The Secret to Connecting with potential clients Virtually

The Secret to Connecting with potential clients Virtually…

Hosting a Virtual Community!! But hear me out first . . . . . before you shut me down and say:

“Renee, I have NO time for anything else right now . . .”

There is a STRUCTURE and a SYSTEM that most people DON’T DO.

Before I can give you THAT, I need to share with you some of the biggest reasons why (from a sales perspective) having a virtual community has helped me and the women I coach grow our income and impact.

Then, decide for yourself. . .

Having a virtual community associated with your business is and has been for years a phenomenal way to communicate with like-minded people who care about what you love to talk about.

Whether it’s a community to discuss recipes, workouts, essential oils or marketing strategies, it is a reason to start the conversation, continue the conversation and invite those most interested to something more (like to buy the membership, purchase the program or invest in coaching).

3 Reasons why hosting a free community creates impact AND income:

1. Hosting a free community becomes a reason to reach out.

For example: “I am talking all about that with the women in my community this week, I think you’d really add to the conversation. Do you want the link to request to join the group?”

2. Hosting a free community becomes a reason to continue the conversation.

For example: “I am so glad you requested to join the community. It’s so interesting how you have created _______, I have so many questions! Let’s get to know each other better! I have time tomorrow at 3:45 PM EST or Friday at 9:15 AM EST, would either of those times work for you for a quick phone call?”

3. Hosting a free community becomes a reason to discover what the people who are paying attention are struggling with and how you uniquely may be able to help them.

For example: “Please help. As a ____ who helps _____ I am creating some training around ______, _______ and _________. But I need your help deciding which one to run first.”

There is something so magical when it comes to a community that is so important now. With connections happening in such DIFFERENT ways across the globe, it may be easy to mourn the ways we used to gather and connect. I miss restaurants, girls nights and meeting for lunch.

However all is not lost . . . This has inspired new ways to connect that we may have never tried before. More and more people are getting creative with how to connect and yet still be physically apart. This is why virtual community connection has become more important NOW than ever before in our lives.

But then a problem arises . . .

What do I share?

When do I share it?

How often do I post?

What do I post?

Then it starts to feel like “one more thing” to do . . . and we hold back. This is NOT the time to hold back.

Request to join my FREE community (while we are still accepting new members) and see exactly what I mean:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/485712388288047/

TRANSCRIPTION

Hello and welcome to the S-Word LIVE! Renee Hribar heere, sales strategist, TEDx Speaker and author, and I’m coming to you live from Detroit today.

So if you are running a business anywhere in the world right now, a lot has shifted more toward virtual communication than ever before. So whether you’re living in the states or you’re living abroad, a lot of us have been put on a stay at home shelter in place order.

And so for those of us who’ve been working online for years, this is really not too impactful to our day.

We already meet with our clients virtually. We already find clients virtually. We already work in a global economy. But for those of my clients who have brick and mortar and online communication, this is a shift sometimes slightly, sometimes greatly to the way they communicate. So today what I want to talk about is connecting with clients in this virtual world. So first of all, I want to say, if we haven’t met yet, I have been teaching sales for over 20 years. I’ve sold millions of dollars in products and services and literally taught thousands of people to sell for the first time. Many of my clients come from a corporate world where they experienced so many great shifts and changes that eventually they decided to hang up their own shingle and start consulting other people on their expertise. Some of them have written books and gone on to speak stages. But when it comes to the sales part, they just had never had official sales training. They were never, you know, responsible for being at the front of the house to be able to outreach and to continue the conversation into the sale. So that is what I do. And so this comes from that space. When it comes to sales, people can get nervous or goodness, what do I say? How do I say it? I get invited to podcasts. I get invited to speak a lot on this topic.

