Using Social Media to Sell More: Why aren’t you doing it?

Using Social Media to sell is a no-brainer, right?  But 75% of sales reps don’t use social media.
Why? Most don’t know how to get started.

Using Social Media To Sell More

Social Media for business isn’t posting your weekend photos on Facebook.  It’s work.  But when you do it right it can be your own strategic advantage that helps you sell more.

Cold calling is dead.  In case you didn’t realize it, all those people you call really don’t want to hear from you. If they were interested in what you sell, they’d look for it.  Online.

A better choice

So what can you do?  Hang out where they are: on social sites.  Just like you, your prospects are on social media.  In fact, 91% of potential B2B customers are active on social media (IDC Research).  If you’re there too, they’ll see what you have to say.  But you’re probably not: only 1 in 4 sales reps knows how to use social media for sales.  If you’re not, they’ll hear what your competition has to say.

Simple steps you can take

So where should you be active?  Think about your audience:

When it comes to business, decision makers use Twitter and LinkedIn. They’re the top social media opportunities for B2B salespeople.

Do This Now: Who’s your average customer?  Take some time to figure it out, based on your current or recent customers.  Then, start spending time on the social media site where they hang out to become comfortable with business focused posts and conversations.

Once you’re positioned to reach them, it’s your opportunity to educate them about how you can solve their problem, and engage with them at the right time.  When they are interested.

Who are you interested in?  What companies have been on your “hit” list for far too long?  Social Media can help you gain valuable insights into what they’re doing so you’re knocking on their door at the right time.  How?  Follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn.  You’ll be the first to know when there’s company news like moving or expansion or other important news.

Do This Now: Pick a list of 10 companies you’d love to work with and follow them on LinkedIn.

Now that you have identified your typical customer, use LinkedIn’s “Saved Search” profile, and you’ll get a notification each time.  You need pay for “Sales Navigator” to use this function.  The cost is currently $79.95/month.  But depending on the size of your sale and your marketplace, it may be worth it.

Do This Now: figure out if leads to new LinkedIn members who fit your “typical customer” is valuable enough to try “Saved Search”

Not ready to pay for Sales Navigator?  You can join “Groups” for free.  LinkedIn has almost 2 million groups, ranging from Trash Removal to Rocket Scientists, Startups to Job Seekers.  Do you focus on specific industries?  Or types of people?  Or on your town?  You’ll probably find a LinkedIn Group that’s focused on it.

Do This Now:  Search for groups that would appeal to your target market and join.  Start by reading and commenting on posts in the group, and eventually start posting about how you help your customers.  You’ll get noticed.

Got good ideas?  They don’t help you unless your potential customers know about them.  Good ideas and new solutions are what attracts customers.  LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to be seen: there are 9 billion content impressions on LinkedIn every week.  But only 3 million users share content weekly.  If you do, you’ll be one of only 0.4% of users.  You’ll be one of the very few posting, so you’ll get noticed.  Did you know that over 50% of “social traffic” to company websites comes from LinkedIn?  If you’re not posting, you’re losing website traffic.

Do This Now: Take 30 minutes and create a LinkedIn Post, and post it.  One internet marketing authority has found that 80% of all B2B leads come from LinkedIn posts and advertising.  If you want B2B leads, LinkedIn is the place to be.

So why aren’t you on Social Media?

These are challenging times.  But they’re not the last challenges you’ll face.  The next time you get “shot down” on a cold call, ask yourself why you’re not using social media to sell more.

Another idea

How about Email?  Are you using it effectively?  Click here for a Free Guide: “10 Best Email Practices for Selling More”

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On Hold Recordings for Medical Practices in Connecticut

On Hold Recordings for Medical Practices are one of the easiest ways to tell your Connecticut patients about more of your specialties, and the best ways that you can help them.  Every time your office phone rings it’s “a call for help.”  A patient, or a potential patient, wants to know if you can help them with a problem.  They’re focused on you and how you can help them.  So you can be certain that they’re listening for helpful information.

What do you do to give your patients information that they want, and that you want them to have?

On Hold Recording for Medical Practices

Professional on hold messages give you a new opportunity to connect with your patients.  Custom written for your practice and to help your patients, they can help you

• improve the patient experience by delivering a positive, patient-focused message that makes the right impression
• sound more professional
• increase patient loyalty
• educate Connecticut callers about the ways that you can help them best, and
• stand out from other practices in your area

Think about your callers

Busy medical offices often get more calls than they can handle at once, so callers are often asked to “please hold.”  In fact, AT&T research shows that up to 69% of your calls may be placed on hold.  If they have to wait more than 45 Seconds, many potential patients may hang up, and almost a third won’t call again.

