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WOMEN, SALES, AND SOCIAL MEDIA

If you know me at all, or even if you met me for all of five minutes, one thing would ring loud and clear: when it comes to CHANGE, I’m all over it. Good, healthy, positive, full-speed-ahead kind of change. So when it came time to reprint my bestselling book, Make a Fortune Selling to Women, it’s no surprise that I wasn’t just going to “leave well-enough alone.”

One secret to success is to always be willing to mix things up. Learn something new. Be FEARLESS in the face of change.

Enter social media and technology.

It’s amazing to me that in the short time it has taken to sell out of the first printing of this book, social media and technology have impacted the way we communicate in so many substantial ways that there was NO WAY we could reprint without spotlighting this important topic.

So, as social media and integrated technology go, you probably fall into one of four groups:

1. You’ve GOT this. You use it not only for personal connections but also totally understand the amazing potential in your business. You are definitely wired for success, especially for SALES. You have found social media and technology applications to be an amazing resource for providing networking and business opportunities, as well as a way to stay in touch with family and friends.

2. You love social media... but it’s PERSONAL. You’ve got your smartphone, you have apps galore, and you know how to use them. (Just NOT while driving.) The leap from personal to professional hasn’t quite taken place yet. However, you are social media savvy. You’re a quick learner, and you’re willing to give everything with merit a whirl—RIGHT?

3. You SORTA, KINDA, one–of–these–days–I’ll–get– around–to–figuring–it–out understand social media and technology. You’ve got a Facebook account. You occasionally go on there, say hi to your buds from high school, sneak a peek on the kids or grandkids, and post some cool vacation pics. But other than that? Yeah, it’s not your gig. And that Twitter thing? Um, no. Foursquare? Never heard of it. Fan page? Huh? You’re in “the loop” but not sure about stepping your internet “toes” into the competitive waters of social business applications.

4. You sound something like this, “Nope. Not going to. You can’t make me! It’s a waste of time!” You don’t like it. You don’t need it. You don’t want it in your life. You don’t see the point. And, frankly, you’ve got enough on your plate with emails and voicemails—you couldn’t POSSIBLY add another thing to your very busy life. At least that’s what you say on the OUTSIDE. Inside, you’re a little intrigued. You see some benefits, you’re hearing the talk, you might imagine the connectivity, and maybe—just MAYBE—you’re even thinking this might be something you should be doing too. But it’s OVERWHELMING. Not the right time. Not sure where to start. Can you? Will you? Should you? I get that.

The truth is? There are many jobs where an understanding of social media and technology applications are not a NECESSITY. (But even those are few and far between now.)

But SALES? Social media’s a haven for opportunities to stay connected with your customers—who enjoy and use social media as a means to share information and resources.

“None of my customers even know what social media is,” you say? I have two things to say about that. One, you may be right… at this moment. But that is going to change really quickly. And when your customers DO begin to use social media, will you be up to speed and ready to go? Or sitting on the sidelines with no idea what they are even talking about? Use this time to LEARN.

If you want to stay in the game, youmust stay ahead of the game.

And two, I know tons of salespeople who ASSUME their customers don’t use social media, but they are so wrong. We tend to believe that just because we still like to leave voice messages or send emails, that those ways are everyone’s preference. But have you asked your customers? You’ll be surprised at how many women (and guys, too) find social media to be useful in many ways— especially when it comes to learning about great products.

Know this! Social media is NOT a fad. It’s not hype. It’s not a silly little hobby where people just sit around coffee shops and talk about their awesome vanilla lattes. And more importantly?

Social media is not going away.

An understanding of social medianetworking is now a CREDENTIALsalespeople MUST have if they want to stay relevant, increase sales, andof course, SELL MORE TO WOMEN!

Look, I’m not suggesting that you HAVE to be posting, Tweeting, or checking in ten times a day, but I am saying that forward-thinking sales professionals need to at least UNDERSTAND how social media works so you can make a clear, educated decision as to how it might possibly fit into your business plan for increasing your success in SALES. You simply can’t stay in sales and just hide your head in the sand when it comes to staying current and relevant.

