This article is primarily about the increasing irrelevance of traditional marketing while highlighting what you need to consider in developing an appropriate client attraction model for the future.
*Salesperson/woman/man can mean any one person who can make a difference in another’s life by imparting a ‘service’ (the action of helping or doing work for someone), whether that be great or small, a transaction or a conversation.
There is a certain amount of sadness that comes with any kind of loss, but is sadness not just a symptom of a more powerful and ‘unpleasanter’ emotion? You need to go deeper, you always need to go deeper, to find out what the root cause of any emotional reaction may be, whether that emotion is positive OR negative. Confronting this “challenge” can only result in personal growth, an expansion of your emotional intelligence, and ultimately a deeper awareness and understanding of your “self” (to name a few cool potential outcomes).
Sadly today we are not covering any of these individual topics in depth, but by the end of this article my decision to include the above-mentioned concepts will all make sense!
As we are all well aware, information distribution and communication technology has and is continuing to change and evolve at a relatively rapid pace. Decision making in turn has followed suit and is aligning with the changes that come with widespread sharing, peer influence and shifting consumer behaviour online.
In a nutshell – people don’t want to be pitched to anymore, they don’t need to be sold to anymore, they have had enough! They are quite capable of making a decision based on their own volition and ability to very quickly weigh up the pro’s and con’s of getting into any deal or situation. Gone is the fascination with television and fancy advertising slogans and jingles (apart from, as mentioned in previous article written by The Social Adviser’s Michael Back, a few of the most classic and memorable; the ones that are designed to stick to your brain!).
These days we can ‘click away’ in an instant and trust the opinions of our peers far more willingly than some bold lettered campaign trying to convince us of what we need.
Unfortunately traditional marketing models are still caught up in ‘the sell’. These systems are based on an archaic model that harks back (and is often loyal to) the industrial era in some cases, not forgetting that some ‘big business’ may want it to remain that way purely for its own questionable motives.
Decision making based on the experience of others, and community orientated influence, is proving to be the main ingredients you need to consider if you want a recipe for results. Reputation (you are who Google says you are), credibility, visible and vocal advocates, and growth through authentic client relationships is the future, and it’s happening now; so don’t get left behind.
So what do you need to do to stay relevant? If you are not already considering this reality it’s time you got yourself a model for the future based on:
- – Listening and facilitating, rather than pitching
- – Telling stories which are relevant to your clients lives
- – Addressing issues with real value (in your client / customers’ minds, not yours)
- – Creating a culture and connecting a community
- – A constant commitment to building trust and therefore loyalty
- – Focus on being social, connected to other and tap into the creativity of those in your team (TRUST ME, it exists!)
- – Forget trying to outsource your personality
- – Capturing your happy team and client community and showcasing this online
And basically, you don’t need anyone to help you do this (apart from maybe the input and assistance from your team, if you have one). If you know Who You Are, and if you understand your purpose and value, then you are already on your way to achieving great things in this digital era of ‘personal brand’ and ‘social selling’. And remember, you can only create true value when you understand what that value is.
Folks that resonate with that clarity of your message w
So why would the loss of (or movement away from) conventional marketing create a resistance or “sadness” for some individuals or companies? Possibly a fear of change or the unknown, no clarity on ‘what now’, or just an unwillingness to adapt. Whatever the case may be, it is most likely a fear based response, and that is the real issue that needs to be addressed; the deeper emotional reaction.
After all, how can positive evolution ever be a bad thing? Especially when the outcome (as we have come to realise through our 1000’s of client interactions) can only be a clearer purpose, creating more value at scale, generating more time, more fun, and more freedom! And that’s just to name a few benefits!
The Salespersons that will outlive their counterparts will be the ones who have stopped perpetuating the “what’s in it for me” mantra that many businesses seem to (unintentionally) project. The ones who actually care, can define that message, and then take that to the world, will be the ones who succeed, and at the same time they will be contributing to the evolution of a far greater outcome for not only themselves but for our society at large.
Be brave and authentic and evolve; the world is waiting for you!