Building stepping stones from marketing to sales

When I was a kid I'd make a little extra money harvesting potatoes by hand. In October in Scotland this was often freezing cold and always back breaking. I had no idea how this was going to serve me as a business owner... Let me explain.

A lot of people make a lot of money trying to pander to business owners who don't have the courage to actually well.. sell what they sell.

Again - Let me explain. Marketing and Sales are like the sowing and the harvesting of a crop.

Everybody loves to throw out the seeds and lay in the sun while the crop grows but nobody likes to harvest. It's hard dirty work.

What I see everywhere in the online space and in traditional business in most cases is the myth that if we can just market hard enough, smart enough or fancy enough then the crop will just leap into our basket.

The problem is that to an extent the crop can just jump in the basket. That tricks us into thinking that this is the hype sold by bro marketers is true.

For a very few people with incredibly compelling and novel products this can work in a limited way. But what it hides is truly staggering.

Don't get me wrong. Marketing is very important. Although I think most people put too much emphasis on it - I should also say that as a marketer - I think most people don't do nearly enough marketing.

That said... I want to offer a couple of simple tools which will allow you to feel better about selling, be more systematic and get better results really quickly.

Turning marketing into relationship selling Before I go on. This is not another DM strategy to start conversations. It's way more elegent and way more effective. Particularly if what you sell is higher priced - which I hope it is.

So your marketing has done a wonderful job of building awareness about who you are and what you do. You get plenty attention and you've crafted your sales funnel so that there is a clear journey from meeting you online, lead capture, email automations, remarketing, discovery calls - the works. Well.. lets pretend you do.

If you do then you'll have a certain amount of natural lead generation. Sometimes a little and if you're good - a lot. ( but probably a little ). This doesn't mean you're failing.

Think of it like this. If you ran a retail store on a fairly busy street and people walked in, walked around your store and then walked out - that's your funnel right now. What we need is the magic phrase - 'how may I help you'.

Business is about service. Selling is about service. If you want to sell more online then you need to find ways to solve problems and overcome assumptions or objections about working with you.

In the sales process I give clients I use what I call ice breakers. These are used to move a prospect from stranger to someone who has experienced some value from us. The examples I'm about to offer are general and could apply to most business. The real power is when you make them specific and focus on the place where the value you offer meets the burning needs of your prospect.

Some general examples of Tier 1 Ice breaker use.

1 - Keep an eye on who opts in to your mailing list. If they look like a good prospect then just send them a simple video, audio or email saying hi and asking them how you could help them.

2 - Connect two people. Everybody loves a connector. Look for ways to bring two people together where there's a win.

3 - Compliment them, thier work, thier content, thier career - everybody loves a compliment. They'll be flattered you even took the time to look.

4 - Personally invite them to a webinar or private training session you're offering.

These are general examples but when we're looking at a specific business it's normally easy to build a list of T1 Ice Breakers which really add value and allow you to start conversations.

The trick with Tier 1 Ice breakers is that they should be prepared in advance to a large expent and they should take very little time to execute because these are used a lot. Thier job is to get a reaction. prime people to reciprocate and it's based on that reaction you know what to do next.

Tier 2 Ice breakers are designed to allow a prospect to get to know you and also for you to become more valuable. The most important benefit of the tier two ice breaker is that you'll have a relationship based on you having provided some value rather than you having aske for a sales call. In tier two you are investing some time.You'd only use a Tier 2 Ice breaker when ( a ) you are already engaged in some way with the prospect or ( b ) you've failed to get engagement from them in any other way an you're sure they'd be a great client. Time is precious so we don't want to waste it.

Here are some examples of Tier 2 Ice Breakers

1 - As part of your content marketing find ways to integrate expert opinion from the people in your network ( prospects ). An example might be a post, video or podcast titled - three ways vets ( your prospects ) use ( whatever you sell ). Now you have the opportunity to get close to your prospects through a short interview and give them a lot of value. You can use blogs, social content, a podcast or even write a book to facilitate this.

2 - Build out a worshop session which you feel you could actually charge for and offer this as a gift. Clearly this does ask that you qualify the people you offer it to but nothing builds desire like being given something and then having it taken away. Similarly the best way to build confidence and trust in what you do is to let people experience it up close and personal.

3 - If you have a mastermind or group program then make a personal invitation for people to join as a guest if the topic is one they either know a lot about or is one they'd get a lot of value from.

These are just a few ideas and if they look time consuming - well that's because they are. But consider how much time is going into your marketing and then look at how you can balance this will sales activity. The simple thing to do is to time block one hour a week for Tier 2 ice breakers and then fill that time block every week.

If you ask anyone in sales what they really want the answer is conversations. If they can just start a conversation then the sales will take care of themselves.

The goal of these ice breakers is to start a conversation and then move some of those people to experienceing you. To begin to know, like and trust you. Once they do they are far more likely to ask you how they can work with you before you even get to any kind of pitch.

Take time out to really think about how you can create a suite of tier one and two ice breakers. The better you make them the better they work. This isn't about tricking people. It's about the harvest. If your marketing has done it's job then people will be surprised and deslighted to hear from you. They'll be flattered that you spent time thinking baout them and they'll get true value from you.From there it's an easy walk to the sales conversation and if you do this right then they'll get there first and ask you how they can work with you.

This quote from Brian Tracy sums up my sales philosophy - 'If you want to earn more, 'you' need become more valuable'.