The subject of Social Media came up and the incredible out-pouring helped to crystallise my understanding of why they hate it so much…

And if these people are typical of business leaders, then it accounts for the slow take-up of Social Media in business.

As soon as the topic was raised they started ranting about the stupidity of Social Media and as always the prime target was Twitter. Followed closely by that demon Facebook.

Scam and derision poured out. Lots of “Who cares about…”

“…what they had for lunch”

“…their plans for the weekend”

“…pathetic attention seekers like the Kardashians are up to?”

It was a barrage for a solid ten minutes, everyone saying the same thing, everyone agreeing with each other in a mutual ‘hate’ society. And of course, everything they said was right. They just were missing the main point.

After their rant, they got back to discussing developments in Greece and the EU. And to bagging Obama (well actually Prime Minister Gillard because it was an Australian dinner, so as usual she was the left-wing target).

Is this just an Australian phenomenon that’s peculiar to our business leaders?

No. In 2010 I went on a ridiculously luxurious 2 week Mediterranean cruise. Because I advise companies on Social Media and all things online, the topic came up as we discussed our professional lives.  I heard the same ranting and scorn and black humour. And this was on at least 6 different nights, where most people had similar backgrounds to those Sydney-siders at the dinner party. Except they came from many different countries.

Twenty months ago I didn’t see the significance of their ranting and scorn. That these people, highly successful in business, were the decision makers—they were Corporate Board Members, Managing Directors, Senior Business Advisors and Business Owners. These were the people who ultimately decided on how the influx of world changing technology is to be used in business.

Business leaders despise it. And remain blissfully unaware of the potential for their business or the companies they advise.

Unaware of how Social Media and Social Networks are transforming the business world, which presents huge opportunities.

These opportunities are available now.

There are a number of platforms to choose from. But, here’s the easy part: you sell B2B, so there really is only one platform. One answer. And that’s LinkedIn.

This is the platform where over 150 million managers and professionals (including 3 million Australians) hang out and talk business.

The big question is how do you find YOUR VIP’s, your very important prospects, amongst so many people?

You start by first deciding who, exactly, your VIP’s are. Who, exactly, are the clients you want more of?

Then, you can start a relationship with them. Thousands of them. Just a low level LinkedIn relationship, like connecting with them, or offering them a downloadable White Paper will do.

Small steps, very low cost.

By using this powerful platform, you can turn it into a HUGE numbers game, because turning sales leads into clients is just that. And that hasn’t changed despite all the new tools.

Now, it’s easy to stay in touch with your VIP’s. And position yourself as the expert at the same time. Then, when they are ready to buy, you are top of their mind. And THEY will call (or email) YOU.

Now that’s a lead worth having.

Your VIP’S coming to you, as a buyer, before you sell to them. I’ll drink to that!

Where the ‘herds’ of hunter gatherers, the tribes, all talked to each other. Then, for just a nano-second of history, a few hundred years, we had ‘top-down’ communication. From the Archbishops, the managers, the Dictators, the CEOs, all sending their messages and commands down the line to the many peons and minions below.

Then for an even briefer period, a fraction of a nano-second, we had mass media broadcasting their messages. And the large tribes became less and less connected at the grass roots.

Now, our much, much larger tribes are talking to one another again—on Social Networks. Everybody has access to a platform, a soapbox. They are communicating sideways, and paying less attention to what the bosses and the leaders are saying.

And does anyone believe it’s a coincidence that the Middle Eastern Dictators are now vanishing as people increasingly talk to one another. And when people talk, they mobilise. And not just against tin pot dictators. It’s also against companies that lie and cheat. And specialist doctors who are rude and keep you waiting (and many specialists have turned poor service and arrogance into a bloody art form!).

Marketers have to stop “Top-down telling & selling.” TV advertisements and other mass media telling us how good you are just don’t work anymore.

As a business, particularly if you sell B2B, your approach is now simple. Simply facilitate the conversations between your VIPs, your very important prospects. Before your competitors do.

So where does telemarketing and email advertising fit in this brave new world? Nowhere. It just annoys us, it just interrupts us.

