Social investment is the key to more business, it’s not about money

What is a social investment? How do you measure its return?

This is a story about social investment and how it fits into your business. I will also tell you about Joe Girard, he was the world’s best car salesman who sold 13,000 cars face to face over 15 years.

First, let’s look at what a return on investment is.

In its simplest from a return is the money you get back on top of your investment in a bank on savings schemes or bonds. There has not a lot of return in recent years with interest rates at an all time low.

But return is not all about money

Yes, there is more to investment than your money, while money goes up and down there is never a shortage of money. However, there are other investments with a higher value than cash in the bank.

These are the commodities that are not replaceable. I am talking about time, attention, value and relationship. These are the personal investments and make everything else worthwhile.

social investmentFamily and friendship are an investment in time and money, of course, it takes money to sustain a family and friendships to some extent. But the real equity is the time attention and emotion. These are practical tools for building quality relationships.
The returns on these investments are priceless, we get to see children grown into adults, we get to celebrate events and achievements with friends and family. We get a return in their time attention and the support that they give us in our time of need.

Business is a combination of investments.

Your business will have a range of from the financial commitments of buildings and stock. To the time commitmentshand-895588_1280of training staff and developing new projects. Then there is your emotional investment that you make to reach targets and goals. With business success comes the feelings of security, fulfilment and achievement. All of these are investments that go beyond the value of currency.

Investment in prospects and customers

How do you invest in prospects and clients? For most, the first investment in a prospect is advertising and promotion. The best advertising looks to attract potential clients that might resonate with our product and services.

The second stage of investment is the time in meetings or phone calls to build a relationship and repour. People only buy from people they know like and trust, and that takes the building of a relationship.

So how do you build a relationship with your prospect and customers? What do you do to show that you care? Are you in regular contact to the point where they miss your communication when it is not there. Do you have a process that is repeatable?

The Relationships that sold cars.

 

Joe Girard
Joe Girard

Lets get back to that car salesman Joe Girard and find out how he sold 13,000 cars in 15 years. He had a process.

 

Between 1963 and 1978 Joe Girard became the top car salesman in the world? In his 15 year career, he regularly sold over 1,000 new cars a year to retail customers. He attained a place in the Guinness World record books for selling more cars than any single person in history, 12 times achieving the top vehicle sales in the world. In his best year, he sold 1425 units, all retail.

His secret was communication and building relationships, and he built those by keeping in touch by sending Greeting cards.

He invested in a system; he employed two assistants, his team sent out over 10,000 greeting cards a month to his customers. These cards celebrated everything from Easter to Independence day. Each year he had a designer create 12 cards and then he just sent them out to his customers every month. This was the beginging of a social investment process.

Whenever someone needed a car, who was the first person they would call. When a family member or friend was looking for a car, who got the referral.

How does Joes Cards help your business

Ok, so how does this example of Joes cards apply to your business, well Joe only had the US postal service with which to work. Imagine what he would have achieved today with email and social media?

Your Communication Strategy smartphone-1445489_1280

Having a communication strategy for your business where you connect with prospects and customers is an investment in them. The process will lead to a return on that will be greater than the profits generated.

Sales and Marketing in the 21st Century, nothing has changed since Joe’s day and yet everything has, or has it. It is all still about relationship and communication; the difference is that to be noticed a business has to be more memorable.

Big brands use a narrative

meercat
Brand Narrative

Think about the big brands that you remember, where do you see them? All of these companies us the digital medium to present and express their story. Some have a charismatic leader ( Virgin) other use story or comedy ( Compare the market). They use a narrative to present messages that are often nothing to do with the product.

The tools to communicate

With digital marketing, a business has the tools to communicate with people on an unprecedented level. Today the number of platforms is growing so whatever your prospect is into, it is possible to find them and speak to them, Your business your message can be everywhere. Social media is a social investment, as is blogging and email blasts.

Develop your story, engage with your tribe.

At Market that we help you develop your story, package it and deliver it across a range of platforms to attract new prospects and retain your current clients. Unlike Joe’s postcards we can see the journey playing out in real time, we can track the web clicks and email opens. Mad as it seems we can measure the building of your client relationships letting you see the social investment in action.

What does it cost, what does it matter if the return on investment is planned and the process can be tracked until it moves into profit?

Are you developing a strategy and get your return on investment and build relationship that lasts  beyond the first sale?

Why Ain’t You Using Digital Marketing?

Ok that was a cheesy title but the fact remains I am still meeting people have not woken up to the world of digital marketing. The pace of change is faster that it has ever been and it is set to get faster. What was working a year back will not work as well. If it was working 2 years back is almost dead today.

What is Your Current Strategy

Are you a social media marketer, do you use traditional channels like newspapers or magazines and flyers. Yes, it all works. However,

Can you track results and tie the response through to a sale?

