People distrust marketing messages. Part of the distrust comes from the information overflow that can be more than a person can process. What can I believe? What are the real pieces of information and what is pure misinformation? Who really cares for my best interest as a customer? These are the questions being asked by people making buying decisions.
When you are lost, misinformed and in a quandary who do you turn to for advice? Your friends; those people you can trust. The best sales person a business can have is someone who loves the product and eagerly shares with their friends. This is the buddy system of sales.
With ubiquitous communication tools such as Facebook, Twitter and smart phones people are in touch with more people more frequently than ever before. Granted, the depth of these relationships are not nearly as strong as when people met face to face with their friends, but the circle of friends is much larger and the influence someone can have on their friends is broader as a result.
How can you use the Sales Buddy System for your business?
1. Embrace the new communication technology
For donut aficionados the Krispy Kreme "Hot Now" sign lit up in the window is a beacon inviting them to stop in for those donuts at their very best. But the customer has to drive by to see it. What if the store had a Facebook and a Twitter account and notified their followers and friends of "Hot Now" this way? Maybe even add in an afternoon incentive of a discount within the next fifteen minutes of the post or tweet? Your fans are informed.
Using the technology to notify friends and followers is a piece of live information that friends share with friends. Buddies convincing buddies its time for a donut run.
2. Don't market just inform
Too many businesses are using the new technology just to post ads in a different location. #Fail. Forget the marketing attitude. Just inform your friends of what is going on. Instead of telling your employees to keep mobile phones turned off at work, have them sending out positive messages about what is going on in your workplace.
Credit union tells tell me they have members who request them personally to deal with. Great! Let that employee create a fan club of those members and encourage them to use the buddy system to let their fans know when the credit union has posted some new favorable rates. It's not selling, it's just informing.
3. Freebie compensation
Do you have a fan who just loves your products? Does this person have a circle they influence on Facebook or Twitter? They will do your marketing for you and they aren’t even on the payroll, and it’s the best marketing you can get -- the word of a buddy.
Take good care of this person. Send them freebies, invite them in as a VIP to preview new products, provide feedback on intended changes you want to make. The key to the buddy system is to keep them as your buddy so they are eager to share the good news with their buddies.
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