Once you gather your VIPs, then all you do is stay in touch. Lightly. Until they are ready to buy and you will be top of their mind.

Building communities of VIPs is hard work. We have been doing it for our clients for almost 3 years – a long time given how new social networks are. We have built 16 on LinkedIn – here are the links to 4 examples:

Get Booked Out: The group for marketers aiming to fill their order books with ideal clients.

Sales Masterminds: The group for ‘Sales Masterminds’ seeking to drive sales and grow their businesses.

CIO Masters: The group for senior information and technology leaders.

Small Business Evolution: The group for small business owners building better, more profitable businesses.

All you need to do is decide who your VIPs are. Then gather them, engage them. And later, when they are ready, sell.

There is zero long term leverage if you just sell, just push your products, email after email, post after boring post. Your flock, your connections will walk—and away from you. Towards someone who doesn’t annoy them. Your competitor who facilitates their conversations and doesn’t intrude.

Someone who has gathered their VIPs (very important prospects) together in order to engage them. Someone who knows that sales will always come later, when their VIPs are ready to buy. That their business will be top of the prospect’s mind.

So learn from your mistakes (or prevent them) and: Gather, Engage, then Sell.

It’s what our clients in B2B sales have learnt to do, and to gather hundreds, even thousands of their VIPs.

And that 20 years later I would use my ‘phone’ every day for 12 different tasks? All essential for running my business; with at least 15 more applications that I use weekly or monthly. Who could have imagined that we would be editing documents and spread sheets, organising our calendars and doing our banking all on our phones?

The same goes with Facebook and other Social Networks – who knew what they would become? That they had the power to change the world completely, including overthrowing ‘tin pot dictators’.

And more astonishingly to many business people, that they would and are changing the world of Business?

Some of us, and our clients, are very aware of the power of the new networks, particularly for companies selling B2B.

Yet most companies remain blissfully, fatally, ignorant.

It’s the network that was created for business. That 3 million Australian managers and professionals have joined. And joined for business or career reasons – not social ones. This platform is all about business networking. And that network is LinkedIn.

There are hundreds of other social media. But there’s only one you need to get firing first. Don’t be confused by choice. And then freeze and do nothing. Just waiting for your business to be shot.

You’ll probably ask: what about Facebook? Well, yes, there are 5 times as many people on there, and most of them are very active and passionate about it.

But why did they join? What are they doing there? It’s a social network. For sharing all things social.

Here’s the other thing: most of us on Facebook react badly when sales messages are shoved in front of us. It’s not what we signed up for. So brands can actually damage themselves on Facebook.

Not a great result. At all.

And unlike LinkedIn, Facebook does not have the business connecting tools you need embedded in it.

So, what’s the most powerful connecting tool on LinkedIn? LinkedIn groups. Communities of managers and professionals gathering together (in droves) with common interests and common goals. Some have over half a million members. That’s where you really want to be.

Business networking. B2B marketing. Turbo charged. And all on LinkedIn.

We believe downloads are worth their weight in 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!

In this increasingly busy environment, technology seems to be the solution to our time constraints. But is it also costing you? There are still people who maintain the necessity for face-to-face meetings.

So which is it?

I’ve come across two blogs recently that provide completely polar views. So now I’m also considering the pros and cons of both methods.

Rene Shimada Siegel points out the importance of traditional meetings. That’s it: in person.

She makes a strong case about how face-to-face meetings allow for a stronger, and easily, rapport to be built. And she is clearly right because in person you can:

-          Guage body language
-          React spontaneously to cues
-          Make a stronger impression
-          Keep it genuine

And yet there’s also the dilemma, as Balaji Viswanathan pointed out, face to face meetings can be:

-          Impractical
-          Unproductive
-          Inefficient
-          Distracting

He concludes that whilst face to face meetings for relationship building is important, it should be kept to a minimum, and only when necessary such as dealing with major problems or signing a contract. As for other times? He maintains that virtual meetings will do just fine—and in his words, with the proper online mannerisms, “personal feelings and warmth can be communicated as easily by electrons as they can be done by photons.”

