Something different has just happened to my blog! This latest post is not actually from me. It is from Sue Windley. Recently, Emily Cagle and Adam Vincenzini came up with the fabulous idea of #BeMyGuest. Click on the link for more info but in short it is a campaign for mutual blogging that allows bloggers to share their content with different audiences. I really like this idea and am delighted that Sue is my first ever guest blogger. Please read on and enjoy the work of Sue…

As part of #BeMyGuest month, I am delighted to have the opportunity to provide a guest blog for Robert Pickstone, who requested a story from my sales and marketing career.  So here is how I learned my most important lesson about selling. And yes, it is true!

What a Tramp taught me about Selling!

Early in my sales and marketing career, I sold cars. The hard way. Commission only. An English woman selling cars in Scotland!

I was taught the technicalities of selling by men whose lives had been spent in the motor trade.  But the most important lesson I ever learned about selling was taught to me by a tramp on a wet Christmas Eve.

The only people in the showroom are the 4 other salesmen and me – all looking forlornly out the window, thinking what a waste of time – no one will buy a car on Christmas Eve when it’s raining.

An old man, dressed in a dirty mac, tied up with string, walks into showroom. The other four scarper, leaving me muttering under my breath that I wasn’t quick enough to disappear with them. The tramp comes across to say hello. What the heck, it’s Christmas, why not spread some good cheer around and just take the time to have a conversation with another human being. So I spend 10 minutes talking about trivialities with a dirty, smelly stranger who obviously just wants to get out of the rain.

Then he says “I want to buy a car”.  Oh no – a tramp who’s mentally unstable too!  Buy I play along, so we discuss what type of car he would like.  I even showed him the cars in the showroom, making sure he doesn’t get in them and get the seats dirty.  I can even hear my 4 “colleagues” sniggering as they hide behind the one-way window in the service area.

Then “my” tramp picks a car – a demonstrator.  And he wants a test drive.  Well okay – let me get the seat protectors (sheets of plastic used by mechanics to avoid getting oil on customers’ car-seats). And I take him for a drive around the East Lothian countryside, all the while worrying that a real buyer might be walking into the showroom.

As we drive back into the garage, he says he likes the car and wants to buy it.  “Can I drive it away today?” he asks.  Yeah right, I thought – you won’t get finance. “Och hen, I dinna want finance. I want to trade in my old car. Look it’s over there.”

And I looked at his car – a one year old Nissan Micra. All he had wanted to do was trade up to a car with more doors. He gave me the logbook and his insurance – yes, it’s really his. Next hurdle – I price his trade-in and there’s a £2000 difference. “Nae worries, hen.  I’ve got some notes in my pocket – not sure how much tho’.  Will ya count it fer me?” and he hands me a wad of cash which turned out to be £3000.

I was the only sales person on that Christmas Eve to sell a car in the whole franchise of 15 garages. And yes, he did drive it away the same day. And the best bit of all. As he drove away: “You know hen – this was the 7^th garage I’ve been to today and you’re the only person who came and said hello to me. Thank ye.”

It’s easy to make our minds up about other people without knowing anything about them. Now I never prejudge people as I know we are all unique, complete with quirks and foibles! Like the tramp, all we want is someone to notice us and say hello!

Sue Windley is the Marketing Director of the Pragmatic Performance Group, a business acceleration consultancy that supports small and medium-sized enterprises in the south west of England. She is active on Twitter as @DangerousMkting, which is also the name of her blog where you can find all sorts of news and views on all aspects of marketing.

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I recently came across the following tweet from LinkedInQueen:

“Writers block? We set up and write blogs starting at $100! http://bit.ly/8PanVX”

I was pretty astonished at first. How could someone else possibly know the ins and outs of a company when they have never stepped foot inside Head Office? Why would a company want someone else to speak to their customers? Why would a company be misleading and pretend that they created the content of a blog or that it is their voice?

After clicking on the link I discovered that the “Social Media Service” could write content around 3 areas of the company’s choice, as part of the basic plan. So, it may work like this: I give the brief…hand over the money…ask for blog articles around marketing, finance and skills…they produce the content…content is discussed and mutual changes are agreed…I give it the OK…it then gets posted to my company blog (which they have created) as my own content.

I am actually a little uncomfortable with this. In the vast majority of cases a company’s blog content should be controlled by the people that work for the company. They keep the cogs going round, they know the business inside out, they engage with customers, they are the experts, they are the company.

After stating that I did not agree with the approach, the author of the tweet responded: “There are clients who really need help & we work closely to translate their words w/ their approval”.  So, is this a way of saying it is a copywriting service? Or does this service write blogs for companies?

In an extreme example, there may be an extremely creative, self-employed entrepeneur who has very poor literacy and no computer skills, but wants to use the internet to share his ideas under the company brand. If his ideas were translated word for word after a discussion, then this may be copywriting. If there is any element of control or creativity being handed over to the agency, then would the blog content be 100% his? Translating and writing are two very different things.

After racking my brains, and after a brief discussion with Kimmo Linkama, the only times I can think of when it may be OK for a company to have blog content produced and then genuinly passed on as their own, is as part of promotional blog articles (Press Releases, Interview Transcripts, etc). Readers may expect other contributers in thse instances. However, an outside agency writing articles to display a company’s level of expertise and knowledge, or even just their opinion, just doesn’t sit right. That is not blogging to me.

• When do you think it’s OK for a company to have blog content created for them and then displayed as their own?
• Do you think it is wrong for others to write your company blog?

Vote in the poll below and share any opinions you have on this subject. It would be really interesting to hear your thoughts and experiences. If I am looking at this the wrong way, tell me.

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Ok, don’t physically stalk them. That would be slightly unethical. What is not unethical though is searching online for information about a new client which they have chosen to make public. Some think this is a form of online stalking – it is not – it is using your initiative.

The information you find can help you spot a common interest, both personally and professionally. Using this information correctly, your conversation can be enhanced, opportunities can be spotted and deals can be clinched. Background information can also help you to build a foundation to a good working relationship.

What tools are available though and what can we find out? You may want to think about the following:

• LinkedIn – We can find out what their professional background is, what qualifications they own, who recommends them, what their skills set is and who their business contacts are.
• Twitter – We can find out what they are saying “real-time”, what issues they are currently interested in and who they are sharing their conversations with.
• Facebook – We can find out a combination of the information available from LinkedIn and Twitter. Also, interests and hobbies tend to be more prominent on Facebook.
• Blogs – We can find out what area they have a real passion for, what they are willing to spend extra hours writing and talking about, and what message they want to spread.
• Search Engine Results – We can find out comments that may have been made on forums and blogs, as well as when they have appeared in press releases and on company websites.

Like I said, this is just a general breakdown. Do you share public information in a different way? Would you use these tools to research a client before meeting with them?

I would be interested to hear your views and experiences.

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