Blue Gypsy Inc. Blog: Jack of All Trades Expert of None

Jack of All Trades Expert of None - Part 2

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 |

I’ve been delving into Social Media and trying to develop the best plan to increase business for my company. Since I’m an online sales consultant for a large local builder, I feel I’ve already been involved in “social media” in a sense. For the past 2 years I’ve been building Internet relationships with prospects while finding out their needs, wants, and desires in a new home through countless emails. I’ve made it my business to match the proper home and community to their parameters.

I know it sounds crazy, but I tend to care about these people even though I rarely meet them in person. With 20-40 web registrations a day, some people NEVER communicate, but others have had extensive conversations with me about their needs in a new home, and more importantly their lives. I know things like their baby’s due date or that their kids are graduated with honors. I know they are going through messy divorces, or stressed about a military move.
They’ve even sent me pictures of their dogs and cats in Halloween costumes and I’ve received a Baliwood DVD movie that one prospective customer starred in as a bit of a villain.

Some of these people buy a home, some never do, but either way all my efforts translated into 30% of overall sales and over $25.5 million in revenue for my company last year. Did I do this by using facebook, twitter, u-tube or blogging? No, just good old fashioned emailing.

As of late, I keep hearing about RSS feeds, blogging, twitter, Google Adwords, facebook, LinkedIn, U-tube, video emails, and how all of these things make up Social Media which is the hottest newest craze for businesses. I’ve wanted to step out on my own and setup an Internet sales consulting business grounded in good old-fashioned customer service and personal attention, but everyone wants a Social Media Expert.

It’s hard to explain to owners and CEOs, who are being bombarded with these terms, that there has to be an overall plan. With the rush to set up facebook pages, twitter feeds and build iphone apps, there still needs to be someone who is going to build relationships with prospects no matter what you are selling. I see the need to embrace technology and to look into how these tools can make a great online sales consultant even better, but I’m not sure I need to be an expert in Social Media to make this happen for a business owner. I think I need to be an expert in what is being sold and then figure out how to apply Social Media to that framework.

No matter how you look at it, the bottom line is still about building relationships and making relevant connections between what you sell and how it satisfies what your client, follower, or fan needs. Someone with creative thinking who knows the product can deduce where on the web they can find people interested in their product and then implement a social media plan to connect with their audience and build meaningful relationships.

No expert necessary.