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Always Selling: Sales and Marketing Business Practices Everyone in the Library Can Use PCI Webinars | Carrie Rogers-Whitehead [email protected]
Always Selling: Sales and Marketing Business Practices
Everyone in the Library Can Use
PCI Webinars | Carrie Rogers-Whitehead
What this webinar will cover 2
✓ Why librarians should
understand marketing
✓ Terms to know
✓ Popular sales strategies
✓ Steps to close a sale
✓ Digital marketing 101
✓ Networking and building
relationships
✓ Resources
✓ Discussion and Q&A
I’m a former librarian,
current library consultant,
that transitioned from the
public to private sector.
I am an adjunct business
instructor with Salt Lake
Community College and
teach on communications,
marketing and more.
3HELLO!
4
My experiences✓ Don’t become complacent about what
libraries provide. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean they will come.
✓ There should be a dedicated budget for networking.
✓ Most of the sales comes one-on-one over a long period of time. It’s about relationships.
✓ Librarians too much try to be everything to everyone. This isn’t the most effective or efficient strategy.
✓ Not everyone has the personality or strengths for this type of work.
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Libraries are salespeople.
What are you selling?
Terms to know
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1.
What is a target market?
» Determining the target
market is one of the first
things to do before
developing a marketing
or sales strategy.
» It’s helpful to create a
story about your market.
Provide names and
specifics.
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» The target market is the
specific audience that
would be interested in
your product.
» Target markets should
be very specific and be
narrowed to
psychosocial, age,
religion, interests,
geography and more
Create a story about your target market
The library is adding
additional story times to
their program schedule.
Make up a story of
someone in the target
market.
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What is a lead?
» A lead is a person who’s
shown an interest in
your product. This could
mean they use your
databases, or they
visited an outreach
booth, or came to a
library program etc.
» A lead turns into a
prospect
Lead Qualification
✓ What issues are you
facing that the library can
help you with?
✓ What keeps you from
visiting the library?
✓ How could visiting the
library help you?
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What is conversion?
» Conversion refers to taking
a lead and turning it into a
prospect.
» A conversion form, or lead
capture form are found on
a landing page and collect
information from visitors
» Does your library have a
conversion form?
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A lead
capture form
can help save
staff time.
Benefits vs. Features
» Benefits are the value
that a consumer of your
product experiences.
» i.e. The library provides
a quiet space where I
can study.
» Features are the
functions of the product
that solve a consumer's
particular pain/needs
» i.e. The library provides
the materials I need to
help pass my
certification exam.
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Focus on the
FEATURES not
the benefits
when trying to
convince people.
Measurement
Churn Rate
✓ Measures what
customers you
retain.
✓ i.e. 500 people
came to your
library programs
Oct 17, but only
450 in Oct 18
Customer
Relationship
Management (CRM)
✓ Software that
tracks your
customers/partners
/patrons. It can
also schedule
appointments,
follow-ups.
Forecasting
✓ Looking ahead to
meet your goals
✓ i.e. December
was a busy
month for
programs last
year. Do I have
enough programs
and staff for this
year?
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A CRM can be
as simple as a
spreadsheet.
Do you have
something like
that?
Be sure to at least
list:
❑Name
❑Where you met
❑Second contact date
and what happened
❑Third contact date
❑Phone number
❑Name of organization
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How are you
tracking your
contacts?
Popular Sales Strategies
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2.
Sell a Solution to a Problem
» What are the problems in your
community?
» What specifically can the
library do to solve that
problem?
» “The library provides digital
access to those in the
community that do not have it.”
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Tell a Story
» What are the stories of people
using the library? What are the
stories of staff?
» How do you communicate
those stories to the public?
» “Juan was new to this country
and trying to gain citizenship.
The library provided the
resources for him to do that.”
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Give Something for Free
» What can the library provide
for free to partners/prospects?
» Give before you ask.
» “It sounds like your
organization is doing some
great things. I’d like to promote
your upcoming event on our
library social media accounts.”
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Perfect your Pitch
» What can the library do for
you?
» Be able to answer that
question in 2 minutes or less.