BOTTOM LINE? It is NOT up to the customer to figure out how to communicate in the way that is most comfortable for the salesperson. It is up to YOU to figure out how to communicate with the customer in the way that is most comfortable for THEM. That is what true customer service is all about. When you stop learning about the new, advanced, unique ways to communicate, you stop becoming relevant to your customers—especially women, who LOVE to communicate and share. In fact, I believe that AGING truly begins when we decide to STOP LEARNING—when we consciously CHOOSE to distance ourselves from the younger generation and new ways of thinking.

So let’s take a look at the real scoop on social media and women. Surveys show that over 50 percent of women participate in social media once a week or more. And they certainly lead the guys when it comes to turning to social media for buying recommendations.

Why is that important to you as a salesperson? Because women are asking questions about products; sharing information about favorite brands (and least-favorite brands); referring services, products, and SALESPEOPLE (that’s YOU!); and giving amazing customer feedback about sales experiences. As we will discuss later, women LOVE to rave about great experiences—and often that means SHOPPING and BUYING. (Two of your favorite things, right?)

And now? With the ability to share “one-to-many” in a key-stroke, social media has become the powerhouse equivalent of a billboard, radio spot, TV commercial, and newspaper ad—all rolled up into ONE VIRILE AND AMAZING SELLING PROMOTION for YOU and your product/service. And it’s FREE. Now that’s POWER in sales. (Kind of makes sense to get on board, huh?)

Unfortunately, most businesses and business professionals aren’t prepared. Many companies and salespeople I speak to tell me that they have no system in place to track social media feedback. Therefore, they are NOT taking advantage of all the valuable information—both negative and positive—right there in front of them that could help market their brand, improve their product, measure customer satisfaction, and increase market share. THEY ARE LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE. And you might be as well.

Look, I was no exception. But when Facebook and Twitter took off, I knew I had to get on board! There was no doubt in my mind that I could not simply refuse to be a part of this business and sales phenomenon. So I grabbed a twelve-year-old (well, almost twelve), sat down, and said, “Teach me how to do this.” I made it a priority to figure it out. I totally understand that in sales we have to be SMARTER than our customer, not lagging behind.

Now? I love the possibilities. The opportunities. The connections. How do I use it in my business? EVERY time I finish speaking, I check out what my audiences are saying about my presentation online. Talk about IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK! What they loved. The messages that hit home. What made them laugh. Change. Take action. From this feedback, I can accomplish two major goals:

1. I can continue to connect with my audience (my customer) long AFTER the event is over. First, let’s make one point clear. I rarely ever SELL myself or my product directly. Facebook should not be an in-your-face sales vehicle. People will stop “liking” you or following you ASAP. Social media is instead about becoming a RESOURCE that people can turn to for great information. I SHARE—ideas about business, balance, change, leadership, increasing productivity, health, wealth, success, happiness, and growing their own business, all on social media. Thousands of my customers can learn, share their own opinions and ideas, and then continue to connect with me and one another. This is far better than any outdated email list you might still be using.

2. I can learn how to improve my presentation (product) and continue to make it better and better. My product and service becomes customer-focused and customer-driven, which is the ONLY way to go. I use the feedback they give me to change things up, offer new products and services, add new topics they request, read books they suggest that help me learn new perspectives, and expand on the ideas they respond to en masse.

And I don’t stop there. (And neither should you!) I also give my customers choices as to how they want me to communicate with them. Do they want me to call them? Email them? Text them? Follow me on social media?

Research shows that while it may take days for someone to finally listen to their voice messages and hours to check on and respond to their emails, reading and responding to texts or posts are almost instantaneous. How are YOU choosing to stay in touch with your customers? The way that’s best for YOU or best for THEM? Don’t forget who is most important! THEM!

So? Back to my book. I put my money where my mouth is and made this as social media-friendly as possible.

As you make your way through the book, you will notice that I’ve pulled out tons of great “sound bites” that you can use on your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. But hey, the sky’s the limit. Feel free to share them via email, in a phone conversation, or even a handwritten note! (I still love snail mail once in a while, don’t you? I wonder if anyone even knows cursive anymore…)

Oh, and for the Twitter maniacs in the crowd—no worries! I’ve already done the math and made sure that there are lots of ready-to-go Tweets under the 140-character limit with a rocking hashtag so you can ReTweet to your heart’s content.

