Selling Yourself Offline to Even the Toughest Market

This article will offer you a very effective, winning strategy to sell yourself offline to your local business market. We lived in a small town when the business plan for our company,
Route 66 Cyber Cafe, Inc., was first conceived, so the local market was unique.  Anyone who lives in a small town will tell you that you have to develop what oklahomans call the �good ole boy� mentality method of marketing.  This is also true, to some extent, in larger towns. We had to think like they did and really get to know the town�s personality before they would buy anything from us. My husband, the co-founder, is a very outgoing, people person, while I am more the introvert.  This became a winning combination in selling ourselves. While he set off on a constant daily quest to every store in town, I took the quiet approach.  This produced a large, base clientele for us, and the strategy still works even in the bigger town we live in now. We�re both computer engineers, and what we were selling was affordable computer systems and consulting services to support them.  It is really not that important what you are selling, but it is important
that you know who you are selling to.  The business community there was typically uninformed about computers, but they all wanted to know more about �that Internet thing everyone keeps talking about�.  His willingness to tell them all they wanted to know about it was extremely vital to the success of our marketing plan. I called the Secretary of State and made sure our company was incorporated to give it credibility and autonomy. I then called the Department of Commerce for the state and got them to fax me a demographic study of the county we were selling in.  They were more than happy to oblige, and the documentation helped us to understand who these people were.My husband, Dan, spent lots of time in the local diners, convenience stores, and anyplace else they would not throw him out of.  He talked to them about family, farming, their companies, and even fishing.  Whatever they decided to talk about, he let them.  He would then
gently steer the conversation towards whether or not they had computers.  if they did not have computers and wanted them, he inevitably sold them. This was a winning strategy because they knew him by name, they knew things about him, and they knew what he told them about me.
He kind of made me out to be the mystery half of the company. He truly had their trust first.  The business cards always came out, and they began appearing on every store counter in town. Also, whenever he needed the services of a local merchant, he struck up a nice conversation with them, and they always ended up with our business cards on their store counter next to the cash register.His strategy built a strong foundation for my silent approach.  My silent strategy was simple as well.  We joined the Chamber of Commerce, fixed their computers for free, and built a strong relationship with them.  They were only too happy to provide us with a print-out
from their database of members, including the owner�s name and address.  You actually don�t have to fix the Chamber�s computers to get this information.  Just asking usually works well, too!
I then created a simple brochure that got their attention on the front cover and had bullet statements of our services inside.  Each brochure had �Member of the Chamber of Commerce� near our company information.  I used a publishing package like Microsoft Publisher
to do this, and I had our local printer make copies.  I then mailed them to everyone on the list, along with a couple of business cards.  I recommend that if you�re a small business and want to do a mailing like this, that you mail only 20 or so at a time.  Our phone started ringing about a week later, and we had more work than we could handle ourselves!  Even if they don�t contact you right away, they�ll keep your brochure around until they need your services. It also helps
to have a business name they�ll remember.   We also sponsored events for the Chamber like the 4th of July extravaganza.  We sponsored the horseshoe booth and donated the trophies.  Those
kinds of community services are not soon forgotten either.  They still talked about who won the competition months later.Another very cheap, effective method of getting the word out was
to find a local painter who painted our company information on the windows of our cars and on magnetic signs to attach to the car doors.  We also had personalized license plates that would be remembered. Applying these methods to the Virtualis reseller program (or any other service or product you'd like to sell) should be very easy to accomplish.  It will build not only strong business relationships, but you�ll also make a lot of lasting friends in the process.
 Good luck to you in all your endeavors! We look forward to hearing about your success!
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