How do you connect with people and convert them into clients in a digital age? Chris Smith, co-founder of Curaytor, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on lead conversion, using social media to build relationships, building your online presence and generating word-of-mouth through old school personal touches,
We started with Chris’ background in boiler room environments, how he put himself in a positive state to make calls and how he built trust with prospects to close them in one call. “Sometimes in sales we forget that we can be really helpful. Educate people, and whether they work with us or not, they can value that time they spent with us.
Chris explained that building trust has to be done through his words and, more importantly, tone of voice, “In the book I call it a Black Labrador mindset, that you’re happy to see every lead, every dial, every person.”
Chris then shared how his motivation has changed over the years, “When you focus on that number, and when that’s what drives you is that number, it’s not nearly as powerful a driver. When I stopped focusing on 100k and started focusing on my responsibilities as a man, the 100k came very quickly...What you focus on is what you find”
Next we dig into the mindset of sales and lead conversion, “You’re going to have a few conversations a day that you’re going to win or lose if you’re hitting the phones,” Chris pointed out, “so if you’re kind of beat up going into the three that you get, you’re in tough shape.” Greg shared how you can use little rewards to keep yourself in a good mindset for those critical conversations, and Chris gave his perspective: “I’ve found that it’s way easier to help people than to sell people. And if you help people more than what you sell costs, that’s actually sales.”
Then we dig into lead follow up and social media, Chris explained, “If you commit to 10x follow up, you need 10x reasons.” Using the example of finding an article that someone in your sphere would enjoy, Chris pointed out that you could send it by DM, private message on Facebook or even post it directly to their wall. Rather than using it as a status update and tagging someone, go the extra mile. “Social is really this amazing opportunity for one-to-one engagement, but most people are blowing it...If you just woke up every day and sent private messages to those people that weren’t about real estate, 1 in 10 or 2 in 10 would bring up real estate themselves.”
“Every lead is an internet lead,” Chris explained, “the question becomes, do the people who look at you online become MORE or LESS confident in you and your abilities.” You have to stack the deck in your favor so that when prospects reach out to you they’re already sold on working with you.
Next we dig into how you can use video online and in customer service, Chris gave a great tip - If you find yourself writing a paragraph-long email or text to a client, send them a video reply instead. Video messages or posts to your client’s Facebook wall are a great way to make your message more personal and memorable.
We finish up with the topic of openness and caring about your prospects and clients. Chris posed a great question, “Are you open to, and do you enjoy, learning from people who are different from you.” “If you’re that cold-hearted business person and you don’t give a $&*# about anything but the bottom line, go hire someone like me who cares and let them by that voice for your company.”
So many of us want an EASY button, but great lead conversion is a combination of many factors - your online presence, your social media content, your reviews and success stories, your mindset and lead follow up. It all starts with CARING. Care about your prospects, care about your clients, care about their results.
Chris Smith is a USA Today bestselling author and the co-founder of Curaytor, a social media, digital marketing and sales coaching company that helps businesses grow faster. In less than three years, he used the blueprint in his book, The Conversion Code, to grow Curaytor to over $5 million in annual, recurring revenue. His work has been featured in Forbes, Inc. and by many other publications.
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