I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally be able to tell everyone this incredible news — my first social selling book, The Invisible Sale is finally available on Amazon and B&N. A recent BtoB Magazine survey of US B2B marketers found that in 2013, 60% of respondents cited generating more leads remained their top challenge. And an Ascend2 and Research Underwriters survey revealed that B2Bs continue to struggle with leveraging social media marketing for lead gen purposes with nearly half saying this was one of the most difficult strategies to execute. I don’t find either of these stats surprising because I hear clients and prospects saying it every day. And that is why I’ve written The Invisible Sale.
Who Should Order The Invisible Sale?
Well if your company is one of those 60% that need help generating more leads or haven’t yet figured out how to use Social Selling techniques… this book is for you. On a larger scale, if your B2B or B2C company sells a product or service via a sales force and wants to start leveraging digital selling techniques, then this book is going to be a must purchase for you and your team. Here’s why.
Today’s digital savvy buyers are sophisticated and silent. They’re doing recon work on your brand, product or company — searching for product reviews and tapping into social networks for recommendations and first-hand experiences. These invisible buyers are slipping past your sales team, stepping out of the shadows only after they’ve decided that your company is in the running for their dollars.
To court the invisible buyer, your prospecting process needs to be digitally powered and deeply rooted in the science of relationships. You’ll have to coordinate communications outposts, digital embassies and your own relationship hub to earn the business of these invisible buyers. A relationship-based approach is key to moving your sales strategy from top-of-mind awareness to the more powerful top-of-mind-preference and winning the elusive invisible sale.
In the book I reveal the techniques I have refined over 20 years of developing sales and marketing programs for myself and my clients. I’m sharing the techniques I’ve used to drive consistent double-digit growth in my own company without doing any cold-calling or paid advertising. And I’m not writing this book at some 30,000 foot theory level. This book is a tool not a trophy. It’s a field guide for anyone that wants to understand the brave new digitally powered world of the self-educating buyer. I’m boiling everything down to simple, straightforward, and understandable language — and actionable solutions.
What Does The Book Cover?
The book is broken down into four sections, each designed to help you move your company one step closer to a world of painless prospecting.
In the first section I’m going to show you how to make the case internally for augmenting or replacing your traditional outbound sales methodology. From sharing the story of the Tweet That Changed My World to case studies and research, I’m going to give you all the ammunition you need to build the case. I’m even going to give you the Power Point file to do it with. That’s right — every reader of the book will be invited to join a special Invisible Sale Community where I’m posting additional content, including a pre-formatted presentation for anyone that wants to make the case internally. Just add your company branding and you’re ready to present to the CEO or VP of Sales & Marketing.
Once you’ve successfully sold in the idea of moving to a Painless Prospecting approach, you’re going to need to build out your digital footprint. That’s what section two of the book helps you do. We’ll talk about the necessary shifts in strategy required for success. We’ll talk about Propinquity and the important role it plays in a successful online effort. And finally, we’ll talk about building out that digital footprint via outposts, embassies and your home base.
In section three I’m going to give you content tips, tricks and short-cuts for creating more video, audio, photographic and text content. I’m going to show you how to create your own webinars, tutorials and product demos — both recorded and live — including how to create recorded webinars with nothing other than an iPhone and Slideshare. We’ll finish up the section with a step-by-step process for creating more content than you ever imagined you could based on my Cornerstone & Cobblestone process.
And finally in the last section we’ll talk about how your sales teams will need to evolve their approach. Selling to the self-educated buyer is different. The playing field is leveled, maybe even tilted in their direction a tad. They’re empowered and therefore must be handled differently. This section is where we get down to nuts and bolts training and retraining discussions. And we’ll finish up with a few easy next-steps that you can take as soon as you close the book.
Why Am I Writing This Book?
I’ve spent over 20 years in the advertising business. And for more than half of that time I was directly responsible for business development at agencies that I worked for or owned. And in those years I spent a lot of time in the selling trenches. A lot of late nights, weekends and “honey, we just found out we made it to the finals” calls. In fact, I even schedule the birth of my second child around a pitch. Thankfully, we won that one.
For far too long I believed as most in the sales world believe — if I just work my database harder, make more calls, send more direct mail, and meet more people, we’ll win more business. I spent hours and tons of money (mine and others) on elaborate pitches, clutter busters (3D direct mail designed to garner attention) and such.
But a few years ago I took a bold step. I left the agency world and opened Converse Digital. This company has been my private laboratory where I could finally test the theories I’ve developed over 20 years selling products and services. And guess what, it works. Since I launched the company, I’ve never made a cold call, ran an ad or “made it to the finals.”
Yet I have enjoyed a 25% (on average) year-over-year growth rate. And now that I know these theories work, I want to share them with you. I want to see others discover what I’ve learned… that you don’t have to go find the sales. If you do it right, they’ll find you.
In short, I’ve written this book to teach you what I’ve already learned — how to prospect while you sleep.
So if that sounds like something you’d be up for learning more about, take this chance to order the book right now.
Congrats on the big news!