» “The library has over a dozen
free databases that can be
used to help you grow your
small business…”
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Demonstrate your Product
» An objection may be that the
customer doesn’t know how to
use your product.
» Show them step by step how
to utilize the resources.
» “Let me help you sign up for a
library account. This is what
you would do first.”
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Closing the Sale
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3.
Sales Funnel21
Biggest Reasons for Customer Objections
» Time- They don’t get what
you offer and are too busy
to think about it
» Budget
» Trust- They don’t know
you
» They aren’t the decision-
maker
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Overcoming Objections
» Clarify your understanding: “So if I understand
correctly…”
» Gather more information: “Tell me more
about…”
» Be quiet, let them speak
» Confirm you’ve satisfied the objection: “Are you
happy with that?...”
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Follow up tips
» Put it in a Google calendar
» Specifically state in the email,
“I will email you in two
weeks…”
» Have a package of dollar store
thank you notes by your desk
» Put business cards in a stack
by your computer to go
through
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Digital Marketing 101
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4.
“Google only loves you if everyone
loves you first.—Wendy Piersall
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SEO- Search Engine Algorithm
» How do people find your
library programs?
» Are you creating content
or just linking to content?
» Is the library the first
thing people think of
when looking for
information?
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Ways to Boost your SEO
Create Content
Your blog is only
50% for readers, the
rest is for Google.
This can also be
video, pictures etc.
Use Alt-Tags
Alt-tags are
alternative text
descriptions. They
describe visual and
audio content.
Improve your
page’s loading
speed
People are impatient
and they will not
wait. This can
include clearing out
cache, changing
sizes of images etc.
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How is your library handling social media?
✓ Who handles your social
media?
✓ Who creates content for
social media? Or are you
just recycling content?
✓ How often do you post?
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Social Media Strategy
» Focus on 2-3
social media
services and do
them well rather
than focus on too
many. Consider
your target market
when picking a
service.
» Each day have
a focus. i.e.
Mondays are for
new books.
Tuesdays are
for programs.
Wednesdays
are for
databases etc.
» Schedule posts.
Instagram now
allows
scheduling
posts.
Facebook has a
native
scheduler.
Consider
TailWind and
Hootsuite
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The Results of hiring someone to evaluate my marketing strategy» Personal stories go best
» Thursdays are one of the best
days to post
» Stay away from posting on
Saturdays
» Add more video content. Start
with just face to face videos,
not animations
» Schedule all your posts at once
Instagram is
more about
personal
branding,
not lead
generation.
Networking and Building Relationships
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5.
Knowledge Management
» What policies/strategies
does your library have in
place to pass on
information?
» What happens to those
relationships when
someone changes roles
or leaves?
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Suggestions of places to network
» Chamber meetings
» Conferences and
conventions
» Rotary Clubs
» Fundraisers
» Co-working spaces- they
host of lots of networking
events
» Family friendly activities:
Mom’s groups, Single Dads
groups
» School Board meetings
» Meetup.com- Recreational
activities
» Pitch Events- they’re not just
for businesses (i.e. 1Million
Cups)
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Listen
Don’t take over the conversation. Ask open-
ended questions. Let them shine. When
people talk about themselves it puts them in a
better mood, and that better mood reflects on
you.
Make friends
Go in with the mindset that you’re there to
make a friend, not sell a product. Don’t
pressure yourself to do too much or set the bar
too high. Relax and make a friend.
Research
Know what you’re walking into. What are the
attendees like? Create a list of 3-5 questions
you can ask anywhere? i.e. What have you
been enjoying the most about the event?
Tag Team
Bring a friend that can introduce you to others.
Then in conversation you can “riff” off each
other. This gives you a chance to showcase
what others do, and not talk about yourself.
Tips for networking 35
REFERENCES
» https://www.socialreport.com/insights/article/3600003704
26-12-Best-Instagram-Scheduling-Tools-for-2018
» https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/sales-terms-glossary
» http://blog.close.io/sales-strategies
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Any questions?You can find me at:
» @digital_empower
37THANK YOU!!
» Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
» Photographs by Unsplash
» Diverse device hand photos by Facebook Design Resources