Is it possible to model the process and repeat it to get another customer?

Technology is here to stay, mobile phone are in constant development, the power of these devices will rival that of desktop machines within a couple of years. We are not going to back in time to the sedate days of the yellow pages and business directories, it is not going to happen. Check out the video for more thoughts on this.

Can Digital Marketing Help Your Business

If you want a direct conversation on how digital marketing can impact your business. Book a discovery call. It is free, an opportunity to explore what you do, how digital can help and point you in the right direction.  Yes if I think the fit is good I will offer our services.

Create the killer intro. How to build interest and curiousity

Create the killer introHow to create the killer intro is a bit of an art form, but with 15 minutes we can fix that.

At the bottom of this post, there is a 5 point process to help you develop you own. But first, lets us explore what it means to be interesting.

How to be interesting is about knowing what to say at the right time, it is an enviable skill and can change how you are perceived. Most people having been in business for a while are confident in how they present themselves. But raise the stakes a bit, and speaking can get a lot harder. We have all seen dodgy powerpoint presentations.  Now try to sell something or pitch to the big guns of your industry.

Celebrity Status Makes a Difference

Celebrities are interesting people or are they?  The media seem to think they are important and that in itself puts them on a platform and make us feel different about them. Is there a famous person that you would like to meet, what would you say? “I am a big fan of your work?” lame…

I would quite like to meet Kevin Mcloud; I wonder if he likes the Grand Designs. Or is that another lame question? So what would I say? Depends, if I was talking, I could hold a conversation, if I was selling that would be different.

Communication and Status

A few years back I had a working relationship with a famous name, while it was never said, it was somehow known not to speak about that part of their life. So we spoke about normal things as if that were possible when our lives were so different.

Fame or celebrity status only makes these people different in our heads. If they have put themselves in a position to have a conversation with you, they do not have the problem, you might. A good test if they want to speak. Are they surrounded by big guys with no necks and dark glasses?  Then don’t bother.

If I had asked, could I have leveraged that relationship? What would it have cost? The point is I could not raise my level of interest for them enough to drop the boundaries so we could not move beyond the working relationship. I had nothing to offer.

This is all well and good but what about the real world

What about meeting people in life or business. Are there any stars that would make you take a breath.

I guess it is a bit like the dragons den, could you pitch, Duncan Ballantyne, Deborah Meaden or Peter Jones? Are there any stars in your profession? Is there anyone that you could meet that would change your business. How would you feel, would you be ready?

Having followed some big player in the marketing field for some years, watching and listening to programs and training. I won a 15-minute coaching session with one of my Gurus, and I have to say for the first 30 seconds it felt weird. I said as much, and he laughed. Funny he is still a Skype contact, not that I would call without asking first. Boundary, I am not interesting enough, this call was relatively easy and not a sales situation. Pitching to him would have been very different experience and reality check I was his ideal customer, he was not mine.

Would you drop the ball?

Create the killer intro
The Elevator Pitch

The point is, given the right chance how ready are you to take the opportunity. Do you have an introduction that makes you proud, and the recipient interested enough to follow up with you?

What do you say, is it all about you and what you do, it is technical and a bit jargon? Call it an elevator pitch or what you will, the important point is will it be interesting or memorable? 

“Hi my name is Paul Harvey, I’m an internet strategist, and I develop systems for lead gen.”

or

” My name is Paul Harvey; we offer a total system that allows business owners to identify key leads. It allows them to focus their attention on the customers that matter. We specialise in high ticket products for B2B companies and those in the renewables sector.”

How does that sound any better? Possibly needs work, but can you see how it opens the door to more questions and it clearly identifies who we are looking for.

Now your challenge, can you create the killer intro?

His is a simple process to create an opening introduction, something the leaves the recipient in no doubt what you do and who you help. Who is your ideal client or contact, who do you want to speak to, start there?

1 Make a list.

2 What are their problems, what do they need?

3 Can you create the killer introduction, something that makes you stand out from the crowd?

Create the killer intro with the 5 step intro builder.create the killer into

My name is ____________
1 we ( help / offer / support)
2 to ( subject )
3 and solve (problem )
4 to get( solution)
5 for (Define target market or group.)

 

 

My name is Paul Harvey; (1)we offer a total system that allows (2)business owners to (3)identify key leads. (4)It allows them to focus their attention on the customers that matter. (5)We specialise in high ticket products for B2B companies and those in the renewables sector.”

While this is not a digital process, the work still applies because the result can be used in email or on social media. If you need help with this stuff or any of the nuts and bolts that make marketing happen, just get in touch. Over to you, do it now. 

Remember a strategy call is an opportunity to explore how digital marketing can help your business, use the contact form as it helps to guide the conversation.  Contact Us