Business Darwinism…Only The Fittest Will Survive

Here’s a law of geometry to remember, as you diligently toil to build your personal brand and the business that it should, if you’re doing it right, support.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Now, this is not to, in any way, denigrate the concept of social selling. Because in this day and age you need to be firing on as many cylinders as possible
And while there are a lot of new tools at your disposal that at least offer the ability to get you from one point to another, there is only one shortest distance tool.
And that is the telephone.
Here’s how it works.

1. Search out the company you want to contact to tell them all about your wonderfulness and why they should have you as a trusted supplier.
2. Write the number down on a piece of paper if you have any paper in your life. Or enter it into your cell phone. Either method is acceptable.
3. Think about what you want to say to that person if A) you should actually reach them or B) you get their voice mail.
4. Carefully dial the number. You’d be surprised at how many people screw this up.
5. Ask for the person you wish to contact.
6. Start your routine. Be polite, humble, charming and engaging, just like you would in person.
8. Ask either for a meeting or permission to send them more information.
7. Hang up and repeat with the next name on your list.

Sounds Easy. But, Of Course, It’s Not

Nowhere in the business world is the fear or rejection felt more intensely than on the phone. It’s really a game of yes or no.
The trick is all in the understanding of the 80/20 Differential, which clearly states that out of every 10 calls you make perhaps one or two will turn into meetings or permission to send your prospect more info.
The upside of the 8 or 9 that don’t respond positively, is that at the very least, and if you ask the right questions you will know, they are not prospects and you don’t have to waste any more time on them.

Professional Sales People Accept All This…Why Can’t You?

When you are looking for business, you are a sales person. Just like some person who is being paid to do it by a large company.

Professional sales people, the good ones anyway, are not afflicted by fear of rejection. And there is a simple reason for that.
They understand the nature of the beast they are dealing with.
They also don’t take rejection personally, because it’s not personal. It’s a question of supply and demand economics. The people they talk to either: A) Need what they are selling, B) Need what they are selling, but not right now or C) Need what they are selling, but are very happy with their current supplier(s).
It’s all business. It’s not personal. So there is no need for anyone to take it personally.
But in the selfie-generating culture that magnifies the ego to the extent that it does, fear of rejection. outright surprise that the world is not rolling out the red carpet for you and your (type of) business can be an almost life-threatening affliction.
To those people, I say this: Get Over Yourself.
With the small percentage of calls, you make that yield a positive result, you now have the basis for developing relationships.

Nothing Quite Like This Happens On Line

Social media sites like beBee and LinkedIn and to some extent, Facebook are filled with people who do what you do. No matter what that happens to be.
So the concept of building a personal brand there is going to be a long haul. Because, no matter what digital marketers tell you, the simple reality is that these media move at the speed of glaciers.
So if this is the game you have chosen to play, you really have to be prepared for a lot of work over a protracted period of time in order to achieve A) Recognition and B) Results.

Is It Possible To Speed Up This Process?

Not really. At least not strictly through social media. It’s another one of those nature of the beast things. But like the lottery advertisers are fond of saying, “You can’t win it if you’re not in it.”

Yesterday my partner Charlene Norman and I met with a very interesting guy, who is, among several other things, a video creator and online marketer.
He’s interested in amalgamating all his services into a single multi-tiered offering, and the process he has developed is an extremely effective combination of low-cost video and Search Engine Optimization.
The people he has done these programs for all swear by the results he has helped them achieve. And both Charlene and I, as veterans of the marketing wars, were impressed with both the simplicity and power of this approach.
But at the end of the day, all this really does is generate leads. You still are faced with the daunting task of qualifying those leads, and there are a few sales people who will tell you it’s not all that different from cold calling.

Is There Something That’s Right For Everyone?

Sure. But it all depends very much on A) The kind of business you operate and what you want to do with it, B) Your budget and C) The amount of time you are willing to invest in making it all happen.
None of it is very difficult as processes go. What’s difficult is finding the solution that works best for your business and understanding that there will always be a hell of a lot of work involved.
After that, it’s all Business Darwinism. Only the fittest, and by fittest, I mean, most willing to do the work required, will survive, and an even smaller percentage of them will prosper.

Jim Murray is a communication strategist, writer, art director blogger and beBee brand ambassador for Canada. Charlene Norman is a business systems and operational analyst. Their collaboration is called Bullet Proof Consulting, located in St Catharines, Ontario and designed to serve forward thinking businesses in the Niagara and Golden Horseshoe regions of Southern Ontario. Web site coming soon.

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