Always Selling: Sales and Marketing Business Practices

Everyone in the Library Can Use

PCI Webinars | Carrie Rogers-Whitehead

carrie@respons-ability.net

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!

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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

❑Email

❑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

» carrie@respons-ability.net

37THANK YOU!!

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