You may have heard online business owners and marketers say, “The money is in your list.” That’s partly true. Yes, building a massive email list of customers and prospects who are aligned with us has some benefits. The real money, though, is in the relationships you have with the people on that list.
Always remember, you are in the caring-about-people business! Take the target off people’s foreheads and choose to make a caring connection, one that is emotionally satisfying so they want to say yes to you
In a recent study, it was determined 55 percent of people are selling the wrong product, which means that they are not in alignment with the product or service they are selling. They don’t have an emotional connection to it, or they don’t have a personal reason they believe in it. And these are the same people who are not making sales because they can’t truly build relationships with their prospects.
By becoming in alignment with what you are selling, you become in alignment with all the people who want to buy what you are selling. That connection will make sales happen more often and quicker.
If your product or service would have helped or currently helps you overcome your problems and challenges, you have an emotionally satisfying reason why you sell that product or service. This means you are in alignment with what you are selling. You are also in alignment with the people who will want to buy what you are selling. When we share our personal stories of going through the same experiences, we become more trustworthy faster to our prospects who are dealing with the same issues. They feel our sincerity when we say our products or services will help them.
You may want to use these questions to discover what you could sell that is in your comfort zone and aligned with your core values:
• What are your interests and passions?
• What makes you happy?
• What could you teach someone else to do?
For example, if you love to work out or are just starting a workout regime, there are so many options that you could sell because you have your own experience. Perhaps you could sell fitness equipment, athletic wear, gym memberships, or nutritional supplements.
You may be thinking, “Okay great! This Alignment Marketing approach makes sense. But how do I attract customers and buyers to me, especially if I’m brand new or haven’t made any money yet?”
The good news is that your prospects just want to know you understand their problems and you have the solutions. They don’t care if you have been with your company for ten years or ten minutes.
To quote Business & Marketing Consultant and Trainer Norbert Orlewicz, “It’s not about credentials; it’s about how much you care about their needs and problems!”
This cannot be stressed enough. When you know whose problems you can solve, attracting your ideal audience and knowing the questions to ask so they understand how much you care about them becomes so much easier. As a result, you make sales happen faster.
This stage begins with asking yourself, “Who do I now feel are the people or groups of people who have the pain, challenges, or problems I used to have?” Or who are the people or groups of people who have the same interests as you do?
Life and Business Success Strategist Stephanie Oden asked herself this question. She discovered that her ideal audience is women who feel overwhelmed and don’t know how to get to the next level of success in their careers or as an entrepreneur. She used to be someone like that until she discovered a path of success that worked for her
The next question toward identifying who are the people who are likely to be ideal prospects is, “Do I sell products or services that can help solve their pain, challenge, or problems or help them enjoy their hobbies and interests?”
Stephanie sure did. She turned her own path to success into a coaching practice. She also sells to her clients the products that helped her move forward on her path.
If the answer to the question is YES for you too, then the next question is “Where will I meet people who share similar interests with me?”
The answer: on social media platforms, of course!
No matter what you are selling—whether you represent your own services, a direct selling company’s products, or the products and services of a Fortune 500 corporation, or you are requesting donations to a nonprofit organization—you will most easily meet people who match your ideal audience profile through social media sites. While people still make cold calls, the ease of meeting people through social media has made it the preferred method.
InsideSales gathered a few relevant data points on calls:
• Sales go to the first person who makes contact with the prospect 50 percent of the time.
• Reaching a prospect now takes eight cold call attempts as compared with just over three in 2007.
• Only 2 percent of cold calls end with a sale.
• Salespeople make an average of eight dials per hour and search for over six hours to set just one appointment.
Let’s compare these facts to a Forbes study on social media, more than 78.6 percent of salespeople using social media get better results than those who don’t.
• Salespeople with a social media presence exceed their quota by 23 percent compared to those who don’t.
• Forty percent of salespeople have closed deals through social media marketing.
• Salespeople using social media spend less than 10 percent of their time finding new prospects.
People may do some research on you first to see whether they feel you are in alignment with them. They might check out your social media accounts and website to see what type of tips and solutions you offer to determine whether they want to use their time to connect and engage with you.
If they get at least one emotionally satisfying experience from your content, they will probably accept your friend request and want to build a relationship with you that will likely result in a sale. This is the reason to make sure your posts are public and focus on topics that are of interest to your ideal audience.
No matter which social media platforms you use, always remember that from now on
— your pages are meant to be a means for providing valuable content to people who match your ideal audience profile
— create and share only content that would be interesting for them to read
— provide tips and solutions that solve their problems
Remember, you are the person who can solve the problems and challenges of your ideal audience because you have been where they are now.
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She is the Producer of "The Power of YES" book series - a #1 best-seller in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia!
She treasures this acknowledgment of her accomplishments: “You are one of the most dynamic people I have encountered on the internet.”
Stacey is also the bestselling author of two global #1 best-selling books — “Attracting Perfect Customers” and “Chi-To-Be!”
Stacey shares her home with her husband, Bill, and two pups named Lucy and Frankie (short for Francesca).
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