In yet another sign that the sales process continues to evolve, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management banned broker trainees from making cold calls. The 50-year practice for sales trainees to prove their future sales prowess has given way to following up on referrals to find new business.
Should that be a surprise? Referrals lead to the choices we make everyday when buying products and services as consumers. On the flip side, if a trusted party refers a potential customer or client to your business, they essentially become “pre-sold”. Pre-sold and pre-qualified, but standing between you and any new business could very well be your online presence.
Active Online Presence is Essential
Upon being referred to your company, they often conduct some quick research as a means of validation. What they find will lead them to further engage with you or start looking elsewhere for a solution.
The breadth and depth of a company’s presence can vary greatly. At the hub is, undoubtedly, your website and from there social media pages, email marketing, eCommerce platforms or digital advertising may exist. They will begin their evaluation of your presence in the marketplace by the breadth of your activities. The chosen tactics and quality of the current content need to be evaluated, however that is just half the battle.
Your online presence needs to be managed. Daily care and feeding includes responsive social media pages. Sprinkling in fresh web content further engages visitors and illustrates you are attentive to your business. It is difficult to project yourself as a leader in the industry when your last blog post was back in 2019.
That’s why it’s essential to set aside time for managing your online presence. A schedule of weekly and monthly activities, such as writing a new blog post for your site, or developing a new ad campaign to run on Google. Daily activities include time-sensitive tasks like responding to a review on Facebook. Without the proper care, your online presence begins to look tired and prospects could doubt your ability to meet their needs.
To avoid this, companies often turn to TRG Marketing to manage and improve their online activities through strategic daily, weekly and monthly brand building work. With the right marketing plan, a healthy online presence will serve to endorse those referrals you work so hard to procure, converting more prospects into customers!
