The sales game has changed. Cold calling is getting more difficult, while buyers are flocking to social media for answers. If you’re a salesperson or you manage a sales team, it’s time to leverage the power of social networks and boost your sales performance with Social Selling.
Depending on the industry you’re in, there’s a very good chance the buyers of your products and services are online researching their best choice. Why not be there, meet them, and help them along the path to purchase with great information and solid advice?
The best salespeople aren’t just present on social networks, they position themselves as credible and influential sources on customer networks. Here are 5 top-notch tips to help you become a Social Selling rockstar!
1. Cultivate a Social Presence Starring YOU
You can be like everyone else….or you can figure out what you do better than anyone else and tell your story.
Start with the Social selling channels that you’re most comfortable with but also factor in where your most ideal customers spend their time. If you already have a Facebook page, Twitter presence or LinkedIn profile, start with one and build as you go.
- Upload a good “branded” profile picture. (I can’t tell you how many people want to connect with me that don’t have a picture. This is Social, folks. Let people see who you are). A branded picture is a professional shot that helps people see WHO you are.
- Take advantage of the free real estate. Complete all of your profile details. Use keywords in your descriptions where possible so that people who search for the things you sell can find you.
2. Master the Art of Networking
Networking is done online and offline and it’s not new. If you’re good at it, you have a steady stream of leads in your pipeline.
- Great networking is about being seen and adding value to relationships.
- The term “Mingle as if you’re Single” works offline and online. Use your network to TALK to people.
- Engage as a specialist in your industry, become a trusted advisor.
- Listen to what others have to say and ask questions. Nobody likes people who talk constantly about themselves.
- Always be ready to take the conversation to a next step – whatever that may be.
3. Provide so much value that people would pay you for it!
Helping people is the new marketing. What are you doing right now that’s adding value to your current and potential relationships? Here’s how to add value:
- Post helpful, relevant content on your Social channels.
- Blog about subjects that your ideal customers want to know about, including practical “How To” guides.
- Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and post information you’d like if you were considering that purchase.
- Worry less about selling and more about teaching.
4. Become a Content Monster
Everything you do and say tells people who you are. If you’re a great salesperson with awesome customers and nobody else sees it, did it really happen? Prospects are online today and that’s good news. The only way people found out about great salespeople before Social Media was by word-of-mouth through slow traditional channels. Social Media amps word-of-mouth and there’s never been a better opportunity to show prospects what it’s like to do business with you.
- Blog posts
- Images
- Video
- Ebooks
- Newsletters
All of these are ways to use content marketing to “sell” your customers’ experience to other potential customers. Let your current and repeat customers do the talking for you.
Set an intention to look for ways to develop content that speaks to your personal brand. It should be subjects that include:
- Questions your customers need answered.
- A snapshot of your interests, communities you’re part of, and the things you like to do outside of work.
- Interesting stories about customer experiences, including the negatives that turned into positives.
5. Ask for the Sale
Every sale starts with a conversation. Social selling isn’t about trying to sell things to people who don’t know you. It’s spending the time and effort to develop a trusted network from which to retain current customers, attract new customers and garner referrals. You earn the right to “ask for the sale.”
Asking for a referral or the sale is where some salespeople get stuck. Get unstuck by:
- Plan your work and work your plan. Take small first steps in conversations. You will fail and that’s a good thing. The real failure is to not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.
- Don’t try to reinvent the wheel – get some good sales process training. Training increases your confidence and gets you out of your comfort zone.
- Practice makes profit: by putting things into action you’ll get better and better. The results will be successful Social Selling.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Inc.
The reason we market is to generate leads and sales. If that’s not true for you, then please stop reading this and go do something else productive. If you want to use Facebook to close more sales and earn more profit, you’ve come to the right place, my friend
I got in the car business somewhat unceremoniously. My grandfather was a dealer in the ’50s in Downtown Los Angeles but he passed on before I was old enough to work. I was hired by a car dealer when I worked at a bank during college. I took the job because it was more money with less stress. I’m the only person in my family who’s carried on the “car business credo” (if one could put it that way) and that’s because I’ve always enjoyed selling to and servicing the cars of awesome people. I loved the business because it allowed me to apply what I knew, adapt it for growth, make a decision today and see the effects of my decision tomorrow.
Today, as a social media marketer and consultant, I talk to lots of clients and prospects, some who don’t really know for sure why they have to use social media, only that they do. They’ve heard it’s where they need to be but aren’t willing to allocate a budget to make it work correctly. Some dealers (and other businesses too!) appoint a “Social Media Director” and have no clear process to know if what he/she is doing is correct or successful.
There are cases where the boss doesn’t fully understand the power of Facebook and they make a snap judgment installing a rookie in the starting line up. These “Social Media Directors” limp along trying to do what they can with the assets given to them, which in many cases are just their own ideas and sweat equity. All so that a few months later, the boss says, “What the hell does this guy/gal do?” and they pull the plug.
