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How social media can win you “impossible” clients

I wish I could have told you that it was snowing, but the rain was lashing down

It was Christmas Eve. I was sitting at my office desk, desperately trying to catch up with all the other things I should have done during the year!

Suddenly, an email popped into my inbox.

You may think that there’s nothing particularly unusual about receiving an email. But this one was special. It came from the Procurement Director of a major global brand. It said that they thought I could help them with a project. They wanted me to contact them.

We had a quick phone call between Christmas and the New Year. On January 2 I was in their offices helping them with a profitable consultancy project.

How did I win a prestigious client like this?

I haven’t been trying to sell them anything. I hadn’t even realised that they knew who I was!

It turns out that they had found me on social media. Then they had signed up to my newsletter list. When this opportunity arose, they immediately realised that I could be the right person to help them.

I wouldn’t dream of trying to sell my services to a client like this

The Procurement Director probably had about five gatekeepers. It would be near impossible to work my way through them all unless the Procurement Director really wanted to speak with me.

Let’s face it, they almost certainly will want to speak to someone like me. After all, they had plenty of purchasing and print skills on their team. It was only on this one-off occasion that they needed some outside help. Trying to approach contacts like these in a traditional sales manner would be a waste of my time.

However, my presence on social media and my content marketing won me a client that I would never normally dream of having.

So did I just get lucky?

This was the third major global brand that had approached me that year. That was in addition to all the smaller companies that have also got in contact with me.

All these companies were interested in working with me because they had found out about me through social media activity. My social media profile had a compelling message for them. My blogs show them that I had the right knowledge and expertise to help them.

Having a good social media presence is essential

It’s the way to make the right clients approach you. It’s much easier to sell to warm prospects. It’s much easier to sell to people who are already interested in you and your services.

However, it’s important to manage your social media presence in the right way.

Here are three action points to help you establish the right social media presence

1. Review your social media profile. Does your LinkedIn profile give prospects a compelling reason to use you and your services? Or is it a glorified CV? Does your job title explain what you do in an interesting way?
2. Make sure you engage regularly on social media. At the very least, you should check regularly who has looked at your LinkedIn profile and reach out to them. How often do you reach out to contacts after the initial connection?
3. Invest in How To Sell Print Using Social Media. It outlines a detailed four-stage strategy to winning profitable clients through LinkedIn and Twitter.

I started this piece with a Christmas story

Remember that winning business on social media is more than a Christmas feel-good story. You could be getting new clients from social media all the year round.
================================================================== P.S. You can find out more about the best ways to gain profitable results from social media by downloading the free e-guide below.You’ll also be signed up to “Views from the buyer” where I share tips, stories and resources to do with selling print and social media.

Download your free copy of “Ten Common Print Buying Errors And What To Do About Them” right now

 

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