If you are not connected, how will you know what your market’s intent is?

This blog previously appeared on the DLA blog here

We have a mantra at Digital Leadership Associates. Sell through your network, not to your network. What we mean by this is that you want to move your personal brand, content, sales story as far away from you as possible so that you can be found. 

How do you do this? Through your the network of your network. This is done through likes, comments, shares, retweets and so on. The bigger your network, the bigger your network of opportunity. 

Research shows that 80% plus of b2b purchasing journeys start with a referral. This works typically in 2 ways :

1) Traditional one to one referral – Bob can you recommend someone to help me with something. Of course, I suggest you talk to Sally at ABC Ltd, she and her team are brilliant – and then off you go starting to validate what Bob has said about Sally and her team.

2) you are a recognised thought leader in your field, you spoke at event and have well written content, which is shared widely, by peers of your current clients in your target market – I saw this, read this, heard you speak and would like to find out more.

Both scenarios 1 & 2 demonstrate that the buyer has already moved from 0% on their “self guided” buying journey and are showing “intent”. 

If we take scenario 1, which is the traditional 121 referral, it will likely play out with you doing more research on Sally and ABC limited, who else is she connected to, how trusted is that network in terms of overlap, do other people back up Bob’s comments. Is she known to others in your organisation. Has anyone else in your organisation worked with ABC Limited before? What can I find online about them. Will you look like a fool if you recommend them to the wider buying community. Who are their competitors, what do other people say about them? Is there an overlap of networks. And so the due diligence process starts in earnest. 

Scenario 2 will play out in a similar manner. Ideally you want to be working with both. The traditional referral and the inbound referral generated by your personal brand and 3rd party validation. Think Amazon 4 star rating or Trip Advisor reviews. 

This blog continues on the DLA blog here

Digital Leadership Associates: We are Global Social Media Consultancy. We do three things: Social Media Strategy, Social Selling and Social Media Management. Drop me an email or call me on 00 44 7823 534 557 and let’s talk about how we can make an impact on your organisation.