Hello. Guys, say hello as you join. Tell us where you’re watching, whether it’s live or on the replay. Let us know. So connecting virtually with potential clients. So I am a huge fan of creating a virtual community. And there’s a lot of reasons why like it. First of all, it’s how I started my business online. Rewind the tape to three years ago. And I came to the online space with no network in the online space. No idea how to connect people online. I only ever done it face to face. So for me, when I came in the online space, what I immediately saw was an opportunity to have a Facebook group. So I needed a reason to create this Facebook group and a reason to invite people to it. But I knew that if I had one, it would give me three major important, amazing pieces to my business, which is, number one, a reason to reach out. Hey, I have this Facebook group. You should come in there because I just need to figure out the because and I’ll tell you that a second. And then number two, hey, I’m so glad you’re here. We should get to know each other better. And that might be through posts or comments or virtual community coffee chats or one on one coffee chats. And then the third step is to discover what the people in the community actually need, what they’re struggling with, what their thoughts are, what they’re reading, what they’re talking about, what they’re crying about in their bathroom, how much time they’re spending on their business. All the different components that help me understand how can I best serve these individuals that are showing up.

So those are the three main things that having a community give you all the time, on and on and on ongoing. And I can tell you that my community has grown from eight people to over 2000 people nearly organically. So, yes, I have had a few Facebook ads out there, but they all are geared towards coming into the community for free. But that community has helped me not only grow my network and build my business, but also grow my income and my impact. So I’m so grateful for this community. So this is what I did when I first came the online space. So whether you’re brand new in the online space or whether you’ve been here for a while, I still like to beat the drum of have a Facebook community. There is no reason why you wouldn’t want one. So here, here’s what I did. So I created an online E magazine. When I first came to the online space and I selected people to connect with. Right. That is all cool. Yes. So. Sure. So. Yes. So I created a reason to create this this online. It was basically an e-mail that I had. Whee I interviewed someone. I told their backstory I shared about their business model, which was different and interesting to me. I chose people that were interesting and definitely had audiences. I didn’t have any audience. And then I interviewed them. And then additional to that, I also brought forth my experience in other ways. I’m also a certified hatha yoga teacher. I received my certification in 2006. I’ve taught many classes. I met my former beverage company partners on the floor of the yoga room floor.

So I know yoga. So I was import. I’m in kind of giving that piece of myself also. So I was talking about business, business models, other moms and yoga and sales. The thing that I actually know how to teach the thing that I actually do for a living. So the magazine had three components. People opted in. I received their e-mail and then they received it electronically. As a benefit, I created sort of an afterparty as the group. So I invited the people that I interviewed. So the first eight people were the first in that group or the first eight people that I interviewed in my Entrepreneurial Connections magazine. And so it was entrepreneurs that that were parents that wanted to connect. And so we wanted to connect the dots on business. We wanted to connect the dots on parenting. We wanted to connect the dots on staying mentally and physically healthy. So that is what the magazine started out. I did two rounds of it. I got the first 100 people on my e-mail list and then I put the magazine to rest and I started the show. So there it was a great spot in my life. And I and I certainly still look back at those people that I interviewed. I’m still connected to them. Many of them are still clients of mine. Many of them have been clients of mine over different cycles of our career together. So every single person that you connect with is either a client, a collaborator or a connector. And so having this E magazine gave me a reason to reach out.

Having the group gave me the most important thing, the reason to reach out to the general public, to more people to come and join us in the conversation. And more importantly, continue the conversation. That’s number two. And then number three, discover what they actually needed, wanted and were ready to take action on. Now, this is why I beat the drum of having a virtual community. It helps us in so many ways, helps us to reach out. It helps us to continue the conversation. And it helps us to discover and uncover how we might be able to show up and serve a greater population, a.k.a. our potential clients, a.k.a. the people that help us create a better income and a better impact in the world.

So if you want to know more about creating a community, you can certainly I’m going to give you the link to my community. Come in, request to join. If you haven’t been in a while, come back. Everybody in there I have a connection with somehow, someway we’ve connected in some other way. Most of the people that I know that that they’re in there, I actually met in person because over the past three years I’ve made it my personal responsibility to go out and reach out and connect.

Now, that might not be possible today, but a virtual community is more important than ever in today’s current events, and it will only continue to grow and be more important. I remember when I saw the most recent Super Bowl and it had a Facebook group ad.

I was like, that’s right. The Facebook group is the way of the future. So, whether they’re talking about recipes or rugby or sales conversations or marketing. A Facebook group is a great place. Small and large to be able to continue the conversation and discover what’s next for them and for you. So I’ll give you the links. I look forward to seeing you soon. See you next week on another edition out the “S” Word LIVE.