, engage with its customers, and to own up to mistakes.  In one instance one of the stores made a mistake with an order.  In response to a complaint that was tweeted, the store manager and the employee that made the mistake owned up to it.  Instead of ducking behind policies, procedures, or even finger pointing this Dominos franchise said sorry.  They did it by posting a video and engaging the customer directly while others watched.  The result: accolades and increased business.

This could not have happened without a social media plan.  Roles are assigned, conversation is thought out and dynamic, and individuals engage with other individuals in sincere conversation.  The social media plan of the Chicago Dominos franchise is focused and involved.  Through their social media plan they are a part of the conversation and a part of the community.  A local business taking advantage of a free platform to stay engaged.

If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything.  I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes. – John Wooden

Mistakes Help You Learn

Mistakes.  They are going to happen.  As you start your social media engagement or you are already in one and your reassessing it, you will make mistakes.  It is through those mistakes that you will learn and grow.   Some may be costly and while I will not say that it is okay, how you rebound from it can be the biggest boon to your business.

A mistake made in front of the world.

If you are watching the World Cup then you may have heard about one of the largest mistakes made on the world stage by Robert Green, England’s Goalkeeper.  It was a simple mistake that allowed the United States to tie the match.  Mistakes in such a high-pressure event – especially at a key position – have repercussions for the team and the player involved.  Everyone watched as the mistake was made and now they are watching to see how Robert Green rebounds.

He and his team have learned a lot from that mistake.  He will be more aggressive to get behind the ball.  The team will clamp down to stop outside shots like Clint Dempsey’s.  Other teams are telling their keepers not to pull “a Green.”

So it will be when you make a mistake in social media.  Others will learn from your mistake and you will learn as well.  You cannot react and find the opportunities in your mistake if you do not have a social media plan.

How do you plan for your social media use?

Physics is governed by laws and theories that help scientists understand how our universe works.  There is the Theory of Relativity, the String Theory, and Newton’s Laws.  So it is with business.  While there are theories out there that you can put to use in helping make your business successful, there are also business laws that you violate at your own peril.  One of the most famous laws is the Law of Location.

Your office, your shop, your website, and you attendance at networking events are proof of the Law of Location at work.  If you are where your potential clients and customers are then you will most likely be successful.  Conversely if you are in a place where there are no potential clients then… it is going to be very hard to be successful.

The same Law of Location applies to where your business should spend its time in social media.  Your chances of having successful engagements and conversations will be best served if you are in the right location.

I want to put a ding in the universe. – Steve Jobs

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Oh! My!

Facebook and Twitter are household names.  You may have a personal profile on both of them.  There is no doubt that both are growing and being used more by businesses to communicate with their customers.  The latest stats show that the trend for the use of Facebook will most likely eclipse the use of Google.1 Yet is that the right platform for your business?

A great place for a high traffic newsstand?

Twitter is a real time streaming platform that only allows you to communicate in 140 characters or less.  Dell, Starbucks, JetBlue, and Whole Foods are considered the most successful corporations that use Twitter.  Dell is even reporting that it has earned up to $3 million in sales through its use of Twitter.2 Can your business really provide value in a rapid-fire environment like that?

The answer to these questions comes back to knowing your market, your business, and your customer.  Before you even jump into social media, you better have that knowledge firmly researched and understood.  The best way to do that is… ask your customers!  Ask them if, when, where, and how they engage in social media.  Doing this diligent research will save you the time (which always equals money) that you will invest in your social media effort.

So get cracking and do the necessary research before you even begin your campaign.  You might even discover that social media is not right for your business.  Yet, I highly doubt that.  The reality is that you will most likely discover that there are only a few platforms that are right for your business.

I like the atmosphere, the food and the beer.  The location is perfect, very easy to get to. – Arun Das

Communicate Correctly At Your Location

This sounds like that should be something that is easy to do, but sadly many businesses do this incorrectly.  Each social media platform has its own rules for engagement and the community expects you to get it right.  Otherwise you will be ignored or worse… labeled as a spammer!

It is the same when you would research a physical location for your business.  Not only would you look at the traffic that will place clients at your doorstep, but also at the rules and laws you have to follow to advertise to that traffic.  The same applies to social media, although without the official laws and codes that can land you with fines.

Shouting! The best way to shut communication down!