If you’ve come across this scenario either as the boss or as the appointed social media guru, listen up. As the boss, you already know that nothing is free in this world. That’s definitely so with Facebook and other social media marketing, especially in the last 18 months. If you’re willing to adapt and make the decision to do it right, Facebook will give you the results you’re looking for.
If you’re the Social Media Director (or some variation thereof) and you’re struggling to be successful, there are a few things you have to do in order to get the boss’ attention. First, you have to summon the courage to ask for a budget. Come in confident, tell the boss what’s up and show them how your plan will work with the right spending. You’re talking Social Media ROI and when you talk results, you talk their language.
What are the results you’re going to talk about? Leads and sales. How will you get there? Here’s how. This is a method I use daily and many clients are seeing more traffic from Facebook than from 3rd party lead providers. One client enjoys a 3:1 ratio of traffic from Facebook compared to another well-known “traditional” source.
Here’s my 3-Step process using Facebook to Generate Leads and Sales:
1. Publish Awesome Content
By now you’ve probably heard that you need useful, relevant content to attract buyers. While many of you agree that you need it, very few are actually producing and publishing it. In order to get to awesome, you must first discover a few things about yourself and your business:
- You must know what makes your business different than your competitors’. Why do people buy from you? What core values and beliefs make up your business ‘brand’?
- You must be able to describe in detail who your ideal customers are. In the new age of Google Panda 4.0 the more you know your customer, the better you’ll be able to reach them.
- You must know what your goals are and write them down regularly. In today’s example, I’ve done just that with items 2 and 3.
2. Grow Your Likes and Increase Engagement
Grow your community on Facebook to mirror that of the real life community around your business. In the salad days of Facebook, people would like your page and then they’d see all the content you posted. That’s simply not the case anymore. The good news is that Facebook ads deliver great results (when done correctly) for not a lot of budget. Use Facebook ads these two ways:
- Ads to Grow Page Likes. Target those ideal customers you described in detail earlier with delightful reasons to like your page.
- Page Post Engagement Ads. Promote certain posts that are getting better organic results. If your audience likes something (and you can judge this by looking at your Insights) then there’s a good chance more will like it if you serve it to them by paying to promote it.
Keep in mind that a large amount of Likes does not mean that your page is succeeding! You must have high engagement to match it. If not, it won’t matter how many people like your page because NO ONE will see your posts. In the next step, we’ll cover the strategy to generate leads. If your strategy is only about growing likes and not about driving users to your website, you’re doing it wrong. You can’t stop at growing Likes. You can promote a well done value added post that drives actions on your own website OR you can promote “likes” on your Facebook page where people are likely to never see or hear from you again. One boosts profits and the other boosts ego.
3. Get Leads
Now that you’re building a nice size audience of prospects, it’s time to go for the gold. Use your Facebook page as the welcome mat for the sales process; a path to close the sale.
- Create a marketing campaign to attract eyeballs.
- Share that content on Facebook and promote it using Facebook ads.
- Drive those who click to a landing page on your website.
- Collect their contact information and follow up.
- Track the traffic from Facebook to your landing page using the tracking pixel (provided by Facebook in your ads manager).
It’s time to reboot the way you think about Facebook and other social media. Every marketing effort’s goal is to ultimately generate leads and every business’ goal is to make more profit. Improve your process using Facebook to generate leads and sales.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Many businesses are lagging behind when it comes to meeting their potential customers’ needs online. Customers are switching between various sales channels, expecting seamless integration across touch points and through multiple devices. It’s a new challenge for businesses to control the customer experience in this context and customers are in the driver’s seat.
In a recent survey and study, ADLittle investigated dialogue ability in terms of the average response time for customer inquiries in the retail automotive sector. Most customers asked for 24/7 realtime response time and although dealers are mitigating the gap with an average response time of 9.2 hours, this is a significant mismatch when discussing possible ways to improve lead conversion and getting ready for the launch of online sales.
The study also showed that more than 70% of customers would appreciate getting advice at a location of their choice (ie: social channels). OEMs are still lagging behind customers’ needs: only half of them would offer alternative ways of consultation. It seems as though they’re not interested in a conversation around the sale of their product, unless it’s the forum they choose.
Today’s digital marketplace provides the information customers seek and it’s readily available anytime they choose. The key here is choice. Consumers are in the driver’s seat and if they choose to research their purchase online, then you and your salespeople need to meet them where they are, in the place they prefer.
Nearly 70% of surveyed customers spent more time online than offline for pre-purchase information gathering, with a relevant number researching online only. We’ve entered the age where the buyers’ purchase journey must be, to a certain extent, automatic and autonomous. Consumers are telling us this not by their words but by their actions. They go to great lengths to find out everything they can from anyone they know and trust before they interact with you.
The more you require in-person interaction during the research process, the more boundaries you create closing the sale.
