A few weeks ago I had time to do things that I didn't really like. I drove out two financial investment product salesmen who insisted on explaining their products in my office. Lately, I have often been offered various types of investment products. I don't know where I got the information from, it seems they really know that I'm having a lot of money, hehehe ...
From the beginning I was contacted by telephone, I actually stated that I wasn't interested in their product. I am not open-minded, but as a former investment analyst, I know the exact risks of the investment products they offer, and the type of investment they do not match my profile and character. However, because our office was close together, these two salesmen were forced to come to the office when I was in the office. Finally, I gave them ten minutes to explain what benefits me if I invest in the products they offer.
And it turned out that the ten minutes had become ten minutes which was very annoying. Not to the point, it convinced me about the benefits of investment, risk and risk management, but the two salesmen actually lectured me that their products were not forbidden, their products were legal products, and so on. Until ten minutes had passed it was still unclear what was being sold and what was the benefit for me. As fellow sellers, I sympathize with them, so I help them with directing questions: if I have USD 10,000, how much do I get? Still not answered too. Again I was lectured that their products were different from foreign exchange investments, etc. Finally, with a heavy heart, I say thank you, and ask them to leave my room. This surprised them. Hopefully my expulsion will be a lesson and make them tough sellers in the future.
I am also a seller, and I always sympathize with the sellers. But I am very concerned with the use of sales techniques that have very low success rates. The investment product sales technique uses the "Cold Call" technique as a basis. Prospective customers will be contacted by telemarketers to make an appointment, then if prospective customers are willing, there will be salesmen who visit and try to seduce you to buy their products. I also used the same technique many years ago when selling software products in a foreign software company. The principle is simple, from the hundreds of people on the phone, there are a number of percent who will want to be visited by a salesman, from the tens of people who want to be visited by a salesman, there will be a percentage who want to buy. So if your sales target is not achieved, you have to call more and more. And believe me, this is very tiring.
The "Cold Call" technique makes a seller have to hunt for chasing potential buyers, whether they need it or not. And this can be very annoying to prospective buyers. Nothing is more annoying than being offered something we don't need. The "Cold Call" technique doesn't matter. This technique also does not consider how uncomfortable it is on the phone or suddenly visits by strangers, and then the unknown person forces us to follow their will. Maybe you have felt pasted by credit card sellers in shopping malls without bothering about the hassles of carrying groceries, or suddenly your house arrives at the guest of a vacuum cleaner who insists on demos, while you want to rest with your family. The "Cold Call" technique is less concerned about prospective customers. The "Cold Call" technique makes prospective buyers hate the seller, and has created a distance from the beginning. Then is there an alternative?
Of course there is. Frank J. Rumbauskas Jr. in his book "Never Cold Call Again!" mention "Self Marketing" as an alternative that is far more in line with the times. To understand Self Marketing, you can imagine an expert doctor selling well. The reputation is already very well recognized, and maybe to get the services you have to register and queue for hours. Should the doctor call the prospective patient, to offer his services? No need. However, why are people willing to stand in line for hours? Because the name of the doctor had already sold himself. Even if you don't know the address and telephone number of the doctor, you will ask here or there or googling on the internet. You as a potential buyer who will actively visit the doctor, not vice versa. In other words, if the "Cold Call" Technique is "how to sell, active sellers", then the "self-marketing" technique is "how to sell, active buyers".
Self Marketing will not demean you as a seller, because prospective buyers who will actively come to you. And more importantly, prospective buyers who contact you are the right person. People who really need your product or service. They will not feel disturbed, instead they will be happy to talk at length with you.
But how to implement Self Marketing?
Be the Expert
To be able to truly do Self Marketing, you must be an expert in your field, because what you will sell is your reputation. Suppose you sell accounting software, then you really need to be known as someone who is an expert in accounting software. One can ask everything about accounting and the method of recording on your computer. Even if you yourself cannot afford to become an expert, you can recruit people who are truly experts, and make them an expert team. Your track record in the past can also be a reference to your expertise.
Clear Message
You must have a clear "message" for your potential customers. Prospective customers must easily understand what areas you have mastered, and what solutions you can provide to their problems. Try to continue my sentence below: "Remember rice, remember ...". It's great that you might immediately call a brand of electronic products that successfully position themselves as products for rice. Their message has been very clear, so it sticks to the minds of all of us. Now imagine, if you succeed in having a clear message like that so that people will always associate your name with certain skills.
Use Levers
The more people who know your expertise, the more potential customers for you. Cold Call techniques have weaknesses where relationships are always created one to one. You can only call one person at a time. With Self Marketing, you can use leverage to create more potential customers. Techniques that can be used can utilize many media. You can create an event that confirms your expertise, for example with a free seminar on your area of expertise. Mass media can also be used, for example by making articles about your expertise and posting them in magazines. The Cold Call technique was developed before there was an internet. The leverage that the internet can provide in Self Marketing is extraordinary. For example, by blogging about your expertise, so people make your blog a reference, creating mailing lists about your area of expertise so that you can continue to communicate with your potential market, provide a free email newsletter to update your potential customers with the latest things, up to use search engine optimization to make your name easily searchable through search engines.
Create a system
And no less important is how to build a system to guarantee the supply of potential customers. The levers that you use must be part of a system that ideally runs "automatically". With internet technology this is getting easier, for example by using search engines to guide search for certain keywords to your website, then providing download brochures, whitepapers, or free files on your website, but at the same time you are tracking who is interested in your product. So it's not you who have to chase prospective customers, but the system that will do it.
Thus, Self Marketing will make people get to know you even though you are not actively selling. You will be able to sell, without selling.