Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

Good Touching, Bad Touching

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imgresI had two client meetings the other day and BOTH mentioned “it takes 7 touches for someone to buy.” So I had a couple of great discussions about touch points with prospective clients- good touching, and bad touching. So here they are for you…

Good Touches:

  • Your Newsletter– it pops into their inbox monthly (hopefully not much more than that) and reminds them that you know what you’re talking about without nagging them to hire you (hopefully!)
  • Social Media– Follow them/friend them/Link In with them and pay attention to what they’re saying. Don’t be creepy and like EVERYTHING they post, but keep an eye on them, and hopefully they do the same with you
  • Email follow up– if you met them at an event, or they attended a workshop, or you said you’d send them something, DO IT. Always follow up. “great to see you yesterday at the luncheon,” “here’s the link to that doggy daycare I mentioned,” it doesn’t have to be about work, and often times that’s better, be a resource to them. Their new go-to person.
  • Networking– Get out to the networking events where your clients and target market are. Just the reminder that you’re alive and kicking is good for a lot of people. I need to see your face to be reminded you’re around. When I don’t see you, I can make assumptions you’re too busy for new clients. When you’re out and about, it’s good to know you may have time for new clients.

Bad Touches:

  • Phone Calls after business hours– We all know this is my biggest pet peeve. If you’re having a busy day and need to call them, leave a voicemail! And I always suggest sending a follow up note. They may prefer one to the other, and you need to figure that out. I have many an un-returned phone call because I can’t call back when I hear the voicemail, but didn’t get an email reminder to say “hey call me friday at 2.” Their loss.
  • Sales pitch emails– hey you should hire me, hey I’m really good at what I do, hey buy this. No one likes that, you don’t like that, so don’t do it.
  • Creepy Social Media– Don’t like EVERY POST or comment on everything, but if it genuinely is of interest to you, like it. Can’t wait to see how many of you now freak out on whether to comment on this post or are afraid I’ll think you’re creepy (I won’t this time!).
  • The obvious sales pitch “coffee meeting”– let’s be honest, you don’t want to learn about my business, you want to sell me on yours. Watch yourself when you call for the coffee meeting. That’s a BIG ask to leave your office- offer to be convenient to them if you want the business. I live in Issaquah about 15 miles east of Seattle. I don’t expect people to schlep out to the suburbs for me. So, I’m in Seattle a couple days a week and schedule all my meetings together. Make it convenient for THEM, not you.

What “Good touching” has worked for you? And what “Bad Touching” have you seen (or done in the past) that didn’t work or soured you to a person?

Was it Something I Said?

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imgresOne of the many things I love about Twitter is that I can ignore people. Okay, that comes out wrong, but sometimes your friends (or strangers) will go on a rant and you can just skim right over those posts, or if it’s too frequent and the content isn’t interesting, you might un-follow that person.
I am VERY okay with people un-following me. I get it, sometimes I go off on tangents. I live tweet TV shows occasionally. I don’t usually talk about sales and marketing. I usually talk about Hank, beer and pop culture. And if that’s not something you’re interested in, you’re dead to me I’m okay with it.
The other day I un-followed someone. This person was tweeting stuff that just wasn’t of interest to me, and tweeted frequently enough I decided to clear it out of my twitter stream. And MOMENTS later I got a tweet asking “Was it something I said?”
There is NO WAY This answer isn’t YES. Yes, it was the content you were writing, it’s just not of interest to me. You tweet just frequently enough that I decided meh- not for me. I’ve never met you, after following you for a month or two, we’d get along just fine in a group, but probably not my new BFF. And that’s OKAY. I will say, it was a red flag that this person immediately tweeted and KNEW I was the one to unfollow. Really? You have nothing better to do with your time?
When it comes to social media- be aware. Your content isn’t for everyone. And that’s OKAY. The point of social media is to have a conversation, build your brand, and be a person. Not everyone in life likes you (sorry dude, they don’t), and not everyone wants to know what’s going on in your life. Don’t take it personally.

Ask Yellow Dog: LinkedIn Endorsements

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imgresI received this email today from a friend of mine:

What is the etiquette for endorsing people on LinkedIn?

Is it merely to gain more brownie points with someone you want attention from?

Is it to attract those people who are reviewing someone’s profile?

And here was my response:

LinkedIn Endorsements- honestly, no idea. I typically DON’T endorse people, especially those I don’t know/haven’t talked to in a couple of years. It’s super obnoxious and I’m trying to decide if I should turn it off (which is an option) or if that’ll hurt my SEO/search results in LI. But, I think it’s just a popularity contest and pretty ridiculous.

I obviously haven’t turned off my endorsements yet, but it did get me thinking- what’s the deal here? You can already see how many connections I have, NOW you want those folks to tell others how awesome I am at certain things? Isn’t that the job of my profile? Yes I get that it’s helpful, but I have not placed any stock in the endorsements I receive or those I see others receiving. It seems similar to the Twitter idea of “I follow you, so you’ll follow me back and we’ll inflate our numbers together!” Kind of useless.

Instead, I suggest you have a really great LinkedIn profile page. A professional headshot (your kid is cute, but does she run the company?), a comprehensive bio, and a thoughtful work history. Make recommendations of individuals because they did great work, not because they’ll write one in response (which we all know is nice).

LinkedIn is ramping up their efforts and updating their engagement strategy. Just because they are, doesn’t mean you have to. Hopefully they continue to make it easy for us to make updates and add details and work history. Don’t worry about doing everything all the time. Make sure you’re hitting the pieces you want and that work for you. And if the endorsements aren’t your thing, turn them off, or hit ignore when they pop up, like I do.