HARDISON’S TIPS – JANUARY 8, 2021 – How to Get Copier & Document Management Leads with Social Media
After years of struggling to get copier sales leads using social media like LinkedIn, Ed Worthington had a breakthrough. He discovered a winning technique to sell copier machines and service contracts more often, faster and without having to give away all the profit. Social media works for Ed—rather than the other way around. Here’s what I learned in a recent interview with him. Listen up. Apply his simple technique. Make social media generate office copier sales leads for you too!
The Results: + 20%
Ed Worthington is cleaning up: Selling more printers, scanners, copiers, document shredders and signing more contracts faster, more often and easier than ever before at Maryland-based, Action Business Systems.
The cold call certainly isn’t dead. But it isn’t the fastest, most painless way to sell office copiers these days. Instead, Worthington is using short, pithy videos shot on his Blackberry and uploaded to YouTube to get more calls returned and appointments scheduled… and ultimately sell more copiers and sign more contracts.
In fact, he’s increasing his response rate to an unheard of 20% (2 out of every 10 of outbound attempts generating a positive response from his prospect) using LinkedIn, blogging and YouTube videos in a specific combination—a practical system.
How Ed is Doing It
You might think he’s tweeting on Twitter and updating his Facebook and LinkedIn pages at specific times-of-the-day and days of the week. But you’d be wrong. Worthington doesn’t follow the advice of social media gurus. In fact, he sees their “secret sauce” as a distraction. Instead, he’s focusing on practical ways to create leads and sales!
“It really bothers me when business gurus proclaim the cold call as dead,” says Worthington. “I know it sells a lot of books but the reality is most of what they say is just not true.”
Instead of following the endless stream of tips-and-tricks this sales rep feeds his family by innovating—using social media in ways that exploit age-old, techniques to sell copier machines.
Follow These NON-Technical Steps
When blogging or when using LinkedIn Groups, for example, Worthington says to create:
- Confidence: Shine a light on the success your unique perspective brings; do it in a way that gives prospects clarity; help the customer feel like they can experience success too.
- Curiosity: Explain your remedy in a way that creates clarity AND active curiosity. This creates response!
- A Way: Show prospects a way to take immediate action on the thought you just provoked; help them choose a pathway to respond and get more detailed information on the remedy.
The most effective, practical way to generate copier sales leads with blogs, videos, etc. is to give confidence to buyers in ways that increase their ability to feel emotionally grounded, intellectually stronger… fully equipped to buy. If you do this well enough prospects will ask you for the sale, says Worthington.
“The customer needs to feel like this can happen. Like… ‘I can buy a copier from this guy without this thing blowing up in my face.’ And how are they going to feel like that can happen? If they trust me, have confidence in me. Well, how are they going to get that?”
The answer, says Worthington, is on his blog, in his videos, downloadable e-books and “insider” Buyers Guides. This is where #2 (above) comes in: Teasing prospects a bit in ways that create hunger, curiosity.
The Secret to Success: Solving Problems
In his blog posts, ebooks, videos and guides Worthington creates confidence in his prospects by helping them solve problems. Sometimes problems he solves don’t relate to document management or anything he’s selling. They don’t need to. They are simply a means for Worthington to create a “taste of success” in the life of his prospect—to scratch a bothersome itch.
That’s “the magic.”
Worthington spends a lot of time creating tutorials—teaching prospects and customers how to determine a best fit for their specific situation. He also helps prospects avoid risks they don’t yet know they have. For instance, here are some of the titles of his publications:
Copier Service Contracts: What You Really Need to Know
Which Copier Should I Buy?
How Fast Does My Copier Need to Be (really)
How to Earn Trust Quickly & Convert it to a Sale
Worthington creates confidence in his prospects. He publishes advice-oriented guides, printable tip sheets and decision-making worksheets to help prospects quickly determine the “best fit” for their business. All of these tools help prospects actually accomplish the handful of things that must happen before they can make a purchase.
This make Worthington look like an expert, yes, but they create confidence in prospects and TRUST in him—because HE is the source of what gave them confidence.
This is what most sales reps and marketing teams overlook when applying social media!
But where to start? Here are two options:
Listen to Ed Worthington describe his successes and how he’s making it happen HERE in this 3-part audio interview series.
OR
Make It A Champion Day!
