I have the opportunity to meet and interview a number of people for sales positions at my day job. Working for a Fortune 400 company you can bet that we have the standard useless set of corporate interview questions that basically tell you nothing.
I always deviate and make sure to ask the only question that really matters and that is “Why do you think you’d be good in sales?”
Wrong Answer
The most common two answers I get is “Because I like people” or “I like to talk to people.” While these are certainly admirable traits, you can bet they won’t distinguish you from anyone else and definitely won’t earn you a 2nd interview.
I know that they are nervous and are trying to answer with what they think I want to hear but honestly these answers show absolutely no thought or preparation for the interview. In fact they actually highlight the fact that they don’t really understand the role of a salesperson.
You might be asking how in the heck does this apply to blogging? Good question. As a blogger, whether you know it or not, you are a salesperson. You are selling yourself, your ideas, your blog, your philosophy, your stories or whatever to your readers.
Are you any good at it?
The Ultimate Answer
What is the right answer you might ask?
The perfect salesperson in my mind would answer the “why would you be good at sales” question like this: “First I listen to the customers problems and determine what they need. Then based on their needs I come up with a plan to solve them and then last but certainly not least, I am great at following through and executing that plan. I make sure to deliver on my promises.”
How many business owners and sales managers wish they had a team of salespeople who would do the same? Listen to their customers, Identify their Needs, Formulate a Plan to Satisfy, and then Execute the Plan.
Perfect.
Secret to Successful Blogging
As a blogger are you a good salesperson?
Listen – Do you listen to your readers and find out what they want? They may not speak to you directly but you can see it on blogs everywhere. People are searching for answers to their needs. They either need information or they need entertainment. Do you provide either one? Both?
Identify Issues – Do you have the skills necessary to see what they need? What challenges do they face? What are they looking for? It’s one thing to regurgitate other people’s blog posts but can you identify what people want to read? What’s important to them?
Develop Plan – Can you fulfill these needs? Do you have the knowledge or ability necessary to write the kind of product that will keep them coming back? Unique, entertaining and/or informative?
Execute the Plan – Can you meet the demands that being a successful blogger places on you? Are you diligent enough to write often, to interact with your readers, to participate in social media activities? Writing good content is only half the battle.
Conclusion
Bloggers are salespeople, whether they know it or not. Like any good salespeople you will get better with time, effort and energy as long as you recognize your strengths and weaknesses.
A truly successful blogger will recognize what they lack and work twice as hard to develop that skill so that they can become a total package. Name any A-List blogger and every single one of them has ALL 4 of the characteristics listed above.
Take away any of the 3 and you have someone who isn’t ready for prime time yet or hasn’t quite earned the right to call themselves A-List. Some people are perfectly content to blog away in obscurity but for me, if I am in at all, then I am ALL in.
How about you….would you get a second interview?
17 Responses to “The Secret to Successful Blogging”
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Bill I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one. In some niches bloggers are salespeople, but not all. This might be the case in Make Money Online blogs, but are you trying to convince me that Matt Cutts is trying to sell me something on his blog? How about news sites like TechCrunch, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb… what are those guys selling? They tell news and Matt Cutts is the Google SEO guru and when he speaks we listen. And please tell me what they are trying to sell me on icanhascheezburger.com? Sell a laugh?
So I would agree that some blogs require salespeople there are other genres of blogs. Celebrity blogs, Tech blogs, news blogs, humor blogs… etc.
Kyle James’s last blog post..LiveVideoU: Changing the Way a Prospective Student Views your Campus
@Kyle – Yes Matt Cutts is selling you something….knowledge.
You are interpreting the word “sell” too literally. Sites like you mentioned are selling themselves to you. They have presented themselves as credible sources of information.
They have determined that their is a need for their product, they have developed the plan to deliver, they have executed that plan.
Selling me knowledge?
In fact I was thinking about this coming to work and there is a company that we do a lot of business with and I’m doing a webinar for them in a month or so and we have begin talking about putting together a blog post to promote the event on both ends. Probably the biggest catching point that came up is that we don’t want the posts to sound salesy, that is the actual word that was used. Instead we find an area to educate the viewers and threw education they, hopefully, realize that this is a good business that knows what they are doing and a sale is completed.
I’ll admit I’m not a salesperson, but shouldn’t a good product sell itself? A salesperson’s job is to educate the user about the product and if it’s something good and brings value to the client then they buy it. When I think of sales I think of the stereotype dirty car salesman. The good businesses now do everything they can to stay away from that and the best ones attempt to educate clients and let the product sell itself. It’s the classic push vs pull marketing strategy. The perfect example is big pharmaceutical companies. We see all these advertisements on TV to educate people about drugs to get them to go and ask their doctor about it instead of a traditional salesperson going to the doctor and selling them them on the benefits of the drug.
I realize that we probably will still probably disagree on this and I’m ok with that. I don’t disagree with the your points you are making, but I feel that what we are talking about here is much more than sales it’s really more marketing and brand building.