Both Rene and Balaji make compelling cases; and both of them are completely on track. So which is it? Do you agree with Rene, or Balaji, or perhaps a hybrid strategy of both? And if so, to what extent should each be used, and on what occasions?

My view is that they are both right. That it is Virtual AND face to face. A combination of both. What do you think?

Love to hear from you. What are your experiences?

Let’s look at public relations and what typically happens in most B2B businesses.

What typically happens when we decide to hire a PR firm is that we go out and we ask people who they’ve used and who they think is good. We do our homework and ideally get a couple of quotes. Then the PR firm that gets the Guernsey goes out and starts work.

But then typically not much seems to happen except you writing cheques. If you’re lucky and your story is particularly interesting you might get two or three stories published in the media.

Here’s my story.  I hired a PR firm and had over 50 stories published about my first book, Get Great People. But I spent a lot of money, in fact over $25,000 on that PR campaign—and I reckon it lead to sales of no more than an extra 400 books that I wouldn’t have sold without it. Now that netted me a grand profit of approximately $4,000. Or is—that a loss of $24,500 given I had spent $28,500 on the PR campaign!

So I spent a lot more than the typical SME would spend, and I certainly spent a lot more than I could afford at the time given the results. We all then tend to blame the person of the particular firm we were working with and that is simply wrong. The reason why most PR doesn’t work is because typically we haven’t defined the niche that we are most trying to reach, our  A Class or Gold clients.  And then what does the niche do when they see the story!?

Well the answer is very little, unless you have an integrated direct marketing strategy. One that leads the reader, viewer or listener to some of your material to help educate them. And at the same time captures their contact details so you can market to them—very little happens without such a strategy.

In fact, PR, the way it is traditionally done, is purely for large corporation that want to build a powerful brand or a powerful image. SMEs simply cannot afford traditional, high cost public relations.

At Lead Creation, we have a better approach to PR—one that uses direct marketing. Go to Lead Generation to learn more.

The problem with small services businesses in particular, is that they think that their product is a niche. It’s not! At least it’s not in the only sense that matters—in the marketing sense.

So without a niche, PR is a waste of time and money. Most services businesses don’t have a niche, they have a product which admittedly can be a very narrowly-defined product (or service) but it remains a product.

So for example, a business might just do Mystery Shopping. Now that’s a very specialised type of market research, but again it’s a service not a niche. A real niche might be doing mystery shopping just for fast food outlets. That would enable you to create a service with real specialist value in a large sector.

Another example would be sales training, a service which almost any company or business in Australia could purchase—we all need more sales training. But is it a niche? Well sales training just for fast food outlets might be. Or perhaps narrowing it down to commission sales training just for women in real estate. That’s starting to sound like a niche. And a very big niche that is begging to be mined.

Why is it so important to have a niche when it comes to Lead Generation? There are two fundamental reasons:

1. You can reach a niche. Niche members tend to hang out in the same ‘places’—they read certain magazines, are members of similar industry associations, go to certain websites, belong to certain clubs, etcetera.

2. If you specialise you can charge more. A good analogy is specialists doctors versus GPs. Specialists are positioned as the experts, they focus on a niche and they charge significantly more fees. A b2B business that specialises can charge a premium price because they are seen, and are rightly seen, to be the experts in that narrow niche.

For example, our niche for our outbound marketing is B2B. The main sector is technology companies—a large, and diversified, and growing niche.

Get a niche, and generating lots of B2B sales leads is possible. And then the real work begins!
Cheers,
Toby

Social Media is what CEO groups and big corporates pay me to talk about. They are already scared enough. Telling them the whole up front would just scare the punters!

Now it is much easier to make B2B networking, such as on LinkedIn, pay if you have a strategy and follow a plan. But it’s still a lot of work. Ongoing work as you need to drop a lot of breadcrumbs out there for people to notice you.

Most importantly, knowing where to focus your efforts is a big challenge for most businesses. There are so many shiny new toys to play with.

All of them offer you the world: getting my clients and audiences to choose is not easy. You cannot have it all with networking, how could you? What about the other 7 billion people out there. Will each of them also have it all?

Ridiculous.

Nothing of value is ever easily gained.