How to Sell and Never Leave Your Desk

Don’t you wish you could do your job and not have to travel all over the country or world? Don’t you wish you could let people know about your products and services without going to endless networking meetings? Believe it or not with the right use of the social media you can do just that. Notice we said with the “right use” of the social media. Even though your purpose is to sell your goods or services, you must be careful not to abuse the new technology. Unfortunately many people have not gotten that point. What we want to do is actually increase our sales, not turn people off. Whether we are selling door-to-door as was done in the past, where the aggressive salesperson kicked down your door in to make his pitch or whether we are selling online, we must adhere to the know-like-trust factor. If you pay attention to that basic tenant in the world of selling, you can accomplish a lot by using the social media. Before long, you’ll make fewer and fewer trips from your office.

The social media are excellent platforms for qualifying leads and for prospecting. They also provide excellent sources for information. Here are some uses of the social media that can help you reach that magical place where you can sell without having to leave your office.

• Use Twitter to brand yourself. What do you do best? Are you great at understanding certain nuances of your product or service? Are you great at finding unique uses for your product? Are you best at understanding your customer’s needs? Once you determine what you do best, share that good stuff on Twitter with short Tweets.

• Niche your Twitter following. Search your product, services and/or industry. Follow people with like interests. Your search will not only produce people with that word in their bios but also people who Tweet about what you’re interested in.

• When you Tweet, be sure to use all the methods of communication. Ask questions of your following. Retweet something another person in your following sent that you found useful. Use the @ symbol to communicate directly and publicly with your following and when you are ready direct mail someone privately. Do not send a direct mail with a sales pitch unless someone asks for it.

• Set up additional Twitter accounts that target different audiences. You don’t need followers, who are interested in cooking, to blend together with followers interested in your products and services. Keep your accounts niched and Tweet relevant information to each account.

• Use TweetLater (www.tweetlater.com) to set up daily tweets. You can backlog as many tweets as you like and schedule them. That way you can stay active without staying on Twitter all day.

• Identify the thought leaders, authors or notable bloggers in your niche and follow them. They may not follow you back, but you want to follow them so you’ll stay up to date with the latest trends in your industry. When you read their blogs or online articles, you can Tweet them to your followers. That way your customers begin to rely on you for the timeliest information.

• Sprinkle your Tweets with industry information as well as the latest information about your products or services. When you hear or see questions or concerns either online or offline, share answers to those questions in your Tweets. You become the knowledge leader.

• Write your own articles and blogs that deal with industry related issues. What are customers saying? What do they want? Provide answers in your articles and blogs and then tweet links to your articles and blogs.
Notice whether you are using Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, to build a relationship predicated on the know-like-trust factor, you must do three things.

1.Brand yourself around a particular niche. Narrow your market.
2.Listen to the market. Listen before you start participating
3.Become the knowledge leader and knowledge broker

Now that you’ve done all these things, you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your hard work. It takes time and patience to build trust. All good salespeople know this. Whether you are selling on or offline, you must exercise patience. Take your time, build your credibility and wham! You’ll make a sale without having left your office.