But letting callers listen to interesting information can help: callers will “hold on” up to 40% longer, and an average of 12% will ask about the information they’ve heard.

Building your practice

What would you like patients to know about your medical practice?  Your Informer Practice Marketing Pro will brainstorm with you in our unique Discovery Session to pinpoint the phone message that will help you to reach more of your goals.

Find out more: take a look at our FAQ

We’ll do everything for you.

With the Informer on your side, you get a complete service that gets you the results that you want.  We’ll do everything for you:

• Analyze who your callers are and where the fall in the “patient acquisition process”
• Develop a strategy to achieve your goals
• Write and revise your script until you feel it’s perfect
• Record professional greetings and your on hold record with a professional voice and mix it with licensed hold music
• Provide a broadcast quality recording.  Click here to hear samples.
• Provide a free digital playback system with any of our full service options, or format your recordings for your VoIP phones
• Proactively check in with you on a schedule that’s best for you about updating you messages
• Update your messages, at no extra charge, with any of our full service plans.  One time recordings are also available.

Your phone message recording is custom tailored to your practice, and to work on your business phone system.  Your Informer messages will be created to work with all your marketing efforts and enhance your patient satisfaction. Want to find out more about how it works?  Click here to see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Want to find out more about on hold recordings for medical practices like yours?

Or, if you want personal assistance, call to speak with a Practice Marketing Pro.  In Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport, or Fairfield Connecticut call (203) 655-3920.  In New York call (212) 355-6980.  Nationwide call (800) 862-8896

Stamford Chamber of Commerce Ambassador 
Darien Chamber of Commerc Board Member

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Messages on hold for Moving Companies Help You Win More Customers

Messages on hold for Moving Companies can help you with one of your toughest challenges.  Movers like you face plenty of challenges: the price of fuel, the shortage of qualified truck drivers, the seasonality that makes it so tough to keep a well-trained crew.  But the first challenge is getting that customer. Without the customer, nothing else matters.

Timing is everything when it comes to your customers: you only get one chance to make a great first impression.  Then, when the customer makes a choice…for you, or your competition…there’s no second chance.  In your industry the customer finds you. You can’t go out to try to find them.  Smart Movers use all the tools at their disposal: a quick hitting, eye catching website, a prominent position on social media, a strong reputation in the community, and effective online advertising.

When this all comes together the potential customer gives you a chance: they pick up the phone and call you.

Messages on hold for moving companies can make the difference

When your phone rings, what kind of impression do you make?  Do you or one of your staff answer every call? Do you have an “automated” answer the call?  Successful moving companies get dozens of calls a day…hundreds a week. To professionally answer those calls, it often pays let your PBX or VoIP telephone system’s Auto Attendant deliver a uniformly high quality recorded greeting.

Calls may have to wait to be answered

After the automated attendant answers the call, many callers may wait “in the queue.”  That’s putting the caller on “hold” for the call to be answered in the order in which it was received.

Put yourself in your caller’s shoes

When your phone rings, it’s a call…for help.  The potential customer on the line wants to know if you’re the right choice for their move.  And this is your chance to help them decide.  How can you do it?

• Make sure that the voice that answers their call sounds great: friendly, professional, and helpful. Would you want anything less if you were the customer?
• Every call is an opportunity to make the sale. You can’t afford to waste a moment of it.

Making every call more valuable

When you’re relying on your phone system to answer and “hold on to” your callers, make sure you’re giving them your best effort: greet them with a professional voice that always sounds great.  Then, when your caller is waiting “in the queue” give them helpful information and tips that they’ll be interested in.  Show them that you have the expertise they need, and that you help them in every way possible.  How?  With professional on hold messages.

Informer Messages on hold are created for business phone systems, and provide a custom written phone message that’s actually targeted advertising.  We start by creating professional greetings for your business.  Your telephone message educates your caller with interesting phone advertisements delivered by a professional voice over.  These custom on hold messages give your callers information that they want, and that you want them to have about what’s most important in choosing the right mover.

Here are actual samples of Informer Messages for two of our Moving and Storage clients

Are you making the best impression when potential customers call?

What’s your “batting average” for converting “leads” into customers?  If you want to make “the big leagues” and increase your chances of winning the next customer, think about how you can sound more professional and helpful.  Think about giving your caller Informer Messages on hold.

How they work

Click here to find out how Informer Messages on hold have worked for successsful movers for over 20 years, and how they can work for you.

Want more information?