Many businesses and their salespeople are not providing these expected dialogue capabilities, especially when it comes to the eventual closing of the sale. The current sales approach of one-way communication is not matching emerging customers’ needs.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that your sales channel or retail presence perishes, but it does mean that you have to shift your process to accommodate a new type of buyer. Here are 3 smart Social Selling strategies to convert the hyper-aware and hyper-informed consumer:
1. Make Social Selling Part of Your Sales Process.
Integrate Social Selling strategies throughout the purchase cycle and especially in the lead up to the sale.
- Make sure each salesperson can articulate their personal brand – their unique promise of value they bring to sales relationships.
- Ensure your salespeople are trained and proficient in the art of networking.
- Provide information and training on how to build a referral network on Social Media.
- Encourage salespeople’s participation in creating unique, helpful content for your business’ marketing channels.
2. Leverage Your Expertise. Provide Outside-the-Box Information that Attracts Buyers and Fosters Referrals.
Customers are ninjas now. Since they spend the bulk of their research time online, it’s your job to make sure they get the right information in all the places they’re searching for it. You already have a wealth of ideas within your organization. Employees on the front lines with your customers know the information they’re seeking. Employees know the questions customers aren’t asking but need to know. The goal is to be helpful. The 5 most valuable topics to address in your Social Selling strategies are:
- Cost/Price questions
- Problems/issues/concerns questions
- Versus/comparison questions
- “Best” questions
- Review/opinion-based questions
As you and your salespeople become proficient in creating and publishing content, people within the network will notice. Quality content fosters trust and this is perhaps the single most valuable component of Social Selling. Trustworthy information from within a trusted network allows you to cultivate leads.
3. Listen, Monitor and Analyze Conversations You’re Having and Not Having with Prospects.
One of the smartest Social Selling strategies is masterful networking. The key to effective networking is forming relationships based on trust in an atmosphere of generosity and selflessness. Set up a system to generate the largest possible number of high-quality referrals from as many sources as possible using your content as the catalyst. Use analytics to discover your wins and identify the places where you missed the boat.
“Giver’s Gain” is the world’s most successful organizational principle and it’s the cornerstone to Social Selling. As a business or as a salesperson, providing value to relationships allows you to leverage them for sales and referrals. Personal and commercial relationships have merged via Social Media. Use your downtime to cultivate relationships.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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The speed of Social Media adoption and strategy is getting faster and more complex everyday. It’s very difficult to know for sure what tactics will get you the best results. There are many companies still in the dark about the value of social marketing and advertising…and still many more who are stuck in 2011 with their social marketing tactics.
The success of your social marketing tactics lies in the content and how you publish and promote it. Everything revolves around how your content is consumed by your audience. Each platform requires certain specific tactics but overall, with a solid content strategy, social media is where you reach your ideal customers…and stay in contact with your current customers.
How many of these outdated social marketing tactics are you still doing?
1. Asking for Likes and Retweets.
This tactic is a “call-to-action” that, by many standards works, but people are smarter now. Too many marketers have tried to use it just to gain a better ranking. Facebook got wise to it and now they’re penalizing pages who use it (at least that’s what they say although I haven’t seen any enforcement of this). Either way, stop it. The best way to get likes and retweets is to publish awesome stuff.
2. Your profiles are a commercial for your products/services.
The best content tells stories. Stories about what it’s like to do business with you, what you do in the community, and how you help your customers. If your stories are all about your products & services, that’s not storytelling. That’s a brochure.
3. Twitter Automatic Direct Messages.
Auto DMs are a blight to our social landscape. They were always annoying and now they damage your brand. When someone follows you on Twitter, if you feel compelled to say something, just tweet them back (no DM). Don’t ask someone for a favor when you’ve just met them!
4. Setting up Tweets to automatically post to Facebook and vice versa.
This just looks like you’re lazy. People on Twitter and Facebook know if your content came from the other one. It’s ok to use the same content but take the time to reformulate it for each platform.
5. Only posting once or twice a day on Facebook.
The algorithms on Facebook have changed immensely in the last few years. The fact is that very few of your fans see your content now. Posting more often helps more fans see your content. But please don’t take this as a green light to post random content. You still need to have a solid content strategy where each time you post, it’s something that stands out to those you want to attract and have conversations with.
6. Ignoring what people are saying on Yelp or Google+Local.
I actually had a business owner tell me, “Oh, I don’t care what those people on Yelp say.” He had horrible reviews to prove it. It’s time to buck up and implement an internal process for capturing your happy, loyal customers opinions. When 84% of people say their purchase decisions are influenced by online reviews, it’s dangerous to ignore the opportunities.
7. Not using images with your posts.
Nearly every social platform has been enhanced to accommodate visual content. It’s widely known that visual content speaks louder than most any form of communication so let this be a driving force in your content strategy and publication.
8. Expecting your fans to see your content without running Facebook ads.
By now, you’ve probably seen the organic reach of your Facebook page falter to nearly nothing. Facebook has informed us that they had to restrict content to users in order to “deliver the best overall experience for the user.” No matter how you feel about this statement, the fact is that Facebook is now pay-to-play. Set an engagement goal for your page (10% is a good starting goal) and run some Page Post Engagement ads on the updates that are worthy of more attention.
