Lately I wake up in the morning and head downstairs to workout on my Concept 2 rowing machine. I turn on the TV, fire up my iPod and start rowing. For visual entertainment, I’ve been watching fishing shows on Versus.
These shows follow a predictable pattern. Fishing expert decked out in more logos than a NASCAR driver uses electronics to identify likely spots that will be high producers. Next he explains how he selects the appropriate bait based on the species of fish he’s going after and the conditions. Then our expert explains and demonstrates the presentation of bait through casting and retrieval techniques.
The results are also predictable. Fish after fish is reeled in to much excitement and rejoicing, “Nice fish. Fine fish. He really went after it. He killed that bait.” The fish is reeled into the boat and released to bite and fight another day.
I’ve been experimenting with Twitter to generate sales for a new client Trek-Tech. Trek-Tech makes great versatile monopods and tripods designed for outdoor photographers. I’ve been using fishing shows as my sales workflow model.
Let me be clear right upfront. I don’t consider customers or prospects to be fish. I love customers. I just happen to love fishing too.
For my fish finding electronics, I use the search feature in TweetDeck. For Trek-Tech, I search on the keywords – monopod and tripod and go about my work. When I see the Tweetdeck notification “Search: Monopod.” I take a quick a look a the message. If the Tweeter is in buying mode, I think about the bait and how the bait will be presented. I look at the profile to get a better understanding of the species. My bait of choice is usually a link and a discount code for the Trek-Tech online store. I present the bait with relevant comment and ask the prospect politely to retweet the offer.
Fish on!
It works surprisingly well and it seems to be well-received. I’m getting friendly replies more than 50% of the time and 15% of the time the offer is retweeted.
By the way, if you’re looking for a cleverly designed monopod/tripod/hiking staff checkout Trek-Tech and signup for the news. You’ll get a 25% discount on your first order.
Filed under: marketing
Interesting use of search. I learned about using Twitter from a post you did quite some time back and have joined. It is hard to tell if it has resulted in any sales but I’ve had fun reading and posting and finding people with similar interests. Thanks for your mpst recent tip. – Margy
Since I just started using Twitter in sales workflow, I’ll keep posting my results. Give it a try. We’ll both learn something.