Posted by LinkedSelling in Uncategorized
What’s better?
A cold call, or a call with a prospect who “knows, likes and trusts” you?
The answer is clear.
But it takes developing relationships to move a cold prospect to this stage….
…And relationships take time to build, are one-to-one, and can’t be scaled….or can they?
I say they can.
Relationships CAN be built in a scalable manner, in mass, with people that you barely even know.
(But trust me, they know who you are.)
So how’s this done?
The way we do it is by building online communities that attract your prospects, usually in the form of a LinkedIn group.
The formula is simple. Provide tremendous value and resource to your prospects.
Create a community that is all about THEM, not you. In a short amount of time, they’ll come to see you as one of the “good guys.” Because you’re not trying to sell them.
Then, shortly down the road…when you shoot them a message asking to schedule a call to get to know them better, the hit rate is extraordinarily high.
Why is this?
It’s actually pretty simple. When you are the owner, manager and moderator of an online community (i.e. LinkedIn group), the members of the community will come to view you as a leader in the space.
People like doing business with people they perceive to be experts or leaders.
And when you reach out to them, they’re happy to chat with somebody of your stature. You’ve taken the time to build a tremendously resourceful community, and because of that they’ve invited you into their inbox on a daily basis.
The associations they have with your brand are extremely positive, and they’re looking forward to being a part of your community for a long time to come.
You achieve all of this with hundreds or thousands of prospects at the same time.
The relationship you’ve built opens the door to a warm conversation that could have never taken place before.
Is this stuff new?
Yes and no.
Yes, it’s relatively new in that online community building has only been a tool that anybody can take advantage of for the last 20 years or so. It’s really become mainstream in the last 10, I’d say.
Yet, NO, it is not a new concept. It’s the same thing that’s been in play for a long time in the offline world. Hundreds of years.
The leader of the local business community that hosts monthly meetings…he’s seeing the same benefits. It’s an extension of old school strategies to the online world. Good old fashioned community building and leadership.
But here’s what happens when you take it online….
It’s a scalable, repeatable process to generate a consistent volume of leads with prequalified prospects.