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Red Hot Sales Prospecting - Using Online Strategies

Guest post by: Christine Sutherland

Article Overview: For better or for worse we are more and more moving toward becoming a “digital society” and certainly the evidence is that our customers are not only relying on the internet to source information, goods and services, but that the most canny of our competitors are right there, beating us to our prospects and building their total loyalty before they even become aware that it’s time to buy.

Red Hot Sales Prospecting - Using Online Strategies

Whether we're thrilled or in trepidation (or denial) society is becoming more digitally oriented. One of the consequences is that our customers are not only relying on the internet to source information, goods and services, but that the most canny of our competitors are right there, beating us to our prospects and building their total loyalty before they even become aware that it’s time to buy.

In fact the very smartest of our competitors are delivering some type of value to customers that could be ours, BEFORE the customer even becomes aware they have a need.

This is bad news for any sales people who have been left behind as far as internet strategies go, and they need to catch up fast if they’re to survive, let alone thrive. “Business people who avoid online strategies are like dinosaurs that gather together to eat the last leaves” warned Mark Walsh, president of VerticalNet.

However for those who are willing to learn and to embrace the new way of doing business, the reward is not only survival, but far more efficient and productive prospecting, which is incredibly enjoyable and personally rewarding at the same time.

Believe it or not, lead generation over the net not only meshes beautifully with offline strategies, but is easier!

The key to being an effective sales person in a digital society is to master internet marketing. That is the key that every expert agrees is fundamental to your success. Master that, and your prospecting will turn red hot!

Master that, and you will also build additional income streams for yourself, far and beyond the commissions you are earning now.

But internet marketing is a whole different kettle of fish to offline marketing. Even though I've enjoyed many years of success at senior levels in mainstream businesses, I admit I struggled when it came to internet marketing.

In fact when I used to read articles about how easy it was, I would often just break down and cry .... totally overwhelmed and frustrated because I knew how hard it was, and I knew only too well how hard I was working .... and so for me it sure wasn’t easy. Despite paying out many thousands of dollars for training and support, and putting my heart and soul into it, nothing worked.

But then I got lucky. I just happened to latch onto a little piece of the puzzle, not so much by accident but because when you keep trying, and you keep trying different things, sooner or later you’re probably going to hit paydirt.

And with that piece falling into place, the whole picture became very clear. I immediately understood what was missing from the articles, videos, and books that the guru’s produced.

Firstly they did not clarify the steps, and differentiate between what was proven and what was trial and error. Secondly, unless they were charging tens of thousands of dollars, they did not hold your hand through the process.

In my opinion that “hand holding” is essential for the strategy to work. It’s not enough to tell people, you must also show them.

So before I list the steps, I urge you to align yourself with someone who can help you through them. You won’t have to pay a fortune, and in fact there are sites that will help you, personally, for free, so that each step is completed easily and confidently.

Why will they help you for free? Because they realise that marketing has changed, and that these days they need to be able to demonstrate, in real time, how you can literally “put your finger on the switch” that turns on the money. If they can do that, they know that there can be no question in your mind that they are the company to take you forward, and that they are worth many times what you will pay them if you proceed further.

Now here are the steps, as briefly as I can possibly state them within a single article, that a professional salesperson needs to take, in order to take absolute control of your prospecting:

1)Register your own domain name and arrange hosting. Yes, no matter what, you DO need your own independent web site. Also, the NAME does matter because it should contain the very keywords that your target audience uses in searching for a solution to a particular problem. Don’t pay more than $8 or so for your site and top-rate hosting can be obtained for as little as $1 per month. (You see why you need “hand holding” on this, to help choose the right keywords, the right host and the right domain name, and to set up your list building mechanism?)

2)Get an autoresponder so you can keep in good touch with your growing list. There is an art to communicating with your list so you don’t turn them off, and instead build trust to the point that when you do actually recommend something, they will tend to listen to you because they respect you. Look around at autoresponder reviews and pick the highest quality one that comes with a free trial. Unless you’ve got spare cash to invest in a proven, paid system, don’t spend a cent, but use free trials or a free version instead.

3)Build your site. As a minimum it needs to have a mechanism to collect names, fresh new content each week, a forum, a way to feature product (eg reviews) and a blog or two. There are a number of free site building software programs around that we recommend. You'll be amazed how easy this is.

4)Get FTP (file transfer protocol) software so that you can upload files (documents) to your web site. In the beginning you should not pay money for this – get the free version.

5)Develop or find quality giveaways to act as bait to your target market, to use to reward your growing list, or to sell as an affiliate. Be very careful how you select these or you could damage relationships instead of build them!

6)Visit forums where your target market gather and contribute in a valuable way to the discussion. NEVER even hint at a sales spiel. Your signature line should contain a courteous invitation to grab one of your freebies. If you diarise maybe 30 minutes a day on this activity, it will pay dividends for you.

7)Keep your site fresh by uploading new content at least once each week.

8)Undertake free advertising, using ad structures that have been proven to work (so you’re not wasting your time, or burning valuable leads).

9)Remain a learner, studying search engine optimisation, Adwords, customer service, marketing, financial management, and other concepts that can help you succeed.

10)Lean heavily on your support group to execute all of the above as well as you possibly can.

I hope this has been helpful to you, and that you will committedly work through and tick off each item. If you will only do that, you WILL find that your prospecting is indeed “Red Hot!”

Look out for the free ebook "Red Hot Prospecting" for a more detailed description of the above steps.

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Article Tags: additional income, bad news, commissions, consequences, denial, dinosaurs, doing business, effective sales, income streams, information goods, internet strategies, kettle of fish, leaves, left behind, loyalty, mark walsh, prospects, sales person, trepidation, verticalnet



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Prime Means of Selling - Prospecting and Selling aren't the same. Prospecting is finding the few within a target group who are prime candidates for your service. I don't think everyone will agree on what "prime" means but I'd say if the prospects actively want what you're offering and have the ability to pay for what you're offering then they qualify as "prime".
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude
Re: FREE Toronto Referral Workshop - Kevin, I'll try to get a copy of the slides and summarize the 14 Strategies. Stay tuned!


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