Imagine you’ve joined a Professional Association. To get involved you decide to go to their annual conference to meet some fellow professionals and to learn some new skills and ideas—you’ve heard that the keynote speaker is great.

You turn up bright and early, grab a good table and the presenter starts to talk. But there’s a problem—10 of the audience haven’t sat down. They are walking from table to table handing out brochures and giving everybody their 30 second elevator pitch.

No one can hear the presenter.

It sounds ridiculous, but that’s what Groups on LinkedIn are like today. 10% of members are constantly posting stuff about their business and driving traffic to their websites –and no one finds it terribly useful.

Real conversations, real learning and research are being drowned out…This is partly why we have started new Groups for our clients, where we can moderate this junk.

So what can you learn from this for your own marketing?

Nobody likes to be sold to straight off the bat. Here are five tips to help you get results from your LinkedIn campaigns:

5 Steps to Generating Leads on LinkedIn Groups

1. WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?) – the only way to network with others on LinkedIn and to strike up a conversation with a prospect is to have a good hook. Don’t bulk-post your blog posts and don’t write directly to people offering your services. We use other Groups on LinkedIn to research what’s popular in different industries – what’s gaining the most comments/interest? Add your own twist, phrase it as a discussion question and share.
2. Focus – focus on the LinkedIn Groups that contain the largest majority of your VIPs (very important prospects!). Perhaps start with 10 Groups; don’t bulk-post your sales material and expect a response.
3. Have a call-to-action – so you shouldn’t be just posting links to your free event, but how do you ever get clients from LinkedIn? LinkedIn Group members are there to network and learn – so your goal here should not be to sell a service, but to sell a guide or paper on an issue in your field. It’s appropriate to link to your White Paper in a relevant discussion.
4. Measure – we all know what a timewaster social media can be – in fact that’s the No. 1 reason why people resist it. Plan your campaigns and measure clicks, comments and downloads. Is the time you’re spending yielding good leads?
5. Plan a follow-up – in B2B or B2Professional relationships, people don’t buy from one touch. Eight or more touches are often needed before someone trusts or understands your business enough to respond/buy. Make sure you plan an email sequence with engaging content that is relevant to what your prospects have downloaded.

If they get value, they will stay. And some will engage. Then some will buy. And more will buy next month… And the next.

But only if you stop selling at everyone.

We believe downloads are gold. Because over time many downloads turn into clients.

Of course to be valuable, downloads must be from your VIP’s: Very Important Prospects. i.e. the clients you want more of. So only target them.

Once you’ve captured your VIP’s details, you can stay in touch with them and, hence, stay top of their mind.

B2B sales are infrequent – they have a long lead time. So being recently and frequently in touch is important to getting future sales.

But how can you stay frequently in touch? With a regular newsletter.

But here’s the BIG question: When your business needs something that you only buy infrequently, who do you call? Who’s on your shortlist?

The company that stayed in touch will certainly come to your mind. That is, the company who sent you regular and informative newsletters. And Not pushy, repetitive sales emails.

Good newsletters are remembered by your VIP’s and position you well. That’s the secret to B2B sales.

And it’s why we guarantee to deliver lots of downloads to our clients. Guarantee it!

Because downloads are measurable. And downloads from VIP’s are gold!

That people have visited your website or your LinkedIn profile or other online sites to learn about you. Or to buy from you. That they came there to find you and therefore you should take this chance to sell to them, to tell them about what you do and all the value you provide.

This thought process reminds me of Diet Coke, the drink which makes you fat. But the (usually fat) people who drink it by the bucket load know it has no calories. So how could it make you fat?? Explaining that it’s caused by the combination of the chemicals and the sweetness addiction is way too complex and easily ignored (and too much information for this article!).

Most companies take every opportunity online to push what they sell

So with the same flawed logic, most companies take every opportunity online to push what they sell.People are on your page, visiting your site, so why miss the chance to sell?? It seems so obvious, so right, but it’s just wrong. Just like Diet Coke.

Think of the last 20 websites you visited. Were you looking to spend money on most of those searches? Or even any of those searches? Or were you, like all the rest of us, just looking, digging, searching and researching? And, in some cases, maybe starting a buying process but were not yet clear on what you wanted to buy.

Things have changed in the Social Networking Age. People can find the information they need. And they decide who they want to be connected with. This is the reality that requires a very different approach to sales.

Be found by your VIPs

Firstly make sure that you are found primarily by your VIPs (your very important prospects). So you need to use the right Keywords – the words that they mostly use to find you. Of course some visitors to your website or your Social profiles will not be your VIPs. Easy to ignore them.

