I always said I would not go into sales. I even told my dad that sometime during college. He said (with raised eyebrows) "sales is what has put a roof over your head." I've never thought of myself as a salesperson. My dad has been in sales most of his life [minus his Vietnam tour and the pool sharking he did as a kid ;-) ]. My brother is in sales. A friend of mine says its in my blood. I think it was traditional sales and the not so honorable tactics that we are all familiar with that turned me off. I always saw my dad as the sales guy who did well because people love him and trust him. They knew he would not steer them wrong.
I now find myself the sole employee of a small business needing to balance providing my services with acquiring new clients. Ah, yes that translates to "sales". So, why does acquiring clients now not bother me? Because of my methodology. I give away a good deal of free advice. I tell those I already know (ie, my current network) what services I am providing. I go to coffee with those I don't know and I tell them. No hard sells. I'm soft pitching. No cold calls. Warm leads only.
Here is why I think folks want to do business with me:
- Because I am honorable.
- Because I genuinely care about others.
- Because I am personable.
- Because folks believe I know what I am talking about.
Lets talk about that last one. My son looked over my shoulder while I was on my laptop one day and asked what I was doing. I explained that I was doing research. He said "why do you need to do research when its your business?" My response: "there's always someone who knows more". Those of us who teach any topic to others must always be learning from others. The field of social media is continually changing which makes learning from others important and being comfortable to say "I don't know, I'll find out" REALLY important.
How do folks make the above determinations about me? A chat over coffee, access to my written word (my blog, Twitter, Facebook, various listservs, etc) and online conversations. Folks make those determinations because they get to know me. Do I have a large network? Depends upon how you define large. More importantly, I have a STRONG nework. That is, I have a network of folks who really believe the above bullets, enough so that they will hire me and/or recommend me [lovely when its both!].
Now you have more info about who I am and how I look at business development. Who are you? How do you view client acquisition?
