Part 9 (1/2)

Attention is a gift. People choose to circle you and pay attention to your posts on Google+. It's completely opt-in. That means that if you spam them with sales offers all the time, they will tune you out. They will either uncircle you or click the Ignore b.u.t.ton, thus blocking any further chances to build a relations.h.i.+p.

With that in mind, you should post a mix of business-specific information and information that's helpful to the community. Don't flood the stream with dozens of posts a day. (This often earns you a transfer to circles that people name things such as Noisy or Blabbermouths.) Instead, think strategically about the mix of posts that might help convey your interest in empowering your potential buyer, plus a call to action here and there.

Make It About Them.

The more you post information that empowers or highlights your prospective buyers, the more likely people will respond and react to your information. The more it's about you, the easier it is to tune you out. Remember, those amazing new products you create aren't amazing until your customers find that your products changed their lives. Even if you sell toilet lids, you need to make your interactions on Google+ about how these toilet lids can make your buyers' lives amazing.

Turn Self-Promotion into Appreciation.

If you win an award, make the thanks point toward your buyers. Any time you brag, it turns people off. It doesn't matter that you're so proud of making The New York Times Bestseller list. If you don't write your post about that to read ”Thank YOU for making this book successful,” people tune you out. Attention is a gift. Appreciate the h.e.l.l out of your community.

Don't Waste Chances to Sell.

On the other side of the coin, realize that you're on Google+ for a reason, and if that reason is business, business is based on converting prospects into buyers, and turning buyers into loyal members of the community. Even if someone has purchased, love them as a loyal customer. If someone's on the fence, give them all the help you can. If they're not yet even a prospect, educate them about the s.p.a.ce, and include the occasional pointer back to what you're doing.

Think in terms of how you might add value to the other person's interactions with you. That's where the sales come from-more about that in a moment. Just realize that you're here to sell, but that selling doesn't mean every sentence you write on Google+ is about driving someone to buy.

The Warm Sell-Warming Up a Sale.

Say I want to sell a webinar about how to use Google+. (I've done that a few times, you should know.) I would do a series of posts something like the following.

* Post interesting free information about Google+.

* Post a few off-topic posts that also point to how Google+ is interesting.

* Post starter guides that people can run with.

* Post video screencasts showing off some tricks and tips (all free).

* Acc.u.mulate a bunch of these free posts.

* Write a post offering a paid webinar for a deeper dive, including a list of skills people can learn from the experience, and end with a link to the buying page.

In the post offering the paid webinar, write copy that speaks entirely from the buyer's perspective. It might be something like this: ”You've been using Google+ for a little while now, and you've heard that people are having success with using it for business, but you haven't exactly hit it out of the park yet. You've figured out some of the basics, but nothing seems to be moving the needle for you. If you're interested in learning how to use Google+ to build business relations.h.i.+ps and improve your sales and marketing efforts, reserve your seat for this informative tutorial on how to build business using Google+.”

Something like this that includes bullet points about specific takeaways works. Also, end with a Reserve Your Seat link that takes people to a sales page.

This is how I would do it, and I should be clear that I have a reputation in the s.p.a.ce that I wrote about here and that people know me for this kind of information. What if you're a lot less known, and what if the people who have opted to circle you don't yet know you enough to trust you as a business leader? And what if your product is a little more difficult to sell? Now look at those premises, too.

Getting to Know You.

If you join Google+ and somehow convince a bunch of people to circle you to follow your posts, and the first thing you do is offer them products or services to buy, you'll quickly be uncircled. A little bit of warming up is necessary.

Take the community-minded approach. If you sell special soaps, your buyers are primarily women, primarily people who like to pamper themselves, and people with some discretionary income. To build community around that, share other items that would be of interest to that demographic. For instance, share posts about inspiring books, posts about new trends in beauty, and other topics not directly related to the soap you sell, but related to the buyers you're courting.

Make sure your About page on your profile is complete. Tell people exactly who you are. Give them pictures of you. Make sure they have ample ways to contact you. The more people can feel that they understand who you are, what you stand for, what you believe in, the more they can identify with you.

Another point about helping people get to know you is that the more you comment on your prospects' posts (and never in a way that's selling your stuff-unless it's exactly what they're asking about), the more they will feel a connection to you that can help you help them in the future.

The Difficult Sell.

I bought my car on the Internet. The story is useful to explain how social networks can help you build a sale. I'll talk you through the story to see if there are nuggets of information that can help you, should you be selling something a little more complex than books, energy bars, or software.

Aaron Manley Smith runs a virtual car dealers.h.i.+p called Motorphilia. He used to sell quite heavily through eBay but has since expanded to building business on Facebook and now also Google+. I met him once at an event in Austin, Texas, and found his story interesting, but I also filed it in the ”But I'm not looking for a car, and Aaron seems to sell mostly exotic cars” file.

Then, one day, I thought I'd search around to find a new Chevy Camaro SS. I looked at my local car dealers.h.i.+p websites and found them terribly lacking. They basically are all built to have you come in for a test drive. There's not enough information on the site. The pricing wasn't posted. It was just a mess.

So, I did what any blogger would do: I wrote a blog post complaining about it. I wrote ”Dear Car Dealers.h.i.+ps: Your Website Sucks.” In the post, I explained how buyers have changed how they buy, and that most of the websites I visited were old school and that it was dissuading me from making a purchase.

The blog post found its way onto Facebook, and within 4 minutes of seeing it, Aaron Manley Smith sent me a message via Facebook saying that he'd located exactly the car I had mentioned in the blog post, and that if I sent him $1,000 via PayPal, he'd acquire it for me. (Yes, this is a Facebook story, but this was a year before Google+ had come out. The same details translate handsomely to G+).

I did it. I sent Aaron the money. A handful of days later, I had a brand new Camaro that cost me about $5,000 less than the dealers.h.i.+p up the street, with no haggling, no fuss, and I did it completely over the Internet.

But what goes into performing a complex sale like that? Here's where there might be some learning from how Aaron does what he does that you can take into your sales methods. Again, your mileage may vary, but realize that these nuggets can be adapted for your interests. Now go behind the scenes on the details I didn't explain by considering the following: * Social proof: First, Aaron mastered the art of social proof. If you look at the Motorphilia fan page on Facebook, it is post after post of interesting cars (for enthusiasts), plus it's a bunch of photos and posts congratulating recent customers on their cars. Aaron makes the buyer the star, but at the same time, he is subtly pointing out every sale he makes with photos and videos.

* Behind the scenes: Aaron sends photos from car auctions he and his team attend, plus he shares interesting car pictures that keep his audience happy. He also shares bits of himself on Google+ that have nothing to do with cars and Motorphilia. The more you get to know him, the more you feel like you trust him (without having ever shaken his hand across a table).