One of the bet ways to understand the nature of the communication of the social platform you have chosen is to observe.  Watch how your clients communicate with your competition, other customers and in other markets outside yours.  Passively observe your competition and how they communicate with your market.  By listening – which can only be active when applied to social media – you will learn what works, what offends, and what is… boring.  This information will help you create content that engages and builds a conversation around it.

Remember that business is a transaction between people.  For that transaction to take place ideas, concepts, and values have to be communicated in a means that is easily understood by all parties involved.  That means you have to listen to be an effective communicator in the real world and in social media.

I like to listen.  I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.  Most people never listen. – Ernest Hemingway

Successful use of social media is being in the right location and being involved.  That means a give and take and letting the conversation flow like a river.  To allow that conversation to flow you have to give up control and trust those you have engaged with.  Most businesses have a hard time doing that.

Yet, if you are in the right location and you trust your customers, then there is nothing to worry about.  In the process you will learn the underlying needs, ingenious uses of your products/services that would remain hidden, and of new opportunities all by being open.

Do your homework.  Find the social media location where you and your business belong.  Listen, engage, and communicate in the correct way for your social media location.  Allow for the serendipity to begin!

What other ways are there for you to find the right social media location for your business?

2 Miller, C. C. “Dell Says It Earned $3 Million From Twitter” New York Times, 12 June 2009.

If your business is online with its very own website then you most likely have a persona online, although you probably did not think about your online persona when launched your website.  You just wanted to get your business on the web.  Your website talks about your business, possibly you, and has pictures.  If you were to describe your online persona that your website puts out… what is it?

I would wager that the word professional came to your lips.

What about fun, hip, cool, classy, kicking, awesome, expert, wow, or generous?

Can all of those descriptions go with a professional look and feel?

All right I will stop with the questions.  You do not need to have an answer for them now, but what you need to do is think about the answers for them, how you perceive yourself, how others perceive you, and how you want to be perceived.  Doing all this thinking will help you define your persona.

You need a persona to attract, engage, and establish relationships in social media.

After I saw Kiss on stage, I wanted my show to look like the fourth of July. The persona of Rick James was wild and crazy, sex, drugs and rock and roll. – Rick James

Authenticity

Are you being real?

If you have done some reading about social media online then you have read about “being real” and “being authentic” when it comes to engaging with others.  This is something that you cannot be careless about.  Once other members on the social network sites feel you are unauthentic you will lose the potential of reaching large audiences.  People are on social media sites to network and engage with other real people.

To be authentic you need to know thyself.  This means asking your current customers, your competition, and anyone with an opinion to give you the honest truth about how your business presents itself to the world.  You might not like what you hear but it will be incredibly helpful.

While you might think you are one funny person – heck I’m in stitches thinking about you right now – if everyone around you does not think so then there will be a huge disconnect.  This disconnect will result in confusion, complaints, and lost sales.  Spend the time to discover who you are.

Once you have discovered what your perceived persona by the outside world is, you need to decide if you are going to embrace it or change it.  Either way your work is not done.  You need to do a total review on how you communicate with the outside world.  Does what you say and what you show match?

All of your marketing material needs to match up with the voice you are using in whatever social media platform you are using.  You want your new fans/followers to dig deeper and learn more about your business.  You want them to become experts about your products/services and rave about you to their network.  That will not happen if there is a huge disconnect between your social media account and your website.  You will be seen as not being authentic.

Who does this best?  Take a look at Starbucks.  Their website, Facebook fan page, and their tweets all have a persona that matches with their brand image: hip cool and coffee.  What makes it even better is that Starbucks has individual baristas participate in the social media discussions.  Each of them adds their individual flare to the discussion but it does not break from the overall persona of Starbucks.  Instead it enhances it, making the Starbucks social media experience 100% authentic.

Because we’re actors we can pretend and fake it, but I’d rather the intimate investment was authentic. – Keanu Reeves

Combining Personas

What Is this Persona?

You may have decided that your personal persona – the fun and whacky you – is not business appropriate.  How sad.  Why hide yourself from the world?  Is it because you feel it is not professional enough?  Afraid you might offend someone?

I hate to burst your bubble, but even the strict “professional you” is offending someone.  So why hide the real you from your business?

The first rule that you must understand and repeat to yourself everyday: People buy from people.  Repeat the mantra because it is true.  People love to buy from other people and establish a relationship that is mutually beneficial.  In fact the whole economy is based on people buying from other people.  It is the exact same way in social media.  So I ask you again, why hide the real you?

