Bob Rash

Business Coach, Guerrilla Marketing Coach
Woodinville, Washington

Articles » Marketing & Sales »

Extraordinarily helpful

9.0

out of 10

2 votes

Are you “Stalkable”? How’s Your Online Presence?

Having a good online presence allows prospects to “stalk” you. Your social media presence, website and blog posts can be used to build your credibility, bringing you more prospects and speeding up the sales process. Are you “stalkable”?

Written Sep 08, 2010, read 1649 times since then.

While teaching a Guerrilla Marketing Jumpstart class this week, we were talking about the power of online tools like blogs and Facebook. I told the class that having a good online presence allows prospects to “stalk” you. At this point the class, of mostly women, was shocked that I was suggesting they set themselves up to be stalked. Now that I had their attention, I went on to explain what I meant.

If you are providing a professional service such as a Financial Planner, Professional Writer, Accountant, Bookkeeper, Consultant, Business Coach, etc. you need to develop a relationship with your prospects before they will do business with you.

People buy from those they ‘know, like and trust’.

Traditionally creditability is built by meeting prospects at networking events and setting up meetings with them so you have the opportunity to get to know them and develop a relationship. Once the relationship has been developed, you will be able to determine if your service is a good fit.

This process works, but you are always involved in the process. If you want to attract more clients you will need to improve the process. You will need to find ways to meet with multiple people at once or ways to develop the ‘know, like and trust’ without being present.

One way to develop ‘know, like and trust’ with more than one person at a time is to give free or paid seminars. This allows you to build your ‘know, like and trust’ with a group of prospects. This works great if you are able to get a group of prospects together and you have good material to present. Giving presentations is a great way to build a relationship with a group of prospects.

What if you could start the process of developing the relationship without being present?

Your social media presence, website and blog posts can be used to introduce you to prospects. You want to create an online presence that allows the prospect to “stalk” you and start to build the relationship before you ever meet them. If you allow prospects to learn about you from your online presence they will be a warm lead when you meet them. It is a lot easier to close a sale with a warm lead than a cold call.

One of the reasons a Blog site can be so effective is that prospects can “stalk” your website and learn about you, your business philosophy, your product/service offerings, how easy you are to do business with, your commitment to causes and what your satisfied customers say about you.

Often prospective buyers return to a website several times before they make any personal contact with your company. An effective Blog site, written in a conversational style using personal stories with a picture of the owner or staff can be as valuable as a personal referral from a satisfied customer. People buy from those they ‘know, like and trust’. If you give them the opportunity to get to know you via your online presence, you are likely to find them ready to buy the moment you meet them.

Become professionally “stalkable”. With a plan you can maintain your online presence in fifteen to twenty minutes a day. The best part is that this is a very inexpensive way to build relationships and attract more clients.

Learn more about the author, Bob Rash.

Posted by Jacqueline Turcotte-O'Keeffe, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin | Sep 17, 2010

Bob, As you mentioned, an online presence cannot replace getting to know a prospect, but can certainly get you one step closer. I'm finding it to be an essential, and now an expected, element of the whole marketing process. Just the ability to turn a cold call into a warm one is worth the extra effort. I enjoyed reading this article. Thanks! Jacquie
Posted by Bob Rash, Woodinville, Washington | Sep 17, 2010

Jacquie, Thank you for your kind comments.

Bob
Posted by Deborah Drake, Bellevue, Washington | Oct 18, 2010

Bob,

I am so glad I searched on Biznik for "paid events" and got you and other profiles as a search result for I had not seen this article before.

I AGREE with one question for you:

"If you are providing a professional service such as a Financial Planner, Professional Writer, Accountant, Bookkeeper, Consultant, Business Coach, etc. you need to develop a relationship with your prospects before they will do business with you."

Does not making yourself "stalkable" apply to anyone in business?

I am of the opinion that this practice of letting our prospective customers know something of us, in this technological age we are in, BEFORE they meet us at our store or at an event applies to all in business.

Your article is straightforward and tells it like it is.

And I have a proposition for you...and that is join us some Tuesday for this weekly offering in Bellevue:

http://biznik.com/events/a-writers-support-group-for-reticent-bloggers-aka-writers-12

Our discussions are always lively and your input would be enjoyable.

Thanks for the time you took to write this article.

Restating the wise obvious is always good in my book.

Regards,

Deborah Drake

Authentic Writing Provokes
Posted by Bob Rash, Woodinville, Washington | Oct 20, 2010

Deborah,

You are correct anyone in business needs to be “Stalkable”. I believe it is critical for someone providing professional services so I addressed them specifically.

I will attend at least one of your Writer’s Support group events in Bellevue.

Thanks for your thoughts and kind words. Bob
Posted by Julie Hutton, Kirkland, Washington | Feb 02, 2011

Yes, I LOVE warm leads… or knowing that those that inquire about my services already have a STRONG sense of who I am, how I do business and a good feeling about my level of professionalism and the ease of doing business with me.

“…your business philosophy, your product/service offerings, how easy you are to do business with, your commitment to causes and what your satisfied customers say about you.”

All this makes it so much easier to work with the client to achieve their goals… it is all more of a soft sell and a focus on helping the client get what they want.

Thanks for sharing, Julie