Draw your VIPs in, and engage them

Your entire focus is on your VIPs. And the whole point of your various online sites is to impress them, to engage them, to draw them into your world. Every word, every video, every resource you offer. All aimed at your VIPs. All aimed at helping them, and in the process positioning you as the expert. How can you achieve that if you are just telling them how good you are??

Now, here’s the big question: Are they buyers when they visit? No. Maybe 2% are, 20% might be. One day.

You just have to be there when they are ready.

For years marketing has been about creating your value proposition, then incorporating those key messages into your advertising and marketing collateral. Glossy brochures, press releases, adverts, cold calls and web pages…

The problem is our clients are tired of being sold to in this way; it’s turning them off.

Thought leadership on the other hand is: “Evidence-based views and opinions that deliver insights and knowledge to the customer or prospect about the specific issues and challenges they face today and into the future”. A great definition from Craig Badings our guest speaker at the May First Wednesday.

But is it just a buzz word?

A recent discussion on Global Gurus gave some great insights on whether thought leadership is here to stay:

Thought leadership means never having to sell

“…(thought leadership is) businesses making the commitment to develop a deeper understanding of the specific forces shaping their respective industries.

TL means never having to sell or pitch a business idea, but rather becoming a trusted advisor and not just a vendor.

…companies can no longer avoid the impact of TL and what it means to their market and to their customers.”Thomas Mangini

Soon clients will demand it.

“Thomas’s perspective about thought leadership (TL) is completely aligned with the feedback we consistently hear from the clients of our clients. They want it. They need it and they are fast learning to seek it. Soon they will demand it.

It seems that TL is rapidly becoming one of the strongest differentiators – especially in competitive markets.”Leigh Stafford

Craig Badings has covered this topic extensively in his blog post titled “Thought leadership – a marketer’s new value proposition”.

He covers not only how thought leadership is coming into play in sales and marketing, but also how you can implement it – through research, talks and online mediums.

Tips to build trust via social networking

Consumer behaviour has changed, we all know that. People no longer rely on billboards, radio, TV and cold calling to learn about new products and services. They just do their research via the web. But has this changed how you market?

Have you thought about the fact that…

• People don’t trust advertising. 78% of buyers trust recommendations online and only 14% trust advertisements. But that’s just statistics. Surely common sense tells us this anyway?
• People don’t want to view advertisements. People mostly tune out when it comes to advertising, unless it’s relevant to them at that exact moment, which for B2B is scarce. 86% of people skip through television commercials. Who knows what the figure is for cold calling.

Welcome inbound marketing – or prospects coming to you…

Old style marketers are unfortunately still relying on outbound marketing – cold calling, print advertisements, banner ads, radio, TV.

But did you know the grass is greener on the other side?

• Inbound marketing focuses on earning attention and engaging with potential clients – the way it’s supposed to be.
• It educates, adds value and creates a relationship.
• And it’s actually more cost effective for generating leads!

But do people buy B2B online?

A common question…but professionals and business managers still do their research online. Probably more than any other target group. You just need to design a process that gathers, engages and sells to them over time.

1. Define
2. Reach out
3. Gather
4. Engage
5. Stay in touch
6. Take it offline
7. Measurable results

So how do you gain attention from a stranger?

Effective B2B marketing is not about screaming at everyone and anyone who will listen. It’s about being found when the right person is looking for you, and in the places they are looking. And it’s about developing a relationship when they get there.

Let us give you an example…

A client of ours does large-scale IT deployment, such as rolling out the 50,000 PCs across NSW schools.

1. Define: Their prime prospect is the CIO, the Chief Information Officer. So we designed a LinkedIn Group which would allow them to gather the CIOs across Australia and New Zealand and engage with them over time.
2. Reach out: We wrote a White Paper which encapsulated the key concerns of CIOs – how to manage large-scale projects. So far we’ve circulated it to CIOs in our Group and also to other Groups.
3. Gather: Over 200 targeted downloads and growing. We’ve migrated the “hand-raisers” from LinkedIn over to our client’s CRM.
4. Engage: We’re publishing discussions regularly via CIO Groups and writing a monthly newsletter to the ones that download papers and read the blog.
5. Stay in touch: We are sending a regular monthly Newsletter.
6. Take it offline: Once we hit critical mass in terms of downloads, there will be an event planned for 50-100 CIOs and guest speakers from global IT companies.
7. Measurable results: So far we’re tracking responses, traffic, downloads, direct contact and meeting requests. The downloads are steadily moving up the sales funnel from what we can see.

So: Gather, Engage, Sell.

Then they are no longer strangers.

This post was inspired by many client questions leading to one core issue…how do I sell online?

