Be Different....Be Seen

I learned right out of the gate that if you want to be seen, you must be different. Being seen is one thing, but being seen with a message that people can relate to is another. When I walk into work my day is filled with a combination of Cold Calls, Emails, LinkedIn Interaction, and Personalized Videos. After the first week I realized no one notices normal. Here are some of the things that have worked for me.

Cold Calls:

This is the thing that every man and woman in sales seems to hate. Do they suck? Yes they do. Are they the easiest and most straight to the point way to have a conversation? Yes they are. Calls are tough especially when you have no plan or way to stay sane on the other end of the phone. Here are some ways to separate yourself.

• Don't be a robot, show your human side. Show it by being honest. "I know you probably hate getting cold calls just as much as I hate making them." 
• Do your research. Put the prospect into LinkedIn it takes 5 seconds and you can learn where they went to school, where they are from and sometimes even a hobby to use as a talking point.
• Let the prospect talk. "You still with me." "Is this thing on." 
• Let the prospect rescue you. "I feel like I messed up. Do you golf? I need a mulligan."
• Go for the no. "Is there any reason we should keep talking."

Emails:

This is the easiest way to push out activity in a small period of time. Hammer your productivity but do it in a way that allows engagement not just information.

• Subject line must intrigue them just enough to keep reading. "Thought of you when I came across this." "Did we just become best friends?"
• If there is a video attached make sure it is towards the top to ensure that it doesn’t get forgotten at the end.
• Again, be a human. Reference current events, movies, music. I once wrote a whole email around a Wedding Crashers scene. "I'm not interested, is she interested, do I act like I'm interested……now I'm starting to get interested."
• Always have a call to action of some kind. "If I sparked any interest at all, we should have a conversation." "I have time tomorrow at 9am to talk, does that work for you?"
• Too many links turn the prospect off. Makes it feel like to much work to get the information that is relevant to them.
• I have made some funny emails, message me if you want to talk more. See what I did there? (Call to action)

LinkedIn:

I feel that this is my sweet spot. LinkedIn gives me a platform to relate to people on a personal and professional level. LinkedIn is all about letting potential clients see the real you along with what you do for a living. In sales this gives us a platform to showcase both what we are selling and the path in which we have taken to get to where we are in our professional career. 

• Don’t take it to serious. I think professional is boring. I know that may ruffle some feathers but lets be honest its true. 
• Post often. The only way to be found is to push out content. I do my best to post 2-3 times a day. This needs to be a good mix of both personal and professional posts. Use the personal posts to gain loyal followers who can relate to you based on common experiences, likes, dislikes, or maybe they just like following along because you are different. These will drive traffic toward your professional posts, because in all honesty those are not going to get much love either way unless someone is genuinely interested.
• Post about what you know. I post a lot about movies and music. I like to take movie scenes and lyrics and change them into a sales situation. This allows people to learn about my likes along with in a way baiting them into learning more about what I do.
• Use influencers to gain exposure. Like, comment, share, don’t be scared to mix it up and disagree in a comment. This will start a conversation that will lead to people coming to your profile.
• Blog. Write about what you know. Be genuine, have a purpose and a message that you want to convey. Write to impact others
• Don’t go for the connection right away. Check out there profile, then in return they will check you out. Go for a follow and see what happens from there. Always thank people for a connection. It goes a long way, it shows sincerity.
• I could go on for days. Message me if you want to talk more. Did it again. (Call to action)

ViewedIt Videos:

This is a great tool by Vidyard. This gives me the ability to put my face in front of a client in a very personalized video.

• Have a good opening image on the thumbnail you attach.
• Make there name visible in the thumbnail that way they know it is not a canned email.
• Reference LinkedIn in some way. School, hobbies, work history, all these things are good ways to start a conversation.
• Show lots of personality, don’t read from a script that is rehearsed. If you know your stuff this should be a great way to show who you really are, and how you want to help. 

These are just the things that have worked for me. I want to hear what has worked for you, or even what has failed. Keep being different, be seen, and start conversations.

Payton Bieker