To gain prospects, figuring out how to master the many on line paths to acquire customers & grow is now a must.
Here's 2 simple ideas, ways of thinking to do that without leaving your existing comfort zone:
* continue to use your best, most familiar skills
* not have to change your current favored time proven paths to growth
* stay in your familiar comfort zone
* become quite comfortable with the Web,social media & use it like pros.
1. Perspective, how you view the web & its challenges:
- It may be helpful to realize that Its really not a change nor a challenge to our core skills & who we are as business people at all
- Its just a new "delivery and connecting" system
- It’s not really an unknown, Its the good old connecting with prospects path "wearing different clothes" so to speak.
- Your familiar methods for reaching out, are still applicable, usable:
You still can use the same familiar, comfortable skills for getting business, gaining a reputation as the “go to” person, establishing leadership & visibility.
Example1: Selling skills are still selling skills just deployed via different media today
Fact: The media changed, the method of connecting changed, but the core ability of the person who can sell, the process of making an approach & moving through to a "yes" has not changed.
Here's what I mean:
1. As you always have before, search how-where folks source but this time look for their on line routes to information, research decision makers, influencers. Read-participate via blogs, join into "the family" of targeted audience types via networks, where they gain their insights reading on line, where they go for info &use it. Google is great for doing that.
2. So, in reality, you don't have to change your familiar process. You just change the "how" & "where" of how you gain traction, visibility, reputation, prospects, become the "go to" expert by using the paths of the on line media that best connects with the right audiences for you.
Its simply re-tooling our unique ways, paths,outlets of “selling” or delivering our expertise, services, products,solutions into an on line connected world instead of face to face, or via ads, or brochures.
Example 2: Public speaking, featured speaker skills
If we use & are relying on public speaking to gain traction then use webinars, record a you tube. You can reach an audience far greater than speaking at a conference although you still should do that.
Example 3: Writing skills as your route to growing business, a following & an “expert” reputation:
- If writing is how you go after markets & establish yourself as the expert "go to" person, blog on line & participate in blogs that your target audience looks to for ideas, guidance & insights.
- Create an e-zine online magazine of sorts. Invite your target audiences to read your writings.
- Use an on line newsletter. Find your target audience in the same way you would find it before & use their established on line sources for learning-discussion information to post your writings.
- post to the trade journals in their on line magazine versions.
See what I mean.
Web based-online connection-communication concept is not unfamiliar territory.
Its not a change at all from your comfort zone, just in the paths in which you “prospect”, “reach out”, "public speak" or use "article writing" as your way of gaining traction and customers.
Seeing the web & on line tools in this way can take the fear of change away, help us demystify & use our web based world to thrive.
Try some of these ideas and ways of thinking out. As you do, I know your fear of the "rules of the game" change from the impact of the web will evaporate. You will be once again “full speed ahead” on very familiar &comfortable footing to grow,profit, be "great" yet still be “you” without making any drastic changes at all.
Neil Licht CEO, HereWeAre http://www.wix.com/ndlicht/hereweare