For example, one of our clients asked whether they could promote services through a status update.

Another asked whether they could focus their newsletter on a new product.

The trick to selling online? Don’t.

There’s no shortcut to making the sale.

The problem is that we’re resorting to old habits of telling and selling. This is what marketing used to be – “hit and run”. One off campaigns.

But time to wake up…the world has changed.

People have built up immunity to advertisements – information overload would drown us if we didn’t.

So your only chance of really selling now is by genuinely helping the buyer with their problems.

Yes, it sounds time consuming. But hey, that method got you this far in the article, didn’t it? Selling in this age means building a relationship and credibility over time.

The flip side

The flip side of things is what happens when you do sell:

1. They ignore you – it’s not memorable.
2. They shut you out (unsubscribe, disconnect…).
3. It annoys or offends them. The worst of all.

So, where do you start?

1. What is your niche?
2. How can you reach them?
3. What do you have to share that they need to know?
4. Do you have a reason to stay in touch?

For us, the answer is:

• Companies that sell B2B – e.g. IT companies
• LinkedIn Groups – 1000s of members that are reachable
• How to market with LinkedIn
• This blog!

Ironically, you can shorten your sales cycle if you stop selling and start educating. But old habits do die hard.

We all have fears when thinking of refreshing our marketing – time, cost, ROI…

But from time to time, we hear this nugget…

“We don’t want our competitors to see our ideas”.

Sort of valid, but guess what?!

If they can’t see them, your prospects can’t either…

Like it or not, the majority of your potential clients are online, researching and gathering ideas before you’re even on a shortlist.

Let us give you an example of what we mean…

Why your celebrity chef is rich and famous

Anthill Online stirred a discussion recently on “why is your celebrity chef rich and famous?”. We could think of no better example to illustrate our point…

The answer?

They give away their recipes – their tips and their personal advice. Their IP!

The chefs that do this are well known, and highly paid. Think Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson…

Not interested in becoming a celebrity chef?

Doesn’t matter.

The lesson here is that the people who do this inspire their audience. They break down how they do their best work. They empower their audience to think they can do it too…

What happens? Are you out of a job?

Certainly not. What you have won is their trust. They know you can do it and trust you’re the expert. They’ve tried it themselves and know they need a professional.

We’ve seen many try DIY Social Media before they understand how hard it is to get a result. How many years it takes to learn from your mistakes and get a kick-ass strategy.

Sure, the tyre-kickers will make do with a subpar, makeshift solution they’ve done themselves. But who wants them as clients anyway?

Elevator pitches are like Chinese whispers…

Elevator pitches are like Chinese whispers; unless it’s compelling, it won’t be memorable.

Can you imagine that we used to try to explain our complex range of services in one sentence?? Something like…

“We use SEO, direct marketing via LinkedIn, Google AdWords, snail mail, copywriting and much more to help you get new clients.”

Would usually be remembered as:

“They use Google AdWords and some other stuff I don’t understand.”

Focus on their core fears and desires

Recently we went through a huge clarification with our PR advisors Cannings…after a round of pretend media interviews, they said to us “so really what you do is shorten the sales cycle”. It just confused things when we tried to explain the tools we use. Our clients only care about the end result of our work – new clients!

The core lesson?

You can’t evaluate your own elevator pitch – often you need someone outside the business to tell you it sucks and why.

You’re in the business. You understand everything you do. Somewhere along the way you forget that prospects need to be told very simply how you’ll benefit them, not what you do.

Once you’ve got that right, THEN your web copy, newsletters and sales team will start resonating.

7 words or less – First Wednesday Workshop

Come along on March 7th to workshop your elevator pitch with a great business audience to challenge and contribute. See more details and register here…

Someone’s always announcing the death of something or other. But this time it’s something to get excited about.

With information so readily accessible, it’s a given that Google is the first point of call when buying anything – particularly B2B services. We can research so quickly now, and get a good understanding of what our options are.

So what happens when you simply have a brochure website, with little information and no way to interact?

The small amount of prospects that actually do find your website may be interested but still have little knowledge of what you do. What your promise to them is. And how you differ from other companies.

The result?

You now need to do lots of HEAVY LIFTING. Make concessions. Sell hard. Cut the price. Perhaps take on work that isn’t ideal.

Turning your prospects into clients before you sell to them.

What?! This is turning sales on its head. The heavy lifting is done before they come to you. And leads to a new definition of selling.

In the information age, it’s possible to reduce your sales calls, to shorten your sales cycle. To turn your prospects into clients before they come to you. That’s the beauty of having a content strategy, and a process of reaching out that gathers all your best prospects together. In one place.