If your business is considered by everyone who has an interaction with it as being professional, I am not saying that you should burn that persona and become super crazy.  No, because that is insane.  There is some part of you that is that professional persona.  Instead, you can combine your professional and fun side.  It will make you even more authentic.

Think I am crazy?  Look up Jeffery Gitomer.  He is an author and number one sales trainer.  He is both professional and fun.  People want to be around him and he attracts a lot of business.  He made the decision long ago to combine his professional and fun loving personas.  It has been a success!

Like Jeffery, you can do it too!

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. – Dale Carnegie

Social media is becoming more than just cats playing with laser pointers, bulldogs skateboarding, or the latest stupid human trick.  Social media is a medium that allows your business to engage in authentic deep conversations with your clients, potential clients, and your community.  It is a great tool that can result in successful business ventures if you are true to yourself first.

Take the time to understand how you want to interact with the outside world.  Determine how you want that world to interact with you.  Be fearless and allow serendipity to be your guide.  You will be amazed about what you learn, who you meet, and powerful business connections you will make.

In order to do that you must be authentic.

In a previous post I discussed five guidelines a business should follow when it comes to engaging in social media.  They are question, plan, location, test, and measure.  In the coming posts I will be discussing each of them in greater detail.  This post will focus on the questions you need to ask yourself and your business before you begin.

Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.

Tony Robbins

The Foundation Question

Why should anyone listen to you?

Is anybody listening?

That is a pretty humbling question.  It makes you have to justify your existence in social media.  It puts you on the spot and can make you feel narcissistic in answering.  Yet, in its answer you will find the foundation for your social media plan and how you will measure your success/failure.

When you started your business you asked yourself the same question.  Slightly different in its wording – Why would anyone buy your product/services? – but basically the same.  I am sure you answered that question with a burning passion to fulfill the unmet needs of your customers.  Only you could make them be better off.

You must have the same faith in yourself in engaging in social media.  You have a profound message and that those who listen to you will be better persons, will learn something new, will find answers to their questions, etc.

My client Rocky Mountain Roots knows that their services will lead their customers to lead healthier lives.  They know that their community has a few misunderstandings when it comes to alternative medicine.  So my clients engage their community to educate them.  They hold the passionate belief that they are the best people to educate their community.  That is their why.

What will yours be?

We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Voice Question

Some confuse this with persona, which is how your network perceives you.   Your voice is how you will write, post, tweet, and otherwise engage with your audience.  You need to determine what your voice is going to be and make sure that it is consistent across all social media networks your are engaging in.

Typically most businesses engage in the third person as their voice.  This only gives credence that companies are cold faceless entities that care little for their customers’ needs/complaints.  It is best to have a first person voice.

Speaking in the first person has to match with the social media persona you are going to be using.  The first person creates an individual bond with each person you are engaging with.  They feel as if they are speaking with a real person as opposed to a faceless entity.

Understand that you will not please everyone.  That is okay, because pleasing everyone pleases no one.  So define your voice that best represents your business and make sure that it is personal.

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.

Ernest Hemingway

The Listening Question

If you have been engaged individually in social media already you know that some people and/or businesses are only focused on themselves.  Just like in real life.  It is all me, me, me, and more me.

One of the tenets – one would say laws – of social media for businesses is to listen.  The question that needs to be answered is what kind of listening will you do?

Will you listen just to customers and potential clients?

Will you listen to your markets?

Will you listen to your competition?

Will you listen to learn?

Will you listen to bad/good news?

Will you listen to comments about you?

The answer should be a resounding “YES!” to all of them.

I hear what your saying but I am not listening

The great thing about the different social media platforms is that you can set up searches for items you want to know about, keep tabs on, and to educate yourself.  With many social media platforms providing real-time updates, you can passively monitor and listen.

The key to listening is being active in it.  This means that you cannot listen to everything or it becomes white noise.  When you develop your social media plan you will need to identify specifically what it is that you want to listen to.  Therefore you will be more actively engaged and focused on the information that matters to you and your customers the most!

HINT: Listening is always about them, never about you.

It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.

Karl Von Clausewitz

Once you have answered these and the other questions mentioned in the previous post, you will have a strong foundation to build a social media strategy and tactical plan.  You will be able to engage your audience and create loyal fans.  You will be in position to outmaneuver your competition and grow your business.  You will become a social media success!

