Social Selling Attention tips from the OSCARS

Well done to Steve McQueen and team on  winning best picture for "12 years a slave." at this year's OSCARS..

Every year the Oscars' celebrations grab our attention. 

 The whole OSCAR's show  is trailed through  skillful orchestration. Those of us in selling can learn a lot from the selling tactics and strategies  that Hollywood employ.

 First there are the premières,  then the nominations, the rounds of chat show interviews, plus the trail blazing of other award festivals such as Cannes, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs etc.

All generate an attention earning sale of the films ( movies).  To be able to advertise your film as an award winning film is worth a lot.

But also the OSCARS have been doing social selling for years. Their leveraging of media in the social space is all part of the sale.

Glamour, gossip, fashion, tears and dedications make for an inclusive sale. From personal thanks to parents and work colleagues through to the moving speech by  Lupita Nyong'o winner of best supporting actress

"It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is due to so much pain in someone elses's "( her role as the slave Patsey)

In every social selling touch point, whether repeat or first time, we need to gain the client’s full and undivided attention .and direct  conversation towards our specific business conversation objective(s).

In today's  business world we have to do this in a swift and nimble way. Our window of opportunity is a few seconds. 

 Outside advertisers have similar short windows of time to grab our attention so to illustrate the four principal methods, plus a fifth for repeat contacts / follow on  only let's look at the work of the Outdoor Site Clever Advertising Representative Salespeople

Research data used catch the eye  Factual

Factual opening: state an interesting fact which relates to either the client personally or their business; the fact will also usually relate to your product/service, either directly or indirectly.

Fulham Broadway Tube Advert:
Thought provoking and location relevant question
"Which 2 underground stations contain the word
CATLIKE?"

Question opening: ask a question which is relevant to the client’s business and also to the purpose of your call.

Reference opening: build confidence and interest by referring to the experience and satisfaction of another client; either a well respected client (confidence) or a client in a related business (interest).

Eye catching visual and fun question
 from a Bus Shelter Ad

Visual aid opening: involve as many of the client’s five senses as possible by using a brochure, photograph, working model, sample etc.

Remember that the purpose of the four attention getters listed above is to create a conversation that takes you directly to your real goal - investigation of the customer’s needs. 

Listen first and don’t launch into a sales presentation of the benefits of your offer until you have identified their needs and wants.

  Link opening (repeat call only): link this call back to a previous one by summarising where you left off last time.

Although the most important occasion for the use of the above techniques is early on in the call, remember that each change of direction or change of topic means you will have to “gain attention” all over again.