If you're a business owner or marketing executive who wants insightful, jargon-free tips on making social media work for your business—FAST—you're in the right place. Jeff Molander is the authority on making social media sell. He's an international speaker, publisher, adjunct digital marketing faculty at Loyola University and an entrepreneur who co-founded the Google Affiliate Network. His book, "Off the Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Media Sell for You," is first to show how fans, readers and followers can be converted to leads, subscribers and sales. Make Social Sell is your practical resource on making social media produce leads and sales.
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What do potential and existing customers care about more in your business: Your culture, history of your company, how funny or "human" you are, or your ability to solve problems in innovative ways that help them create distinctive market position and grow?
Customers Care Less About Your Story
Reality check: Your clients rarely base decisions on starting or continuing to do business based on your corporate culture, attitude, style or personality.
They care more about their own problems or goals.
That's why smart B-to-B marketers are asking themselves a tough new question in 2013-to make sure their storytelling strategies actually drive sales.
"If customers make purchase decisions based on how well we solve problems for clients, why is our social media strategy focused on stories and image?"
Connect Stories to Your Selling Process
Telling prospects "I can solve your problem" through a story is weak as compared to the other three-part option:
In my own experience, success starts happening more when I resist telling prospects all about my company's "unique story," or those of my clients'.
Instead, I'm connecting my stories to a simple process, a nurturing program. The more I'm promising prospective customers a cure for an expressed pain, and taking them on a journey toward the remedy, the more they're identifying themselves as leads and transacting with me.
The difference is distinct: Telling disconnected stories that create images versus proving you're worth consideration by creating micro-successes with prospects. This is the way to start leading prospects toward (or away from) the larger solutions we're selling.
Here's How to Get Started
Let's say you're using LinkedIn for sales prospecting. When participating in LinkedIn group discussions ask yourself, "How can I get prospects to take an action based on what I know they want?"
Think of a shortcut, a smarter way of achieving a goal or avoiding a risk you can share. Solve a problem for them. But do it in a way that provokes an action-gets readers to more deeply explore the thought you just provoked.
In return you'll earn a chance at getting their permission to take them on a journey to a better place ... to continue a very focused, purpose-driven digital conversation that ultimately you can relate to whatever it is you sell.
If you do this, you'll have a much easier way figuring out how to create a social media sales strategy that creates sales for you! You'll be generating B-to-B leads with social media more effectively.
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