From Farmer to New Age Hunter

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Meet people where they are

How to approach the sales cycle during a pandemic

In a booming economy, your business is like a restaurant, people come to you. In the current climate, your business is like a takeaway and delivery, you have to go to the people.

Prospecting

Traditionally in a booming economy, your business is like a fancy restaurant that everybody knows about, people come to you. In the current climate however your business is like takeout and delivery, you have to go to the people, you have to meet them where they are!

I remember going to Makro to stock up on some groceries at the beginning of the second week of lockdown. My journey there takes me through a township called Tembisa and what I saw there made me understand why Big Business is Big Business. In an open field, in the heart of the community, right among the houses!! Was a Shoprite Checkers truck that had been converted to a mini retail outlet that people could buy their essential products from. People were literally stepping out of their yards and into the truck.

Talk about meeting people where they are!! If you want to become a New Age Hunter you are going to have to find ways of meeting people where they are.

Noise vs Obscurity

It is important now more than ever to increase your outreach, you have to send those emailers, you have to make those calls, send those direct messages, upload those posts, create and publish that content. It’s all about Marketing right now, getting in front of your audience, but it’s not just about spraying the marketplace with content it’s about engaging with people. So why are some businesses increasing their
marketing efforts while others are shying away or are undecided?

What has been coming out of small businesses particularly, medium business too, but particularly from small business is that they do not want to contribute to the noise. They are hesitant to send out emailers to their previous and current clients because they do not want to come across as annoying or irritating. They are saying they want their marketing efforts to land just right and not be seen as a contribution to the noise that is currently in the marketplace.

"Your problem is not that you are going to irritate people with your marketing, your problem is that not enough people know about you for them to be irritated by you."

In a small business you shouldn’t be concerned with the noise in the marketplace, you should be more concerned with obscurity. Your problem is not that you are going to irritate people, your problem is that not enough people know about you for them to be irritated by you.

People cannot buy from you if they do not know who you are, If you do not have a presence. It might be your experience that there are a lot of companies marketing right now, but research shows that almost 60% of companies have cut their marketing budgets. That is why marketing rates have decreased, less people are marketing. Research also shows that up to 36% more people take note of advertising and marketing campaigns as compared to pre-covid-19. If there was ever a time to get in front of your audience it is now!

A New Age Hunter doesn’t care about irritating people, he/she is too concerned with mastering his/her
sales practices.

Start with your warm network

Your warm network are your contacts, previous and current clients, people who are already aware of you and your services. Even with a warm network Context is key. You have to show up regularly in their emails on their phone screens and even social media so that your offer is not coming out of the blue.

Keep your ask small, don’t ask for hour-long meetings. Keep it at 15min, you are more likely to receive a positive response. Keep your initial meeting focused, remember you are floating an idea not the entire full-length proposal. You are trying to get buy-in, pitch your idea and then ask something like “What do you think? How do you think this might work for you?”

The aim is to work with the prospect to come to a solution that would work for them. This gives the prospect a sense of inclusion rather than pitching a full proposal that the prospect will either say yes or no to.

Do I have to market my business on social media?

Yes and no, it depends. If you are in a highly specialized industry, like if your company supplies parts for rocket ships then chances are you wouldn’t connect with your audience on social media. If you are a small business in the service industry chances are your audience, the decision-makers that would make it possible for you to sell your services are on LinkedIn, Instagram, youtube and maybe even twitter. Your job is to get in front of them with your message and tell them why they need to utilize your services.

"You have to go to them while they are jogging, on their yoga mat, watching random videos on youtube, people surfing on Instagram, whatever! You have to meet them where they are."