9. Posting to your blog once every month or so.
This tactic says to search engines and your customers, “Hey, we don’t care enough to bother helping you but once a month.” Consistent posts at least twice a week help customers find you faster and appreciate the information. Search engines crawl for fresh, relevant content. Prospects crawl the web looking for helpful info. Publish blog posts regularly and you satisfy both.
10. Ignoring Social Customer Service.
71% of people who receive great social customer care recommend that brand to their friends and family. Make it easy for fans and followers to contact you. Social customer service is a vehicle for customer retention. Wouldn’t you like to retain every customer you can?
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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By Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Inc.
Social Media is the go-to place where consumers get information and advice when it’s time to make a purchase.
In a recent study, nearly 70% of surveyed customers spend more time online than offline for pre-purchase information gathering, with a relevant number researching online only. Are your Social Media marketing methods positioned to capture those leads and sales?
By now, you or your business may be using Social Media to connect with consumers to develop relationships prior to the sale. You also may be having second thoughts about how you’re going about it. It’s difficult to get trustworthy information, especially from vendors who sound like they know what success is. They’ll tell you how their product/service fixes all your “problems” but how do you really know if that’s true?
The best place to start is by taking a hard look at what you’re doing right now and see how it measures up to the proven Social Media marketing methods that successful companies employ. Check out these 5 ways to tell if your Social Media marketing methods are failing:
1. The Louder You Speak, the Less You’re Heard
I recently wrote about a client of ours who decided to go with a “Social Media Provider” because it was free. It’s been a few weeks now and their Facebook page has taken a hit not only in growth of their page but also engagement, reach, leads and sales. This provider basically turned their page into an Infiniti commercial. Over and over, they’re blasting out the “benefits” of their product. Now, Infiniti commercials have their place but it’s certainly not on your Facebook page. Two things happen when you blast messages about your products and services:
- People unfollow you and don’t engage with content that’s solely about products and nothing about answering their questions or acquainting them with the reasons why people buy from you.
- Your content looks exactly like everyone else’s thereby making you boring and forgettable.
2. You Speak Too Softly
Content marketing is about getting the right message to the right customer at the right time. Marketing on each social platform where your customers are requires careful analysis to identify what to post and how often. Facebook has recently changed its algorithms and posting relevant, useful content more often (say 4-5 times per day) is now suggested. To create a presence on Twitter you need to tweet at least 6 times per day. If you’re blogging, post at least twice per week.
3. You’re Getting “Results” but You’re Not Sure What That Means
Without clear objectives and goals in your Social Media marketing methods, you’ll have nothing to tie your results back to. I see many, many business owners feel successful because their Facebook page has a few hundred or a few thousand likes. Likes are only the first step of your overall Social Media marketing strategy. Engagement, reach, leads, customers and sales are metrics you must set goals around and measure to know for sure what your results mean and what your next steps are.
4. You’re Unable to Identify and Define Who Your Ideal Customer Is
In the old days of networking, they used to say, “If you think your customer is everyone, think again.” It may seem strange but there are people out there who will never buy your products and services. Some will, some won’t, so what. Whether you’re a salesperson using Social Selling techniques or a business doing Social marketing, its important to know who your IDEAL customer is so you can take advantage of Social Media’s targeting methods. Designing a winning content strategy to attract new customers or to engage your repeat customers, enables you to provide value to the relationship. Figure out what questions your ideal customers have and be as useful as you can with the content you publish.
5. You’ve Got a Rookie in the Starting Position
Nearly every time I speak, I meet 2 or 3 people who’ve been given the title of “Social Media Director” when they’ve had no experience either in the industry they’re working in or as a marketing professional, sometimes it’s both. Would you put a green pea salesperson on the floor with no training or guidance? Would you trust your brand to someone who has no idea how to develop a solid marketing plan nor execute it? For the love of Pete, please don’t leave your reputation up to a rookie. It’s ok to give someone you think deserves it a chance but please get them some one-on-one coaching. The money you spend today will pay large dividends in a few short months when you have a full-fledged Social marketer in your organization.
If you find that after reading this, some or all of your Social Media marketing methods are failing and you want to establish a return on investment, I’m happy to offer guidance. Click here to find out more.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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“There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.” ~Simon Sinek, Author, “Start With Why”
It’s a tall order to inspire customer loyalty. Every business would like to maintain and grow a loyal customer base. However, most revert to manipulative marketing to get the transaction “in the books”. The point is to get them coming back again and again – not buying once from you and then disappearing forever.
Manipulation has its place and it works. Special prices and enticing promotions do influence customer behavior and can make a company or individual very successful. However, there are trade offs: prices and promotions don’t breed loyalty. Over the course of time, they cost more and more, and the gains are only short-term.
