Small Business Sunday: Are You Marketing or Selling? Build Relationships Instead

Are you Marketing or Selling?

Back in the day, sales and marketing were very different. Marketing was all about the message, such as, what you need to say to your target audience to investigate your business further. Sales was all about . . .selling.

Today, the lines are quite blurred between these two necessary functions. Understanding how they have become so similar is paramount to keeping your business in the minds of prospects and current clients thus making more sales.

In a recent blog post at Duct Tape Marketing, author Josh Jantsch describes how these two areas have changed the face of business acquisition and communication. This doesn’t mean the old ways aren’t still usable. But it is true that the old ways of doing sales and marketing don’t work as well in the new economy, especially with online options such as social media.

You can read the article here. In it, he discusses a variety of topics, listed below.

• Prospecting means listening
• Presenting is more about educating and less about selling
• Sharing information equals sharing insights
• Nurture current and future clients by telling stories
• No hard closes! Today it’s all about the relationship

He concludes (not to ruin the suspense) that if you’re marketing and selling for your business, you are a one-stop-shop for all things communications. Communications are really about relationships. And when you think about it, in business, it’s all about relationships.

I could not agree more. The old ideas of the marketing department and the sales department, need to go away. Everything we do in our business is a function of sales and marketing.

• On the phone with an upset client? Make sure you are offering them a solution to why they were upset. Solve their problem and you will have a client for life, with lots of sales to follow, and they will be your best marketing partner available.
• Make sure your employees are engaged in this process. Remind them how much every action we take is viewed and related into a decision by a current or prospective client to do business with us, or inversely not do business with us. As a business owner you should also be engaging and building relationships with your staff. Get them exited about the work they do, make the job fun and engaging.
• In the old days of networking, we handed out business cards and tried to collect business cards so we could follow up and try to sell to those at the networking events. Throw that idea away. Spend more than a few cursory minutes collecting cards at these events, build relationships, and find out more about this new relationships. Instead of thinking in terms of what can they do for me, think what can I do to solve their problems.
• Think of social networking as the worlds biggest cocktail party. And no I certainly don’t mean post after a few drinks. Think about how you engage and meet people at an informal party. You ask them questions, you listen, and engage. If your funny you tell a joke (appropriate to the audience), if your a story teller you tell a story, but mostly you engage and listen to others and you build relationships.