Additional Reading For Your Success

Make Twitter Successful For Your Business

22 Traits of Successful Happy Bloggers

13 Truths About Social Media

5 Social Media Guidelines For Beginners

What questions would you ask your business, customers, or yourself before you jump into social media? Don’t be shy; share!

The alluring call of the Siren has finally gotten you to succumb.  You are going to market your business into the social media realm.  Here are five guidelines you need to follow to be successful in leveraging social media for your business.

Answer A Few Questions

We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong. – Bono

Before you begin blogging, posting, tweeting, and linking you need to answer a few questions first.  The answers you provide will help you establish a focused effort that will result in a better use of resources.  So take your time to really answer them before you jump feet first into social media.  Here are the questions:

• Why should/would anyone listen to you?
• What is your persona?
• What is your voice?
• Where will you engage?
• Who will you want to engage?
• Who will execute your social media plan?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• When do you want to begin?
• How will you measure success?
• How will you listen?

Ten questions that you should have strong answers to before you begin your social media campaign.  All of them are weighed equally in importance.

Is your team asking the right questions?

It is has been my experience that where companies fail is in answering the first, third, and tenth questions sufficiently.  The result has been that these businesses present an unfocused approach that repeatedly misses opportunities to build a strong brand.  So take your time in researching your answers.

Make A Plan

The path to success is to take massive, determined action. – Tony Robbins

You made a business plan for your business, you made a marketing plan to market your business, and you may even have your salespeople use sales plans to beat their quota.  You know that plans keep your company focused and on target.  So why would you not have a plan for your use of social media?

This plan should layout the overall strategy for your social media campaign.  It will be particularly strong if you have successfully answered the questions above.  Primarily knowing what you want to measure and how you define success in social media are key components to your plan.   It will keep you focused and away from wasting time.

Your social media plan should be incorporated with your marketing, sales, and customer service plans.  It should not be a stand-alone entity.  Doing this will allow you to keep a

The Secret Recipe

single voice and representation of your brand not matter where your customers may engage you.

Your social media plan – like other plans for your business – should be a living document that is updated and adjusted to take advantage of opportunities for your business.  It is best to break down your tactical components of your social media plan into 30-60-90 day increments.  It is easier to execute in more manageable bites.

Choose The Right Platform

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. – Abraham Lincoln

It is important that you research which social media platform is right for your business.  Do not get caught up in the initial hype surrounding some of the platforms out there.  Facebook may not be where your customers are if you are a manufacturing B2B that sells ball bearings.  Go where your customers and where influencers of your customers roam.  This means that you might not go on to Twitter or Facebook, but set up a blog or network intensely on LinkedIn.  Business is still location, location, and location.

Test With Patience And Adjust

Distance tests a horse’s strength. Time reveals a person’s character. – Chinese Proverb

You need to measure your actions.

If you are entering into social media for the first time or coming back to it after a failed attempt, remember that patience is a virtue.  Social media is not a quick sale or a fast customer service resolution.  Social media is about being social and building relationships.  In essence social media is about what you and I do everyday at the office, with our customers, and how we make friends.  All of the things we have learned in the real world apply in social media: it takes time to get to know someone.

The great thing about that time is it allows you to test ideas, messaging, and service models while receiving feedback (that can be brutally honest) about your products.  If you enter into this medium with honest intentions you will be rewarded with insights that you would have most likely been overlooked.

Measure Your Effort

People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results – Albert Einstein

When you have established what it is that you want to measure in your social media campaign – measure it.  It could be gaining new followers, subscribers, fans, or customers.  Whatever it may be, the measurement you have selected is the best indicator of your efforts and if they are in alignment with your plan.  This is the same as how your measure your sales versus a quota or the return on a capital investment your business has made.  Otherwise how do you know what you are doing is correct?

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.  – Ghandi

Odysseus had his crew put wax in their ears so they would not row his ship upon the deadly rocks where the Sirens lived.  Only he heard their song.  Your business needs to have the same focus.

When you decide to enter into social media as a marketing tool it can be easy for everyone to want to be involved.  That will tear you business apart and waste valuable resources.  Your effort needs to be focused.

There is no need to rush when it comes to social media.  Learn, observe, research, plan, and then execute a campaign that focuses on building strong relationships.  You will be rewarded.