Click here to email us, or call us anytime at (800) 862-8896 today.

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Funeral Home Marketing: 5 simple steps to success

Funeral Home Marketing isn’t the hottest idea on Madison Avenue, but your “need based” service can take just 5 steps to establish yourself as the only choice when families in your community need your help most.

Funeral Home Marketing Ideas you can start using today

Here are 5 simple ideas to improve your marketing mix and promote your funeral home.

1. Make the right first impress: this starts with a professionally designed logo. A logo helps those in need to quickly recognize you (think of how effective “the golden arches” are).  And when they don’t already know you, a professional logo conveys “quality” and “professionalism” at a time when they don’t have time or desire to shop.
2. A well designed website that communicates key information: personal service, caring professionals, and easy to use reference guide that educates readers about your services. This is the perfect opportunity to promote pre-planning, and make it easier to make payments.
3. Involvement in the community: since your clients only look for services when there’s an immediate need, in any community where there’s more than one funeral home, it pays to invest in marketing that keeps your name know.  Community involvement fills this need perfectly: participation in the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary or other civic organizations, and local sponsorships, being a collection point for donations for schools, or other community events are all valuable, both to your business and to the community.  The more that you know and participate in your community, the more residents will turn to you when they need you.
4. Building your reputation: Blogging can be a powerful opportunity.  Blogs aren’t just for entertainment.  They’re educational, and help you to provide needed information.  Participation in local community groups reinforces it, and leads to that first phone call.  And when potential clients call you, be sure to have  personally answer the call, and make that time more valuable by offering messages on hold.  Marketing Messages on hold can help start a difficult conversation about funeral arrangements, burials, and cremation.
5. Introduce your staff: Funerals are personal.  Your clients want to deal with people who make them comfortable.  So put some time into personal bios of your staff members, and include a professional photo that conveys professionalism and compassion.

There are more ways to promote your services

These are just some of the many ways to promote your funeral home.  Many funeral marketing services will help you with SEO, digital marketing for funeral homes, targeted direct mail and other marketing tactics, but these are a few that you can try yourself.

Try one of them today

These ideas are simple, and listed because you can take control of them without much more help than you already have.  And there’s almost no risk.  So pick one, and try it today.

 

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How Sales Funnels Work: Sales can be as easy as 1-2-3

Ask most marketers about how sales funnels work, and they’ll draw a diagram: prospects to into the top of the funnel, and some of them come out the bottom as customers.

But ask them for more details and you’ll get a blank look.

So here’s how they work, and simple steps you can take to use them successfully.

Funnels aren’t new, and they’re not rocket science.  But you do have to think about them if they going to work.  Properly executed, they’re the journey that a customer takes starting when they first recognize a need, or a problem, or a desire, through when they make their purchase.

How Sales Funnels work in successful businesses

You’re not Apple, selling iPhones.  So it’s safe to say that consumers don’t start out wanting to buy from you.  They have a thought that gets them interested in finding something that they want or need.  Like a bicycle.  They could want it for basic transportation, or because there’s not enough parking at the train station, or for exercise.  Whatever the reason, the consumer has begun a journey that could eventually lead to making a purchase.  And they might just buy from you if you understand marketing.

The first step

The first step in the process is simply catching the consumer’s attention.  But it’s not simple: in fact, according to bicycleretailer.com there are 143 brands competing for that consumer in the US alone.  And there are 7,000+ bicycle retailers (defined as any retailer who does 50 percent or more of their sales volume in bicycles and bike products, so that excludes stores like Walmart, REI, etc).  So you’re facing a lot of competition for the consumer’s attention.

How do you get their attention?  You do it with marketing tactics like

• Advertising (in all it’s forms)
• Social Media
• Content marketing
• SEO
• Google Reviews
• Trade Shows
• Events
• and more

They all have the same immediate goal: to attract the customer’s attention.

The second step

Next comes the hard work: the middle of the funnel.  Consumers want to know what they’re looking at, and the trend is towards “doing the research” yourself, mainly online. This trend is currently so strong that it’s diminished the role of the salesperson as the source of information, and shifted power from selling to marketing.

How do you educate the consumer?  You do it with marketing tactics like

• White papers
• Product Videos
• Demonstrations
• Case Studies
• Blog Posts
• Social Media and Interest Groups
• Product comparisons
• Messages on hold

Finally, the third step: the payoff

If your mid funnel marketing is powerful enough you still have consumers at the bottom of the funnel.  This is the time to “seal the deal.”

