Selling on Social Media Simplified

Social media can feel like a scary new frontier for small businesses but today I’m going to share with you my three secrets to selling on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. Using these tips will make selling in these spaces less daunting, I promise!

I've been selling since 1994 and have taught thousands of people how to sell millions of dollars in products and services. My goal is to help you get the same confidence that I was able to give to them because they had it inside of them already and you do too. There are two important sides of the sales process, the tactical side and the emotional side, and you need both. We have to feel good emotionally about sales and we have to know what to say and when.

What I'm going to share with you is true across all platforms when we look at them from a sales perspective. First, let’s rewind the tape a little bit and look at sales in the pre-internet era.

Contrary to popular belief, there were actually days before we all had smartphones in our pockets. You may be thinking, how did I live? For me, not only did I live, I also had a phenomenal business. So how did I do it back then? Well, when I was given my first sales territory I was literally given a map with my territory marked and from there I had to figure it out. 

Everyone has a social footprint. So, in terms of selling to businesses or even selling to consumers we have a way in, a reason to reach out. It's just a matter of creating that reason within a reasonable time while you have the proximity without being sleazy. Sounds simple enough, right? But you have to be careful because it’s definitely possible to go too fast, too hard, too soon. And if you've gone too hard in the past I want you to release your guilt. It is not your fault because there is a lot of really bad sales advice out there. Sales is about connecting with people, not just pushing a product. There are ways to do business that are simple and refreshing and don’t feel so hard. A lot of people just make sales harder than it has to be. So, let’s dive into my three secrets to selling on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Consistency is key. I've been doing a Facebook live show for almost three years, consistently, every single Wednesday at twelve thirty PM Eastern, directly from my Facebook business page. If you’re meeting people in the online space and doing business with them virtually, that consistency helps tremendously. It assures your clients that you are going to show up even though they can’t knock on the door of your brick-and-mortar office. Have you ever wondered if someone that you saw online was legit or wondered whether people would take you seriously? Showing up consistently can go a long way towards easing those fears for your potential clients. The same principle applies whether you’re working on Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram: consistency wins the day. The quantity isn’t as important as the regularity. A hundred random live streams is so much less effective than a consistent weekly show. It doesn’t even have to be live! If your jam is podcasting, then let your consistency be that podcast. 

So the second secret is to pay attention to who's engaging. The Internet allows you access proximity, if you will, to potentially billions of people. And you're probably thinking, wow, mass market. However, if you are a coach or a done-for-you service provider who would be happy to have 100 customers this year, then you don't need everybody. If you simply pay attention to who is engaging with your content, and this is the secret of all secrets, then all you need to do is engage with them.

It might sound counterintuitive but I am actually suggesting not to throw up another post and hope they see it. Don't write 10 more emails and hope they read them. If you put out something consistently and you pay attention to who is engaging, then you know who to reach out to. 

Here's the third secret: talk to them. That can happen by phone or online. It doesn’t have to be scary or complicated. It could be just starting a conversation about what they do, sharing something that they've shared, or direct messaging them and asking them an actual question.  Don’t just message them and say: wanna buy my stuff? Don't do that. Nobody likes cold calls. Before you can sell to someone you need to know who they are and then you can find a way in. 

If you take these three steps, you can wipe out the competition. Step one will wipe out half of your competition. But if you take step two, you’ll wipe out 75 percent of your competition and with all three you can wipe out 99 percent of your competition because they're not doing it. And  if all of this feels a little soupy, that's why people hire me. There's no mystery here. I’m giving you the secrets to success but if you need help going from bigger picture to the nitty gritty, I’m here to help keep you from getting stuck in the weeds. If you find yourself asking, how do I show up consistently or what do I say or how do I even know who's engaging with me or where do I look to check the analytics? All these little pieces are what I train people on every day so let’s start a conversation!

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