The Promotional Marketing industry has a unique opportunity to improve the perception of our medium in relationship to other categories of advertising expenditures as businesses take a long look at their expenditures in the near term as a result of COVID_19. A successful campaign to capitalize on that opportunity would be bolstered by sharing the content found in this book with your employees, your clients and prospects, and secondary and higher learning contacts you may have at your disposal.
The following is an excerpt from the book, which releases in paperback and e-reader editions on Amazon on or around September 15th, 2020.
Sales-driven organizations that have not yet evolved away from a sales-training strategy that focuses primarily on product knowledge are in peril. Many sales leaders recognize the failures their training strategy creates but have been unwilling, underfunded, or not sure what to do as a replacement and a 10-year uninterrupted run of economic prosperity covered up a lot of short-comings on the part of many a sales organization.
To succeed in the post-COVID-19 economy, your salespeople must be allowed to marry their personalities, beliefs, and those individual characteristics that would make them likable to prospective buyers in combination with strong knowledge of their products and/or services. This requires a dedicated effort on the part of every company to evolve their training programs to meet this new, human-centered strategy, where your staff members are a part of your brand.
Regardless of vocation, each of us needs to formulate and internalize a strategy to be able to document and broadcast our individual areas of interest, knowledge, and ultimately, expertise. It’s no longer sufficient to merely be good at what we do. You can’t get away with not knowing your product, but prospects will be more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if they’ve had an opportunity to get immersed in your brand in this way—by showing the personalities behind your operation, you shorten the path to creating a connection with buyers and increase empathy for your brand.
In this work era, your personal marketability needs to be on display in a manner consistent with who you are, and it also must be shareable and findable in those instances where you’d want the opportunity to display your interests, knowledge, and expertise. It’s time to migrate your contributions to Reddit Boards to a broader cross-section of places where more eyes can see your work. It’s time for the long-form social media posts you make about your passions to become a page on Medium.
If you want the best work, you have to be seen as an expert, and without the opportunity for those seeking your expertise to learn about what you know best, you’re introducing an element of added calorie consumption in the minds of consumers to decide if you’re a worthy choice. Failing to adopt a broadcast strategy won’t always get you left out of consideration, but it does create the opportunity to cost you chances when others are putting out that kind of work and you’re not.
I’m grateful to Stan for the opportunity to present the concepts he originally developed in the 1st Red Goldfish, and it was his work that served as a blueprint for me as we sought to tell the many stories of businesses in our marketplace doing noteworthy, attention-getting work in the communities they live and serve. Here’s hoping you’re inspired to share your own story or share the book with someone needing to better understand the value we provide as marketing consultants.
Roger has spent 20+ years making complex concepts more understandable for both buyers and sellers alike, and has devoted the majority of his recent career to injecting purpose via philanthropy to his sales and marketing efforts. He’s intent on making the world a better place and his nirvana exists at the intersection of Mission, Passion, Profession and Vocation. He loves the outdoors and seeks memorable experiences whenever possible. Contact Roger at roger@socialgoodpromotions.com or 810-986-5369.