How do you win the sale?  You do it with marketing tactics like:

• Testimonials
• Product Tutorials
• Customer generated content
• FAQ’s
• Success Stories
• CRM
• Drip Campaigns

Have you thought about Sales Funnels in your business, and how they can help your potential customers take their journey…and finally buy from you?  Success doesn’t just happen: it’s the result of a step-by-step, well thought out process.

For more ideas, call us at (800) 862-8896.

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Merge LinkedIn Accounts to avoid confusion and keep your connections

Do you have two different LinkedIn Profiles?  It’s time to Merge LinkedIn Accounts to avoid confusion and get found more easily.  And if you do it the right way, you can keep all your valuable connections

Merge LinkedIn Accounts: you can do it in just 3 minutes

Here are the simple steps you can take to fix the problem:

1. If you can sign into both accounts the process is simple: first, select the account you want to keep, and click the “Me” icon at the top of your homepage.
2. Select Settings and Privacy from the dropdown menu
3. Choose Account Management on the left side of the screen
4. Click Merge Accounts
5. Let LinkedIn know that you own the account: enter your email and password and click Submit
6. LinkedIn will send you a confirmation notification and you’ll be able to keep your connections.

Unfortunately, some items won’t transfer over:

• Profile content: so back this up first
• Endorsements: why not make a list of your endorsers and ask them, nicely, if they’ll re-endorse you on your new “unified” profile
• Recommendations: try taking the same route as for Endorsements
• Saved Articles

Other issues

If you can’t log in to the account you want to close, don’t worry.  Just go to the Sign In page and click on Forgot Password?  Enter your email address and click Send Code.  This will send the password reset link to that email address.

If you no longer have access to that email address, LinkedIn still has procedures to help you access it to complete the “merge” process.

Now get to work

Get back building your profile, getting Endorsements and Recommendations.  LinkedIn has grown to be more than just a place to find a new job.  Potential customers want to know who you are, and use the site to get a feel for your history and accomplishments.  Take a look at my profile and you’ll see how my own company has helped our clients.  www.linkedin.com/in/caseyhart/

Want to sound as professional as you look on LinkedIn?  Click here for information about Informer Marketing Messages on hold.

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Messages on hold in Norwalk help businesses sound more professional

Messages on hold in Norwalk are an increasingly popular marketing tool for businesses that want to sound more professional, while also promoting the most profitable products and services.  How does your business make sure that your advertising reaches “the right people at the right time”?  Here’s how on hold messages for business work for others and can work for you.

Messages on hold in Norwalk: actual examples

Have you ever wondered what helps some businesses…some of your competitors…more successful?  On hold promotions can be a key part of the puzzle.  When consumers want or need something they begin a journey down the “sales funnel.” They best marketing delivers the right information to each of these consumers in the right way, when they’re ready to receive it.

Messages on hold are a part of a success promotional campaign.  When consumers take the step past gathering information from your website, they’re getting closer to buying.  Typically they visit your showroom or call you for information (especially these days!).  That’s your opportunity to help them make the right decision: buying from you.

What happens when they call?

Did you know that AT&T research shows that 69% of business telephone callers are placed on hold?  These are your customers and others who are interested in your help.  Placing them on “hold,” where they sit in silence, or are stuck listening to the default VoIP music on hold doesn’t help them…or you.  And can leave callers in Norwlak frustrated or annoyed.

You have a better option

Why not create a better “User Experience” (or “UX”).  Start giving them information that they want and that you want them to have.  You know what shoppers call about. So use this knowledge to give callers helpful information, and reasons to buy from you.

Who can do it for you?

The Informer provides the complete service that creates a powerful marketing tool: your callers will get the information that they want, and that will help them make the decision to buy from you.  The result is that you can sell more on every phone call.  What do Norwalk, CT businesses say about their results?

Used you at Radisson, and experienced a 30% increase in inquiries.
Mike Matraza, Corporate Training Consultant, Anthony Robbins, Inc. Norwalk CT

We’ve probably gotten 30-40% increase in our inquiries…That’s a nice healthy increase.
RP, Par Pool and Spa, Norwalk CT

You get everything you need for successful marketing messages on hold from The Informer:

• Discovery Session to come up with ideas
• Strategy
• Script writing and revision
• Broadcast quality recording
• And updates of your messages if you choose

Interested in finding out more about the process?  Click here to view answers to Frequently Asked Questions, and find out how the process works.

Or contact us

If you know that you’re ready, why not contact us for a free 15-minute discovery session?

In Norwalk, CT, call us at 203-655-3920 (throughout Fairfield County).  In Connecticut at nationwide, call us toll free at (800) 862-8896.

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