Don’t kill your chance of making the sale and ruin your reputation by falling into this trap. In the fast-paced world of Social Media word gets out quickly and it could take you a long time to rebuild or you might not ever fully recover from it.
With Facebook dramatically changing its algorithm and giving business pages very little exposure these days without paid advertising, a lot of small business owners are now using their personal profiles to get the word out about their products and services.
Facebook now allows you to have up to 5000 friends and it promotes posts from friends in the news feed, so more chances to get eyeballs on your message. That’s why you’re getting a lot more friend requests lately. I’m sure you’ve noticed.
If you’re building your business online, I believe it’s a great strategy to grow your friend list, however there are a few things to watch out for. Facebook has very strict guidelines when it comes to promoting yourself on your personal page. You cannot do it too overtly, so you got to be smart about it. No hard sales offers!
And here is something I see more and more people do. Immediately after their friend request has been accepted, they send you an offer via messenger.
Please don’t ever do this if you want to have a successful business. Not only will it kill your chance of making the sale but it’ll also kill your reputation and could possibly get you banned from Facebook if too many people start complaining. SO NOT WORTH IT.
Here is why this won’t work. Think about it.
You barley just connected with the person and the first thing you do is not getting to know them (Social Media is inherently about being social and building relationships), instead you shove something that they might not even need down their throat.
Not a good first impression.
It’s a complete turn off and they dismiss you.
There, you lost your chance of making the sale for good.
Now, I understand that we have to constantly look at new and innovative ways to get our message out there but there are other methods to do this, tried and tested strategies that yield a far greater return on investment.
I can see that with all the chatter about the fastest path to cash out there, somebody could be tempted to buy into this and think putting out offers via messenger will do the trick when that’s actually not how you sell, especially not a high-ticket item or product.
The higher the investment, the more your prospect will want to know about you. They want to check you out, build a connection with you and establish that LIKE, KNOW and TRUST factor that is so critical when they are finally in a position to make a buying decision.
This is where your SALES FUNNELS come into play.
They are designed to build that connection, to establish that relationship and for you to make a low-level entry offer in due time. Something that is an immediate yes for your prospects. It’s from there that you start building and working yourself up to the higher-end offer.
Studies have shown over and over again, that it’s much easier to sell to your existing customers or clients, the people who’ve had exposure to you and have experienced what it’s like to work with you.
To get the right prospects into your funnel you must have a strong front-end communication.
You’re not in business to shove just about anything down your potential client’s throat, instead build a solid strategy around your offer that is specifically tailored to their needs.
And for that to happen, you must get your messaging right and most importantly you must know WHO your people are and create an irresistible offer that solves their most pressing problem.
This is also true if you’re mostly generating leads through networking or advertising in your local community. You must get your messaging right to stand out to your potential clients, so they come and seek you out.
It’s the prerequisite to making the sale.
And yes, this takes time but the return on investment is much higher and when you look at that, it is your fastest path to real cash.
Simona Ksoll is a brand marketing strategist and mentor for small business owners and people who want to bring their big inner vision to life. Follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn and join her private Facebook Community.