How Do You Create The Glue That Creates Social Media Friendships?

Engagement is the glue that creates the relationships between a seller and a buyer. Success in sales revolves creating a trusting relationship with your customer. Social media has taught us great life skills in creating the 'friendships' that are needed in creating this trust. Creating a social friendship revolves around "glue" and "grease"---people have to stick to you, come back to you and "grease"--- is content. Content is the reason why why people come to your sight and develop this deep relationship you need to sell.

Glue revolves around your brand. People have to be able to define and articulate just what you are about. Before they buy from you, they must trust you. Apple is a great example. Apple keeps coming up with new products. People buy their new products because of their brand, their "glue". Apple has a reputation for creating cool, elegant, products that makes the creation and transmission of content easy. It has gotten to the point that if Apple creates a product, people say, "Well, this product comes from Apple, it must be great". This is the benchmark that you need to be successful in selling. What you want is the following. When people see you come into their office, they must say to themselves, "Joe always has something that solves my problem for me". If you can develop this kind of atmosphere, closing is a just a self-fulfilling prophecy.
To create this kind of friendship you have to do things that convince a customer that you are in it for the long haul. Creating a friendship is critical to your sales success.

This friendship is the means by which people feel a sense trust for you, because friendship is based upon trust. When Toyota first began building a strong brand in the US they realized that they had to shed the impression that they were a Japanese company. To create a brand, Toyota had to do things that would make Americans see Toyota as an American company.

To do this, Toyota started building production plants in this country. In addition to that, the Japanese leaders bought houses in the communities that they lived in. In many cases, Toyota personal would volunteer for community services, again strongly linking Toyota to the towns that they worked in. This created a friendship for the Toyota brand. Toyota was able to expand its brand because of their personal relationship with the American public.

How do sales people create a relationship with their customers? They do it with engagement. They communicate with their customers. They have contests, they ask customers simply to rate their product. They ask their customers what they think. They offer free stuff.

Rihanna, the singer is a perfect example of this. Rihanna's music is edgy and that is controversial. At the present time she is making a movie. On her Facebook Page sometimes she places scenes from the movie and asks her fans what they think. This creates a relationship, a friendship with her fans and it keeps her name and her movie before the public. The movie won't be released until the summer of 2012. By constantly engaging her fans, Rihanna constantly creates buzz and interest in the movie. When the movie is released there will be a strong, engaged fan base for it. This is a benchmark for a salesman.. By engaging customersand creating a friendship with them, customers feel comfortable around the product you are selling.

Dean Hambleton
dnhambleton

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