It’s not easy to kick the habit of using manipulations to sell. And I’m not advocating that you do! There’s a place for them and they’re very addicting. In fact, as I reflect on my career in automotive retail, I’ll admit to falling prey over and over. It’s like a treadmill that gets faster and faster as you go. To keep feeding the machine of revenue, you must keep manipulating.
When I transitioned from the world of selling cars to selling consulting, training and marketing services, it became clear that I was accustomed to a world of transactional selling. I needed to pay closer attention to networking and building loyal relationships. Social Media made it possible for me to network with those both inside and outside automotive retail. I’m grateful to be part of that collaboration now – it allows me to constantly learn and to cultivate referral relationships.
When companies and individuals don’t have a clear sense of why their customers are their customers, they tend to rely on a disproportionate number of manipulations to get what they need. Manipulations are a perfectly valid strategy for driving a transaction. It’s a viable strategy when times are good and money is flush. However, in tough times, you need your happy, loyal customer base to see you through. In 2008 when the credit crisis hit, promotions and incentives became untenable. Putting all your eggs in the “driving transactions” basket is dangerous to the health of your business.
Instead of waking up to find that your business is only good as the next transaction, embark on a quest to foster loyalty through Social Selling. Build a network of happy, loyal customers who like doing business with you.
If you’re a salesperson or business owner who wants more than a single transaction, you must inspire loyalty.
- If you’re good to your customers, they’ll keep coming back because they like you.
- If they like you, they’ll spend more money.
- If they spend more money, you want to treat them better.
- And if you treat them better, they’ll keep coming back.
…and the circle begins again.
Here are 3 Social Selling tips to inspire loyalty and move away from the “one night stand” transaction:
1. Let your “Why” permeate throughout every corner of your message.
- Know yourself. In today’s online environment, it’s easy to get lumped in with others. How do you differentiate yourself? When you have a clear sense of why you do what you do, you don’t have to convince anyone of your value.
- Know your customer. Take a look at your network and dissect it. What are the passions, interests and challenges your community has? The clearest way to a prospect’s heart is to know something about them and incorporate that in your message. Content (Facebook posts, tweets, blog posts) should center on teaching your customer how to buy. The more you know them, the easier it will be to create content that delights.
2. Constantly provide value.
Providing value in relationships is how we establish connection, create trust and foster loyalty. I always guide my clients to produce content, not just consume it. Consuming content keeps you informed and helps you provide a good Social Media experience for customers. Contributing to conversations and producing blog posts solidifies relationships and converts them into sales. Customers are having a learning party. Are you going to attend?
3. Think from the customers’ point of view.
There are many businesses that enjoy a certain positive perception from the buying public. Automotive retail is not one of those. People look forward to going to a car dealership about as much as going to the dentist. Are you courageous enough to ask why people don’t like doing business with you? When you ask your customers what they like and dislike about you, they will define what service excellence means. Then all you have to do is give it to them! If people like doing business with you, they’ll probably want to come back more often.
Social Selling is the key to customer loyalty. When people like doing business with you, they keep coming back. Use these Social Selling tips to develop a long-term revenue stream by inspiring loyalty. It’s actually easier than drudging through one transaction at a time hoping you’ll see them again.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Creating a personalized, customer-focused environment reveals to buyers that your business is easy and friendly to work with. There is no better way to convey an outstanding customer experience than offering helpful, useful information that prospects can readily access.
A recent study by eMarketer shows that US consumers are choosing small businesses because of the personalized experiences they provide compared with larger corporate-owned businesses. Consumers favor small businesses because of their customer focus.
Factors that US Consumers Consider of High Importance When Choosing a Small Business:
- 86% Customer service, customer-focused
- 84% Personal, intimate, human, face-to-face
- 84% Knows customers and their needs
- 84% Easy to do business with
- 83% Local, close-by, convenient
- 83% Has a website, uses Social Media
- 82% Reliable, consistent, there when you need them
- 81% Owner-operated, committed, accountable
Which one of these are important to you? In a world of Social signals and online ratings, your content should convey each and everyone of these factors.
Content marketing means getting the right message to the right consumer at the right time.
Not everyone is ready to buy. You may have become used to broadcasting messages to the masses. Today, your content can reach a more targeted audience by advertising to those who are ready to buy. With a solid content marketing strategy, you can also remain relevant to those in the market not-right-now-but-will-be-at-some-point-in-the-future. A well-developed content strategy identifies each one of those buyer personas and designs the most ideal content for each to enjoy.
Is the content on your website, blog and Social Media profiles coming up short?
Consumer adoption of social, mobile and internet technologies is covering a wider breadth and moving at a much greater speed than conventional wisdom had predicted. Attracting buyers to your business requires a much more robust marketing strategy than you may have realized.
When 83% of consumers surveyed say they choose a business because of their online presence, shouldn’t you be constantly improving your customer experience through content marketing? If you can capture 83% of buyers with helpful, useful content that solves rather than sells, that’s the ticket to more business, more leads, more sales.
