Last week, we shed light on Jay Thompson’s (
@PhxREGuy) Twitter success story and I was impressed by how he fully grasped the unwritten rules of social media and used them to attract clients on Twitter.
Today, I will be sharing precious lessons, tips and insights inspired by his story. They can be summed up in the following equation:
Targeting + Soft Selling = Massive Social Media Success
This article is in built on Jay’s success story. Please make sure to read it before proceeding. You will be glad you did!
How Does “Phoenix Real Estate Guy” Attract Clients On Twitter?
Are you blown away? You are not alone! If you want to follow Jay’s tracks and turn Twitter acquaintances into brand advocates, you must…
1. Nail Intelligent Targeting
Jay was proactive in his approach as he tracked down a potential client and initiated a conversation with her. Using HootSuite to search for tweets including “moving” and “Phoenix” was Jay’s intelligent Twitter targeting technique.
From the first interaction, Jay knew for certain that he was starting a conversation with someone in his target market. Thus, all the time and effort he spent in nurturing this newly born relationship was an investment in place.
In a previous article, I argued that people who believe that social media is time consuming, shouldn’t spend too much time thinking of quick fixes or time management techniques. Instead, they need to have a solid social media strategy and a clear definition of their target market in order to focus their SMM resources on the right people.
As Mari Smith beautifully puts it, you need to be “particularly discerning people and brands (1) whose content you choose to share online, (2) with whom you choose to interact, and (3) with whom you choose to associate.”
(This statement is in chapter 2 of her book “The New Relationship Marketing”. For more information, you may check out Garious review of Mari Smith book)
The point I am making here is that social media is all about business humanization, but “business” is a keyword here. In other words, you need to think strategic and focus on associating with people who serve your business objectives and that’s exactly what intelligent targeting is all about.
If you want to dig deeper into this important topic, I recommend these articles:
Before we move on to the next point, it is important to note that Jay wasn’t the only one who initiated a conversation with the same potential client. Other Phoenix-based Realtors were also eavesdropping on Twitter conversations including the same keywords. So they were also successful in the targeting part but the client complained that they were harassing here! In other words, they failed to…
2. Offer Genuine Help and Use “Soft Selling” Techniques
According to BussinessDictionary.com, soft selling is defined as:
Sales philosophy oriented toward identifying the customer’s expressed and tacit needs and wants, through probing questions and careful listening. It contrasts with hard selling which promotes application of psychological pressure to generate a relatively quick sale.
If you take a close look at Jay’s language, you will notice that from the very first interaction, he made it crystal clear that he is offering genuine help by using the magical phrase “no obligation”. He also uses the same term on his Twitter background image to invite trust and encourage people to seek his unconditional help.
The rest of his inspiring story bursts with soft selling tactics such as “no pressure”, “no constant follow up”. Jay made it clear that his role was Just being available to help when she needed help..
Jay proactively initiated a conversation but he didn’t impose his services on his potential client. He waited until she asked for a link to his website but he saw it coming because he knew from day one that she was moving to Phoenix.
Here comes the golden rule of the prefect combination of intelligent targeting and soft selling:
Do NOT shove your services down your potential client’s throats!, Wait until they ask for it on their own and rest assured that they will if you targeted them effectively.
Final Thoughts
Eventually, Jay’s potential client didn’t move to Phoenix but they became his loyal brand advocates and referred other clients to him. Again, this proves that offering genuine help on social media is the fastest shortcut to massive success.
Do you agree? What are your thoughts on Jay’s story? Have your tried using soft selling techniques on social media and how was your experience? Your valuable contribution is much appreciated.
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