How can you balance authenticity and sales on social media?
You don’t. It’s like asking “how do you make fries and play football while diving?” Makes no sense. They’re 2 different things that don’t take off from each other, so there’s nothing to “balance”. Authenticity has to do with how you bring your POV in a consistent manner. How you keep true to your beliefs (values). Sales, with how you guide and bring your prospects to make an informed decision —being that decision in their best interest and not necessarily you. Selling is leading. And to lead,…
Going in first: the worst thing you can do.
There’s this common belief that in any negotiation (especially a compensation negotiation), the worst thing you can do is go first. Because “you’re giving your counterpart the information they need to get a better deal” —consciously or unconsciously. That’s nonsense. Re-read out-loud this last part: Give. Your counterpart. The Information. They Need. To get a better deal. Unless you see working with clients (or for this matter, anyone) as a “you lose, I win” war, wouldn’t you want the best…
You’re a hostage
That’s the approach Meta, X(?), YouTube, and other social media platforms are taking. You don’t feel you should pay? Sure. We’ll put you in front of ads (aggressively) every 2 tweets (if they’re still tweets?), after every 3 posts, or in every video you’re about to watch. And if you pay, well… yeah, we’ll still sell your data to the highest bidder. “It’s just business.” Now, if you’re trying to get in front of the people you serve relying heavily (or only) on social media, odds are you…
It won’t fly
That’s the answer to a different approach on sales presented on a project. The founder just said “That won’t fly”. When asked about why, the reply went as “that’s not how things usually happen in Germany”. – Have you tried it before? – No. – So, how do you know it won’t fly? – Because… that’s the way it is. Leaving some room to regroup, the next question was: – “What if you try with a small quantity, in very specific samples? Would that work for you?” – Ok… Sure, /that/ we could try….
Brand centricity
When being brand-centric “my brand, this is why we’re awesome, these are how many awards we’ve won, we build a strong brand” you focus your efforts about yourself. On how to be better than the competition. How to beat them How to win. (As if you could “win” in business) It turns the focus mostly on you and how to attract your customers. In trying to be more attractive, you shift, change and do what it takes to fit in. What if, in place of getting to pull people in, you design the ones you…
Stop writing newsletters
When writing for your market, stop thinking of it as a newsletter. Because, it’s not about news (about you). Also, why would your customers and prospects care about your news? Do they care about “your brand” or about solving their challenges? Instead, think of it as daily (or regular) email. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them. There are enough people, businesses and brands talking about themselves. And people are sick of it. Thinking of how to help them… that’s just a way to…
Over-delivering 1/3
Overservicing hurts you. Because the extra things you do are out of scope creating marginal value (doesn’t really have an impact) taking resources off of you Here’s the thing It might look like you’re delighting your customers. Truth is, you might be bringing nice-to-haves, without a real impact on your profit side, or on their impact side. You can delight, by keeping your promise. Always.
You truly over-delivered
“After purchasing your product, I can say you truly over-delivered.” Client If you hear “you over-delivered “… You might want to revise your price, your promise or your product. Maybe all of them. Truth is, you might be over servicing. Attending an overserved market. Or underpriced.
Aggressive. Interrupting. Annoying.
You get bombed by the same kind of ads from this one company. So much so that you see them here, there and everywhere. Aggressive. Interrupting. Annoying. Have you ever bumped into this kind of campaigns? When talking with a friend about workshops and was asked about a well-known guy, here was my reaction: “I fucking hate this guy” This guttural, from the deep-core-in-my-body reaction came out so quickly I didn’t even had time to react and think of the next things. The reason behind it? The…
Loyalty to the job
“We have learned that people aren’t loyal to companies or brands. They are loyal to getting a job done better (faster, more predictably, and with higher output/throughput) and/or more cheaply.”[Tenet 08] Tony Ulwick With this, you gotta know that loyalty is not real —when talking on brands. Louis Grenier makes a strong case —and his POV on this brought me ot think that Yeah, there’s no loyalty to the brand. Under Ulwick’s POV, it’s loyalty to the JTBD in an efficient or effective way; despite…