Customer experience drives loyalty and word-of-mouth.
Customer experience is more powerful in driving customer loyalty than even the perception of value received for a given price. Successfully conveying what it’s like to do business with you sparks conversations. Blog and Social Media content starring your employees and/or customers (what I call “Hyper-local content”) drives high engagement and sets your business apart from everyone else.
Content marketing improves your online reputation.
You may find yourself in a crisis situation or that your online reviews are not reflective of the outstanding customer experience you deliver. Leveraging content skillfully can remedy even the most extreme cases. This is where public relations and content marketing intersect. Plan ahead. Learn how to respond in a crisis. Implement an internal process for building your online reviews and reputation. Keep online prospects informed about how you’ve handled even the most outrageous situations. Everyone knows you’re not perfect; they just want to see that you’re human, accountable and committed.
It’s important to say that you can’t price your way out of a negative customer experience. There’s a BMW dealership whose Yelp and Google+ reviews are dismal. They score 2 stars on Yelp and 1.5 stars on Google+ with a total of nearly 400 reviews. That’s not a review, that’s a consensus. What’s an online prospect going to do when they see that? Run for the hills.
I would call that a crisis situation. There’s no time to waste. Not only would you need a solid content marketing plan to address this consensus but also an in-depth review of company culture. A training curriculum for everyone involved in this raging forrest fire of negative experiences should also be considered.
Content marketing builds lasting relationships and future business.
Keep listening to your customer, get to know them inside and out. The more you know your ideal customer, the better your content will be. Reaching every potential buyer is not easy but recognizing what they want or might need and then providing it increases your chances exponentially.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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Whether you’re doing Social Media marketing in-house or outsourcing, it’s hard to know where the gaps are between your company’s current situation and where you need to be in order to succeed.
Given the tremendous amount time, skill and budget it takes to master Social Media marketing, Social Media audits have increased in popularity. A Social Media audit is a smart step because a lot of time and resources can be wasted improving things that don’t need it and neglecting things that really need your attention.
If you’re new to Social Media and/or online reputation management, the need for a Social Media audit is even greater. A lot of businesses buy into what vendors tell them is optimal for their business but in many cases, business owners are relying on the knowledge, skill and integrity of the salesperson who may have another agenda. As a business owner (and former dealership executive manager) I always prefer to get objective advice so that I know I’m spending in the areas that are going to give me the best results.
A Social Media audit provides an analysis of your company’s existing Social Media efforts. This includes your strategy for using Social Media, who your customers are, and how well you’re doing at reaching them effectively. If a Social Media audit sounds like something that would benefit your business (even if you aren’t using Social Media yet), here are 5 benefits that result from an in-depth Social Media audit:
1. Reach consumers at every stage of their buying consideration process.
Awhile back I wrote about a revolutionary way to leverage your content to reach customers using “See-Think-Do” marketing strategies. There are 3 consideration stages in the buying process and each stage requires different information needs:
- “See” stage: Everyone who buys your product and/or service. Your content should establish trust and help your business remain top-of-mind.
- “Think” stage: Everyone who buys your product and/or service and is thinking they might need to. Your content should solve something, not sell something. Answer prospects’ questions and establish your company and your salespeople as “Likable Experts.”
- “Do” stage: Everyone who buys your product and/or service, is thinking they might need to and is ready to take action now. Your content should convert fans into customers.
Deliver the right content to the right customer at the right time. When you look at your overall audience, there’s a very small percentage who are ready to buy this instant. Providing content to those “DO” customers is something traditional media has done pretty well for a long time. But what about the “SEE” and “THINK” customers? How do you attract their attention and keep it? A Social Media audit will identify what content is getting the best results and how to use that information in your content strategy moving forward.
2. Clearly recognize what Social Media success looks like.
Reach your goals by first establishing what they are. Don’t depend on a vendor to TELL you what success looks like. Social Media ROI can be measured if you’re setting goals and tying your results back to those goals. Your Social Media audit should provide a detailed analysis of how to measure your results, including which metrics you should be tracking, and an explanation of why you should be tracking them.
3. Create a powerful internal process to create, collect and publish useful content, including online reviews.
Acquiring the right kind of leverage in online relationships isn’t easy. A Social Media audit will pinpoint ways your business can provide value through all the channels of Social Media. It will identify which channel is best for your business to capitalize on and how to leverage your employees to improve your online presence and reputation.
4. Uncover opportunities to generate leads and sales.
Learn how you stack up against your competitors. The auditor should visit all your competitors’ profiles to note the overall strategy behind their social content. Your Social Media audit will detail what your competitors are doing right and where they’re failing. This information will reveal your biggest areas of opportunity.
5. Establish consistent “Best Practices.”
There’s so much misconception around Social Media marketing and it’s hard to know if you’re doing things right. Your Social Media audit will review your current practices and give you a comprehensive list of time-tested, proven best practices with which to move forward. Being on Social Media is only half the battle. Knowing what to say, where and when to say it and how to resolve conflicts takes savvy tactics that only an expert audit can provide.
