Internet Marketing Strategy 2.0
177.7K views | +3 today
Follow
Internet Marketing Strategy 2.0
Bottom-up, consumer-centered online marketing strategy news
Curated by Robin Good
Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scooped by Robin Good
April 22, 2012 3:31 AM
Scoop.it!

Knowing How To Listen Closely Is More Valuable (Economically) Than Knowing How To Sell

Knowing How To Listen Closely Is More Valuable (Economically) Than Knowing How To Sell | Internet Marketing Strategy 2.0 | Scoop.it

Robin Good: If you are still thinking about marketing as the most efficient and direct way to make your customers buy from you, it is time to start reconsidering this approach.


Going for the sell, sell, sell approach has worked for decades and for millions of sales people, but now, the most effective and durable way to make your business thrive, is once again the one that requires no thinking: don't think about selling, think about helping and listen closely to what your potential customers want.


That's all there is to it: make yourself accessible and truly helpful.


To exemplify what it takes, the short story of Eydie Stumpf may help you out: "When I first moved to California in 1998, I worked as a car and truck sales person.


Never having sold anything in my life, this was a completely new world for me.


The goal, as was explained to me, was to put every person who walked onto the lot into a vehicle — period.


The sales manager trained me and provided me with various scripts that I was to use to overcome objections.


Every morning we began the day with a sales meeting and afterwards, the sales team marched into the trenches with the words sell, sell, sell, throbbing in our heads.


After about a week on the job, a team member approached me. He bluntly told me that I would never make it as a car sales person.


“You’re too nice”, he said.


You can’t make friends with the customers. They’ll never buy from you.


Morale of the story:


"Relationship marketing is not just for social media.


Build relationships using your blog, email marketing, and offline events like networking groups, business expos, mixers, and speaking opportunities.


Online or off, attract loyal customers by allowing them to know who you are, know who they are, and enlighten them with the priceless information you have that can solve their problem."


Good reminder. 7/10


Full article: http://www.pe.com/business/business-columns/ask-eydie-headlines/20120421-advice-social-media-and-e-mail-marketing-for-small-businesses.ece 

No comment yet.
Scooped by Robin Good
January 12, 2012 10:11 AM
Scoop.it!

How To Really Listen To Your Customers and Fans: 5 Exercises in Perceptive Listening

How To Really Listen To Your Customers and Fans: 5 Exercises in Perceptive Listening | Internet Marketing Strategy 2.0 | Scoop.it

Jon Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing as a valuable article on listening, one of the key skills every individual or company needs to further refine in the near future. He writes:

"...I believe that one of the master skills of any marketer, manager, or educator is the ability to listen perceptively to what our prospects, customers, staff and community members are saying.


...there are many forms of listening.


a) Passive listening – the kind we do when we are listening to a seminar but we’re really scrolling through Pinterest.


b) Selective listening – the kind that I might practice when I’m discussing something with someone and mostly I’m thinking about what I’m going say next.


c) Active listening – the kind where we are discussing something with someone and reacting only to the words being said.


d) Perceptive listening – the kind where I hear and interpret the words, but I also consider what the person is thinking and perhaps how they are acting as they say the words.


Perceptive listening is by far the most complex because it requires you to be totally focused, completely mindful and, well, perceptive of what’s really going on."


Useful. 8/10


Read the full article: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2012/01/11/5-exercises-in-perceptive-listening/ 

No comment yet.