People approach me quite often to ask how to get their message across about social. How do you take someone from “maybe” to “yes”? How do you make them buy in?
To me, this question applies to more than just social. It applies to whatever thing you are trying to sell. Period. As a salesperson, you are always trying to sell a product, whether it’s a service like my agency VaynerMedia or a product like my liquor store Wine Library.
So how do you win over the skeptics?
Well, here’s what I do: I don’t try to win them over. I spend zero time convincing people to believe what I believe in. Up and coming wines. The internet back in 1997. Google AdWords on 2000. Email marketing in 1997. And of course it’s the same for social today. I have no interest in wasting my time to try and convince people I am right.
This is the mistake that most people are making: they’re wasting good time and energy trying to convert, when they should be taking that same time and allocating it to reaching more people. Reach out to every single person in your industry who could have a positive impact on your life. Find the eighteen that are intrigued. Then, spend your time there, with the eighteen who cared to begin with. It’s not worth it to spend a month or two or three going one by one with people you aren’t even sure will buy from you in the end.
Don’t try to convert the unconvertable.
Time is your number one asset. It is an extremely precious commodity to have. So why waste it? Use all the time you have on the people who get it. Apply your time to where there is fertile ground. Reach out to a wider base if you have to. It might take a lot of work to find your customer base, but it sure beats talking and talking to people who are never going to help you out.
And get this: the more you reach out, the more opportunities will arise for a connection to be made. Put in an extra one or two hours every day to go beyond the place you’ve already been looking. Trust me; it’ll be worth it.