Social Media “Best Practices” are always changing. Investing in a Social Media audit will save you time and money…and you’ll sleep better knowing you’ve laid the foundation for the best possible results.
If you’d like to learn more about Social Media audits, click here.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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One of the most overlooked and underutilized practices on Social Media is leveraging its power to generate leads and sales.
Many think Social Media is a platform to only create interest in yourself and your business. If this is your mindset then listen up because you’re leaving money on the table.
If you want to generate leads on Social Media effectively, you first need to lay the groundwork. Just like at face-to-face networking events or in social situations, you must take the time to listen and engage with people before you try to sell them something. On Social Media, this is done with useful, relevant content that attracts buyers.
The opportunity to grow your business using Social Media has never been more advantageous.
- 77% of B2C marketers say they have acquired a customer through Facebook.
- 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter and 20% have closed deals.
- 77% of buyers are more likely to buy from a company whose CEO uses Social Media.
When you’ve laid the groundwork and the opportunities are plentiful, this is the time to enact your strategies to generate leads on Social Media. Be open to the possibilities here. Your level of willingness to adapt to the new ways of reaching customers has a direct effect on your results. If you’re ready, here are 10 ways to generate leads on Social Media:
1. Define clear objectives and goals.
I’ll bet that either you or your boss thinks you can’t sell anything using Social Media. I’m here to tell you that it’s possible, if you do things right. Setting objectives and goals is the best first step. When you have serious goals from the start, your results become more meaningful when you can tie them back to your goals. That’s how you establish Social Media ROI.
2. Create a solid content strategy to share valuable, useful content.
A goal without a plan is just a wish. Content strategy is your plan to get the right messages to the right customers at the right time. A successful content plan examines and identifies 3 segments:
- You. Identify the reasons why you do what you do. What are your core values and beliefs?
- Your business. Why do customers choose your business over your competitor?
- Your ideal customers. You must learn how your customer behaves in order to know what content will engage them. What are their interests? What problems can you solve?
3. Be social. Always genuinely engage with your audience.
I still see companies on Social Media using old advertising tactics. Broadcasting the “benefits” of their products and services to people who for the most part don’t care about what you have to sell. Sure there are those that might be ready to buy but the majority of users are on Social Media to connect and engage with brands they love. If you don’t remember or never learned how to be social, go back to it and practice.
4. Be helpful.
Social Selling is about being helpful to those who you’re connected with. Answer questions. Don’t sell something, solve something.
5. Advertise on Social Media.
Turning fans into customers takes a strong conversion strategy. Engaging prospects in conversation, asking questions, listening, and ultimately helping them buy are all tactics that great Social sellers practice. Social Media ads boost your results. Grow your Facebook page likes, improve post engagement, drive leads using landing pages: these are all ways to advertise on Social Media.
6. Use landing pages and calls-to-action.
When a prospect is in the final stages of their research, provide a way to guide them further down your sales funnel. Capture their attention and convert them into a customer with actionable, compelling landing pages. Drive them to the landing page with ads and use a clever call to action to collect their contact info.
7. Leverage the power of LinkedIn.
If you’re a salesperson, there is no reason NOT to use LinkedIn to build your network and generate leads on Social Media.
- Make sure you have a 100% complete profile – no “lazy bones jones” on this one. People want to know about you and a well-constructed profile with a nice picture says, “Hey, I’m here to help.”
- Don’t waste your time trying to connect with everyone. Be deliberate and thoughtful about who you’d like to know and see who can introduce you or recommend you.
- Join Groups around the interests you have and either start or participate in discussions within those Groups.
8. Use Twitter for prospecting.
With a little skill and perseverance you can locate and engage with your ideal customers on Twitter. Create a search on Hootsuite Geo-Search for tweets in your market area. Monitor the search regularly and soon you’ll find ways to be helpful or even awesome. Engage prospects in conversation by offering help or advice. Expect nothing in return except the good feeling you get from helping someone. If/when the conversation turns your way, ask more questions to let them create the lead naturally.
9. Identify communities on Google+ where leads might be and join them.
Don’t wait for leads to come to you, go look for them! Start with a completed profile so people can see who you are. Share content on Google+ using your already-established content strategy. These two actions are like getting ready to go on a sales call. Now you’re ready to seek out leads. Join communities where you can network and collaborate with others. Give to get.
10. Show another side of you on Instagram.
If you’ve done your homework on identifying your business or personal brand, there are components of it that may not lend themselves well to some of the Social channels. Example: Linkedin’s professional environment isn’t a place to share pictures of your daily happenings. Use Instagram to communicate another side of your brand. Spend 10-15 minutes each day engaging with other users. I know a dealership who’s worked leads using their Instagram content.
With these 10 tips and some commitment, you will generate leads on Social Media. Are you ready to take it to the next level?
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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By Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Inc.