So what are you trying to sell me? Or are you trying to build credibility and brand awareness with your blog and yourself?
Kyle James’s last blog post..LiveVideoU: Changing the Way a Prospective Student Views your Campus
When we try to build traffic for our blogs, the action can be defined as marketing. In fact, we market everything that we can offer on our blog.
However, blogger is not just a blogger. Although the term “outsourcing” is sipping deeper and deeper into the blogosphere, most bloggers still need to be all-in-one. They are expected to become a friend, content publisher, marketer, coder or even a buzz hunter sometimes.
Wayne Liew’s last blog post..Spread Traffic Within Blog: Fake Popular Posts List
Hey TBE! How goes it? I have been quiet in the comments lately but still here when the new ones drop.
The above is great. It still bewilders me that people don’t see them selves as “sales people”. If you are a living breathing human, you sell everyday and to everyone. Most people screw it up by making it too complicated.
And the bullets you set are really the fundamentals of the top sales people.
All it takes is being yourself, asking enough questions, listening, providing the the answers and letting people make a decision.
Its really not that hard!
Take care man, keep puttin em out, your an idea factory my friend!
Landon’s last blog post..Don Miller of MSMM.com, The Branded Version?
@Kyle – We don’t actually disagree. You are interpreting the word sell as a transaction taking place of money exchanging hands. I am using the word on a much bigger level than selling you a text link or something like that.
“Selling” and “marketing” are the same thing. If you “brand” your company or your website then you are putting on a sales presentation. If it’s effective then you are remembered, if it isn’t then you aren’t.
Money doesn’t have to change hands for a sale to have taken place. Think figuratively, not literally.
@Wayne – Yep…agreed. Marketing and selling are interchangeable in a lot of ways, one just sounds better than the other apparently.
@Landon – Thanks for the support and I agree with you 100%. You are selling yourself with every blog post you make.
I do agree with you, Bill, because it’s all about marketing. All the A-listers are good marketers but not the best blogger.
I mean, if you didn’t have the qualities as a salesperson, then you wouldn’t have any readers to your blog, right? Because how would people find you if they don’t know about you.
Though, I’m not sure if it’s for everybody.
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..“How to Generate Traffic to your Website” eBook (And Why You Should Get It!)
I would get the second interview – cause I am sweet and cute…lol.
NOT!
I am not sure I am a salesperson because I am not always trying to “sell” my blog. Mostly I write just to write and the money I make is second.
I suppose though if I wanted to make a living off of blogging, then I would (obviously) be more money motivated.
Simple Mindz’s last blog post..The pregnant man controversy.
I think everybody is a salesperson, one way or another. Even in my day job, which is a doctor, the way I relate to my patients “sells” me as a doctor. Thanks for this reminder. Have to keep this is mind while I’m blogging.
I think everybody is a salesperson, one way or another. Even in my day job, which is a doctor, the way I relate to my patients “sells” me as a doctor. Thanks for this reminder. Have to keep this is mind while I’m blogging.
Joey’s last blog post..It’s Tax Time!
I think I’m a good salesman, but I should probably figure out how that applies to my blog.
Futon-Matt’s last blog post..Does this look like a button to you?
Yes, everyone is salesman. But, the skill belongs to one doesn’t same to other’s.
Ecko’s last blog post..Ayo Tolak Pemblokiran..!
Excellent post Bill! I agree on all points.
The pitfall I fell into when I first started blogging was jut regurgitating other site’s information and only adding a few cents worth of commentary to what had already been said. This is a very easy pitfall to fall into and it made me and my blog come across as cheap and low quality.
Since recognizing the pitfall and learning to use my own voice, readership has increased exponentially. Now, keeping things in perspective, my numbers are pretty low, but given my effort investment, I’m getting a very nice return.
So, to add what you’ve already said so well here… Don’t sell yourself by presenting what you “think” people want to read. Be genuine and capitalize on your assets to meet the 4 outlined points. If you’re just adding spin to what others are already saying, you wont get very far. Be original. Be yourself. A good salesman knows what degree of their personality they should let shine through to “charm” the client/visitor.
JMorris’s last blog post..I’m an ENFP – What’s Your Personality?
You got the point ,but does not mean is apply to every bloggers.As long as we comfortable with the way and can generate results,it is considered useful tools .
Felex Tan’s last blog post..Why blogging is not Right for YOU?
Blogging is like so many other things.
If you dabble, it will never be a business.
If you want it to be a business, you need a plan.
Yours is solid.
Good tips Bill, thank you. I knew, when I first began blogging, that I wanted to promote content that I would want to read myself. If I focus on my niche, know what people are looking for (because I’ve been there), then that’s a good first step.
Karlyns last blog post..Wahm Alerts Moving
Indeed bloggers are salesperson, we have this time of our life wherein we need to convince people of our services and our products. However, as a salesperson, we need not just have to like the person or people, we need to know them and understand them to be able to come up with solutions which they can actually get from us. Its is marketing.
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