We experienced this just yesterday – we met up with a CEO who received an invite to a LinkedIn Group of ours…he asked us for the meeting. When asked what we do, we simply said “well, our LinkedIn work got you here, that’s what we do for our clients”. No further selling was required; we were already positioned as the experts.

And, just for reference, here are the new definitions of selling….

Buying: Willingly acquiring something you need, with your selection usually based on the recommendation of others. You generally finish the transaction feeling satisfied. Maybe even happy.

You only want ‘buyers’. Who has time for tyre kickers?

Selling: Attempting to convince someone they need your service even though they may not. The purchaser often leaves the transaction with buyer’s remorse. Was I oversold? Did I do enough research to compare suppliers?

Buying starts with them picking up the phone and asking to meet. When they do, who has the power?

There are 6 reasons why cold calling doesn’t work in today’s world:

1. Even the most ardent fan of cold calling would admit it’s less effective than it used to be.

Everyone’s tolerance of being interrupted whether by phone or by email is falling – there’s too much of it because it’s so easy with all the new technologies. So there is too much interruption, but increasingly we have the ability to filter it out. And busy, successful people do just that. Filter it.

2. Cold calling positions you as a supplicant in B2B sales

Anyone who sells anything knows one truth in their guts:

You must come across as not needing their business – and that you are ready to walk away at any time; that you have options.

But when a prospect receives a cold call from you, you are demonstrating the complete opposite – that you need their business.  At the same time you convey that you are not busy; that you don’t have anything more important to do than ‘smile and dial’.

So are you calling random prospects? You come across as needy and desperate. And every time you make a call, you do a little damage to your brand, to your positioning as a successful expert.

Here’s something no-one can argue with: People with power cannot be reached by phone. Have you tried calling Gates or Obama or Winfrey recently? Gurus don’t have their mobile numbers on their business cards. And if they mistakenly do, they certainly don’t say “call me anytime, day or night. I’m there, just awaiting your call”.

3. Cold calling won’t find what we all want: Qualified leads

How could it? It is not what cold calling is designed to do. It’s a numbers game; a random numbers game.

And a large and growing proportion of buyers are like me: we don’t take unsolicited sales calls – ever.

Because it’s now so easy to do research, most of us know we can find what we need via Google when we need it, so we don’t need to be interrupted. And, most importantly, we can dig out the sellers who are well regarded from our networks; who come well recommended with lots of (meaningful) testimonials.

4. It limits your results and wastes valuable time

In the Social Networking Age we all have the ability to leverage our time (our scarce and valuable B2B sales time) using all the amazing new connection and engagement tools.

The problem is cold calling allows you to be in only one place at one time. Making one phone call or opening one door. So your results are strictly finite. There is no leverage in this one-by-one approach.

On the other hand, leveraging Social Networks and other New Media allows you to be in many ‘places’ at one time.  Create the system and it can almost run itself if you have clear goals and a clear strategy. And the results are open ended, not finite. A good B2B sales system builds over time. Money spent is money invested, unlike cold calling where every day is a new day (and a day from hell!).

A sales system stops you from spending time with people who:

• Have no need for your product
• Might buy your product at some future but undetermined date
• Have just bought from a competitor
• And, god forbid, are already a customer! It happens if your CRM is out of date, and whose isn’t?? One of the benefits of Social Networking is that it’s your ‘self updating CRM’.

And over 90% of cold calls clearly fall into one or more of these categories. A truly sad call could cover all four!

5. Cold calling puts you in a negative light as a time waster

If there’s one thing that always annoys a busy, successful person, it’s wasting their time. And it is precisely the busy and successful who are your best prospects. But given it is unashamedly a numbers game, it has to be a waste of time for over 90% of those you call, because the calls are unqualified and unfocused.

Why risk starting on the bad side of 90% of your business prospects? People who otherwise might have bought from you?

6. Reason number 6, the big one: Sales people hate it!

The biggest reason for why it’s time to think again. Now, I worked in HR and career guidance for many years. The following is well known, backed up by serious of research:

Love what you do and success is likely

Hate it, and failure or ‘merely average’ performance is inevitable

So why choose failure by executing activities that you hate? Activity that in some companies has come to dominate BDMs’ valuable time as they plan the calls, make them, record them and finally prepare to justify to their Manager what they’ve done.  And, at best, sales people regard cold calling as a necessary evil. Unfortunately they and their bosses don’t know there is another way. In B2B sales it is a system that embeds LinkedIn amongst other online tools.

Overall, these are 6 compelling reasons to find a different approach to B2B sales. But let’s leave the last word to Albert Einstein – one of his most famous quotes, and incredibly apt when it comes to the dinosaurs of cold calling:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.