Every single time I speak to a group about Social Media, someone (or two) raises their hand with a question about Yelp – and with good reason. Like all Social networks, Yelp has its idiosyncrasies. It takes time and effort to learn the ins and outs of Yelp and how to make it work for your business
I have a friend who lives in Silicon Valley. He decided it was time to replace his old car. He began his buying process by researching online (like everyone else) and came across some Yelp reviews of a particular salesperson. This salesperson had done her homework by diligently asking her customers to share their experience online. My friend caught those reviews, called the store and bought the vehicle from her. He tells me the deciding factor was her Yelp reviews.
It’s not a coincidence that I get a lot of questions about Yelp. I see a lot of dealers and other businesses treat Yelp and Google+ as secondary concerns in the daily operation of their business. Judging by the tactics my friend took, more attention should be paid to these platforms.
Managing Yelp reviews certainly does have its challenges. The number of possibly fraudulent reviews on Yelp rose from 5% is 2006 to 20% in 2013 {source}. Yelp does a pretty good job of “not recommending” those reviews that their algorithm deems fake but many, many times, real reviews get filtered too. Managing your online reputation is hard enough without Yelp adding another layer by “not recommending” your authentic 5-star reviews!
Whatever you pay attention to gets better. The more you learn about how Yelp works and how to manage your own reputation, the better positioned you’ll be when buyers come calling.
After my recent presentation, an e-commerce director from a dealership approached me. He had very genuine concerns about their presence on Yelp and had been very diligent with handling things. He expressed concern over reviews posted by non-customers who only wanted a bone to pick with someone. He was very disheartened by the fact that these reviews would remain on his store’s profile and that happy, loyal customers’ reviews were being filtered away. He’d tried to get support from Yelp but got the same canned response he always got: “Our algorithm, or review filter only selects about 75% of reviews to highlight at any given time.”
It’s frustrating when an online forum/social network doesn’t appear to listen to their customers’ concerns. After all, it’s the merchants who pay the ad fees. It conjures up feelings of hopelessness for business owners who are just trying to do the right thing and provide a mirror copy of their business’ reputation on Social Media. It’s easy to get caught up in the “I hate Yelp” thinking.
Take a deep breath and remember: It’s Yelp’s movie, we’re just in it. Outsmart Yelp by accepting its drawbacks and then capitalize on what you CAN do to improve your results.
Train salespeople to ask for online “referrals.”
Many more buyers are “Googling” salespeople. What does Google say about you and your individual salespeople? (try it and see!) Maybe you’re not that concerned with Yelp and Google+ reviews. I can tell you that my friend isn’t the only person who Googled his potential salesperson. Set yourself up for success – get your salespeople trained on how to ask for online “referrals.” This will build your online reviews, give you more visibility on search and increase each salesperson’s trust factor with their own individual network.
Review and restate your current Conflict Resolution Policy.
Every dealership I managed had a very clear policy on how to handle unsatisfied customers. Today, it’s 1,000 times more important to know how to handle situations when they go negative because what’s said online, stays online. If you suck in real life, you’ll only suck harder on Social Media. Get yourself a Social Media Policy for your staff and be diligent about keeping everyone on the same page when responding to conflicts.
It’s all about the numbers so get in the game.
Don’t stick your head in the sand when it comes to building your online reputation. Many owners think that a vendor is going to magically turn your online profiles into the land of unicorns and rainbows. Get in the game! You MUST have an internal process to capture your happy, loyal customers’ opinions so that when a negative review happens, you don’t get buried. This stuff takes hard work but at the end of the game, you’ll score a touchdown instead of fumbling your online reputation.
When you get a negative review, respond eloquently.
Always, always, always come from a place of calm concern. It takes finesse and experience to handle negative online remarks because each one is different. Consult with an online reputation specialist who can guide you and your customer to a successful resolution. Here are 3 important tips I give our clients:
- Never make the customer wrong (even though they may be). War only brings on more war.
- Never provide a canned, corporate-sounding answer (online or off). This will only serve to exacerbate the issue and it’ll make your audience think you don’t care enough.
- No business is perfect and potential customers know this. It’s a fact that some reviews will be negative and many times your community will come to your defense.
For every unhappy customer, there are 100+ happy, loyal customers that can tell the real story of what it’s like to do business with you. Capture their opinions successfully and others will witness the trust you’ve developed.
It’s Yelp’s movie, we’re just in it..but if you work it right, you can be in the starring role.
Author information
Kathi Kruse is an Automotive Social Media Marketing Expert, Blogger, Speaker, Coach, Author and Founder of Kruse Control Inc. Born in the heart of Los Angeles to a family of “car people”, Kathi’s passion for the car business spans a 30-year career managing successful dealerships in Southern California. Kathi is the author of “Automotive Social Business – How to Captivate Your Customers, Sell More Cars & Be Generally Remarkable on Social Media”. Her Kruse Control Blog is the leading Automotive Social Media blog in the US.
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