This week's question: How do I sell when I can't get in front of people?
Transcription:
We all know that the social distancing is really making it hard to talk to customers and generate business the way we're used to. But whether you're a B2B business or B2C, you know in most small businesses, we really rely on that in-person interaction to do business.
So whether that was an in-person meeting, or an event, or a trade show, or just people coming into your store or your restaurant -- Without all that, how do we continue to market and sell in this current environment?
Here are a few suggestions that I have with examples of what other businesses are doing.
Hi, I'm Tom Malesic, Founder and President of EZMarketing website design company, and you're watching Ask EZ. This is where small business owners go to get real answers to their marketing questions.
Sell Using VIdeo
My first tip -- and I've said this before --but you must be using video right now.
It's one of the best ways for people to see you when they can't really see you. And you can maintain that personal connection.
Look, it doesn't need to be fancy. You can use Zoom, or you can use your cell phone, but either way, shoot a quick video, post it up on YouTube, and stay connected with your customers.
>>WATCH: How Do I Market Amidst This Crisis Without Sounding Insensitive?
Virtual Events
Next, we're seeing a lot of people use virtual events, virtual classes, and virtual meetings.
Last week I attended a marketing conference that I've attended every year for the last 10 years, and it was completely virtual. It was a great, great experience.
We're also seeing classes go virtual. We're seeing virtual yoga classes, karate classes. My wife takes a virtual guitar lesson every week from her guitar teacher. Obviously
it used to be in person, and now it's over Zoom or a Skype meeting.
We're also seeing a lot of virtual sales meetings using Zoom. I know for the last probably three years, I've used Zoom to meet with my customers that aren't local, but now that I have to do it all the time, it's actually starting to become very comfortable and natural because you can see the person AND you can share your
screen.
Online Ordering & Delivery
Another way to keep your sales up is through online ordering or delivery
services.
So if you have a local store or restaurant right now, you might be doing some kind of curbside pickup. I mean, obviously, we're seeing the state store do curbside pickup.
And here's an example of Busy Bees Art Studio that does take-home art kits for kids, and you can pick them up, right on the curb.
Get Creative - Adjust Your Business Model
Also, I really encourage you to get creative with your business model. This is a wonderful time to look at what do you do as a business, and what else could you be
doing?
An example I have of this is Bailey Coach. They're a York-based tour bus company that has now diversified into a cleaning service.
So obviously their bus business is shut down, but they're great at cleaning, so why not just diversify so that you can still make money when things are really weird
right now?
But my favorite example of changing their business model is an animal sanctuary (that's obviously closed to visitors).
You can do virtual tours of their animal sanctuary -- but this is the most creative thing that I've ever seen, and hopefully you've probably seen this in the news too -- you can now rent one of their goats to show up on your Zoom meeting.
What a great way to change your business model and entertain the corporate community who is stuck using Zoom for all their company meetings!
Please visit our blog for more examples of how other businesses are marketing
and selling during this Corona crisis.
>>READ: Coronavirus Marketing Examples & Inspiration
If you want to be in the best position possible for when we come out of this, you're going to need to keep marketing. Give me a call, and I'll walk you through some of the things that you can be doing to continue the growth of your company.
