Are You In The 90:9:1 When It Comes To Content?
Last week I attended my first Boston Chapter AAISP meeting. The topic was on content and how we can use content to help our sales process and become advisors to our prospects. Through a show of hands at the meeting, when asked how many people are currently using content to drive business, I was very surprised that the overwhelming majority kept their hands folded on the table before them. Cliff Pollen of Postwire and Visible Gains gave the statistic of 90:9:1 in regards to 90% of people read content, 9% share content and only 1% actually write content. Amazing! Here are some key points from the meeting and some reminders of how we can help our buyers.
Paint the Picture/Create the Vision. Your prospect may not know they have a problem because they don’t know their situation could be better. It’s up to you to show your prospect how it will get better. Pollen suggests using Content in the right Context to bring on Conversation that provides Clarity and motivates Change. Discuss your prospects needs or motivations, their fears of what may happen if they stay status quo and show them how you can help decrease their risk and the steps to take to achieve that vision.
Know your content and how to use it. Make sure it’s relevant to your prospect and third party content is a great way to built credibility and be unbiased. Knowing your prospect will help you find the right content that will help shape their vision of a brighter future.
Asking the right questions. Use your content to ask the right questions in order to clarify your buyer’s vision. Content can spur great conversation that will enable you to understand exactly what your prospect cares about.
Make it easy and interesting. Prospects are inundated with information every day! Don’t make it hard for your prospect to figure out what you want from them. Matt Bertuzzi of The Bridge Group, Inc hit a home run when he said, “I need INSIGHT, not INFO.” Right on Matt. Give me insight as to how you will help me, not information on how you may be able to do this or that.
Intergrating content into your everyday sales life can be a powerful tool. Used correctly, it can catapult you to a level above the rest and help you score with your prospects. Good luck and do something new today!!
