The next time you’re scrolling through Netflix or Amazon Prime, looking for yet another way to kill time inside your house, watch the film from the ’90s, Glengarry Glen Ross. (Perhaps when the kids are asleep, it has quite a bit of profanity.)
This movie will teach you everything you should NOT do to increase leads and sales.
Like many other movies about the sales industry, Glengarry Glen Ross paints sales reps as money-grubbing, self-centered folks with one goal; making their commission. Does it matter if the product or service is good? No. Does it matter if the person wants or needs this? Nope. Do you have to have ethics to succeed? Absolutely not.
If this is how movies portray sales, are you surprised to read a recent survey that found only 3% of people consider salespeople to be trustworthy? Ouch!
I happen to have met some great salespeople in my life. They listen attentively to understand what the customer needs. They will even recommend another company if they cannot excel at the job. They have scruples and honestly want to help people.
Unfortunately, the sigma that salespeople cannot be trusted remains. So I am always perplexed when companies turn their blogs into a constant sales pitch.
Why Your Blog Shouldn’t Sell
I recently wrote about the importance of addressing potential clients and customers wherever they are in the buying process. One of the easiest way to do this is through the blog content you post on your website.
However, creating high-quality content can be hard work and take a lot of time. Especially if any of the following are true:
- You understand your industry so well that it’s hard to look through the lens of an outsider.
- You have a million other responsibilities.
- You consider the blog an afterthought.
- You don't see your blog as part of a comprehensive inbound marketing program.
It is easy to simply look at a product or service page on your website, paraphrase the content on that page, and call it a blog post.
How To Write Blogs People Want to Read
But, wait. Are you sitting there thinking; what good are blogs if they don't produce results? Well, you are right. You do need to think about the end goal. Otherwise, the time spent on your blogs might be a colossal waste of time. However, before you can sell a person, you have to convince them to trust you. That's why your blog will bring a greater return on the time invested if you take a different approach.
When it comes to cultivating leads, being subtle is better than beating a person over the head.
Providing content that connects with the visitor to your website is a great way to establish trust. Here are a few ways to write blogs people actually read.
- Ask customer service the most common questions they hear, then write a blog post that answers one of those questions.
- Share how-to tips that are relevant to your customers.
- Write about your clients, so others can learn tips they can apply to their own situation.
- Keep it short. What you write may be read on a phone. So, brevity is your friend.
- Include industry news, events and statistics that connect your services to your reader’s needs.
What Questions Should You Consider?
The five examples listed above suggest ways to create meaningful content. Remember, you want to provide the type of information your readers can use. So, always ask yourself:
Does this blog post provide helpful information? Does this take the focus off of you and instead make it about them? Would you want to read this if you were looking for these services?
If this sounds like too much work, consider outsourcing to a professional.
At ProFromGo, our team of experienced writers dive deep into an industry and get inside the head of current and potential customers. By doing this, they create content that builds trust. This gently keeps the interest of the blog reader until they are ready to become your customer.
