How would you like to pitch one person and get steady, repeated sales from many people from this?
Rhetorical question, of course.
The secret to achieve this is to sell to “influencers,” otherwise known as “opinion leaders” — those personalities whose popularity and influence can shift audience taste and demand in large numbers. With an Oprah-esque authority, they can christen the next “cool” or “must have” purchase or dismiss something as passé and unwanted, thus shaping buyer activity on a significant scale.
These power players could be anything from industry experts, celebrities, or even bloggers who wield power through their reviews and critiques. Whatever their occupation, it would benefit you to find these people and make them advocates, since they can set trends and organically reshape the image or perception of your company, or even you as a salesperson.
Here are five tips for selling to these people so that they, in turn, sell their followers on you.
Before You Begin: Identify Worthy Influencers
Use tools like Traackr, mBlast or Klout to identify and which individuals have the most impact on their audience. These tools help sellers measure the relevancy and content of any influencer, and then help you engage with them (and become more influential yourself to boot.)
Five Tips for Selling To Worthy Influencers
1. Establish a List of the Top 50 Influencers Related to Your Industry
After learning everything you can about an influencer and making sure he or she is the right fit for your brand, send an email, make a phone call, have a Skype chat or have lunch. Simply making contact might result in a lead right away.
Then, add promising influencers to a Top 50 Influencer list in your CRM, for special campaigns. J.K. Rowling used this practice to create interest in Harry Potter news. Her top 50 influencers were much more likely to read emails and share content than those on her general email list, and she leveraged this into a multi-billion dollar empire.
Schedule personal one-on-one follow-ups with the Top 50 Influencers to cultivate each relationship (without selling them on your product or services directly).
2. Make it About Them
Influencers will want to know exactly what pushing your product can do for them, such as providing them with content, convenience, a corporate network link, behind-the-scenes access to a marquee brand, large-scale savings, a new business focus, inside information for their readers, etc.
Analyze and present ways that discussing your product can impact the influencer’s future, worth or bottom line. This may require you to produce special materials, content or services specifically for the influencer’s business.
3. Send Free Product Along with Research
Getting your product in the hands of an influencer is a major factor in getting testimonials, reviews, good press or viral mentions. The influencer will be more persuaded to like, purchase or endorse the product if you also include research or statistics that demonstrate the value of the product for buyers. If influencers really like a product and believe in its claims, they will often become regular cheerleaders just to make themselves look good.
4. Host Special Events
Recruit top influencers and invite them to attend a special sales presentation, tasting, facility tour, or show where they can bring prospects for you. Influencer events don’t have to be big just sales presentations, but they should provide a sensual and entertaining experience.
For example, Amtrak recently arranged trips for a few influential writers to try a cross-country train ride and then blog about it. Brainstorm ways influencers can truly and realistically experience your product in person. Be ready to meet with attendees individually during and after the event.
5. Arrange Exclusive Audience Discounts
For wildly active influencers with substantial followers, consider a sales promotion that involves giving the influencer a special code for a discount that is exclusively for their audience.
This arrangement will prompt the influencer to promote your product and discount as a way of rewarding loyal followers. And again, it makes them look good and “in the know” so they are glad to do it.
Leveraging top influencers is a smart, cost effective way to reach prospects with maximum efficiency. Treat those influencers well, and it becomes a win-win for everybody.
Leave a Reply