This sounds like a silly idea - all of us would rather be called than call, when it comes to selling our speaking services. BUT - how many of us are willing to actually do what it takes to be called? One of the secrets of many of the most successful speakers out there is that they do a LOT of work generating the market awareness that leads prospective clients to call them. In many, many cases, this means writing - and writing material that other people will read and value. Some speakers, like Jeffrey Gitomer, even go so far as to say they are primarily writers - and I would agree.
As a general rule, you can put time and money into marketing or selling - and writing is a very efficient means of marketing. What work do YOU do to get prospective clients calling you?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Why did you call me?
If you want people to call you - and I do, because I'm terrible at selling - this is the most important question you can ask any potential client who calls you: "Why did you call me?". It lets the client help you learn what marketing efforts are working, and in the process, also sell himself/herself on the reasons why you are the right person to be calling at that time.
Don't let it go with a simple answer, though. Many people who call say "I read your book.", which is cool, but I also get a lot of "I googled you." Now, this tells me my web marketing efforts must be having some effect, but to really get the most out of my marketing work, I need to know which efforts are working. A good follow-up question is "What, exactly did you google?". You might also ask what else your prospect found, since that will give you a good idea of the competitive group you are playing with.
Frankly, since I'm so bad at selling, I'd rather have lots of conversation about these questions. It tells me so much about the need that is in the caller's mind, and helps me connect dollars and hours spent on marketing with the resulting call.
Yes, I know a lot of my sales expert friends will point out that this is a great selling technique, but for me, it's really a marketing technique, since my real aim is to get the information necessary to get lots of potential clients calling me, rather than the other way around!
Don't let it go with a simple answer, though. Many people who call say "I read your book.", which is cool, but I also get a lot of "I googled you." Now, this tells me my web marketing efforts must be having some effect, but to really get the most out of my marketing work, I need to know which efforts are working. A good follow-up question is "What, exactly did you google?". You might also ask what else your prospect found, since that will give you a good idea of the competitive group you are playing with.
Frankly, since I'm so bad at selling, I'd rather have lots of conversation about these questions. It tells me so much about the need that is in the caller's mind, and helps me connect dollars and hours spent on marketing with the resulting call.
Yes, I know a lot of my sales expert friends will point out that this is a great selling technique, but for me, it's really a marketing technique, since my real aim is to get the information necessary to get lots of potential clients calling me, rather than the other way around!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)