Are you scratching your head and saying, “A WHAT?” A hashtag is a means of identifying a keyword or topic in Twitter so you can connect with like-minded people and continue to discuss a subject that interests you. It’s formed by using the pound sign (#) followed by one or more words—and no spaces! Twitter messages have to be 140 characters or fewer, so you have to keep it short. See? You’ve learned a lot already!

One great thing about Twitter? It’s short, sweet, and to the point! (Kind of a refreshing change of pace from some of the long copy we’ve seen so much of over the last few years!)

Why did I change the format of thebook? To illustrate the importanceof social media and tech changes intoday’s world.

GET THIS! At the time Facebook went public and announced their IPO, they had more than 900 MILLION users around the globe and boasted more than 526 million DAILY users. Twitter statistics at the same time tell us that members were sending more than 175 MILLION Tweets per DAY! Since then, we’ve added in growing technology platforms like Pinterest and Foursquare with a wide spectrum of business applications, followed by hundreds and thousands of new platforms that are being developed every month (forget every year—that’s TOO SLOW to meet the demand of our instant-communication-hungry society).

Technology is moving at lightning speed.

That’s why you have to start somewhere. Things are moving so fast that if you CHOOSE to stay behind now, you may never catch up. Much easier to just keep learning a little bit at a time, step by step.

What’s the latest? Now sales professionals are adding QR codes to their business cards so that their valued clients, with the push of a button, can launch an app (application) on their smartphones to browse the latest offerings on the Web or—better yet—add their salesperson’s contact information directly into their phones. In fact, one of the world’s LEADERS in customer sales and service excellence, Nordstrom, was a front runner in adopting these new trends. So it’s safe to say that to be successful in sales, you’d better keep up with the leaders in your industry! Better yet... BE THE LEADER IN YOUR INDUSTRY!

In fact, here’s my QR code! Try it out. Easy-breezy. It will take you straight to my website, where I continuously add fun quizzes, articles, blogs, and other amazing resources that you and folks just like you can dive right into and keep learning!

Remember, great SALES is about staying connected and making it EASY for your customers to work with you, remember you, see you as a resource for the long-term, and RAVE about you to their friends and family.

You can create your own as well. Do a Google search for QR code creators, and take your pick! Most applications are free, and you can download them to use in all of your marketing material!

If you haven’t noticed QR codes before, start paying attention. You’ll find them pretty much EVERYWHERE these days! Not only on business cards but on car magnets, sign riders for real estate agents, brochures at the doctor’s office, magazine ads, movie posters, restaurant menus, even labels on some of your favorite products in your grocery and retail stores! It’s a fast and effective way to take people from PAPER to online resources—and it’s evolving amazingly fast. Smart sales pros are keeping up!

And if you’re selling to WOMEN? Studies show that women are RARELY EVER more than five feet from their phone. Think about that one for a minute. Their cell phone is almost glued to their hand 24/7. So making it easy for them to connect via their phone is HUGE.

Throughout the book you’ll note that communication is a key part of what will propel you to be successful as a sales professional, not just today but in the years to come. Conversely, those who are UNWILLING to keep up won’t stand a chance. I always tell people who are stuck in “the way things always were” that successful SALES requires an imagination going far beyond what the customer can imagine. Status quo? Move aside! Change? Bring it on! Technology? No problem! You’ve got this!

These are exciting times to live in. But it’s all about your CHOICE of perspective. You can be FEARFUL of change and fight to keep things as they are. Be grumpy and complain about innovative new ideas. Dig your heels in, and fight to keep things status quo. And then watch as your sales drop, customers change over to your competitor, and you are left wondering what happened.

Or how about this INSTEAD? Be absolutely FEARLESS in your quest to learn new skills. Technologies. Strategies. Ideas. Sales opportunities. We have more information in one Sunday’s New York Times than our grandparents had available in a lifetime. Wow! So, want to be at the top of your game in your industry? Grab every opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

If there was ever a time to differentiate yourself as a major player and a force to be reckoned with, it is now.

Are you ready to out-perform the competition? Out-think old ideas? Out-shine past performance? Out-maneuver anyone who says it can’t be done?

Then you are ready to take SALES to a whole new level! Plus, you have a winning attitude worth its weight in gold.

So? Ready to get down to the nitty-gritty of what women really want when it comes to SALES? Let’s do this!