Author of "LinkedIn for Personal Branding"| LinkedIn Top Voice | TEDx and Keynote Speaker | LinkedIn Rebranding | B2B Social Selling l My Mantra: "Be a Friend First" l Let’s Amplify Your Brand and Event
Salespeople and business execs use content to build trusted relationships every day. But how exactly? Well, for one thing, the content doesn't have to be 100% business or sales related. In fact, we usually connect best when it's NOT about selling something. For example, I recently reconnected with someone after a decade ( yes a decade! ) because I commented on his post about his daughters and International Women's Day. I liked what he was talking about and said so...... Then we engaged with other content and ultimately on Zoom. Now, I have a feeling we will be helping each other with our businesses in the future. We all can engage with our network on a non-selling level as a starting point. Open up about your own values and ideas. Share your insights. Engage with your LinkedIn network. Look for the positive right in your feed.....because it's all right in front of us. This gets back to my "Be a Friend First" strategy. The way I look at it, is that we all need more friends. It's funny but the more friends we have the less we have to worry about sales or careers. Do you have examples of content bringing you closer together with your network or a prospect? If so, please share your story. ----------------------------------------------- Sandra Long #linkedin #sales #business and my new hashtag #SalesBySandra
Sandra Long The value of connecting is that it allows people to form and maintain lasting relationships with each other. I am glad you were re-connected!
I have so many stories I am not sure which one to highlight Sandra Long but suffice it to say that it is all about the relationships and that can be done by your content. I think of content as a way to generate conversation. Whether its my own post or a comment that I made. If you can open up the conversation, you start to build a relationship. 100% in agreement with you.
I like the sound of the 'Be A Friend First' strategy but that can be a trap for sellers too... not identifying the difference between being a friend and building a business relationship. In saying that you don't need to go out of your way to separate the two parts of you. I have no delineation between who I show up as online and offline. What you see of me here is what you get there and if I choose to share logical business related content then it will have a message and if I share emotive personal content it will also have a message - so long as the value is to the reader. Good post.
Thanks for telling us about your recent reconnection with someone you haven't seen for a decade, Sandra. I love stories like that. My story isn't directly related to content on social media, but it does touch upon commonalities we have with others. Recently I was having coffee with a former client who is looking for a job. Before we got down to some brainstorming of ideas for her planned pivot to another career from the one she's been in, I commented on how great she looked in her pink jacket. Then, I asked her whether she remembered the book "Color Me Beautiful" by Carole Jackson. Published in 1987, it was connected with a direct sales company in which through analysis of your skin tones by holding up swatches of fabric under your chin, the consultant helped you determine if you were a Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter. As typically happens when I ask about this program, she was familiar with this analysis and told me she still has the swatches of cloth she got after having it done (as do I). We talked for a bit longer about how much she likes the color pink. We then moved on to the topic at hand and by the time we parted, she had decided to have another tutoring session with me on LinkedIn.
Simple approach Sandra Long. Yet, very valid and effective. For each party.
I've talked about swimming, biking, and my love of ice hockey which has really spurred on some great conversations and ultimately business relationships.
Your post goes back to the single truth about good content. That is, if you share stories or information that is important to you without selling, your network is anxious to read and respond when it makes sense. As helpful as the new influx of informative posts about Chat GPT have been, equally of interest are posts about hurdles people have overcome to keep their careers on track. Often, these are stories from people we met and worked with years before. We’re interested! We care! - As long as you’re not selling to us at the same time.
Great piece! I love your "Be a Friend First" point!
“Be a friend first” - love that Sandra Long. Even if it’s business-related content adding your personality, opinion or making it a conversation makes it easier for people to connect with you.
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2yBuilding relationships always comes first. Without them, we wouldn't get sales. I've had calls when we never got to the business topic. That was a good thing, and we scheduled our next call then and there.